The Two Ranmas

Futari no Ranma (二人の乱馬) is the 367th chapter of the manga. It is also the first chapter of the Cursed Mirror Arc.

After female Ranma looks into a cursed mirror, a spirit copies his form and causes mischief.

Shelter in the Rain
On one stormy night, Ranma and Genma find the Mirror Mansion amidst the wilderness. The elderly gentleman apparently in charge of the mansion invites them in, but warns them not to do something like slip on a banana peel, crash into the curtain, and look on the other side.

Guided by a careless banana peel tossed by Genma, Ranma does exactly that, revealing a tall mirror behind the curtain. The elderly gentleman is in dismay at what Ranma just did, but she doesn't see what the big deal is. The gentleman and Genma step to the side to avoid looking in the mirror. Ranma looks at it and turns to ask what's wrong with it, not realizing that the reflection didn't turn with her. The reflection grabs Ranma's hand and the Mirror Ranma emerges, wearing the exact same clothing as her. The gentleman then tells of the origin of the Cursed Mirror. According to the legend, the mansion was once home to a beautiful noblewoman. She was very pretty, but nobody wanted to see her. She spent her days staring at herself in the mirror and died longing for a boyfriend. Since then, her spirit possessed the mirror and copied the likeness of whoever looked into it. The copy then goes on to cause trouble for the original by flirting with anyone eligible around.

Immediately as he says this, mirror Ranma, now in a mini dress, runs off to find a good looking man. She's promptly stopped by Ranma, who is told that the curtain will take a week to repair. Ranma decides bring her back to the Tendo Dojo in the mean time.

Double Chaos
Upon arriving, the mirror Ranma enters Akane's room and immediately starts going through her clothing. After emptying the dresser she complains that she couldn't find any sexy clothes and that all the bras were too small. Akane is understandably upset by this remark and starts swinging a at the copy. She is ultimately brought down by the real Ranma with a mallet. Ranma then explains what happened to the Tendo sisters then turns to the copy to tell her not to go around pretending to be her, but the copy used body replacement technique to escape and left behind a tanuki statue. As Ranma starts chasing the copy (who was wearing a mini dress) the sisters remark on how similar they are in both appearance and behavior. Ranma manages to find her copy in the streets, where she's going from couple to couple flirting with men until she's hit by Ranma. She wonders if it's because she's not attractive enough, so Ranma takes this time to teach her how to attract men. The original also puts on a mini dress and begins seducing two boys walking by, and the copy follows her lead. Akane finds and smacks them both with a. When Akane tells Ranma not to teach the copy how to get guys, they realize she disappeared yet again.

Meanwhile, Ryoga is sitting on a bench by a tree waiting for Akari, proud that he managed to get to the date location without getting lost. He daydreams about finally getting his first kiss, but when he opens his eyes Mirror Ranma kisses him before he can even react, barely missing his lips. Ranma hits her with a paper fan and gets her off Ryoga, but the damage had been done. Ryoga was too distraught to fully comprehend that two female Ranmas were right in front of him and punches the real one in the air and runs off crying in disgrace when Akari arrives.

Truth About the Copy
Ranmas and Akane return home and it's Ranma's turn to take a bath. She leads the copy to the tub saying that she'll understand something very soon. As they get in the tub Ranma dunks the copy's head into the hot water. He emerges and asks if the copy finds the transformation interesting, but sees that the copy didn't change at all. For a moment all is quiet as Ranma tries to figure out what is going on. He figures that since the copy took his girl form, it will stay as a girl even when exposed to hot water. Ranma suddenly feels strange that he's looking at his girl form. The copy becomes enamored for Ranma and playfully rebukes him for not telling her that he was really a guy.

That night, as Akane goes to bed, she sees Mirror Ranma going past her wearing a negligee and spraying perfume. Instantly suspecting something is wrong, she turns to ask what she's up to, and the copy gleefully tells Akane that she will be spending the night with Ranma. Akane starts chasing her into the bathroom where Ranma is brushing his teeth and further infuriates her by teasing her appearance while on Ranma's shoulder. Instead of going for the copy, Akane slaps Ranma telling him to control his copy.

Akane follows them to the guest room and sits down to keep an eye on them while they sleep, worried that they are both perverts and might do something. Nabiki comes to give her some company. Mirror Ranma sleeps soundly, but Ranma is kicked out of his sheets by bed manners very similar to his own...

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Mirror Ranma (female)
 * Akane Tendo
 * Nabiki Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Ryoga Hibiki (human)
 * Akari Unryu
 * Ranma Saotome (male)

Trivia

 * Cover arts for both manga and anime often have male and female Ranmas as separate entities. This is the first time where that occurs in the manga canon.
 * In the anime, this occurred in Ranma and the Evil Within episode.