History Manga / RanmaOneHalf

Even with these problems, the ''Ranma ½'' anime became a popular show in its day -- even in North America. ''Ranma'' became one of the first major crossover hits that helped usher in the explosion of anime importation in the early-to-mid-1990s, and was the ''very'' first anime TV series to ever be released in English with a straight uncut dub. Many fans think of the dub by Creator/VizMedia and [[Creator/TheOceanGroup Ocean Studios]] as one of the first decent efforts in the history of English anime adaptation. Viz did its best to minimize the usual culprits of cultural translation, Bowdlerization, and localization -- which contrasts heavily with the show's near-contemporary ''Anime/SailorMoon'' (Viz released ''Ranma'' directly to video rather, whereas ''Sailor Moon'' arrived via television syndication, though ''Ranma'' also aired for a short time in some markets). It was even briefly optioned for a live action Hollywood film in the late 1990s, although nothing ever came of it. ''Ranma'' had the fortunate luck to arrive in the the English language market at about the same time that the World Wide Web emerged into public life, which led to the show acquiring one of the first major online fan communities, the FanFiction Mailing List, or FFML, which primarily centered around ''Ranma'' despite the generic name, and the first known online scanlation effort, the [=RanmaScan=] project.

Now Akane and Ranma have to put up with each other while [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters an increasingly large snarl of characters]] try to [[LoveDodecahedron woo, marry and/or defeat one or both of them]], sometimes simultaneously, often with [[FantasticFightingStyle world-class ability in bizarre or eclectic martial arts styles]], and often bearing their ''own'' shapeshifting curses. HilarityEnsues.

!!The work contains examples of:

!!''Ranma ½'' provides examples of:

