Ranma Saotome

appearance

Ranma can be considered of "average" height compared to his friends of the same age, as most of them are also the same height, while Akane Tendo and several of the girls are slightly shorter than him. Tatewaki Kuno is taller. After the curse pool accident, her female form is smaller (1.57m) than her male form and half a head shorter than Akane. Her female form has been shown more than once to have a larger bust size and smaller hip size; she also possesses fair skin and blue eyes. In her male form, he has fair skin, black eyes, and is considered by several women to be a handsome, well-built, and athletic man. Ranma's most notable physical feature is his long hair tied in a braid, although before the curse he wore it in a ponytail. In the anime, Ranma has black hair, while his female form sports a vivid red. To help distinguish Ranma's transformation in the manga, Rumiko Takahashi always drew Ranma's female form with a bright streak in her hair. However, in the first chapter of the manga, published in Shonen Sunday and printed in color, his female form displayed the same hairstyle as his male form, and in several color illustrations, Ranma's female hair has varied in color, being fuchsia, violet, or pink. In the 2024 anime adaptation, Ranma's female form features pink and red hair and eyes, respectively.

clothes

Ranma prefers Chinese-style clothing in the form of long-sleeved, short-sleeved, or sleeveless shirts of various colors, black pants (also dark blue or teal in the anime), and slip-on shoes. This has served him well when changing into or out of his cursed form. Ranma has his own Gi, which he occasionally uses specifically to learn a new technique. She wore a Gakuran at the old school she attended with Ryoga Hibiki, but she manages to avoid wearing the boys' uniform at the Furinkan, although in the manga she does occasionally wear the uniform. She also wears a sleeveless undershirt, and when she dresses "formally," she usually wears a Mao suit, which includes a hat with a star on the front. However, she has also dressed in formal Western clothing on occasion. Ranma has worn a wider variety of outfits in his female form than in his male form. He dresses in women's clothing voluntarily depending on the circumstances, usually to get something he wants, but also when necessary. Ranma as a woman, according to the curse, is a girl considered very beautiful, while in his normal state as a man he is considered very attractive and handsome.

The only son of Genma and Nodoka Saotome, Ranma was taken from his home by his father when he was approximately 2 years old to begin a 13-14 year training journey to hone his martial arts skills. Genma was only able to convince his wife to let them go, promising her that he would raise their son as a "Man among Men", in which should they fail, the punishment would be death by seppuku (assisted suicide) for both of them.

Genma signed the promise and had his son seal it with his hand. However, Ranma remained ignorant of his promise for years and learned nothing until his mother reappeared in his life and Genma prevented them from meeting face to face due to his curse. While still a child, he befriended Ukyo Kuonji, the daughter of an okonomiyaki chef and traveling martial artist, although he was unaware that she was a girl. Genma betrothed Ranma to Ukyo in exchange for her father's food cart, but he abandoned Ukyo and ran off with the cart without telling Ranma about the engagement or correcting him about Ukyo's actual gender. Later, near the end of the journey, Genma took Ranma to a training camp in China called Jusenkyo that few people visited because the springs were cursed. Falling into them would transform a person into what they first drowned in. Not knowing this, and not having the patience to listen to a warning from the local guide, Genma attempted to train with Ranma on top of the bamboo poles sticking out of the pools. When Ranma threw Genma into the Drowned Panda Spring, he was surprised to see a panda emerge from the pool and jump onto one of the posts. Genma, now cursed, was able to throw Ranma into the drowned girl's spring. 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.

Immediately after this, Ranma and Genma, still in their cursed forms, were looking for food and found the Chinese Amazon Tribe and accidentally ate the first prize food, causing Shampoo to challenge Ranma to a fight. Before this incident, Genma had made an agreement with his best friend Soun Tendo that Ranma would marry one of the latter's daughters and continue to run the Tendo Dojo. 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 tomboy like her would be a more suitable fiancée for a man who transforms into a woman. Although Akane and Ranma were initially unwilling to commit, and their relationship got off on the wrong foot after a certain incident, it wasn't long before they grew close, and after only a few months, they developed feelings for each other that they generally struggle to deny or avoid throughout the series. Ranma and Genma moved in as guests at the Tendo house.

