Sakura

Sakura (さくら) is the ringmaster of the circus La Cirque Grande. She appears in the episode "Here Comes Ranma's Mom!", misunderstood to be Ranma's mother.

Overview
Sakura is described to have short brown hair in a bun and is noted to look very similar to Nodoka Saotome.

Biography
In the beginning, a young very attractive woman appears whose face is unseen. She calls Ranma "dear" which gives Happosai the opportunity to recall the story of love between Genma and the woman, Sakura. The story begins when Soun and Genma were training with Happosai. During one of their very important "duties" with them, Genma came across a beautiful, young woman named Sakura and after a few months of seeing each other she gave birth to a beautiful baby. Before he can give more details about the baby, Akane interrupts him, leading everyone to believe that Sakura is Ranma's mother. But it turns out that Sakura is not Ranma's mother and the story was just a fake one, crafted by Happosai to get Genma bamboo leaves.

Trivia

 * While she looks similar to Nodoka, Sakura appeared nearly two years prior to Nodoka's debut.