Ranma Saotome
Template:Infobox Ranma Character
Ranma Saotome (早乙女 乱馬 Saotome Ranma) is a fictional character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½.
History
Template:Spoiler Ranma Saotome is the son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome and, obviously, the main character in the series (hence the name, Ranma ½).
Ranma was taken from his home at an early age by his father, and journeyed with him on a decade-long training trip to perfect his martial arts. Along the way, he encountered many things, and many people, much of which is later revealed as the series moves on.
When Ranma was young, he befriended a girl named Ukyo Kuonji—though he didn't know she was a girl—the daughter of a travelling okonomiyaki chef and martial artist. Genma engaged Ranma to Ukyo in exchange for the vendor's cart of her father, but he abandoned Ukyo by the side of the road and ran off with the cart, never telling Ranma about the engagement or correcting him about Ukyo's real gender.
Later on, when Ranma neared the end of his training trip, Genma took him to a training ground in China named Jusenkyo. This place, however, was a training ground that no one used anymore because each of the springs that were there were cursed, and falling into them would turn you into whatever drowned there and cursed the spring before. Not knowing this, Genma led Ranma to the ground and attempted to train with him atop the bamboo poles which jutted up out of the pools. When Ranma knocked Genma into Shonmaoniichuan, or the Spring of Drowned Panda, Ranma was surprised to find that instead of his father, a panda climbed out of the pool and prepared to fight Ranma. As a result Genma, now cursed, was able to hit Ranma into another of the cursed pools. Ranma was knocked into Nyannichuan (Niángníquán 娘溺泉), or the Spring of Drowned Girl. Thus he turns into a girl with cold water, which is only reversible through hot water.
Before this incident, Genma had made a certain arrangement with his friend Soun Tendo. The arrangement was that Ranma would marry one of Soun's daughters, and carry on the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts.
Because Ranma was half-man, Soun's daughters Kasumi and Nabiki handed the engagement to their younger sister Akane. Although unwilling to be engaged to her at first, Ranma later develops feelings for her.
Ranma and Genma had then moved into the Tendo dojo. Many events happen to Ranma, and he has endured, among other things, Amazons, old rivals, Dojo destroyers, and even evil demons. Ranma has also received male suitors, such as Tatewaki Kuno, because of his female counterpart's buxom body.
Later on, Genma tells Ranma that if his mother, Nodoka Saotome finds out that he's half-man, she will kill them both. Therefore, Ranma always changes into a girl and is known as Ranko, a visiting cousin of Akane's, whenever she is around.
However, he later talks to his mother as a man (not revealing that he can change into a girl) and in order to show that he's manly (not a cross-dresser), he has to do several perverted things (mostly to do with Akane). However, these fail, so his mother tells him that she will return later on to see his 'manliness.'
Eventually, after he stops his father from stealing what was presumed to be a precious family heirloom and in the process saving her life, Nodoka accepts Ranma as a man amongst men despite the curse.
Ranma has not yet found a cure for this ability to change into a girl.
Personality
Ranma has a lot of pride in his martial arts ability, to the point of overconfidence at times. Although he can be dense, Ranma is adept at learning from his mistakes in a fight and can usually fix them before or during the next encounter. He is quick to prove himself, and will not back down from any type of fight, even if he is in danger of losing. Unfortunately, this trait also results in him being unable to accept defeat gracefully most of the time. He considers every defeat he suffers to be strictly temporary, especially those at the hands of Cologne and Happosai, the only martial artists in the story known to be truly stronger than Ranma himself. Basically, he cannot live with the idea that there is someone stronger than he is, particularly if that someone has defeated him in a battle. Ironically, Ranma has little patience with those whom he has defeated at least once, often considering them to be little more than nuisances if they try to fight him again.
Although he can be romantic, Ranma has a difficult time expressing his feelings to Akane, a girl he truly loves.
As a result of his life-long training in the martial arts, Ranma lacks experience in social situations, leading him to speak and act on his mind without thinking of the consequences. This lack of social grace leads many people to believe him to be less considerate than he truly is. It is relatively easy to anger or embarrass Ranma due to his immense pride and his unwillingness to accept his own shortcomings. He also dislikes admitting weakness of any sort, even in situations where being strong may be inappropriate.
