Ranma ½: Ranma Saotome / Characters

Ranma Saotome (早乙女乱馬, Saotome Ranma)

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Ranma in both male and female form

Male Ranma voiced by: Kappei Yamaguchi (Japanese), Sarah Strange (English, seasons 1-3, OVAs and Movies), Richard Ian Cox (English, seasons 4+), Carlos Hugo Hidalgo (Latin American Spanish, TV series and OVAs 7-8), Luis Daniel Ramírez (Latin American Spanish, Movies and OVAs 5-6), Kamel Najma (Arabic)

Female Ranma voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Venus Terzo (English), Brigitta Dau (English, episodes 1-6 and OVA 1 only), Irma Carmona (Latin American Spanish, TV series and OVAs 7-8), Pilar Escandon (Latin American Spanish, Movies and OVAs 5-6), Leena Dawa (Arabic)

The main character of the series. A teenage master of Supernatural Martial Arts, generally assumed to be sixteen years old. Like most of the other cast members, a very contradictory character, possessing both positive and negative attributes — he can be sensitive and thoughtful one moment, and brash and insulting the next. Cursed to turn into a girl whenever he's doused with cold water because of his father's stupidity, then bound in an Arranged Marriage he never even knew about until he was practically at the girl's doorstep. Needless to say, he doesn't get on too well with his father.

When it comes to Akane, Ranma's general attitude and Akane's mild dislike of men initially drives them to clash more often than not. But, as the story goes on, he gets to know her better and ends up genuinely caring for her as a person.

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A–D

Absurd Phobia: Ranma's immense fear of cats has a pretty awful reason to exist (the trauma of the Cat-Fist training), but most of the times that it's appeared on screen has been Played for Laughs, it is constantly treated as a Weaksauce Weakness, and most of the characters who see it have, at least once, gone "Really? That is your greatest fear?"
Accidental Pervert: Almost never means to do things perverted, and is in fact kind of prudish, but still frequently winds up in incriminating circumstances. Made worse, since Akane rarely gives him the chance to explain and never believes him anyway, something that is lampshaded in the Happo-Fire Burst storyline.
The Ace: Whilst the comedic slant of the series means Ranma is prone to goofy schemes and self-sabotaging behavior that can make him come off as more of a Bunny-Ears Lawyer or even an Idiot Hero, in general Ranma is portrayed as an all-around masterful character; he's a powerful martial artist with incredible strength, speed and stamina, he can master techniques in ridiculously short amounts of time, is charismatic, cunning and possesses almost unshakable willpower. The Shonen Sunday special that details the Power Levels of the main characters and notable antagonists even reflects this with Ranma's personal stat block, giving him maxed out Heart, Speed and Technique scores and near-maxed Power, Stamina and Intelligence scores.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Ranma is a fair bit less of a general jerk and Troll in the anime compared to the manga.
Adaptation Dye-Job: The first volume of the manga gave him black hair in either form. The anime changed it to red hair as a girl, presumably to make it easier for Ranma to be identified, and the non-canonical artworks by the author portrayed both male and female forms with a wide variety of hair and eye colors.
Affectionate Nickname: Ukyō calls him "Ran-chan".
Always Someone Better: Albeit he's the strongest of the adolescent fighters in the manga, Ranma can be overpowered with some difficulty by both Sōun and Genma, and thus those stronger than them, namely Happōsai and Cologne. Though he can hold himself in a fight against the latter two, he's basically the loser by default, only scratching the bottom of their might.
Animal Motifs:
- He's a tiger to Ryōga's lion.
- His signature technique, Hiryū Shōten Ha, invokes dragon imagery and he is a dragon to Saffron's phoenix.
- By the same token, standalone artwork of both of Ranma's halves together is fond of depicting the male Ranma with yang-assigned dragon motifs, while female Ranma is emblazoned with the yin-identified phoenix.
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Downplayed. He can be a little cocky, overconfident, and prideful, but traits like this are really only played up in special instances, like when he's playing the role of the Sore Loser.
Attack Its Weak Point: Akane once gripped his female form's breast to stop him from attacking "P-Chan". It worked like a charm as he squealed girlishly and collapsed. It likely was a weakness he himself was unaware of as before Akane, no one else would have dared or been skillful enough to attack that spot.
Attractive Bent-Gender: He's attractive in both his forms. As a female, he is considered a "babe" by pretty much any average guy who sees "her", and Nabiki earns a regular profit by selling nude pictures/handkerchiefs of it. As a male, pretty much all the women of note in the series have shown attraction to him or at least called him a "hunk".
Awesomeness by Analysis: He frequently can figure out how advanced martial arts techniques work by seeing them only once (the best examples of this being the Hiryū Shōten Ha and the Umisenken), and then use that knowledge to come up with counters or at least learn to evade them.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Implied. Albeit he'll bitch and moan all the way there, there's little to nothing he won't do for Akane.