Since then, Ranma has endured a series of challenges from his various rivals, new adversaries, and had several suitors along the way. In his female form, Ranma has also gained many suitors, among them the most remembered and persistent is Tatewaki Kuno. After receiving a letter from his wife, Genma revealed that she had promised that Ranma would return home as "a man among men", and that if she discovered the truth about Ranma's transformation into a woman, they would be forced to commit seppuku. So, to visit his mother, Ranma voluntarily transforms into a girl and introduces himself as "Akane's cousin, her name is Ranko", accompanied by his pet, "Mr. Panda". Ranma made several attempts to talk to his mother without revealing his curse to prove his manhood, but on most occasions he was interrupted by Genma or by unrelated circumstances. However, he had enough of hiding from her and went to her. Just then, Nodoka suffered an accident that caused her to fall into the ocean. Ranma, still knowing that the moment she fell into the water she would become "Ranko", went to rescue her. Nodoka discovered that her son and Ranko were one and the same person, but thanks to her son's courage that only a "true man" would show (since Ranma saved her even though it could result in her death at the hands of her mother), she accepted her son's curse.

personality

Rumiko Takahashi herself has described Ranma's personality as a mixture of pleasant, outspoken, energetic, indecisive, stubborn, demanding, petty, and cunning, and has stated that she finds politically correct characters quite boring. Under normal circumstances, he is quite easygoing and generally friendly to those around him. However, he is also inexperienced in social situations and frequently speaks and acts without considering the consequences or the feelings of others. He sometimes insults people by gloating over their inflated perceptions of his prowess, or mocking their perceived flaws. He frequently insults areas his fiancée has complexes about, calling her a tomboy, fat, uncute, clumsy, and having poisonous cooking skills. For this same reason, he is also relatively easy to embarrass. When faced with such a situation, he can freeze or verbally assault when in highly incriminating 'amorous' positions. Nabiki has sometimes taken advantage of Ranma's lack of finesse and weak defenses against tearful or emotional girls, manipulating him and various situations to her own advantage. While occasionally blaming others for his problems, Ranma has sporadically taken charge of matters not primarily his own, such as when Akane's hair was accidentally cut during her first fight with Ryoga, or trying to calm Ukyo's anger at being abandoned. Ranma is someone who takes extreme pride in his prowess as a martial artist and occasionally boasts about it. Though he frequently has the skills and credibility to back up his words, his overconfidence can also lead to trouble.

personality

Ranma tends to rely on straightforward tactics and planning, but he is adept at learning from his mistakes in a fight and usually takes advantage of an opponent's weaknesses during a subsequent encounter. Above all, Ranma is no coward: He never backs down from a challenge, even if his pride is wounded, or if he is completely outmatched and unsure of how to defeat an opponent. Despite this, he will refuse a fight if he deems the opponent too ridiculous, as Ranma attempted to back out when preparing to fight Sanae in The Famous Tea Ceremony. Ranma prides himself on his strength, skills, and, ultimately, being a man, while in his female form he prides himself on his beauty, but still takes his pride as a martial artist seriously. His pride often leads him to be unable to accept defeat, and he becomes preoccupied with trying to win every fight against an enemy. He also has a prominent mean side to him that manifests itself in these situations. If he's repeatedly defeated, humiliated, or trampled on, he takes it personally, shouting out demands for revenge or even going so far as to burst into tears. He was willing to "fake" love for Akane in order to get rid of an intelligent battle dougi that increased his strength, also because he couldn't stand the idea of ​​her being more skilled than him, and it was a serious annoyance, the suit literally came between them and Ranma obviously didn't like that. Ranma often uses insults, violence, or crazy schemes when dealing with those who annoy him, usually making the problem worse rather than solving it.

personality

But while his cunning generally lacks finesse, he also makes an effort to avoid conflict through the use of disguises, deception, and theatrics. At times, he has attempted to use reasoning and diplomacy, to no avail. On several occasions, he has stated that he considers it a duty of any martial artist to protect innocent people from monsters, supernatural threats, and the like, and has saved bystanders in danger. He has helped many of his friends and rivals at various times, even rescuing enemies, such as Herb, who was trying to kill him. Ranma apparently has limited respect for suspicious or hateful authority figures, such as his father, his teacher Hinako Ninomiya, or Principal Kuno. He is quite irresponsible and generally shows little interest in academics. He often skips school, breaks rules when he does attend, and avoids situations that don't involve martial arts or his personal interests. Other examples include making excuses to get rid of his various suitors and fighting tooth and nail against Hinako's attempts to give him private English lessons. His willingness to fight the principal seems to have earned him a certain amount of respect from his classmates, but they have also expressed some contempt due to his shamelessness and strange condition.