Being a hardcore martial artist, Ranma is quick to use insults, intimidation or violence when dealing with those who upset him, invariably worsening the problem instead of solving it. Diplomacy and compromise are rarely options in his mind. When dealing with men as a girl, Ranma would sometimes use his attractive girl-form to persuade males to go along with his intentions. Ranma is sort of sexist, or chivalrous if you prefer, as he says he won't fight women. Even so, he has battled women on numerous occasions. The most easily recognizable is Kodachi, but also Shampoo, Herb (actually male), and Ukyo—although he didn't know Ukyo was a girl at the time. Despite this he tries to stick to that code whenever possible.
Although Ranma seems egotistical, he tries his best to deal with the situation he's been put in. Highly stubborn, he could be insolent at times, especially towards his father and his teachers, Hinako Ninomiya and Principal Kuno. Because of his free-spirited personality, and perhaps because of the questionable morals of many of his elders—such as Genma and Happosai—Ranma has developed a certain degree of contempt for authority. Even those who mean well for him would find it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to discipline him. At Furinkan High School, this causes additional problems since Ranma has become a local hero at the school, encouraging many students to defy their teachers to an extent.
Ranma can be somewhat petty and vengeful and is capable of holding grudges for years, often over what others would believe to be trivial. An example of this is his vendetta against his father for occasionally stealing his food ever since he was a small child. Even Genma doesn't remember what happened too clearly.
One of Ranma's bad habits is that when fighting or training with his father, he is generally oblivious to his surroundings. In this situation, he uses anything on hand such as using various objects and even people as weapons and/or "stepping stones" by instinct to accomplish his objective. The most notable consequence of this bad habit is when Ranma—in girl-form—unknowingly kicked Ryoga into the "Spring of the Drowned Pig" while pursuing his father at the cursed springs of Jusenkyo. At the time, he used Ryoga as a "stepping stone" in order to continue pursuing his father. Another victim of Ranma's obliviousness is the Frog Hermit, who was knocked into the "Spring of the Drowned Frog" when Ranma accidently kicked out his bamboo pole from under him.
Ranma's worldview is quite simple and socially naïve. He usually doesn't comprehend that the world around him is really more complex than he believes. An example of this is his confusion over whether or not Akane wants him to look at her naked body. While it would not be socially acceptable, the fact that one wants to look at a naked body means that person is attractive. Akane's sister Nabiki has sometimes taken advantage of his naïveté, playing situations to her advantage in order to obtain maximum at his expense.
One of Ranma's most disturbing traits is high degree of acceptance for personal contradictions, socially and philosophically. For example, he hardly thinks twice of abusing his father, yet he considers it unforgivable when Genma returns the favor. This may stem from his style of the Anything Goes Martial Arts, where practitioners are expected to be prepared to do anything in battle. Unfortunately, the philosophies of such practitioners, especially those taught by Genma and Happosai, are dubious at best. It often seems that Ranma would do almost anything to win, especially in a martial arts contest.
While Ranma has often professed his wish to become a normal person (i.e., all male) again, this has not stopped him from using his girl identity to give himself advantages such as free food. He has often used his female form to conceal his true male identity from others, including his mother, Nodoka. Sometimes, Ranma even declares his girl form to be more attractive than Akane, despite the fact that he was not a girl to begin with. In the anime series, one of his secrets is that he enjoys eating ice cream parfaits, though he is always in his girl form when he does this. He considers it socially unnacceptable for men to consume such a food.
Under normal circumstances, Ranma's speech pattern is very casual, but unrefined. Displaying his lack of formal education, Ranma freely speaks in a coarse form of Japanese (or English in the case of the American-translated anime and manga).
Love Life
Ranma leads one of the most bizarre love lives in anime and manga. Thanks to his father's foolishness and some bad luck he has three fiancées, none of whom seem to be even slightly willing to give up on him. The first of the fiancées to feature in the manga is Akane Tendo, who he has apparently been promised to since a young age thanks to a deal made between his father, Genma Saotome, and his father's oldest friend, Soun Tendo. Their relationship gets off to an extremely rocky start thanks to Ranma's curse, Akane's quick temper, and Ranma's smart mouth, but they do end up coming to care about each other considerably even if they rarely show it. Nearly everybody around them seems to realize it but unfortunatly the pressure they put on the two often stalls their progress. During the ice skating story arc, Ranma and Akane almost kiss but were interrupted by Nabiki, Kasumi, Genma, and Soun who were waiting behind the training hall's screen door. Nabiki had become impatient and told them to hurry up already.