Bad Liar: Ranma has the worst poker face in the world, which he can barely control. It's as if he's wired to be bad at card games and gambling.
Badass Adorable: In his female form, Ranma is very short and curvy. Those cute girly looks doesn't stop Ranma from mopping the floor with almost anyone foolish enough to challenge "her".
Badass in Distress: Has been in this situation a couple of times. Often stem from overzealous suitors. Kodachi even once kidnapped him and placed him in an Unwilling Suspension at one point.
Bash Brothers: Eventually with Ryōga, after they finally become friends.
Batman Gambit: Especially in the manga, really likes to show off by putting together cunning and elaborate plans. Unfortunately, (for him), his "puppets" seldom react as they're supposed to for long.
Battle Aura: Explicitly named thus in the English version, as opposed to the "ki" or "chakra" or similar alternatives from other franchises. Ranma has mastered his to the point he can emit a cold battle aura, suppress it entirely so he completely disappears from perception, or restrain it. He has to make an active effort, however, and can be easily snapped out of these feats by distractions or taunts.
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Subverted and Played for Laughs. Ranma tends to get pummeled regardless of being in girl form.
Because You Were Nice to Me:
- Albeit it's very subtle, Ranma likes Akane in a way that is not reflected on the rest of his other fiancees. This mainly stems from the fact that Akane will always be there for him at his most abject, which is not something that happens with the rest of the girls. His fight is hers too.
- This is is Ukyō's main avenue of approach to Ranma, as she's his Childhood Friend. Even though he's aware that she's also a schemer, Ranma would rather not alienate someone whom he considers a friend dear to him. Problem is, Ukyō is more than willing to shamelessly exploit this niceness.
Belligerent Sexual Tension: The male half of the template's Trope Codifiers, with Akane as the female. Ranma and Akane are frequently fighting, insulting each other, and pissing each other off. Their mutual attraction is still obvious, not that either of them is willing to admit it.
Berserk Button: Ranma's a fairly forgiving guy. But if you hurt Akane or insult his masculinity, all bets are off.
Ranma: Akane is my fiancée. Lay a hand on her and I'll kill you!
Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Ryōga's Betty for Akane's Archie, and the Archie to Akane's Betty and Shampoo and Ukyō's Veronica.
Big-Breast Pride: In a stunning display of vanity, he's been known to be quite proud of his alternate form's bustiness. It even forms the basis of a late manga Feud Episode, where Akane becomes angry at Ranma for his gloating over the disparity in their breast sizes.
Big Brother Mentor: He eventually becomes one of sorts to Ryōga, when they finally become friends, constantly helping him out with his direction and love problems.
Big Eater: Often exaggerated by fans, but does enjoy food and is capable of packing away a considerable amount — but is usually more inclined towards frequent snacking than putting away massive meals. In the manga, he once forces himself to eat a ridiculous amount of noodles whilst looking for a Power-Up Food. In the anime, he once consumes four full-course French dinners in a single sitting, although he notes afterwards that he barely managed this feat. Unlike his father he usually doesn't allow his appetites to lead him into danger. At least, not after it gets him his Accidental Marriage with Shampoo and zapped with the Dragon Whisker. (Those two incidents are at least partially justified in that Ranma was starving at the time.)
Biting the Handkerchief: In the anime as part of at least one Wounded Gazelle Gambit; the manga version is much more likely to just look tearful/fake cry without a handkerchief.
Blackmail: Ranma attempted to use what he thought was a love letter to blackmail Nabiki in the manga. Some of his psychological manipulations probably count as emotional blackmail and he does search for things to use against people.
Blessed with Suck:
- Ranma's female form is a considerably beautiful and buxom girl, which attracts a significant number of male pursuers. Ranma, of course, is not flattered by this.
- Ranma is betrothed to a beautiful girl, a situation which guarantees him food and shelter as significant bonuses. However, his commitment to the engagement prevents him from leaving for China to be able to resolve his transformation woes. The fact that Akane is beautiful also makes Akane a target for various male pursuants, which is something that Ranma has to deal with.
- His consumption of rice porridge made with stock from the hair-growing Dragon's Whisker forced him to keep his hair tied up with said Whisker or remain in girl form, otherwise his hair would grow and grow until he used up his whole life's supply. The effects wore off by the end of that story, however, so the Dragon Whisker is no longer necesary.)
Blow You Away: The Hiryū Shōten Ha, Ranma's signature move, is a complex technique that results in a tornado. He invents several variants of the move over the series between both the anime and manga canons.
Book Dumb: Appears this since he didn't know who Romeo and Juliet were (though to be fair, Happōsai, Tatewaki, and Gosunkugi didn't know either). On the one occasion we could have found out the grade of one test, his own speech bubbles cover the results and he's happy with the grade he got — Genma, on the other hand, berates him.
Braids of Action: Ranma generally has his hair in a braid, though prior to the dragon whisker he had a badass long hair Tomboyish Ponytail in flashbacks, and occasionally has other hair styles such as Girlish Pigtails while in disguise or uses hair decs such as flowers.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Ranma is actually very smart, but is implied not to get very good grades.
