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Ranma Saotome

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Ranma Saotome (早乙女(さおとめ) 乱馬(らんま), Saotome Ranma) is the sixteen year old heir to the Saotome Branch of Anything Goes Martial Arts, the only child of Genma Saotome and Nodoka Saotome, the self-acknowledged fiancé of Akane Tendo, and the reluctant fiancé of Shampoo, Ukyo Kuonji and numerous others.

Biography[]

History[]

Ranma22 44 young Ranma

Genma with a young Ranma just before they began their training trip

Ranma was born approximately sixteen years before the start of the series as the first and only child of Genma and Nodoka Saotome. Not only after Ranma was born, Genma had made an arrangement with his former training partner Soun Tendo that Ranma would marry one of Soun's daughters and carry on the Tendo Dojo alongside his future wife. As a young child, Ranma was taken from his home by his father on a training trip to perfect his skills in the martial arts. Genma was only able to convince his wife to let them go by promising her to raise their son as a "man among men", with the promise that both he and Ranma would commit seppuku (Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment) if they failed. Nodoka agreed to this and also that she would be the kaishakunin (beheading assistant) for her husband and son, hence the need to always carry the katana. She is then supposed to join them in death after their own lives are taken. He signed a pledge and had his infant son sign it via hand print. However, Ranma remained ignorant of his pledge for years and did not learn of it until his mother resurfaced in his life and Genma prevented them from meeting face to face due to his curse[1].

While he was still a child, Ranma befriended Ukyo Kuonji, the daughter of a traveling okonomiyaki chef and martial artist, although he was unaware that she was a girl. Genma engaged Ranma to Ukyo in exchange for her father's okonomiyaki cart, but he abandoned Ukyo and ran off with the cart without ever telling Ranma about the engagement or correcting him about Ukyo's real gender.[2]

At the age of 6, Ranma was put into a risky training regimen by his father for a technique known as Nekoken (Cat Fist) which involved wrapping Gyoniku soseji (Fish Sausage) around the body and throw him into a pit of starving cats. As a result, he had been afflicted with a severe case of Ailurophobia (a fear of cats). After several attempts of repeating the process with other meat products, he soon becomes afflicted with Galeanthropy, to which only a senior lady was able to bring him back from the brink.

Near the end of their trip, Genma took Ranma to a training ground in China named Jusenkyo that few people used due to the springs being cursed. Falling into them would transform a person into whatever first fell into it and drowned. Not knowing this, and not having the patience to listen to a warning from the local guide, Genma attempted to train with Ranma atop the bamboo poles which jutted up out of the pools. When Ranma knocked Genma into the Shonmaoniichuan (Xióngmāonìquán 熊猫溺泉)/"Spring of 'Drowned' Panda", he was surprised to watch a panda emerge from the pond and leap onto one of the poles. Genma, now cursed, was able to hit Ranma into Nyannichuan (Niángnìquán 娘溺泉), or the "Spring of 'Drowned' Girl". Thus he turns into a female version of his original form when splashed with cold water, which is only (temporarily) reversible through contact with hot water.

Directly after this, Ranma and Genma, still in their cursed forms, went looking for food and found the Chinese Amazon Tribe holding a tournament. They then ate the food that was supposed to be the first prize reward, causing Shampoo to challenge Ranma to a fight. Ranma wins, but Shampoo gives her the Kiss of Death and had since hunted her and Genma down all over China.

Nearing the end of Ranma's time training in China, he stole and ate a large bowl of porridge, without knowing it was made from Dragon's Whisker. This whisker causes him to have uncontrollable hair growth when in his true form. This does not happen while in his female form. In order to seal off the growth, the cook of the porridge gave him a sliver of Dragon's Whisker, meaning the hair growth is not present until the Dragon's Whisker arc of the main story. This leads to him constantly keeping his hair as a braided pigtail and never taking it out. Even after the effect wore off, he continued to keep his hair in his signature pigtail style (before the incident he tied his hair back in a simple, loose ponytail).

Plot[]

After learning of Ranma's condition, Soun's daughters Kasumi and Nabiki began to insist that Ranma choose their younger sister Akane, and rationalized that a girl's girl tomboy would be a more appropriate fiancée for a man who transforms into a woman. Although Akane and Ranma were initially unwilling to be engaged, they developed deep feelings for each other which they attempt to hide throughout the series. Ranma and Genma moved in as house guests of the Tendos. Since then, Ranma has endured a series of challenges from his various rivals, new adversaries, and picking up two new suitors and renewing his relationship with a former one. Female Ranma has also received a few male suitors, the most persistent of which is Tatewaki Kuno.

After receiving a letter from his wife, Genma revealed that he had promised that Ranma would return "a man among men", and that if she were to discover the truth about Ranma's transformation into a girl, they would be forced to commit seppuku. Therefore, to visit with his mother, Ranma would change into a girl during her visit, and presented himself as "Akane's cousin Ranko," accompanied by her pet, "Mr. Panda." Ranma made several attempts to talk to his mother without revealing his curse to prove his manliness, but was generally thwarted by Genma or circumstances from doing so. However he eventually had enough of hiding from her and was able to save her from falling into the sea, proving his manhood. Nodoka soon after discovered that he and Ranko were the same person, but accepted his curse.

Appearance[]

Ranma has a strong, athletic body forged from constant training since childhood. He can be considered of average height compared to his fellow characters who are of the same age, as most of them are also around the same height, although Akane and several of the other females are slightly shorter than him, while Takewaki is taller.

Ranma's female form is diminished in pure strength and shorter (half a head shorter than Akane), but is much more agile. It also depicted as very attractive, which he discreetly takes pride in and often uses to his advantage. According to Dr. Tofu's mother, girl-Ranma has the ideal female form and was her top candidate to marry her son.[3] His female form also notably possesses or gains purple eyeliner, most likely to bring out her physical beauty. It has been revealed more than once that the female form has a larger bust size and smaller waist size than Akane.[4] Later in the manga it is revealed that after both of their bust sizes increased, female Ranma's breasts still stayed larger.[5]

Ranma's most recognizable physical trait is his trademark pigtail, although before he was cursed he wore it instead as a ponytail.[6] In the anime, male Ranma has black hair while his female form has red hair. In order to help distinguish between Ranma's forms in the manga, Takahashi always drew Ranma's female form with a shiny spot in her hair. However when the first chapter of the manga when published in Shonen Sunday was printed in color, it portrayed Ranma's female form as having the same black hair as her male form. In the remake version, Ranma's hair remains black due to digital color graphics and gains a white hair clip being adorned to his trademark pigtail and his eyes are grey. His female form however, her hair is either pink or light red and her eyes are light pink. Her eyeliner is shown to be salmon pink instead of purple.

