The Abduction of Akane!

The Abduction of Akane! (Sarawareta Akane! さらわれたあかね!) is the tenth true episode in the second season of Ranma ½, known as "Anything Goes Martial Arts", though it is treated as the thirteenth episode, and is the 31st episode overall.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None

Plot Summary
A China fair has come to Nerima, stirring up a great deal of fuss. Kasumi is out shopping when Akane joins her, proudly presenting a goofy looking stuffed pig that she just won. Muffled maniacal laughter and a menacing declaration of Akane's name and her status as Ranma's fiancee startles both girls, and Akane pushes Kasumi to safety as an iron gauntlet at the end of a chain comes lashing out to ensnare... her toy, which is then pulled into the grip of a robe-wearing stranger on a unicycle, wearing a kewpie doll mask. Still laughing like a freak, he leaps down from the roof to confront the girls, telling them that if Ranma wants to see "Akane" again, he must come to the Chinese circus and take a front row seat, flipping them a paid ticket and telling them to use public transportation, as parking is limited, before cycling away over the rooftops, laughing like a maniac. Akane is very offended that this weirdo would confuse her with a stuffed pig.

Her mood doesn't improve when she returns to the Tendo Dojo and Genma and Ranma promptly start acting as though she really was kidnapped. While Ranma's looking straight at her while asking Genma why he should have to go and rescue "Akane" implies he's just doing this to be annoying, Genma seems to be taking this as a serious opportunity to beat it into his son's head that he should do whatever it takes to help Akane, whenever she needs it, kicking Ranma into the koi pond to empasize his point.

At the fair, the two girls run into Shampoo, who, after asking Ranma for a date and being told she is here to "rescue Akane", notes that she also received a ticket from some mysterious stranger. It is at that moment that the stranger from earlier appears, revealing himself to be Mousse - when he triumphantly holds aloft "Akane", with Ranma teasing that he's making her cry, Akane cannot resist the urge to blow off some steam and hurls herself in powerful flying knee into his face, demanding to know how he can mistake a stuffed pig for her. Putting his glasses on, Mousse yelps about Akane having turned into a pig, prompting an irked comment of it being a doll from the real deal and a giggled dismissal of his intelligence from Shampoo.

The two girls and one pseudo-girl head to the acrobatic circus tent, enjoying the show up until a special event in which the ringmaster offers Akane's toy to a volunteer for this special act. When Ranma teases Akane by asking how "she" got down there, she pushes the youngest Tendo beyond breaking point and is promptly thrown into the ring. With Ranma's acrobatic skills, though, she effortlessly lands on her feet after a lazy somersault, eating up the applause of the crowd (especially Kuno)... though she's not so happy when some of the stageworkers promptly drag her over to a knife-throwing target and chaining her there by the wrists as a covered tureen is wheeled over on a dining cart. As the ringmaster lifts the lid, knives come flying out, striking the barest distance away from her body.

Nonplussed, the ringmaster continues removing the list, introducing the star of the circus, the knife-throwing duck, the Amazing Mumu-chan. The duck waves to the crowd, then gives Ranma a distinctively evil look through its tiny, heavy-looking glasses - Ranma realises in shock that it seriously intends to knife her, and just manages to catch its throwing daggers in the only part of her that can move; her mouth. Spitting them onto the ground, she growls angrily at the creature, which simply rises into the air above her and begins raining down bombs. When the smoke clears, both of them have vanished; the audience thinks it's all part of the act, but Akane and Shampoo both realise that something's up.

