From Ryoga with Love

From Ryoga with Love (良牙, 愛と苦悩を越えて) is the 53rd episode of Ranma ½ Nettohen.

Lost and alone in the mountains, Ryoga contemplates his two closest relationships; the girl he loves from afar, and the boy he considers his strongest rival.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None, but references are made to several episodes that Ryoga appeared prominently in during the first three seasons.

Plot Overview
Early one stormy morning in a small, leaky shack somewhere in the mountains of Japan, Ryoga Hibiki awakens from a terrible nightmare in which he finally runs along a beach to embrace Akane Tendo, only for her to shove him aside and leap into the arms of Ranma Saotome, the two of them waltzing away happily. Barely paying any attention to the clamour of local farmers whose pigs have escaped in the storm, Ryoga broods over how terrible life is being to him recently. He's had no luck in either beating Ranma or wooing Akane, he's so disgusted with his cursed body he felt compelled to leave town, and now he's stuck in a ramshackle hut due to the pouring rain outside, while Ranma and Akane are probably living it up in their nice warm house.

Reflecting on his lack of success, he wonders if maybe Akane & Ranma really do love each other, then dismisses it as impossible; after all, he's seen the way they fight all of the time. Then again, he can't help but remember the way that Akane looked at Ranma, that one time when Shampoo first arrived. He pounds on the floor, cracking it, in irritation, insisting that there's no way Akane can be in love with Ranma -- he doesn't deserve her love, not after all the things he's done. Ryoga bitterly recalls how Ranma first skipped out on their duel (and humiliated him in front of the students of Furinkan High School by pointing out he took four days to reach a vacant lot behind his own house), and then knocked him into Jusenkyo.

He is drawn from his musings when he hears the farmers drawing closer, chasing one last errant piglet, much to Ryoga's annoyance. As he shouts at the ceiling to quit it with the pigs already, the very same female piglet that the farmers are chasing falls through the roof, deluging Ryoga with cold rainwater as she does. Once they meet gazes around the backpack, she pleads for Ryoga to save her, and Ryoga can't resist. As the farmers come bursting in, Ryoga drenches himself with a conveniently boiling kettle, though his scream of pain startles the farmers. Clumsily, Ryoga persuades then that he hasn't seen their errant livestock, and they leave, confused but no longer a danger. As the piglet emerges from his packback, she realises that this kind human who just saved her and the handsome piglet from before are the same being, and leaps joyfully into Ryoga's arms to try and give him a kiss.

Embarrassed, Ryoga protests that he's saving his first kiss for Akane, then freezing up while redfaced from embarrassment and asks if he really just said that, his mind drifting to when Akane first saved him from Ranma and kissed him. Idly, he takes the piglet in his lap and sits down, absently tapping his finger on the floor and thinking. Cooling down, he begrudgingly admits he can't blame Ranma for everything; he's made some mistakes of his own. Like when he chopped off Akane's hair in his own frenzy to fight Ranma. When he looks up, though, he is deeply shocked to see what he has done; punching holes into the floor to spell out the kanji for "Akane". Flabberghasted, he notes that he did this without even thinking about it, then remembers he did this exact same thing while training under Cologne.

He wonders if maybe his heart has more control over him than his head, recalling the time he teamed up with Mousse, ending up abandoning Mousse to help Ranma rescue Akane from her own obliviousness. He then chastises himself that it's not Akane's fault that she is always in his thoughts and he can't keep from getting distracted... in fact, he wonders if maybe that isn't his problem; if the reason he continues to fail to achieve either of his goals isn't because of the fact he's too conflicted over which to pursue. He can't beat Ranma because he can't stop thinking about Akane, and he can't confess his feelings to Akane without the confidence he needs to beat Ranma to attain. Recalling the sweet memories of the two dates he managed to have with Akane (one more successful than the other), he triumphantly vows to himself that he is going to stop thinking of Akane altogether and focus on his training, that he will not allow her to distract him until he has beaten Ranma and can approach her will full consciousness to ask her to go out with him.



The storm ending and the sun rising, Ryoga, in good cheer, conversationally asks the piglet if she'd like to come with him, only to realise she's vanished. Not seeing her stow away in his pack, and shrugging it off as no concern of his, he heads out of the shack, planning on sending a letter to Ranma & Akane of his plans and then heading deeper into the mountains to train. Of course, Ryoga can't find his way anyway, and to his horror, ends up not only back in civilisation, but walking into Ranma and Akane in the street! Ranma promptly starts teasing Ryoga about his terrible direction sense, causing Ryoga to cast his backpack aside and get ready to fight him for this mockery. He nearly leaps out of his skin when it starts squealing, and when Ranma opens it up, the piglet comes leaping out and frantically into his arms. Ranma taunts Ryoga about having found a "new girlfriend", and Ryoga tries to protest that they aren't before the pig shuts him up by kissing him squarely on the lips.

Quotes
(Ryoga) "But I've never been able to defeat Ranma. That's because I've never been able to concentrate on fighting."

Trivia

 * This is the second and last "Recap Episode" in the series. The first was the season one finale, I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?