Ryoga Hibiki

Ryoga Hibiki is Ranma Saotome's main rival and one of the strongest characters in Ranma ½. He is a self taught martial artist with absolutely no sense of direction who seeks revenge on Ranma, he also acts as Akane Tendo's pet pig P-chan.

Personality
As a martial artist Ryoga prides himself on defending the weak, such as when he helped Ranma when he was rendered powerless by the moxibustion. He can also act civil with Ranma from time to time, alhough he still treats him with a degree of dislike even then. Mostly however he seems to use Ranma as a scapegoat for his own shortcomings, Blaming him for not waiting the unreasonable amount of time for the challange behind his house, or blaming him for his curse even though Ryoga didn't need to follow Ranma to China.

He is also hopeless around girls, he is completely enamoured with Akane and is both at his happiest and saddest when it comes to good and bad interactions with her.

Ryoga can be frustrated by his sense of direction. Especially since when he tries to go somewhere he loses his way, but when he's trying to leave some place his sense of direction leads him back to where he started.

Meeting Ranma
A few years ago Ryoga and Ranma attended the same Junior High School and it was during this time that their rivalry began; lunch hours at their school were described as a raging battlefield where one had to fight for the delicious bread snacks and each day the battle would come down to only Ryoga and Ranma and the latter always came out victorious, when Ryoga finally had enough he challenged Ranma to a real match in the vacant lot near his house however Ryoga never showed up as his horrible sense of direction led him astray and he became lost for three days, when he finally managed to locate said lot on the fourth day Ranma had left for a training trip to China with his father and Ryoga, believing Ranma had run away from their fight swore revenge on Ranma and went to search for him to finish their match.

Curse and Revenge

 * As we all know Ryouga turns into P-chan, a small, black piglet, His real reason why he is in the series is because of Ranma. A long time ago when Ranma was not cursed he went to a private school for boys, that was when he and Ryoga met, during lunch time the boys would usually fight for the last bun of the day, basically Ranma kept blocking Ryouga and eat the buns right away. Out of anger Ryoga challeged Ranma because of the humilty and/or starvation Ranma has given him. On the day of the challenge Ranma has waited for him for 3-4 days because Ryoga has bad sense of direction, the lot for the fight was only a few blocks for his own house. After finding out that Ranma had fled to China he follwed him to Junsenkyo. After Ranma and Genma became what they are today Ryoga finally arrived to Jusenkyo. During training Genma ran towards Ryoga but manage to dodge however Ranma had kicked Ryoga making him fall into Heutuennichuan (spring of drowned black piglet). Skipping all the great disadvantages P-chan is still fast and adorable.
 * Akane is the only person that does not know what the secret is but it does not matter because Ranma is always glad to keep her from knowing.
 * "P-chan" for Akane means "pig-cute" with using "P" for pig and "chan" for cute a very cute but humiliating name for Ryoga's pig form.

Powers & Abilities
Ryoga has a mixed bag of physical abilities. In just about every way he is Ranma's physical rival, though he seems to be somewhat less quick and agile than the heir to the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.

Ryoga Hibiki's fighting style is a nameless style unique to himself, but his style's philosophy is similar to that of Ranma's Anything Goes Martial Arts where you accumulate many styles and techniques from different forms of martial arts and take only what works and stash what doesn't and then moulding it into your own unique style. It is not known why Ryoga became a martial artist, though given his poor sense of direction it is possible that he began learning such techniques in order to be able to fend for himself in the wild. His extended periods of isolation are most certainly the fundamental cause for its unique structure and philosphy. It is primarily based upon self-imposed training in the isolated regions of Japan, a combination of skills honed by the neccessities of surving the eternally wandering lifestyle that Ryoga has and of deliberate training undertaken to enhance strength and stamina. However, Ryoga is also an opportunistic student and will be glad to accept training from any martial arts sensei that he encounters in his journey, though he usually does not seem to deliberately seek this training out and takes it by chance. The most notable examples of this are his training under Cologne to counter Ranma's Amaguriken training, and the fact that he has learned enough about Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics from some unknown tutor that he was able to educate Akane in some basics of the style, such as the rules about how combat is handled as well as basic club and ribbon techniques. In the anime, he also is willing to accept some training from Genma Saotome in one episode.