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[[folder:A to F]]
* EightiesHair: Due to the standard Rumiko Takahashi artstyle, almost everyone.
* AbductionIsLove:
** Once to female Ranma [[RescueRomance in the manga]].
** Once to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Akane in the first movie]].
** Every female but Cologne in the [[BeachEpisode second movie]].
** Female Ranma is also kidnapped for this purpose, and very nearly bewitched with a LovePotion in the ''Toraware no Hanayome'' [[TurboGrafxSixteen PC Engine]] video game. Akane has to rescue her from being married to a [[spoiler:bear]] prince.
* AbortedArc:
** Manga only: Ranma's attempts to conceal his curse are quietly dropped in the middle of the "Full-body Cat's Tongue" arc and the story goes from no-one at school knowing about his curse to everyone (except the Kunōs, of course) knowing about it with hardly a comment from anybody, initiating the manga's shift from a RomanticComedy to a [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo is darn near god]] SituationComedy.
** Dr. Tōfū's [[AllLoveIsUnrequited one-sided love]] for Kasumi is completely abandoned -- [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome as is Dr. Tōfū]].
* AbsurdPhobia: Ranma's fear of cats is usually PlayedForLaughs, until he goes into his [[BerserkMode Cat-Fu mode]].
* AbsurdlySharpBlade:
** Kunō. With a wooden sword, no less. An intentionally absurd justification is made for Kunō's wooden sword by showing that he's so fast with it that when he swings, it can smash rocks ''with the air pressure alone''.
** Konatsu, Ryōga, and even Kodachi, are still more extreme. The former uses a sword made of ''paper'', and the two others regular pieces of cloth.
** Lampshaded in the Martial arts rhythmic gymnastic competition when Kodachi attacks with a steel bar: "she uses that rope like it's a steel bar... oh wait it is a steel bar"
* AbsurdlySharpClaws: Ranma and some other martial arts-adept characters can cut perfect holes in stone walls using air pressure, ki, vacuum blades...
* AbusiveParents: None of the parents would necessarily win any prizes, but Genma Saotome and Principal Kunō both stand out -- the former for his extreme martial arts teaching techniques and overwhelmingly selfish behavior, and the latter for using his children as pawns for his own amusement and blatantly dodging any questions related to his parenting. Ranma's mother Nodoka allowed Genma to take Ranma away for training on the basis that he would turn their son into "a man among men," a statement too vague and subjective to truly be a valid measure of character, and even let him sign a {{seppuku}} oath to that end -- which was the only reason she let him take Ranma away in the first place. Her [[HonorBeforeReason absolute devotion to this duty]], [[spoiler:both before and after finding out about the curse]], constantly keeps Ranma on edge (especially since she was willing to go through with it once) and would be considered an even ''greater'' sort of emotional abuse even if Ranma himself weren't desperately willing to make her proud of him (and his manliness.) This dynamic is typically PlayedForLaughs, with no one batting an eye at it in-story, until the ValuesDissonance [[FridgeHorror sets in]] for the audience.
* AccidentalMarriage: Ranma and Shampoo; Kodachi's behavior is similar.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Girl-Ranma, from black in the manga (and varicolored in random non-canon illustrations) to cherry-red in the anime. Likewise Shampoo, from black to [=lavender/purple=]. Often overlooked is Akane, who also had black hair in the manga but started getting illustrated consistently with ''brown'' hair in late Takahashi illustrations (around the same time Ranma's red hair leaked back into Takahashi's style) but was portrayed with midnight-blue in the anime.
* AdaptationalBadass: Satsuki Miyakoji of the "Martial Arts Tea Ceremony" Arc. In the manga she's a YamatoNadeshiko who was so nervous about meeting her future husband she [[spoiler: sent her pet monkey in her place]]. In the anime she's still a YamatoNadeshiko, but in "Battle for the Golden Tea Set," Satsuki's the only person able to inflict significant damage on the thief trying to steal the aforementioned tea set. This is especially noteworthy as the thief was [[spoiler: Satsuki's own grandmother as part of a SecretTestOfCharacter set up by her and Sentaro's grandmother to judge their respective skills. And Satsuki did not know this until after their fight ended]].
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** Shampoo. Her manga self is violent and treacherous and it's difficult to imagine why Shampoo could be taken seriously as a possible "fiancée". The anime, however, made Shampoo's character significantly nicer and gave her a lot more PetTheDog moments.
** Kodachi Kunō actually gets PetTheDog moments in the anime (including an entire episode that showed her willingly bequeathing her fortune to Ranma so the Anything-Goes school can have a dojo), compared to the manga's depiction of her as a one-dimensional loon that would fit right in at Arkham Asylum.
* AdaptationalVillainy: In the anime, Akane comes across as more of JerkAss than in the manga. However, some of her more extreme acts of ComedicSociopathy from the manga are cut.
* AdaptationExpansion:
** The 13th OVA episode -- which was done years after the originals as part of ''Shōnen Sunday's'' 50th anniversary -- added more content than was in the original manga story it was based on. Most likely done to allow more of the old cast to play part as a service to the fans who hadn't seen them in years.
** The "Martial Arts Tea Ceremony" arc is a strange example. In the manga it was a short arc, but in the anime the arc was expanded across the different seasons, albeit practically one episode at a time.
%%* AffablyEvil or FauxAffablyEvil: Nabiki, Pantyhose Tarō, Pink, Shampoo.
* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Shampoo towards Ranma.
* AllCheeringAllTheTime: Mariko, though we only ever see her when she's actively being a [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Combat Cheerleader]] so she might not talk that way in civvies. Then again, this is ''Ranma ½''.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: According to Creator/RumikoTakahashi, this is because all the side characters in the Love Chart were merely obstacles to Akane and Ranma's eventual hook up. Yes, even Mousse. The only reason Ryōga became the lone exception was because the fans demanded his happiness.
* AltarDiplomacy: Attempted to be {{Invoked}} by the fathers. The father of Saotome Ranma has arranged to board with the father of Tendō Akane so that these two young people can become acquainted and eventually marry. Saotome Genma sees a huge advantage in Ranma inheriting a working dojo to maintain his martial arts training, and to thwart all of Ranma's other suitors as well. Tendō Sōun would like to see Akane marry someone with a strong interest in martial arts, so that the dojo he founded won't be neglected or sold off.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: The massive pigs that are seen in the Ranma manga do exist in real life. There really are boars and pigs as big as the one Ryōga hit in the manga or Akari's pig.
* AnachronismStew: Nabiki often carries an abacus (played for laughs), even though this is seemingly modern day Japan (well, modern being set in the same decade as the show was produced), and hand-held calculators should have been readily available.
%%* AndCallHimGeorge: Azusa Shiratori.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: There exists PlayedForLaughs and at least one PlayedForDrama versions.
* AnimationBump:
** The [=OVAs=] to the show, which beats out even the movies for slick animation.
** Episode 34 has noticeably better animation than the rest of the second season. Rather suspicious, given that it's called "Assault on the Girls' Locker Room"...
* AnimeThemeSong
* AngstNuke: The Shi-Shi Hōkōdan.
* AntiHero: Sōun, Konatsu, and [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation if you feel charitable]] Kunō, are ClassicalAntiHero; Ryōga and Akane are somewhat KnightInSourArmour; Kumon Ryū is either a PragmaticHero or an UnscrupulousHero. Ranma and Hinako are both heroic with flaws, but both have a mostly positive mindset, so they do not fit.
* ArmorPiercingSlap: Akane is capable of landing a slap to the cheek on anyone, regardless of how badly they may outclass her in terms of fighting skills. The catch is that they must first insult her fighting skills or general appearance. This effect is such an important part of her character that it was used in both the manga and the series to break her out of an amnesiac effect.
* ArrangedMarriage: The driving force of the series. Three times in the original manga (the Tendō promise, Ukyō, and Picolet Chardin,) plus an extra two time in the anime, once to serve as the justification for a {{Villain of the Week}}'s MartialArtsAndCrafts challenge and the second time as a gag at the end of the episode.
* ArtMajorBiology:
** Akane somehow survives all of the water in her body being instantly evaporated by the Kinjakan. Of course, like almost everything else in the series, [[AWizardDidIt A Magical Device Did It]].
** Basically, the series consists of 36 volumes of [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Magic Curses that cause your body to transform into different creature in a split second]], [[HealingFactor broken bones that heal in a week]], {{Megaton Punch}}es with InvulnerableKnuckles, {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s, [[ReallySevenHUndredYearsOld 300/100-year old]], [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens two-foot-tall old people]] (one of which was [[SealedEvilInACan sealed in a cave]] with no food or water for ten years,) KiAttacks, [[FountainOfYouth de-aging mushrooms]], [[OurVampiresAreDifferent a woman who ages by]] LifeEnergy [[EnergyAbsorption Absorption]] [[MagicPants gaining and losing mass without explanation]], not to mention the [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever giant wildlife]] [[WhenTreesAttack and sentient plants]], food items that can either give you SuperStrength (and whiskers) or cause your hair to grow in feet-per-second, people and animals being [[HarmlessFreezing frozen in gigantic blocks of ice]], and people breaking [[RequiredSecondaryPowers the laws of physics]] ''and'' [[SquareCubeLaw biology]] with SupernaturalMartialArts on a daily basis.
* AshFace: A frequent result of Happōsai's fire bombs.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance:
** Pick any of the visiting MartialArtsAndCrafts people who come by.
** The French Cuisine arc in the manga had the governess dressed in 20th century French gown, with her hair tied up to resemble a roast chicken.
** The gambling king looks ''exactly'' like the King playing card, right down to the swirly beard and crown.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The {{Orochi}}, Pantyhose Tarō's monster form, and Happōsai, Sōun and Genma's BattleAura manifestations. Not to mention the Dojo Destroyer, in the manga.
* AttentionDeficitOohShiny: Hinako Ninomiya in child form.
* AttractiveBentGender: Ranma. All the guys at school cheer whenever Ranma suffers a ModeLock as they seem to like [[GirlWatching ogling]] Ranma more than most of the ''real'' girls. Nyanniichuan victims in general seem to fall under this category, perhaps because it ups the embarrassment factor of the curse; see the Musk Dynasty, especially their prince, Herb. Ranma's popularity as an ogling target might stem less from the fact s/he is attractive (though it's undeniable that s/he is) and more from the facts that Ranma has a tendency to suffer ClothingDamage due to his opponents often wielding blades or bombs, doesn't wear bras (for obvious reasons) and, most importantly, lacks "feminine modesty" and so is far less likely to get pissy/violent at them than any of the normal girls.
* AuthorTract: Almost completely bereft of them, as Takahashi is a very creative and diverse, almost purely entertainment-driven artist, but the self-stated ongoing message of her works is "be kind to others", and she has also stated that she "finds perfect characters boring," which fits with the goofy cast and overall tolerant tone.
* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Ranma and Akane. There is one moment of this in the second movie between Shampoo and Mousse.
* BadassBookworm: Ranma is more likely to look at books for answers and to read for entertainment at least in the manga. We see Ranma turn to books for answers such as when Dr Tōfū hurt his neck we later see him reading a book on chiropractics, during the reversal jewel he turned to dating magazines for advice on dating, turned to a scroll to counter Miss Hinako's draining, picked up the diary to find out why no one was at the island with the Hawaiian virus, etc. We also see him reading at other times as to what he was reading at those other times is unknown he was reading something while waiting for Ryōga prior to the Shi-Shi Hōkōdan, read something while going to sleep when Miss Hinako stayed at the Tendō's, etc.
* BadassFamily:
** The Saotomes, most obviously, with Ranma and Genma both being martial arts masters.
** Shampoo and Cologne, the latter being the former's great-grandmother also count.
** The Tendōs could theoretically count, but only two of the four members are fighters, and rather weak ones compared to the other cast members (though not to anyone else).
* BadassLongcoat: Shinnosuke. A janitor's coat, yes, but Shinnosuke makes it very badass; Mousse (for all of three panels)... he's pretty much a subversion from then on; right clothes, right skill level, wrong antics.
* BadFuture:
** Parodied. In the manga, during the Pantyhose Tarō arc, Ranma conceives of a plan that will surely get Happōsai to change Tarō's name (Happōsai being the one who gave him his name and the only one who can): show him a future (actually a play)where, thanks to his name, "Demon Lord" Tarō has an vicious addiction to pantyhose and has taken all of the pantyhose in the world for himself. [[FelonyMisdemeanor Naturally, Happōsai is devastated.]] But, when giving the chance to make things right in the past, Happposai opts to [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption murder the child]] rather than, say, just change his name.
** Also parodied in the anime. Ranma, Genma, and Happōsai use Happōsai's time-traveling hand mirror to go ten years into the future, where Akane is married to Ryōga (with children), Genma and Happōsai are very old and tired men who are [[ExtremeDoormat virtually the children's playground,]] and Ranma is nowhere to be found. The time-travelers are not happy, especially Ranma, who then provides one of the page quotes. [[spoiler: Made more interesting when the entire episode is revealed to be [[AllJustADream Ranma's dream]].]]
* BarehandedBladeBlock: Or, if their hands are full, bare''footed'' blade block.
* TheBarnum: Nabiki to an extreme degree.
* BashBrothers: Mikado Sanzen'in and Azusa Shiratori, the Golden Pair of Martial Arts [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Ice Skating]].
* BattleAura: Pretty much every martial artist in the series.
** Happōsai can actually shape his into a giant copy of himself, effectively becoming kaiju-sized. One episode of the anime has Happōsai split into seven clones ([[ItsALongStory long story]]) and all of them do this at once. In one arc, Happōsai and Genma keep one-upping each other...until they both faint from exhaustion.
** Moreso in the anime, but Genma and Sōun can both become kaiju-sized, although Genma is always in his Panda form when he does this, and Sōun is always dressed as a {{samurai}}. This is regardless of whether or not Genma was human at the time... and Sōun just seems to keep his armor, spear and bow in HammerSpace in case he needs to make a quick costume change.
* BattleBaton: [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Cheerleading]] uses a cheerleader's baton as one of its associated weapons.
* BattleHarem: Ranma's UnwantedHarem is full of {{Action Girl}}s. Not surprising, since he lives in [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting a world where everybody gets their own style of martial arts]].
* BeachEpisode: ''Ranma'' has almost an entire movie as this, as well as a pair of regular ones. An interesting note is the transition from manga to anime actually removes one as the setting was changed from a beach to a ski resort (though it also adds another one as filler). The "Ranma Goes Hawaiian!" chapter in the manga functions also as a beach episode.
%%* BeamOfEnlightenment
* BeautyContest: An episode has Ranma-chan, Akane, Ukyō, Kodachi, Shampoo and Tsubasa enter a (beach) beauty contest organized by Nabiki for various reasons. The winner? Kasumi, who was acting as the assistant and [[DarkHorseVictory not actually taking part in the contest]].
* BeautifulAllAlong: Inverted -- Mousse is first introduced as what appears to be a stoic {{Bishonen}}... and then he puts on those incredibly stupid-looking NerdGlasses and proceeds to make an idiot of himself.
* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe:
** Konatsu, raised by a psychologically abusive family, latches onto Ukyō because she treats him better than they did. Not by much, still better.
** This is the entire reason that Maomolin tries to "help" Ryōga win Akane's heart in the anime-only story "Ryōga's Proposal".
* BeeAfraid: Ranma's father tosses a beehive at his son as TrainingFromHell... with fairly mixed results.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Ranma and Akane -- the {{Trope Codifier}}s for anime.
* BestHerToBedHer: Shampoo, and indeed, all of the Chinese Amazons.
* {{BFS}}: Being that the show is more a comedy than anything, it doesn't allow many blades of any size to get in.
** [[AnimeChineseGirl Shampoo]] still manages to get away with swinging around a massive sabre in her first appearance, even if she does trade it for CarryABigStick afterwards. How big is it? The blade alone is roughly the same length as the distance between the bottom of Shampoo's pelvis and the top of her head. And she swings it around in ''one hand''. While carrying a chui (a long-handled mace with a basketball sized ''solid steel'' head) in the other.
** The anime-only character Kiini is a GiantMook wielding a huge Chinese sword for devastating effect, including some physics-defying feats like using it like an ''helicopter rotor'' to fly.
* BigBad: There isn't one, but Happōsai, Pantyhose Tarō, Ryū Kumon, Herb and Saffron have fit the role in long single storyarcs.
* BigDamnHeroes: Quite a few times, but the best is when Ranma (who has all his strength taken away) is about to get ambushed by four of his old foes... Defenseless and pinned against a tree, Ranma closes his eyes and waits for it... But nothing happens. Looking up, he sees Ryōga, who had stepped in the way and defeated all four of the foes.
* BigEater:
** Ranma and Genma, the latter more than the former.
** The Chardin family.
** Later by Kurumi "Tendō" in the OAV.
** Nabiki Tendō has some traits of this, especially when she's being fed out of other peoples' wallets.
* BigFancyHouse:
** The Tendō home, which contains separate bedrooms for all three of the daughters, Sōun himself, and ''two'' guest bedrooms -- one downstairs used by Happōsai, and another upstairs which Genma and Ranma share. It also includes a full traditional Japanese bathing area, an equally traditional dining/living room, a modern kitchen with a big worktable in the center of the floor, a garden with large pond, and a dojo large enough to comfortably seat virtually every character ever seen on the show as of the series' first Christmas episode.
** The Kunō Estate is a massive place that almost resembles a medieval Japanese fortress -- particularly in the anime, where it has a literal labyrinth of secret passages, dungeons, and deathtraps.
* BitchInSheepsClothing:
** Nabiki.
** Oneshot character Satori the psychic kid even more so.
* BlessedWithSuck: Most of the main characters with Jusenkyō curses, or other oddities, such as Ryōga's causality-bending complete lack of direction-sense. Ranma feels this way about his curse (though he does seem to get '''some''' [[RealMenWearPink enjoyment/use]] out of it), but it's fairly neutral in and of itself... compared to, say, turning into a defenseless little animal considered tasty-looking and edible by just about everyone, à la Ryōga Hibiki. Mostly, it's BlessedWithSuck because of the {{Seppuku}} pledge his father and mother made, the fact he's physically weaker in that form, it results in various complications that wouldn't have happened if he didn't have it (first meeting with Akane, Shampoo trying to kill him, nightmares about having Tatewaki Kunō's children, etc.), and the fact it makes him the target of just about every pervert and degenerate to crawl out of the woodwork... including DirtyOldMan [[OldMaster Happōsai]] and his fiancée's unscrupulous and money-crazed elder sister.
* BlindWithoutEm: Mousse
* BlowYouAway: Ranma's most frequent FinishingMove is the Hiryū Shōten Ha, which creates a tornado. He's also fond of modifying it [[IndyPloy on the spot]] to beat the more serious enemies.
* BlueWithShock
* BoobsOfSteel: Played straight with Shampoo and Female-Ranma, who have generous busts and are highly skilled martial artists, as well as Miss Hinako who is one of the most powerful characters in the series since she drains power from her opponents. Atsuko Nakajima's OAV and movie character designs obviate the trope by making all of the girls extremely well-endowed, even the more modest ones.
* BookDumb: Ranma Saotome. He's known for his success with [[IndyPloy on-the-fly solutions]], though he's also capable of coming up with intricate plans, [[http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/018/010/004/ such as the one he used to get Happōsai to change Pantyhose Tarō's name]]. He's attentive and smart, to the point where he can reproduce a martial arts move after seeing it only once and then find its weak spot. Too bad he's kind of Book Dumb in certain areas.
-->'''Akane:''' Ranma, you do know what Romeo and Juliet are to each other, don't you?\\
'''Ranma:''' Father and daughter, right?
* BowtiesAreCool: Ranma's pastel orange shirt and little red bowtie combo.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Happens to Male Ranma when his female half is duplicated (though not split from him) and it seduces him in one anime episode.
* BrawlerLock: Ryōga does this with Girl-Type Ranma in the last bit of the Golden Pair arc (in the anime at least)
* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Sometimes played for laughs, others for drama.
* BroughtDownToNormal: When Happōsai uses [[PressurePoint moxibustion]] to rob Ranma of his prodigious strength, to the point where a toddler can beat him up.
* BullyHunter:
** Ranma does this occasionally, for example when she stops Kodachi from beating up the Fūrinkan gymnastic team further or the time he stopped a group of masked kids that were bullying Gosunkugi.
** And again with Ryōga, most notably for defending a BroughtDownToNormal Ranma from the rest of the males on the [[FanNickname Nerima Wrecking Crew]].
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: The craziness of the Ranma world gets summed up in this exchange:
-->'''Cologne:''' Master versus pupil... Father versus son... Oh, what horrors the Dragon's Whisker brings...\\
'''Akane:''' Seems like a typical day with Ranma...
* ButtMonkey: Most of the regular characters of the show at one point or another get beaten for comic relief, the males more regularly than the females. Most frequently Ranma, as he is the main protagonist.
* CallingYourAttacks:
** Almost entirely spoofed in the manga: nearly every attack, no matter how minor or improvised, has some sort of name. The Saotome school even has a named "attack" that consists of ''running away until you can think of something else.'' But it's also played straight, particularly with Ranma and Ryōga's most devastating attacks.
** There's also ''The Crouch of the Wild Tiger'' -- a "maneuver" that has the martial artist dropping on all fours and begging for mercy from the "target".
** Even better is the ''Howl of the Demon Dog'', where the user slides backwards and shouts that he doesn't care that he's been beaten. Ranma quickly renamed it the ''Whine of the Beaten Dog''.
** Konatsu is the most extreme spoof of this. Almost everything he does, no matter how useless or unrelated to combat, is shouted out with a silly title, including coming up with multiple names for doing the same thing...
** There's also the ''Carp on the Cutting Board''... preluding the ''Cradle of Death''.
** ''Attack of a thousand clubs!!''... it looks like she's using 10 or 20 clubs, because she IS using 10 or 20 clubs.
** Then there's both the ''Yamasenken'' and ''Umisenken'', which have some seven attacks each, with Ranma and Ryū calling each attack when they're used.
* CanonForeigner: Sasuke Sarugakure, the Kunōs' {{Ninja}} servant, in the anime.
* CantCatchUp: Akane and the Kunō siblings to Ranma.
* CantYouReadTheSign: Has ''oodles of fun'' with this trope. Characters sit on water mains with signs that read, "Danger: Do not Sit", laugh in areas where signs read, "Do not laugh loudly in the garden", and run on fences that read "Danger: Unstable". Rumiko Takahashi has quite a bit of fun with this gag.
* CaptureAndReplicate: [[spoiler: Akane Tendō]] is captured and replaced with a double via Jusenkyō Spring.
* CardCarryingVillain: Happōsai. He molests women, invades the privacy of women who are changing clothes or taking baths, steals underwear and food, racks up extortionate bills and sticks them on the Tendō dojo, bullies and beats and harasses his students... only for self-enjoyment. He is the only character who is actually proud of declaring that he will be "evil" until the day that he dies and that he never, ever, in his whole, rotten life has learnt something that served to help someone. Actually, ''thinking'' of making something good got his brain literally fried once. Even when he believes he's doing good, it's still used in his selfish pleasures down the road. Proof: as much as he says he taught the Happo Five-Yen Satsu to Hinako when she was a kid so her health could improve (which it did, truth be told), in the end, he used it just so he could freely steal the nurses' panties as she drained their vital energies. And he pretended to be Santa Claus to protect two children's innocent dreams... all the while as he ate and drank at their expenses and used them to steal panties.
* CastFullOfCrazy: Starting off, about half the cast has curses that change them into different creatures. That aside, just about every character has one or more character flaws that are exaggerated to the point they ought to be committed.
* CatchPhrase: Many, but most notably Kasumi: "Oh My", Akane: "Honestly" and "Ranma no baka!" (roughly "dummy", or "Ranma you jerk" in the dub; she even has a "Baka Song"), Ranma's catchword "kawaiikune" ("uncute"), Happōsai: "What a haul!" and "Sweeto!", Shampoo: "Nihao, Airen!" and, to a lesser extent, "Aiyaaa!" and of course Ryōga's "Ranma, [[PrepareToDie prepare to die]]!" [[spoiler:He never follows through on it when he wins.]] Akane in particular typically uses both of her catchphrases at least OncePerEpisode.
* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: Often as part of a sight gag, such as Ranma getting into or out of a costume to fool Ryōga in the space of a single panel, or Nodoka (who is in a full dress kimono) [[spoiler:seeing Ranma for the first time (but wearing girl's clothes,) hugging him, and suddenly standing in proper {{seppuku}} attire]].
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Creator/RumikoTakahashi [[WordOfGod herself]] stated in an interview that she originally intended Ranma to be "a clean-cut, nice boy with frank disposition", but that he kept surprising her and "turned out to be an indecisive, stubborn, sly guy." The Tendōs' characterisations are also more rounded in the first couple of books, with Kasumi dismissing younger men as boring, calling Genma out and being snarky, and Nabiki being a more normal high-schooler.
* CharacterDevelopment:
** Ryōga, who first appears as an enemy and gradually evolves into a rival, a reliable ally, and possibly a friend. (Of all the characters who crash the abortive wedding, Ryōga is the only one who is not trying to deliberately spoil the event.)
** Akane, and to a lesser degree Mousse, also turn nicer as the story marches on.
* ChefOfIron: Ukyō, master of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki and wielder of giant spatulas. Cologne to a degree with ramen noodle attacks and teaching Shampoo Martial Arts Takeout Delivery.
* ChekhovsGun:
** The horn whistle Shinnosuke gave Akane during their childhood is the only thing that can pacify the {{Orochi}} and send it back to sleep.
** [[spoiler: The photo of Akane that Nabiki sells to Ryōga winds up playing a role in snapping Ranma out of his stupor after falling down Saffron's pit trap -- and winds up alerting the Phoenix to Akane's existence and leading to her kidnapping.]]
%%* CherryBlossoms
* ChickMagnet: Ranma attracts a good number of female characters in the series, even one-shot gag characters.
* ChildhoodMarriagePromise: Ukyō made a deal with Ranma while they were still kids who played together regularly that, in exchange for allowing Ranma to taste her family's secret okonomiyaki sauce recipe (which is SeriousBusiness, [[RealityIsUnrealistic even in the real world]]), Ranma would marry her if it tasted good.
* ChildMarriageVeto: Genma, and Mr. Tendō had arranged for Ranma and Akane to marry. The kids swear they won't because they hate each other, but most people who've seen the series swear it's more akin to AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** After being a significant supporting character in the first couple volumes, Dr. Tōfū is gradually demoted to a plot device, then starts to appear more and more infrequently until, just over a third of the way through the series, he completely disappears and is never mentioned again. The anime averts this, having him show up in filler episodes right up to the final season. WordOfGod says that Takahashi didn't like the character; when Cologne brought her knowledge and martial art prowess, Tōfū got completely useless and was properly scrapped.
** Shampoo's father in the manga. He appears in volume 4 with two lines of dialogue, then he can be seen helping out at the Cat Café for a little while, but then he's just gone.
* CinderellaCircumstances: Read this manga if you want to see how things would be if Cinderella and her step-family were kunoichi and Cinderella [[spoiler: reveals herself [[GenderReveal a man]].]]
* ClingyCostume: Ranma gets stuck in a cursed swimsuit, which will drag "her" into the depths of the sea unless she is honestly complimented by a particular man.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Akane, Shampoo, Ukyō and Kodachi.
* CloningBlues: The Haunted Mirror. PlayedForLaughs.
* ClothingDamage: Pretty much every time Ranma fights as a girl.
* CobwebOfDisuse: Happens within minutes to the Tendō household when they temporarily lose all their money due to shenanigans involving Nabiki.
* ContinuityNod: To Akane and [male] Ranma's [[NakedFirstImpression first encounter]], twice: Shinnosuke running into Akane in the bath (confirming his identity to her) and [[spoiler: [[TheMole Kiima posing as]]]] Akane walking in on Ranma in the exact same pose and angles as in the introductory chapter.
* CombatCommentator: Happens occasionally, with the peanut gallery making quips to explain what may be missing in a single still panel shot. Of course, this happens to also give certain characters an unusual and inconsistent knowledge of the martial arts, even if it is accepted as fact that they have no interest in them. Such as Nabiki immediately commenting on the nature of Happōsai's "Hermit Crab Fist" being him moving from bucket to bucket really fast. Also parodied later in the Ten-yen bet saga, where Akane and Ranma serve up some overdramatic commentary on the rather mundane happenings. One of the best examples of this trope might be the anime-exclusive episode dealing with [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Shogi]], where Happōsai and Nabiki (the former of which is just being a coward) take to the sidelines with Happōsai explaining how Battle Shogi relates to the rules of the boardgame.
* CombatParkour: Kodachi Kunō. Ranma Saotome uses this sort of fighting style in that he's prone to using a lot of flips, jumps, handstands, rolls and tumbles, all to either evade attack or beat on his opponent.
* CombatPragmatist: Ranma and Genma. They've turned cheating, cheap shots, and taunting into an art form. Fear the mighty ''Crouch of the Wild Tiger''! [[spoiler:Beg for your life!]] Saotome Ultimate Technique! A special skill that relies on withdrawal, concealment, and deliberation. In other words, run away and hide until you can come up with a better idea.
-->'''Genma:''' Hey, it's harder than it sounds!
* ComedicSociopathy: And how...
* ComedicSpanking:
** In the manga, when [[GenderBender Female Ranma]] disguises as Ryōga's (non-existent) little sister Yoiko, she once falls out of character and makes a rude comment to her "brother" before Akane. Ryōga doesn't approve of such language for a young lady, and thus give his "sister" a spanking. Note that Ryōga is super-strong, and as tough Ranma is, the ass-warming clearly hurts.
** In another chapter, Ranma and Ryōga are age-regressed due to magical mushrooms. Ranma, the older at the moment, pushes Ryōga, and gets a spanking from Akane.
* ComicBookTime: The whole damn series. Ranma and Akane are forever 16, despite several Christmases passing and one episode even referencing the three-year anniversary of Ranma's arrival at the dojo.
* CongruentMemory: Kunō once learns an absolutely devastating TornadoMove that can beat even Ranma after some TrainingFromHell. Problem is, it is intended purely as a [[SmashingWatermelons watermelon-cutting move]], and Tatewaki is only able to use it if there are watermelons around to target.
* ContinuityNod: Remember how Akane [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim to save her life]]? Creator/RumikoTakahashi did when she [[spoiler:dropped her in a Jusenkyō spring]].
* CookingDuel: Practically every third episode, at least two involved actual cooking. See MartialArtsAndCrafts for some examples.
* CoolOldLady: Sentarō Daimonji's grandmother, the head of the Orthodox School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. In the anime she comes across as one of a few adult characters who ''isn't'' an incompetent, pompous buffoon. While her first meeting with Ranma starts off rocky, she develops a genuine liking for him that doesn't involve underhanded tactics, and often apologizes whenever Sentaro drags Akane and himself into situations Sentaro's too incompetent to handle himself.
* CordonBleughChef: Akane Tendō. For reasons that are probably understandable only by herself, the girl seems to consider any recipe as always being in need of improvement... and her choice of extra ingredients is always deleterious. In her first attempt at cooking that we see, she mixes up wine and vinegar when making curry -- then "fixes" the mistake by adding sugar, mayonnaise, and wasabi. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, even she finds her concoctions to be thoroughly inedible, if she ever tastes them. Her main problem is that she never actually ''tastes'' the food before she serves it, occasionally being offended if the subject is even raised. Needless to say, nobody except Ryōga Hibiki is willing to even touch her food unless intimidated or guilted into doing so. Later in the manga she does make edible curry and tries it prior to serving it. In the anime she also learns to prepare Tōfū and boil water.
* CounterAttack:
** The Hiryū Shōten Ha.
** Almost all the techniques in the Umi-Sen Ken style are specific counters to the Yama-Sen Ken.
* CovertPervert: Akane and Ukyō have both had at least one of these moments each in the manga, as did virtually everyone else. It is a sex-farce comedy as much as it is a Martial Arts comedy, after all.
* CoverVersion: During the OVA episode "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble", the female members of the Saotome-Tendo household (aka [=DoCo=]) since a cover of Equal Romance, the 2nd ending theme by [=CoCo=].
* CrazyJealousGuy: Most of the male suitors.
* CripplingTheCompetition: Kodachi Kunō tries doing this to Ranma before their big match. However, Akane thwarts each effort. Ryōga also tries to beat up Ranma before the match, but the fight lasts the entire night without a winner.
* CrosscastRole: The school play is the first time Akane is ever actually asked to play ''Juliet'' instead of Romeo.
* {{Crossdresser}}: Ukyō, Tsubasa, and Konatsu. Unfortunate applications of hot water tend to make ''male'' Ranma one of these, to the horror of innocent passerby (including his own mother).
* CrossPoppingVeins
* {{Curse}}: The keystone and main plot driver of the series.
* CursedWithAwesome:
** Ranma's Jusenkyō curse, according to some people, though he would not agree. The [[FanWank theory]] that Ranma is under some curse that makes him a WeirdnessMagnet counts if you believe it -- though in this case it would be an example of Ranma not minding the curse.
** Canonically, Pantyhose Tarō and Rouge; both of them have Jusenkyō curses that cause them to transform into [[OneWingedAngel super powered, if bizarre, alternate forms]]. Pantyhose Tarō becomes a kind of flying minotaur that later gains CombatTentacles. Rouge sprouts four new arms and two more faces while gaining the ability to fly, hurl lightning bolts, and breath fire.
* CuteLittleFangs: Ryōga, primarily, though Rumiko Takahashi's art-style allowed virtually every member of the cast to acquire them during at least one rant through the course of the manga. Ryōga's name means "good fang", so in his case it's a MeaningfulName.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Nabiki's "Ten Yen Bet" arc. It allows her to have her own set of wacky adventures, and "[[SnarkBait love interest]]", with Ranma and Akane as the [[CombatCommentator background commentators]]. Her "New Fiancée" and "Destroyed Concert Ticket" stories also qualify.
* DeadlyDodging: Makes up a large component of Ranma's fighting style.
* DeadlyTrainingArea: The valley of Jusenkyō has acquired this reputation.
* DeadpanSnarker: Nabiki of course, though most of the cast have their moments in occasion.
* DeathByCameo: The ''Manga/InuYasha'' cast appear as corpses in Ova 13.
* DeathByMaterialism: Nabiki fights a boy whose style of "martial arts" is based on ''sticking other people with the debts he incurs''.
* DefenceMechanismSuperpower: The Neko-Ken.
* DemonHead:
** Sōun, whenever he needs to jolt Ranma into doing something that he wants, usually involving swallowing his pride and being nice to Akane.
** Kasumi and Nabiki also pull a Demon Head during the Chardin arc.
* {{Determinator}}: Just about every martial artist in the main cast has pulled this act off at least once.
* DeusAngstMachina: Ryōga Hibiki. This, {{Wangst}}, or neither?
* DifferentForGirls: Explicitly lampshaded.
* DirtyOldMan: Happōsai.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Many characters have done this on whim, usually PlayedForLaughs. However, Shampoo, Happōsai, Saffron, Nabiki, and Herb are easily the most extreme cases.
* TheDitz: Azusa, Hinako. To a lesser extent Rouge and Konatsu.
* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength:
** Ryōga, through and through. It's played up much more in the original manga, but in either version when his mind wanders, he tends to destroy everything he's touching.
** It's possible that Shampoo might also be an example of this... or simply that she gets a kick out of proving how strong she is by demolishing everything in her path.
* DoesNotLikeShoes:
** Ranma himself tends to go barefoot quite often. That "often" however turns to "almost always" when he turns into a girl (since boy-sized shoes no longer fit). Hell, as a girl, s/he's introduced bare [[FeetFirstScene feet first]].
** Tatewaki Kunō is shoeless too whenever wearing his traditional kendo uniform -- that is, most of the time.
** Sōun Tendō and Genma Saotome are constantly shoeless, which is fitting enough considering they are almost always dressed in martial arts uniforms. Of the two, only Sōun has the sense to wear geta when going out to the street. Early manga and anime at least showed Genma (in panda form) wiping his feet with a washcloth before coming into the house again
** Akane is barefoot whenever she's in her gi. Which is to say 90% of the time, whether she's training or ''skateboarding''.
* DogsAreDumb:
** In the second animated movie, the dog-man Wonton is the absolute stupidest of the three [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]], though he is still a surprisingly capable fighter.
** Averted with the actual canine, Shirokuro/Checkers, though, who is very intelligent and, in all honesty, probably smarter than Ryōga.
* DoubleStandard: According to Akane, it's okay for a girl to see a guy nude but not for a guy to see a girl nude.
* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Where to begin...
* DoYouWantToHaggle: To get back at Ranma for accidentally destroying an expensive concert ticket, Nabiki dedicates an entire day to making him miserable. At the end of the chapter, Nabiki manipulates him into thinking she took off all her clothes. Her family happens to come home at the same time and they both know he'll get in trouble if they're caught in such a situation. After [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn he urges her to put some clothes on]], they start haggling over her price for getting dressed.
-->'''Nabiki:''' Fifty dollars.\\
'''Ranma:''' Too much! Twenty dollars!\\
'''Nabiki:''' Forty-five dollars.\\
'''Ranma:''' Robber! Thirty dollars!\\
'''Nabiki:''' Done! A pleasure doing business with you.
* DramaticIrony: Had Sōun Tendō and Genma Saotome let Ranma and Akane's relationship develop at its own pace, they might well be looking at a happily married couple with children on the way. Instead, since Sōun and Genma are both desperate, and are constantly scheming and plotting to '''force''' the two teens together, Ranma, who rightfully hates Genma's guts for constantly trying to ruin his life since age 5, and actively endangering it thanks to the Seppuku clause with Nodoka, his mother, for his own amusement, and Akane who deeply resents her father arranging her marriage (basically selling her out) to a guy ''he'' never met, filial obligation or no, and bringing all of Ranma's problems into her life causes the both of them to rebel and lash out, and the more their parents try to push them together, the more they push each other away.
* DramaticWind
* DrivesLikeCrazy: The entire main cast (sans Nabiki and Kasumi) in episode 119. This is only slightly [[JustifiedTrope justified]] due to it being a race.
* DysfunctionJunction
* EasyAmnesia:
** Shinnosuke, guardian of the [[TheLostWoods Forest of]] [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Ryūgenzawa]].
** There's a pressure point technique that can not only erase certain facts from the victim's memory, but also prevents the victim from re-learning the fact in the future.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: There are several scenes from the point of view of Ranma's various would-be lovers showing just why they consider Ranma to look good. In Akane's case, the girl most likely to get this (she's the other half of the OfficialCouple, of course she gets this the most), this almost inevitably prompts Ranma to say something that points out why "JerkWithAHeartOfGold" still references {{Jerkass}}.
* {{Ecchi}}: Mostly of the comedic misunderstanding variety, but that doesn't discourage skin from showing in the slightest.
* EffortlessAmazonianLift: Played with.
** While Ranma won't allow Akane to carry him as a guy, he lets her carry him piggyback when in girl form, emphasizing how Ranma thinks of himself according to his gender. Not that Akane would have any trouble carrying his guy form -- she's sometimes seen dragging him ''by the pigtail'' while running (with Ranma trying to keep a cool composure all along).
** In a straighter example, Shampoo demonstrates the strength to catch Mousse in her arms after she saves him from a villain, continuing the trend of her being the dominant one in their "relationship".
** In another instance, female Ranma has to carry the much larger and much more powerful, but unconscious Prince Herb in her arms to save him from a collapsing mountain. In fact, Ranma (and Mousse and Ryōga) were splashed with cold water instants before for the sole reason of turning him female for this scene.
** Hinako-sensei in adult form is once seen carrying the unconscious bodies of ''three'' girls (Shampoo, Ukyō and Kodachi) at the same time. It seems her energy-draining power is also boosting her strength.
* TheElectricSlide: Pick your poison; everyone does it as they're all martial artists of some form or another.
* EmbarrassingFirstName: Quite obviously, Pantyhose Tarō. "Pantyhose Tarō" ''is'' his full name, but he only wants to change the first half of it into something less embarrassing, such as "[[MundaneMadeAwesome Awesome]] Tarō."
%%* EnemyMine
* EnergyAbsorption: English teacher Hinako Ninomiya.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: During the Koi Rod arc Ranma (in both his male and female forms) falls in love with Ryōga, causing much rejoicing from the shippers.
* EverybodyWasKungFuFighting: Anything-Goes insert-what-have-you-here.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The [[GiantMook Dojo Destroyer]], Principal Kunō, (Kunō Kōchō in Japanese) whose given name was never revealed. The Jusenkyō Guide is only ever called "Mr. Guide" by the cast and [[spoiler:"Father" by his daughter]].
* EvilFeelsGood: Nabiki, Shampoo, Pink, to a lesser degree Happōsai, as he is even more upbeat, but not quite as malevolent. A running theme of the show is that several of the most {{Jerkass}}-y characters tend to be extremely serene and happy about it, whereas people with a strong conscience tend to get depressed far more easily, much like the real world tends to work, rather than sticking to the corrupt story convention that pain equals evil and happiness equals goodness. It is most overtly displayed with Pink and Link, the former physically identical twin is a happy casual sadist, and the latter an altruist who gets victimized for her sister's misdeeds.
* EvilOldFolks: Happōsai, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation possibly Cologne]].
* EvilTwin: [[spoiler:Kiima, after she used the Akaneniichuan.]]
* EvilVersusEvil: Kodachi Kuno against Asuka Saginomiya in the manga, and what one would most likely describe Nabiki against Kinnosuke Kashao. The former is a battle between an AlphaBitch and an AlphaBitch over who has the best boyfriend, using tactics like paralysis power, explosives, and kidnapping. The latter involves Nabiki, who regularly cons unsuspecting boys out of their money through dates and blackmail, going up against a guy whose entire martial arts dogma is built on drowning opponents in debt. Their entire match escalates to a bill for over ''one billion yen'', with Nabiki taking the time to foist some of her bills on Akane and Ranma. This bit of dialog between Akane and Ranma, after Kinnosuka plummets to the ground from a helicopter, sums up the two nicely.
-->'''Akane''': What a terrifying man... wouldn't spend 10 yen to save his life.
-->'''Ranma''': I'm more terrified of your sister, who wouldn't give him the parachute for free!
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Spring of Drowned Yeti holding an Eel and Crane while Riding an Ox.
* ExactWords: The episode "The Matriarch Takes A Stand." The matriarch of the Daimonji School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony announces she plans to "take a stand" while her school is preparing for an important tea ceremony. This shocks the majority of the school, with the three elder teachers explaining to Sentaro the sort of horrible implications that could arise for the matriarch's new stand. The situation escalates to Ranma being kidnapped for whatever sort of thing the matriarch is going to do. [[spoiler: It turns out she's taking a stand as in ''standing up''. Her school's fighting style is based around being seated at all time, so she wanted to stretch her legs. Ranma was only brought in to give her legs a massage because they're numb.]]
* {{Expy}}:
** Ranma himself seems based on Ryonnosuke from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', but then so does Ukyō.
** Genma. He seems based on Ryonnosuke's father of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''.
** Kodachi seems based on Ryoko, Mendou's sister of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', basically being a more flamboyant, and less manipulative, version of the same sadistic aristocratic personality.
** Ryōga. He shares various characteristics with Ryu from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', such as being constantly training stoic bandanna-wearing martial artists WalkingTheEarth with a backpack, while struggling between personal nobility and strong negative emotions, although Ryu is a considerably more mature version of the archetype, and their personalities are quite different in other ways. Sagara Sanosuke of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' is also quite similar in personality and lost WalkingTheEarth nature.
* ExtremeDoormat: Konatsu
* ExtremeOmnivore: Kurumi in the {{OAV}}s can eat six-course meals prepared by [[LethalChef Akane]] and ask for ''seconds''. Ranma supposedly gained this ability from a "noodle of strength" (which would come in handy with [[LethalChef Akane]]), but it was never mentioned again.
* EyeCatch: The first season had Ranma (girl type) juggling things, and Genma (panda type) eating things, but starting in the second season the eyecatches changed to chibi versions of Akane and Ranma, which would be used for the majority of the series. The first has Akane swatting at Ranma (boy type) with a broom but landing on P-chan, while the other has Akane practicing martial arts on a retreating Ranma (boy type), who backflips into a tub of water, transforming into girl-type Ranma.
* FaceFault
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Ranma never escapes the curse (and the ways in which it comes crashing down sometimes meanders into YankTheDogsChain), and his UnwantedHarem never loses any members.
* FanDisservice: Genma is sometimes nude when he changes back from panda form... Fortunately, usually averted -- he seems to have eventually mastered the art of magically appearing clothing. Plus some of his fans [[RuleThirtyFour wouldn't object too much]].
* {{Fanservice}}:
** And how. Ranma spends at least half the time female, and much of that time topless...
** And on the flipside, Ryōga and Mousse are often stark naked when they transform back into men.
* FatBastard:
** Genma isn't exactly father material as he's incredibly selfish and willing to dump responsibilities on Ranma.
** Also the Dojo Destroyer.
* FatherIDontWantToFight: Ranma in the anime only episode "Am I Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood", after a bonk on the head. Akane uses Ranma's skull as the ResetButton at the episode's end though.
* FauxActionGirl: Early on it is established that Akane is a trained martial artist, and she is shown defeating numerous boys at her school. However, she is constatly kidnapped by various villains throughout the series and movies. She also routinely is incapapable of winning fights against significant enemies without Ranma's intervention.
* FauxPaw: Ranma does this when his [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes ailurophobia]] drives him into thinking he's a cat. Justified in that he's not actually supposed to be a cat or part-cat; he's just acting how he perceives a cat would.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Kasumi's defining trait and a source of major angst for Akane; this is also Ukyō's primary advantage over Akane in the fiancée sweepstakes, and one she lampshades constantly. Shampoo as well.
* FemininityFailure: Generally the case with Akane.
* FestivalEpisode
* FightUnscene: PlayedStraight more and more often over the course of the Anime.
* {{Filler}}: Both the manga and anime alike are full of minor stories designed to take up one episode or chapter and not really be of any importance. The anime gets more attention paid to its filler, however, because it created its own minor stories as well as adapting others from the original manga, making it appear far less connected to the manga, which consequently had fewer gaps between its story arcs.
* FirstKiss:
** Ranma from Shampoo, much to [[ClingyJealousGirl Akane Tendō's]] [[GreenEyedMonster ire]].
** In the girl form Ranma's first kiss was forced upon him by a guy he hated: HandsomeLech Mikado Sanzen'nin. While he was [[GenderBender transformed into a girl]]. Poor Ranma runs away screaming and crying, and Akane doesn't blame him at all.
** If one counts the time Akane kissed "P-Chan" on his snout, then her first kiss was unintentionally with Ryōga. (No wonder [[CrazyJealousGuy Ranma]] was furious.) She seems to consider her first kiss to have been with Ranma while he was under the Cat-Fist.
* FlungClothing: Kodachi, more than once, changing to her leotard.
* FoolsMap: One episode has Ranma and Ryōga trying to find some artifacts that would cure their Jusenkyō curses using a map that Cologne has deciphered for them. It leads them all around Nerima before ending up back at Cologne's ramen shop. Ranma naturally thinks this is in effect and attacks, [[SubvertedTrope but in the process uncovers the very thing he was looking for]].
* ForgedMessage: In the anime episode "Genma Takes a Walk", [[StatusQuoIsGod one of the pushes to end the petty fight between his and Akane's fathers]] is Ranma having written a pair of insulting letters of challenge on behalf of both parties to each other, off-screen. Akane [[ExpositionFairy realizes this on-screen]], while enraged fathers fall for it not without throwing in some [[MediationBackfire remarks about opponent's bad handwriting]], etc.
* ForgotICouldntSwim: During the Phoenix Pill arc, Akane sees Ranma getting pounded to paste by Cologne in a duel at the beach (which has now moved to the ocean). She valiantly dives headfirst into the ocean to assist her fiancé... leaving Kasumi and Nabiki to wonder if she had ever learned to swim. And now Ranma has to rescue ''her'' too on top of everything else.
* FreakyIsCool: "So, when is Ranma gonna turn back into a guy?" "Hey, fine by me if he stays a girl."
* FreezeFrameBonus: In [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_svPQ_U3jni8/STb-KSWmzYI/AAAAAAAAAp0/4KcIm-FdQnM/s1600-h/Nabiki+reading+the+manga.jpg this screen shot]] taken from the anime Nabiki can be seen reading a volume of the Ranma manga. It also counts as LeaningOnTheFourthWall.
* FriendlyEnemy: Ranma and Ryōga, after the first few stories. Much as Ryōga is fixated on beating Ranma (which becomes more simply being the ArrogantKungFuGuy then revenge pretty quick), he is perfectly willing to help Ranma out, Ranma has no qualms about helping Ryōga, and the two are generally quick to make alliances of convenience. Of course, they're equally quick to fall out again, but what do you expect? Shampoo and Ukyō have some elements of this... in the manga, this usually results in one of their more villainous moments.
* FruitOfTheLoon: The loon is Principal Kunō, the fruit is pineapples. Any questions?
* FuroScene: A fair amount of action occurs in and around the Tendō home's furo as well as public baths elsewhere in Nerima. Considering the cast's involuntary transformations are caused by exposure to hot/cold water, scenes in the furo are almost always because of the need to turn back to their usual form. If it's not, they'll end up changing before the story is over.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:G to L]]
* {{Gainaxing}}: Breast, in the {{OAV}}, have independent mobility.
* GenderBender: Making Ranma both MsFanservice ''and'' MrFanservice at the same time. Maybe the most famous example.
* GenderReveal:
** [[ThoseTwoGuys Hiroshi and Daisuke]], at least in the manga. Their response to discovering that cute redheaded girl they've been crushing on is, in fact, their ''male'' best friend? "We don't care, she's still hot."
** [[MasterOfDisguise Tsubasa]] also drops a Bridget on Ranma at the end of his introductory (and sole, in the manga) story.
** And [[DudeLooksLikeALady Konatsu]] drops it on Ukyō at the end of his.
* GenderVocabularySlip: Ranma routinely uses the masculine pronoun of "ore" to refer to himself, even in his female form.
* GenreShift: For the first few volumes the manga is a (comparatively) grounded romantic comedy series with arc-based plots and tangible CharacterDevelopment. After a while it transforms into a manic, sitcom-esque gag-fest with an episodic [[MonsterOfTheWeek monster/new character/new magical trinket of the week]] format and an [[StatusQuoIsGod unshakable status quo]], punctuated by occasional longer arcs.
* GhibliHills: Anywhere in Japan that isn't [[CityOfAdventure Nerima]] tends to be presented as such. At least until Ranma and co have finished trashing it over a [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts tiddlywinks]] challenge or some such.
* GhostlyGoals:
** The anime has a cute ghost girl named Kogane who wants somebody to find her lost tanuki doll.
** The manga has an ugly old ghost matron who places a death curse on Happōsai that won't lift unless he swipes her old-fashioned bloomers.
* GirlsWithMoustaches: When Akane eats the super soba. It's full of male hormones, making facial hair growth a side effect. At least the whiskers drop off once the magic wears off.
* TheGlassesGottaGo: Inverted; Mousse looks like a handsome Bishonen... until his terrible eyesight forces him to put on a hideous set of OpaqueNerdGlasses.
* TheGlomp:
** Ranma 1/2 is the TropeNamer: The first known appearance of the word "glomp" is a sound effect in the Viz media English translation of Ranma 1/2 Volume One, Part 12, published in 1993. The term was adopted wholesale by the highly prolific Ranma fanfic community and the rest is history.
** It's Shampoo's signature move towards Ranma, although Ryōga has also been glomped by Akane once (while she was brainwashed -- by Shampoo, natch).
** Akane has also glomped Ranma once, when he returned to the Tendō home after his fight with Herb.
** Ryōga was also glomped by Male form Ranma during the Koi Rod arc (and the shippers rejoiced).
** During the Do-chan (Battlesuit of Armor) arc, Ranma glomped Akane the ''best he freaking could without fainting on the spot''... They ''are'' a [[TsunderesInLove Takahashi Pairing]] after all.
** The most extreme glomping-series was the chapter wherein Shampoo used a magical "shiryaki mushroom spice" that gave anyone a hypnotic command to perform over and over. An awful amount of glomping was going on there. Ranma later used a suggestion incense to get Ryōga to hug anyone that said pig since Akari really liked pigs, with similar goofy results.
%%* GoldfishScoopingGame
* GrandFinale: For the manga. Abandoned arcs aside, it definitely deserves a mention for this trope for taking up ''two manga volumes''.
* GrandTheftMe: The Vengeful Spirit Doll, Maomolin, the Oni...
* HairColors: Mostly a consequence of the animated adaptation, which gave the characters distinctive colors that remained fixed throughout the production. The first chapter of the manga was in color and portrayed Ranma with black hair in both forms. The fact the rest of the manga was in black and white, coupled with the greater availability of the anime, means that Girl-Ranma's hair is red in the public perception, to the extent that referring to her with black hair usually confuses most fans. Takahashi herself fueled this by publishing promotional pictures of "Ranma-chan" with various hair colors.
* HalfHumanHybrid: While not half-humans themselves, the people of the Musk Dynasty have inherited the blood of powerful animals and mythological creatures by throwing them in "The Spring of Drowned Girl" and mating with them. The Phoenix Kingdom, on the other hand, became {{Winged Humanoid}}s through centuries of consuming Jusenkyō-cursed water (bird curses, natch) for pretty much every aspect of their lives ([[MundaneUtility drinking, bathing, washing...]]) [[LegoGenetics throughout generations]].
* {{Hammerspace}}: ''Ranma ½'' is the TropeNamer for this one too, though in this case the term originated in the FFML online fanfiction community. Used by nearly everyone in the cast in the name of comedy. [[HyperspaceMallet Hammers]] are but a fraction of the items pulled out. Usually it's a shinai, bokken, spatula, chui, kettles, tables, miscellaneous so-called-weapons, heavy blunt objects in general, etc.
%%* HandBehindHead
* HarmfulToMinors: The whole point of the Neko-Ken, a technique officially banned by all right-thinking martial artists due to the fact it revolves around traumatizing a young child physically and mentally to induce a BerserkMode. Not just TrainingFromHell, but also [[SanityHasAdvantages fundamentally flawed]] as well. Unfortunately, [[FairWeatherMentor Genma]] [[SinkOrSwimMentor Saotome]] is not a right-thinking martial artist.
* HavingABlast: {{Fanon}} is that the Happo Fire Burst is this (as well as a KiAttack), due to the canonical ZigzaggingTrope which is never really resolved. {{Canon}} first presents it as a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, before revealing it to be a JokeItem -- using fireworks to feign a high-powered KiAttack. Then it [[IThoughtItWasForbidden becomes Happōsai's signature move]] and actually quite effective ([[NonFatalExplosions for the genre]]). {{Fanon}} immediately proceeds to claim that the Happo Fire Burst is actually a KiAttack which conjures the explosives [[AWizardDidIt from Ki energy]] (see the FanWank entry above). Of course, Happōsai is not the only one with a HyperspaceArsenal, proving that [[MagicAIsMagicA in the setting, it is possible]] [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower with enough skill]], so they really might just be weaponized fireworks. [[ImprobableWeaponUser It's a more likely weapon than many of the other cast members'...]].
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: Tatewaki Kunō applies this trope to himself regularly as part of his [[LoveableSexManiac never-ending quest for a date]] from Akane Tendō and/or Ranma Saotome. He routinely attacks either girl, proclaiming that if he defeats them then they must allow him to go on a date with them, but whenever they fight back, he also states that if they defeat him, then he will allow them to go on a date with him. That they do not ''want'' a date with him is something his absurdly inflated ego prevents him from realising.
* HeavySleeper:
** Ranma, who can dodge attacks without waking up.
** Shampoo also knows of a technique that allows her to fight automatically while asleep.
** Akane once inhaled a magic incense that did the same thing.
* {{Henohenomoheji}}: Ranma often wears one as mask.
* HereWeGoAgain:
** The end of the "Invincible" Phoenix Sword saga.
** The episode "Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race" ends just as it begins: A man entering the house, declaring Ranma to be their son.
* HeroicBSOD: Ranma, upon Akane's DisneyDeath at Jusendō. Not even a GetAHoldOfYourselfMan punch from Ryōga fazes him, nor is the prospect of being eaten alive by Saffron's egg.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Though they haven't seen each other for a long time by the time the series starts, in the anime Genma and Sōun are usually shown hanging out together, playing shogi, go, or enjoying the countryside. In the manga they don't spend much time together on screen. However, in both canons, Sōun considers Genma to be morally reprehensible and gets mad at him for his various {{Jerkass}} deeds, although it never has any serious consequences. Sōun seems to be the only character who can [[IntelligibleUnintelligible understand Panda-Genma's speech]], without Genma having to resort to holding up signs.
* HeyYou: Ranma as "Boy".
* HighSchoolHustler: Nabiki, in fanon -- in canon, she's more of TheBarnum.
* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Ranma especially, but many secondary characters also have some form of trauma that's typically played for laughs (Ryōga unintentionally abandoned by his family at a young age, Mousse's constant beatdowns from Shampoo, Principal Kunō's treatment of his children). Topping it off: The [[{{Jerkass}} guy who's put Ranma through all of his]] HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood is the more loving of the two parents. His mother has Ranma's [[{{Seppuku}} suicide ritual]] if he proves to be anything but a Man Amongst Men so well-memorized that she performs it in her sleep.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
** Herb was ultimately defeated by gathering all the [[KiAttacks energy he had released]] into one big, mountain-crushing bomb.
** Kunō's Watermelon Sword attack is defeated when Ranma places a watermelon on his head, causing him to knock himself out.
** The Hiryū Shōten Ha technique works by turning an opponent's own strength and rage against them, and is usually a one-hit-KO. The aforementioned mountain-crushing bomb, as well as the method that defeats Saffron, are variations on this technique and work on the same principle.
* HonestJohnsDealership: Nabiki, at every given opportunity.
* HonorBeforeReason: Ryōga has a strict honor code, and strict is the way he adheres to it. He'll never, ''never'', fight anyone who cannot fight back, or take advantage of an opponent's weakness.
* HulkSpeak: Shampoo, but only in the English and German dubs.
* HumanDoorstop: In the first movie, Lychee's elephant, Jasmine, stomps a hole in the bottom of the boat they're taking across the Sea of Japan. The gang plugs the hole with Happōsai, whose antics got them in the mess in the first place.
* HumanMail: Happōsai gets stuffed into a box to be mailed somewhere a couple of times in both Manga and Anime. It never sticks.
* HyperspaceMallet:
** In fanon this is Akane's signature weapon. However, while she occasionally does use some form of mallet in both the anime and manga, she usually uses any available blunt object, most frequently shinai, and various other characters have used them in either medium.
** Noteworthy for Sōun, who, when using his battle aura to turn Kaiju size, appears in full samurai armor.
* HypnoFool: Ranma and Akane are frequently the victims of mind-influencing magic, spells and poisons. Ranma is more frequently the victim in the anime (a hypnotic technique from Sasuke to make him go on a date with Kunō, being controlled by his evil side come to life courtesy of Happōsai), while Akane tends to be the victim of choice in the manga (Happōsai uses a magical incense that causes her to fall asleep until spring).
* IDoNotDrinkWine: The Seven Lucky Gods from [[TheMovie Nekonron, China]].
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
** Akane tries to pass off Kunō's obsession with her onto Ranma this way, though it doesn't actually work. Because he wants both of them.
** Aside from that, the only person in the entire series who comes close to playing this straight is Konatsu towards Ukyō.
** During the arc where the Tendō engagement gets switched from her to Nabiki, on hearing Nabiki tell Ranma "I love you" to manipulate him and think it is real, she decides to try giving up on Ranma because she couldn't express her feelings and Nabiki could.
** It's also shown by Ranma toward Ryōga in the Fishing Rod of Love arc.
** There's also an anime only episode where Mousse decides to return to China, and even actually tries to get Ranma and Shampoo closer to each other.
* IWasJustPassingThrough: Is actually subverted with Ryōga, who comes to Ranma's aid during the moxibustion storyline. With Ryōga as Ranma's not-very-friendly (up until then) [[TheRival Rival]], whose [[NoSenseOfDirection horrible directional sense]] would enable him to ''legitimately'' make the claim to having been "just passing through," you'd expect the playing of this card to be a no-brainer. But when Ranma out-and-out asks him if he's [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou saving him for himself]], Ryōga angrily denies it, says he hates bullies, and then breaks down crying with sadness to see a "great warrior" such as Ranma reduced to such a state. Later he helps Ranma regain his strength.
* IdentityAmnesia:
** After bonking himself hard on the head during the Watermelon Island story, Kunō goes from grabby-but-harmless buffoon to a crazed stalker whose skill actually allows him to terrorize Ranma.
** In one anime episode, Ranma, when he gets whacked upside the head hard enough, thinks he really is a girl. However, that is a case of LossOfIdentity rather then IdentityAmnesia -- she remembers being "Ranma" perfectly, her personality is just twisted into an entirely new format.
* IdiotCrows
* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Ukyō; although she isn't an idiot, is often depicted as a bit moneygrubbing, another stereotypical Osakan trait.
* ImagineSpotting: Combines with MediumAwareness as characters are often able to look up into previous panels and make remarks such as:
-->'''Akane:''' Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?\\
"Good idea, we should have a Western ceremony!" or\\
"Leave me OUT of your sick fantasies!"
* ImpactSilhouette: The surprising amount of ''detail'' on the character-shaped holes or impressions is [[RuleOfFunny part of the fun]].
* ImportantHaircut: Akane
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Lots of minor characters, but the main crew isn't too far behind.
* ImprovFu: Ranma Saotome has this trope reconstructed, featuring an as-serious-as-it-can-get Anything Goes Martial Arts dojo. While the fighting style has some of its own unique characteristics, Ranma's most distinctive ability is being able to adapt with remarkable skill, something that comes in handy when forced to engage in all sorts of rule-restricted MartialArtsAndCrafts.
* ImprovisedWeapon:
** Akane is very good at using any blunt object at hand to bash Ranma.
** Ranma, particularly in the manga, is very good at improvising weapons and has done so with a large variety of objects like pinwheels, rocks, sticks, clothesline poles, his hair, tennis rackets, paper fans, Ryōga, etc.
** Mousse has a special "White Swan" attack, which involves him hitting his opponent with ''a swan-shaped training potty''
* IndecisiveParody: While some people consider it an action comedy series where the humor extends into the depiction of martial arts tropes, other people see it as this. Especially since it pokes fun at otherwise serious scenarios (a duel against a nigh-invulnerable opponent whose fingerpoke can explode a person to bits[[note]]or so they believe[[/note]], a teamup against a two story-tall minotaur monster, a no-holds-barred battle with a murderous ki master, a duel against a deathly-serious opponent with layers upon layers of meaning about family honor,) with hilarious {{lampshade hanging}}s of techniques and deconstructions of the foes' motives (an "Ultimate Secret Technique" that consists of running away to think up something better, the monster is actually a {{Jerkass}} martial artist named "[[EmbarrassingFirstName Pantyhose Tarō]]" by Happōsai, Ranma stealing the deathly-serious opponent's clothes and leaving him in boxers, etc.) And that's the "serious" fights against "serious" enemies -- the comedy-oriented MartialArtsAndCrafts contests fully embrace the trope, showing eating contests or martial arts cooking battles with the same [[SeriousBusiness exaggerated drama]] of ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'' or ''Manga/SaintSeiya''.
* IndyPloy: Every single fight. Ranma is particularly adept at coming up with new variations of old techniques during the middle of heated battles.
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: Ranma does not seem to comprehend that being topless as a girl is not always appropriate. He honestly isn't much better at staying clothed as a guy, either.
* InstantCosplaySurprise:
** During the martial art skating match against the Golden Pair, Ranma-chan and Ryōga are swept away by the "Kolkhoz High Fashion Club" when the audience complains that Ranma's costume isn't sexy enough. They bring in portable booths as dressing rooms, but are quite fast to put Ryōga and Ranma into proper skating outfits.
** When Principal Kunō is teaching Akane how to swim, he promises a swimsuit which would allow her to "swim with the grace of a swan". She [[ImagineSpot imagines]] a beautiful ballerina outfit and goes to put it on. Next panel, it's actually a full-body suit making her look like an ugly duck, and she {{Megaton Punch}}es the Principal.
** A similar "dressing themselves without realizing what they're wearing" variant occurs to female Ranma. When trying to help a [[IllGirl sickly young boy]] who won't take his medicine unless she takes him on a date, she accepts the clothes he hands to her just to play along. It's only after she's dressed that she realizes she's wearing a SailorFuku blouse and [[FetishFuel gym bloomers]] (no skirt). She [[MegatonPunch kicks him out the window]] and calls him a {{Lolicon}}.
** The "martial art" variant happens later in the manga (Book #34). Happōsai is trying to force Ranma to wear a PlayboyBunny outfit, and after a SingleStrokeBattle, he manages to put a SailorFuku... on the ''male'' Ranma. Just as he's about to meet his mother to prove he was ''manly''.
** The trope could be said to be half-used during the fight against Ryū Kumon, where Ranma performs the Umi-Senken to remove Ryū's (and Sōun's) clothes in a blink. This one doesn't even need PowerPerversionPotential to be misapplied.
** A {{Filler}} scene in the very early anime implies that Nabiki keeps doing this to female Ranma when the latter's clothes are all in the laundry. Although the changes happen off-screen, Ranma keeps running in and out of frame wearing a [[WholesomeCrossdresser kimono]], a [[FetishFuel dominatrix outfit]], and even a Las Vegas-style showgirl outfit, complete with tiara and feathers, all while screaming at Nabiki to stop it.
** Being knocked out and waking up in a wedding dress/wedding kimono/wedding tux happens to Akane and Ranma twice each (and in Ranma's case, the tux ''and'' the kimono).
* InstantExpert: Ranma was once attacked by Genma using the Umisen-ken. Genma "showed" it to him only once. Ranma mastered it in mere days well enough to use in battle.
* InsultedAwake
* IntimateHealing: The one-shot character Densuke will only take his vitally-needed medication if it's given by a pretty nurse. Weird circumstances make this nurse out to be Ranma. And Densuke does his level best to get the medicine delivered by this method. He fails with Ranma, but the medicine is delivered by this method (by a male {{gonk}} of a doctor).
* InvoluntaryDance: Linlin and Ranran play the ThemeTune which causes the opponent to dance uncontrollably, and while they dance Linlin and Ranran use the flamethrower to burn the opponent.
* {{Jerkass}}: Most of the cast. In fact, in RealLife everyone (including ''Kasumi'') could be jailed for a number of crimes or not reporting them.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ranma on a bad day, and Ryōga. Ranma can be arrogant, petty, manipulative, but will generally feel sorry about being an ass and is compassionate and helpful towards most people in trouble. Ryōga gives a harsh first impression, his anger can run away with him, and he is prone to idiotic behaviour, but behaves in a more polite and considerate manner in general, is just as helpful as Ranma when confronted with people in trouble, and his compassion is as overemotional as the rest of him. (Typical example: when Ranma is rendered weak by Happōsai, and needs someone to fight seriously against him, Ryōga tries to help, but finds that he is unable to consciously strike someone so much weaker than himself, and runs away crying TenderTears... Also earlier in the same arc, it's Ryōga who saves Ranma from Tatewaki Kunō, Principal Kunō and Mousse, because he couldn't bear to see anyone taking advantage of his weakness.) Granted, this aspect of his is only shown later on in the story.
* JewelersEyeLoupe: In the manga, Nabiki wears an eye loupe to appraise the "engagement ring" Ranma's mother tasked Ranma to give to his fiancée. Nabiki deems it of no monetary value, which doesn't change its symbolic value. [[spoiler:Turns out, it's not an engagement ring at all, although for once it isn't because Nabiki was deceptive about it.]]
* KamehameHadoken:
** The Shi-Shi Hōkōdan and Moko Takabisha KiAttacks. This is more notable in the anime, where they're shown as sustained energy beams in the second NonSerialMovie (normally, they're [[Franchise/StreetFighter Hadoken-style]] fireballs).
** Herb's KiAttacks are also like this once he gets out of ModeLock.
** The anime has Natsume and Kurumi's "Ryūka Ringu", or "Ring of Dragon Fire", which is one part this to one part EverythingsBetterWithSpinning.
** Though based on magic instead of ki, Saffron has a variety of fiery projectiles, all the way up to a super-blast of flame the name of which roughly translates as "Empire Instant Annihilation Blast".
* {{Kawaiiko}}: Azusa Shiratori
* KansaiRegionalAccent: Ukyō.
* KarmaHoudini:
** Nabiki Tendō has ''never'' received any sort of comeuppance for her callous actions in the entire series. Creator/RumikoTakahashi likes this character and considers her [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic actions within the family dynamic to be the reason she's funny]].
** Asuza never pays for her kleptomaniac tendencies, in which she steals things in plain view, sometimes right IN FRONT OF the owners. She also has no problems beating up the owners to get said cute thing of the hour. In a sense, she's basically MUGGING people and always getting away with it. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised that some of the things she's got stashed in her house she stole from little kids...
** Akane also hardly, if ever, received any sort of comeuppance for her bratty actions on Ranma or anyone else. Hell, when she realizes she was wrong about something, mostly about Ranma, she NEVER apologizes and acts like it never happened.
* KeepingSecretsSucks
* KendoTeamCaptain: Tatewaki Kunō.
* KiAttacks
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Those who don't think of Mousse as a JerkassWoobie (and even some who do) typically regard Shampoo's mistreatment of him at this. It shows she can be cold, cruel and callous, yes, but, as they point out, Mousse is a blatant StalkerWithACrush who has been harrassing her for thirteen years before the series starts, at least, and chased her to Japan openly declaring his intention was to MurderTheHypotenuse. Shampoo makes it extremely clear in both continuities that she does not love Mousse and has never loved him (making Mousse's attempt to beat Ranma to make him "give her up" clearly more using him as a scapegoat than anything), rather than this being a case of BelligerentSexualTension. Not only does she continually refuse his efforts to kiss her during one story in which she is looking at being [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a cat forever]] if she can't be kissed, insisting that the only way the kiss will work is if she loves the person she kisses, the manga has a {{filler}} story where she hears that it sounds like Mousse is going to die... and couldn't care less. While Ranma (who Mousse has tried to kill or at least humiliate dozens of times), Cologne (who sees Mousse as an annoyance at best) and [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Akane]] desperately race to save Mousse, Shampoo promptly turns on her UsefulNotes/SuperNintendo and starts playing games, leaving Akane, who was trying to warn her, to go storming off in disgust.