Ranma favors Chinese-style clothing in the form of long-sleeved or sleeveless shirts in red colors while the other being a yellow gold short-sleeved shirt with a single slash design in each sleeve and a red single Chinese button on the collar, black pants (also dark blue or blue-green in the anime), and slip on shoes. This has served him well when changing into his cursed form or back. In the remake version, Ranma also wears a sky blue long sleeved changshan with white folded sleeves and a matching white obi aside his Chinese button shirts. Ranma has his own gi which he will occasionally don specifically for learning a new technique. Before he and his father Genma fell into the cursed springs at Jusenkyo, he wore a white karate gi but loses his karate pants when he transformed into a girl after falling into the spring. When Ranma wears his main Chinese-style clothing in his female form, the sleeves from her button shirt is loose and while he wore sleeveless, it was loosened into mini short sleeves. It was later altered in the remake version where the sleeves became sleeveless. In Episode 2 at the remake version where Ranma dries his pants while in her female form, he wore yellow boxer shorts underneath and his red Chinese button shirt finally shows more buttons when it was loose. On her female form, his yellow boxer shorts are loosened to resemble loose cotton shorts. Ramna later wears a another red sleeveless Chinese-button shirt without a collar and was tucked into a white belt.

Ranma had many outfits throughout the series. After Akane's hair was cut off during his fight with Ryoga, Ranma was seen wearing a sky blue changshan with white linings. He also wore a red cheongsam with a dragon motif in Episode 15. He later wore a blue tunic with black lines and with the kanji "乱" (ran, or luan in Mandarin) in Episode 39 during the Romeo and Juliet play. When he sleeps, he usually wears a white tank top and yellow shorts with a dark blue trim.

In his childhood, Ranma wore a gakuran at his former school that he attended with Ryoga Hibiki, but is able to get away with not wearing the one required for boys at Furinkan High School. He also wears a tank top, either as a undershirt or not, and when he "dresses up", will usually put on a green cheongsam with Mao Zedong's signature cap with the star. However he has also dressed in Western formal wear on a few occasions.[7]

Ranma has worn a wider variety of outfits in his female form than in his male form. She will dress in women's clothing voluntarily depending on the circumstances, usually in order to get something she wants, but also when she has to. In several instances however she has involuntarily transformed back into a male while dressed as a woman.[8]

Personality[]

Rumiko Takahashi herself has described Ranma's personality as a mixture of nice, clean-cut, frank, energetic, sly, stubborn, indecisive, picky, stingy, rude and aggressive,[9] and has stated that she finds flawless characters rather boring.[10] Under normal circumstances, he is fairly carefree and friendly to those around him. However, he also lacks experience in social situations and frequently speaks and acts without considering the consequences, or the feelings of others. He sometimes insults people by gloating about inflated perceptions of his prowess, or taunting them about their perceived flaws. He frequently insulted the areas Akane has complexes about, by calling her a bad fighter, idiot, clumsy, floozy, un-cute, overweight, over-muscled and macho jock tomboy with poisonous cooking skills, though he became empathetic towards Akene and learned more about boundaries as the series progresses, to the point that he complements her martial arts skills, her quick thinking, her beauty and her partnership. He has also given other people insulting nicknames, with shifting degrees of justification, for example calling Kuno "buffon", Ryoga "clueless moron" or "sucker", Cologne "old hag" or "old ghoul", Happosai "old freak" or "old lech", Nabiki "heartless bitch", and Pantyhose Taro "pantyhose guy". For this same reason, it is relatively easy to embarrass Ranma. When he is faced with such a situation, he can freeze up or verbally lash out when found in highly incriminating 'amorous' positions. Nabiki sometimes has taken advantage of Ranma's lack of finesse and weak defenses against crying or emotional girls, manipulating him and various situations to her own advantage. While he occasionally blames others for his problems, he has sporadically taken responsibility for matters not mainly his fault, such as when Akane's hair was accidentally chopped off during his first fight with Ryoga, or trying to soothe Ukyo's rage at being left behind.

Ranma the gung-ho adventurer

Male Ranma in the manga, together with his rivals and adventuring allies, Ryoga Hibiki and Mousse.

Ranma's takes great pride in his prowess as a martial artist and occasionally brags about it. Although he frequently has the skills to back it up, his overconfidence can also lead to trouble. He will not back down from a challenge during very serious situations, or when his pride has been wounded, even if he is completely outmatched and unsure of how to overcome an opponent. He has stated outright that he generally honors his opponents' pride by fighting seriously, and refuses to give up both for himself and because he thinks a hollow victory would never be satisfying in a battle. However, he will refuse a match if he considers the opponent to be too ridiculous, given that female Ranma tried to withdraw when set up to fight the monkey Sanae in "martial arts tea ceremony". In addition, Rama has stated on several occasions that he sees it as a martial artist’s duty to protect normal people from monsters, the supernatural and similar threats, and has saved bystanders in danger of getting hurt. He protected all of his friends and rivals many times, and even has rescued some of his enemies, such as Herb, who was trying to kill him.

Ranma's pride recurrently results in him being unable to accept defeat, becoming preoccupied with trying to win the next skirmish against his foe and showing a prominent despondent and petty side which manifests itself in these situations. If he is repeatedly defeated, too humbled or otherwise feels humiliated, he takes it personally, howling statements of revenge at the moon or even crying on the floor. He will frequently stoop to trickery or cheating in the rematch. Among many examples, he couldn't stand seeing Akane become more powerful through the use of super-strength soba. Nabiki and Kasumi both observed that he held a big grudge after Akane turned back to normal, which he satisfied through gloating while repeatedly defeating her in arm-wrestling. He was also willing to 'feign' love for her strictly to get rid of a similarly enhancing sentient battle-dougi, in part because he couldn't stand the thought of someone being more skilled than him, and also because it was a severe nuisance that was literally coming between them.