The next of the fiancées 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 knocked her unconscious in his male form to stop her from attacking Akane. He drove her off temporarily by using his curse to confuse her, but she soon returned with her great-grandmother Cologne, who caused Ranma considerable trouble with her knowledge of the martial arts and obscure pressure points upon her initial appearance.
The third, and final, fiancée to appear was Ukyo Kuonji, an old childhood friend of Ranma's. Ranma was utterly clueless as to the arrangement and in fact believed Ukyo to be a male thanks to her somewhat tomboyish personality. Initially, Ukyo wished to kill Ranma, thanks to Genma abandoning her, but soon changed her tune thanks to a glib comment from Ranma about her being a cute girl.
It can be said, without any doubt, that Ranma holds a degree of affection for each of these girls. When he thought he'd lost Shampoo, during the Reversal Jewel story arc, he went to great lengths to try and win her back, though he couldn't bring himself to ask her to marry him. And he certainly has a degree of affection for Ukyo courtesy of their old friendship. However, it appears to be Akane that he holds the strongest feelings for, and the end of the manga very strongly implies that they will marry. Throughout the early segments of the series even it can be seen when he it close to losing Akane and will often follow her around or even more so attempt to take her back from a person who kidnaps her by force.
There are others who have tried to win Ranma over, both male and female depending on the form he was in at the time, but he does not appear to have feelings for them. Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno appear to be little more than annoyances to him and he displayed no desire to actually be with Nabiki Tendo during the short time that the Tendo arrangement was transferred to her. The anime introduces other suitors but they too are not in the running.
When it comes to difficult situations with his suitors—particularly with Akane, Shampoo and/or Ukyo—Ranma often feels conflicted. Unable to accept the reality of not having everything, he usually tries to find solutions that would not hurt the feelings of any of them. Thus, Ranma often tries to find a "third" option that would not favor either side of the conflict. For example, Soun tries to force Ranma into a decision to engage either Akane or Shampoo. Instead of choosing either one, Ranma instead forces Soun out of the competition, rendering his judgement void. In another example, Ranma drinks a jarful of rotten okonomiyaki sauce rather than decide between Akane or Ukyo for his engagement. By doing this, he gets out of making the decision as well as persuading Ukyo to become an okonomiyaki cook again, just as he wants it. In the story about the race where they can win a free trip, Ranma, Akane and Shampoo is in a hall with two ways to go in a bathhouse... one way leads to the penguin... thats where Shampoo want to go and the other way leads to the tiger, where Akane stands. He is AGAIN desperate to find a solution but at the end he goes the way of the tiger. This upsets Shampoo and she runs crying towards the penguin, but Ranma runs to catch her and says "What does penguins bath in???" Shampoo then says "ICEWATER". Ranma panicks as Shampoo turns into a cat.
Rivals
Ranma has had several rivals. Mostly, because the girl they had a crush on liked Ranma instead. However, his main rivals are:
Tatewaki Kuno is his rival at school, as well as his suitor (for his female counterpart). He has never beaten Ranma, at least, not without the aid of a plot device). Kuno is the only student at Furinkan High School who doesn't know that he can change into a girl. When Nabiki tried to tell Kuno, he thought that Ranma's female counterpart was his slave.
Kodachi Kuno, Tatewaki's sister. She sees Ranma's female half as a rival to gain the affection of the male half. Go figure.
Ryoga Hibiki is Ranma's main rival in the martial arts and is also fighting for Akane's affection. Many times, Ranma has put on a disguise to fool Ryoga, mostly to get him away from Akane. Although they fight, Ranma helps him out of many situations (such as hiding his secret of turning into a pig). Ryoga is the strongest of Ranma's rivals, coming close to besting him several times during the series.
Mousse is angry at Ranma for taking Shampoo away, and attempts many times to defeat him. At first, Akane convinced Ranma to lose on purpose so Shampoo would marry Mousse instead. But Ranma won anyway, since his pride refused to allow himself to be defeated. Mousse is the fastest of Ranma's rivals, but he has failed to use this to his advantage.
Ranma had numerous rivals throughout the series, though most of them only appeared in a single story arc. They all fought and/or played tricks on Ranma for various reasons, such as for debt, honor, love, or revenge. But unlike his four primary foes, most of them have released Ranma from his commitments to them after being beaten by him.
Special Techniques
Ranma possesses a blend of the Chinese and Japanese styles of martial arts, which he incorparates into his own style, the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts (無差別格闘早乙女流—Musabetsu Kakuto Saotome-Ryu). The other School of Anything Goes, the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts (無差別格闘天道流—Musabetsu Kakuto Tendo-Ryu), is practiced by Soun and Akane. The two schools—while derived from the same basic style—vary slightly. The Tendo School focuses on strength and weapon use, while the Saotome School specializes in speed and aerial combat.