Brutal Honesty: Has a tendency to be Brutally Honest which causes him far more problems than when he tells Blatant Lies (which he does almost as often).

Bully Hunter: Has been hired to apprehend hoodlums on occasion, and on his own time he will put a stop to bullying he finds himself witnessing, such as Kodachi's continued brutalization of the already-defeated Fūrinkan gymnastic team or the masked kids that were attempting to rob Gosunkugi.
Cannot Spit It Out: Out of everyone in the manga, including Ryōga, he has the worst case of this. Even in the few times he acknowledges his feelings for Akane via inner monologues, while she's being nice to him in turn, he can't get a single word out and is frustrated at himself.
Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Ranma is far more willing to show physical, romantic affection for someone he doesn't care about than to show it for someone he does, due to too much sensitivity for the other's opinion of him in that regard.
Catapult Nightmare: On the multiple occasions that Ranma has a nightmare, he invariably wakes up with a scream.
Ceiling Cling: A favorite habit of his. It's useful for purposes of escaping trouble or eavesdropping, but he's often seen doing it for no plot-related purpose, particularly in the manga. Possibly he's training, or possibly Takahashi just wants to show off his skills, or both.
Celibate Hero: Downplayed; Ranma has evidenced in canon that he does have a libido and is aware of when women are attractive, but he never allows his lust to control him and is quick to rebuff his Unwanted Harem. In fact, he tends to be rather prudish. The only times he openly expresses that he might be attracted, or acts in a romantic fashion, is when he wants to manipulate the girls. Ironically, as he himself notes, it's much harder for him to express genuine romantic gestures than manipulative ones.
Cheated Angle: Ranma's idiosyncratic braid is always visible regardless of wherever he's facing, but that's only when he's wearing it. There are some instances where this isn't the case, especially in his female form whenever Ranma's hairdo is stylized for fancy dress.
Chick Magnet: Has attracted a number of suitors, some but not all through Arranged Marriages. While probably not the knockout his female form is implied to be, or quite reaching bishounen status, Ranma can be assumed to be fairly attractive, in peak physical shape, and his often cocky attitude probably doesn't hurt.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: Although Ranma mostly fights out of pride, sometimes he help people he's just met because "it's a martial artist's duty" (to help those in need). This even includes people actively harassing him, such as Harumaki and Densuke.
Combat Pragmatist: Prefers to fight upfront in tests of martial skill, but if he's at a disadvantage (regardless if his opponent fights without trickery as a raw test of ability) Ranma only follows regulations if explicitly stated before the match, and frequently uses distractions, cheap shots, taunting, ambushes, or strategy to exploit weak spots. Most likely to use Hey, Catch!, Look Behind You, Loophole Abuse, Talk to the Fist and Trash Talk, specifically, though has used other ones on occasion such as the memorable use of Ryōga/P-chan as both Human Shield and flail. An entire story called "The Unmanliest" was devoted to showing that both he and Mousse will stoop to using lots of dirty tricks if motivated. Well he is the effective heir to the "Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts".
Competition Freak: Often lampshaded by bystanders. He has thrown himself headfirst into challenges and competitions that he has absolutely no business getting involved with, or which are only tangentially related to martial arts, simply because he can't stand to be bested at them, whether it involves calligraphy, dining, or even winning Kuno's affection.
Compliment Backfire: Due to a very bad case of foot-in-the-mouth, even when he's not trying to insult Akane, he tends to phrase it wrong.
Consistent Clothing Style: Ranma wears a variety of Chinese style clothes throughout the series, usually Mandarin collared shirts, black pants and slip-on shoes. During the winter, he opts for a Mao suit complete with red star cap. When required to wear special outfits – a gymnastics leotard, figure skating costume or cheerleading outfit – it's always in his signature style.
Costume Inertia: One of his defining characteristics. Even after a considerable time has passed ever since he was in China, Ranma is partial towards wearing Chinese-style clothes throughout the manga, to the point that it's weirder to see him wearing anything else. It's also implied by this that he and his father are not in a financial situation to vary their wardrobe.
Crazy Jealous Guy:
- Whenever Akane seemingly shows interest in anyone other than him, Ranma's jealousy knows no bounds.
- Also, when Ranma is hit with a Fishing Rod of Love, he turns into this for Ryōga. Even going as far as attacking Akane to keep her from interrupting his "romantic moment" with Ryōga.
Crossdresser: When dressed as a girl and turned back into a guy. Ranma himself considers his girl form this.
Curse: Multiple. There's the obvious Gender Bender curse, but he also has one based on his hair constantly growing when not controlled by a magical item, and gains (and loses) others during the series' run.