* KidSamurai: Tatewaki Kunō.
* KillItWithFire: Saffron's attacks.
* KillItWithWater:
** Quite a number of martial artists are transformed into (relatively) harmless animals when hit with water. Once, an entire mountain was rigged so as to eliminate all enemies this way.
** In the first movie, Ranma realizes how to get past the {{Big Bad}}s perfect defense. He kicks up water in the flooding room, and punches it blazingly fast at his opponent. As he blocks punches by grabbing them with his chopsticks, this technique obviously does not work on the water punches.
* KnifeThrowingAct: Mousse disguises himself as a circus knife-thrower when he comes back (for good) to hunt down Ranma. And he does pin the latter down to the target board, but Ranma escapes the deliberate stabbing.
* KnuckleCracking:
** Ranma likes to crack his knuckles, especially by just flexing his fingers, all the time when getting ready to start fighting seriously.
** Ryōga also makes a show of crushing some walnuts in his fingers to emphasize his attitude towards Ranma in his second appearance.
* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Present early in the series, with many convenient bodies/sources of cold water, and Ranma frequently being forced into otherwise benign bodies of water due to his tendency to jump before he looked (Tendō koi pond, anyone?). Disappointingly increasingly {{averted}} [[JumpedTheShark later in the series]]. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot They threw away/forgot one of the primary gags of the series. Especially by having Ranma keep his secret from the school the whole time in the anime.]]
* KryptoniteProofSuit: Water proof soap.
* LamarckWasRight: The Musk Dynasty. To some extent, the Phoenix Kingdom. SuperpowerfulGenetics play a large role in these cultures' development.
* LargeHam: "I MUST PREPARE THE INK QUICKLY LEST I FORGET!"
* LarynxDissonance:
** In the European Spanish dub, the same actress dubs female ''and'' male Ranma. Spot-on performance for the former, while the latter sounds [[CrossDressingVoices ten years old]].
** Sarah Strange played male Ranma in the first few seasons before Richard Cox took over the role.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Or Bokken Guided Amnesia as it were...
* LastConfessionWins
* LeotardOfPower: Female Ranma and Kodachi wear tight, bottom (and bosom)-hugging leotards in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics tournament. Akane also wore one during training, but didn't get to compete.
* LeftHanging: The Anime series ends nowhere near the manga's climax, whose own open ending may be just as bad depending on your perspective -- though by that point both the manga and the anime had evolved into an ensemble comedy and any semblance of an overall plot arc had long-since been abandoned. Takahashi likely took one look at the LoveDodecahedron and simply gave up resolving it. It's worth a mention, however, that [[spoiler: Ranma and Akane made a lot of progress in their relationship, as compared to the earlier volumes. In the later volumes, they implictly talk about "their relationship" and ocasionally dare to each other to acknowledge his/her feelings first. In a Valentine's Day episode, Ranma suggests Akane buying him chocolates instead of ''making'' them and Akane finally gives him a brownie. And Ranma is even able to confess his love to her in the final volume.]]
* LeftStuckAfterAttack: After Saotome Ranma in girl form routinely dodges Tendō Akane's attacks, Akane throws a fierce jab. Ranma leaps over the blow, which continues into the dojo wall. Akane remains motionless with surprise rather than being stuck. Ranma simply taps Akane's head as an "I win" gesture. It is then that Akane realizes that Saotome Ranma is a high-level martial artist.
* LethalChef: Akane. Her cooking is so bad that anything living would get food poisoning (averted by Kurumi). Happōsai, who's probably the most inhuman character in the series, couldn't even stomach eating her cookies and complained that he should've been warned they weren't meant for human consumption. This gets ridiculously {{flanderized}} in FanFic, even after she begins to improve in the last third of the manga and makes an acceptable curry once (the funny part about this is that the men of the house only find this out after she leaves to deal with a "monster" in the woods at the request of some villagers, and they think she ran away from home out of rejection).
* LightGirlDarkBoy: Ranma normally has black hair and darker skin than "Ranko", who has red hair in the anime, and has had a variety of different hair colors, usually not black, in the colored covers of the manga.
* LightIsNotGood: Asuka Saginomiya, a.k.a. "Asuka the White Lily," a rival of Kodachi Kuno's from childhood. Blonde, dresses in white, heavily associated with lilies, she's just as haughty and twisted as Kodachi is, if not more so.
* LighterAndSofter:
** To some extent in the anime. ''Ranma ½'' may be a comedy, but it's an ''action''/drama/comedy, and the original manga is pretty dark sometimes (more so if considered from a first-person point of view). As [[http://ranmarelated.blogspot.com/2008/01/darkness-of-ranma-matter-of-perspective.html this blog]] points out, there are all sorts of things -- PowerAtAPrice is alive and well (most of the {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s or SupernaturalMartialArts come at the cost of SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining, include {{Dangerous Forbidden Technique}}s, inflict PowerIncontinence (including [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength more physical strength than you can safely handle]]), requires TrainingFromHell, is HarmfulToMinors, or any combination of the above), for starters. There have been multiple near-deaths and attempted murders, there are spells and items that can take away your [[BalefulPolymorph body]], [[MoreThanMindControl mind]], even your [[LossOfIdentity personality]], your dreams can be invaded... The anime, though, turns down many of these events and even removes a few altogether (if only because some of the darkest stories came out after the anime was cancelled). With its canonical AlternateCharacterInterpretation, the characters seem less of a DysfunctionJunction, which helps.
** Example of the LighterAndSofter: in a {{filler}} story, a mysterious weirdo has cursed paintings that he says will kill people if their seals are removed, citing how his grandfather and father, who painted two of them, died upon completion. In the anime, it's changed so that he specifies his ancestors were in their late '90s when they finished, implying he's just full of hot air and trying to drum up interest by overblowing things. Oddly, though, it's the anime that has the spider-demon and oni's seals be removed, causing them to emerge as {{kaiju}}, whereas in the manga only the scribble-panda comes out. Of course, Sōun, Genma and Happōsai promptly grow into giants themselves and hold them off all night without causing any damage.
* TheLittleShopThatWasntThereYesterday
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LoopholeAbuse: In the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, also Ranma winning the combination of downhill race and running battle, and more. See Loophole Abuse for details.
* LordErrorProne: Tatewaki Kunō.
* LostInTranslation: See PunnyName below. All they had to do was adjust the pronounciation of the dub (or the spelling of the subtitles) a bit...
* LoudspeakerTruck
* LovableSexManiac: Happōsai, not so much lovable, but is a sex maniac. Kunō, on the other hand, is that and a [[WouldntHitAGirl masochist]].
* LoveAtFirstPunch: just about everyone who falls for Ranma or Akane seems to do so after being pounded on by them.
* LoveDodecahedron: [[TropeNamer The term was coined just to describe Ranma's relationships]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Pick a suitor.
* LoveMakesYouDumb: Dr. Tofū around Kasumi. "And he was such a good doctor".
* LovePotion: Not actual potions as such, but otherwise a common feature. Between the anime and manga, we've seen, among other things, a literal UmbrellaOfTogetherness and RedStringOfFate, mushrooms that become a love potion when stewed, bracelet "jewels" that are taken as love potion pills, "compatibility testing" sakura-mochi, a box of aphrodisiac-soaked band-aids, and a "heart fishing pole". Thanks to his UnwantedHarem, and the general lack of scruples on the parts of... well... ''everyone''... Ranma Saotome tends to be the one who gets whammied with these the most.
* LoverTugOfWar
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M to R]]
* MadLove:
** The Kunō siblings are madly and unrequitedly in love with alternate halves of Ranma. Tatewaki is deluded from reality, and wants to court several disinterested women at once; whereas Kodachi is extremely flamboyant, psychotic, and tries to use paralysis potions in her aim to gain Ranma as an enamoured servant.
** Shampoo's personally stated motto centers around her willingness to kill any "obstacle" in her path if it is convenient. She is also a sadistic bully and manipulator, will gladly brainwash others if possible, and even force Ranma into loving her.
** Mousse, meanwhile, has been stalking the utterly disinterested (to the point of wanting him to die) and recurrently violent Shampoo since they were three, and is so fixated on her that his initial purpose in the series is basically defined as MurderTheHypotenuse. However, Mousse turns more conflicted, is far more loyal (as seen in the Herb arc), and usually less calculated than she is, and settles down to simply wanting Ranma to get married to Akane, to leave Shampoo for himself.
* MakingASplash:
** Cologne's Shark Fist and various other water-manipulation techniques.
** Also Ranma himself in the climax of the first movie.
* MarriageBeforeRomance: The title character is betrothed to Akane while they are both teenagers, however subsequent romance is constantly derailed by, Akane's hatred of men, the frequent appearance of other fiancées as well as Ranma's curse that causes him to change into a woman whenever he is splashed with water.
* MarriageOfConvenience: The father of Saotome Ranma has arranged to board with with the father of Tendō Akane so that these two young people can become acquainted and eventually marry. Saotome Genma sees a huge advantage in Ranma inheriting a working dojo to maintain his martial arts training, and to thwart all of Ranma's other suitors as well. Tendō Sōun would like to see Akane marry someone with a strong interest in martial arts, so that the dojo he founded won't be neglected or sold off. However, Ranma regards Akane as too forceful and "uncute," while Akane despises boys in general, and calls Ranma a "pervert" to his face. Though these two characters have yet to marry, as that would essentailly end the story, the forces driving them together / apart form the Plot.
* MartialArtsAndCrafts:
** The series is likely the TropeMaker, certainly the TropeCodifier, and the list of just how many different styles that the anime ''alone'' named is ridiculous. Most, but not all, are based specifically on one of the many [[CookingDuel strange competitions they have]]. In general, you have "serious" ones (that is, ones where the contestants actually aim to hurt each other), and "contest" ones (martial arts that tend to be goofy even by this series' standards).
** On the serious side:
*** Martial Arts Cookery: though never explicitly named, there are implied to be quite a few of these in the world of ''Ranma ½''. [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ukyô]] [[{{Bifauxnen}} Kuonji]], one of the main characters, practices a variant revolving around okonomiyaki, and in the late manga we are introduced to a childhood rival who practices a variant involving takoyaki. An anime episode has Ukyô fight a practioner of Martial Arts Crepe Cookery, and the episode ends with the implication of Martial Arts Sushi/Sashimi Cookery.
*** Good Old Days Martial Arts: an anime-only martial art that involves using old-time toys (trading cards, tops, marbles, hackey-sacks, thread, etc.) as deadly weapons.
*** Martial Arts Calligraphy: while the combatants do aim simply to be the first one to draw a certain kanji/hiragana symbol, they are also allowed to beat the snot out of each other with letter openers, paper weights, ink, paper and calligraphy brushes the size of quarterstaves. An apparently lost variant allows the practitioner to draw special designs on a person's body that can manipulate their internal ki -- the only example we're shown, the Mark of the Gods, is a goofy smiley face on the belly that amplifies the subject's skill something like tenfold.
*** Martial Arts Figure Skating: teams of two in extravagant costumes zipping around on an ice-skating rink and beating the living tar out of each other. This one is actually very dangerous, and the story arc involving it features arguably the most violent fights of the series. After all, you are fighting with the equivalent of daggers strapped to their feet, and over a hard, rough, icy surface.
*** Martial Arts Tea Ceremony: uses items from tea ceremony, including stirring sticks, spoons and tea whisks as weapons. Combatants must fight from the formal kneeling position -- the trained practitioner can zip around in this pose as though they were standing, thanks to their strengthened toes, and even climb, hang upside down from the ceiling, and jump.
*** Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics: implicitly a girls-only style (explicitly stated to be so in an anime filler episode involving an attempt to create a men's version), combatants use gymnastic props to beat on each other. Oddly enough, [[RealMenWearPink Ryôga knows this art well enough]] to teach it to Akane.
*** Martial Arts Cheerleading: another "girls only" style, Martial Arts Cheerleaders attempt to bolster their team through a mixture of cheering on their own teammates and beating up the opposing team, usually with very flashy moves.
*** Martial Arts Takeout Delivery: combatants race to be the first to deliver their takeout to the delivery place, beating up anyone who tries to oppose them. The only rule is that their own delivery item survive unscathed. (Anime-only; the manga version of the storyline features Shampoo in the role of Kaori and makes no reference to a Martial Arts School centering around the delivery.)
*** Bathhouse Fu: an anime style (though hinted at by Happôsai in an early story common to both canons), this fighting style is amphibious in base (combatants attack both from under water and on the surface) and uses items from around the bathhouse, like towels and pails, as weapons.
*** Martial Arts Shogi: the most ridiculous of the serious styles, combatants dress up in shogi piece costumes and adhere strictly to the actual rules of the shogi piece they are ranked. What keeps this from being a hokey style is the fact that they do legitimately try to pulverize the other team.
** There're actually more serious MartialArtsAndCrafts in ''Ranma ½'' than there are joke ones… which is kind of worrying.
*** Martial Arts Dining: this style gives a whole new meaning to "food fight". The objective is to be the first one to clear all of the many plates of food you're given -- and, for an extra twist, you must be incredibly neat about it. As in, you can't be seen to actually eat the food -- if you're spotted, you get an extra plate as a penalty. As a result of centuries of adherence to these insane rules, practitioners have faces that they can warp and stretch like silly putty, as well as super-speed hand-strikes. Swallowing watermelons whole, picking a sweet from the top of one's own head with one's tongue and then swallowing it, all of these are possible. [[spoiler:Ranma, unable to actually develop sufficient speed to compete, instead attempts to master an ancient and dangerous strategy known as the "Parlay du Fois Gras", where one's food is stuffed into ''the opponent's'' mouth (much like geese are force-fed to make fois gras) in an attempt to cause a jam and thus, a forfeit. The "dangerous" part comes from the fact that devoted users tend to starve to death.]]
*** Martial Arts Watermelon/Carry The Snowman Race: two different versions of a contest, one for beaches, one for mountains, and both essentially based on the SmashingWatermelons game. With a watermelon/miniature snowman in one hand and a bokken in the other, race for the finish line while smashing the items carried by the other racers and avoid getting your own smashed.
*** Martial Arts Pingpong/Badminton: just like the ordinary game... only the balls that the fighters bat back and forth can contain all sorts of booby traps, like exploding in a shower of glue.
*** There was also a Martial Arts Marriage Contest,\ in the second movie.
** It also seems that every mundane task in TheVerse gets not only a martial art, but specific fighting moves in Anything Goes. Crouch of the Wild Tiger, anyone?
* MasterApprenticeChain: Happōsai > Genma & Sōun > Ranma & Akane
* MasterOfDisguise:
** Tsubasa Kurenai, who is just as likely to [[ViewerGenderConfusion crossdress as a pretty girl]] as be disguised as a very convincing ''tree''. Kiima claims that her people have regularly used Jusenkyō to transform into humans [[spoiler: other than Akane]] when they want to spy on or mingle with them.
** Ranma himself tends to dress up, usually in girl form, for his schemes. Akane is the only one [[PaperThinDisguise to see through his disguises.]]
* MasterPoisoner: Kodachi Kunō
* MaybeEverAfter: The series ends with the secondary finances/crushes on both sides crashing Ranma and Akane's wedding. Sōun says that another cannot start until they sort out these relationships. On one hand, the two agreed to the wedding and Ranma confessed his love earlier, but on the other, it's ambigious if Akane remembers the confession (long story) and she didn't explictly confess.
* MegaNeko: The cat-ghost in S4 E18.
* MegatonPunch:
** Akane to Ranma, but most of the martial artists do this at one time or another.
** Notably used by Shinnosuke's supposedly infirm grandfather, who even screams "[[CallingYourAttacks Megaton Punch!]]" as he does it.
* MindControlDevice: Quite a few, which are usually used on (and even ''by'') Ranma Saotome. Shampoo is the major offender. She uses hypnotic pressure points, mind-control mushrooms, and memory-erasing shampoo at various points to further her sinister plots. The plots usually don't work, the items/techniques work flawlessly. Not only that, in the final story arc she is imprisoned in a mind-control egg and emerges the slave of the bad guys.
* MindControlEyes: Happens to Ranma quite a bit and usually his male half.
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Animal-curse characters can fly or run on all fours instants after being cursed. Pantyhose Tarō's octopus tentacles burdened him with octopus instincts. Rouge goes AxCrazy when transforming into [[AGodAmI Asura]]. Hinako acts childish as a young girl, but cold as woman. Ranma normally acts the same whatever his form but will react in a feminine manner whenever RuleOfFunny requires it.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: Cologne; Happōsai; [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Rakkyosai]]; Chingensai; Sentarō's grandmother; others.
* MinorInsultMeltdown: Nothing short of complete and utter praise will please Akane especially when it comes to her cooking. For example when she first cooked for him Ranma took one bite and tried to just continue training instead of insulting it (she then tried her own food, said it was bad, and threw a rock at him).
* MisplacedWildlife: Lampshaded and justified with the forest of Ryūgenzawa.
* MistakenForCheating: Multiple times, and almost always over-the-top.
* MistakenForGay: Ryōga, when he accidentally snags Ranma with the "Fishing Rod of Love" (he wanted to get Akane instead): Ranma gets genuinely infatuated with him, but it's Ryōga who gets the short end of the stick.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Pantyhose Tarō's monster form; he later augments it ''himself'' with extra body parts.
* ModeLock: Depending on the mode, either the method of curing the curses or a reason to look for an antidote.
* MomentKiller: '''All the time''' to Ranma and Shampoo and to Ranma and Akane.
* MoneyFetish: Nabiki Tendō, without a shadow of a doubt. There's almost literally nothing she won't do to make a few yen. Ukyō has a tiny bit of it as well.
* MonumentalTheft: During the training of the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Umisenken]] (a powerful martial art style inspired by sneaky thieves and actually intended for that), he ''stole the foundation of the Tendō home'', and the Tendō realized it only after the deed in spite of being sitting on it! Thankfully, his honour forbids him from using the Umisenken anymore...
* MoodWhiplash: The [[WalkingTheEarth Ryū]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Kumon]] [[{{Angst}} storyline]]. While still crammed with the usual Takahashi humor, his backstory is surprisingly somber (at least initially), and his relationship with Nodoka Saotome has [[FridgeBrilliance layers upon layers of meaning]].
* MoralityPet: Inverted. ''Being'' the pet, and his subsequent falling in love with Akane, is part of what sets Ryōga on the path to his eventual HeelFaceTurn.
* TheMourningAfter: Sōun Tendō, never quite got over his wife's death, as [[TearJerker painfully illustrated]] in the end of the {{manga}} Hinako arc.
* MrFanservice: Two of the guys lose their clothing after a transformation; and Ranma's tends to get torn up during the same. Even Kunō and the reveal of the two Male-to-Female [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressers]].
* MundaneMadeAwesome: Take Out Delivery Martial Arts, Fine Dining Martial Arts, Tea Ceremony Martial Arts, and so forth...
* MundaneUtility: Ranma is often seen using his super human abilities for common things. The biggest most easily shown one is his wall climbing/clinging to ceilings. He does this often for a wide variety of reasons some examples: to play a prank on Gosunkugi, to spy on people, to hang decorations, to hide, and occasionally for no reason at all other than he can.
* MurderTheHypotenuse:
** Every crazed suitor in the entire series. Shampoo is willing to pull this on Akane and Ukyō if she thinks she can get away with it, as is Kodachi, while Mousse tries to dispatch Ranma in the same way. Its not clear whether early-series Ryōga would kill Ranma, but he definitely wants to severely beat him him/her. Earlier he was also throwing ki infused weapons/scarfs against Ranma that cuts through things a sword through Swiss cheeses.
** Ranma, under the Koi Rod of Love's spell, viciously attacks Akane, believing her to be the Hypotenuse.
* MutilationConga: Happens to every main male character at some point in the series.
* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Several times; most notably Akane and Ranma sensing Ryōga being killed by Lime in the manga, but there are other examples.
* MyKungFuIsStrongerThanYours: Obvious here.
* NeatFreak: Ranma hates a messy room, and will start cleaning a dirty room without thinking about it as shown by his starting to clean Miss Hinako's room and having to think about it to stop.
%%* NeckLift
* NerdGlasses: Mousse
* NeverMessWithGranny: Aside from Cologne, the majority of the practitioners of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony besides Sentaro and Satsuki appear to be elderly women. Sentaro and Satsuki are the grandchildren of the matriarchs of their respective schools, and they both have three elders as the highest ranked fighters under the matriarchs. These diminutive women are able to move at astounding speeds despite their age and utilize weapons that are literally gigantic versions of the tools used in performing the tea ceremony.
* NeverTrustAHairTonic: Genma is quite embarrassed about his baldness and has tried all kinds of cures. There's the one that only works when he's angry, the one that comes from a one-of-a-kind dragon's whisker, and so forth.
* NeverMyFault: '''Everyone'''.
** Surprisingly averted with Ranma who often apologizes for things that are not his fault and apologizes when he doesn't even know why he should apologize.
** Here’s a list of times people in the Ranma ½ manga apologize or feel guilty at: [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080326050805/http://www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000/apologies.html Ranma Apologies]].
* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
** Many times throughout the series, Ranma and Akane are on the verge of having a moment, [[MoodKiller when they realise that they are being watched by their families]], one of whom is holding a video camera. Or one of the parents blunders in, giving his blessing and tearfully proclaiming how happy he is. Ranma and Akane then get mad at each other and it's back to square one.
** Durring the episode ''Hot Springs Battle Royal'' Ranma manages to partner with Akane while their other parnters are brawling. Ranma says that if he had paired with Akane in the first place, they would have won already. Akane is very happy and all is forgiven... until Ranma says that the "cute" girls don't have Akane's brute strengh which he needs to win the race with.
* NightmareFace: Ranma's face during his Cat Fist that appears at 16:18 in episode 23. It just looks creepy.
* {{Ninja}}: Subversion: Sasuke. Played straight: Konatsu the Genius Kunoichi, who lives up to the "Genius" part but [[WholesomeCrossdresser not so much the "Kunoichi" part]]
* NoblewomansLaugh: Kodachi Kunō, and it's really exaggerated, played up to the point of absurdity.
** This may have to do with the fact pretty much everything about Kodachi is absurd.
** Once done in an area where a [[CantYouReadTheSign sign]] read, "Please do not laugh loudly in the garden".
* NobodyCallsMeChicken: Ranma, moreso in the anime than the manga.
* NonFatalExplosions: Happōsai regularly throws around homemade gunpowder hand grenades. It's usually [[ButtMonkey Ranma]] himself that gets left charred, smoking and pissed off, but otherwise unharmed. In one episode of the anime he also uses AbnormalAmmo, altering this move from the "Happo Daikarin" to the "Happo Daikabin", or "Happo Mold Burst". That's right, as in the nasty fuzzy stuff that grows on spoiled food.
* NoRomanticResolution: Takahashi spent so much time getting to the ending that she did not know how to make a serious resolution anymore.
* TheNoseBleed: Ryōga, mainly.
* NoSenseOfDirection: Ryōga is the king of this trope. Flanderized to high heaven in fanfiction, with him crossing continents, dimensions, and even [[{{Crossover}} fictional boundaries]] without noticing. (Although to be fair, the anime did show that at one point he had stumbled into Moscow while lost, albeit as a joke in and of itself, so the first isn't ''much'' of a flanderization.)
* NoSocialSkills: Being raised alone, constantly on the road, with martial arts as the most important goal, and ''by Genma'' no less, did a number on Ranma's people skills. While he has no problem socializing per se, and generally gets along just fine, he's extremely blunt, has all the tact of a chainsaw, and casually insults people who are standing right there (often, to their face.) This would normally make him a borderline {{Jerkass}}, but considering Genma --the only person Ranma had constant contact with for 16 years-- acts ''the exact same way'' towards everyone, and treats Ranma even ''worse''...
* ObliviousToLove:
** Akane seems perpetually ignorant of the fact Ryōga is head-over-heels for her.
** Ranma to Akane. He seems ignorant of her feelings for him and ends up [[LoveHurts hurting]] her because of it.
%%* OcularGushers
* OffModel: You can tell which Season 4, 5, and 6 episodes were outsourced to low-budget studios.
* OldMaster: Cologne and Happōsai, each of whom is 100+ years old (300+ years old in the anime) and can kick the asses of the rest of the cast combined.
* OldFashionedRowboatDate: Ukyō and male!Ranma go on a date involving row boats. Ryōga and Akane are also on a date, and fighting ensues.
* OneHourWorkWeek: Sōun Tendō's seat on the neighborhood council seems to give him an inordinate amount of free time (enough for a few training trips and playing Shogi all day with Genma), yet yields enough cash to pay the taxes and bills on his BigFancyHouse and attached dojo, plus cost of Martial Artist induced repairs, support his daughters, and still fit in expensive family holidays to seaside inns or mountain villas. He does complain about the bills, but it's only been twice in the entire anime and manga that they've ever been a problem. Also, the Tendō Dojo doesn't appear to have any actual students.
* OneSidedArmWrestling: Ranma versus Akane, and Akane versus Ranma after she ate some magic noodles.
* OneOfTheBoys: Ukyō gets this treatment a lot.
* OneWingedAngel: Subverted by Saffron's transformation, which only turns him into a more adult version of himself. Possibly played straight with Pantyhose Tarō's Monster Form.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: All of Ranma's recurring rivals to some extent, leading to plenty of RivalsTeamUp situations.
* OracularUrchin: Miyo, a classmate of Akane's who appears in an anime {{Filler}} episode.
* {{Orochi}}: A giant monster from Japanese mythology. Its ''Ranma'' incarnation is unique in that, rather than an eight-headed serpent, its eighth head is actually its body, with seven independent heads trailing behind it from their necks.
* OutOfContextEavesdropping: In the "Tunnel of Lost Love" OVA episode, Ryōga teams up with Ukyō in another attempt to split Ramna and Akane. The plan backfires due to Ryōga repeatedly defending Akane from the spirits inside. Which causes Ukyō to become upset with him and leads Akane to misinterpret it as jealousy. This sets up the scene where Ryōga apologizes and is dragged off by Ukyō so they can speak in private. Akane then tells Ranma her suspicions about Ukyō's feelings for Ryōga, [[DatePeepers prompting them to follow and eavesdrop]], in time to overhear the following exchange:
-->'''Ryōga: (to Ukyō)''' "Please, I give you my word of honor!"
-->'''Ukyō: (petulantly)''' "How can I trust you?"
-->'''Ryōga:''' "We can start over, can't we? I'll never betray you again."
-->'''Ukyō:''' "If only I could believe you were telling the truth..."
-->'''*Ranma and Akane gasp in realization and sneak away*'''
-->'''Akane:''' "I ''knew'' it! Ranma they're... THOSE TWO ARE IN LOVE!!"
-->'''Ranma: ([[LargeHam dramatically amidst fireworks display]])''' "WELL WADDYA KNOW!?"
* OvershadowedByAwesome: In the beginning, Akane and the Kunō siblings were hot stuff, already capable of superhuman feats. Then Ranma Saotome rolled into town, and Akane became a definite second-stringer, due to being completely unable to touch Ranma unless he let her. Kunō and his sister were still a credible threat... but then [[TheRival Ryōga Hibiki]] arrived... and then Shampoo showed up... and soon the original "best martial artists in Nerima" were at the bottom of the totem pole.
* OvertookTheManga: this resulted in the anime needing a number of unique episodes, many created homebrew, a few actually extensions of manga {{Filler}} stories (such as the "Japanese Nanniichuan" story, which took up one or two chapters in the manga and three episodes in the anime).
* PairTheSpares: Played with and postulated, but not actually done.
* PandaingToTheAudience: Genma's isn't above using the cuteness of his panda form to try avoid responsibilities. In the earlier arcs of the manga, he even had a tendency to appear out of nowhere and randomly save Ranma's from having people discover his curse. This is part of the AbortedArc to keep Ranma's curse a secret.
* PantyThief: Happōsai
* PaperFanOfDoom
* PaperThinDisguise: All the time. Akane and Ranma seem to be the only ones able to see through it (poor, poor Ryōga...) although Sōun has a moment during the Hinako home-visit arc.
* ParentalAbandonment: Half-way done to Ranma by Genma, who takes him away from his mother before he can even walk. Genetically-induced in the case of Ryōga, whose parents' sense of direction is as bad as his; whenever he manages to get home, he finds out they've been absent for weeks. Ryōga himself lampshades this in the manga when he gets a call from his father while he's at home and confirms that it's been a year since they've actually seen each other, and says so in a casual manner to illustrate he's completely used to it.
* {{Parody}}: The Mirror Copy arc is a huge parody of Kazuo Umezu's much more serious ''Scary Book 1: Reflections''. It starts with narration speaking of a place called "the Mirror Mansion" for the enormous mirror governing the main hall --all of which is a word-for-word copy of the original story's OpeningNarration. Even the interior decoration is almost the same (with the only difference that the original Mirror Mansion's mirror was placed on the main stairs' first landing, rather than the floor.) [[WholePlotReference The original is also based on a young woman who was so enthralled with her own beauty, she'd spend countless hours before said mirror, until her reflection actually escaped, and its mischief across town made her life miserable]].
* PastelChalkedFreezeFrame
* PayEvilUntoEvil:
** Only very occasionally as most of it is KickTheSonOfABitch. Ranma himself tries to do this, usually directing his hate towards people who should be hated. But the keyword is ''tries''.
** When Ranma first meets people he is nice and doesn't insult them until after they have done something to upset him. This is shown many times in the manga. When he first came to the Tendō's he was polite and not insulting until after the Tendō's insulted him repeatedly. He was polite to both Ukyō and Ryōga (contrary to some peoples way of thinking Ranma would rather talk than fight), etc. If your polite to Ranma he'll be polite to you. He is always polite to Kasumi, even uses the -san honorific for her. He is even polite to Happōsai when Happōsai hasn't done anything to annoy Ranma for awhile.
* ThePeepingTom: Nodoka, Ranma's mother, has a definition of "manliness" that includes a man must be a peeping tom.
* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Ranma & Akane.
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Phoenix King Saffron; Dragon Prince Herb; Battle Aura Happōsai; Asura Cursed Rouge; Ultimate Shi-Shi Hōkōdan Ryōga.
* PhotoDoodleRecognition: When Principal Kunō is introduced, he shows a large picture of his long-lost son who is shaved bald in the picture. Ranma promptly uses a paintbrush to paint hair on the head - confirming the son's identity as Tatewaki Kunō.
* PlayboyBunny: This edges close to a RunningGag.
** The first instance of Female Ranma wearing such an outfit was in her first battle against [[BlindWithoutEm Mousse]]: trapped in female form, and already committed to a man-to-man duel, she dressed up in huge, baggy clothing to fool everyone into thinking she was male, and proceeded to entertain the crowd with simple magic tricks to humiliate the [[HyperspaceArsenal Hidden Weapons master]]. The coup de grâce was blowing up said clothing and coming out as a Playboy Bunny (just minus the ears) to infuriate Mousse even further, claiming that even "disguised" as a girl "he" would defeat him. It backfired spectacularly when Mousse [[ClothingDamage systematically destroyed her clothing]] and left her naked as a jaybird.
** The next instance is the use of the costume as a disguise ([[WigDressAccent with a wig]]) during the okonomiyaki-selling competition against [[WholesomeCrossdresser Tsubasa Kurenai]]. Justified in the manga, since the whole school knows about Ranma's curse, and thus she has to hide her identity to attract the boys (though she didn't need something so blatantly sexy, as Akane pointed out). Reconnected in the anime, where the curse is still a secret, to Ranma's deciding that she needs to play up her sex-appeal to match the {{kawaii}}ness of Tsubasa. An oversized suit of travel-worn boy's clothes doesn't really look good at the best of time, much less when it has to compete against a charmingly girly skirt.
** An anime-only storyline has Akane actually forcing female Ranma into one of these and start flirting with random guys on the street, in order to try and drum up some students for the dojo. [[HypocriticalHumor Akane promptly gets disgusted at Ranma's flirtations]].
** Female Ranma gets dressed this way again in a Hong Kong bar (and ''almost sold into slavery'' by Nabiki to pay her debts) in the Kinnosuke story arc of the manga.
** Averted during a SingleStrokeBattle against Happōsai, who was trying to force Ranma in a Playboy Bunny outfit... but he settles instead on a SailorFuku (on the ''male'' Ranma!).
** During the battle against the "un-sexy" kunōichi in the manga story arc introducing Konatsu, both Akane and Ukyō are kidnapped and [[GoGoEnslavement forced into Playboy Bunny costumes]].
** Creator/RumikoTakahashi is also fond of drawing Ranma and Akane in Playboy Bunny outfits for standalone artwork and chapter breaks.
* PlayingCardMotifs: The "Gambling King", a poker aficionado who resembles a king from a deck of playing cards.
* PlayingWithFire: Saffron, "a flamethrower without a safety valve".
* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: Type 2 with Ranma to Ryōga during the Koi-Rod arc.
* PosterGalleryBedroom: Tatewaki Kunō, with his giant posters of Akane and female Ranma, possibly to help him "[[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow meditate]]" and choose one of them. Kodachi follows his example with massive photos of male Ranma. Also, Mariko Konjo puts up a gigantic picture of Kunō in her bedroom, even kissing it goodnight, during her story arc.
* PowerCopying: Ranma can learn new martial arts techniques simply by watching others train at them, or even by having the techniques used against him.
%%* PowerPerversionPotential
* PoweredArmor: Do-chan the sentient Battle Dogi and Gosunkugi's mail-order Power Suit.
* PowerUpFood: The legendary [[AppliedPhlebotinum Super Strength Soba]] noodles confer herculean strength to whoever eats them. After Akane mistakenly ate Happōsai's, she was able to lift, toss, juggle, and ''split in half'' multi-ton, two-stories-tall iron bells. Unfortunately, they had the side-effect of sprouting whiskers on her face until she took the antidote.
* PrayerPose: Ranma assumes this pose during the koi rod of love storyline and occasionally at other times such as when he prays at his ancestors grave.
* ProfessionalGambler: The Gambling King, who is actually a terrible gambler. It just happens that Ranma is worse.
* ProtagonistTitle
* PublicBathhouseScene: Several times. Either because the Tendō home's bath breaks, or the scene involves Ryōga, who tends to visit public bathhouses during his travels. More often than not, a fight breaks out. Usually on the male side. The major example is when Ranma fight Happōsai (who naturally want to peep on the girls, Akane included) in a sort of EscalatingWar with the two using items from around the bathhouse, like towels and pails, as weapons. At the end, with all the cute girls gone (and it revealed that Akane, Nabiki and their friends wear smiwsuit most of the time), Happōsai is tricked by Ranma's female form.
* PunchClockVillain: Madame St. Paul is mainly an antagonist in the "Chardin" arc. In the anime episode "Madame St. Paul's Cry for Help", she goes to Ranma and Akane for assistance because she believes something is wrong with Picolet.
* PunnyName:
** In the original Japanese the names of the Joketsuzoku characters are BilingualBonus {{Punny Name}}s -- Shanpū, Koron and Mūsu have Chinese-sounding names that coincidentally sound like the English words for hygiene products.
** Similarly, the Musk Dynasty warriors Haabu, Raimu, and Minto, whose ThemeNaming revolves around food ("herb", "lime", and "mint".) The English and Spanish translations play the pun straight by spelling out the English words.
* PuppyDogEyes: Happosai has been known to try this tactic. Seeing as how he's a DirtyOldMan, and usually using it to try to get a girl to let him grope her, it never works.
* {{Qipao}}:
** A standard part of Shampoo's wardrobe.
** Girl Ranma sometimes wears one on SideStoryBonusArt or if it's part of a plot which somehow involves a date.
* QuiveringEyes
* RadialAssKicking: Early on, Akane had to do this to get to school.
* RainAura
* RapidFireFisticuffs: The Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken. It allows the trainee to pull this feat off. It was supposed to be training method use to increase the trainee's speed and precision. Ranma later transformed it into a NAMELESS technique against Ryōga.
* RapidHairGrowth: The title character once accidentally drank a special rice porridge made from a one-of-a-kind dragon's whisker. The porridge made him grow continuously excessive amounts of hair unless his hair was tied up from the dragon's whisker or when he his [[GenderBender gender was changed]].
* RealMenHateSugar: Hardcore Martial-Artist Saotome Ranma is a subversion of this trope: he personally ''loves'' elaborate ice cream sundaes and parfaits but would not be caught ''dead'' saying so, much less going to restaurants and ordering them. Fortunately, he is able to turn into a cute girl. This allows him to openly and gleefully order chocolate sundaes with a cherry on top in public; heck he even uses the cuteness of his appearance to scam ''free'' ice cream cones off the young and impressionable clerks!
* RealMenWearPink: Ranma Saotome is skilled enough at cooking that his [[SupremeChef mother]] is impressed, at least passably skilled at sewing, good at tea ceremony and gymnastics, and seems to take pride in his ability to [[TheTease wind guys up by acting cute]] when [[GenderBender in girl form]]. This is more of a result of him spending most of his life on the road; he and his father had to know how to cook and sew just to get along. The teasing is just a variation of what Genma does: instead of outright lying and stealing, he just manipulates people. In a nearly literal interpretation of the trope, Ranma can make a pastel orange shirt and little red bowtie look kinda badass.
* RedStringOfFate: A literal one of these shows up in the anime, whereupon Shampoo promptly tries to use it on Ranma.
* RemovingTheRival: Ranma's female half [[BoundAndGagged ties up and gags Akane]] at one point in order to steal her role in their school's production of ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet''.
* TheRival: Ryōga, primarily, but truckloads of guest-rivals filled out an awful lot of story arcs. Ukyō and Shampoo have this relationship in the anime. Although Ranma said that he/she considered Ryōga his/her only true rival in that battle mark story, in the databook Happōsai is Ranma's "archenemy".
* RoadSignReversal: Ranma and Genma travel back in time, switching the arrows pointing to Jusenkyō so their past selves will go the wrong way. Happōsai sabotages the attempt by reversing them again. It wouldn't have worked anyway, because [[spoiler: the whole thing takes place inside Ranma's dream]].
* RooflessRenovation: This happens all the time to the Tendō home, usually caused by one of Ranma's martial artist rivals. The worst incident is caused when Rouge, a Chinese woman cursed to transform into an Asura, blows away half the roof with a fireball attack.
* RunningGag:
** Shampoo will always, without fail, hit or run over someone with her bicycle when she appears.
** In the manga there are periodically [[CantYouReadTheSign signs]] in the foreground or background that read something to the effect of, "Please do not [do whatever the character in the panel is doing]", usually with bizarre specificity.
** Whenever someone has an exaggerated monologue on an awkward situation, he/she has a high chance of using a microphone to declare it.
* RyuAndKen: Ranma is Ken to Ryōga's Ryu.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:S to Z]]
* SacredFirstKiss:
** Ranma's first kiss is the occasion of great violence, as a self-absorbed playboy iceskater steals a kiss from [[GenderBender girl-form Ranma]]. And when we say "violent", we mean 518 punches; by the time he's done, the skater in question is unconscious on his feet.
** Akane's first kiss was also 'taken' in a similarly crazy fashion, as Ranma kissed her after sitting on her lap while under the influence of Cat Fu.
** In another episode, to avoid it counting as a kiss, Ranma puts tape over Kunō's mouth. Later, Akane puts tape over Ranma's mouth.
** This may be why Ranma is unable to bring himself to kiss Shampoo to get the Instant Nanniichuan in the relevant story (or at least the [[LighterAndSofter anime]] version, which does ''not'' have the two making their so-called "date" hell on each other).
* SayMyName: "Ranmaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
* {{Satire}} The manga cheerfully plays straight, deconstructs and skewers a lot Japanese character archetypes.
* ScaryFlashlightFace: During a HotSpringsEpisode Nabiki did this as she told a ghost story to Ranma and her sisters.
* TheScottishTrope: Happōsai, in {{Fanon}}, though Sōun and Genma have made jokes referring to similar superstitions.
* ScrewYourself: The manga features a plotline where Ranma runs into magical female doppleganger who, upon discovering that Ranma is actually male, latches onto him like only a crazy {{Yandere}} could. [[spoiler:In the end, she hooks up with a magical ''male'' Ranma doppleganger, and they become SickeninglySweethearts.]] And his [[EvilTwin female]] [[SuperPoweredEvilSide side]] Happōsai once separates from his body. She appears to be [[{{Yandere}} quite adamant]] about getting back together with Ranma. Although, surprisingly, she doesn't try anything naughty once she has him under her spell.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Just about everyone in the series at some point. Most notably: Kunō's apparent refusal to understand either that Ranma and "the pigtailed girl" are one and the same, or that neither "the pigtailed girl" nor Akane Tendō are at all attracted to him, seems to be one part this, one part massive ego; Also, Akane Tendō either remains unaware of Ryōga's attraction to her, no matter how obvious it turns, or immediately forgets it. She also tends to believe the worst of Ranma even when he doesn't deserve it, or in other cases, want to believe the best of characters when they don't deserve it, such as Nabiki, Shampoo, or in Ranma's case the battle-dougi story.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Sōun and Genma, and to a lesser extent Ryōga & Ranma.
* SecondLove: Akane ending up falling in love with Ranma after getting over her first love, Dr. Tofū.
* {{Seppuku}}: Genma promised Ranma's mother that he and Ranma would commit {{seppuku}} if he didn't raise Ranma to be "a man among men".
* ShapeshifterSwansong: Copycat Ken's breakdown resembles this (anime only).
* ShapeshiftingSeducer: [[spoiler:Kiima transforming into Akane and then instigating naked cuddling with Ranma in the final storyline.]]
* ShatterpointTap: Ryōga Hibiki does this with his Bakusai Tenketsu technique. While going through the training for the technique both he and Ranma ''thought'' that it worked on everything, including human flesh, but it turned out to only work on rocks. However, surviving the TrainingFromHell required to learn the technique did have the benefit of rendering Ryōga MadeOfIron.
* ShipperOnDeck:
** Every member of the LoveDodecahedron ships their rivals at some point (in an attempt to PairTheSpares), but Sōun and Genma stand out by shipping Ranma and Akane in nearly every episode. Then again, they did engage the two of them in the first place. When Genma plans says that he's going to make Ryōga the heir to the Saotome school, both Genma and Sōun ship Ryōga and Akane.
** Dr. Tōfū is the first big Ranma/Akane shipper InUniverse after the parents. So much so that [[OmniscientMoralityLicense he considers it okay to stealth-paralyse Ranma in hopes that this will bring him and Akane together, despite having just had to treat Ranma for being beaten up by a still-angry Akane]].
* ShipTease: Takahashi has teased a wide variety of the ships found in the yard, even going so far as to tease a [[FoeYay RivalShip]] (Ranma/Ryōga) during the Koi Rod of Love arc.
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: Despite being shown attending school and having a few scenes set in school, they don't seem to be doing that much academic work. Ryōga appears to have dropped out in Jr. High to follow Ranma. Shampoo and Mousse are implied to be around the crew's age yet have never been shown going to school.
* ShoutOut:
** Viz Video's VHS and DVD releases often [[PunBasedTitle referenced movie titles, songs, or other pop culture elements]]. Such as ''[[Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina Big Trouble In Nekonron, China]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_My_Concubine_(film) Nihao, My Concubine]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Water_For_Chocolate Like Water for Ranma]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_and_Her_Sisters Akane and Her Sisters]]'', ''[[Film/AnAffairToRemember An Akane to Remember]]'', ''[[Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest One Flew Over the Kunō's Nest]]'', and ''[[Film/FasterPussycatKillKill Faster, Kasumi! Kill! Kill!]]''. And those are just the movie and OAV releases --the TV series had gems such as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_Chameleon Dharma Chameleon]]" and "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit Smells Like Evil Spirit]]". Then [[HurricaneOfPuns it got even worse]]. The Japanese episode and movie titles within those releases had straight-up translations, though.
** The anime also has a number of [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''; a couple of characters from the series can be spotted in blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes -- the two most notable are when Shampoo demonstrates Instant Nanniichuan, the dog turns into a replica of Ataru, and when Kunō does a flying dive onto a status of Cherry in the Wishing Sword episode, but they also show up in a couple of crowd-scenes. One anime filler episode has Kodachi show up in a scene that may be a reference to the first introduction of Ryoko Mendo. The anime's fourth opening reuses some animation from the first opening to the Urusei Yatsura anime.The below mentioned OVA also has Lum herself clearly show up as one of Ranma's many fawning concubines during Akane's first nightmare.
** A single episode OVA that was released as part of the ''It's a Rumic World'' celebration for the anniversary of Shonen Sunday had multiple shoutouts to ''Manga/InuYasha''. In one of Akane's dreams, a painting on the paper wall is clearly Sesshomaru's dog form. In another scene, Akane dreams that she's in a losing battle and you can clearly see Kagome, Inu Yasha, Shippo and Miroku as her fallen comrades. Later in the same dream, we see Kodachi with facial markings similar to those seen on Sesshomaru, his mother and other full blooded dog demons.
** The manga has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to ''Manga/DokonjoGaeru'' -- a sickly little girl with a crush on Ranma, appearing in a single Valentine's Day filler chapter from the manga, calls her stuffed bunny "Pyonkichi."
** Woolseyisms often do this as well. During the Romeo & Juliet story in the manga, Genma claims Romeo "[[ComicBook/SuperMan is from the planet Krypton]]", whilst in an anime filler episode, Ranma suggests that Sōun and Genma are acting weird because "[[Film/InvasionOftheBodySnatchers they've been replaced by pods]]".
* ShrineToTheFallen: A typical Buddhist shrine to the memory of Mrs. Tendō is occasionally shown.
* SiblingTeam: The {{OAV}}s' Natsumi and Kurumi.
* SignatureMove:
** Ranma's [[BlowYouAway Hiryū Shōten Ha]] and Ryōga's [[AngstNuke Shi-Shi Hōkōdan]] are definitely iconic enough. More subtlely in the first moves they undergo TrainingFromHell to obtain. While not nearly as visual as the above two techniques, they are representative of their different focuses in combat, Speed vs. Toughness.
** Ranma's Katchu Tenshin Amaguriken was a training excercise to make him MUCH faster (though he'll still call out the technique when he's just flat out trying to punch his enemies as fast as possible.
** Ryōga's Breaking Point technique allows him to shatter rocks with just a touch. Repeatedly being at the epicenter of an exploding boulder (As well as constantly getting smashed by boulders while training) has rendered Ryōga MadeOfIron, even by the standards of the other fighters in the show.
* SittingOnTheRoof
* SingleMindedTwins: the anime has Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, the manga has Pink and Link.
* SlapSlapKiss: Subverted -- Ranma and Akane bicker constantly but never quite succeed at kissing, despite their obvious growing attraction to each other.
* SleevesAreForWimps: Many of Ranma's Chinese outfits, and also Pantyhose Tarō and Ryū Kumon's entire look. Ranma readily wears heavy sleeved outfits when the weather is cold; he rolls them up often for fights (which happen often).
* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Happōsai.
* SmashingWatermelons: Used as part of one of the early storylines. Tatewaki Kunō also turns this into a inverted form of TrainingFromHell.
%%* SmokeOut
%%* {{Snapback}}
%%* SnotBubble
* SoapOperaDisease: [[spoiler: Happōsai]], in season 3. He gets better. Also Hinako Ninomiya had a case when she was a child (weak constitution, with an IV in her arm, which she can slip out of to go play with a random stranger). She gets better as well.
* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: How Genma could pull off the Cat-fist training and ''not'' get jailed for child abuse is a wonder to everyone, in the show and out.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: "Tendō" vs. "Tendou" vs "Tendo". Repeat for any place, character, or special technique with an "oh" sound anywhere in their name. FanFic is split on the latter two, with both seeing a large amount of usage in stories.
** It doesn't help that the video games and certain official materials with romanized names take it one step further and use spelling such as "Kunōh."
** In a more specific example, the character officially romanized as "Rakkyosai" is often spelled "Lukkosai" due to early fan scripts and the character's own nickname, "Lucky." [[note]] "Rakki" is Engrish for "lucky."[[/note]]
** Often also written as "Tendö" in FanFic by writers who do not know better, which is especially hard on the eyes for FanFic readers in countries which ''do'' use Umlaut characters, because there "ö" stands for a completely different sound than "oh".
** Names with y-based diphthongs get hit with it the worst, especially as they combine with the "oh" sounds above, with some segments of the fandom spelling items like "Jusenkyō" or "Moko Takabisha" as "Jyusenkyou" or "Mouko Takabishya."
** The PunnyNames for the characters mentioned in that trope are also spelled in those approximations of Chinese in certain circles, whereas the majority (as well as official translations) go straight for the pun.
* SpiderSense: Most of the martial artists have this.
%%* SpiritedCompetitor: Ranma
%%* SqueakyEyes
* StalkerWithACrush:
** Both of the Kunōs, and Mousse too.
** Ryōga almost escapes this status, as he does have a good relationship with Akane as friends. The fact that he happily sleeps in Akanes bed in his pig form on a semi-regular basis pushes things right back into creepy territory. (Although it has been shown that he genuinely perceives it as stoically acting as a bodyguard.)
%%* StandingInTheHall
* StatusQuoIsGod: No one ages, no one graduates, and Ranma and Akane's relationship develops at a positively glacial pace.
%%* StealthClothes
* StealthHiBye: This is a tactic Ranma uses quite often in the manga, on many characters, for varying reasons. Most of the time he does it is just to see their reaction, though he has used it in battle as well. No character can consistently prevent Ranma from sneaking up on them, even Cologne.
* StewedAlive: Ryōga was captured by Genma and the tour guide while in pig form. For some reason, they decide the best way to cook him is to throw him into a pot of boiling water - while still alive. Fortunately for Ryōga, hot water turns him back into a human. "Oh, it is poor person! Now we cannot eat!" Cologne also once tries to cook Ryōga, with similar results.
* StoppedReadingTooSoon: Genma read about "The Cat Fist Technique" and decided to teach it to Ranma. It required tying him up with fish sausage and locking him in a basement full of hungry cats. Genma didn't read the next page, which stated "Of course, anyone who does this is a complete lunatic who should have their head examined."
* StoutStrength: Genma. He may be a fat, old, lazy part-time panda, but he's still able to go toe-to-toe with Ranma and often comes out on top. The Dojo Destroyer too, but that is more a case of an InformedAttribute (at least in the manga; the anime version is definitely portrayed as formidable).
* StrawHypocrite: Many of the ones inflicted with the curse want to be rid of it yet have no problem with the advantages.
* StripPoker: In order to defeat the infamous [[TheGambler Gambling King]], Ranma "trains" with Ukyô and Akane by playing Old Maid. By morning, he's down to his underwear and the girls own not only his clothes, but many, many [=IOU=]s for his services.
* SuddenSchoolUniform: Principal Kunō introducing a mandatory hairstyle (or trying to) in addition to the existing uniforms.
* SupernaturalMartialArts: Hard training will not only let you do KiAttacks, but give you SuperStrength, at the very least specific forms of SuperSpeed, make you SuperTough if not outright NighInvulnerable, massively amplify your recovery abilities and let you use even the most ridiculous things as lethal implements of destruction.
* SuperSpeed:
** While none of the characters travel at 'standard super speed', Ranma is capable of punching dozens, or even hundreds of times at such speeds that not even those attacked noticed. At least until they realize that they can't be hurting that much from one punch. Even before taking the speed-training from Cologne, Ranma was able to punch over 500 times in 5 seconds while being spun around at super high speeds.
** When so inclined, the characters can actually run (or cycle, or row, or swim, or whatever) at greater-than-human speed, even if they don't quite hit the "run 100 miles in a second" pace typically associated with SuperSpeed.
* SupportingHarem: It's pretty clear from the start who is going to be Ranma's love interest. While Shampoo and Ukyo get screen time here and there, Akane is on screen almost as much as Ranma is, and he actually lives in her house. She also gets his attention far more than the other girls.
* SurpriseJump: A running gag results in Ranma clinging to the ceiling if he is scared enough.
* SurrogateSoliloquy: Subverted -- Akane talks to P-Chan, who's actually Ryōga. Ryōga, in turn, is often seen practicing his lines to Akane with an oddly-cute storefront doll shaped like an anthropomorphic frog in a sundress.
* SwarmOfRats: Unleashed against the kidnapped girls in ''Nihao My Concubine'', followed by a tide of cats chasing them just after Ranma has gotten all smug about girls being scared of small furry animals.
%%* TheSweatDrop
* SweetheartSipping: Kunō and Girl-type Ranma (yeah, ItsALongStory). Also Girl-type Ranma and Harumaki (one part softheartedness to one part blackmail -- the old lecher won't stop haunting her dreams unless she gives him a date). Come to think of it, doesn't it happen with Girl-type Ranma and Densuke too?
* SweetPollyOliver: Ukyō, for all of one episode.
* SweetTooth: Ranma takes advantage of his much-hated girl form at any opportunity to get ice cream in the anime.
* TalkingWithSigns: Genma-Panda
* TameHisAnger: Both [[{{Protagonist}} Ranma Saotome]] and [[{{Tritagonist}} Ryōga Hibiki]] do this. [[TheRival Their anger was towards each other]]. By the end of the series they're pretty much [[HeterosexualLifePartners the best of friends]].
* TasteTheRainbow: A martial art for every interest.
* TheTease: Girl-Ranma, Nabiki and to a small extent Hinako.
* ThanksForTheMammary: This may take some time...
** When Ranma first comes to the Tendō Dōjō, Nabiki proves Ranma's (apparent) gender by first poking her/him in the breast, then rubbing it. She later emphasizes her point by grabbing her/his breast again. And, when it seemed Ranma's bust size had increased in a late manga story, she proved it by... you guessed it! Groping [[GenderBender hir]] again.
** During [[KidSamurai Tatewaki]] Kunō's introduction, he plunges into a pool alongside [[GenderBender Ranma]]. His first hint that something was ''[[{{Pun}} amiss]]'' is when he holds onto the latter and [[AccidentalPervert accidentally grabs her breast and squeezes]].
** An anime-only scene in the first season has Sōun try and break up a fight between Ranma and Genma, both in cursed form, by pushing them apart with a hand on each chest. He then promptly realises he's cupping Ranma's breast, and his daughters have seen him doing so. He tries to claim that it's NotWhatItLooksLike, and promptly catches a fist in the face from Ranma due to not letting go.
** In another episode of the anime, male Ranma stands up, half-faints, and braces himself. On [[http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/accidental_grope.png Akane's chest.]] As expected, a MegatonPunch follows.
** Sometime in the late manga (and an anime {{OAV}}), Ranma has to confront a [[LifeEnergy ki]] [[EnergyAbsorption draining]] teacher, Miss Hinako, whose technique can only be sealed away by hitting three [[PressurePoint shiatsu points]] on her chest and two on her back. Not much of a problem when Miss Hinako [[DualAgeModes is in the body of a eleven-year-old girl]]... a very big problem when she inevitably absorbs his BattleAura as he's hitting the points, causing her to grow up into a tall and [[MostCommonSuperpower buxom woman]], and he gets [[NotWhatItLooksLike a handful of breast for all the school to misinterpret]].
** And, of course this is how Ranma discovers that WholesomeCrossdresser Ukyō [[SamusIsAGirl is a girl]].
* ThemeNaming: Every regular that is part of a group or family: The Tendōs, all Chinese characters, the Kunōs, the Saotomes...
* ThemeTuneCameo: The studio would insert the first season's theme song for random music whenever they needed a generic song. The background music is used for Ling-ling & Lung-lung's hypnotic music tape, Yuka and Sayrui sing it karaoke style in one {{filler}} episode, and there's plenty of other times it shows up, sometimes as actual background music to what's happening on strings.
%%* TheThingThatGoesDoink
* ThoseTwoGuys: Hiroshi and Daisuke for Ranma and their [[DistaffCounterpart Distaff Counterparts]] Yuka and Sayuri for Akane. These are filler characters in the anime. [[SuperpowerfulGenetics Lime and Mint]] and [[WingedHumanoid Koruma and Masara]] act like this towards their respective lords. In the anime, Nabiki gets two unnamed extras usually helping her run her gambling pools.
* ThroughHisStomach: Over and over again. It gets to the point that even Akane realizes Ranma is more like to succumb to temptation by ThroughHisStomach instead of ShowSomeLeg. A RunningGag is that Akane constantly tries to invoke this trope despite being a LethalChef.
* ThunderEqualsDownpour: Often an implausible plot point, or subtle gag/HandWave for why Ranma is [[GenderBender female]] when he'd clearly rather not be.
* ThunderingHerd: Used many times, most notably in the opening of the first movie.
* TimeToUnlockMoreTruePotential: Which then involves TrainingFromHell.
* TimeTravel: The Nanban Mirror, only in the anime.
* TitleByNumber: Ranma 1/2.
* {{Tomboy}}: Akane; Ukyō. Ironically, WholesomeCrossdresser Ukyō is actually ''less'' of a {{Tomboy}} than the dress-wearing Akane. Ranma is also this, when female and not pretending to be a girly girl (usually for the sake of a disguise).
* TookALevelInBadass:
** It is never explained how Nodoka went from being hideously clumsy with a sword (such as accidentally flinging it at people while ''unsheathing it''), which is very very bad for a ''[[{{Seppuku}} kaishakunin]]'', to handling it with skill perhaps equivalent to [[KendoTeamCaptain Tatewaki]] shortly before becoming a permanent member of the Tendō Dojo.
** In the {{OAV}}s, Akane specifically trained to take back the Tendō Dojo from [[SiblingTeam Natsume and Kurumi]].
** Inverted with Tatewake Kunō, who, upon his introduction, demonstrated enough martial prowess to slip through Ranma's guard and mark his neck and was portrayed as a possible serious rival, only to devolve into a gag character in subsequent appearances, and can only be seen as a badass again (or even as a threat at all) when facing regular humans or when augmented by hyper-specialized, albeit temporary, training.
* ToneShift: As mentioned above, something of a reverse CerebusSyndrome; the series starts out comedic, but restrained, and with some semblance of an ongoing plot; over time it gets progressively wackier and more episodic, until past a certain point it almost feels like a different series compared to the early story arcs.
* TornadoMove: Ranma's ''Hiryū Shōten Ha'' attack.
* ToughLove: Poor Ranma. As above, how Genma [[TrainingFromHell "trains"]] his son using the 'Cat-fist' method.
* TrainingFromHell:
** This seems to be the only way any of the higher-grade special techniques can be learned. Also inverted in one storyline; training on Watermelon Island is TrainingFromHell... that's actually useless in battle. It's TrainingFromHell for the SmashingWatermelons game.
** Sōun and Genma spent years with Happōsai, supposedly training. Of course, the training is implied (they are strong martial artists, OvershadowedByAwesome not withstanding), so only the hell part is shown.
** A more silly example from Ukyō's {{dark and troubled past}} story - after Ranma left her behind, she spent seven years fighting the ocean to hone her techniques. It's immediately [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by a pair of observers who caught the tale.
--> '''Guy #1:''' "What kind of idiot would go through training like that?"
--> '''Guy #2:''' "Dummy! Haven't you ever watched a samurai movie?"
* TransformationRay: Usually related to mystical water:
** Jusenkyō. Drowning (non-fatally) in a spring or being splashed with water from it will curse you with transforming into whatever creature drowned there first. Powdered versions exist, but they're only good for one transformation. In addition, Prince Saffron needed pure water from Jusendo (the source of Jusenkyō) for his metamorphosis into the Phoenix King.
** Japanese Nannichuan. Created by a traveling monk, underneath what is now Fuurinkan High's women's locker room, to transform a pack of mischievous foxes into men. The men then turned out to be even worse than the foxes...
** [[NonSerialMovie Togenkyo]]. Anything that falls in the spring or is splashed with its water will be permanently transformed into a man.
* TrapIsTheOnlyOption: In an early chapter/episode, Gosunkugi/Sasuke (manga and anime respectively) finds out about Ranma's phobia of cats and decides to lure him into a cat-filled room to terrify him. He does this by sending Ranma a letter telling him to show up at a particular location if he ever wants to see Akane again...while Akane's standing right next to Ranma and reading the letter too. He then does a hilariously poor impersonation of being the kidnapped Akane (once again, while Akane's right next to Ranma) when Ranma shows up at the designated location. Ranma still goes along with it because he just wants to know what the hell this weirdo is up to.
* TrashTalk: It's an integral part of Ranma's fighting style.
* TricksterMentor: Happōsai again. He really IS that annoying. Cologne also qualifies.
* TryingToCatchMeFightingDirty: Ranma; Genma; Kodachi
* {{Tsundere}}:
** Going by the definition Akane becomes a Type A later in the story, since in the beginning she had no interest in Ranma ([[ComedicSociopathy to say the least]]). Kasumi even lampshades the situation in-universe by saying, "she's actually a very sweet girl, she's just a violent maniac".
** Ranma also counts. He even breaks out the time honored "I'm not doing it because I like you" line.
* TunnelKing: Ryōga.
* UnfazedEveryman: Nabiki.
%%* TheUnfairSex
* UnholyNuke: Ryōga's Shi-Shi Hōkōdan, which is fueled by negative feelings and highly destructive.
%%* UniversalAdaptorCast
%%* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Ukyō; Mousse; Shinnosuke.
%%* UnskilledButStrong: Saffron
* TheUnwantedHarem:
** The TropeNamer, both played straight and {{Deconstructed|Trope}}; Ranma's status as a ChickMagnet gives the JerkWithAHeartOfGold a fairly debilitating guilt trip. But though he's not enough of a cad to abuse the situation, it also soothes his [[TestosteronePoisoning manly]] {{Pride}} -- badly battered by his AttractiveBentGender curse. And though all the girls involved adore him, they're also rather exasperated by his [[CanNotSpitItOut wishy-washy]] attitude. It should be no surprise that the end-of-series [[spoiler:attempted marriage]] ended in a [[spoiler:BlastOut]].
** Subverted during the Reversal Jewel arc when Shampoo, under the jewel's effect, attempts to leave the harem, Ranma rather insistently runs after her to get it back, at first because of her abrupt change of temperament than due to his ego rather than true feelings. Lampshaded by Cologne when she notes that he got so used to Shampoo chasing him, he ''had'' to find out why she stopped.
** Taken UpToEleven in Episode 4 of Season 2 where it's indicated (by way of FlashBack) there are at ''least'' two girls whose fathers Genma promised Ranma to long before he is even introduced to the rest of the cast. Ranma [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] this by asking 'How many more fiances do I have, anyway?' at the end of the episode.
** Akane. Especially at the beginning of the series where every morning before school she has to fight her way past a bunch of guys who think that if they beat her then she has to go out with them.
* ValleyGirl: Mariko, ''like totally''. Subverted in that she appears to be the strongest young female fighter in the series. Or at least she's the only one who can actually claim to have defeated Ranma, [[http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/021/011/006/ if mostly]], [[http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/022/001/008/ or entirely]], through surprise --and in one hit, no less.
* VanityIsFeminine: Ranma takes insults to his female form's attractiveness ''much'' harder than he does to his male counterpart. One specific installment had Ranma insult Akane on her looks, which naturally put her into a temper. Kasumi confronted him afterward and said he had to apologize, because even if she was tomboyish, "...she's still a girl."
* WalkingTheEarth: Ryōga, though rarely on purpose; Ryū Kumon, since he's looking for the counterpart technique to his own; Ranma and Genma prior to the manga.
%%* WardingGestures
* WeakButSkilled: Specifically, characters such as Happōsai, Saffron, the Orochi, Herb, Pantyhose Tarō, Ryōga and Ryū are explicitly displayed to have considerably greater raw offensive power than himself. Ranma tends to find some way to either win or obtain his objective by a combinations of strategy (all of them), cheap shots (Happōsai, Herb), exploiting specific weak spots, luck (Saffron/Happōsai/Herb), speed, and through judicious use of the Saotome Ultimate Technique (Run away and come up with a better plan). Ranma is usually untrained at whatever MartialArtsAndCrafts of the week he is challenged at, but his genuine aptitude for anything Martial Arts usually lets him/her triumph.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Ranma's [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes ailurophobia]]; Rouge's back pain due to having six arms; any Jusenkyō-cursed martial artist and water.
* WealthyYachtOwner: Kunō in the second movie. He kicks it off by inviting Akane and Ranma-chan on a voyage with him. THe rest of the cast promptly invite themselves along.
* WeirdnessCensor: Both Tatewaki and Kodachi Kunō are oblivious to the fact that male and female Ranma are the same person... despite the fact that's he's transformed in front of them!
%%* WelcomeTitles
* WhatSongWasThisAgain: Viz Video's song subtitles, as well as dubbed versions of [=DoCo=]'s OAV songs, were "translated" to fit the melody and the rough spirit of the original lyrics. Fans came to label these "Trishliterations" after Viz Media's Trish Ledoux.
* WhenSheSmiles: Ranma's opinion of Akane.
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Used twice: first, during the Curse of the New Year's Bell arc, where the Mao Molin's curse would have turned Shampoo permanently into a cat unless kissed before the [[OneHundredAndEight 108th]] toll of a bell. Then, when Akane was reduced to a dehydrated doll by the magic of the Kinjakan, Ranma had to bathe her in Jusenkyō water before her eyes closed completely, or else she would die.
* WhereItAllBegan: The final arc of the manga revolves around returning to Jusenkyō to save it. The readers finally get to see [[spoiler: Akane at Jusenkyō, and fall in a spring]].
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Ukyō; Konatsu. In a filler, Tsubasa.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Ranma's fear of cats and water. While falling into a pool in an episode he screams, "Why does it always have to be water?!"
* WifeHusbandry: Inverted in a flashback where Genma offers Ranma to this fate in exchange for some food.
* WillfullyWeak: It is common for the characters to limit themselves be it to the rules of the particular style, not using every ability to their fullest extent, trying to not injure/kill their opponent, not caring enough to bother with it, etc. Special mention goes to Genma though since he came up with, and then chose not to use, the Umisen-ken and Yamasen-ken techniques, and almost never uses his battle-aura. Ryū Kumon supposedly promised to not use the "school of the violent thief" after his duel with Ranma, and Ranma himself never again used the counterpart school either, although in that case, beyond being a counter to Yamasen-ken, all that it really provides is extreme ninja stealth and master thievery.
* WithMyHandsTied:
** Ranma actually does a lot of things with his toes in the manga, one chapter had him hanging from a rope with his arms bound by the aforementioned rope while going up against the Principal, using his toes to maneuver himself and kicking.
** Kodachi tried to hinder Ranma's agility by shackling her to Akane's pet piglet P-chan. It backfired spectacularly since it provided Ranma with a piggy-shaped flail.
*** She might have assumed Ranma wouldn't want to hurt the cute innocent widdle pig. "Pig is VALID weapon...." Cue the squealing....
** Near the end of the manga, Ranma's hands and arms were held in place and encased in nigh-indestructible crystal, product of [[BigBad Saffron's]] metamorphosis. He was still able to fight almost to his full abilities, even wielding the spear-like Gekkaja with his toes and cut a giant Phoenix statue's neck in half that way.
** Ryōga, under the "Mark of the Battling God", become invincible, but get also an embrassing mark and need to be defeated to remove the mark from his body. In order to make things easier for Ranma, Ryōga has blindfolded himself along with tying his hands together and placing large weights to his ankles. But he fail and still easily knocks Ranma into the ceiling.
* TheWorfEffect:
** Done most often to Ranma himself, as most of the (anime) VillainOfTheWeek characters wind up proving their cred by kicking Ranma's ass. Mousse and Ryōga get this treatment during the Herb arc, as both are effortless beat by Mint and Lime respectively to build hype on Herb... who proceeds to Worf the crap out of Ranma just to prove this is serious opponent.
** Ryōga also occasionally gets his ass kicked, but generally much less often then Ranma does and usually to help highlight that this is an unusually potent opponent.
* WouldntHitAGirl:
** Ryōga has no problem hitting Ranma's girl side... unless a [[WigDressAccent wig and glasses]] disguise is involved (though that's ''only'' while he's unaware of Ranma's real identity).
** Averted with Ranma himself as he showed no qualms about wanting to hit Cologne during her debut. There was also the fight with Kodachi where he himself was on the line (and she did hit Kodachi using P-chan as a weapon). In the anime, they actually could touch her on occasion, but either they used grabs (which she could break out of, due to being much stronger than them) or she blocked them with her bookbag. That was only in the first season, though, and no other {{Mooks}} would ever be able to touch her afterwards.
* WowingCthulhu:
** During the Herb Arc. Ryōga momentarily gets killed by Lime. [[OutOfBodyExperience He enters the afterlife where he meeting his deceased grandparents]], who convince him to return. His spirit then returns to his body where he unleashes the most powerful [[KiAttacks Ki Attack]] ever shown in the series which crushes Lime. Herb, who's borderlines on being a PhysicalGod, watches from a distance and is utterly impressed.
** During the Saffron Arc, Ranma manages to twice wow PhysicalGod Saffron, the immortal leader of the Phoenix people. First by mastering the [[LegendaryWeapon Kinjakan]], which was previously believed only Saffron could successfully wield. A second time after Ranma manages to survive Saffron's [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Entire Empire Instant Annihilation Shot]] which no mortal should survive, by freezing himself with the Gekkaja.
* {{Yandere}}: Most of the girls get accused of this by different fan groups.
** While under the influence of the Fishing Rod of Love, Ranma becomes a terrifying Yandere towards Ryōga. HilarityEnsues.
** Kodachi and Shampoo are the only ones who have been flat out shown as very willing to kill anyone in the way, although Shampoo isn't crazy, but rather really really into expediency. (Even scarier)
** To point out how insane Ranma got, he deliberately triggered his curse for him and told Ryōga she'd [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy gladly let him kill her if it would make him happy.]] Oh, and he also attacked Akane when the latter interrupted, which finally prompted Ryōga to step through his fears and doubt to defeat Ranma cleanly, for perhaps the only time in the manga. Notable because Ranma never got his win back from that.
* YouALLShareMyStory: Ryōga very prominently; many others as well throughout the series.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Both Akane (black with blue highlights) and Shampoo (lavender/violet) in the anime. And as an AdaptationDyeJob, female Ranma's bright red hair. [[note]]Towards the end, the red color leaked back into the manga for color drawings.[[/note]]
* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: The phrase "Joudan ja nai wa yo!" literally means this, and Akane says this more times than one can count throughout the anime. Usually with maximum rage in her voice.
* YouKnowWhatYouDid: Akane gets lured into this a lot.
* YouNoTakeCandle: Shampoo and the Jusenkyō guide. While this is supposed to illustrate Chinese language in Japanese, the odd thing is they are the only Chinese people who speak like that; Cologne, Mousse, Pantyhose Tarō etc. all speak properly.
[[/folder]]