Ranma frequently uses insults, violence, or harebrained schemes when dealing with those who upset him, usually worsening the problem instead of solving it. But while his cunning generally lacks finesse, he generally makes an effort to try to avoid conflict through the use of creativity, trickery, theatrics and disguises. Sometimes, he has attempted to use reasoning and diplomacy, to no avail. On one occasion, he even set up a play in an effort to convince Happosai to change Taro's name. He has also attempted to haggle with Nabiki, clumsily tried to make her lose her eternal self-control by sifting through her room for potentially embarrassing letters, or feigned love for her, Shampoo, Ryoga and Tsubasa under certain odd or extreme circumstances. However, his straightforward schemes and sleight-of-hand are usually effortlessly countered by more devious characters such as Nabiki, Cologne, Shampoo or Taro. Perhaps most prominently, Ranma routinely uses his shapely female form, combined with a fabricated innocent persona, to convince hormonal boys to treat him to food, or buy something he is attempting to sell. He also does this to set up simple traps for Happosai or as part of schemes to fool, make fun of.

Ranma has rather limited respect for abusive, suspicious or obnoxious authority figures, such as his father, his teacher Hinako Ninomiya, or Principal Kuno. His willingness to (rightfully) fight back against the Principal have gained him some respect from his schoolmates, but they have also stated a certain contempt due to his shamelessness. Likewise, Ranma has a low tolerance for people who try to steal from him, manipulate him, or otherwise treat him very badly, such as Nabiki or Happosai. He generally considers Takewaki, Shampoo and Kodachi to be annoying pests. At the same time, he can also be very forgiving and usually doesn't seem to stay mad for very long. For instance, despite that Herb severely tormented him out of sheer malevolence, he still opted to save Herb's life. He has also made efforts to help out Kuno or Mousse, and refrained from seeking revenge against the Phoenix people after his conflict with Saffron, despite they hurt his beloved fiancée. While his father frequently stole his food when he was small, and subjected him to the Cat-Fist technique, he usually just seems mildly irritated, but he has also been (rightfully) vengeful at times, repeatedly beating up Genma upon learning that he had become superior to his father in general hand-to-hand sparring and whenever he interfered with the reunion of Ranma and his his mother. Another semi-exception to this rule would be Happosai, whom Ranma has been stated to genuinely hate: he never misses an opportunity to trick or torment the ancient pervert, and once explicitly attempted to kill the grandmaster by punting him and a 5m diameter Happo Fire Burst over a cliff, even before he almost turned Ranma powerless for life thanks to a weakness moxibustion point. Even Happosai, however, has been a recipient of Ranma's compassion. Most notably, Ranma permitted him to come back to stay at the Tendo Dojo after finding him marauding a tourist resort disguised as an octopus jar (for thievery and peeping in the manga, and to help a starving young girl in the anime), when he became very sad from loneliness. Ranma also helped to save the sprightly senior's life by eventually deciding to assist in creating a rejuvenation potion, and together with Akane freed him from a death curse cast by a matronly ghost.

Ranma is rather irresponsible and dodges situations that don't involve martial arts or his personal interests. He usually doesn't display much interest in academics, often skips school and flouts the regulations when he does attend. For example, he fought tooth and nail against Hinako Ninomiya's attempts to give him private tutoring in English. One of his worst habits is that when preoccupied with his own thoughts or training with his father, he is generally oblivious to his surroundings. The most notable consequence of this is when he accidentally kicked Ryoga into the "Spring of the Drowned Pig" while pursuing his father at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo, effectively ruining Ryoga's life even further than before. Another victim of his carelessness is the Frog Hermit, who was knocked into the "Spring of the Drowned Frog" when Ranma accidentally kicked out his bamboo pole from under him. He also had accidentally mowed down child Hinako when he is late for school, but Kuno's head is his most frequent "stepping stone," but that appears to be intentional since the two despise each other.

Fear[]

Ranma05 47 cat fear

Ranma paralyzed by his fear of cats.

Ranma is generally fearless, or so he would have others believe. However, he does suffer from one weakness that leaves him paralyzed in its presence: ailurophobia, the fear of cats.[11] When he was young, his father tried to teach him the "Nekoken" ("Cat Fist") technique. The training technique described the trainee being covered in fish sausage and thrown into a pit of starving cats, but that only made him afraid of them. Only then did Genma read the final page of the training book, which stated that it was "...just another technique that would only be used by a total idiot. Anyone who would teach it should have his head examined", but has stated that he fell for it completely. Genma then tried to desensitize his son by repeating the training, covering the boy in sardines, salted sardines, or fish cakes instead. His efforts only aggravated the phobia. Ranma became permanently afraid of cats; he couldn't even get near one and would usually faint if one surprised him. While his phobia seems to have turned slightly less drastic over the course of the manga, it does not help that Shampoo, who is obsessed with him, is cursed to turn into a cat when hit with water, or that Maomolin the 'monster cat' is counted among his adversaries.

The Nekoken turned out not to be a "technique" at all, but an induced psychosis. If Ranma's fear reaches a critical point (the result of being surrounded by cats and/or unable to get away from them for an extended period of time) his mind retreats into a condition of galeanthropy, the delusion that he is a cat. This state manifests by fighting like an unrestrained wild animal, using his power more efficiently, as well as the ability to attack his surroundings with air pressure swipes powerful enough to shred trees, floorboards or water blasts. He once willingly entered the Nekoken in order to aid him in a beach side (Snow Mountain winter resort in the anime) fight with Cologne (for a "Phoenix Pill" that would allow him to tolerate hot water again). To do so, he tied Shampoo to his back and ran back into the surf with Akane's help, turning Shampoo into a cat. However, Ranma lacks the ability to strategize or use signature moves, as his galeanthropy is so strong his mentality also becomes that of a cat. So long as he is not being directly threatened, he is content to simply climb trees, chew catnip, scratch on bark, lounge in the sun and generally act like any cat would. He can easily be outsmarted, having only the mental capability of an animal. So long as the opponent can keep their calm and appear nonthreatening, he can be swiftly mollified. Most notably, when he first enters the Nekoken, Kuno immediately realized how to avoid being attacked by Ranma and sent him running off by throwing a stick and shouting "fetch!", after which Ranma decided to climb a tree - in the anime, this was changed to Sasuke throwing a fish sausage, which caused Ranma to cease mauling Kuno and go chasing after it; upon snatching it, he leapt out of the window and up into a tree, where he remained until Akane tried to calm him down with catnip.