- One curse whose canonicity is argued about is whether or not Ranma becomes weakened when he turns into a girl. In the anime, it's stated explicitly that this is the case (although, as both forms have Super-Strength, the difference is rather academic). The Shonen Sunday special with the "ability scores" for the cast sides with this being true, giving Ranma's female form its own statblock and knocking a whole point off of her Power and Stamina scores compared to male Ranma.
Curtains Match the Window: By the late manga, the non-canonical artwork would most commonly show Ranma's female form with red hair and red eyes.
Cute Bruiser: When in female form, as Ranma transforms into a markedly beautiful girl which is just as agile but shorter, overall weaker and having a lesser reach, all while still being a formidable fighter.
Deadly Dodging: The very basis of the Hiryū Shōten Ha (Flying Dragon Ascension Wave) is based on this. The practitioner must goad the foe into a spiral pattern while making them discharge a hot Battle Aura, all while dodging the enemy attacks and keeping a cool aura (and a clear mind) oneself. Upon reaching the nexus, the martial artist winds up and delivers a spinning uppercut — not only does this final punch release the user's cold aura in a devastating blast, but the temperature difference between the hot and cold Battle Auras creates a localized tornado that tosses the enemy high into the air, usually knocking him out in the process (not that the fall is any picnic, either). Ranma, being the martial arts savant that he is, has modified the technique so he doesn't need an opponent to follow him in a spiral: having them release ki blasts, ignite the battlefield, or even just surround Ranma in a vaguely circular pattern is enough, and he'll do the rest. He MUST dodge the enemy's assault, however.
Deadpan Snarker: Far more so in the manga than the anime.
Delusions of Doghood: His ailurophobia triggers this if pushed to its limit. If he is isolated with a cat in a very small space, or when he can no longer cope with his fear of cats, he escapes mentally by turning into a cat himself and becomes a master of the "Cat Fu".
De-power: In the Moxubustion Arc, Happōsai inflicts a deadly moxubustion upon Ranma which weakens him to the level of a baby. Happōsai then proceeds to spread fliers that Ranma is weak, so all of his enemies rush over at the chance to beat him up.
Determinator: He does not give up and has on a number of occasions kept going on willpower alone collapsing from injury upon acquiring his objective. Example when he tried to "learn" Ryōga's ki blast by getting hit by it for nearly the whole day, and only collapsed after Ryōga started to feel bad and left.
Don't Look At Me: During the Muxibustion arc, he tells Akane that he didn't want her close to him during his quest to resolve his plight because he can't bear the thought of her seeing him in such a reduced and feeble state, but not because he didn't want her there.
Dramatic High Perching: Fond of high places and a common means of travel for him via extraordinary leaps and Roof Hopping.
Dude Magnet: Ranma in female form attracts just as much suitors as his male form, plus loads of perverts. Being quite vehemently straight, this is one of the things about his curse that really bugs Ranma, although he will take advantage of it for his own ends.

E–L

Easily Forgiven: All it took was him telling Ukyō that she looked cute. Within seconds she's head over heels for him again and actively trying to court him.
Enemy Without: In the anime, Happōsai once used a magical incense called Personality Splitter to duplicate Ranma's female form separately from his male form, in hopes that she would be so happy with being her own person she would model underwear for him. Of course, it turned out that as an embodiment of Ranma's "yin side", it was basically Ranma's evil half come to life, trying to seduce Ranma and take control of him.
Enter Stage Window: Ranma has no problem entering through the window if it's closer or more convenient. Given how often he traverses town across its rooftops, it's easier and faster for him to just enter through a second- or third-story window than to do it from ground level like a regular person.
Equal-Opportunity Offender: Ranma tends to treat women and men roughly equally (like men friends), which doesn't help him in any way when there's people he shouldn't be treating in such a way... like his fiancée for starters.
"Eureka!" Moment: A big part of what makes Ranma a great martial artist. Once he gets hit with a special move he's unfamiliar with, it's rare for it to work against him again as Ranma would figure out a way to counter. Examples include...
- Being able to get around Ryoga's super endurance due to the Breaking Point training by making sure his hits are crushing between his attacks and another object.
- When he fails to get Happosai angry in order to use the Hiryu Shoten Ha on him (which relied on drawing on the hot ki of the opponent, which Happosai knew and thus refused to get angry no matter what Ranma does), Ranma realized that he had been focusing on the heat of Happosai's anger. He actually had another heat source he could draw off of that's even greater, which is from the heat of his perversity, something Happosai has in surplus and cannot stave off. Ranma draws it out by flashing lewd photos of his girl form to him, thus baiting Happosai to release the hot ki needed to use the technique.
- His failure to recreate the Shishi Hokodan effectively since it drew on depression for strength had Ranma create a new move in the Moko Takabisha which drew on an emotion that was more natural for him.
- When fighting against Kirin, Ranma realized that he was stopping his attacks with his chopsticks. He gets the idea to hit Kirin with hot water balls as liquid can't be stopped by chopsticks.