* PublicBathhouseScene: Several times. Either because the Tendo home's bath breaks, or the scene involves Ryoga, who tends to visit public bathhouses during his travels. More often than not, a fight breaks out. Usually on the male side.
** The major example is when Ranma fight Happosai (that naturally want peep the girls, Akane included) in a sort of EscalatingWar with the two uses items from around the bathhouse, like towels and pails, as weapons. At the end, with all the cute girls gone (and it reavealed that Akane and nabiki wear smiwsuit for all the time), Happosai is tricked from Ranma female form.
* PunchClockVillain: Madame St. Paul is mainly an antagonist in the "Chardin" arc. In the anime the episode "Madame St. Paul's Cry for Help," she goes to Ranma and Akane for assistance because she believes something is wrong with Picolet.
* PunnyName: In the original Japanese the names of the Joketsuzoku characters were BilingualBonus {{Punny Name}}s -- Shanpū, Koron and Mūsu had Chinese-sounding names that coincidentally sounded like the English words for hygiene products; similarly, the Musk Dynasty warriors Haabu, Raimu, and Minto, whose ThemeNaming revolves around food ("herb", "lime", and "mint".) The English and Spanish translations play the pun straight by spelling out the English words.

* RadialAssKicking: Early on Akane had to do this to get to school.

