Rouge

Rouge (ルージュ) is a teenage girl who traveled to Furinkan in search of Pantyhose Taro, who she believed had stolen her "sources of power". She is a cursed character and like some of the other Chinese characters is named after a beauty product.

Appearance
Rouge has long dark hair that is held back with a tie and necklace-like band. Her clothing reflects a more Indian influence, as she wears a jewel on her forehead, earrings, hoop necklace, sleeveless low cut top with a skirt and translucent pants. She wears a pair of arm bands, bracelets, and anklets. Her cursed form wears the same clothing minus the pants and adds two more heads and four more arms. Rouge's appearance becomes much more fierce in this form, as heads have slitted pupils and noticeable fangs.

Personality
Rouge is generally presented as "over-feminine". She is vain, shy, melodramatic, sensitive to the point of easily fainting when mentally exhausted, and fond of traditionally "girlish" superstition like astrology and blood groups. Very polite, somewhat helpful, and apparently compassionate in her regular state, but also violently vengeful when upset, and mostly disregards any damage she causes, or doesn’t act consistent with her regret, alternately thinks it’s a "sign of bad luck". By comparison when going into her cursed form she takes on the persona of an asura.

An is a Hindu demon/god said to be extremely powerful. These three-faced, six-armed creatures are described as being very aggressive. In this state Rouge's personality turns far more brash and destructive, greatly enjoying to fight, eat, and blow things up, being comparatively "over-masculine". Her mind is apparently split into three mostly identical, independently sentient parts.

Rouge


Akane takes Rouge back to the Tendo Dojo after she finds her in a fountain which a large ball of light had fallen in to, which caused the water to boil. After introducing herself to Nabiki and Kasumi, Rouge explains that she was bathing in a hot spring when she discovered that a "vile pervert with the gaze of a venomous snake" was spying on her. Just then Pantyhose Taro, who'd been unconscious in the other room, appears behind her and threatens Rouge, but before Pantyhose can do anything Soun and Ranma step in and beat Pantyhose back to the floor. Rouge tells Pantyhose she'll forgive him if he returns what he stolen from her. Pantyhose then runs away by turning into his cursed form scaring Rouge in the process. Once Pantyhose leaves Rouge faints and she is put in a guest room so she can rest.

As Rouge rests Happosai enters through a window, knocking a vase of water onto her. This causes Rouge to awaken and transform, she then leaves her room and asks where the vile pervert who stole from her is. Ranma and Akane, who came to see what the noise was, are shocked by what they see in front of them. As the two of them stare the creature gets extra faces and says that she'll pursue the person who stolen from her to the end of the earth. The creature uses a very hot wind which prevents Ranma or Akane from doing anything. The creatures then blasts through the roof and begins to look in every direction the person who stole from her. As the creature leaves Ranma and Akane deduce that it must have been Rouge.

After Ranma finds Pantyhose, Rouge quickly follows and a battle between Pantyhose and her ensues. At first Pantyhose jumps into a fountain to turn into his cursed form, but Rouge simply causes the water to boil making Pantyhose turn back. Rouge then fires some flames out of her mouth, which Pantyhose manages to avoid. However, after Pantyhose gets distracted by Ranma, Rouge manages to land a successful hit. But just as Rouge is about to finish off Pantyhose she runs away.

Later on, after Akane finds out from the Jusenkyo Guide that Rouge fell into Ashiuruonīchuan, the Spring of drowned Asura, Rouge comes through the roof of the Tendo Dojo. Rouge then begins talking with her other two heads and decides to stay until her thoughts are settled, eating much of the Tendos' food in the process.

The next day, Rouge helps Ranma, Akane and Nabiki to repair all the damage done to Tendo Dojo the night before. Just as all of them sit to eat lunch the roof caves in as Pantyhose Taro enters in his cursed form. Pantyhose then changes back into his human form and asks if then things in his hand are the "sources of power" that Rouge is always talking about. Rouge then attempts to take them back but Pantyhose quickly closes his hand and moves it out of her reach. Rouge then believes that if she goes on a date with Pantyhose he'll return the the sources, but Pantyhose quickly dispels this fantasy and asks her how to use them.

Rouge then says she can't cause anymore trouble to these good people and she'll sort this problem herself. She then pours a bucket of water over herself and turns into her Asura form, as Pantyhose quickly turns into his cursed form as well. Rouge then tells Pantyhose that the "Source of Power" is her's and no one else can use it. She then uses her "Asura Flash" to blind Pantyhose temporarily. This is quickly followed by her "Asura Flame" which prevents Pantyhose from getting close to her.

Despite seemingly having the advantage, Akane notes that as long as Pantyhose has the "Source of Power" he has a chance. Pantyhose then tries to punch Rouge and manages to hit Rouge, this causes Soun to notice that her movements are slower then before and Ranma concludes that she needs the "Source of Power" to maintain her energy. But just as Pantyhose is about to land a successful punch it begins to rain and, due to the heat given off by Rouge's cursed form, it turns into steam and she turns back into her human form and then begins to fall. Pantyhose manages to catch Rouge and begins to squeezing her, planning to squash her to death.

Seemingly accepting her fait, Rouge tells Pantyhose that she'll tell him how to use the "Source of Power". However, Rouge turns back into her cursed form (due to the rain becoming cold again) and steals the "Source of Power" from Pantyhose as he caught her in the hand he was holding the "Source of Power" in. Rouge then places the "Source of Power" on her back and continues to fight Pantyhose.