- Fighting against Herb's technique, Ranma-chan manages to counter it with a Hiryu Shoten ha, but it was re-countered. She does this again in their next fight, but learning from Herb's counter, Ranma-chan upgrades the technique into the Hiryu Korin Dan, defeating Herb.
Excuse Me While I Multitask: Ranma is seen once doing some Juggle Fu with a fishbowl (with a live eel inside) while fending off Ryōga's attacks. He's also sometimes fighting with his hands in his pockets, either against very weak opponents or while sparring with Akane to rile her up. There's also the couple of times he was reading manga while sparring one-handed with Akane.
Expressive Hair: His pigtail is independently mobile and responsive to his moods.
Expy: He's based on Ryūnosuke Fujinami from Urusei Yatsura, but they split different elements of the character between him and Ukyō. Ukyō just got the looks. Ranma got the deeper elements; the shockingly bad and often physically violent relationship with a bad father, the gender-related insecurity, the problems with sexuality, and the desperate drive to be normal. The big difference is that they approach the gender stuff from opposite ends; Ryūnosuke is a girl forced to pretend to be a guy whilst wanting to be herself, whilst Ranma is a guy who's regularly turned into a girl and desperately wants to stop doing that (though he will take advantage of any positives he can get from his curse).
Fatal Flaw: Pride. Ranma is nowhere near the worst offender in the series regarding this and he has managed to avoid getting in over his head because of arrogance but he has caused himself some trouble because he just won't walk away if he feels challenged in some way. He will often get drawn into some bizarre martial arts contest or try his Manipulative Bastard antics because he just can't refuse proving himself capable of doing these things. One particular example would be when Shampoo is affected by an artifact that causes her to hate Ranma instead of love him. Rather than use the opportunity to be rid of one of the more complicated aspects of his Love Dodecahedron, he tries to win her affections back. Not because he actually returns her feelings but because it makes him feel unattractive.
- Ranma's pride is such that he refuses to plan for, or even consider the possibility of, defeat. Because of this, he is often caught off guard by unfamiliar opponents, fighters who have learned new tricks and those who hold back their true strength. At one time, Cologne managed to trick Ranma by pretending to be weaker than she really was. Flushed with pride, Ranma recklessly accepted Cologne's deal to acquire the Phoenix Pill (to cure his permanent gender bender) if he won or marry Shampoo if he lost. After this, Cologne unleashed her true power and Ranma barely won the fight only by resorting to his Cat Fu. In one anime episode, Ranma became flushed with pride again when Happosai's Happo Fire Bursts didn't work due to moist, rainy weather, allowing him to defeat the old pervert in a fair fight for the first time. After this, Ranma pressed Happosai into doing humiliating errands for him constantly. Not once did the arrogant Ranma consider the possibility that Happosai would become vengeful and come up with a new trick. As a result, he was genuinely taken aback when he learned first-hand about the Happo Mold Burst.
- In a lesser example of his pride, Ranma is very vain about his looks and doesn't take kindly to them being insulted. Especially his female looks.
Favors for the Sexy: While he desires nothing less than to be cured from his Gender Bender curse, Ranma is still more than willing to use his female form's attractiveness to his advantage. Mostly, he uses this to charm guys into giving "her" free food or extra helpings, something a Big Eater always welcomes.
Feminine Women Can Cook: Zigzagged. During the Bakusai Tenketsu arc, Genma jeers that Ranma's cooking "stinks". Much later in the series, Ranma actually does cook, and proves to be quite good at it. However, it's never explicitly stated that Ranma being in female form at the time had anything to do with it.
The Fettered: Ranma Saotome is one of the most morally principled characters in the series, which actually impedes his fighting abilities on some occasions. Yes, he's willing to trick, manipulate and deceive for his own advantage, but he also believes in fighting fairly when he can, never refuses a legitimate challenge, and in general is both repeatedly manipulated by appealing to his honor or explicitly mentions his honor as a rationale for doing something distinctly not-combat-pragmatic. It's zigzagged in that he is willing to bend the rules or stoop pretty low when he feels sufficiently provoked, usually by his opponent showing they are willing to fight dirty first.
- This trait may actually be one of his "continuity dependent" traits. In general, the anime version tends to be more straightforward and honorable, whilst the manga version tends to be more duplicitous and manipulative, although both versions can be honor-bound or dishonorable depending on circumstances.
- One variant of this trait is that, initially, Ranma actually tends to be a non-aggressor when fighting with some opponents. If he believes he can reason with his opponent out of a fight (see: his initial fights with Tatewaki Kuno, Ryōga and Ukyō), he prefers to dodge their attacks and try to talk them down. It generally takes persistent aggression on his opponent's part before he responds in kind.
Fiery Redhead: The anime not only gives his girl form red hair color, but also makes him more aggressive and forthright than in the manga.
Five-Finger Discount: Ranma is not averse to stealing things that he needs, although it's mostly food that he pilfers.
Flaw Exploitation: Not only will Ranma use any flaw you happen to have (such as a curse, addiction to female undergarments, or getting mad when you see breasts), he will actively seek them out (for example he searches Nabiki's room twice in the manga looking for something to use against her or give him a way to blackmail her).