* RapidFireFisticuffs: The Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. It allows the trainee to pull this feat off. It was supposed to be training method use to increase the trainee's speed and precision. Ranma later transformed it into a NAMELESS technique against Ryōga.

* RealMenWearPink:
** Ranma Saotome is skilled enough at cooking that his [[SupremeChef mother]] is impressed, at least passably skilled at sewing, good at tea ceremony and gymnastics, and seems to take pride in his ability to [[TheTease wind guys up by acting cute]] when [[GenderBender in girl form]].
** This is more of a result of him spending most of his life on the road. He and his father had to know how to cook and sew just to get along. The teasing is just a variation of what Genma does. Instead of outright lying and stealing, he just manipulates people.
** In a nearly literal interpretation of the trope, Ranma can make a pastel orange shirt and little red bowtie look kinda badass.
* RedStringOfFate: a literal one of these shows up in the anime, whereupon Shampoo promptly tries to use it on Ranma
* RemovingTheRival: Ranma's female half [[BoundAndGagged ties up and gags Akane]] at one point in order to steal her role in their school's production of ''RomeoAndJuliet''.

* RooflessRenovation: This happens all the time to the Tendo home, usually caused by one of Ranma's martial artist rivals. The worst incident was caused when Rouge, a Chinese woman cursed to transform into an Asura, blew away half the roof with a fireball attack.

* LightGirlDarkBoy: Ranma normally has black hair and darker skin than "Ranko", who has red hair in the anime, and has had a variety of different hair colors, usually not black, in the colored covers of the manga.

%%* PlayboyBunny: Several times.

* PowerPerversionPotential: And how!

%%* PuppyDogEyes

%%* RooflessRenovation

%%* SupernaturalMartialArts

* ThanksForTheMammary: And he just freezes in shock and dread, forgetting to let go!

* CoverVersion: During the OVA episode "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble", the female members of the Saotome-Tendo household (aka DoCo) since a cover of Equal Romance, the 2nd ending theme by CoCo.

* TameHisAnger: Both [[{{Protagonist}} Ranma Saotome]] and [[{{Tritagonist}} Ryōga Hibiki]] do this. [[TheRival Their anger was towards each other]]. By the end of the series they're pretty much [[HeterosexualLifePartners the best of friends]].

