Akane Goes to the Hospital!

Taihen! Akane ga Nyūin Shita (大変! あかねが入院した) is the 15th episode in the sixth season, Random Rhapsody, of Ranma ½ and the 127th episode overall.

Relation to the Previous Episode
None.

Akane's Accident
During a less-than-exciting lesson, Hiroshi and Daisuke notice Gosunkugi taking advantage of the situation by taking pictures of Akane in her leotard. The pair swiftly move in and take the picture off Gosunkugi before asking him to do another one for them. Gosunkugi does so and afterwards Ranma comments on the weird taste Hiroshi and Daisuke have, but Daisuke reminds Ranma that he's lucky since he gets to live under the same roof as Akane to which Hiroshi add that they're pathetic compared to him so have to settle for pictures.

As Gosunkugi continues taking photos, Hiroshi and Daisuke begin questioning Ranma if he's not comfortable with them having pictures of Akane, to which Ranma retorts that he didn't mean it that way. Ranma then begins pressing Gosunkugi to stop taking pictures, but whilst Daisuke restrains Ranma, Hiroshi tells Gosunkugi to continue, which he does obediently. Ranma soon overpowers Daisuke, but he accidentally causes the pair to bump into Gosunkugi, whose camera flash distracts Akane. Despite her best efforts, Akane ends up landing awkwardly off the Balance Beam and hurts her ankle. Akane attempts to walk, but can barely stand, so Yuka and Sayuri escort her to the nurse's office.

Once there, the nurse suspects Akane's ankle may be broken, and adds it would be best for a specialist to take at a look at it. Yuka and Sayuri then go back to the classroom and explain about Akane going to Dr. Tofu's Clinic. The girls then immediately place blame on Ranma and co, refusing to take any of Ranma's excuses. Ranma soon backs down when the girls suggest if he means he's not responsible for what happened.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tofu has finished at Akane's X-ray and confirms that the bone isn't fractured, but does have a hairline fracture and should heal up after about a week in a cast. Akane asks if this means she'll have to be hospitalised, to which Dr. Tofu replies that, at least for a few days, yes she will.

Visiting Akane
After Akane's leg is placed in a cast, Soun, Genma and Nabiki arrive. Soun, fraught with worry, tells Akane not to die, whilst Genma and Nabiki are more optimistic and comment on how much she looks that they'd excepted since she doesn't get hurt. Dr. Tofu then tells the group that Akane's injury isn't serious, but would like Akane to stay at the clinic for a few days just to be safe. Soun quickly moves in and tells Dr. Tofu to take good care of his daughter, a request which he graciously accepts.

Just then Kasumi walks in and Dr. Tofu almost immediately goes into his love-struck state. After asking Akane is she's alright, Kasumi offers to take care of her for Dr. Tofu, but he declines the offer and states Akane will be fine with him (all the time unnecessarily bandaging Akane's face). Fearing for Akane's health if Dr. Tofu's around Kasumi, Soun and Genma try to convince her to not try and help Akane, but Kasumi kindly states that she'll just have to impose, to which Dr. Tofu (now with bandages vastly wrapped around his face) tells Kasumi to just leave everything to him.

Nabiki then notices Akane sighing and asks what's wrong, but Akane says that everything's fine. This prompts Nabiki to comment that Ranma was still in school when she left, which causes Genma to angrily ask where his son could be when his own fiancé is unwell. Unbeknownst to everyone, Ranma is hiding in a tree outside the clinic and decides that Akane looks fine and he'll visit her when everyone else is gone. The others then decide to leave Akane, with Dr. Tofu telling her he'll come back when he does his rounds.

Whilst Akane thinks of how much of a jerk Ranma is, Ranma begins thinking how he can visit Akane without her being overly angered at him. He initially plans on being very humble towards her, but when he thinks it through and ends up nearly kissing Akane he swiftly abandons the idea. Ranma then proceeds to imagine trying a light and friendly approach, but that too ends up with him imaging himself kissing Akane, so is abandoned also. Before he can think of anything else, Ranma notices Dr. Tofu looking out at what's causing all the noise Ranma's making, so Ranma quickly decides to depart.

Ranma Finally Visits Akane
That evening, Akane begins writing "stupid Ranma" on her cast, but soon hides it away when Dr. Tofu walks in with her dinner. Elsewhere, Gosunkugi vengefully nails multiple Wara Ningyo to several trees in an attempt to make Ranma suffer for hurting Akane. However, Gosunkugi soon suffers himself from the activity as he gets a cold as the freezing winds rush past him.

Next morning, Akane is visited by Yuka, Sayuri, Hiroshi and Daisuke who've come to see how she's doing. After Hiroshi and Daisuke give Akane an apology gift, Sayuri asks her if Ranma's here since he left right after class, but this upsets Akane so Yuka forces a change of subject. Fortunately, Kuno, Sasuke and Nabiki arrive to visit her as well. Kuno and Sasuke have also brought gifts for Akane, but shortly after Sasuke explains he has a gift from Kodachi as well the gift explodes and a tape of Kodachi plays.

As Kuno and Sasuke lie on the floor from the explosion, Ukyo and Shampoo appear, having also heard that Akane is injured. The pair waste no time in suggesting Akane gives up Ranma to them, but Akane just goes along with it and half-heartedly thanks them for their gifts anyway. Just then the sickly Gosunkugi arrives (wearing a medical mask) with some Occult medicine for Akane, but before even taking two steps into the room, Gosunkugi collapses and is taken away via ambulance shortly afterwards.