Foreign Culture Fetish: Although never remarked upon, Ranma has a taste for Chinese-style clothes. Interestingly, the Chinese Shampoo is the only girl besides Akane he's shown to be attracted to.
Fountain of Youth: In the "Mushroom of Time" story arc, both he and Ryōga consume mystical mushrooms that have the habit of aging (or deaging) a person based on the length of the mushroom. Ryōga is the first to eat them and is stuck with a 6 year olds body, but when Ranma accidentally ruins the batch of mushrooms, Ryōga feeds one to Ranma out of revenge and turns him into a 6 year old as well. The two rivals spend the rest of the arc squabbling and fighting as little kids.
Freudian Excuse: He has two. Their names are Genma and Nodoka Saotome. Ranma's positive traits exist in spite of them.
Friend to All Children: For all his many flaws, Ranma is a great catch because he's terrific when it comes to interacting with children of all ages, backgrounds or personalities, and has shown himself to be an exceptional father figure to them. The fact that he's also a master of household skills like cooking and cleaning only serve to make him an even better husband and father.
From Roommates to Romance: At the start of the series, Ranma moves into the house of his arranged fiancée Akane. Despite clashing frequently, they become strongly attracted to each other over time. However, neither of them is willing to admit they're a couple for any reason other than their parents deciding it. At the end of the manga, it's implied that they have fully accepted the engagement, and that it's now just a matter of time.
Gender Bender: Due to falling into the Spring of Drowned Girl while training with Genma in China, he's cursed to turn into a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water, while being splashed with hot water turns him back into a boy. This makes Ranma one of the few male examples of Action Girl out there, and a Cute Bruiser to boot.
Gender Bender Angst: Although Ranma can revert to being male as readily as he becomes female, he considers his female form an insult to his masculinity, strongly dislikes the male suitors it attracts, and eventually has to worry his mother will make him kill himself because of it. Although he eventually learns to use it to his advantage (to the point of being comically ready to seduce men in a later manga story), whenever a possibility to remove the Jusenkyo Curse presents itself, he immediately jumps to it.
Gender-Bender Friendship: Zigzagged. In the opening of the story, it looks like Ranma's female form will allow him to get closer to the justifiably androphobic Akane. However, the fact "she" is really a transformed "he" is revealed minutes later and Akane promptly goes ballistic, picking up the living room table one-handed and swatting him under it, and then declaring that his gender-bending status makes him a freak, clearly holding it against him. However, as the series progresses, Akane is less wary with Ranma's female form than his male, and the majority of their most comfortable and relaxed moments have occurred while Ranma was female.
Go-Karting with Bowser: Outside of very, very select opponents who have done plenty to earn that moniker, Ranma doesn't really consider anyone an "enemy", so he has no problem hanging out with his rivals as par for the course.
Going Commando: Girl Ranma is almost always braless, because Ranma is usually changed unintentionally while dressed for his male form. The only occasions where he does wear bras are when he's pretending to be a regular girl or only wearing girls' underwear to take advantage of his female form's good looks.
Guile Hero: Ranma is easily one of the most strategic heroes in the series, and is not above manipulating an opponent and pulling Batman Gambits. At times it crosses into Manipulative Bastard territory when he does it for selfish reasons, such as taking advantage of Ryōga or Kunō with a Paper-Thin Disguise.
Handy Feet: His feet are incredibly dexterous and just as capable as his hands. He can do just about anything with his feet from holding food, wielding weapons, and even writing legible words.
Head-Turning Beauty: Men who don't know that he's a Gender Bender ogle at his girl form, those who do know still ogle at his girl form, many ask for a date, some propose marriage, some kidnap him in order to forcefully propose marriage, et cetera.
Healing Factor: Downplayed compared to some examples, but Ranma shows a ridiculous ability to bounce back from physical trauma, so long as it's limited to flesh wounds and broken bones. He's never regenerated missing body parts, but he can literally be beaten senseless, only to suddenly be fine apart from being dirty and needing a few bandages. The most major example of this is towards the end of Shampoo's introductory arc, where Ranma lets himself be creamed by Soun and Genma, but in the span of a minute after Akane stops them, he's suddenly fully recovered, much to Akane's shock.
Heir to the Dojo: Heir to the Tendō Dojo thanks to his engagement to Akane.
The Hero: Not an ideal one at times, but a hero nonetheless.
Heroic BSoD:
- This is basically how the Cat Fist works: when the user/victim's fear of cats reaches a breaking point, they can only escape the overwhelming terror by mentally becoming a cat themselves, which perceives everything around them as A) a threat (to be shredded), B) a toy (to be shredded), or C) a "safe" person (to nuzzle and cool down with). The trauma is so great, Ranma can't ever remember anything he does while he's a cat.
- He all but shuts down when he believes Akane has died in the penultimate story. He snaps back to form when he finds out she hasn't, not yet, but is in desperate danger anyway.