** ''Every female but Cologne in the [[BeachEpisode second movie]].

** ''Every female but [[{{Squick}} Cologne]]'' in the [[BeachEpisode second movie]].

** Ranma: Ranma himself seems based on Ryonnosuke from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', but then so does Ukyō.
** Genma: He seems based on Ryonnosuke's father of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''.
** Kodachi: Kodachi seems based on Ryoko, Mendou's sister of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', basically being a more flamboyant, and less manipulative, version of the same sadistic aristocratic personality.
** Ryōga: He shares various characteristics with Ryu from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', such as being constantly training stoic bandanna-wearing martial artists WalkingTheEarth with a backpack, while struggling between personal nobility and strong negative emotions, although Ryu is a considerably more mature version of the archetype, and their personalities are quite different in other ways. Sagara Sanosuke of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' is also quite similar in personality and lost WalkingTheEarth nature.

* CoolOldLady: Sentarō Daimonji's grandmother, the head of the Orthodox School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. At least in the anime, she's one of the few adult characters who doesn't come across as incompetent or a pompous buffoon, to the point that she takes a liking to Ranma and he seems to like her back.

* {{Expy}}:
** Ranma: Ranma himself seems based on Ryonnosuke from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', but then so does Ukyō.
** Genma: He seems based on Ryonnosuke's father of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''.
** Kodachi: Kodachi seems based on Ryoko, Mendou's sister of ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', basically being a more flamboyant, and less manipulative, version of the same sadistic aristocratic personality.
** Ryōga: He shares various characteristics with Ryu from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', such as being constantly training stoic bandanna-wearing martial artists WalkingTheEarth with a backpack, while struggling between personal nobility and strong negative emotions, although Ryu is a considerably more mature version of the archetype, and their personalities are quite different in other ways. Sagara Sanosuke of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' is also quite similar in personality and lost WalkingTheEarth nature.
* MrFanservice: Two of the guys lose their clothing after a transformation; and Ranma's tends to get torn up during the same. Even Kunō and the reveal of the two Male-to-Female [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressers]].

''Ranma ½'' is Creator/RumikoTakahashi's long-running GenderBender martial arts/comedy manga series published from 1987-1996. It received multiple {{Animated Adaptation}}s, including two television series, three films and various {{OAV}}s, and a [[LiveActionAdaptation live-action movie]] in 2012. It's arguably one of the most popular, well-known and influential manga properties of the [[TheNineties 1990s]].

Akane Tendo is a talented and [[{{Tomboy}} tomboyish]] martial artist who discovers one day that her father has promised/sold her hand in marriage to Ranma Saotome: the son of a family friend, and a martial arts prodigy in his own right. Akane bristles at the thought of being forced to marry someone she doesn't even know, and Ranma has his own problems to deal with. On a ridiculously ill-advised training journey with his father, Ranma accidentally fell into the cursed "Spring of Drowned Girl" and now [[GenderBender his body transforms into a busty young girl]] when splashed with cold water. Hot water will reverse the transformation, but not before a case of mistaken identity gets Ranma and Akane's relationship off to the worst possible start.

''Ranma's'' TV series adaptation lasted seven seasons; it also spawned eleven {{OVA}}s, one theatrical short (released as the twelfth OVA outside Japan), and two motion pictures. Production ended when Kitty Studios folded in 1996. A belated thirteenth OVA was released in 2008 (along with special episodes of ''Anime/InuYasha'' and ''Anime/UruseiYatsura'') as part of the ''Rumic World'' art exhibition that commemorated the 50th anniversary of Takahashi's publisher, Shogakukan.

Even with these problems, the ''Ranma ½'' anime became a popular show in its day -- even in North America. ''Ranma'' became one of the first major crossover hits that helped usher in the explosion of anime importation in the early-to-mid-1990s, and was the ''very'' first anime TV series to ever be released in English with a straight uncut dub. Many fans think of the dub by Creator/VizMedia and [[Creator/TheOceanGroup Ocean Studios]] as one of the first decent efforts in the history of English anime adaptation. Viz did its best to minimize the usual culprits of cultural translation, Bowdlerization, and localization -- which contrasts heavily with the show's near-contemporary ''Anime/SailorMoon'' (Viz released ''Ranma'' directly to video rather, whereas ''Sailor Moon'' arrived via television syndication, though ''Ranma'' also aired for a short time in some markets). It was even briefly optioned for a live action Hollywood film in the late 1990s, although nothing ever came of it. ''Ranma'' had the fortunate luck to arrive in the the English language market at about the same time that the World Wide Web emerged into public life, which led to the show acquiring one of the first major online fan communities, the FanFiction Mailing List, or FFML, which primarily centered around ''Ranma'' despite the generic name, and the first known online scanlation effort, the [=RanmaScan=] project.

Despite its age, ''Ranma ½'' still has a remarkably large and vigorous North American fan community -- and it's still responsible for a significant fraction of the anime {{fanfic}}tion on the web, including a wide variety of [[IntercontinuityCrossover crossovers]]. ''Ranma ½'' is probably one of the most crossed-over series on the Internet -- on fanfiction.net alone, it has over 1,100 listed crossovers and hundreds (if not thousands) listed elsewhere. (That doesn't count ''un''listed crossovers, either there or elsewhere.) To put that into perspective: while ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'' has around eight times the number of crossovers listed, ''Naruto'' also has over ''twenty-four times'' as many stories listed as ''Ranma'' does total. One sub-type of ''Ranma'' crossovers -- the FukuFic -- became common enough that it has its own trope entry. The series' length and fanbase has predictably resulted in copious amounts of {{Fanon}}; it also inspired the comic series ''ComicBook/NinjaHighSchool'', among many other creations.

!!''Ranma ½'' provides examples of the following tropes:

[[folder: A-F]]

** Once to female Ranma [[RescueRomance in the manga]], once to [[BecauseDestinySaysSo Akane in the first movie]], and ''every female but [[{{Squick}} Cologne]]'' in the [[BeachEpisode second movie]].
** Female Ranma was also kidnapped for this purpose, and very nearly bewitched with a LovePotion in the ''Toraware no Hanayome'' [[TurboGrafxSixteen PC Engine]] video game. Akane had to rescue her from being married to a [[spoiler: bear]] prince.

** Manga only: Ranma's attempts to conceal his curse are quietly dropped in the middle of the "Full-body Cat's Tongue" arc and the story goes from no one at school knowing about his curse to everyone (except the Kunos, of course) knowing about it with hardly a comment from anybody, initiating the manga's shift from a RomanticComedy to a [[StatusQuoIsGod status quo is darn near god]] SituationComedy.
** Dr. Tofu's [[AllLoveIsUnrequited one-sided love]] for Kasumi is completely abandoned -- [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome as is Dr. Tofu]].
* TheAbridgedSeries:
** WebAnimation/RanmaAbridged - a streamlined "shorts" based series, and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h4qTGWms5A Ranmabridged]], a series that more closely follows the original.
** [[Webvideo/RanmaOneHalfAbridged Ranma 1/2 Abridged]], by Mythros Media.

* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Kuno. With a wooden sword, no less. Konatsu, Ryoga, and even Kodachi, are still more extreme. The former uses a sword made of ''paper'', and the two others regular pieces of cloth.
** An intentionally absurd justification is made for Kuno's wooden sword by showing that he's so fast with it that when he swings, it can smash rocks ''with the air pressure alone''.
** Lampshaded in the Martial arts rhythmic gymnastic competition when Kodachi attacks with a steel bar: "she uses that rope like it's a steel bar...oh wait it is a steel bar"

* AbusiveParents: None of the parents would necessarily win any prizes, but Genma Saotome and Principal Kuno both stand out - the former for his extreme martial arts teaching techniques and overwhelmingly selfish behavior, and the latter for using his children as pawns for his own amusement and blatantly dodging any questions related to his parenting. Ranma's mother Nodoka allowed Genma to take Ranma away for training on the basis that he would turn their son into "a man among men," a statement too vague and subjective to truly be a valid measure of character, and even let him sign a {{seppuku}} oath to that end -- which was the only reason she let him take Ranma away in the first place. Her [[HonorBeforeReason absolute devotion to this duty]], [[spoiler:both before and after finding out about the curse]], constantly keeps Ranma on edge (especially since she was willing to go through with it once) and would be considered an even ''greater'' sort of emotional abuse even if Ranma himself weren't desperately willing to make her proud of him (and his manliness.) This dynamic is typically PlayedForLaughs, with no one batting an eye at it in-story, until the ValuesDissonance [[FridgeHorror sets in]] for the audience.

** Shampoo. Her manga self is violent and treacherous and it's difficult to imagine why Shampoo could be taken seriously as a possible "fiancee". The anime, however, made Shampoo's character significantly nicer and gave her a lot more PetTheDog moments.
** Kodachi Kuno actually gets PetTheDog moments in the anime (including an entire episode that showed her willingly bequeathing her fortune to Ranma so the Anything-Goes school can have a dojo), compared to the manga's depiction of her as a one-dimensional loon that would fit right in at Arkham Asylum.

** The 13th OVA episode - which was done years after the originals as part of ''Shonen Sunday's'' 50th anniversary - added more content than was in the original manga story it was based on. Most likely done to allow more of the old cast to play part as a service to the fans who hadn't seen them in years.

* AffablyEvil or FauxAffablyEvil: Nabiki, Pantyhose Taro, Pink, Shampoo.

* AllCheeringAllTheTime: Mariko, though we only ever see her when she's actively being a [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Combat Cheerleader]] so she might not talk that way in civvies. Then again, this is ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf''.
* AllLoveIsUnrequited: According to Creator/RumikoTakahashi, this is because all the side characters in the Love Chart were merely obstacles to Akane and Ranma's eventual hook up. Yes, even Mousse. The only reason Ryoga became the lone exception was because the fans demanded his happiness.
* AltarDiplomacy: Attempted to be {{Invoked}} by the fathers. The father of Saotome Ranma has arranged to board with the father of Tendo Akane so that these two young people can become acquainted and eventually marry. Saotome Genma sees a huge advantage in Ranma inheriting a working dojo to maintain his martial arts training, and to thwart all of Ranma's other suitors as well. Tendo Soun would like to see Akane marry someone with a strong interest in martial arts, so that the dojo he founded won't be neglected or sold off.
* AluminumChristmasTrees: The massive pigs that are seen in the Ranma manga do exist in real life. There really are boars and pigs as big as the one Ryoga hit in the manga or Akari's pig.

* AnachronismStew: Nabiki often carries an abacus (played for laughs), even though this is seemingly modern day Japan (well modern being set in the same decade as the show was produced), and hand-held calculators should have been readily available.

* AngstNuke: The Shi-Shi Hokodan.
* Analysis/AntiHero: Soun, Konatsu, and [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation if you feel charitable]] Kuno, are ClassicalAntiHero; Ryoga and Akane are somewhat KnightInSourArmour; Kumon Ryu is either a PragmaticHero or an UnscrupulousHero. Ranma and Hinako are both heroic with flaws, but both have a mostly positive mindset, so they do not fit.

* ArrangedMarriage: The driving force of the series. Three times in the original manga (the Tendo promise, Ukyo, and Picolet Chardin,) plus an extra two time in the anime, once to serve as the justification for a {{Villain of the Week}}'s MartialArtsAndCrafts challenge and the second time as a gag at the end of the episode.
* ArtMajorBiology: Akane somehow survives all of the water in her body being instantly evaporated by the Kinjakan. Of course, like almost everything else in the series, [[AWizardDidIt A Magical Device Did It]].

* AshFace: A frequent result of Happosai's fire bombs.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateAppearance: Pick any of the visiting MartialArtsAndCrafts people who come by.
** The French Cuisine arc in the manga had the governess dressed in 20th century French gown, with her hair tied up to resemble a roast chicken. The gambling king looks ''exactly'' like the King playing card, right down to the swirly beard and crown.
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever: The {{Orochi}}, Pantyhose Taro's monster form, and Happosai, Soun and Genma's BattleAura manifestations. Not to mention the Dojo Destroyer, in the manga.

* AttractiveBentGender: Ranma. All the guys at school cheer whenever Ranma suffers a ModeLock as they seem to like [[GirlWatching ogling]] Ranma more than most of the ''real'' girls. Nyanniichuan victims in general seem to fall under this category, perhaps because it ups the embarrassment factor of the curse; see the Musk Dynasty, especially their prince, Herb.
** Ranma's popularity as an ogling target might stem less from the fact s/he is attractive (though it's undeniable that s/he is) and more from the facts that Ranma has a tendency to suffer ClothingDamage due to his opponents often wielding blades or bombs, doesn't wear bras (for obvious reasons) and, most importantly, lacks "feminine modesty" and so is far less likely to get pissy/violent at them then any of the normal girls.

* BadassBookworm: Ranma is more likely to look at books for answers and to read for entertainment at least in the manga. We see Ranma turn to books for answers such as when Dr Tofu hurt his neck we later see him reading a book on chiropractics, during the reversal jewel he turned to dating magazines for advice on dating, turned to a scroll to counter Miss Hinako's draining, picked up the diary to find out why no one was at the island with the Hawaiian virus, etc. We also see him reading at other times as to what he was reading at those other times is unknown he was reading something while waiting for Ryoga prior to the ShiShiHadoken, read something while going to sleep when Miss Hinako stayed at the Tendo's, etc.
* BadassFamily: The Saotomes, most obviously, with Ranma and Genma both being martial arts masters. Shampoo and Cologne, the latter being the former's great-grandmother also count. The Tendos could theoretically count, but only two of the four members are fighters, and rather weak ones compared to the other cast members (though not to anyone else).

* BadFuture: Parodied. In the manga, during the Pantyhose Taro arc, Ranma conceives of a plan that will surely get Happosai to change Taro's name (Happosai being the one who gave him his name and the only one who can): show him a future (actually a play)where, thanks to his name, "Demon Lord" Taro has an vicious addiction to pantyhose and has taken all of the pantyhose in the world for himself. [[FelonyMisdemeanor Naturally, Happosai is devastated.]] But, when giving the chance to make things right in the past, Happposai opts to [[ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption murder the child]] rather than, say, just change his name.
** Also parodied in the anime. Ranma, Genma, and Happosai use Happosai's time-traveling hand mirror to go ten years into the future, where Akane is married to Ryoga (with children), Genma and Happosai are very old and tired men who are [[ExtremeDoormat virtually the children's playground,]] and Ranma is nowhere to be found. The time-travelers are not happy, especially Ranma, who then provides one of the page quotes. [[spoiler: Made more interesting when the entire episode is revealed to be [[AllJustADream Ranma's dream]].]]

* BattleAura: Pretty much every martial artist in the series. Happosai can actually shape his into a giant copy of himself, effectively becoming kaiju-sized. One episode of the anime has Happosai split into seven clones ([[ItsALongStory long story]]) and all of them do this at once.
** In one arc, Happosai and Genma keep one-upping each other...until they both faint from exhaustion.
** Moreso in the anime, but Genma and Soun can both become kaiju-sized, although Genma is always in his Panda form when he does this, and Soun is always dressed as a {{samurai}}. This is regardless of whether or not Genma was human at the time... and Soun just seems to keep his armor, spear and bow in HammerSpace in case he needs to make a quick costume change.

* BeachEpisode: Ranma has almost an entire movie as this, as well as a pair of regular ones. An interesting note is the transition from manga to anime actually removes one as the setting was changed from a beach to a ski resort (though it also adds another one as filler). The "Ranma Goes Hawaiian!" chapter in the manga functions also as a beach episode.
* BeamOfEnlightenment
* BeautyContest: An episode had Ranma-chan, Akane, Ukyo, Kodachi, Shampoo and Tsubasa enter a (beach) beauty contest organized by Nabiki for various reasons. The winner? Kasumi, who was acting as the assistant and [[DarkHorseVictory not actually taking part in the contest]].

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Konatsu, raised by a psychologically abusive family, latches onto Ukyo because she treats him better than they did. Not by much, still better.
** This is the entire reason that Maomolin tries to "help" Ryoga win Akane's heart in the anime-only story "Ryoga's Proposal".

* BelligerentSexualTension: Ranma & Akane -- the {{Trope Codifier}}s for anime.

* {{BFS}}: Being that the show is more a comedy than anything, it doesn't allow many blades of any size to get in. [[AnimeChineseGirl Shampoo]] still manages to get away with swinging around a massive sabre in her first appearance, even if she does trade it for CarryABigStick afterwards. How big is it? The blade alone is roughly the same length as the distance between the bottom of Shampoo's pelvis and the top of her head. And she swings it around in ''one hand''. While carrying a chui (a long-handled mace with a basketball sized ''solid steel'' head) in the other.
* BigBad: There isn't one, but Happosai, Pantyhose Taro, Ryu Kumon, Herb and Saffron have fit the role in long single storyarcs.
* BigDamnHeroes: Quite a few times, but the best was when Ranma (who had all his strength taken away) was about to get ambushed by four of his old foes... Defenseless and pinned against a tree, Ranma closes his eyes and waits for it... But nothing happens. Looking up, he sees Ryoga, who had stepped in the way and defeated all four of the foes.

** The Chardin family, and later by Kurumi "Tendo" in the OAV.
** Nabiki Tendo has some traits of this, especially when she's being fed out of other peoples' wallets.
* BigFancyHouse: The Tendo home, which contains separate bedrooms for all three of the daughters, Soun himself, and ''two'' guest bedrooms -- one downstairs used by Happosai, and another upstairs which Genma and Ranma share. It also includes a full traditional Japanese bathing area, an equally traditional dining/living room, a modern kitchen with a big worktable in the center of the floor, a garden with large pond, and a dojo large enough to comfortably seat virtually every character ever seen on the show as of the series' first Christmas episode. The Kuno Estate is a massive place that almost resembles a medieval Japanese fortress -- particularly in the anime, where it has a literal labyrinth of secret passages, dungeons, and deathtraps.
* BitchInSheepsClothing: Nabiki. Oneshot character Satori the psychic kid even more so.
* BlessedWithSuck: Most of the main characters with Jusenkyo curses, or other oddities, such as Ryoga's causality-bending complete lack of direction-sense. Ranma feels this way about his curse (though he does seem to get '''some''' [[RealMenWearPink enjoyment/use]] out of it), but it's fairly neutral in and of itself... compared to, say, turning into a defenseless little animal considered tasty-looking and edible by just about everyone, ala Ryoga Hibiki. Mostly, it's BlessedWithSuck because of the {{Seppuku}} pledge his father and mother made, the fact he's physically weaker in that form, it results in various complications that wouldn't have happened if he didn't have it (first meeting with Akane, Shampoo trying to kill him, nightmares about having Tatewaki Kuno's children, etc.), and the fact it makes him the target of just about every pervert and degenerate to crawl out of the woodwork... including DirtyOldMan [[OldMaster Happosai]] and his fiancée's unscrupulous and money-crazed elder sister.

* BlowYouAway: Ranma's most frequent FinishingMove is the Hi Ryū Shoten Ha, which creates a tornado. He's also fond of modifying it [[IndyPloy on the spot]] to beat the more serious enemies.

* BoobsOfSteel: Played straight with Shampoo and Female-Ranma, who have generous busts and are highly skilled martial artists, as well as Miss Hinako who is one of the most powerful characters in the series since she drains power from her opponents.
** Atsuko Nakajima's OAV and movie character designs obviate the trope by making all of the girls extremely well-endowed, even the more modest ones.
* BookDumb: Ranma Saotome. He's known for his success with [[IndyPloy on-the-fly solutions]], though he's also capable of coming up with intricate plans, [[http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/018/010/004/ such as the one he used to get Happosai to change Pantyhose Taro's name]]. He's attentive and smart, to the point where he can reproduce a martial arts move after seeing it only once and then find its weak spot. Too bad he's kind of Book Dumb in certain areas.
--> '''Akane:''' Ranma, you do know what Romeo and Juliet are to each other, don't you?
--> '''Ranma:''' Father and daughter, right?

* BrawlerLock: Ryouga does this with Girl Type Ranma in the last bit of the Golden Pair arc (in the anime at least)
* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: sometimes played for laughs, others for drama.
* BroughtDownToNormal: When Happosai used [[PressurePoint moxibustion]] to rob Ranma of his prodigious strength, to the point where a toddler could beat him up.
* BullyHunter: Ranma does this occasionally, for example when she stopped Kodachi from beating up the Fūrinkan gymnastic team further or the time he stopped a group of masked kids that were bullying Gosunkugi.
** And again with Ryoga, most notably for defending a BroughtDownToNormal Ranma from the rest of the males on the [[FanNickname Nerima Wrecking Crew]].

-->'''Cologne''': Master versus pupil... Father versus son... Oh, what horrors the Dragon's Whisker brings...
-->'''Akane''': Seems like a typical day with Ranma...

* CallBack: To Akane and [male] Ranma's [[NakedFirstImpression first encounter]], twice: Shinnosuke running into Akane in the bath (confirming his identity to her) and [[spoiler: [[TheMole Kiima posing as]]]] Akane walking in on Ranma in the exact same pose and angles as in the introductory chapter.

** Almost entirely spoofed in the manga: nearly every attack, no matter how minor or improvised, has some sort of name. The Saotome school even has a named 'attack' that consists of ''running away until you can think of something else.'' But it's also played straight, particularly with Ranma and Ryoga's most devastating attacks.

** There's also the Carp on the Cutting Board...preluding the Cradle of Death.
** ''Attack of a thousand clubs!!''...it looks like she's using 10 or 20 clubs, because she IS using 10 or 20 clubs.
** Then there's both the ''Yamasenken'' and ''Umisenken'', which have some seven attacks each, with Ranma and Ryu calling each attack when they're used.
* CanonForeigner: Sasuke Sarugakure, the Kunos' {{Ninja}} servant, in the anime.
* CantCatchUp: Akane and the Kuno siblings to Ranma.

* CaptureAndReplicate: [[spoiler: Akane Tendou]] is captured and replaced with a double via Jyusenkyo Spring.
* CardCarryingVillain: Happosai. He molests women, invades the privacy of women who are changing clothes or taking baths, steals underwear and food, racks up extortionate bills and sticks them on the Tendo dojo, bullies and beats and harasses his students... only for self-enjoyment. He is the only character who is actually proud of declaring that he will be "evil" until the day that he dies and that he never, ever, in his whole, rotten life has learnt something that served to help someone. Actually, ''thinking'' of making something good got his brain literally fried once.
** Even when he believes he's doing good, it's still used in his selfish pleasures down the road. Proof: as much as he says he taught the Happo Failure to Hinako when she was a kid so her health could improve (which it did, truth be told), in the end, he used it just so he could freely steal the nurses' panties as she drained their vital energies. And he pretended to be Santa Claus to protect two children's innocent dreams... all the while as he ate and drank at their expenses and used them to steal panties.

* CatchPhrase: Many, but most notably Kasumi: "Oh My", Akane: "Honestly" and "Ranma no baka!" (roughly "dummy", or "Ranma you jerk" in the dub; she even has a "Baka Song"), Ranma's catchword "kawaiikune" ("uncute"), Happosai: "What a haul!" and "Sweeto!", Shampoo: "Nihao, Airen!" and, to a lesser extent, "Aiyaaa!" and of course Ryoga's "Ranma, [[PrepareToDie prepare to die]]!" [[spoiler: He never follows through on it when he wins.]] Akane in particular typically uses both of her catchphrases at least OnceAnEpisode.
* ChangingClothesIsAFreeAction: Often as part of a sight gag, such as Ranma getting into or out of a costume to fool Ryoga in the space of a single panel, or Nodoka (who is in a full dress kimono) [[spoiler:seeing Ranma for the first time (but wearing girl's clothes,) hugging him, and suddenly standing in proper {{seppuku}} attire]].
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Creator/RumikoTakahashi [[WordOfGod herself]] stated in an interview that she originally intended Ranma to be "a clean-cut, nice boy with frank disposition", but that he kept surprising her and "turned out to be an indecisive, stubborn, sly guy." The Tendos' characterisations are also more rounded in the first couple of books, with Kasumi dismissing younger men as boring, calling Genma out and being snarky, and Nabiki being a more normal high-schooler.
* CharacterDevelopment: Ryoga, who first appears as an enemy and gradually evolves into a rival, a reliable ally, and possibly a friend. (Of all the characters who crash the abortive wedding, Ryoga is the only one who is not trying to deliberately spoil the event.)

* ChefOfIron: Ukyo, master of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki and wielder of giant spatulas. Cologne to a degree with ramen noodle attacks and teaching Shampoo Martial Arts Takeout Delivery.

** [[spoiler: The photo of Akane that Nabiki sells to Ryoga winds up playing a role in snapping Ranma out of his stupor after falling down Saffron's pit trap -- and winds up alerting the Phoenix to Akane's existence and leading to her kidnapping.]]
* CherryBlossoms

* ChildhoodMarriagePromise: Ukyo made a deal with Ranma while they were still kids who played together regularly that, in exchange for allowing Ranma to taste her family's secret okonomiyaki sauce recipe (which is SeriousBusiness, [[RealityIsUnrealistic even in the real world]]), Ranma would marry her if it tasted good.
* ChildMarriageVeto: Genma, and Mr. Tendo had arranged for Ranma and Akane to marry. The kids swear they won't because they hate each other, but most people who've seen the series swear it's more akin to AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther.

** After being a significant supporting character in the first couple volumes, Dr. Tofu is gradually demoted to a plot device, then starts to appear more and more infrequently until, just over a third of the way through the series, he completely disappears and is never mentioned again. The anime averts this, having him show up in filler episodes right up to the final season. WordOfGod says that Takahashi didn't like the character; when Cologne brought her knowledge and martial art prowess, Tofu got completely useless and was properly scrapped.
** Shampoo's father in the manga. He appears in volume 4 with two lines of dialogue, then he can be seen helping out at the Cat Café for a little while, but then he's just gone.

* ClingyCostume: Ranma gets stuck in a cursed swimsuit, which will drag 'her' into the depths of the sea unless she is honestly complimented by a particular man.
* ClingyJealousGirl: Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi.

* CobwebOfDisuse: Happens within minutes to the Tendou household when they temporarily lose all their money due to shenanigans involving Nabiki.
* CombatPragmatist: Ranma and Genma. They've turned cheating, cheap shots, and taunting into an art form. Fear the mighty ''Crouch of the Wild Tiger''! [[spoiler:Beg for your life!]]
** Saotome Ultimate Technique! A special skill that relies on withdrawal, concealment, and deliberation. In other words, run away and hide until you can come up with a better idea.
--->'''Genma''': Hey, it's harder than it sounds!
* CombatCommentator: Happens occasionally, with the peanut gallery making quips to explain what may be missing in a single still panel shot. Of course, this happens to also give certain characters an unusual and inconsistent knowledge of the martial arts, even if it is accepted as fact that they have no interest in them. Such as Nabiki immediately commenting on the nature of Happosai's "Hermit Crab Fist" being him moving from bucket to bucket really fast. Also parodied later in the Ten-yen bet saga, where Akane and Ranma serve up some overdramatic commentary on the rather mundane happenings. One of the best examples of this trope might be the anime-exclusive episode dealing with [[MartialArtsAndCrafts Martial Arts Shogi]], where Happosai and Nabiki (the former of which is just being a coward) take to the sidelines with Happosai explaining how Battle Shogi relates to the rules of the boardgame.

** In the manga, when [[GenderBender Female!Ranma]] disguises as Ryōga's (non-existent) little sister Yoiko, she once falls out of character and makes a rude comment to her "brother" before Akane. Ryōga doesn't approve of such language for a young lady, and thus give his "sister" a spanking. Note that Ryōga is super-strong, and as tough Ranma is, the ass-warming clearly hurts.

* CongruentMemory: Kuno's watermelon sword training.
* ContinuityNod: Remember how Akane [[SuperDrowningSkills can't swim to save her life]]? Creator/RumikoTakahashi did when she [[spoiler:dropped her in a Jusenkyo spring]].

* CoolOldLady: Sentaro Daimonji's grandmother, the head of the Orthodox School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. At least in the anime, she's one of the few adult characters who doesn't come across as incompetent or a pompous buffoon, to the point that she takes a liking to Ranma and he seems to like her back.
* CordonBleughChef: Akane Tendo. For reasons that are probably understandable only by herself, the girl seems to consider any recipe as always being in need of improvement... and her choice of extra ingredients is always deleterious. In her first attempt at cooking that we see, she mixes up wine and vinegar when making curry -- then "fixes" the mistake by adding sugar, mayonnaise, and wasabi. Unlike most examples of this trope, however, even she finds her concoctions to be thoroughly inedible, if she ever tastes them. Her main problem is that she never actually ''tastes'' the food before she serves it, occasionally being offended if the subject is even raised. Needless to say, nobody except Ryoga Hibiki is willing to even touch her food unless intimidated or guilted into doing so. Later in the manga she does make edible curry and tries it prior to serving it. In the anime she also learns to prepare tofu and boil water.
* CounterAttack: The Hiryū Shoten Ha; almost all the techniques in the Umi-Sen Ken style are specific counters to the Yama-Sen Ken.
* CovertPervert: Akane and Ukyo have both had at least one of these moments each in the manga, as did virtually everyone else. It is a sex-farce comedy as much as it is a Martial Arts comedy, after all.

* CripplingTheCompetition: Kodachi Kuno tries doing this to Ranma before their big match. However, Akane is thwarts each effort. Ryoga also tries to beat up Ranma before the match, but the fight lasts the entire night without a winner.

* {{Crossdresser}}: Ukyo, Tsubasa, and Konatsu. Unfortunate applications of hot water tend to make ''male'' Ranma one of these, to the horror of innocent passerby (including his own mother).

