The Three-Year Smile of Death

The Three Year Smile of Death, also translated as The Smiling Three Year Death, is the 366th chapter of the Ranma ½ manga. It is also the first and only chapter of the Three Year Smile of Death Arc.

One afternoon Mousse invents something he calls a "Love Rocket" which he rushes to show to Shampoo. Mousse trips and the rocket goes off in Shampoo's face. Mousse is terrified that Shampoo is going to beat him up, but she simply smiles and tells him that she's happy and goes back to her laundry. This convinces Mousse that Shampoo is using an Amazonian technique known as the "Three Year Smile of Death", which involves treating an opponent with kindness while "accidently" torturing them by dropping hot drinks on them or bumping to them and causing them to fall out of windows.

At Cat Café
Mousse has made a "Love Rocket" which he'll use to set a romantic feel with him and Shampoo. Mousse then goes to see Shampoo so he can use the "Love Rocket", however, when Mousse arrives he trips and causes the rocket to go off in Shampoo's face. Expecting Shampoo to beat him up, Mousse sits down and waits for Shampoo to do so. However, Shampoo asks Mousse what he thinks he's doing and after Mousse explains he's waiting for her to beat him up, Shampoo simply smiles at Mousse and asks him why she would do that as she isn't angry with him.

This worries Mousse who now believes Shampoo's using an Amazonian technique, the Smiling Three-Year Death.

Mousse Goes to Ranma
Mousse goes to the Tendo Dojo and explains the situation to Ranma and Akane. When the two enquire about the Smiling Three-Year Death Mousse explains that the technique is the most insidious known to (wo)man and involves discomforting the victim while not showing any anger over three years. Mousse continues by asking Ranma to go on a date with Shampoo so she can forget about her revenge on him, but as Mousse doesn't have his glasses on he asks Soun who is also present.

Ranma puts his foot on the back of Mousse's head and tells him to put his glasses on. However, all of Mousse's glasses have been broken which Mousse sees as another sign that Shampoo is using the Smiling Three-Year Death. This cause Mousse to decide to leave town, but when he tries to leave using a hook on the end of a rope, the rope snaps and Mousse falls into the pond, turning him into his cursed form. Akane and Ranma then decide to go and help Mousse.

The Group Visit Shampoo
Ranma and Akane go to the Cat Café and say hello to Shampoo, who quickly jumps on to Ranma (causing Ranma to get hit by Akane with a mallet). Ranma tells Shampoo she seems happier than usual. Ranma and Akane then go to a table and Mousse (who's still in his Duck form) comes out of the bag Akane was carrying. Ranma whispers to Mousse that he must've been imaging Shampoo acting strangely, to which Akane adds that she doesn't think Shampoo could carry out such a complex revenge plan.

Shampoo then arrives with their food, but trips over Ranma and the food falls onto the bag which Mousse is hiding in. Shampoo quickly apologises and goes out the back to scrub and wring out the bag, which hurts Mousse who's still hiding inside the bag. This causes Ranma and Akane to wonder if that was on purpose or just coincidence. Ranma takes Mousse under the table where he uses a boiled Tetsubin to turn Mousse back into his human form.

Mousse is now convinced that Shampoo is using the Smiling Three-Year Death, but Ranma tries to tell him that it could be a coincidence. Meanwhile, above the table Akane screams at the sight of a cockroach on the table, which Shampoo gets a newspaper to try and kill. However, Shampoo also ends up breaking the table in half which causes Mousse to believe he was the target.

While Shampoo is Away
While Shampoo goes out on a delivery, the group of three go to see Cologne to see if there's a way to counter the Smiling Three-Year Death. Cologne says that there is and gets a diagram and explains that the energy of hatred is stored in the abdomen and usually leaves explosively all at once. She continues by saying that the Smiling Three-Year Death concentrates and refines the hatred energy over a long period of time, but the energy settles in one part of the body which can be used to release the energy if the correct conditions are met.

Mousse deduces that they need to strike that point, but Cologne tells Mousse there's a safer way to release the energy but he can't do it, however, Ranma may be able to. Cologne puts on a video which shows two characters (Kin-San and Omi-Chan) who demonstrate how to release the hatred energy. However, it turns out that Ranma will have to squeeze Shampoo's buttocks, which obvious angers Mousse and Akane for different reasons. Mousse then declares he'll be the one to cure Shampoo, but as doesn't have his glasses he grabs the buttocks of a man dining at the Cat Café, so Cologne is forced to splash Mousse and put him under a whicker basket to keep him out of the way.

Trying to Counter the Three Year Smile of Death
Shampoo then returns, running over the basket Mousse is hidden under in the process. Ranma says that Mousse is no match for Shampoo, so it looks like he'll have to do it. Akane calls Ranma and pervert, to which Ranma retorts that he's just going for the area where the energy is stored, but Akane is unconvinced and tells Ranma that he just wants to cop a feel.

Ranma asks Akane what she's so angry about and tries to technique of Akane, but she just hits him over the head. When Ranma tells Cologne he doesn't think the technique works she tells him it's because his wrist action is all wrong and shows him the correct way to do it. Cologne quickly ties up Akane and tells Ranma to go for it, Ranma does so, but Shampoo turns around which makes Ranma panic, so he turns around before he can use the technique.

After he failed the first time Ranma tries again, but panics again when Shampoo turns around. Cologne says that Ranma is losing, to which Akane sarcastically says that Mousse will suffer for three years, how terrible, but at least they tried. Mousse then turns back into his human form and says he can't take anymore of this travesty and runs towards Shampoo. Despite Ranma and Akane's warnings of Shampoo will kill Mousse he continues, but before he can try and release Shampoo's hatred energy she kicks him in the face.

Shampoo then proceeds to beat up Mousse saying that whenever he's around she has more work to do than before. Cologne tells Mousse that he's done it and stopped the Smiling Three-Year Death. When Akane asks how, Cologne explains that Mousse caused a sudden explosive release of energy which would've festered for three-years and with it gone, the technique is useless. Just then, Shampoo asks everyone is talking about and what this "Smiling Three-Year Death" is, much to shock of the others. It turns out that Shampoo's conscious was playing on her as she'd washed Mousse's clothes with his glasses inside and broken them, so that's why she didn't hit him when he hit her with the firework. As Shampoo shouts at Mousse, Cologne tells him he must be happy that Shampoo is being so nice to him.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Mousse (human)
 * Shampoo (human)
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Akane Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Soun Tendo
 * Mousse (duck)
 * Cologne
 * Kin-San (debut)
 * Omi-Chan (debut)