The practitioner of the Anything Goes Martial Arts is expected to be prepared to do anything, regardless of the challenges involved. This highly versatile combat style produces a warrior who is strong in virtually every aspect of combat, both mentally and physically, with no discernible weaknesses. Due to the philosophies of his highly adaptable martial art, Ranma is a very well-balanced fighter who is rarely surprised, even by opponents whom he has never fought before.
One of Ranma's weak points, if it could be said as such, in combat is that he does not excel in any one particular ability (i.e. strength, speed, endurance, and technique). Opponents who have more specialized abilities often try to take advantage of their strengths against him, as their unique skills are usually greater than those of Ranma. What they fail to realize is that by emphasizing their strengths, they emphasize their weaknesses as well—and Ranma is quite capable of capitalizing on the weaknesses of his opponents.
On many occasions, Ranma's naïveté and overconfidence have been taken advantage of by new opponents. Unless he has to actively do so to win—or utterly humiliate an opponent—Ranma never uses trickery and fights fairly with all his power, never holding back, all the while expecting his opponents to follow the same conduct. Craftier opponents have often used this naïve 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 advantage. With this she was able to trick Ranma into a deal: if he lost, he would marry Shampoo immediately. Flushed with his success in the fight so far, Ranma recklessly accepted. Afterwards, Cologne unleashed her true power, surprising and nearly defeating Ranma. It often seems that when he has won, or is on the verge of winning, Ranma cannot, or will not, acknowledge the possibility of defeat. So keen is he to be the best there ever is, Ranma takes every opportunity to flaunt his superiority, regardless of the possibility of a payback from the opponent. He has often made this mistake whenever he temporarily defeats Happosai.
As the story progresses, Ranma learns and uses numerous martial art styles, many of them unusual or even ridiculous, such as Martial Arts Figure Skating—even though he can not skate—Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, Martial Arts Dining, and Martial Arts Cheerleading. He incorporates elements of each of these new styles into his personal martial arts style, improving his already-formidable martial prowess. With every challenge he overcomes, Ranma understandably believes that there is nothing he could not defeat.
One of Ranma's long-term goals in life is to someday become powerful and skilled enough to defeat Cologne and/or Happosai in a fair fight. He may not realize it, but Ranma's true goal in life is to become the greatest martial artist of all time.
The list of techniques is as follows:
- Saotome Secret Technique: Fast Break: The "secret attack" of the Saotome School, which Genma says is based in the concepts of motion, contemplation, and opposition. In other words, the user runs away from his opponent, gaining time to think of a better way to attack. Ranma used this only once, contributing to his victory over Ryoga after the eternal "lost boy" learned the Breaking Point.
- Cat Fist (貓拳—Nekoken): A condition Ranma is subject to when his fear of cats reaches an unbearable level. When this happens, he is nearly invincible, acting like a cat, with swipes of his "paw" that can shred everything around him; however, he is mentally a cat, making catnip a major weakness of this form. He can only be brought out of the Nekoken by triggering his curse, or by falling asleep in the presence of someone he trusts deeply, usually Akane.
- Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire (火中天津甘栗拳—Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken): a flurry of attacks of blinding speed. It is also known as the "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" technique due to the method of learning the technique, which develops lightning fast punches such that one can snatch chestnuts from a fire without burning themselves. Because Ranma was affected by the Full-body Cat Tongue pressure point at the time, he could not handle heat. Thus, he does not master this technique in the conventional manner, but instead does so by pulling piranhas from a fish tank at a local fair using his bare hands. Note, however, that in the manga this is not a special attack in the physical sense, but rather a speed exercise. In the anime it is his most used special attack, and it is mentioned that because of this exercise, Ranma can throw 300 punches per second.
- Shiskibob (manga only): An attack Ranma uses to counter Mousse's Takazume Ken (Hawk's Talon attack), basically he uses a rapidly ascending kick to avoid Mousse's attack and slam into his face like a shishkibob going through meat and vegetables.