Ranma's 'cat' mentality is rather territorial, playful, sleepy, and has an extremely limited attention span, easily losing interest or being distracted by a thrown stick/plaything or being drugged by catnip. However, he comes out of it after landing in water or calming down/taking a nap in the lap of someone he trusts. These have included an old woman who lived in his neighborhood as a child, as well as Akane in the present, much to her embarrassment. Dousing him with water can also work. Ranma remembers almost nothing of what goes on while he is in Nekoken mode, which can cause great problems if his behavior was unacceptable by human standards.

Gender & Sexuality[]

Ranma-Chan

Ranma uses his female form to increasing his prowess in martial arts.

Ranma was raised by his parents to become a "man among men". Since he was cursed, he has often professed his wish to become all male again. His masculinity is so strong that he prefers to wear boxer shorts under his clothes even when he dons feminine garments such as dresses. Being a man, he has little feminine modesty and sometimes removes his shirt in public. He takes pride in his strength, skills and basically all things he considers manly, to the point of having disdain towards women, particularly their fighting ability and their emotions. However, as the story progresses, he becomes empathetic towards women and girls in general, especially after being victim from harassment from other men in his female form. He continues to take pride in his martial skills in his female form, and any man who tries to get grabby (even accidentally), such as Kuno or Happosai - who especially disgusts him - generally get pummeled.

Ranma's desire to become all male again has not stopped him from using his perceived girl identity to his advantage. He has often used his female form to increse his agility in combat, to conceal his true identity from others (most notably his mother Nodoka), to obtain favors from Kuno, or other situations when being female might benefit him. He also takes pride in his female form's beauty, having once boasted that "she" has a larger bosom than Akane. In the anime, he enjoys ice cream Parfait, although he is always female when "she" eats them because he considers it somewhat embarrassing for men to consume. By the end of the story, he has become a bit apathetic of becoming all male again, especially since his beloved ones accepted him in any form he is.

Regardless of the body he is, Ranma displays attraction towards women. Even in his female form, he feels uncomfortable in the presence of naked women. It was also notable his blushing when Nabiki declared her love for him (actually just play-acting), and when Shampoo hugged him in her debut. The mere concept of kissing the lips of Akane, even as part of a school play, is enough to fluster him, and so was simply receiving a heartfelt hug from her because he survived the battle against Herb. But beyond his growing romantic feelings for Akane, Ranma's reaction to such situations regarding his fiancee is generally one of fear and confusion, possibly because any admission of love on his part will force him into a wedding for which neither of the two is emotionally prepared yet. His worst nightmare is being kissed by a man, and he even has two hideous dreams: one in which he was a girl and married Kuno, spawning several children, and in the first season when he had a dream about Kuno asking him to marry him in both forms. He received his first kiss, excluding Shampoo's kiss of death, while in female from Mikado Sanzenin of the Golden Pair of Martial Arts Skating, an occurrence that, by Ranma's own admission, made him truly angry for the first time, even sending him to the point of crying, especially since Akane saw the incident.

A running gag through the series is that Ranma is sometimes accused of doing perverted things to women, especially in his female form, but rarely actually committed the accused act. During P-Chan's (Ryoga's cursed form) first appearance, Ranma tried to threaten him to get out of Akane's room, but was quickly maneuvered into falling on top of Akane's sleeping body. In an attempt to find the Japanese 'Spring of drowned man' , Ranma also disguised himself to gain entrance to the girls' locker room while they were still changing clothes, and accidentally tipped Happosai's stash of stolen underwear over himself in front of his classmates. Other examples include when Shampoo has turned up naked and hugged him in the Tendo bath, crept into his bed without his knowledge or when they both ended up in the Kuno bathtub, usually right before Akane sees him through the open doorway. Another double misunderstanding happened when Kodachi once doctored a photograph to show them kissing, and Ranma tried to get the negative from Tatewaki by offering to bathe with him. In reality, however, Ranma is a bit prudish, though not close to Ryoga's level. His defenses have occasionally been shaken, for example, when Kiima or a spirit doll assumed Akane's form and made sexual advances toward him, or when Akane hid with him in a closet, and he mistakenly believed that she wanted sex.

In the original manga version of the "Reversal Jewel" story arc, Ranma needed to "win" any type of confrontation. He went out of his way to ensure that Shampoo didn't give him up and demanded an expression of love from Ukyo purely for ego gratification, being satisfied when she conceded. The plot of this chapter focused on the trap that Cologne and Shampoo set for Ranma by manipulating his mind, emotions and self-esteem so that his personal honor would force him to act and say things he doesn't really feel about Shampoo just to make her says to him "I love you" so he can wins his "battle" and restore his damaged self-esteem. Being said, he didn't like it be rejected like that without any reason, since he believed he isn't attractive anymore, making him feels insecurity. At the end of this arc, he realizes that love is not a prize, suggesting that he changed his perspective on the subject. The only girl he showed reciprocity feelings was to Akane. After she was cursed by the jewel and said to him that "she loves him, he showed reciprocity feelings by asking her he wants to eat her lunches since then. But then in the hospital, he discover it was the cursed jewel that made the whole thing. The preceding story arc also introduced his mother and the "man among men" pledge, which, more speculatively, may have factored into it. He has been shown as extremely enthusiastic to get rid of the curse in several instances, so further loose speculation could make a case that his 'masculine pride' is more easily wounded than it used to be. That said, he was unwilling to hurt Shampoo's feelings during the onsen race and Ukyo's during the "secret sauce" arc, so his feelings on the subject seem torn between selfishness and consideration. He does have chided Mousse for his failures in winning Shampoo to "make her stop pestering him", and he was happy for Ryoga and Ukyo when he misinterpreted their intentions to split him and Akane up in the "Tunnel of Lost Love," assuming them to be in a relationship.

