From the Depth of Despair, Part II

Kibun Shidai no Hissatsuwaza - Kō (気分しだいの必殺技(後)) is the 6th episode in the seventh season, Ranma Forever, of Ranma ½ and the 142nd episode overall.

Ranma's Training Begins
Determined to perfect the Shishi Hōkōdan before Ranma, Ryoga looks over the scroll he received from the Civil Engineer. After rereading how the blast is created by feelings of depression, Ryoga reads on to see what the technique should look like when perfected, but is confused when the illustration shows nothing more than an arrow pointing downwards. Unable to figure out the arrow's meaning, Ryoga continues walking...

Meanwhile, at the Tendo Dojo, Ranma is trying to get himself more depressed by depriving his body of food, although the Tendo sisters aren't convinced that this will work. At the same time Ryoga finds himself having fallen down a and into the sewer water below, leaving him to struggle retrieving his clothes from the sewage.

That evening Ranma dreams about finding the well-fed Ryoga sleeping next to a warm fire whilst he is cold, starving and sleepy. Ranma continues by imagining himself successfully using the Shishi Hōkōdan to send Ryoga flying off into the distance whilst he cackles with joy. Unfortunately Ranma's been sleep walking and the all the noise he's made has woken the whole of the Dojo, who subsequently find Ranma stuffing his face with food from the fridge.

Misery Business
Genma soon tires of all the noise and kicks his son awake. He then proceeds to remind Ranma that he isn't meant to be depriving himself of food and sleep, but adds that not everyone can master every technique; especially when Ranma is too happy-go-lucky for one such as the Shishi Hōkōdan. This infuriates Ranma who demands to know if he's just meant to give up of surpassing Ryoga, to which Genma reveals that he's just offering a technique more suited to his son's position.

Intrigued by his father's offer, Ranma and Genma head outside. Once there Genma notes that he never thought he would teach his son this technique. He continues by naming the technique as "Howl of the Demon Dog". The pair then move into a fighting stance where Genma instructs Ranma to summon all his Battle Aura; back off to a safe distance from the opponent and shout insulting phrases at them!

Ranma immediately sees the uselessness of this "technique" and hits Genma for his stupidity.

By the next morning Nabiki and Akane observe Ranma succeed in maintaining a Shishi Hōkōdan energy ball, but when Ranma tries a second time, Nabiki can't help but flip up Akane's skirt to see if that breaks Ranma's concentration. Sure enough Ranma is quickly distracted, causing the energy ball to dissipate. After hearing Genma and Nabiki discuss Ranma's failing, Ranma finds himself more depressed and releases another successful Shishi Hōkōdan blast. This, unfortunately, quickly backfires on Ranma as the blast flies around uncontrollably in the air before landing squarely on Ranma.

As Akane rushes to Ranma's side, Ranma gets back up and reaches an epiphany about that it does only matter how you use the power you have, so he can therefore use this to create an entirely new technique. With Ranma busy laughing away at his new idea, Genma and Nabiki comment how idiotic Ranma's acting, whilst Akane finds herself getting a bad feeling about how things are going.

At the same time Ryoga is busily continuing trying to decode the secret of the downwards arrow on his scroll at the local Sentō. Just then a small boy sprays some water from a nearby fountain on the back of Ryoga's head. Once the child leaves, Ryoga suddenly gets an idea from the way the water pours from the fountain. He then proceeds to drop a toy fish into the water and observes how it sinks before rising back up again. This observation finally makes the image of the arrow clear to Ryoga who loudly declares he's now mastered the Shishi Hōkōdan, much to the worry of the other confused Sentō patrons.

Ryoga's Plea
After leaving the Sentō, Ryoga is found by Akane. Akane wastes little time in questioning Ryoga about whether or not he's going to still go through with fighting Ranma. This upsets Ryoga slightly, but he manages to hold himself together in order to ask a request of Akane. He proceeds to instruct Akane to tell him that she hates him, but Akane can't see why she's got to be the one to do so.

Despite not giving her a full explanation as to why, Ryoga continues pressuring Akane to say it so that he may complete the Shishi Hōkōdan. Akane does as instructed and quietly mutters the phrase to Ryoga which leaves him devastated. Ryoga then proceeds to run off in pain as his heart is ripped to shreds, even though he knew it was coming, as Akane notes that Ryoga was the one who made he say it.

Suddenly Akane observes a large blast of energy rise from the ground before quickly disappearing again. Unsurprisingly the blast came from Ryoga's now-mastered Shishi Hōkōdan, which has left him standing in a large crater. When Akane catches up she looks on as the tearful Ryoga declares that he has now mastered the technique...