Outside of the tent, Ranma has been allowed to resume her natural form, while the duck has also changed into a human... specifically, it has become Mousse. The two share some banter, it being quite clear that Mousse intends to challenge Ranma yet again, before Mousse holds up a bucket full of water to the confused heir to the Saotome School. He explains that he received his curse by literally walking into the Yahzuniichuan, the Spring of Drowned Duck, while not looking where he was going when he went to Jusenkyo to train after returning to China following their last duel. His threats to Ranma end up a little derailed when he gets turned around and starts bickering with a circus monkey - but by the time he reorientates himself, Ranma has stolen the bucket and tosses its contents at Mousse, half-suspecting what's in it. Mousse's panicked leap confirms it; as Mousse triumphantly boasts, shortly before pulling out a number of water balloons containing more of the same, it's water from the Spring of Drowned Duck. He throws a volley at Ranma, using a barrage of throwing knives to try and pop them and drench Ranma; he misses, but when he gets ready to make a second attack, Shampoo appears on the scene and drenches him in cold water.

She firmly tells him off, and coldly rebuffs his unwanted attempts to make himself look impressive. Furious, Mousse starts hurling daggers at Ranma, who runs off. To Ranma's shock, even passing into the crowd does nothing to stop Mousse's murderous attacks; not only does he hurl knives willy-nilly into the crowd, he almsot curses three little kids while trying to splash Ranma with Yahzuniichuan. Ticked off by this, Ranma pins Mousse to the wall with pinwheels through the wings and starts a rant of how angry he is over Mousse blaming him for Shampoo's feelings, especially given that he never wanted Shampoo as a would-be fiancee to begin with. It turns out this wasn't the best of times to go into such a rant; Shampoo whacks him over the head with a fishtank in midrank, having followed him out of concern and not being pleased to hear him dismissing her behind her back. So angry is she that she promptly drenches herself in the contents of the fishtank and begins chasing after Ranma, even as a sour Mousse grumbles in fury.

By the time night has fallen, she still hasn't given up, though this may partially be because at some point she took hold of his shoulder and letting go would mean a rather painful fall. This doesn't stop Akane from wandering the fair looking for him, only to run into Mousse, who uses knockout poison to kidnap her. The appearance of Kuno, looking for his beloved "pigtailed girl" is no obstacle, partially because Sasuke accidentally ends up catching Kuno when trying to use a ninja spider-web trick on Mousse.

As Ranma eventually discovers after crashing into a tree, Mousse has set a second trap now that he has Akane for real; he is planning to douse Akane with Yahzuniichuan, doing this in plain sight under the guise of it being a magic act - it is a flyer for this "special event" that alerts Ranma what is going on. As the ringmaster starts preparing for the show, Ranma races desperately to the big top, unaware that Mousse plans to douse him and Akane both when Ranma tries to save her from suffering the same fate that he has...

Trivia

 * This episode reintroduces Mousse, and marks his permanent joining of the series.
 * The dubbing says that Akane won her toy pig by using some coupons, the subbing that she got it for free with her tenth pizza.
 * In the subtitles, Mousse introduces himself as the "Gold Silk Brocade Robe of Mystery".
 * This is the only episode in which Mousse's nickname for his alternate form, Mumu-chan, can be heard.
 * The scene where Ranma and Genma argue over Ranma's going to rescue "Akane" is unique to the anime; in the original manga, the scene transitioned straight to the festival that evening after Mousse first appeared, implying that Ranma went as a girl simply because of his macho reputation.
 * Ranma and Akane also go straight after the scene at the Tendo Dojo and so attend the show in the afternoon, rather than at night.
 * In the subbing, when Mumu-chan is introduced, the ringmaster states he would have amazed Hsuan Chuang himself.
 * In the manga, Kuno is absent from this storyline.
 * In the dubbed version, the Guide claims that the Yahzuniichuan is 3000 years old, despite the subbing and the manga both stating that it is only 1300 years old. This is not the only case of the dubbed version changing the amount of time - similar is the fact that Ranma is said to punch Mikado 501 times during his assault in Close Call! The Dance of Death... On Ice!
 * When Ranma confronts Mousse over his blaming Ranma for Shampoo's disinterest, in the dub, he tells him that "I've got as much interest in Shampoo as -", while in the sub, he tells him "If you were more of a man, Shampoo wouldn't be such a pain in the -". Of the two, the latter is closer to the original manga line; "If you weren't such a moron, I wouldn't have Shampoo pestering me all the -".