Abilities[]

Ranma - Strength

Ranma blocks the mouth of the Orochi with a boulder.

Having undergone training trips from the time he was about two years old by his father Genma in the ways of the Saotome style of Anything Goes Martial Arts, Ranma is a master of several styles of martial arts, utilizing a blend of Chinese and Japanese techniques. The other branch, the Tendo School, is practiced by Soun and Akane, but Ranma is seen as the school's primary heir. A practitioner of the Anything Goes Martial Arts is expected to be prepared to do almost anything to triumph, regardless of the challenges, humiliations, or cheating involved. This versatile combat style can produce a warrior who is strong in virtually every aspect of battle, both mentally and physically, with limited weaknesses. In most fights, neither form has a discernible advantage, as they both perform equally well. Ranma is, however, stronger with a longer reach in his male form, and is faster and more agile in his female form.

As the story progresses, Ranma learns numerous martial art styles, several of them ridiculous such as Martial Arts Figure Skating, Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, Martial Arts Dining, and Martial Arts Cheerleading. Although he has never been seen to have use for them outside of the original environment, he commonly purports himself to be able to win any competition in which martial arts are involved, but frequently has to use unorthodox methods against superior foes. Regardless, his confidence and unwillingness to ever accept defeat has so far enabled him to in some manner, handle most challenges in his path, although his confidence can be shaken enough to not be able to use the Moko Takabisha,

Ranma tends to rely on direct tactics and planning, though he can still be surprised by opponents whom he has never fought before. Regardless, he is adept at learning from his mistakes in a fight and generally takes advantage of an opponent's weaknesses during a later encounter. Unless he cannot possibly win without extensive cheating, whether through trickery, severe distraction or sucker-punch combinations (like in battles against Herb, Happosai, Ryoga or Taro-monster), he tends to fight fairly while expecting them to follow the same conduct. Craftier opponents have sometimes used this assumption to their advantage against him. An example of this is when Cologne held back her true power, allowing Ranma to believe that he had the edge. Taro has also managed to goad him into repeated sucker-punch attacks.

Ranma - Hitting Power

Ranma destroys a boulder to protect Akane.

Ranma's strength seems to be portrayed somewhat inconsistently. Male Ranma proved unable to get out when stuck under an 90-100 ton large iron bell, but wasn't significantly motivated.[12] Female Ranma almost effortlessly pushed a boulder several times her size, weighing at least 40-tonnes, into the mouth of the Yamata-Orochi while swimming underwater, when supremely determined to save Akane from being eaten,[13] and managed to support the pressure Ryoga exerted on two enormous floating slabs of ice, several stories tall, when the latter was standing on her head.[14] Thus, he would presumably have succeeded with better leverage and motivation. Given his ability to contend with Ryoga, who by all appearances could exert force equivalent to lifting a few dozen thousand tons under optimal circumstances,[15] Ranma must be at least a fourth as strong himself, and possibly even up to half as strong. Although comparatively weaker, he seems to have superior conscious control of his abilities, and can more easily dial it back during basic social interactions, while Ryoga occasionally breaks anything he touches. As a gauge of female Ranma's hitting power, a few minutes of focusing "her" energies proved sufficient to split a 3m diameter boulder (stated and shown to be impervious to the conventional efforts of the island resort owner), with a single strike,[16] while male Ranma managed to immediately shatter a 2m-2.5m ordinary boulder that had been thrown at him by Taro.[17]

Ranma - Speed

Ranma using the Tenshin Amaguriken.

As a gauge of the extent of his speed, Ranma has been able to land 518 blows in a few seconds, during a brief ice-skating skirmish with Mikado Sanzenin, even before undergoing Cologne's speed training.[18] Afterwards, Ranma was able to land hundreds of punches on Ryoga so swiftly that it looked like a single strike,[19] or catch over a hundred pebbles from the latter's Bakusai Tenketsu rock explosion within at most a few seconds. Thus, Ranma has became able to move at supersonic speeds, but generally only uses it in combat situations.

Ranma has superhuman endurance, enabling him to continue fighting even after he has taken many powerful blows or fallen from a great height. He once broke his legs from the impact of a considerable fall while carrying four girls,[20] but was likely still severely weakened from poison at the time, so his peak effort should be multiplied. Over time, he became durable enough to withstand the full power of Ryu Kumon's large iron Buddha-statue splitting, "demon god assault bomb" vacuum blade-barrage, and immediately continue to fight afterwards,[21] (which, at the very least, would qualify him as bulletproof), managed to withstand exposure to Rouge's and Saffron's firestorms,[22][23] and has fallen hundreds of meters into solid stone with only minor bruisings.[24] Regarding his limits, when in a state of surprise, a single strike from Taro in his cursed form almost rendered female Ranma unconscious after crashing into a stone palisade.[25] Although later, during their aerial battle against Rouge, Ranma was only momentarily stunned.[26]

Durability
Durability

Ryoga's regular Shi-shi Hokodan, a technique created to clear out cave-ins, or to help blow tunnels through the earth) can either knock Ranma out in one blow,[27] or require a few to several shots,[28][29] depending on the latter's focus. This version even managed to stun Ranma for a few seconds when Ryoga was turned into a small child.[30] Simply being grazed by the outermost limit of the ultimate version was enough to instantly knock him out, despite attempting to lessen the impact with his weakened Mōko Takabisha.[31] Although a later, apparently vastly diminished/worn out (no change was noticeable in the size of the crater) attempt, during the second round of their fight, only stunned him for a minute at most, and he was able to handle them much better by distracting Ryoga into absorbing most of the impact.[32] In comparison, Happosai's smaller Happo-daikarin are also shown as capable of downing Ranma in one strike,[33][34] which is understandable, given that they have proved able to repeatedly do the same to Taro's cursed 'monster' form,[35] but he has withstood them on other occasions, so it apparently depends on the force his grand master puts into them.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Genma Saotome

Ranma and his father Genma have a rocky relationship. Ranma does care for his father, deep down, but at the same time rightfully resents the many indignities and hurts that Genma has forced upon him - the separation from his mother, the Nekoken incident, the disasterous trip to Jusenkyo, and his engagements to Ukyo and Shampoo particularly rankling him - and is often exasperated by Genma's bungling and self-absorbed occurences. Genma, in turn, genuinely loves his son, but is inherently self-centered enough that he often puts his own desires and wants over Ranma's wants and safety, which only adds further wedges to their relationship. Genma has even known to undertake extremely petty plots for revenge against Ranma. These have included threatening to learning his Cradle from Hell technique to make Ranma submit to him again (both canons), expose Ranma's curse to Nodoka (both canons), and pretending he was going to disown Ranma and make Ryoga Hibiki his heir instead (anime).