His fighting style primarily emphasises strength and stamina; Ryoga's constant travels that consistently involve hiking through harsh environments have granted him tremendous physical strength and impossibly strong endurance, these traits being his specialty are taken advantage of while he fights such as the consistent use of large bulky objects as improvised weaponry. For the most part it is a very straightforward, offense orientated style, with Ryoga focusing on attacking his opponent headlong and trusting on his endurance to both let him take any blows that may get through his defenses and to let him outlast his opponent. That said, it can be quite flexible and Ryoga is surprisingly quick, agile and athletic; it could even be considered a branch of Anything Goes Martial Arts in spirit, if not in name. While Ryoga does make use of his extremelly heavy umbrella as a weapon when he first appears and uses it from time to time afterwards, he primarily fights using his hands and his feet. Other weapons that Ryoga is shown to wield consistently are his endless supply of leopard bandanas wrapped around his head as razor sharp projectiles, his belt which is capable of cutting through a steel pole and tree, or any extremely heavy object he gets his hand on such as boulders or tables.

Ryoga has something of a tendency to get too obsessed with new techniques and rely entirely on them when in battle, ignoring the other skills in his arsenal even when his new technique is proving to not be as effect as he would like -- this is most obvious when he first learns the Bakusai Tenketsu and constantly tries to use it on Ranma, despite Ranma's ability to dodge and block it -- but this is more of a personality failing than a weakness of the style.

Ryoga has learned a number of techniques from a variety of sources, mixing and matching them freely in battle.

Iron Cloth: It is unknown where Ryoga developed this technique, but it is suspected through his vast knowledge of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics that he may have developed the style from studying it. Ryoga is, presumably through the usage of his ki, able to make cloth objects grow rigid and razorsharp; he mainly uses this on his bandannas to use them as deadly projectiles, but he has also transformed his belt into a makeshift sword at least once.

Bakusai Tenketsu: Translated as "Breaking Point", Ryoga learned this move from Cologne, who wanted to help Ryoga "win" Akane from Ranma so that Ranma would marry Shampoo. This ancient technique, apparently not ubiqutious to the Joketsuzoku, was developed by Chinese martial artists who needed to work in quarries. By repeatedly slamming headlong into a suspended boulder, the trainee eventually hones their mind's eye so that they can see the "breaking point" of the boulder, the one spot where they need to strike to utterly destroy it, and they can then see the breaking point in other objects. Despite Genma's misunderstanding, and Ryoga's miscomprehension, this technique does not work on living creatures -- while it can be adapted to use on wood or metal as well as stone, it is stated by Cologne to have no effect on living beings. The combat usage of this technique is secondary; as a result of the constant impacts, the trainee subconsciously learns to harden their body to the extent that most impacts cannot hurt them.

Shi Shi Hokodan: Translated as "Lion Roar Shot", Ryoga learned this move after being trapped in a cave by a landslide with a construction worker. Explaining the local ground was too brittle for Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu to work properly, he taught him this move so that he could blast his way out in one shot. By focusing on his depression, Ryoga is able to generate an aura of "heavy ki", which he is then able to hurl at Ranma or any other target with considerable destructive force. This technique has an advantage when the user is fighting an opponent with the obvious advantage, as the user loses and becomes more depressed or angry the Shi Shi Hokodan powered by the heavy emotions becomes more powerfull, Colonge describes those who try to master the Shi Shi Hokodan as two lions falling down a cliff, each one pushes their own limits until reaching their own demise.

Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan: This version of the Shi Shi Hokodan requires a different way to generate than the base form, the user must reach their lowest emotional point, hense generarting the heaviest ki possible and a much larger ki output. This version is projected skywards and reaches a certain height before coming down at the opponent with incredible speeds with the influence of gravity, inflicting enormous damage. As it is centered on the user, the technique will actually crush them as well when used, however, the user becomes "emotionally hollow" after firing the vertical ki blast and so the energy normally passes through them harmlessly. If they can be distracted, though, then the technique will hit them as well. Ryoga's Maximimum Power Shi Shi Hokodan that was intentionally induced by Ranma, enables Ryoga to project a Shi Shi Hokodan Ki Sphere larger than the size of Furinkan High School.

In "Treasure of the Crimson/Red Cat Gang", a Super Nintendo roleplaying videogame, Ryoga is shown with these special techniques.

Sekiteki Kairin Gasa: Ryoga opens his umbrella horizontally and spins it rapidly, using this to hypnotize a foe and render them unable to move. A more potent variant that works on multiple opponents is the Shinteki Kairin Gasa.

Chiri Metsuretsu: By twirling his umbrella in a flamboyant manner, Ryoga can baffle and confuse multiple foes at once. If he is in his piglet form, he can achieve the same effect with a bizarre, flamboyant dancing routine.

Hisho Koryu Ha: An incredibly powerful energy blast technique.

Ryoga also has the uncontrollable ability to assume the form of a small, black pig, either a piglet or a miniature pig (a species that was native to the region of China where he was afflicted) when splashed with cold water, thanks to having been knocked off-balance into a Jusenkyo spring by Genma and Ranma Saotome. In this form, he cannot fight at all, being reduced to mere charging attacks and biting with massively reduced strength, but he seems to retain his formidable durability (early on being hit in the face with a flying tournament bell and being unhurt) and is still quite quick and agile.

Physical Abilities
Fighting-skill: Ryoga is an exceptionally proficient martial artist, roughly comparable to Ranma, whom he has defeated or fought to a draw on many occasions, especially during shorter or off-screen battles, having triumphed roughly twice as many times as the opposite if these are included (times of outside enhancements or enfeeblements discluded), occasionally in seconds when sufficiently upset or similarly motivated, but also had a great disadvantage when the latter was far more focused while Ryoga was extremely flustered. Sometimes even Ranma has to distract or trick him to triumph in climax situations. Unlike most cast members, Ryoga is mostly self-taught, with immense natural talent, and relentless hard training as his only mentors. Takahashi has mentioned in an interview that the reason for his great power lies in his constant harsh hiking life.

Physical Power: Under regular circumstances he appears to be physically stronger than or, at the very least, as strong as Ranma. They have never outright competed in this area, since Ranma prefers to rely on skill and Ryoga has a tendency to emphasize special techniques when fighting. Ryoga's greatest explicit feat happened during their ice skating competition. When supremely motivated, Ryoga here moved two enormous buoying blocks of ice (to catch/stop Mikado Sanzenin) and far more impressively was shown to hurl at least one of them. He here used Ranma's head as a brace not to fall into the water, but the latter nonetheless supported the pressure from the floating slabs. Additionally, to throw them such a great distance would take some dozen times the effort from simply lifting it. Further comparative references include that Ranma broke his legs from the effort of supporting a considerable fall, while carrying four girls in the manga chapter "Attack of the Killer Secret Herb". Then again, the latter likely remained severely weakened from poison at the time, so his peak effort should be greatly multiplied. Ranma also proved unable to get out when trapped under a large iron bell, without handicaps, but he wasn’t significantly motivated, and had no hold for his hands to grip. Meanwhile, Female Ranma, stated to be weaker than Male Ranma, seemingly effortlessly pushed a boulder several times her size into the mouth of the Yamata-Orochi while swimming underwater when supremely determined to save Akane from being eaten.

Ryoga was also the chosen counterpart for Lime, but that may simply have been a case of their most pronounced ability. There is also the fact to consider that Ryoga had a personal vendetta against Lime, due to his mistreatment and abduction of Akane, as well as the fact that Mousse was the chosen counterpart for Mint, but has never been considered the swiftest character of the triad of Ranma, Ryoga, and Himself.

