Ranma's Secret

Ranma's Secret (らんまの秘密) is the second chapter in the first volume of the manga and the concluding chapter of the Introduction Arc.

Synopsis
After finding a strange man in the bathtub Akane and the rest of the Tendo Sisters are surprised to see a young man who says that his name is also Ranma Saotome. This leads Ranma and his father, Genma, to explain what's going on and what has happened to them.

Plot Overview
Soun begins by deciding to explain to his daughters who these people are. He starts off by introducing his old friend Genma Saotome, Genma then continues by introducing his son, Ranma Saotome. Akane looks at Ranma angrily, while Nabiki and Kasumi begin asking Ranma if he really is the girl from earlier. Genma decides that the best way to prove that this is true is by a visual demonstration, so grabs Ranma and throws him into the cold pond outside in the garden. Ranma plunges into pond and when he emerges he is a girl again, much to her annoyance, this display shows the Tendo Sisters that what Genma is saying is true.

Genma then begins to crying and says that it is really humiliating for him that his own son gets turned into a girl, this angers Ranma even more who decides to kick Genma in the back and force him into the pond. Genma falls in and the Panda that arrived earlier jumps out, very angry at what Ranma just did. While to two of them are doing this Kasumi asks her father why he's friends with them, to which Soun replies that they weren't like this before they went to China and undertook a terrifying training exercise. Ranma and Genma then have another hot bath to return them to their normal selves and come back downstairs to explain how they ended up in this state.

A flashback occurs showing Ranma and Genma being guided by a local chinese man in the Mt. Quanjing Bayankala range of China's Qinghai province. The chinese man then says that they have arrived at the legendary "Training Ground of the Accursed Springs". Genma asks Ranma if he's prepared, to which comments on saying that the place doesn't look so impressive. After Genma has out his large backpack on the ground the guide says the they are very strange as nobody uses the springs for training anymore as it's very dangerous, the guide continues by saying that there are over 100 springs and that each has their own tragic legend.

Genma and Ranma don't listen to guides warning and decide to start training, by fighting each other over the springs by landing on the Bamboo that's sticking out of the springs. Genma tells Ranma that he won't go easy on him, to which Ranma relies that that's the way he likes it and the two begin to spar. Still on the ground the guide shouts to Genma and Ranma telling that's it very bad if they fall into the springs, but his warnings fall on deaf ears. Genma and Ranma continue to spar until Ranma kicks Genma into one of the springs below, Ranma waits for his father to reemerge and asks if they're done already. However, when Ranma assumes victory is his a panda jumps out of the spring that Genma just fell into and greatly shocks Ranma.

The Panda then jumps up onto one of the Bamboo shots, while Ranma just stands still with a very confused look. The guide then shoots that the spring that Genma just fell in was the "Spring of Drowned Panda", the guide then explains that there is a very tragic legend about a Panda that drowned in the spring Two Thousand years ago and now anyone who fall in the spring will take the body of a Panda. After the guide has finished shouting up to Ranma the Panda begins attacking Ranma, all the while Ranma tries to dodge the attacks and says that the guide never said anything about that. The Panda then manages to punch Ranma and force him to land into another spring. The guide begins explaining that the spring Ranma just fell into is the "Spring of Drowned Girl" with a tragic legend of a girl who drowned in the spring One Thousand Five Hundred years ago and now whoever falls in the spring takes the body of a young girl. Ranma then emerges to and looks down his Karate gi and finds that he now has breasts.

Once Genma and Ranma have finished explaining what happened, Soun then says that the true horror of Legendary Ground of Accursed Springs has always been surrounded in mystery; but he now knows its "true horror". Ranma then gets very angry and grabs hold of Genma and asks him why idea behind him draggin' him there. Genma then throws Ranma out into the pond again, when Ranma reemerges again Genma tells Ranma that he sounds like a woman and asks him if he was prepared to give his life for the sake of his training. Upon hearing this Ranma replies by saying that he was ready to give his life but his manhood is another thing and throws a bucket of cold water over Genma causing him to become a Panda again, the two then get involved in a slap fight.