Nodoka Saotome

Ranma and his mother Nodoka have a distant relationship they try to repair. Nodoka was very reluctant to let her husband take her young child away from her, on a training journey. The only way she agreed to let Genma take Ranma from her was to promise that he would train Ranma to be "a man among men." If Genma were to ever fail in this regard, both he and Ranma would commit seppuku (the Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment) and Nodoka would be the kaishakunin (beheading assistant). Because of this promise, Genma and Ranma were terrified of showing their true forms to Nodoka and for her to find out about their curses. To prevent her from finding out, they hid in their cursed forms, with Ranma taking the alias of "Ranko" and pretending to be Akane's cousin from the countryside. Nodoka dotes on "Ranko" as if she was her daughter, taking the girl shopping to find her more suitable feminine clothing, including a bra, something Ranma would never normally wear.

In a chat with "Ranko", Nodoka reveals that she wants nothing more than to see her child, to whom she has not spoken since he was two years old. She is not the only one who has been affected by the ordeal, however. Ranma has tried on numerous occasions to talk to Nodoka in his male form, but Genma repeatedly foiled their son's efforts. For Nodoka, her glimpses of Ranma as a male have been fleeting at best, usually because he was pursuing some other objective at the time, or attempting to escape her. Ironically, it was Genma who brought about the reunion between his wife and son through his machinations to steal the Saotome family treasure. However, Nodoka decides she won't force them to commit seppuku regardless if her son turns into a girl so long as Ranma stays romantically interested in girls and continues to fight like a "man amongst men."

Romances[]

Ranma Paramours

Ranma's fiancées: Shampoo, Kodachi Kuno, Ukyo Kuonji and Akane Tendo.

Ranma leads one of the most bizarre love lives in anime and manga thanks to his father's foolishness and his own bad luck. He has multiple fiancées, none of whom seem willing to give up on him, and who all have a legitimate engagement with him. The only engagement he has acknowledged to is the one he has with Akane, the girl he is secretly in love with.

Akane Tendo

Ranma-Akane Relationship

The first fiancée featured in the manga is Akane, to whom Ranma has been promised from a young age thanks to a deal made between his father, Genma and his father's oldest friend, Soun Tendo. When they first met, Ranma was a girl and formed a shy friendship with Akane. Just for fun, Akane suggested a sparring match to Ranma, which both genuinely enjoyed. However, when Akane thought Ranma was a pervert after she first encountered his male form as a naked stranger awaiting her in the Tendo bath, he retaliated through insults. He did, however, retain a fondness for her, as shown in several awkward moments, such as when he complimented her haircut when they were alone on a bridge at the beginning of the series. Even though they often argue with each other, he has never caused her any actual physical harm, and has sometimes taken severe damage. During the two times they have seriously fought (super-soba and living battle-dougi), he mostly limited himself to attempts to either restrain or talk her down. He did however beat Shampoo twice in a fight, defeated Ukyo in a fight, and beat Kodachi in martial arts rhythmic gymnastics.

Their relationship continued to be rocky for a while due to Ranma's curse, his initial insensibility, Akane's short temper and a lot of misunderstandings, but they did end up caring for each other quite deeply. They constantly bicker, but are willing to apologize and forgive each other more often than not. It also can be noted that they can talk to each other about things they don't speak of with others (such as their views on gender, family, harassment and their various engagements), and that they value the other's opinion, whether it be in combat strategies or their physical appearances. Above all, they are almost always willing to help each other out of tight spots and will risk their life in an instant to ensure the other's safety. However, they are often too shy to interact in a caring manner too openly, even when they have the need to be comforted by the other when sad or scared.

Despite his initial protests, Ranma does have romantic feelings for Akane. He gets very confused, jealous and angry when Akane has shown any evidence of interest in another man, more specifically Dr. Tofu, Ryoga or Shinnosuke, has either driven him to depression, paranoia or outrageous schemes. He also gets jealous when another man touches or flirts with her. He seomties shows a somewhat romantic side but has a difficult time expressing his feelings for her as her for him. His softer side prominently started to emerge in the latter half of the series, He accepted a hug after coming home alive from his confrontation with Herb, and on their way back to Nerima after the Yamata Orochi arc, he took the initiative to hold her hand. He was also relieved after accidentally proclaiming his love for her during the battle dougi debacle and held her in his lap at the end. Such moments have generally been interrupted by spying, or otherwise interfering, family members, turning the pair very embarrassed. Although during the "love leaf" Tanabata chapter, both remained extremely tense about taking the first step in expressing their true feelings while attempting to tauntingly goad the other into confessing, but in the end they had a quickly interrupted romantic moment. Even during the final chapter, after the concluding battle with Saffron, Ranma had admitted to himself that he loves her, but was unwilling to admit outright, though this time Akane implicitly knew it for a fact anyway. The end of the manga strongly suggests that Ranma and Akane will marry in the future.

Shampoo

The next fiancée to show up was Shampoo, a Chinese Amazon who went from trying to kill Ranma in his female form, courtesy of some extremely strict tribal laws, to wanting to marry him after Ranma accidentally knocked her unconscious in his male form to stop her from attacking Akane. He temporarily drove Shampoo off by using his curse to confuse her, but she soon returned, now cursed to turn into a cat with cold water, making her aware of his situation as a male cursed to become female. Shampoo has stated variations on "obstacle is for killing" as a personal philosophy, and made occasional failed attempts to kill Akane, Ukyo and even Nabiki or Hinako, to prevent them from getting close to Ranma, whom she considers to be her husband. She hasn't been above attempting to permanently enslaving Ranma into loving her through the use of a magic pills or imprinting eggs. When angered at him, she has been known to take advantage of Ranma's fear of cats and torment him with her cursed form. While he has stated outright that he views her as a pest and has occasionally shown outrage at her cruel or completely ruthless moments, he usually treats her in a comradely manner.