Kasumi walks in shortly afterward and tells everyone that as thanks for them visiting Akane, she'll be making them a meal at the Tendo Dojo. The group then leave Akane to rest, none of them noticing Ranma hanging above the door as they leave. Once everyone's gone, Ranma jumps down with a bouquet for Akane. Ranma then proceeds to think about knocking on the door, but can't bring himself to do it, so just leaves the bouquet at the foot of the door.

Once he returns to the Tendo Dojo, Ranma watches as everyone else enjoys themselves around the dinner Kasumi prepared. With everyone distracted, Kasumi asks Ranma to speak with her for a moment. Kasumi asks Ranma that, although she hates to impose, could he take Akane some new clothes to wear. Ranma happily agrees so Kasumi hands him the package with the clothes inside.

Ranma walks to Dr. Tofu's clinic when he notices a large group of cats outside and freezes in fear. Inside, Dr. Tofu puts Akane's flowers in a Vase whilst telling her that someone called and said that Ranma will be bringing her a new change of clothes. He then continues by telling Akane to tell Ranma that, should Ranma come through the window, he doesn't have to say hello to him before turning off the lights and wishing Akane a goodnight.

As Akane lies waiting in her bed, she hears a noise coming from the window and sure enough it's Ranma. Akane thanks Ranma for bringing her clothes, which leads Ranma to ask how he leg is. Worried about Ranma seeing what she wrote earlier, Akane tells him to stay away, but only realises what she's said after it's too late. Agitated and annoyed, Ranma and Akane begin arguing with each other, ultimately resulting in Ranma leaving via the window again.

Akane's Discharge
The next morning, after procuring a set of crutches, Akane makes her way downstairs and wishes Dr. Tofu a good morning. The pair then begin discussing if Ranma arrived last night and after Akane confirms that he did, Dr. Tofu comments that he thought as much from the noise he heard last night. Changing the subject, Akane asks Dr. Tofu is he works out every morning, to which Dr. Tofu explains that using pressure points requires strong fingers, so extensive training is vital. Hearing this, Akane decides that she should do a little training too, so begins using a pair of dumbbells when she returns to her room.

Meanwhile, Ryoga arrives down the road from the clinic, having been searching for it desperately. Ryoga wastes no time in rushing towards the clinic, but is swiftly splashed with water from a nearby hosepipe. This doesn't stop Ryoga, however, who rushes into Akane's room as P-chan, much to her pleasant surprise. Dr. Tofu then walks in with Akane's breakfast and is equally surprised to see a piglet in his clinic.

Once Akane's finished her breakfast, Dr. Tofu asks if she'd like to see a photo album his has with pictures of Akane and Kasumi when they were younger. Akane happily agrees and enjoys looking at the pictures, especially at the picture of Dr. Tofu when he was a High School student. Just then some more photographs spill out of the album, and Akane looks at them, only to notice that they're all of Kasumi. Dr. Tofu quickly takes the pictures back and begs Akane not to tell Kasumi about them. Akane agrees, but Dr. Tofu decides to take back the album and goes off the make some house calls.

Ranma, meanwhile, looks around the classroom as everyone prepares a performance for Akane. That evening, as everyone else is having fun, Ranma hears the phone ringing and decides to go an answer it. Surprisingly, Akane's on the other end and explains to Ranma she's coming home a day early and wanted to let everyone know. Ranma tries to get Soun to talk to Akane, but she tells Ranma not to bother as that's all she wanted to say. Akane then hangs up and Ranma goes up to his room, where he spends the whole night making a banner for Akane.

Some time later at Dr. Tofu's clinic, after Akane's finished slowly hopping down the stairs, Dr. Tofu congratulates her on being discharged and adds that he'll see her in about five days to remove the cast. Just then Dr. Tofu notices Ranma waiting outside and points him out to Akane. Akane looks and is overjoyed at Ranma's banner, in which Ranma apologises to her for messing up. When Akane goes over to see Ranma (much to P-chan's frustration), Ranma gives her the picture of when she fell, this prompts Akane to ask if Ranma was worried about her this whole time, but Ranma, embarrassed, denies the claim.



Just then the pair notice everyone who was at the Tendo Dojo has arrived and seen their quiet moment. Ranma quickly takes Akane onto his back and starts running from his angered rivals and other fiancés. As he runs, Ranma notices the writing on Akane's cast, but Akane refuses to let him see it, so covers his eyes. Unable to see where he's going, Ranma trips up, causing him and Akane to fall towards the floor...

Trivia

 * Ranma and Akane escaped with Ranma dressed in only one shoe, but then second apperared on his leg.
 * The song Yuka and Sayuri sing at the party is the first and original theme song of the first season and series overall Don't Make Me Wild Like You. The full version is not heard since the scene changes when Kasumi asks Ranma to bring Akane a change of clothes.
 * This episode marks the first time Kirby Morrow voices Dr. Tofu. His original actor, Ian James Corlett, had since left the series and anime voiceovers overall after a fallout with Ocean Studios. He had also left his role in Dragon Ball Z as main protagonist Son Goku over similar issues. Ironically Morrow would later provide the voice of Goku from the mid Cell saga onwards after his second actor, Peter Kelamis, left the show to focus on his comedy career.
 * When Akane is looking through the album, just before she finds the pictures of Kasumi, one of the old photos depicts a slightly younger Akane with her original longer hair style.