When a Guy's Pride and Joy is Gone

Otoko no Yabō ga Tsukiru Toki... (男の野望が尽きる時...) is the 71st episode of Ranma ½ Nettohen.

With the secret of his Dragon's Whisker pigtail tie revealed, Ranma must fight against not only the Niku-men, but also Genma and Happosai.

Relation to the Previous Episode
Continues directly from the events of the previous episode.

Continuing from the Previous Episode
As Akane continues to remain in shock at Ranma's change in appearance, the Niku-men discuss their latest defeat. Seeing as they can't win by brute force, the group agree to try one more plan, this time using a sleep-powder laced Red-bean bun!

After setting the trap, the Niku-men lie in wait for Ranma to arrive. Unfortunately, their "prefect plan" soon falls apart as Happosai appears and quickly consumes the bean bun. Seeing this the infuriated Niku-men swarm around Happosai, but the group are easily defeated by even the half-asleep Happosai. With them having received their worst beating yet, the Niku-men quickly apologize to the old lecher; revealing that they only did this for the Dragon's Whisker. Intrigued, Happosai asks what the Dragon Whisker is which prompts the Niku-men to huddle around him to explain it's power. Now aware of the whisker's power, Happosai decides that he must secure it for himself...

Back at Furinkan High Akane (having gotten over her initial shock) asks Ranma what's happened to him. Ranma proceeds to explain that, whilst he was training in China, she stopped a thief, but quickly ate the food he had stolen to subdue her own hunger. The owner of the food was concerned that Ranma was male, but was relieved to see that she was female. Ranma continues by explaining that after taking her back to his restaurant, the man told her that the food she ate was made with stock from the Dragon's Whisker which has no effect on women, but unleashes the true ambition of any man who eats it. Curious, Ranma proceeded to use some boiled water to change back to his male form, much to horror of the whisker's owner who offered him the Dragon's Whisker to him so that he may seal it's power until the effect wears off.

With Ranma's explanation finished, Akane comments how she can see why men would fight over it.

Genma's Revelation
Genma, meanwhile, decides to head to the Cat Café in the hope that Cologne can divulge some information about the Dragon's Whisker, but all she tells him is that the whisker causes endless strife and that even if she knew the secret she wouldn't tell him. Hearing this Genma attempts to get Cologne to reconsider, but just gets warned by Cologne that she especially wouldn't tell someone like him.

This comment intrigues Genma who begins to wonder how he would be effected by a whisker that causes wars. Just then, Genma is jumped on by a passing Happosai, declaring his want for the whisker as he passes. With even his master now wanting the whisker, Genma tries to deduce some sort of connection between him and the Niku-men and after only a few seconds Genma makes his conclusion... they're all bald! Hoping that his hunch is correct, Genma rushes off to claim the whisker before anyone else can.

Back with Akane and Ranma once more, and Akane notes the power of the Dragon's Whisker hair rejuvenation abilities. She then swiftly cuts off Ranma's elongated hair before tying together with the whisker again before it has the chance to grow back.

As the pair walk out of school, Akane asks Ranma if he's worried about the Niku-men attacking again, but Ranma retorts that he isn't worried about them. At that moment the two of them come under attack by a barrage of Happo-Fire Burst bombs. Fortunately Ranma manages to grab Akane and evade the attack in him, but as the smoke clears the pair see Happosai standing in front of them, surrounded by his Battle Aura. With Ranma unwilling to hand over the whisker, Happosai attempts to take it by force, using his aura to send Ranma flying before launching another Fire Burst bomb. However, Genma suddenly arrives and grabs the bomb before throwing it back to his perverted master.

Genma's act of insubordination infuriates Happosai who goes in for another attack, only for Genma to declare he won't let anyone hurt his son anymore before proceeding to finish off his master with a single punch. Now that his master has been dealt with, Genma turns to his son and asks if he's okay, only for Ranma angrily exclaim that he hopes he's not after the whisker too. This claim (although true) hurts Genma deeply, who immediately proceeds to run off in tears.

Hair Raising
Concerned about what just happened Ranma heads off with Akane to track down his father, who they soon find moping by the edge of a river. Upon quietly walking over, Ranma listens as his father solemnly comments on how he wouldn't try to steal the Dragon's Whisker at the sacrifice of his own son. Genma shows his true colors, however, as he goes in to hug his son, in the hope of grabbing the whisker whilst his son's guard is down. Unfortunately for Genma, his plan quickly falls apart as Ranma swiftly kicks him in the face as his hands begin to reach for the whisker. Irritated, Genma challenges Ranma over the ownership of the whisker, a fight which he soon loses.

With his father lying on the floor in defeat, Ranma prepares to walk away when he sees how upset his father is. Seeing this Ranma returns to his father's side and asks if he's hurt. Genma retorts that it isn't from pain that he weeps, but rather that his own son would beat him to the ground over a hair tonic. Not a moment after saying this, Genma swiftly grabs the whisker from Ranma's pigtail. As Ranma's hair sprouts-forth uncontrollably, Genma makes his escape whilst telling his son that he needs to train more. Ranma attempts to chase his two-timing father, but is stopped by Cologne's cane pressing on a portion of his hair.