Ukyo Kuonji

The third and final fiancee to appear was Ukyo Kuonji, a childhood friend of Ranma's. He did not know about the arrangement Genma had made with her father and believed Ukyo was male at first. She initially wanted revenge, thanks to Genma's abandoning her and stealing her dowry, leading her to be considered a social pariah, and believing Ranma was an accessory. During the subsequent fight, he finally learned she was a girl by accidentally grabbing her breasts, then pouring hot water on her to confirm she did not have a Jusenkyo curse. She was still upset, and he offered to let her beat him up in restitution, but turned extremely unwilling when she took the offer. He told Ukyo that she was cute to give her faith in her femininity and let go of the grudge, turning her heavily embarrassed. When he then explicitly presented his fiancée Akane and they didn't seem to get along, Ukyo immediately forgave him and, to his surprise, handed over an okonomiyaki with a heart on it to indicate the restoration of their friendship. Although Ranma sees Ukyo as a close friend instead of a lover, she has since treated their engagement very seriously and often has romantic visions of their future together. She helped Ranma recover his strength from Happosai's moxibustion, being was willing to marry him even if he remained weak for life regardless, and offered her beloved restaurant as collateral to help him win against the Gambling King.

Kodachi Kuno

There are other people who have tried to win Ranma over - both male and female, depending on the form he was in at the time. Although he does not return their affections, he is not above using them to get what he wants either. One of his more determined suitors is Kodachi Kuno, a master of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics and Tatewaki's eccentric, exhibitionistic and aristocratic sister. Kodachi has viewed Ranma as her chivalrous knight ever since he rescued her from a fall from the Tendo Dojo's roof. She regularly tries to paralyze him and so and have her way with him. She has stated that she desires him as an overwhelmingly enamored servant. Like her brother, she is oblivious to Ranma's curse and sees his female half as a rival to gain the affection of the male half. Kodachi and her brother share a strong sibling rivalry, in part because they are each in love with the other's object of hatred.

Friendships[]

Hiroshi & Daisuke Hiroshi and Daisuke are Ranma's closest school friends. They are in Ranma's class and are always seen in his company when they show up. They are seen hanging around together while gossiping about the bizarre things in their school, although they are not as interested in the difficulties of their friend's love life as Yuka, Sayuri, Asami and Hiroko are. Their basic contribution to the plot is serving as a companionship for Ranma and padding out his social life with normal, day to day activities to engage in.


Rivals[]

Ranma has several rivals. However, his main opponents are:

Ranma Rivals

From left to right: Happosai, Kodachi Kuno, Ryoga Hibiki, Mousse and Tatewaki Kuno

Ranma had other rivals throughout the series, although most of them only appeared in a single story arc, such as Mariko Konjo, Ryu Kumon, Herb and Saffron. They all tried to kill and/or tormented Ranma for various reasons. In the first case for romantic rivalry, in the second for fulfillment in battle, and in the final two for conflicting interests regarding the use of Jusenkyo's springs. But unlike his primary foes, none of them have apparently had motivation to keep their rivalry, alternately visit the Nerima area, after the conclusion of their conflict.

Ryoga Hibiki

Ryoga is Ranma's primary rival in the martial arts, and Ranma has stated outright that he is the only one that he truly considers as such.[36] If shorter battles are included he has beaten Ranma roughly twice as many times as the reverse, despite being almost entirely self-taught, occasionally in seconds when sufficiently upset. He has a non-existent sense of direction, and used to hold a grudge because Ranma accidentally cursed him to turn into a piglet, which makes his constant lost wandering through the wilderness even more dangerous. Their later rivalry circled around simultaneously competing to exceed each other, general annoyance and, most importantly, fighting for Akane's affection. Ranma frequently put on a disguise to fool Ryoga, when he needed something, wanted to make fun of him, or the latter somehow risked to get 'too close' to Akane despite his extreme prudish shyness. This continued until near the end of the series, when Ryoga got a girlfriend of his own. Although they constantly fight or banter, Ranma eventually comes to regard Ryoga as a friend and helps him out on various occasions, most notably hiding his curse from Akane, who keeps his piglet form as a pet. In addition to at least thrice having a crucial part in preventing Akane from being killed, Ryoga has also repeatedly risked himself to assist or save Ranma's life during serious conflicts, including rescuing female Ranma from drowning even in piglet form, entering a closing chasm to unlock his curse, or preventing male Ranma from being eaten alive. Having done so several more times than the opposite. Despite sometimes shouting out "shine"/"die", he's actually always been content to beat Ranma up during the many confrontations when he's prevailed. As time passed in the series, their rivalry has turned mostly friendly; as the two will sometimes talk in a civil conversation, and recurrently help each other out, although they are still easily brought to frenetically compete with each other if a problem arises, such as in the mushroom story, and Ranma sometimes still finds it amusing to make fun of Ryoga through zany minor schemes, which Ryoga in turn finds quite annoying.

Mousse

Mousse is angry at Ranma for taking Shampoo away from him, even though Ranma isn't interested in Shampoo and she has found Mousse severely annoying since they were children and even stated outright that she hates him. Since Shampoo only likes extremely strong men, Mousse tries to prove his worth by beating her declared groom, but she has been enthusiastic in sabotaging his prospects if she suspects that he may succeed. In three of his fights with Ranma he has come very close to prevailing, despite handicaps in each of them. That said, he is more interested in winning Shampoo than beating Ranma and was enthusiastic at the prospect of a wedding between the latter and Akane.

Tatewaki Kuno

Takewaki is Ranma's rival at school and conversely his suitor for his female counterpart, who he knows as the "pigtailed girl". He is the only student at Furinkan High School who does not know that Ranma can change into a girl, disgusting Ranma by his repeated silly attempts at intimacy. When Nabiki told him that the "pigtailed girl" belongs to Ranma, body and soul, he reached the conclusion that Ranma has enslaved her, but after this incident the rivalry returned to its previous level. He also pursues Akane's affection, and has tried to convince Ranma to hook up with his sister or Nabiki instead.