- Flying Dragon's Ascention Blast (飛龍昇天波—Hiryǖ Shōten Ha): Cologne taught Ranma this ki-based attack where the fighter performs this by becoming a "Soul of Ice" by devoiding themself of emotion. Also then proceeding to get a rise of hot ki from the opponent(s) to get a reaction. When this happens, the user then starts to lead their opponent in the "rasen stepu", or spiral step. Once this is completed, the user pours all of the ki in an upward fist strike that creates a tornado of ki that carries off the opposing fighter(s) in a single blow. It is perhaps the most powerful and most versatile technique of all, this secret Amazon technique gives Ranma the edge he needs to defeat his toughest opponents: Happosai, Herb, Saffron, Kirin, and others. It has been shown that the opponent need not radiate hot ki; Ranma can and will gather excess hot ki in the area (such as from Saffron's heat attacks) to create the whirlwind. A great deal of cold ki can lessen, or even nullify, the effects of the whirlwind. In the manga it is his most used special attack and works on all heat; it has even been successful against Happosai's lust. Ranma has been known and seen to use several other versions of the Hiryū Shōten Ha in both the manga and anime, including:
- Flying Dragon's Ascention Blast Revised: Horizontal Spiral (Hiryū Shōten Ha Kaiteiban: Gedan Rasen): The unique situation offered by Natsume and Kurumi's Hiryū Carimbou attack made this possible. The spiral created from Kurumi's ribbon radiates hot ki; Ranma need only gather the hot ki from the ribbon to create the whirlwind. Since none of the combatants were radiating hot ki, Ranma used the whirlwind to push Akane into her opponents, the flying kick of doom. The side effect was the nullification of Natsume's own ki bolt, being cold ki itself, it would weaken the whirlwind, but, since the hot ki in the spiral is overwhelming, the effects were negligible. (This is the best rationalization that can be made from this alternate and anime-only attack.)
- Flying Dragon's Descending Bullet (Hiryū Kourin Dan): Ranma discovered that the Hiryū Shoten Ha is ineffective against Herb, who knows of the attack (and thus managed to change his ki aura in time to lessen the effects of the whirlwind). But, Ranma noticed that excess hot ki gathered up in the sky. He created another whirlwind, allowing Herb to throw him into it. While in the air, Ranma gathered the hot ki and, with his own cold ki, fired himself downward, straight into Herb, for the final attack. It appears quite like a downward Mouko Takabisha, but larger and much more deadly, backed by gravity and ki together.
- Flying Dragon's Ice Breakthrough (Hiryū Hyou Tōppa): This is Ranma's final attack against Saffron in volume 38 of the manga, completed with the aid of the Phoenix people's artifact which produced an icy cold touch based effect. Ranma plans on throwing a whirlwind though a channel of cold air surrounded on both sides by the hot air from Saffron's blasts, and that in the swirl in the middle the whirlwind will become highly concentrated, squeezing the cold spiral into a razor's edge. He is unable to find an opportunity to use the move however. He gets his chance whe Akane throws her frozen doll form at Saffron, tunneling through Saffron's heat and giving a Ranma a small channel of cold air to fire the Hiryū Hyou Tōppa. The refined Hiryū Shoten Ha drills straight through Saffron's chest, defeating him.
- Flying Dragon's Heavenly Searching Blast (Hiryū Gyōten Ha): Also used in volume 38 of the manga. Because Akane is dying, and only the water from the Dragon Faucet can save her, Ranma, falling from the sky, has no time to get Akane to the water. Instead, he channels all his energies into the whirlwind. The whirlwind is forced downward, then curves as it reaches the Dragon Faucet. It breaks the Faucet, causing the Dragon Head to spew the waters into the sky. In this way Ranma saves Akane's life, but also destroys an opportunity to remove his curse.
- Pantyhose Shooting Star Kick: An extremely powerful kick Ranma uses to defeat the transformed Pantyhose Taro. Using the elasicity of Happosai's bag of pantyhose, Ranma focuses his ki and uses the extra momentum to deal an insanely fast and powerful kick to the giant monster.
- Pride of the Fierce Tiger (猛虎高飛砲—Mōko Takabisha): Ki attack created which is based on the emotion of confidence, by and for Ranma. Since he could not get depressed enough to re-create Ryoga's attack, he made this. Ranma can fuel it with any emotion, but his personal choice is that of pride. It was mostly developed as a direct counter to Ryoga's Lion's Roar Shot (獅子咆哮弾—Shishi Hokodan) due to the fact that he could not maintain the level of bleak gloom/depression required for it. In the manga, Ranma is able to create a "Double Moko Takabisha" that fires two equally stong ki blasts.