Soun looks on at the fight crying saying that it's just tragedy. However, Kasumi has had enough and stops the slap fight, she then tells Mr. Saotome that he went too far; which is quickly followed by Nabiki saying that it was far even for Martial Arts training. Kasumi then shouts at Genma asking him what made him do something so dangerous. Genma then drops a leaflet onto the floor, which Kasumi picks up and looks at, she then notices that the booklet is all in Chinese. Nabiki then says that it appears to be a booklet about training grounds, this leads Kasumi to the assumption that Genma can't read Chinese to which Genma responds to with a woven ball popping open with a scroll saying Correct! rolling out of it. Ranma then hits Genma on the back of the head for this stupidity.

Once Kasumi has finished shouting, Soun gets a Tetsubin containing boiled water and pours it over Genma. This causes Genma to return to his normal human form, Soun then comments of the fact that hot water turns them back to normal; with Genma continuing by saying that water doesn't need to be that hot. Soun then tries to pour some of the water over Ranma in order to turn her back into a boy, Ranma quickly avoids the boiling hot water. This leads Soun to say that the situation isn't as bad as he first thought and that Ranma can still pick one of his daughters to be his Fiancée.

Ranma is given to choose between Kasumi, whose's 19, Nabiki, whose's 17, and Akane, whose's 16. Kasumi and Nabiki quickly decide amongst themselves that Akane should be Ranma's Fiancée, much to Akane's protest. Nabiki and Kasumi then try to persuade Akane by saying that since she hates boys so much then Ranma would be perfect as he's half girl. However, Akane still protests saying that she'll never marry that pervert.

Ranma interrupts by asking Akane who she's calling a pervert, when it was Akane who walked in on her. Akane responds by saying it's different when a girl looks at a boy. Meanwhile, Soun and Genma laugh in the background saying that they are already acting like a couple; when Akane hears this she shouts across to them saying that Ranma could be a couple by himself. Ranma then begins to walk off, having heard enough arguments and insults, Genma asks where Ranma is going to which Ranma responds by saying she's going back to China to try find a way to change back for good.

Just before Ranma leaves she says that Akane took a pretty good luck at her as well. Ranma continues by saying that it doesn't matter if she sees Akane naked as she's seen herself naked plenty of times. Ranma then turns around and says that she's better built as well, this greatly angers Akane who throws the table over Ranma and squashes her onto the floor. Genma, looking on at what just happened and says that Ranma had that coming.

Ranma wakes up on the floor after being hit by the table, with a pillow under her head, with Kasumi and Nabiki looking over her. Kasumi then says that she's glad Ranma's awake again and that Akane's a very sweet girl but she's a violent maniac. Nabiki then comments on how little sense what Kasumi said just made.

Akane is then seen in the bathroom pouring buckets of water over herself and thinking about what Ranma had said earlier. Meanwhile, Ranma walks up the stairs thinking about earlier and how different Akane was when she thought that Ranma was just a girl. Ranma then goes into the changing area of the bathroom and gets undressed. As Ranma opens the door to the adjoining room Akane is stood naked on the other side of the door about to go out. Akane then gets very angry with Ranma seeing her naked again and slaps Ranma across the face. Ranma is then seen back downstairs, now in his male form, with Genma saying means Akane's got spunk making her a cuter Fiancée; to which Ranma replies by saying that cute is not the word. In the other room Nabiki says that since Ranma and Akane were both girls at the time it makes it okay, to which Akane replies by saying that okay is not the word.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Soun Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (human)
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Akane Tendo
 * Nabiki Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Jusenkyo Guide (debut)

Quotes

 * He's a couple by himself! - Akane Tendo talking about Ranma.
 * And I'm better built to boot - Ranma talking about her body compared to Akane's.
 * She's a very sweet girl... she's just a violent maniac. - Kasumi Tendo taking to Ranma about Akane.
 * "Okay" isn't the word. - Akane Tendo replying to Nabiki's comment about her and Ranma seeing each other naked again.

Trivia

 * Similar to the previous chapter, Genma is shown in his panda form while in the furo, when he should have changed back into his human form when he touched the hot water.
 * In the English translation of this chapter when Genma and Ranma are training at Jusenkyo they say "Oh Shoh Toh!" while in the original Japanese version they simply say "Acha-chaaa!".