Hidden Depths:
- You'd think a brash, macho jock type brought up on the road would be a dumb thug... well, Ranma isn't the most conventionally educated of guys, but he's still surprisingly socially adept, is proficient in a vast number of more "civilized" or "feminine" fields such as cooking and tea ceremony, can be surprisingly romantic (so long as he doesn't have to actually mean it), and is quite adept at improvising plans on the fly. He wants to get along with Akane, but their tendency of getting on each other's nerves serves to impede this.
- Albeit he doesn't wear it on his sleeve, Ranma is very proud of having Akane as his fiancee, hence why he upholds this betrothal above the rest (which he doesn't recognize at all).
- It's extremely important for Ranma to not be seen as weak by Akane.
- Ranma's relationships are driven by his desire to be liked, and to be at friendly terms with most of his fiancés. If any of them behaves with hostility towards him or Akane, he'll do his best to mend whatever is causing the hostility (except with Kodachi, since she's hostile by default).
Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Many of the mentioned things from Ranma's childhood would have gotten him either killed or taken by social services if they found out, but they're all Played for Laughs.
His Own Worst Enemy: A great deal of Ranma's problems are due to his own hubris:
- Ranma is combative and staunchly unapologetic, which is the main reason for his rocky relationship with Akane.
- Ranma has a tendency of giving himself away once he obtains what he wants from his peers, be those the girls who pursue him, or even his rivals and enemies. Dude can't help but gloat.
- Ranma dislikes training with Akane in combat due to the fact that he can overpower and outmaneuver her with ease, regardless of the facts that, first, he'd be bonding with her, and second, it would be beneficial for the dojo he's supposed to be inheriting. It's also implied that by doing so, he avoids unintendendly harming the girl that he likes.
- The main reason his fiancés are so persistent is partly due to the fact that he permits it. Dude is a master at avoiding the issue.
Home Nudist: Ranma tends to walk around his residence in just boxer shorts, even when a guest in a home with three teenage girls. He doesn't even care when he's completely topless in female form.
Hunk: That's how the girls see him; he looks gorgeous in both his forms, and for a guy who is just 16 he's very muscular and manly. However, when it comes to romance, he suffers; he can be romantic... but only if he doesn't actually mean anything by it. He can feign romantic gestures and sweet talk when it's just a matter of manipulating or deceiving them, but when he actually cares about the person, it's very hard for him to express his feelings. Ironically, he's actually something of a romantic at heart himself, genuinely believing in things like the sacredness of kissing.
Hypocrite: While he's quick to chastise others^note for taking advantage of Ryōga's gullibility and emotional insecurities, he won't hesitate to do it himself — from blackmailing Ryōga, to using his girl form to toy with him. Ranma also doesn't like people who won't accept defeat gracefully, particularly when he beats them, and yet he himself is a very bad loser who would do whatever it takes to win when given a second chance. Even if he doesn't admit it, personal victory is the only thing that matters to Ranma. HOW he obtains said victory is not as important.
Hypocritical Humor:
- Albeit he berates his father due to his selfishness, Ranma can be just as selfish as his old man.
- Even though he mocks Akane for not being girly, Ranma isn't much of a gentleman himself.
- Ranma would much rather not have an Unwanted Harem, but he definitely enjoys the fact that the girls that after him like him. He takes their opinion of him very seriously.
Ignored Confession: During the Battle Dogi arc, when Ranma finally gets the courage honestly to call Akane cute, Akane thinks he's still lying to her due to him having just been caught lying to her about their relationship.
I Have Boobs, You Must Obey!: He takes full advantage of his girl form to get free (or at least cheaper) food.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Specifically, Ranma wants to be cured of his Gender Bender curse. No matter how much he grows to exploit and tolerate his female form, he always retains a desire to be cured. And in pursuit of a cure, he will move heaven and earth. It doesn't matter if he's making enemies with the attempt, such as when he was willing to date Shampoo for her Instant Nanniichuan (which ticked off Akane and Soun) or tried to invade the Furinkan Girl's Locker Room to look for the Japanese Nanniichuan (which Akane and Ryoga took a dim view of). It doesn't matter if it requires an incredibly stupid ploy, like trying to date Tatewaki Kuno to steal his wish-granting magical sword. Rama will do anything to get a cure. The only things he won't do are kiss a guy (especially not Tatewaki Kuno) or ruin Akane's life; in the anime, he destroys the spring of Togenkyo to prevent Akane from falling into it with him, whilst in the manga, he floods the Jusenkyo Springs in his efforts to save Akane from dying — although, in fairness, he never intended to flood the springs and couldn't really have predicted that they would flood.
Improbable Weapon User: Will use anything as a weapon including, but not limited to, spoons, boulders, rocks, pencils, paper fans, bos, staffs, brooms, noodles, tennis racket, water, magic items, pinwheels, explosives, his own hair, bras, frying pans, P-chan, and other people.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Ranma's aiming skills are exceptional. His best feat would be flicking a stub-sized pencil from across the classroom into the hole of a fifty-yen coin in his teacher's hand... all while clinging to the ceiling.
