New Year's Cat Spirit Arc

The  is the 48th story arc covered in the Ranma ½ manga, spanning two chapters. This arc was included in volume 20 of the  and volume 18 of the Viz Media tankōbon.

Plot Summary
On New Year's Eve Shampoo makes a delivery to the Cat Temple and is kidnapped by Maomolin who puts a curse on her. The curse can only be broken if she is kissed by the one she loves most, i.e. Ranma. Mousse and Akane take turns both helping and hindering Ranma from doing so. They are told that if she does not receive a kiss by midnight, she will remain a cat forever. Ranma eventually manages to kiss Shampoo, only because she crawled out of her cage and kissed him while he was unable to move.

Major Events

 * Maomolin kidnaps and curses Shampoo to be made his bride.
 * Ranma frees her of her curse by kissing Shampoo

Changes in anime

 * Anime version doesn't mention taking place on the New Year's Eve.
 * The anime version starts with Mousse telling Shampoo about the job.
 * Shampoo can't leave the Cat Temple at all (in mange she just turns into cat).
 * Shampoo forced Maomolin to add "kissed by her prince" solution to the curse, by threatening to kill herself.
 * Catnip coat fails, so Ranma tries other things to get past the cats. Using ball smelling of mackerel failed, but putting new clothes (clean of catnip) does.
 * To force himself to kiss Shampoo in here cat form, Ranma asks Mousse and Akane to kick him in her direction.

Characters Introduced

 * No characters were introduced in this arc.