* CursedWithAwesome: Ranma's Jusenkyo curse, according to some people, though he would not agree. The [[FanWank theory]] that Ranma is under some curse that makes him a WeirdnessMagnet counts if you believe it -- though in this case it would be an example of Ranma not minding the curse. Canonically, Pantyhose Taro and Rouge; both of them have Jusenkyo curses that cause them to transform into [[OneWingedAngel super powered, if bizarre, alternate forms]]. Pantyhose Taro becomes a kind of flying minotaur that later gains CombatTentacles. Rouge sprouts four new arms and two more faces while gaining the ability to fly, hurl lightning bolts, and breath fire.
* CuteLittleFangs: Ryoga, primarily, though Rumiko Takahashi's art-style allowed virtually every member of the cast to acquire them during at least one rant through the course of the manga.
** Ryoga's name means "good fang", so his case it's a MeaningfulName.
* ADayInTheLimelight: Nabiki's "Ten Yen Bet" arc. It allows her to have her own set of wacky adventures, and "[[SnarkBait love interest]]," with Ranma and Akane as the [[CombatCommentator background commentators]]. Her "New Fiancée" and "Destroyed Concert Ticket" stories also qualify.

* DeadlyTrainingArea: The valley of Jusenkyo has acquired this reputation.

* DeathByCameo: The Manga/InuYasha cast appear as corpses in Ova 13.

* DemonHead: Soun, whenever he needs to jolt Ranma into doing something that he wanted, usually involving swallowing his pride and being nice to Akane.
** Kasumi and Nabiki also pulled a Demon Head during the Chardin arc.

* DeusAngstMachina: Ryoga Hibiki. This, {{Wangst}}, or neither?

* DirtyOldMan: Happosai.
* DisproportionateRetribution: Many characters have done this on whim, usually PlayedForLaughs. However, Shampoo, Happosai, Saffron, Nabiki, and Herb are easily the most extreme cases.

* DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength: Ryoga, through and through. It's played up much more in the original manga, but in either version when his mind wanders, he tends to destroy everything he's touching. It's possible that Shampoo might also be an example of this... or simply that she gets a kick out of proving how strong she is by demolishing everything in her path.
* DoesNotLikeShoes
** Ranma himself tends to go barefoot quite often. That "often" however turns to "almost always" when he turns into a girl. Hell, as a girl, s/he's introduced bare [[FeetFirstScene feet first]].
** Kuno is also barefoot pretty much always.

* DogsAreDumb: In the second animated movie, the dog-man Wonton is the absolute stupidest of the three {{Half Human Hybrid}}s, though he is still a surprisingly capable fighter. Averted with the actual canine, Checkers, though, who is very intelligent and, in all honesty, probably smarter than Ryoga.

--> '''Nabiki:''' Fifty dollars.
--> '''Ranma:''' Too much! Twenty dollars!
--> '''Nabiki:''' Forty-five dollars.
--> '''Ranma:''' Robber! Thirty dollars!
--> '''Nabiki:''' Done! A pleasure doing business with you.
* DramaticIrony: Had Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome let Ranma and Akane's relationship develop at its own pace, they might well be looking at a happily married couple with children on the way. Instead, since Soun and Genma are both desperate, and are constantly scheming and plotting to '''force''' the two teens together, Ranma, who rightfully hates Genma's guts for constantly trying to ruin his life since age 5, and actively endangering it thanks to the Seppuku clause with Nodoko, his mother, for his own amusement, and Akane who deeply resents her father arranging her marriage (basically selling her out) to a guy ''he'' never met, filial obligation or no, and bringing all of Ranma's problems into her life causes the both of them to rebel and lash out, and the more their parents try to push them together, the more they push each other away.

* EasyAmnesia: Shinnosuke, guardian of the [[TheLostWoods Forest of]] [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever Ryugenzawa]]. There's a pressure point technique that can not only erase certain facts from the victim's memory, but also prevents the victim from re-learning the fact in the future.
* EatingTheEyeCandy: There are several scenes from the point of view of Ranma's various would-be lovers showing just why they consider Ranma to look good. In Akane's case, the girl most likely to get this (she's the other half of the OfficialCouple, of course she gets this the most), this almost inevitably prompts Ranma to say something that points out why "JerkWithAHeartOfGold" still references JerkAss.

** Ranma only allows Akane to carry him when in his female form, but not in the male one. He seems to think differently of himself according to gender perception.
** In another instance, female Ranma has to carry the much larger and much more powerful, but unconscious Prince Herb in her arms to save him from a collapsing mountain. In fact, Ranma (and Mousse and Ryoga) was splashed with cold water instants before for the sole reason of turning him female for this scene.

* EmbarrassingFirstName: Quite obviously, Pantyhose Taro. "Pantyhose Taro" ''is'' his full name, but he only wants to change the first half of it into something less embarrassing, such as "[[MundaneMadeAwesome Awesome]] Taro."

** Ranma: Ranma himself seems based on Ryonnosuke from ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', but then so does Ukyo.

** Ryoga: He shares various characteristics with Ryu from ''StreetFighter'', such as being constantly training stoic bandanna-wearing martial artists WalkingTheEarth with a backpack, while struggling between personal nobility and strong negative emotions, although Ryu is a considerably more mature version of the archetype, and their personalities are quite different in other ways. Sagara Sanosuke of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' is also quite similar in personality and lost WalkingTheEarth nature.
* MrFanservice: Two of the guys lose their clothing after a transformation; and Ranma's tends to get torn up during the same. Even Kuno and the reveal of the two Male-to-Female [[WholesomeCrossdresser crossdressers]].
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: During the Koi Rod arc Ranma (in both his male and female forms) falls in love with Ryoga, causing much rejoicing from the shippers.

* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The [[GiantMook Dojo Destroyer]], Principal Kuno, (Kuno Kocho in Japanese) whose given name was never revealed. The Jusenkyo Guide is only ever called "Mr. Guide" by the cast and [[spoiler: "Father" by his daughter]].
* EvilFeelsGood: Nabiki, Shampoo, Pink, to a lesser degree Happosai, as he is even more upbeat, but not quite as malevolent. A running theme of the show is that several of the most {{Jerkass}}-y characters tend to be extremely serene and happy about it, whereas people with a strong conscience tend to get depressed far more easily, much like the real world tends to work, rather than sticking to the corrupt story convention that pain equals evil and happiness equals goodness. It is most overtly displayed with Pink and Link, the former physically identical twin is a happy casual sadist, and the latter an altruist who gets victimized for her sister's misdeeds.
* EvilOldFolks: Happosai, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation possibly Cologne]].
* EvilTwin: [[spoiler: Kiima, after she used the Akaneniichuan.]], Pink.

* EyeCatch: The first season had Ranma (girl type) juggling things, and Genma (panda type) eating things, but starting in the second season the eyecatches changed to chibi versions of Akane and Ranma, which would be used for the majority of the series. The first had Akane swatting at Ranma (boy type) with a broom but landing on P-chan, while the other had Akane practicing martial arts on a retreating Ranma (boy type), who backflipped into a tub of water, transforming into girl type Ranma.

* {{Fanservice}}: And how. Ranma spends at least half the time female, and much of that time topless...
** And on the flipside, Ryoga and Mousse are often stark naked when they transform back into men.

* FatBastard: Genma isn't exactly father material as he's incredibly selfish and willing to dump responsibilities on Ranma. Also the Dojo Destroyer.
* FatherIDontWantToFight: Ranma in the anime only episode ''Am I Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood.'' after a bonk on the head. Akane uses Ranma's skull as the ResetButton at the episode's end though.

* FeminineWomenCanCook: Kasumi's defining trait and a source of major angst for Akane; this is also Ukyo's primary advantage over Akane in the fiancée sweepstakes, and one she lampshades constantly. Shampoo as well.

** Ranma from Shampoo, much to [[ClingyJealousGirl Akane Tendo's]] [[GreenEyedMonster ire]].
** In the girl form Ranma's first kiss was forced upon him by a guy he hated: HandsomeLech Mikado Sanzennin. While he was [[GenderBender transformed into a girl]]. Poor Ranma runs away screaming and crying, and Akane doesn't blame him at all.
** If one counts the time Akane kissed "P-Chan" on his snout, then her first kiss was unintentionally with Ryoga. (No wonder [[CrazyJealousGuy Ranma]] was furious.) She seems to consider her first kiss to have been with Ranma while he was under the Cat-Fist.

* FoolsMap: One episode had Ranma and Ryoga trying to find some artifacts that would cure their Jusenkyo curses using a map that Cologne had deciphered for them. It leads them all around Nerima before ending up back at Cologne's ramen shop. Ranma naturally thinks this is in effect and attacks, [[SubvertedTrope but in the process uncovers the very thing he was looking for]].
* ForgedMessage: In the anime episode "Genma Takes a Walk", [[StatusQuoIsGod one of the pushes to end the petty fight between his and Akane's fathers]] is Ranma having written a pair of insulting letters of challenge on behalf of both parties to each other, off-screen. Akane [[ExpositionFairy realizes this on-screen]], while enraged fathers fall for it not without throwing in some [[MediationBackfire remarks about opponent's bad handwriting]] etc.
* ForgotICouldntSwim: During the Phoenix Pill arc, Akane sees Ranma getting pounded to paste by Cologne in a duel at the beach (which has now moved to the ocean.) She valiantly dives headfirst into the ocean to assist her fiance... leaving Kasumi and Nabiki to wonder if she had ever learned to swim. And now Ranma has to rescue ''her'' too on top of everything else.

* FreezeFrameBonus: In [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_svPQ_U3jni8/STb-KSWmzYI/AAAAAAAAAp0/4KcIm-FdQnM/s1600-h/Nabiki+reading+the+manga.jpg this screen shot]] taken from the anime Nabiki can be seen reading a volume of the Ranma manga.
** It also counts as LeaningOnTheFourthWall
* FriendlyEnemy: Ranma and Ryoga, after the first few stories. Much as Ryoga is fixated on beating Ranma (which becomes more simply being the ArrogantKungFuGuy then revenge pretty quick), he is perfectly willing to help Ranma out, Ranma has no qualms about helping Ryoga, and the two are generally quick to make alliances of convenience. Of course, they're equally quick to fall out again, but what do you expect? Shampoo and Ukyo have some elements of this... in the manga, this usually results in one of their more villainous moments.
* FruitOfTheLoon: The loon is Principal Kuno, the fruit is pineapples. Any questions?

[[folder: G-L]]

* GenderReveal: [[ThoseTwoGuys Hiroshi and Daisuke]], at least in the manga. Their response to discovering that cute redheaded girl they've been crushing on is, in fact, their ''male'' best friend? "We don't care, she's still hot." [[MasterOfDisguise Tsubasa]] also drops a Bridget on Ranma at the end of his introductory (and sole, in the manga) story, and [[DudeLooksLikeALady Konatsu]] drops it on Ukyo at the end of his.

* GhostlyGoals: The anime has a cute ghost girl named Kogane who wants somebody to find her lost tanuki doll. The manga has an ugly old ghost matron who places a death curse on Happosai that won't lift unless he swipes her old-fashioned bloomers.

* TheGlassesGottaGo: Inverted; Mousse looks like a handsome Bishonen... until his terrible eyesight forces him to put on a hideous set of NerdGlasses.

** It's Shampoo's signature move towards Ranma, although Ryoga has also been glomped by Akane once (while she was brainwashed -- by Shampoo, natch).
** Akane has also glomped Ranma once, when he returned to the Tendo home after his fight with Herb.
** Ryoga was also glomped by Male form Ranma during the Koi Rod arc (and the shippers rejoiced).

** The most extreme glomping-series was the chapter wherein Shampoo used a magical "shiryaki mushroom spice" that gave anyone a hypnotic command to perform over and over. An awful amount of glomping was going on there. Ranma later used a suggestion incense to get Ryoga to hug anyone that said pig since Akari really liked pigs, with similar goofy results.

* HalfHumanHybrid: While not half-humans themselves, the people of the Musk Dynasty have inherited the blood of powerful animals and mythological creatures by throwing them in "The Spring of Drowned Girl" and mating with them. The Phoenix Kingdom, on the other hand, became {{Winged Humanoid}}s through centuries of consuming Jusenkyo-cursed water (bird curses, natch) for pretty much every aspect of their lives ([[MundaneUtility drinking, bathing, washing...]]) [[LegoGenetics throughout generations]].
* {{Hammerspace}}: Ranma 1/2 is the TropeNamer for this one too, though in this case the term originated in the FFML online fanfiction community. Used by nearly everyone in the cast in the name of comedy. [[HyperspaceMallet Hammers]] are but a fraction of the items pulled out. Usually it's a shinai, bokken, spatula, chui, kettles, tables, miscellaneous so-called-weapons, heavy blunt objects in general, etc.

* HavingABlast: {{Fanon}} is that the Happo Fire Burst is this (as well as a KiAttack), due to the canonical ZigzaggingTrope which is never really resolved. {{Canon}} first presents it as a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, before revealing it to be a JokeItem - using fireworks to feign a high-powered KiAttack. Then it [[IThoughtItWasForbidden becomes Happosai's signature move]] and actually quite effective ([[NonFatalExplosions for the genre]]). {{Fanon}} immediately proceeds to claim that the Happo Fire Burst is actually a KiAttack which conjures the explosives [[AWizardDidIt from Ki energy]] (see the FanWank entry above). Of course, Happosai is not the only one with a HyperspaceArsenal, proving that [[MagicAIsMagicA in the setting, it is possible]] [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower with enough skill]], so they really might just be weaponized fireworks. [[ImprobableWeaponUser It's a more likely weapon than many of the other cast members'...]].
* HeadsIWinTailsYouLose: Tatewaki Kuno applies this trope to himself regularly as part of his [[LoveableSexManiac never-ending quest for a date]] from Akane Tendo and/or [[GenderBender Ranma]] {{S|electiveObliviousness}}aotome. He routinely attacks either girl, proclaiming that if he defeats them then they must allow him to go on a date with them, but whenever they fight back, he also states that if they defeat him, then he will allow them to go on a date with him. That they do not ''want'' a date with him is something his absurdly inflated ego prevents him from realising.
* HeavySleeper: Ranma, who can dodge attacks without waking up. Shampoo also knows of a technique that allows her to fight automatically while asleep. Akane once inhaled a magic incense that did the same thing.

* HereWeGoAgain: The end of the "Invincible" Phoenix Sword saga.

* HeroicBSOD: Ranma, upon Akane's DisneyDeath at Jusendo. Not even a GetAHoldOfYourselfMan punch from Ryoga fazes him, nor is the prospect of being eaten alive by Saffron's egg.
* HeterosexualLifePartners: Though they haven't seen each other for a long time by the time the series starts, in the anime Genma and Soun are usually shown hanging out together, playing shogi, go, or enjoying the countryside. In the manga they don't spend much time together on screen. However, in both canons, Soun considers Genma to be morally reprehensible and gets mad at him for his various {{Jerkass}} deeds, although it never has any serious consequences.
** Soun seems to be the only character who can [[IntelligibleUnintelligible understand Panda!Genma's speech]], without Genma having to resort to holding up signs.

* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: Ranma especially, but many secondary characters also have some form of trauma that's typically played for laughs (Ryoga unintentionally abandoned by his family at a young age, Mousse's constant beatdowns from Shampoo, Principal Kuno's treatment of his children). Topping it off: The [[{{Jerkass}} guy who's put Ranma through all of his]] HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood is the more loving of the two parents. His mother has Ranma's [[{{Seppuku}} suicide ritual]] if he proves to be anything but a Man Amongst Men so well-memorized that she performs it in her sleep.

** Kuno's Watermelon Sword attack is defeated when Ranma places a watermelon on his head, causing him to knock himself out.
** The Hiryo Shoten Ha technique works by turning an opponent's own strength and rage against them, and is usually a one-hit-KO. The aforementioned mountain-crushing bomb, as well as the method that defeated Saffron, were variations on this technique and worked on the same principle.

* HonorBeforeReason: Ryoga has a strict honor code, and strict is the way he adheres to it. He'll never, ''never'', fight anyone who cannot fight back, or take advantage of an opponent's weakness.

* HumanDoorstop: In the first movie, Lychee's elephant, Jasmine, stomps a hole in the bottom of the boat they're taking across the Sea of Japan. The gang plugs the hole with Happosai, whose antics got them in the mess in the first place.
* HumanMail: Happosai gets stuffed into a box to be mailed somewhere a couple of times in both Manga and Anime. It never sticks.
* HyperspaceMallet: In fanon this is Akane's signature weapon. However, while she occasionally does use some form of mallet in both the anime and manga, she usually uses any available blunt object, most frequently shinai, and various other characters have used them in either medium.
** Noteworthy for Soun, who, when using his battle aura to turn Kaiju size, appears in full samurai armor.
* HypnoFool: Ranma and Akane are frequently the victims of mind-influencing magic, spells and poisons. Ranma is more frequently the victim in the anime (a hypnotic technique from Sasuke to make him go on a date with Kuno, being controlled by his evil side come to life courtesy of Happosai), while Akane tends to be the victim of choice in the manga (Happosai uses a magical incense that causes her to fall asleep until spring).

** Akane tries to pass off Kuno's obsession with her onto Ranma this way, though it doesn't actually work. Because he wants both of them. Aside from that, the only person in the entire series who comes close to playing this straight is Konatsu towards Ukyo. And during the arc where the Tendo engagement got switched from her to Nabiki, on hearing Nabiki tell Ranma "I love you" to manipulate him and think it was real, she decided to try giving up on Ranma because she couldn't express her feelings and Nabiki could.
** It's also shown by Ranma toward Ryoga in the Fishing Rod of Love arc.

* IWasJustPassingThrough: Is actually subverted with Ryoga, who comes to Ranma's aid during the moxibustion storyline. With Ryoga as Ranma's not-very-friendly (up until then) [[TheRival Rival]], whose [[NoSenseOfDirection horrible directional sense]] would enable him to ''legitimately'' make the claim to having been "just passing through," you'd expect the playing of this card to be a no-brainer. But when Ranma out-and-out asks him if he's [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou saving him for himself]], Ryoga angrily denies it, says he hates bullies, and then breaks down crying with sadness to see a "great warrior" such as Ranma reduced to such a state. Later he helps Ranma regain his strength.

** After bonking himself hard on the head during the Watermelon Island story, Kuno went from grabby-but-harmless buffoon to a crazed stalker whose skill actually allowed him to terrorize Ranma.
** In one anime episode, Ranma, when he got whacked upside the head hard enough, thought he really was a girl. However, that was a case of LossOfIdentity rather then IdentityAmnesia -- she remembered being "Ranma" perfectly, her personality was just twisted into an entirely new format.

* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Ukyo; although she isn't an idiot, is often depicted as a bit moneygrubbing, another stereotypical Osakan trait.

-->"Laying it on a bit thick, aren't you?"\\

** Ranma, particularly in the manga, is very good at improvising weapons and has done so with a large variety of objects like pinwheels, rocks, sticks, clothesline poles, his hair, tennis rackets, paper fans, Ryoga, etc.
** Mousse has a special "White Swan" attack, which involves him hitting his opponent with ''a swan shaped training potty''
* IndecisiveParody: While some people consider it an action comedy series where the humor extends into the depiction of martial arts tropes, other people see it as this. Especially since it pokes fun at otherwise serious scenarios (a duel against a nigh-invulnerable opponent whose fingerpoke can explode a person to bits[[note]]or so they believe[[/note]], a teamup against a two story-tall minotaur monster, a no-holds-barred battle with a murderous ki master, a duel against a deathly-serious opponent with layers upon layers of meaning about family honor,) with hilarious {{lampshade hanging}}s of techniques and deconstructions of the foes' motives (an "Ultimate Secret Technique" that consists of running away to think up something better, the monster is actually a {{Jerkass}} martial artist named "[[EmbarrassingFirstName Pantyhose Taro]]" by Happosai, Ranma stealing the deathly-serious opponent's clothes and leaving him in boxers, etc.) And that's the "serious" fights against "serious" enemies --the comedy-oriented MartialArtsAndCrafts contests fully embrace the trope, showing eating contests or martial arts cooking battles with the same [[SeriousBusiness exaggerated drama]] of ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' or ''SaintSeiya''.

* InstantCosplaySurprise

* InvoluntaryDance: Ling-Ling & Lung-Lung play the ThemeTune which causes the opponent to dance uncontrollably, and while they dance Ling-Ling & Lung-Lung use the flamethrower to burn the opponent.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ranma on a bad day, and Ryoga. Ranma can be arrogant, petty, manipulative, but will generally feel sorry about being an ass and is compassionate and helpful towards most people in trouble. Ryoga gives a harsh first impression, his anger can run away with him, and he is prone to idiotic behaviour, but behaves in a more polite and considerate manner in general, is just as helpful as Ranma when confronted with people in trouble, and his compassion is as overemotional as the rest of him. (Typical example: when Ranma is rendered weak by Happosai, and needs someone to fight seriously against him, Ryoga tries to help, but finds that he is unable to consciously strike someone so much weaker than himself, and runs away crying TenderTears... Also earlier in the same arc, it's Ryoga who saves Ranma from Tatewaki Kuno, Principal Kuno and Mousse, because he couldn't bear to see anyone taking advantage of his weakness.) Granted, this aspect of his is only shown later on in the story.
* JewelersEyeLoupe: In the manga, Nabiki wears an eye loupe to appraise the "engagement ring" Ranma's mother tasked Ranma to give to his fiancée. Nabiki deems it of no monetary value, which doesn't change its symbolic value. [[spoiler:Turns out, it's not an engagement ring at all, although for once it isn't because Nabiki was deceptive about it.]]
* KamehameHadoken: the Shi Shi Hokodan and Moko Takabisha KiAttacks. This is more notable in the anime, where they're shown as sustained energy beams in the second NonSerialMovie (normally, they're [[StreetFighter Hadoken-style]] fireballs). Herb's KiAttacks are also like this once he gets out of ModeLock. The anime has Natsume & Kurumi's "Ryūka Ringu", or "Ring of Dragon Fire", which is one part this to one part EverythingsBetterWithSpinning. Though based on magic instead of ki, Saffron has a variety of fiery projectiles, all the way up to a super-blast of flame the name of which roughly translates as "Empire Instant Annihilation Blast".

* KansaiRegionalAccent: Ukyo.
* KarmaHoudini: Nabiki Tendo has ''never'' received any sort of comeuppance for her callous actions in the entire series. Creator/RumikoTakahashi likes this character and considers her [[ComedicSociopathy sociopathic actions within the family dynamic to be the reason she's funny]].

* KendoTeamCaptain: Tatewaki Kuno.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Those who don't think of Mousse as a JerkassWoobie (and even some who do) typically regard Shampoo's mistreatment of him at this. It shows she can be cold, cruel and callous, yes, but, as they point out, Mousse is a blatant StalkerWithACrush who has been harrassing her for thirteen years before the series starts, at least, and chased her to Japan openly declaring his intention was to MurderTheHypotenuse. Shampoo makes it extremely clear in both continuities that she does not love Mousse and has never loved him (making Mousse's attempt to beat Ranma to make him "give her up" clearly more using him as a scapegoat than anything), rather than this being a case of BelligerentSexualTension. Not only does she continually refuse his efforts to kiss her during one story in which she is looking at being [[BalefulPolymorph turned into a cat forever]] if she can't be kissed, insisting that the only way the kiss will work is if she loves the person she kisses, the manga has a {{filler}} story where she hears that it sounds like Mousse is going to die... and couldn't care less. While Ranma (who Mousse has tried to kill or at least humiliate dozens of times,) Cologne (who sees Mousse as an annoyance at best) and [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Akane]] desperately race to save Mousse, Shampoo promptly turns on her SuperNintendo and starts playing games, leaving Akane, who was trying to warn her, to go storming off in disgust.
* KidSamurai: Tatewaki Kuno.

* KillItWithWater: Quite a number of martial artists are transformed into (relatively) harmless animals when hit with water. Once, an entire mountain was rigged so as to eliminate all enemies this way.

* KnifeThrowingAct: Mousse disguised himself as a circus knife-thrower when he came back (for good) to hunt down Ranma. And he did pin the latter down to the target board, but Ranma escaped the deliberate stabbing.
* KnuckleCracking: Ranma likes to crack his knuckles, especially by just flexing his fingers, all the time when getting ready to start fighting seriously. Ryoga also makes a show of crushing some walnuts in his fingers to emphasize his attitude towards Ranma in his second appearance.
* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Present early in the series, with many convenient bodies/sources of cold water, and Ranma frequently being forced into otherwise benign bodies of water due to his tendency to jump before he looked (Tendo koi pond, anyone?). Disappointingly increasingly {{averted}} [[JumpedTheShark later in the series]]. [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot They threw away/forgot one of the primary gags of the series. Especially by having Ranma keep his secret from the school the whole time in the anime.]]

** Well the Musk don't really fit this mold since their animalistic abilities come from ancestors who were actually magically transformed animals. The Phoenix clan does kinda fit the bill here though.

* LarynxDissonance: In the European Spanish dub, the same actress dubs female ''and'' male Ranma. Spot-on performance for the former, while the latter sounds [[CrossDressingVoices ten years old]].

* LeotardOfPower: Female!Ranma and Kodachi wear tight, bottom (and bosom)-hugging leotards in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics tournament. Akane also wore one during training, but didn't get to compete.
* LeftHanging: The Anime series ends nowhere near the manga's climax, whose own open ending may be just as bad depending on your perspective -- though by that point both the manga and the anime had evolved into an ensemble comedy and any semblance of an overall plot arc had long-since been abandoned. Takahashi likely took one look at the LoveDodecahedron and simply gave up resolving it.
** It's worth a mention, however, that [[spoiler: Ranma and Akane made a lot of progress in their relationship, as compared to the earlier volumes. In the later volumes, they implictly talk about "their relationship" and ocasionally dare to each other to acknowledge his/her feelings first. In a Valentine's Day Ranma suggested Akane buying him chocolates instead of ''making'' them and Akane finally gave him a brownie. And Ranma was even able to confess his love to her in the final volume.]]
* LeftStuckAfterAttack: After Saotome Ranma in girl form routinely dodges Tendo Akane's attacks, Akane throws a fierce jab. Ranma leaps over the blow, which continues into the dojo wall. Akane remains motionless with surprise rather than being stuck. Ranma simply taps Akane's head as an "I win" gesture. It is then that Akane realizes that Saotome Ranma is a high-level martial artist.
* LethalChef: Akane. Her cooking is so bad that anything living would get food poisoning (averted by Kurumi). Happosai, who's probably the most inhuman character in the series, couldn't even stomach eating her cookies and complained that he should've been warned they weren't meant for human consumption. This gets ridiculously {{flanderized}} in FanFic, even after she begins to improve in the last third of the manga and makes an acceptable curry once (the funny part about this is that the men of the house only find this out after she leaves to deal with a "monster" in the woods at the request of some villagers, and they think she ran away from home out of rejection).
* LighterAndSofter:
** To some extent in the anime. ''Ranma ½'' may be a comedy, but it's an ''action''/drama/comedy, and the original manga is pretty dark sometimes (more so if considered from a first-person point of view). As [[http://ranmarelated.blogspot.com/2008/01/darkness-of-ranma-matter-of-perspective.html this blog]] points out, there are all sorts of things -- PowerAtAPrice is alive and well (Most of the {{Charles Atlas Superpower}}s or SupernaturalMartialArts come at the cost of SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining, include {{Dangerous Forbidden Technique}}s, inflict PowerIncontinence (including [[DoesNotKnowHisOwnStrength more physical strength than you can safely handle]]), requires TrainingFromHell, is HarmfulToMinors, or any combination of the above), for starters. There have been multiple near-deaths and attempted murders, there are spells and items that can take away your [[BalefulPolymorph body]], [[MoreThanMindControl mind]], even your [[LossOfIdentity personality]], your dreams can be invaded... The anime, though, turns down many of these events and even removes a few altogether (if only because some of the darkest stories came out after the anime was cancelled). With its canonical AlternateCharacterInterpretation, the characters seem less of a DysfunctionJunction, which helps.
** Example of the LighterAndSofter: in a {{filler}} story, a mysterious weirdo has cursed paintings that he says will kill people if their seals are removed, citing how his grandfather and father, who painted two of them, died upon completion. In the anime, it's changed so that he specifies his ancestors were in their late 90s when they finished, implying he's just full of hot air and trying to drum up interest by overblowing things.
** Oddly, though, it's the anime that has the spider-demon and oni's seals be removed, causing them to emerge as {{kaiju}}, whereas in the manga only the scribble-panda comes out. Of course, Soun, Genma and Happosai promptly grow into giants themselves and hold them off all night without causing any damage.

* LordErrorProne: Tatewaki Kuno.

* LovableSexManiac: Happosai, not so much lovable, but is a sex maniac. Kuno, on the other hand, is that and a [[WouldntHitAGirl masochist]].

