School is No Place for Horsing Around

School is No Place for Horsing Around (遊びじゃないのよ学校は), is the second episode of Ranma ½.

Neither Ranma nor Akane got off to a very good start with their new relationship. But their fathers are sure that sending them to attend the same school will help them get over that rocky beginning. Ranma isn't so sure, especially when he meets Tatewaki Kuno, Akane's self-proclaimed previous suitor.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None. But the events of this episode take place the day after those shown in the previous episode.

Plot Overview
Akane is taking her morning jog in the early hours of Furinkan. She enters the Dojo grounds and hears the many sounds of Ranma and his father doing their morning training. The loud noises wake Nabiki and she comes into the living room in a daze. Kasumi tells them that their breakfast is ready. Genma and Ranma decide to wrap up their training. They each take a jump into the air and Genma manages to kick Ranma into the pond and turns him into a girl. Genma remarks that Ranma’s skills are getting sloppy. Ranma splashes him with cold water and throws a tin pan at his face saying he is the sloppy one. Panda Genma reappears and hits Ranma upside the head with the tin pan. Seeing as how he is Panda now, Kasumi swaps Genma’s prepared breakfast for some sticks of bamboo.

After taking a hot bath and reverting back to their original forms, Ranma and Genma walk down the Tendo dojo halls. Genma tells Ranma that they will begin to settle down there. Ranma disagrees because he does not wish to marry anyway and wants some say in his life followed by him kicking Genma into the pond. Nabiki shows up to inform Ranma that he will be going to the same school as her and Akane. Akane wants to go to school with Nabiki but Nabiki refuses saying that she should go with Ranma because he is her fiancé. Akane dislikes the idea and when she runs into Ranma in the hallway, she rudely tells Ranma to hurry up. Ranma says that he is not ready to go to school before Panda-Genma shows up with a fresh packed backpack. Ranma, who is mad that his father is making him go, gives up and follows after Akane.

Later, Akane informs Ranma that they are going to school as strangers, to which, Ranma eagerly agrees. He then says that he dislikes tom boys like her. Akane prepares to throw her school bag at him but Genma appears and hits Ranma upside the head. Ranma asks what he did that for to which, Genma replies that he must be kind to his new fiancé. Ranma completely ignores his father and trips him into the river below. Panda Genma appears and repeatedly strikes at Ranma but all attacks miss. Ranma comments that his attacks were “lame”. He is splashed by some cold water from an Old Woman emptying her water pot. Girl-Ranma stands with and angry expression on her face and Akane remarks that he is the lame one.

Akane takes Ranma to a clinic so she can get her some hot water. Ranma waits by the door thinking of her poor way to start things off and complains that she is going to be late. Suddenly, a skeleton’s hand creeps up and grabs Ranma on the shoulder. Ranma is scared completely and jumps onto the door and hangs from in it fear. A man is behind the Skeleton and apologizes for scaring Ranma, but Ranma still hangs from the door in fear. Akane appears to give Ranma water; she accidentally closes Ranma’s fingers in the door but completely ignores it when she sees the man. The man’s name is Dr. Tofu and he is the owner of the clinic. Dr. Tofu says that Akane hasn’t been around the clinic in a while and asks if she has had any new injuries. Akane says that she hasn’t been doing anything that can hurt her. Ranma can tell by the way she says it, Akane has a crush on Dr. Tofu.

At 8:26 a.m., Akane and Boy-Ranma rush to school before they are late. Ranma asks Akane if Dr. Tofu studies Martial Arts. Akane asks how he knows, to which, Ranma responds that he could tell by the way Dr. Tofu snuck up on him. Akane gives Dr. Tofu praise, calling him smart and a really talented martial artist and says that when she was a little and something was wrong, that he would always make it better. Ranma jumps down and says that he thought Akane didn’t like boys. She soon gains an angry look on her face as they get closer to the school and Akane says that she REALLY hates boys. Suddenly, a crowd of boys dash out from the school and towards Akane. Ranma is completely shocked and confused as to what is happening. The boys all cry out that they love Akane before attempting to pummel her to the ground. Akane charges through and kicks, punches, and jabs them one after another.

Ranma looks on at this shocked and confused as to why these boys are after her. Nabiki calls Ranma out from the school windows and informs him that if he doesn’t hurry, he will be late. Ranma asks “what about Akane?” Nabiki tells him that Akane does it every morning. Ranma takes another look at Akane and sees that she has finished off, what appears to be, the last of the boys. Akane calms down and wonders why the boys have yet to learn their lesson. Suddenly, a rose is thrown at Akane she catches it and gains an unpleasant look on her face. A young man emerges from behind the tree. He is none other then Upperclassman Tatewaki Kuno. Kuno remarks that all the boys who attempted to best Akane were weaklings.