Not a second after Ranma asks Cologne why she stopped him, Cologne doses Ranma with cold water so that the whisker will no longer have any effect. As she inspects the long cuttings of Ranma's hair, Cologne darkly informs her future son-in-law that if they don't retrieve the whisker soon he'll go bald within a week!

Meanwhile, having returned to the Tendo Dojo and checking that nobody's around, Genma takes out the Dragon Whisker so that he can finally restore his hair. Unfortunately Genma's dreams are soon crushed when he realizes that he doesn't know how to get the whisker to work; seconds before Ranma returns to reclaim it. Determined to keep hold of the whisker, Genma melodramatically tells Ranma that just wanted protect her from the evil power of the whisker before proceeding to offer to buy it for ¥10. Infuriated Ranma returns to trying to take the whisker by force and the pair begin scrapping with each other until Akane appears and asks Genma if he wants his son to remain female for the rest of his life. This question perks Genma's interest, leading to Akane and Cologne explaining that the whisker will cause Ranma's hair to continue to grow until it depletes itself.

Follicle Farewell
No sooner does Cologne finish her explanation than Genma decides to see the results for himself and changes Ranma back into his male form. Upon seeing his son's out-of-control hair, Genma quickly succumbs to envy. But before Ranma can hit his idiotic father, Happosai intervenes by throwing several smoke bombs into the room so that he can take the whisker. Ranma, however, swiftly changes back into her female form and undoes her shirt to distract the old lecher whilst Genma stomps his master into submission and takes back the whisker. Despite this, Genma doesn't possess it for long as Ranma soon gets it back (sending Genma flying through the ceiling in the process), before Happosai does the same to her and makes his getaway; all the while Akane and Cologne look on at the apparent "horror" the Dragon's Whisker brings.

Having at last acquired the whisker for himself, Happosai returns to the Niku-men and demands they tell him how to use it.

With their lives threatened, the Niku-men soon give in and tell Happosai what he needs to do. But just before Happosai can put the whisker into the stock he's made, Ranma returns and grabs the whisker; tying her hair back up moments before Happosai's boiling stock hits her. Suddenly Genma appears and congratulates his son, only to be promptly sent skyward again. This, however, gives Happosai the chance to cut of Ranma's pigtail and get the whisker back, causing Ranma's hair to grow out again.

As Genma shamelessly tries to get his master to agree to share some of the whisker with him, the enraged Ranma begins tying his hair around several large objects nearby. He then continues by swinging his hair in circles, leaving Genma and Happosai to flee from the incoming projectiles.

Once Genma becomes ensnared, Happosai uses this opportunity to save himself, but he is quickly entangled by Ranma as well once he notices a brassiere attached to the end of one of Ranma's hair strands. With the old lecher in his grasp Ranma begins to swing him round in circles as well, until suddenly his hair start falling out.

Seeing that Ranma has been reduced to a silent state of shock at the thought of going bald, Akane (who'd seen the whole fight along with Cologne) tries to comfort him, but struggles coming up with anything encouraging to say. This prompts Genma to remind Ranma that he is his son, so would've lost sooner or later anyway. Unsurprisingly this just upsets Ranma more who begins to runaway, before remembering that he'll be cured if he eats the Dragon's whisker. He then proceeds to ask Happosai to give him some, an offer which Happosai rejects moments before realizing that in the fight he lost the whisker! As Ranma collapses to the ground, Cologne goes over and notices that the remaining hair Ranma has is still firmly in place, meaning that the whisker's effects simply wore off and Ranma won't go bald after all.

That evening, Genma, Happosai and the Niku-men find themselves at the Cat Café waiting for their order of Dragon's Whisker Soup. Meanwhile, in China, the Dragon's Whisker Salesman notices that yesterday was the expiration date for the whisker so calls the Café to tell them. Once the call ends, Cologne goes over to Shampoo and informs her, but the pair decide not to tell the others as they'll find out for themselves soon enough. Whilst the others imagine themselves feeling the effects of the useless whisker, Akane tries and fails once again to tie up Ranma's pigtail for him...

Quotes

 * (Niku-men) "We failed with pork buns... but bean buns... it's the perfect plan!"
 * (Cologne) "You want to know the secret of the Dragon's Whisker?"
 * (Genma) "Correct. You're a 3,000 year-old Chinese ghoul, so I figured you'd know."
 * (Cologne) "Who're you calling a 3,000 year-old Chinese ghoul?!"

Trivia

 * In the manga, there are some differences regarding how Genma, Happosai and the Niku-men attack Ranma before Genma manages to steal it:
 * Genma finds Ranma and Akane still in the school shed; the former furious at his son from keeping the Dragon Whisker a secret from him. In the anime he makes his entrance catching Happosai's attack to "defend" Ranma.
 * In the anime, Happosai attacks Ranma solo with his battle aura until Genma knocks him away. In the manga he attempted to rush Ranma with the Niku-men (likely a coincidence) until Genma (who arrived first) punches them away instantly.
 * The exchange between Genma and Happosai before the latter is blasted away. In the manga, Happosai complains that it's no way to treat a poor old (man) before Genma knocks him away exclaiming "A poor old THIEF!?" In the anime Happosai gets hit by his own attack and scolds Genma for treating his master so poorly only for the latter to counter "You may be my master, but he's (Ranma's) daddy's little boy!" in the dub or "I won't let anyone hurt Ranma! Not even my teacher!" in the sub.