[[folder: M-R]]

* MadLove: The Kuno siblings are madly and unrequitedly in love with alternate halves of Ranma. Tatewaki is deluded from reality, and wants to court several disinterested women at once; whereas Kodachi is extremely flamboyant, psychotic, and tries to use paralysis potions in her aim to gain Ranma as an enamoured servant. Shampoo's personally stated motto centers around her willingness to kill any "obstacle" in her path if it is convenient. She is also a sadistic bully and manipulator, will gladly brainwash others if possible, and even force Ranma into loving her. Mousse, meanwhile, has been stalking the utterly disinterested (to the point of wanting him to die) and recurrently violent Shampoo since they were three, and is so fixated on her that his initial purpose in the series is basically defined as MurderTheHypotenuse. However, Mousse turns more conflicted, is far more loyal (as seen in the Herb arc), and usually less calculated than she is, and settles down to simply wanting Ranma to get married to Akane, to leave Shampoo for himself.
* MakingASplash: Cologne's Shark Fist and various other water-manipulation techniques. Also Ranma himself in the climax of the first movie.
* MakingUseOfTheTwin: Elaina Wotten-Costain's season six substitution for her sister Angela Costain as the voice of Nabiki in the North American dub. Her performance was perfectly indistinguishable from her sister's -- many fans didn't notice the actress had changed.
* MarriageBeforeRomance: The title character is betrothed to Akane while they are both teenagers, however subsequent romance is constantly derailed by, Akane's hatred of men, the frequent appearance of other fiancees as well as Ranma's curse that causes him to change into a woman whenever he is splashed with water.
* MarriageOfConvenience: The father of Saotome Ranma has arranged to board with with the father of Tendo Akane so that these two young people can become acquainted and eventually marry. Saotome Genma sees a huge advantage in Ranma inheriting a working dojo to maintain his martial arts training, and to thwart all of Ranma's other suitors as well. Tendo Soun would like to see Akane marry someone with a strong interest in martial arts, so that the dojo he founded won't be neglected or sold off. However, Ranma regards Akane as too forceful and "uncute," while Akane despises boys in general, and calls Ranma a "pervert" to his face. Though these two characters have yet to marry, as that would essentailly end the story, the forces driving them together / apart form the Plot.

*** Martial Arts Cookery: though never explicitly named, there are implied to be quite a few of these in the world of ''Ranma ½''. [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend Ukyô]] [[{{Bifauxnen}} Kuonji]], one of the main characters, practices a variant revolving around okonomiyaki, and in the late manga we are introduced to a childhood rival who practices a variant involving takoyaki. An anime episode has Ukyô fight a practioner of Martial Arts Crepe Cookery, and the episode ends with the implication of Martial Arts Sushi/Sashimi Cookery.

*** Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics: implicitly a girls-only style (explicitly stated to be so in an anime filler episode involving an attempt to create a men's version), combatants use gymnastic props to beat on each other. Oddly enough, [[RealMenWearPink Ryôga knows this art well enough]] to teach it to Akane.

*** Bathhouse Fu: an anime style (though hinted at by Happôsai in an early story common to both canons), this fighting style is amphibious in base (combatants attack both from under water and on the surface) and uses items from around the bathhouse, like towels and pails, as weapons.

** There're actually more serious MartialArtsAndCrafts in ''Ranma ½'' than there are joke ones… which is kind of worrying.

* MasterApprenticeChain: Happosai > Genma & Soun > Ranma & Akane

** Tsubasa Kurenai, who is just as likely to [[ViewerGenderConfusion crossdress as a pretty girl]] as be disguised as a very convincing ''tree''. Kiima claims that her people have regularly used Jusenkyo to transform into humans [[spoiler: other than Akane]] when they want to spy on or mingle with them.

* MasterPoisoner: Kodachi Kuno
* MaybeEverAfter: The series ends with the secondary finances/crushes on both sides crashing Ranma and Akane's wedding. Soun says that another cannot start until they sort out these relationships. On one hand, the two agreed to the wedding and Ranma confessed his love earlier, but on the other, it's ambigious if Akane remembers the confession (long story) and she didn't explictly confess.

* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: Animal-curse characters can fly or run on all fours instants after being cursed. Pantyhose Taro's octopus tentacles burdened him with octopus instincts. Rouge goes AxCrazy when transforming into [[AGodAmI Asura]]. Hinako acts childish as a young girl, but cold as woman. Ranma normally acts the same whatever his form but will react in a feminine manner whenever RuleOfFunny requires it.
* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: Cologne; Happosai; [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Rakkyosai]]; Chingensai; Sentaro's grandmother; others.

* MistakenForGay: Ryoga, when he accidentally snags Ranma with the "Fishing Rod of Love" (he wanted to get Akane instead): Ranma gets genuinely infatuated with him, but it's Ryoga who gets the short end of the stick.
* MixAndMatchCritters: Pantyhose Taro's monster form; he later augments it ''himself'' with extra body parts.

* MoneyFetish: Nabiki Tendo, without a shadow of a doubt. There's almost literally nothing she won't do to make a few yen. Ukyo has a tiny bit of it as well.
* MonumentalTheft: During the training of the [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Umisenken]] (a powerful martial art style inspired by sneaky thieves and actually intended for that), he ''stole the foundation of the Tendo home'', and the Tendo realized it only after the deed in spite of being sitting on it! Thankfully, his honour forbids him from using the Umisenken anymore...
* MoodWhiplash: The [[WalkingTheEarth Ryu]] [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Kumon]] [[{{Angst}} storyline]]. While still crammed with the usual Takahashi humor, his backstory is surprisingly somber (at least initially), and his relationship with Nodoka Saotome has [[FridgeBrilliance layers upon layers of meaning]].
* MoralityPet: Inverted. ''Being'' the pet, and his subsequent falling in love with Akane, is part of what sets Ryoga on the path to his eventual HeelFaceTurn.
* TheMourningAfter: Soun Tendo, never quite got over his wife's death, as [[TearJerker painfully illustrated]] in the end of the {{manga}} Hinako arc.

** Every crazed suitor in the entire series. Shampoo is willing to pull this on Akane and Ukyo if she thinks she can get away with it, as is Kodachi, while Mousse tries to dispatch Ranma in the same way. Its not clear whether early-series Ryoga would kill Ranma, but he definitely wants to severely beat him him/her. Earlier he was also throwing ki infused weapons/scarfs against Ranma that cuts through things a sword through Swiss cheeses.

* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Several times; most notably Akane and Ranma sensing Ryoga being killed by Lime in the manga, but there are other examples.

** Here’s a list of times people in the Ranma ½ manga apologize or feel guilty at: [[http://web.archive.org/web/20080326050805/http://www.geocities.com/kaiphantom2000/apologies.html Ranma Apologies]].

* {{Ninja}}: Subversion: Sasuke. Played straight: Konatsu the Genius Kunoichi, who lives up to the "Genius" part but [[WholesomeCrossdresser not so much the "kunoichi" part]]
* NoblewomansLaugh: Kodachi Kuno, and it's really exaggerated, played up to the point of absurdity.

* NonFatalExplosions: Happosai regularly throws around homemade gunpowder hand grenades. It's usually [[ButtMonkey Ranma]] himself that gets left charred, smoking and pissed off, but otherwise unharmed. In one episode of the anime he also uses AbnormalAmmo, altering this move from the "Happo Daikarin" to the "Happo Daikabin", or "Happo Mold Burst". That's right, as in the nasty fuzzy stuff that grows on spoiled food.

* TheNoseBleed: Ryoga, mainly.
* NoSenseOfDirection: Ryoga is the king of this trope. Flanderized to high heaven in fanfiction, with him crossing continents, dimensions, and even [[{{Crossover}} fictional boundaries]] without noticing. (Although to be fair, the anime did show that at one point he had stumbled into Moscow while lost, albeit as a joke in and of itself, so the first isn't ''much'' of a flanderization.)

** Akane seems perpetually ignorant of the fact Ryoga is head-over-heels for her.

* OldMaster: Cologne and Happosai, each of whom is 100+ years old (300+ years old in the anime) and can kick the asses of the rest of the cast combined.
* OldFashionedRowboatDate: Ukyo and male!Ranma go on a date involving row boats. Ryoga and Akane are also on a date, and fighting ensues.
* OneHourWorkWeek: Soun Tendo's seat on the neighborhood council seems to give him an inordinate amount of free time (enough for a few training trips and playing Shogi all day with Genma), yet yields enough cash to pay the taxes and bills on his BigFancyHouse and attached dojo, plus cost of Martial Artist induced repairs, support his daughters, and still fit in expensive family holidays to seaside inns or mountain villas. He does complain about the bills, but it's only been twice in the entire anime and manga that they've ever been a problem. Also, the Tendo Dojo doesn't appear to have any actual students.

* OneOfTheBoys: Ukyo gets this treatment a lot.
* OneWingedAngel: Subverted by Saffron's transformation, which only turns him into a more adult version of himself. Possibly played straight with Pantyhose Taro's Monster Form.

* OutOfContextEavesdropping: In the "Tunnel of Lost Love" OVA episode, Ryoga teams up with Ukyo in another attempt to split Ramna and Akane. The plan backfires due to Ryoga repeatedly defending Akane from the spirits inside. Which causes Ukyo to become upset with him and leads Akane to misinterpret it as jealousy. This sets up the scene where Ryoga apologizes and is dragged off by Ukyo so they can speak in private. Akane then tells Ranma her suspicions about Ukyo's feelings for Ryoga, [[DatePeepers prompting them to follow and eavesdrop]], in time to overhear the following exchange:
-->'''Ryoga: (to Ukyo)''' "Please, I give you my word of honor!"
-->'''Ukyo: (petulantly)''' "How can I trust you?"
-->'''Ryoga:''' "We can start over, can't we? I'll never betray you again."
-->'''Ukyo:''' "If only I could believe you were telling the truth..."

* OvershadowedByAwesome: In the beginning, Akane and the Kuno siblings were hot stuff, already capable of superhuman feats. Then Ranma Saotome rolled into town, and Akane became a definite second-stringer, due to being completely unable to touch Ranma unless he let her. Kuno and his sister were still a credible threat... but then [[TheRival Ryoga Hibiki]] arrived... and then Shampoo showed up... and soon the original "best martial artists in Nerima" were at the bottom of the totem pole.

* PantyThief: Happosai

* PaperThinDisguise: All the time. Akane and Ranma seem to be the only ones able to see through it (poor, poor Ryoga...) although Soun has a moment during the Hinako home-visit arc.
* ParentalAbandonment: Half-way done to Ranma by Genma, who takes him away from his mother before he can even walk. Genetically-induced in the case of Ryoga, whose parents' sense of direction is as bad as his; whenever he manages to get home, he finds out they've been absent for weeks. Ryoga himself lampshades this in the manga when he gets a call from his father while he's at home and confirms that it's been a year since they've actually seen each other, and says so in a casual manner to illustrate he's completely used to it.

** When Ranma first meets people he is nice and doesn't insult them until after they have done something to upset him. This is shown many times in the manga. When he first came to the Tendo's he was polite and not insulting until after the Tendo's insulted him repeatedly. He was polite to both Ukyo and Ryoga (contrary to some peoples way of thinking Ranma would rather talk than fight), etc. If your polite to Ranma he'll be polite to you. He is always polite to Kasumi, even uses the -san honorific for her. He is even polite to Happosai when Happosai hasn't done anything to annoy Ranma for awhile.

* PersonOfMassDestruction: Phoenix King Saffron; Dragon Prince Herb; Battle Aura Happosai; Asura Cursed Rouge; Ultimate Shishi Hokodan Ryoga.
* PhotoDoodleRecognition: When Principal Kuno is introduced, he shows a large picture of his long-lost son who is shaved bald in the picture. Ranma promptly uses a paintbrush to paint hair on the head - confirming the son's identity as Tatewaki Kuno.

* PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou: Type 2 with Ranma to Ryouga during the Koi-Rod arc.
* PosterGalleryBedroom: Tatewaki Kuno, with his giant posters of Akane and female Ranma, possibly to help him "[[IsThatWhatTheyreCallingItNow meditate]]" and choose one of them. Kodachi follows his example with massive photos of male Ranma. Also, Mariko Konjo puts up a gigantic picture of Kuno in her bedroom, even kissing it goodnight, during her story arc.

* PowerUpFood: The legendary [[AppliedPhlebotinum Super Strength Soba]] noodles confer herculean strength to whoever eats them. After Akane mistakenly ate Happosai's, she was able to lift, toss, juggle, and ''split in half'' multi-ton, two-stories-tall iron bells. Unfortunately, they had the side-effect of sprouting whiskers on her face until she took the antidote.

* RapidFireFisticuffs: The Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. It allows the trainee to pull this feat off. It was supposed to be training method use to increase the trainee's speed and precision. Ranma later transformed it into a NAMELESS technique against Ryoga.

* TheRival: Ryoga, primarily, but truckloads of guest-rivals filled out an awful lot of story arcs. Ukyo and Shampoo have this relationship in the anime. Although Ranma said that he/she considered Ryoga his/her only true rival in that battle mark story, in the databook Happosai is Ranma's "archenemy".
* RoadSignReversal: Ranma and Genma travel back in time, switching the arrows pointing to Jusenkyo so their past selves will go the wrong way. Happosai sabotages the attempt by reversing them again. It wouldn't have worked anyway, because [[spoiler: the whole thing takes place inside Ranma's dream]].

* RyuAndKen: Ranma is Ken to Ryoga's Ryu.

[[folder: S-Z]]

** In another episode, to avoid it counting as a kiss, Ranma puts tape over Kuno's mouth. Later, Akane puts tape over Ranma's mouth.

* TheScottishTrope: Happosai, in {{Fanon}}, though Soun and Genma have made jokes referring to similar superstitions.
* ScrewYourself: The manga features a plotline where Ranma runs into magical female doppleganger who, upon discovering that Ranma is actually male, latches onto him like only a crazy {{Yandere}} could. [[spoiler:In the end, she hooks up with a magical ''male'' Ranma doppleganger, and they become SickeninglySweethearts.]] And his [[EvilTwin female]] [[SuperPoweredEvilSide side]] Happosai once separates from his body. She appears to be [[{{Yandere}} quite adamant]] about getting back together with Ranma. Although, surprisingly, she doesn't try anything naughty once she has him under her spell.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Just about everyone in the series at some point. Most notably: Kuno's apparent refusal to understand either that Ranma and "the pigtailed girl" are one and the same, or that neither "the pigtailed girl" nor Akane Tendo are at all attracted to him, seems to be one part this, one part massive ego; Also, Akane Tendo either remains unaware of Ryoga's attraction to her, no matter how obvious it turns, or immediately forgets it. She also tends to believe the worst of Ranma even when he doesn't deserve it, or in other cases, want to believe the best of characters when they don't deserve it, such as Nabiki, Shampoo, or in Ranma's case the battle-dougi story.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Soun and Genma, and to a lesser extent Ryoga & Ranma.

* ShatterpointTap: Ryoga Hibiki does this with his Bakusai Tenketsu technique. While going through the training for the technique both he and Ranma ''thought'' that it worked on everything, including human flesh, but it turned out to only work on rocks. However, surviving the TrainingFromHell required to learn the technique did have the benefit of rendering Ryoga MadeOfIron.

** Every member of the LoveDodecahedron ships their rivals at some point (in an attempt to PairTheSpares), but Soun & Genma stand out by shipping Ranma and Akane in nearly every episode. Then again, they did engage the two of them in the first place. When Genma plans says that he's going to make Ryoga the heir to the Saotome school, both Genma and Soun ship Ryoga and Akane.
** Dr. Tofu is the first big Ranma/Akane shipper InUniverse after the parents. So much so that [[OmniscientMoralityLicense he considers it okay to stealth-paralyse Ranma in hopes that this will bring him and Akane together, despite having just had to treat Ranma for being beaten up by a still-angry Akane]].
* ShipTease: Takahashi has teased a wide variety of the ships found in the yard, even going so far as to tease a [[FoeYay RivalShip]] (Ranma/Ryoga) during the Koi Rod of Love arc.
* ShouldntWeBeInSchoolRightNow: Despite being shown attending school and having a few scenes set in school, they don't seem to be doing that much academic work. Ryoga appears to have dropped out in Jr. High to follow Ranma. Shampoo and Mousse are implied to be around the crew's age yet have never been shown going to school.

** Viz Video's VHS and DVD releases often [[PunBasedTitle referenced movie titles, songs, or other pop culture elements]]. Such as ''[[Film/BigTroubleInLittleChina Big Trouble In Nekonron, China]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farewell_My_Concubine_(film) Nihao, My Concubine]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Like_Water_For_Chocolate Like Water for Ranma]]'', ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_and_Her_Sisters Akane and Her Sisters]]'', ''[[Film/AnAffairToRemember An Akane to Remember]]'', ''[[Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest One Flew Over the Kuno's Nest]]'', and ''[[Film/FasterPussycatKillKill Faster, Kasumi! Kill! Kill!]]''. And those are just the movie and OAV releases --the TV series had gems such as "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_Chameleon Dharma Chameleon]]" and "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smells_Like_Teen_Spirit Smells Like Evil Spirit]]". Then [[HurricaneOfPuns it got even worse]]. The Japanese episode and movie titles within those releases had straight-up translations, though.
** The anime also has a number of [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] to ''Manga/UruseiYatsura''; a couple of characters from the series can be spotted in blink-and-you'll-miss-it scenes -- the two most notable are when Shampoo demonstrates Instant Nanniichuan, the dog turns into a replica of Ataru, and when Kuno does a flying dive onto a status of Cherry in the Wishing Sword episode, but they also show up in a couple of crowd-scenes. One anime filler episode has Kodachi show up in a scene that may be a reference to the first introduction of Ryoko Mendo. The anime's fourth opening reuses some animation from the first opening to the Urusei Yatsura anime.The below mentioned OVA also has Lum herself clearly show up as one of Ranma's many fawning concubines during Akane's first nightmare.

** Woolseyisms often do this as well. During the Romeo & Juliet story in the manga, Genma claims Romeo "[[ComicBook/SuperMan is from the planet Krypton]]", whilst in an anime filler episode, Ranma suggests taht Soun & Genma are acting weird because "[[Film/InvasionOftheBodySnatchers they've been replaced by pods]]".
* ShrineToTheFallen: A typical Buddhist shrine to the memory of Mrs. Tendo is occasionally shown.

** Ranma's [[BlowYouAway Hiryu Shoten Ha]] and Ryoga's [[AngstNuke Shi Shi Hokodan]] are definitely iconic enough. More subtlely in the first moves they undergo TrainingFromHell to obtain. While not nearly as visual as the above two techniques, they are representative of their different focuses in combat, Speed vs. Toughness.

** Ryoga's Breaking Point technique allows him to shatter rocks with just a touch. Repeatedly being at the epicenter of an exploding boulder (As well as constantly getting smashed by boulders while training) has rendered Ryoga MadeOfIron, even by the standards of the other fighters in the show.

* SleevesAreForWimps: Many of Ranma's Chinese outfits, and also Pantyhose Taro and Ryū Kumon's entire look. Ranma readily wears heavy sleeved outfits when the weather is cold; he rolls them up often for fights (which happen often).
* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Happosai.
* SmashingWatermelons: Used as part of one of the early storylines. Tatewaki Kuno also turns this into a inverted form of TrainingFromHell.

* SoapOperaDisease: [[spoiler: Happosai]], in season 3. He gets better. Also Hinako Ninomiya had a case when she was a child (weak constitution, with an IV in her arm, which she can slip out of to go play with a random stranger). She gets better as well.

** It doesn't help that the video games and certain official materials with romanized names take it one step further and use spelling such as "Kunoh."

** Often also written as "Tendö" in FanFic by writers who do not know better, which is especially hard on the eyes for FanFic readers in countries which ''do'' use Umlaut characters, because there "ö" stands for a completely different sound than "oh".
** Names with y-based diphthongs get hit with it the worst, especially as they combine with the "oh" sounds above, with some segments of the fandom spelling items like "Jusenkyo" or "Moko Takabisha" as "Jyusenkyou" or "Mouko Takabishya."

** Both of the Kunos, and Mousse too.
** Ryoga almost escapes this status, as he does have a good relationship with Akane as friends. The fact that he happily sleeps in Akanes bed in his pig form on a semi-regular basis pushes things right back into creepy territory. (Although it has been shown that he genuinely perceives it as stoically acting as a bodyguard.)

* StewedAlive: Ryoga was captured by Genma and the tour guide while in pig form. For some reason, they decide the best way to cook him is to throw him into a pot of boiling water - while still alive. Fortunately for Ryoga, hot water turns him back into a human. "Oh, it is poor person! Now we cannot eat!" Cologne also once tries to cook Ryoga, with similar results.

* StripPoker: In order to defeat the infamous [[TheGambler Gambling King]], Ranma "trains" with Ukyô and Akane by playing Old Maid. By morning, he's down to his underwear and the girls own not only his clothes, but many, many [=IOU=]s for his services.
* SuddenSchoolUniform: Principal Kuno introducing a mandatory hairstyle (or trying to) in addition to the existing uniforms.

* SurrogateSoliloquy: Subverted -- Akane talks to P-Chan, who's actually Ryoga. Ryoga, in turn, is often seen practicing his lines to Akane with an oddly-cute storefront doll shaped like an anthropomorphic frog in a sundress.

* TameHisAnger: Both [[{{Protagonist}} Ranma Saotome]] and [[{{Tritagonist}} Ryoga Hibiki]] do this. [[TheRival Their anger was towards each other]]. By the end of the series they're pretty much [[HeterosexualLifePartners the best of friends]].

* SweetheartSipping: Kuno and Girl-type Ranma (yeah, ItsALongStory). Also Girl-type Ranma and Harumaki (one part softheartedness to one part blackmail -- the old lecher won't stop haunting her dreams unless she gives him a date). Come to think of it, doesn't it happen with Girl-type Ranma and Densuke too?
* SweetPollyOliver: Ukyo, for all of one episode.

* ThemeNaming: Every regular that is part of a group or family: The Tendos, all Chinese characters, the Kunos, the Saotomes...

* {{Tomboy}}: Akane; Ukyo. Ironically, WholesomeCrossdresser Ukyo is actually ''less'' of a {{Tomboy}} than the dress-wearing Akane. Ranma is also this, when female and not pretending to be a girly girl (usually for the sake of a disguise).

** It is never explained how Nodoka went from being hideously clumsy with a sword (such as accidentally flinging it at people while ''unsheathing it''), which is very very bad for a ''[[{{Seppuku}} kaishakunin]]'', to handling it with skill perhaps equivalent to [[KendoTeamCaptain Tatewaki]] shortly before becoming a permanent member of the Tendo Dojo.
** In the {{OAV}}s, Akane specifically trained to take back the Tendo Dojo from [[SiblingTeam Natsume and Kurumi]].
** Inverted with Tatewake Kuno, who, upon his introduction, demonstrated enough martial prowess to slip through Ranma's guard and mark his neck and was portrayed as a possible serious rival, only to devolve into a gag character in subsequent appearances, and can only be seen as a badass again (or even as a threat at all) when facing regular humans or when augmented by hyper-specialized, albeit temporary, training.

* TornadoMove: Ranma's ''Hiryu Shoten Ha'' attack.

** Soun and Genma spent years with Happosai, supposedly training. Of course, the training is implied (they are strong martial artists, OvershadowedByAwesome not withstanding), so only the hell part is shown.
** A more silly example from Ukyo's {{dark and troubled past}} story - after Ranma left her behind, she spent seven years fighting the ocean to hone her techniques. It's immediately [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by a pair of observers who caught the tale.

** Jusenkyo. Drowning (non-fatally) in a spring or being splashed with water from it will curse you with transforming into whatever creature drowned there first. Powdered versions exist, but they're only good for one transformation. In addition, Prince Saffron needed pure water from Jusendo (the source of Jusenkyo) for his metamorphosis into the Phoenix King.

* TricksterMentor: Happosai again. He really IS that annoying. Cologne also qualifies.

* TunnelKing: Ryoga.

* UnholyNuke: Ryoga's Shishi Hokodan, which is fueled by negative feelings and highly destructive.

%%* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Ukyo; Mousse; Shinnosuke.

* WalkingTheEarth: Ryoga, though rarely on purpose; Ryū Kumon, since he's looking for the counterpart technique to his own; Ranma and Genma prior to the manga.

* WeakButSkilled: Specifically, characters such as Happosai, Saffron, the Orochi, Herb, Pantyhose Taro,Ryoga shishi houkoudan, and Ryu are explicitly displayed to have considerably greater raw offensive power than himself. Ranma tends to find some way to either win or obtain his objective by a combinations of strategy(All of them), cheap shots(Happosai,Herb), exploiting specific weak spots, luck(Saffron/Happosai/Herb), speed, and through judicious use of the Saotome Ultimate Technique (Run away and come up with a better plan). Ranma is usually untrained at whatever MartialArtsAndCrafts of the week he is challenged at, but his genuine aptitude for anything Martial Arts usually lets him/her triumph.
* WeaksauceWeakness: Ranma's [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes ailurophobia]]; Rouge's back pain due to having six arms; any Jusenkyo-cursed martial artist and water.
* WealthyYachtOwner: Kuno in the second movie. He kicks it off by inviting Akane and Ranma-chan on a voyage with him. THe rest of the cast promptly invite themselves along.
* WeirdnessCensor: Both Tatewaki and Kodachi Kuno are oblivious to the fact that male and female Ranma are the same person... despite the fact that's he's transformed in front of them!

* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Used twice: first, during the Curse of the New Year's Bell arc, where the Mao Molin's curse would have turned Shampoo permanently into a cat unless kissed before the [[OneHundredAndEight 108th]] toll of a bell. Then, when Akane was reduced to a dehydrated doll by the magic of the Kinjakan, Ranma had to bathe her in Jusenkyo water before her eyes closed completely, or else she would die.
* WhereItAllBegan: The final arc of the manga revolves around returning to Jusenkyo to save it. The readers finally get to see [[spoiler: Akane at Jusenkyo, and fall in a spring]].
* WholesomeCrossdresser: Ukyo; Konatsu. In a filler, Tsubasa.

** Ryoga, under the "Mark of the Battling God", become invincible, but get also an embrassing mark and need to be defeated to remove the mark from his body. In order to make things easier for Ranma, Ryoga has blindfolded himself along with tying his hands together and placing large weights to his ankles. But he fail and still easily knocks Ranma into the ceiling.

** Done most often to Ranma himself, as most of the (anime) VillainOfTheWeek characters wind up proving their cred by kicking Ranma's ass. Mousse and Ryoga get this treatment during the Herb arc, as both are effortless beat by Mint and Lime respectively to build hype on Herb... who proceeds to Worf the crap out of Ranma just to prove this is serious opponent.
** Ryoga also occasionally gets his ass kicked, but generally much less often then Ranma does and usually to help highlight that this is an unusually potent opponent.

** Ryoga has no problem hitting Ranma's girl side... unless a [[WigDressAccent wig and glasses]] disguise is involved (though that's ''only'' while he's unaware of Ranma's real identity).

** During the Herb Arc. Ryoga momentarily gets killed by Lime. [[OutOfBodyExperience He enters the afterlife where he meeting his deceased grandparents]], who convince him to return. His spirit then returns to his body where he unleashes the most powerful [[KiAttacks Ki Attack]] ever shown in the series which crushes Lime. Herb, who's borderlines on being a PhysicalGod, watches from a distance and is utterly impressed.

** While under the influence of the Fishing Rod of Love, Ranma becomes a terrifying Yandere towards Ryoga. HilarityEnsues.

** To point out how insane Ranma got, he deliberately triggered his curse for him and told Ryoga she'd [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy gladly let him kill her if it would make him happy.]] Oh, and he also attacked Akane when the latter interrupted, which finally prompted Ryoga to step through his fears and doubt to defeat Ranma cleanly, for perhaps the only time in the manga. Notable because Ranma never got his win back from that.
* YouALLShareMyStory: Ryoga very prominently; many others as well throughout the series.

* YouNoTakeCandle: Shampoo and the Jusenkyo guide. While this is supposed to illustrate Chinese language in Japanese, the odd thing is they are the only Chinese people who speak like that; Cologne, Mousse, Pantyhose Taro etc. all speak properly.

->''"Oh-No, Honored Customer, you fall in spring of Drowned Troper, is too, too, tragic tale of [[TvTropesWillRuinYourLife person too busy editing articles to look where going]], now you turn into person unable to turn off computer..."''

* AdaptationExpansion: The 13th OVA episode - which was done years after the originals as part of ''Shonen Sunday's'' 50th anniversary - added more content than was in the original manga story it was based on. Most likely done to allow more of the old cast to play part as a service to the fans who hadn't seen them in years.

* EightiesHair: Due to the standard Rumiko Takahashi artstyle, almost everyone.

* FuroScene: Many, given the role hot water plays in the series.

* {{Gainaxing}}: And in the {{OAV}}, they have independent mobility.
* GenderBender: Making Ranma both MsFanservice ''and'' MrFanservice at the same time.

* IndecisiveParody: While some people consider it an action comedy series where the humor extends into the depiction of martial arts tropes, other people see it as this. Especially since it pokes fun at otherwise serious scenarios (a duel against a nigh-invulnerable opponent whose fingerpoke can explode a person to bits[[note]]or so they believe[[/note]], a teamup against a two story-tall minotaur monster, a no-holds-barred battle with a murderous ki master, a duel against a deathly-serious opponent with layers upon layers of meaning about family honor,) with hilarious {{lampshade hanging}}s of techniques and deconstructions of the foes' motives (an "Ultimate Secret Technique" that consists of running away to think up something better, the monster is actually a {{Jerkass}} martial artist named "[[EmbarrassingFirstName Pantyhose Taro]]" by Happosai, Ranma stealing the deathly-serious opponent's clothes and leaving him in boxers, etc.) And that's the "serious" fights against "serious" enemies --the comedy-oriented MartialArtsAndCrafts contests fully embrace the trope, showing eating contests or martial arts cooking battles with the same [[SeriousBusiness exaggerated drama]] of ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' or ''SaintSeiya''.
* ImpactSilhouette: The surprising amount of ''detail'' on the character-shaped holes or impressions is [[RuleOfFunny part of the fun]].