personality

He's also intolerant of people who try to steal from him, manipulate him, or treat him badly, such as Nabiki or Happosai. He generally considers Kuno, Shampoo, and Kodachi to be annoying pests. At the same time, he can also be very forgiving and doesn't seem to stay angry for long. For example, despite Herb tormenting him severely out of pure malevolence, he chose to spare his life. Another exception to this rule would be Happosai, whom he has stated he truly hates, and apparently considers a personal archenemy according to the Artbook's relationship chart. One of Ranma's worst habits is that when he's preoccupied with his own thoughts or training with his father, he's usually oblivious to his surroundings. The most notable consequence of his absentmindedness is when he accidentally knocked Ryoga into the Drowning Pig Pool while chasing his father into the Jusenkyo Hot Springs. He has also accidentally hit Hinako repeatedly when he arrives late to school. But his most frequent landing pad is Kuno, which seems to be intentional since they despise each other. Ranma has often professed his desire to reverse her curse. However, this hasn't stopped him from using her identity as a girl to his advantage. He has used his female form to hide his true identity from others, most notably Ryoga and his mother, Nodoka. At other times, he has used it to gain favors from Kuno, or in other situations where being female would benefit him. In the anime, he loves Parfait ice cream, although he always eats it as a girl, because he considers it embarrassing for men to consume. Ranma's way of referring to others is informal, using a rude form of Japanese. He rarely uses "San," "Kun," "Chan," or any other traditional honorifics. He uses "Sempai" for Kuno, but with a certain sarcasm.

personality

He often uses honorifics with Soun, calling him "Ojisan" (uncle), with his childhood friend Ukyo "Ucchan", with the kind Kasumi, generally the honorific "San", and even "Ojiisan" and "Obaasan" for Happosai and Cologne when he is not angry with them. And while Akane usually uses honorifics for other people, she rarely addresses him with one. This is curious, as it denotes that the two are particularly close to each other.

Trained from the age of approximately 2, when he began his training journey with his father in Saotome Freestyle Combat, 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. Ranma is seen as the school's main heir.

A practitioner of the Free Combat School is expected to be prepared to do almost anything to succeed, regardless of the challenges, humiliations, or pitfalls involved. This versatile combat style can produce a warrior who is strong in virtually all aspects of battle, both mentally and physically, with limited weaknesses. His training has made him a very well-rounded fighter, although he can still surprise opponents he has never fought. His impressive physical abilities include incredible strength and exceptional speed. He also has superhuman stamina, allowing him to continue fighting even after receiving many powerful blows or falling from a great height. Speed: He was able to land 518 punches during a brief ice skating match against Mikado Sanzenin, even before Cologne's speed training. Afterward, he was able to land hundreds of punches on Ryoga so quickly that it seemed like a single blow, or catch over a hundred pebbles from the Bakusai Tenketsu rock explosion in a few seconds. Therefore, he can move at supersonic speeds, but generally only uses it in combat situations.

Durability: She is durable enough to withstand a high-speed (around 50 km/h) impact into a wall (the blow was taken from behind, leaving Akane unharmed) in her fight against Mikado, or the power of Ryu Kumon's Great Iron Buddha Statue, and immediately continue fighting afterward, she managed to withstand exposure to Rouge and Saffron's firestorms, and has fallen hundreds of meters onto solid stone with only minor bruises. As for her limits, when in a state of surprise, a single attack from Taro in his cursed form nearly rendered her female form unconscious after crashing into a stone palisade. Though later, during her aerial battle against Rouge, she was only momentarily stunned.

Ryoga's regular Shi-shi Hokodan (a technique created to remove cave-ins, or to help blast tunnels through the earth) can knock him out in a single hit, or require a few to several shots, depending on the latter's approach. This version even managed to stun Ranma for a few seconds when Ryoga turned into a small child. Strength: Ranma's physical prowess seems to depend on how annoyed or motivated he is, it is often inconsistent, as at times he is easily knocked down and overpowered, and at other times he has demonstrated the power of his strength, such as when he almost effortlessly pushed a nearly 40-ton boulder into the mouth of the Yamata no Orochi while it was swimming underwater when he was determined to save Akane from being devoured. Given her ability to contend with Ryoga, who reportedly could exert a force equivalent to lifting a few dozen tons under optimal circumstances, she must be at least a quarter as strong as Ryoga, possibly as much as half as strong. Though comparatively weaker, Ranma seems to have superior conscious control over his abilities, and can more easily flag him during basic social interactions, while Ryoga occasionally breaks anything he touches. He generally honors the pride of his opponents by fighting seriously, and refuses to give up on himself, believing that a hollow victory will ever be as satisfying as in a battle between honorable men. As a demonstration of her strength in her female form, a few minutes of focusing her energies is enough to split a 3m diameter boulder with a single punch, while her male form manages to instantly shatter a common 2m to 2.5m boulder.