Happosai

Happosai is the perverted founder and grand master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, and is mainly interested in stealing food or female underwear, peeping, or being a general nuisance. He occasionally attempts to force female Ranma to model lingerie for him, or male Ranma to acknowledge his superiority as a humble student to a teacher, but Ranma continues to refuse his requests. As previously mentioned he was willing to turn Ranma powerless for life, when the latter sufficiently displeased him. He is technically far too dangerous to be considered a rival, rather than an irritant and antagonist.

Pantyhose Taro

Taro is one of Ranma's few almost completely evil recurrent adversaries. Ranma has consistently helped him out to change his name and saved his life, but despite this Taro is willing to betray and kill him without a second thought, and remains completely unrepentant about his behavior no matter how charitably others treat him. Rather than training to improve, his focus seems to lie in finding shortcuts to enhance his very powerful monster form, through bathing in the Spring of Drowned Octopus, or seeking to claim the 'power-source' of Rouge/'Asura'. He has even harbored plans to take over the world some day, but is apparently quite clueless in this endeavor.

Quotes[]

  • "And I’m better built to boot"

Etymology[]

  • The name Ranma means "chaotic or reckless" (乱) (ran) and "horse" (馬) (ma).
  • The name Saotome means "rice-planting" (早) (sa) and "girl" (乙女) (otome).

Trivia[]

  • In most of Ranma's official artwork, he is shown in both forms as if they are separate beings.
  • Ranma's speech is casual and unrefined, using a coarse form of Japanese (English in the case of the American-translated anime and manga). He rarely uses -san, -kun, -chan or any other traditional honorifics. He does use -sempai (elder student) for Kuno, but that is more for sarcasm. Others he uses honorifics for include his benefactor Soun (Ojisan or "Uncle"), his childhood friend Ukyo (Ucchan), the considerate Kasumi (usually -san), and even Ojiisan and Obaasan for Happosai and Cologne when he is not mad at them. And while Akane usually uses honorifics for other people, she rarely addresses him with one. This is amusing since it would denote that the two are particularly intimate with each other.
  • The ending theme from OVA 1 to OVA 6 have Ranma and Akane singing a ballad together.
  • Ranma considers Happosai a personal archenemy according to The art of Ranma ½ relationship chart.
  • In the English and Japanese versions, Ranma is voiced by Richard Ian Cox and Kappei Yamaguchi who are also known for voicing Inuyasha from Inuyasha, Takahashi's next manga series after Ranma ½. The two characters are similar in terms of personality and behavior.
    • Also, Inuyasha remarks at Ranma that his voice are identical to his ("Hey, your voice sounds a lot like mine."), referencing both being voiced by their Japanese voice actor, Kappei Yamaguchi.
    • In the anime crossover special called "It's a Rumic World!" which most of the characters from different manga series created by Rumiko Takahashi appear during the 50th Anniversary Weekly Shonen Sunday, it was the first time Ranma meets Inuyasha and he thought Inuyasha had fell into the Jusenkyo cursed hot springs like they were and it was his first time to see a man with animal ears much to Inuyasha's confusion when he referred to him as being half-cursed.
  • Both Ranma's Seiyūs (Kappei Yamaguchi and Megumi Hayashibara) would provide their voices together on another work of Rumiko Takahashi: the parents of Kyōkai no Rinne's protagonist (Sabato Rokudō and Otome Rokudō). Interestingly, the protagonist Rinne Rokudō and Ranma share some similar traits:
    • They don't appreciate their father.
    • They were separated from their mother when they were babies and got to meet them around 15 years later.
    • They are unable to skate.
  • Ranma makes a cameo in episode 4 of Kyokai no Rinne as a doll in a claw machine, along with Akane, P-chan, Genma's panda form, and Lum from Urusei Yatsura. However, his hair is brown instead of black.
  • Ranma's female form in the anime bears a strong resemblance to Suzuki Linn/Kotetsu from the anime and manga, Adventures of Kotetsu.
Ranma-Kyosuke comparison

Ranma & Kyosuke.

  • Ranma's male form bears a slight resemblance to Kensei Ma in his teenaged years from the anime and manga, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi.
    • Ranma appearance in the first season also bears a resemblance to Kyosuke Kasuga from Kimagure Orange Road. This is because Masako Goto, the character designer for KOR, was the art director for the first season.
  • Female Ranma's third English voice actress previously voiced Oharu in Hanyō no Yashahime.

Gallery[]

Main article: Ranma Saotome/Image Gallery

Outfits[]

Male

Main article: Ranma Saotome (Male) Outfits

Female

Main article: Ranma Saotome (Female) Outfits

References[]

  1. ↑ A Man's Vow
  2. ↑ Ukyo's Secret
  3. ↑ Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan
  4. ↑ The Hunter
  5. ↑ Busted!
  6. ↑ The Whisker's Secret
  7. ↑ Love's Counterstrike
  8. ↑ Looking His Best
  9. ↑ Rumiko Takahashi Ranma ½ Memorial Book/The Art of Ranma ½ interview
  10. ↑ Animerica Vol.9, #6, June 2001; http://www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi10.html
  11. ↑ Weak Spot - Found!
  12. ↑ Super Badminton
  13. ↑ Take Care of Her
  14. ↑ Ryoga Explodes!
  15. ↑ Ryoga Explodes!
  16. ↑ The Fairy Tale Ending
  17. ↑ Boiling Retaliation
  18. ↑ Lips at a Loss
  19. ↑ Fast Break
  20. ↑ The Ultimate Medicine
  21. ↑ Thousand-Mountain Tragedy
  22. ↑ A Beautiful Friendship
  23. ↑ Akane's Smile
  24. ↑ Dogfight Above the Peak
  25. ↑ The Demon's Tale
  26. ↑ Beware! Blows of Strength
  27. ↑ Prelude to Defeat
  28. ↑ The Lion's Roar
  29. ↑ Unlucky Blow
  30. ↑ The Mushroom of Time
  31. ↑ Lion Versus Tiger!
  32. ↑ The Weight of Victory
  33. ↑ The World's Most Powerful Woman
  34. ↑ The Final Chapter
  35. ↑ Pantyhose Taro Intro Arc
  36. ↑ http://manga.animea.net/ranma-chapter-14-page-117.html


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