With Rouge now having the sources in her possession she is able to easily defeat Pantyhose and sending him falling down to the ground. Pantyhose ends up landing in the Tendo bathroom's bath and turns back into his human form. Rouge is about finish off Pantyhose, however, Ranma protects him with some frying pans. Ranma then decides to pair up with Pantyhose as neither can do it alone and he (Ranma) doesn't want to see the Tendo Dojo destroyed more than it already is.

The two then return to fight Rouge, now with an arsenal of cooking equipment. Rouge tries to attack Ranma with her Fire Breath, but Ranma stops it with a pan. However, Ranma ends up accidentally burns Pantyhose's head, much to his annoyance. After Pantyhose gets his own back on Ranma, Ranma tries to turn Rouge into her non-cursed self by throwing a Tetsubin at her. However, this just hits one of Rouge's heads and makes her even more angry.

Rouge tells them they'll suffer for this humiliation and she executes her "Fiery Dragon Dance" to engulf both Ranma and Pantyhose is a whirlwind of flames. While Rouge is distracted with her technique, Pantyhose throws Ranma above the whirlwind flames so he can hit Rouge with his Frying Pan. However, another one of Rouge's heads notices and uses her fireballs and fire breath to try and stop him, but to no avail, and Ranma hits Rouge hit the frying pan.

Ranma tries to hit Rouge again, but Pantyhose grabs him as it turns out the fireballs Rouge threw were the Source of her Power and are now lodged in the frying pan. After Pantyhose takes the Source of Rouge's Power he discards Ranma, who, luckily, lands on Rouge's back (much to her annoyance). Ranma tells Rouge there's nothing to worry about as he has the Source of her Power in his hand. Ranma then uses his "Saotome School Blows of Strength" to revive Rouge.

This return of her power enables Rouge to use her "Flames of the Storm" technique which creates a large lighting storm. At first Pantyhose seems to avoid the lighting with ease, but Rouge sees him and hits him with another lighting bolt which connects due to the metal frying pan he's still holding. However, this causes Pantyhose to let go of the frying pan, which hits Rouge on the head and she too falls to the ground with Pantyhose.

Some time later, Rouge has turned back into her human form and is now crying over the loss of the Source of her Power which was destroyed along with the frying pan. Rouge then blames Pantyhose for this so begins to hit him with various nearby objects. Eventually Ranma tells her to stop and come with him. When Rouge enquires where, Ranma says they're going to get her more of the Source of her Power, much to her excitement and surprise that people sell it.

Ranma, Akane, Rouge and Pantyhose go to a drug store, where it turns out that the Source of Rouge's Power is nothing more than magnetic plasters, which loosens up stiff shoulders and makes movement easier. Rouge explains that when you have six arms your shoulders become very stiff (meaning that Ranma's "Blows of Strength" was nothing more than a back rub). Rouge buys a large quantity of the magnetic plasters and leaves.

Abilities
Rouge is almost completely unable to fight in her normal form. Her cursed form, however, has one of the highest amounts of raw power in the series, but also seems quite physically weak and susceptible to impacts when compared to the cast of highly trained martial artists. However, given her ability to hover and attack from out of reach this has not constituted a serious problem. Beyond this weakness, her three separate minds can occasionally make it very difficult to make quick decisions.

Rouge is capable of effortlessly flying for extended periods, including chasing cursed Taro from China to Japan within the span of a sunny afternoon to early night.

Flames of the Storm: One of Rouge's ultimate attacks in the form of a blitz of multiple lightning bolts streaming from her hands, taking considerable maneuverability to evade, and momentarily stunning Ranma when holding on to her. Alternately summoned as a single, and much wider, focused strike from above, which appears to be her strongest attack, as the full power, combined with the impact from falling was enough to knock out cursed Taro for several minutes.

Comet-Blasts of Fury: Miniature fireballs thrown from all six of Rouge's arms, capable of briefly stunning Taro and sending him plummeting towards the ground. It was blocked by the Mōko Takabisha.

Flaming body: A protective sheath of flames, singeing the hand of Taro's cursed form and forcing him to release his grip on her.

Fiery Dragon Dance: Rouge's second ultimate attack. She continuously spins her body, creating a tornado of flame. Ranma found it painfully hot and it bothered Taro through prolonged exposure.

Asura Flame: A stream of fire from any of her three mouths. It stunned Ranma for a moment when distracted from the skirmish by arguing with Pantyhose, and was likely the sucker-attack that took down Happosai for at least 1-2 minutes, when catching the latter unawares.

Fireballs: Small spheres of fire thrown from her hands. Instantly boiling a small fountain of water.

Asura Flash: A blinding burst of light.

Shining nimbus: She is frequently surrounded by a glowing globular corona.

Non-canon Appearances
Rouge only appears in the manga. However she makes an appearance as the boss of the video game Ranma ½: Battle Renaissance, in which she was voiced by Kumiko Nishihara. There was also a planned English version where she was going to be voiced by Lynda Boyd. However, it was canceled for unknown reasons.

Trivia

 * Rouge is one of the few characters in the series to have either their blood type or star sign known, these being A and Virgo, respectively.