- Thousand Fists of the Sea (海千拳—Umisenken): Created by and learned from his father Genma. These techniques are part of a set of two styles that were developed by Genma to aid in his thievery. However, he considered them forbidden because they were too much for him to handle. He only taught Ranma these techniques when Ryu Kumon arrived and challenged them for said scroll, using the other set, Thousand Fists of the Mountain (山千拳—Yamasenken), as his arsenal. After beating Ryu, Ranma made Ryu swear off using Yamasenken, and later "sealed" his own knowledge as well.
Ranma's fears
Ranma is generally fearless, or so he would have others believe. However, he does suffer from one extreme fear that leaves him paralyzed: A fear of cats.
When Ranma was young, his father tried to teach him a technique known as Nekoken (Cat Fist). Unfortunately, the training technique described the trainee being covered in fish sausage and thrown into a pit of starving cats. Naturally, this results in the trainee being attacked by dozens of hungry felines who show no hesitation in stripping the food off the victim, and possibly a few pieces of their flesh, as well. Although Genma has tried several methods to make him less afraid of them (by repeatedly shoving Ranma into a pit of hungry cats, covered in some other fish-based food each time), all his attempts failed. It was only then that he read the final page of the training pamphlet, which stated that the technique should never be used, as it only results in severe mental scarring. The mere sight of even the smallest kitten can send Ranma into a blind panic.
However, if Ranma's fear reaches a critical mass (surrounded by cats, and/or unable to get away for an extended period of time), his mental state becomes like that of a cat. Ironically, he can only use the Nekoken when in this state, which manifests as an increase in speed and agility, and the ability to attack enemies (or anything else that annoys him) with invisible claws sharp enough to slice through anything like wood, though he has even shredded water. While fighting as a cat, Ranma is usually considered unstoppable, and he knows it. He has on occasion willingly entered the Nekoken to help him win battles, usually with the aid of Shampoo.
As a cat, Ranma is temperamental, and generally wishes to be left alone after he is done shredding whatever annoyed him (often the person responsible for him being in that state) or was foolish enough to attack him (and thus annoy him). However, he usually comes out of it after taking a nap, something he only does in the lap of someone he trusts or cares about deeply. An old woman was able to handle him when it happened as a child, but now, he usually sleeps in Akane's lap, much to her embarrassment. They shared their first kiss while Ranma was in this state. Splashing him with water can work as well. Ranma remembers nothing of what goes on while he is under the Nekoken.
A less obvious fear that Ranma has is his fear of defeat. If he suffers a defeat that he knows that he cannot do anything about, Ranma becomes despondent and hopeless. Determined to be the best martial artist there is, Ranma feels that defeat reduces his own personal value. Being extremely proud, Ranma would feel humiliated at even one defeat.
Portrayal in fanfiction
Ranma is the centerpiece of one of the largest amounts of anime based fanfiction seen in America. Originally, Akane Tendo was given the chance to finally wind up with Ranma due to the incredible deluge of Ranma/Akane supporters who wanted to finally see this come to pass since the Ranma ½ series is open ended. However in recent years, popular opinion has seem to have turned against Akane, and Shampoo and Ukyo now see much more fanfiction that gives them the chance to be Ranma's bride. Ranma is also sometimes paired with Nabiki, though more often Kasumi, and is more often paired with his own cursed form, which in such fics, is somehow separated from him in one fashion or another.
Another popular device in fanfiction is Ranma being portrayed as the reincarnation of InuYasha from another Rumiko Takahashi series, InuYasha. This is largely due to their similar personalities and the fact that they are both voiced by the same actor (Interestingly enough, both in the series' native Japan and in the US, though in Ranma's case, Richard Ian Cox, who has voiced Inuyasha since the beginnings of the series, was the second actor to portray Ranma, following in the steps of Sarah Strange, who had portrayed him prior to Cox being brought in as replacement talent, because Strange went on to pursue a live action career, The reason of why female Ranma's voice changed was because Brigitta Dau had reported negative backlash towards the English dub therefore after playing in TV episodes 1-6 and OVA episodes 1-2 she was fired, then she was replaced by Venus Terzo who provided an improved version of girl Ranma's voice. They also have physical similarities. Template:Endspoiler
External links
- The Ranma ½ Perfect Edition, arugably the most comprehensive Ranma resourse available.
- The Ranma ½ FAQ, good for those nagging questions you might have.
- The AAAnime webpage, an out-of-the-ordinary site full of out-of-the-ordinary tidbits.