Akane attempts to walk around him but he draws his kendo sword at her and challenges her to a match. Ranma steps off the fence post and remarks that Akane is awfully popular amongst the guys at school. Kuno asks Ranma why he is being so familiar with Akane and demands to know who he is. Before Ranma can introduce himself, Kuno begins blabbing about who he himself is. Ranma, completely confused, says that he is staying at the Tendo Training hall. The second he hears this, Kuno attempts to take a strike at Ranma but Ranma easily avoids it. He gives Akane his bag and accepts Kuno’s challenge.

The students of Furinkan High School gather around the window to see who has challenged Kuno. Kuno assumes that Ranma is “hounding” Akane, to which, Ranma immediately says no. Kuno takes another attempt at Ranma, once again missing him and destroying the school wall. It begins to rain lightly and Ranma dodges another of Kuno’s attacks. Ranma keeps attempting to talk some sense into Kuno but he is not listening. Ranma takes a great leap in the air and lands a two fingered attack upon Kuno’s forehead. Out of nowhere, Panda-Genma appears and takes the now female Ranma to a safe place to put hot water on her, thus leaving Akane and Kuno alone in the rain.

The rain eventually stops and Ranma and Genma are in the P.E. Equipment room. Girl Ranma says that she would have pummeled Kuno if not for the rain. Akane appears through the window and says she is not so sure about that. She tells Ranma to look at her neck. Ranma realizes she has a bruise just from the air pressure. Akane tells her that if Kuno had hit her, she’d be breathing through a hole in her neck. Akane calls it an even match but Ranma is not so sure.

Later in class, Kuno angrily looks at his forehead. Ranma managed to bruise Kuno's name on his head and Kuno did not even feel it. Kuno is even more angry because Ranma stamped Kuno's name to be read as "Insufferable," thus spelling his name wrong. Kuno writes that his name is “Capable” on the chalk board. Nabiki writes his name as “Incapable” on the board. Kuno glances at her and says “You realize that I hate you…” to which Nabiki responds “I’m so scared.” The teacher introduces Ranma to the class but says that being new is no excuse to be late and says that he and Akane must hold water buckets outside the classroom.

Akane blames Ranma but Ranma disagrees, claiming that it was Akane’s fight. She says that she manages to finish it on time every day. Ranma asks Akane why the boys were fighting her like that. She says that Kuno gave a speech at the beginning of the semester that if someone could beat Akane in a fight, they would be allowed to date her, leaving Ranma baffled.

Upstairs, Kuno is creating a rather large outburst when he finds out that Ranma is Akane’s fiancé. The teacher commands Kuno go out of the class for the outburst, to which Kuno obediently follows.

Back with Ranma and Akane, after a few moments silence between the pair Ranma questions Akane about fighting Kuno every morning. Akane answers that she does, and for some reason always wins. Ranma mentions that sometimes guys don't always use their full strength when fighting girls. This prompts Akane to ask Ranma to fight her for real sometime, but Ranma refuses since she's female. Slightly annoyed, Akane threatens to throw the bucket of water over him.

Ranma panics somewhat at this threat, but before Akane throws her water, Ranma quickly dodges another stream of water which turns out to originate from an enraged Kuno. Kuno yells that he won't accept Ranma's engagement to Akane, which quickly makes the pair tell Kuno to speak more quietly. Unfortunately it's too late and the students of Ranma and Akane's class and heard so all appear to question the newly-revealed fiancés.

After protesting their innocence in this whole engagement situation, Kuno tries to strike Ranma but Ranma dodges so only his bucket gets cut. Once he dodges Kuno's attack, Ranma jumps over him. Ranma continues by telling Kuno the hall is not a good place to fight in, so if Kuno still wishes to fight then he should follow him. Ranma runs off and is quickly followed by Kuno, along the myriad of students and Akane.

While running along the corridors, Ranma finds an open window and decides to jump out of it as a shortcut. Kuno blindly follows, not noticing what he's doing until it's too late. Akane notes that this is mad as they're on the third floor, but Ranma assures her that this isn't a problem. Ranma's attitude doesn't last long as he notices the school pool is beneath him. The pair fall straight into the pool as the students watch from the third floor waiting for them to emerge from beneath the pool water...

Quotes

 * Tatewaki Kuno: My peers call me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High! (thunder crashes) Tatewaki Kuno, age 17.

Trivia

 * This episode introduces Tatewaki Kuno to the series.
 * It also introduces Dr. Tofu Ono to the series.
 * The joke where Nabiki and Kuno argue over Ranma's "misspelling" of Kuno's name is an adaptation of a joke in the chapter "Never, Never, Never", which is instead based on both Ranma and Kuno misspelling the word "Buffoon" and being corrected by Nabiki.
 * This episode establishes that Ranma and Akane's homeroom is 1-F, whilst Nabiki and Kuno attend homeroom 2-E. These designations are rarely if ever referenced in the rest of the series.