A Xmas Without Ranma

A Xmas Without Ranma (乱馬がいないXmas) is the 13th episode in the sixth season, Random Rhapsody, of Ranma ½ and the 125th episode overall.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None.

Christmas Preparations
After hearing about the upcoming snow which may result in a, Soun (who's playing a game of with Genma) notes that when he was young there was no such thing as Christmas. Genma then adds that his family has always been, so never celebrated it either. Just then Kasumi walks in and asks Nabiki if she's seen Ranma or Akane, to which Nabiki admits she hasn't seen either of them. Kasumi continues by informing Soun and Genma that she's preparing a feast for them, this prompts the pair to begin cheering for Christmas as Nabiki looks on in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Akane and Ranma are in the shopping plaza as Akane looks at all the attractive items for sale. Ranma, however, is less enthusiastic and asks Akane if she's sure she should be wasting time like this, especially as he didn't really want to come shopping in the first place. Akane reminds Ranma that they have to do the shopping since they lost at before adding that since they're here they may as well enjoy the Christmas lights.

The conversation then turns to what pair want as gifts and, although Ranma doesn't really want anything, Akane rattles off a long list of things she would like. As they walk through the plaza, Ranma accidentally bumps into Mousse, knocking the present he (Mousse) just bought which is subsequently flattened by a passing Tractor. Infuriated that his gift for Shampoo has been ruined, Mousse begins attacking Ranma in vengeance.

Believing that dealing with Mousse might take some time, Ranma instructs Akane to go home without him, but Akane refuses as they're meant to decorate the tree when they get home. As Ranma leads Mousse somewhere more private, Akane tells Ranma to come back soon as they'll need his help. At that moment, Shampoo appears and tells Akane that Ranma will be spending Christmas Eve with her and her alone. Shampoo then continues by questioning Akane about what she plans to do for Christmas and asks if she's going to eat Christmas cake and sing songs, to which Akane replies that those are some of the things she was going to do. Hearing this, Shampoo comments how childish Akane's idea of Christmas is, as people in love spend Christmas alone together, prompting Akane to ask Shampoo if she's made a date with Ranma. Shampoo admits that she hasn't, but will do it now, and heads off in the direction Mousse and Ranma went.

Searching for Ranma
When Akane returns home, she's greeted by Nabiki and Kasumi who ask her where Ranma is, but Akane replies that she doesn't know and suggests they start decorating the tree. However, before Akane gets anywhere near the tree, Happosai appears, declaring he's gotten Akane a Brassiere for Christmas, prompting Akane to hit the old lecher.

As Nabiki and Akane decorate the tree, Nabiki comments on how late Ranma is returning home before asking Akane if they had another fight. Akane explains that they didn't have a fight, to which Kasumi wonders what could've happened to Ranma to take him so long. Soun and Genma then begin quoting phrases to try and get Akane to look for Ranma, but it isn't until Akane imagines Ranma agreeing to spending Christmas with Shampoo does she finally decide to go out and look for him.

Akane's first stop is the Cat Café, where Cologne tells her that Shampoo hasn't returned yet, which is bad for her as without Shampoo, Cologne can't open the restaurant. At that moment Shampoo walks in and Akane wastes no time in asking her where Ranma is, however, Shampoo doesn't know either and is happily surprised to hear Ranma isn't at the Tendo Dojo as she was just going there to look for him. Shampoo then runs off down the street, with Akane in hot pursuit, as Cologne comments how she wishes she was 100 years younger.

The pair soon arrive at the local park, where Akane jumps in front of Shampoo and explains they should work together as they're looking Ranma. After Shampoo comments about them wanting the same thing, Akane notes that they need to find Mousse when she suddenly notices bruised duck form atop a tree.

After changing Mousse back into his human form, Akane gets Mousse to tell them what happened as he chased Ranma. Mousse explains that as he chased Ranma, Ranma refused to fight back and when they arrived in the park, he (Mousse) was attacked by some sort of "interference" before landing in the fountain and being trampled over by a gang of angered female Furinkan High School students. Having heard this, Akane begins to wonder where Ranma was running to, although Shampoo quickly declares he was running to see her.

Shampoo then brings up who the underwear thief was, to which Akane gives her the already obvious answer that it was Happosai. At that moment Shampoo declares she can see a Red-nosed Reindeer and tells Akane and Mousse to look at it. The pair blindly do as instructed, giving Shampoo the opportunity to hit them with her, rendering the pair unconscious and giving Shampoo time to tie them up to the park clock tower.