Lack of Control: One of the things that makes Ryoga's strength so hard to measure, as it can be taken as an indication of truly monstrous power, is the fact that Ryoga has very poor unconscious control over his strength. Repeatedly throughout the series it is shown that whenever Ryoga is not consciously controlling himself, especially when he becomes emotional, he is not able to hold his strength back and this results in him damaging property or even hurting people. Particularly good examples of this are when he is tricked into beliving Ranma is his sister and sends "her" flying with what is meant to be a scolding light tap on the forehead, made in response to being flustered by her insinuations of his intentions towards Akane, and during the Waterproof Soap story. In this story, when he believes Akane to be interested in him romantically, he tries to hug her in joy and rips through a thick, hardwood log as though it were made of tissue paper; when this sends Akane running from him in fear, he obliviously charges after her and absently smashes through whatever is in his path. When he finally catches what he believes is Akane (it's actually Ranma mimicing her voice), who begs him to be gentle as he's being far too rough, Ryoga gently embraces "her" at first, but moments later is so caught up in how happy he is that he's squeezing Ranma hard enough to both fracture ribs and force a projectile regurgitation of the previously-swallowed waterproof soap. This most likely stems from the fact his training is primarily self-taught; whereas Ranma has been instructed by his father and, most likely, other sensei on how to keep his strength in check, as have other characters in the cast, Ryoga is so used to going full-power that he is unable to hold power back unless he's concentrating on it.

Striking Force: Other displays of strength include completely shattering a large solid rock platform simply by prostrating on it in one of the aforementioned emotional outbursts, and punching Ranma so hard that the latter made a considerable crater in the side of a mountain.

Stamina: Ryoga also appears to have greater durability, honed through years of training in the mountains and through Cologne's Breaking Point Training. Though the possibility exists that it is simply a more overstated trait than for his counterpart. He has been repeatedly struck with dense heavy objects, fallen hundreds of meters into solid rock, been covered in a rockslide, and even been caught in a closing chasm, without any damage whatsoever, and emerged ready to fight on. He was unfazed by a full force blow from Taro's monster form, while a similar effort rendered female Ranma unable to continue fighting. But she was also struck through a wall and in a state of confusion about the latter's transformation (see the manga chapter "The Demon's True Identity"). Male Ranma was only briefly stunned on another occasion when not restrained by these limitations. Ryoga was only slightly discomforted from hundreds of Ranma's punches landed in less than a second, but repeated efforts, and putting both of them in freefall, presumably giving the latter an opportunity to instead land thousands of punches, all instances directed at the same spot, together managed to knock him out. He apparently even stayed unharmed after he and Ranma were hit dead-centre by Happosai's smaller Happo-Daikarin, which are capable of knocking out Taro-monster in a single strike, while his rival was rendered unconscious, although the force greatly varies from occasion to occasion.

Speed: While initially an even match, Ranma briefly gained a severe advantage in swiftness and skill after undergoing a power-up at Cologne's hands, but Ryoga quickly catches up in these areas as the manga progresses. By the time of the 'weakness moxibustion' arc, he is able to simultaneously parry, disarm and beat up Mousse, Tatewaki Kuno, Principal Kuno and Hikaru Gosunkugi in under a second. He likewise proved to be swifter than Mousse some volumes later, during an onsen race battle, where he avoided all the latter's attacks. Additionally, when Ranma is turned murderously jealous by a magic koi mark, Ryoga manages to narrowly avoid and parry the latter’s 'Amaguriken '-training enhanced supersonic barrage and later eventually best his rival In battle with the physically stronger and extremely durable Lime, he easily managed to stay out of his opponent's grasp until Mint's interruption. In the final story, he managed to effortlessly parry all of Genma Saotome strikes, while looking in another direction

Development: While he has occasionally thrown boulders a considerable distance, Ryoga has not shown explicit feats of greater physical power later in the series. However he did improve his strength enough to stand up to Lime, who seemingly has an even more impressive level of strength, to a degree. More noticeably Ryoga seems to turn into a more balanced fighter, greatly increasing his shown speed, skill, versatility and durability. Near the end of the manga the author spoofs their relationship by portraying Ranma and Ryoga as two constantly feuding and completely evenly matched children, not counting Ryoga's more powerful and dependable force-blasts, which gave him a certain edge.