Although he has never been seen using them outside of his original setting, he is usually able to win any competition involving martial arts, but he frequently has to use unorthodox methods against superior foes. Despite all this, his confidence and unwillingness to accept defeat have thus far allowed him to somehow handle most of the challenges he encounters.

Special techniques Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken was one of the first techniques Cologne taught Ranma. This technique got its name from the way it is taught. Ranma had to remove the chestnuts from the fire quickly enough to avoid burning his hands. Once he mastered this, he was able to deliver very fast blows with ease.

Hiryū Shōten Ha It is taught to Ranma by Cologne when he is weakened due to Happosai's moxibustion technique. The technique is executed by allowing the opponent to have a hot battle aura, while Ranma's own aura remains cold. Ranma then directs the opponent in a spiral trajectory and executes a punch. The resulting collision of heat and cold, plus the spiral, creates a tornado. Mōko Takabisha is the technique Ranma creates on his own to counter Ryoga's Shi Shi Hokodan or Lion's Roar. Unlike Ryoga's technique developed out of depression, Ranma's version is fueled by his self-esteem. Nekoken is the result of Genma's insensitive training when Ranma was a child. Ranma has an extreme fear of cats (Ailurophobia). If he is around a cat long enough, he begins to act like one as a way of coping. Ranma is very powerful in this state and is able to crush objects with his bare hands. Hiryu Korin Dan When Herb proves to be too powerful for the Hiryū Shōten Ha, Ranma uses the technique by allowing the tornado to rise and then firing a powerful blast of energy through the center. This technique is called Hiryū Korin Dan. Umi-senken and Yama-senken: Genma agrees to teach Ranma the deadly Umi-senken attack he created. It's all about stealth and is actually a technique developed to help thieves steal things undetected.

Akane Tengo (his fiancée)

Akane Tendo The first fiancée introduced in the series is Akane Tendo, to whom he has been engaged since a young age, or possibly even before birth, thanks to an arrangement made by her father, Genma, and her father's old friend, Soun Tendo. Ranma's first impression of Akane was of a kind, sweet, and caring girl. Ranma's curse, Akane's temper, and Ranma's big mouth caused conflict. Despite everything, they ended up becoming deeply attached to each other, although they rarely openly admit it, most likely out of pride and shame. As time goes by they fight constantly, but not in a very serious way, almost friendly. They are almost always willing to help each other out of trouble, and will risk their lives to ensure each other's safety. Akane often jumps to conclusions or reacts more negatively than warranted toward Ranma, although she also helps and comforts him. Akane is also usually kind to other men, such as Ryoga, Shinnosuke, Gosunkugi, or Dr. Tofu, with whom she was initially in love; she is generally very kind, sweet, and polite to everyone, but when they bother and offend her, like Ranma, she can react explosively. On occasions when Akane has developed a deeper relationship with another man or shown romantic interest, such as Shinnosuke or Ryoga, Ranma becomes extremely jealous and hurt to the point of becoming paranoid. He tends to get very angry when a boy flirts with Akane, touches her in a compromising way, or takes pictures of her. Also, when they first met, Ranma was a girl and seemed to feel a shy friendship towards her. When Akane thought he was a pervert after she first encountered him in his male form as a naked stranger waiting for her in the bathroom, Akane reacted in fear by hitting him with a table.

Akane Tengo (his fiancée)

But at first impression he retained a fondness for her, demonstrated in several difficult moments. Despite often arguing with each other, he has never caused any real physical harm to Akane (although she has to him) this is a recurring joke memory, In the most complicated moments that risks arise Ranma has shown that he loves Akane... so he takes physical damage so that Akane comes out as unharmed as possible, or even unscathed. In the story arc where Shinnosuke is introduced, Ranma showed unconditional love for Akane, given that he believed that she had become romantically and seriously involved with another boy, and feeling betrayed, he told himself that he would protect her and not allow anything bad to happen to her. At the end of the manga, he admits that he's not very good at expressing himself, and that's why he was often rude and said insensitive things to her, but that in reality, none of that was what he was really trying to do or feel. He confesses that he always tried time and again to tell her how he feels about her, but clumsily he always "ended up making her angry and offending her."