When Akane comes round she tries to break the rope, but soon gives up. She then hears Mousse commenting on how nothing good has happened to him all year, Akane tells Mousse that he should do something about it, but Mousse explains he used up the money he earned at the Cat Café for his gift for Shampoo. Akane tells Mousse that he shouldn't give up and that he shouldn't let anything stand in the way of him spending Christmas with Shampoo if that's what he wants. Spurred on by Akane's words, Mousse breaks free of the rope in order to spend Christmas with Shampoo, although the slightly scared Akane warns Mousse not to go overboard.

Visiting the Kuno's
As soon as Akane returns home she heads to Happosai's room and finds him eating some Ramen. Wasting no time, Akane demands Happosai tell her where Ranma is like he did with Shampoo. Slightly irritated, Happosai asks Akane what she's going to do with Ranma when she finds him. This question catches Akane off guard, but she eventually says she'll make Ranma help decorate the tree and adds that after that he can do whatever he wants. As Happosai finishes off his Ramen, he tells Akane that if that's her only reason for wanting Ranma then he can't help her.

Akane is put aback by the comment, but soon realises that Shampoo bribed Happosai for the information and after some trickery of her own, learns that Happosai was given a card granting him a week of free Ramen at the Cat Café. With Akane holding Happosai's free meal card, he gives in and tells her what happened.

Happosai explains he tried to frame Ranma for the underwear theft by dropping a Brassiere on his head, however, Ranma runs after the old lecher as well and quickly catches up. After a heated argument between the two of them, Happosai used one of his Happo-Fire Burst bombs on Ranma, sending Ranma flying in the direction of the Kuno Estate. As Happosai finishes his explanation he sees that Akane's gone, much to his annoyance.

Meanwhile, Shampoo and Kodachi fight each other over who will be with Ranma. Akane soon arrives and ends up stopping the fighting. Akane proceeds to ask the pair why they're fighting over Ranma like, but Shampoo derails Akane by asking her why she showed up if she didn't care about Ranma. Luckily for Akane, before she can answer, Kuno appears and is overjoyed to see her here (believing her to have chosen to have spend Christmas with him). Akane is shocked how injured Kuno is, prompting Kuno to explain that several hours ago Ranma arrived at his home. Unfortunately, Kuno soon stops his explanation so that he and Akane can be together as lovers.

After Akane hits Kuno for this, Shampoo picks him up and asks where Ranma really went... in exchange for spending Christmas with Akane! Kuno immediately agrees and explains that when Ranma arrived at his home, he gave chase down the streets of Furinkan before passing Okonomiyaki Ucchan's, where Kuno got distracted by reading the restaurant sign and ran into a lamppost. With this information, Shampoo drops Kuno and declares that Ranma must be with Ukyo.

Ranma... Found!
Back at the Tendo Dojo, Kasumi and Nabiki have just finished decorating the tree. Kasumi then asks Nabiki to help her in the kitchen as she has a feeling she'll need to make twice as much food as usual this year.

Returning to Akane and as a cold wind blows over Kuno's unconscious body, Akane notes how tired she is with everyone being so selfish. Just then Kuno gets another boost of energy and notes his happiness at spending Christmas with Akane, although Akane doesn't share Kuno's sympathies and punches him high into the sky.

Elsewhere, Ukyo is in a with Shampoo and Kodachi, with each of them wanting to spend Christmas with Ranma. Eventually Akane appears and quotes what each of the girls has said about wanting to spend Christmas with Ranma, before adding how selfish they all are as Ranma wouldn't spend Christmas with any of them. The others are surprised at this comment, and when Shampoo suggests that Akane may have a fever, Akane retorts she doesn't and declares that Ranma will spend Christmas with her!

Early that evening, as Akane walks back to the Tendo Dojo, she passes a child's play park where she finally meets Ranma again. Ranma walks over to her, explaining that it would embarrassing at home, so he waited for her here. He then takes out some gifts for Akane from his bag, all of which Akane had mentioned wanting earlier in the shopping plaza. As Akane holds onto her gifts, Ranma tries to give her another gift when he notices that it's started snowing. The pair then stand in silence as the snow slowly falls around them.

A little while later the pair return to the Tendo Dojo, where they're surprised to be met by everyone (including Shampoo and co.) enjoying a Christmas party together. As Ranma and Akane stand in stunned silence, Ukyo, Kodachi and Shampoo explain that they decided to spend Christmas Eve together, but add that from tomorrow it'll be the same as always and Ranma will only spend Christmas with one of them. Soun defuses the situation, but ends up in a small argument with Genma as to who should get the first slice of cake, as the pair bicker, Akane and Ranma smile at each other happily...

Trivia

 * When Mousse recalls being run over by the female Furinkan High students, Akane, Ranma, Shampoo and Ukyo flash across the screen in form wearing Christmas outfits.
 * The images are later reused when Akane punches Kuno.
 * Notably, Shampoo speaks in far less broken English in this episode than anywhere else in the series.