Possible Potential: In both the manga and anime series Ryoga once helped a starving martial arts calligraphist by sharing his food. As thanks, the latter bestowed the "mark of the battling god" ("mark of the gods" in the dubbed anime) upon Ryoga, explaining that there is an energy center below the belly button that has an affect on how strong a person is and that this pattern will amplify it's potency in order to make Ryoga much more powerful. Under this influence Ryoga temporarily became the, by far, most formidable character ever shown in the series, and was literally capable of casually defeating Ranma with his pinkie finger, or without noticing when tied up, blindfolded and shackled to the floor. Even his piglet form was overwhelmingly superior, capable of effortlessly beating Ranma with a single strike. However, it is uncertain whether or not this was intended as an indication of his full potential or whether it was a simple source of power.

Ki Reserves: It is extremely hard to determine the ki ability of Ryoga, as it is not something that either he or Ranma Saotome are explicitly noted to rely upon. Ryoga's only known ki-based attack is the Shi Shi Hokodan, a move that harnesses the heavy ki that is created when one feels depressed and launches it as a projectile attack. Though Ryoga is a very skilled user of this move, it is not a particularly accurate measure of his ki reserves, as the move does not feed on Ryoga's own personal ki. Instead, its power source is Ryoga's emotional state: the more depressed he is feeling, the more heavy ki that will be generated and will thusly be available for him to tap. It is noted in the training scroll that this reliance on an emotionally generated external source of ki energy makes the Shi Shi Hokodan perhaps the easiest ki technique in the series to learn, as all it requires is knowledge of how to tap that heavy ki and the proper mindset to generate it. Ryoga is a melancholic character who also happens to live an extremely hard life, what with the vulnerabilities of his curse, his disconnection from society thanks to his lack of directions, and his romantic tension. This, enables Ryoga to utilise the technique given his consistent depressed state. The perfected form is one of four most powerfull and destructive techniques shown in the series, rivaled only by Ranma, Happosai, Herb and Saffron. The most extreme example of this is during the end of the Musk Dynasty arc: having only just managed to force himself back from the brink of death, his mind haunted by visions of Ranma and Akane not only happily married but totally indifferent to his fate, the vicious Lime gloating over his superiority, Ryoga is able to produce such a massive amount of heavy ki that his body becomes too heavy for the inhumanly strong Lime to raise, and the resultant blast is so powerful that it amazes the ki-master Herb.

Limitations: Ryoga seems far more vulnerable if he is distracted and his guard is completely down, so it is not impossible that his durability is bolstered by active chi-infusion. Lime was able to almost beat him in one full-force blow by taking advantage of such an opportunity, after Mint tumbled at Ryoga’s back from behind, and the latter became angered at Mousse for not keeping his fight contained. He has also been knocked out by an unexpected staff blow to the larynx from Mousse, while completely focused on Ranma who has likewise managed this feat. For example; by showing Ryoga Ukyo's breasts, paralyzing him from embarrassment, and then kicking him through the school wall, or by hitting the embarrassed Ryoga's head with a stone pillar from behind, when the latter's eyes were closed, since he was tricked by Shampoo into believing he would get a kiss from Akane.

Trivia

 * On Tvtropes.org Ryoga is considered the undisputed "king of lost-getting" and with good reason, another interesting fact is that since his debut numerous other mangas and animes have featured characters with an almost identical sense of direction as Ryoga, also of note is that these characters also share similar attributes to Ryoga such as monstrous super-human strength and endurance, examples of such characters are Roronoa Zoro from the manga One Piece and Kenpachi Zaraki from Bleach.


 * Ryoga's pig name, P-chan, might be a mistake. As "chan" doesn't really mean cute but is used toward a child or a female.
 * "Chan" may be an endearment used towards women and children, but its actual translation roughly equates to "cute". It is a very informal, intimate and affectionate honorific, usually only used towards those you have a very personal bond with, as family or as a couple.