Inconsistent Spelling: The Japanese anime credits write male Ranma's name in kanji (乱馬) and female Ranma's name in hiragana (らんま). The latter is also the official title of the series.
Indy Ploy: When a Batman Gambit fails, or he just doesn't feel he has the time/it's worth the effort to pull off, Ranma can wing it like a pro. Probably the best at it in the series.
Innocent Fanservice Guy: Zigzags between this and Shameless Fanservice Girl. While Ranma does have an understanding of social rules regarding nudity, he is so aggressively masculine that he disregards female modesty, so at times Ranma forgets to keep his chest covered even while in girl-form, to the shock (or delight) of any males present. Having said that, Ranma is willing to dress and act girly if it serves a purpose. Particularly notable is that, while Ranma is a girl, she still feels embarrassed about being fully naked in front of other women, so really this trope is only on play in regards to a female's chest.
Instant Expert: Ranma can practically osmose an entirely new martial art or technique in the span of a week, mastering it so well that he can beat the rival of the week who may have spent a lifetime honing that skill in a Cooking Duel.
Insufferable Genius: Less so than others, but even most of the characters who hate him for his ego will grudgingly admit that he has the combat skill to back it up. His ability to improvise strategy is, if anything, even MORE impressive. He even has a whole move (the Mōko Takibisha) that's powered by his massive confidence.
Insulted Awake: After he takes the brunt of an attack that slammed him into a wall hard enough to shatter every bone in a normal person's body, Akane wakes Ranma up from unconsciousness by calling him an idiot.
Interspecies Romance: Ranma is nearly forced into this by the Cursed Scribble Panda, who wants to date him before getting sealed up again. Worse yet, the Ghost Cat once tried to take female Ranma for his bride, at least until the latter's Cat Fist kicked in and brutalized the apparition.
Irony:
- One of Ranma's Berserk Buttons is having his masculinity insulted (during the first fight against Ryōga he snapped furiously when Ryōga accused him of "acting like a girl" for getting upset at Ryōga tearing his shirt), an issue only exacerbated by his curse. But for the English dub of the first 3 seasons of the TV series, the entire OAV series and both movies, he was voiced by actress Sarah Strange in boy form (and it wasn't even like she was doubling up, as he was voiced by Venus Terzo as a girl).
- Ranma was raised believing that women were weak and useless... and then got turned into one. This forced him into a perspective that he didn't want to see, though he eventually became a better person for it.
It's All About Me: Will often try to claim this when it looks like he's doing something for Akane's sake, such as challenging Mariko Konjō after the latter humiliated Akane. He pretty much played it straight for real during the school's play of Romeo and Juliet however, trying to participate in the play in the hope of getting a cure for his curse, despite the play meaning a great deal to Akane.
It's Personal:
- Ranma greatly disliked the fact that Akane callously backed off from her budding friendship with him as soon as she realized that he's a boy. This became the Establishing Character Moment that formed his opinion of her henceforth, becoming the source of why he bickers with her.
- Ranma swears vengeance upon Mikado Sanzen'in due to the fact that the latter unwittingly emasculated him in the most humiliating way Ranma could fathom. No other character in the series manages to insult Ranma so fundamentally.
I Want to Be a Real Man: Both in the literal sense (i.e. get rid of the Curse) and the metaphorical sense... the fact he's got to commit Seppuku if his mother ever judges him to be "unmanly" doesn't make things any better.
Jerkass Has a Point: Being fair to Ranma, his betrothal to the Tendō family is the main reason preventing him from returning to China to solve his shifting plight, the others being money and travel. It's shown that Genma and Ranma's original trip to China was not an easy task to begin with, which was both physically and financially challenging, the latter point being why they're bound to the dojo. Ranma was furious at Genma for taking him out of China for the betrothal to begin with, as it took them away from solving the problem. However, with time, Ranma learns to appreciate the Tendō household as his home.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ranma can be petty, spiteful, egotistic, or manipulative, especially when irritated, pushed, or just uncomfortable. Despite everything, Ranma is shown as a generally very helpful and compassionate sort when he clearly notices that someone is in serious trouble, including people he just met if asked for assistance, and will recurrently feel extremely bad after he has gone too far. When he doesn't act cocky and arrogant towards his rivals, Ranma is actually a very nice person. If you're his friend, you see how loyal and caring he actually is. He even saved Herb's and Nabiki's lives, and felt sad for Happōsai when the latter felt abandoned by his students. Exactly how he's a jerk varies between continuities. Anime Ranma is brasher and more prone to insulting or verbally harassing people, especially Akane. Manga Ranma is more of a Manipulative Bastard who enjoys messing around with peoples' heads, like his attempts to use a Love Potion or hypnotic incense to break the ice between Ryōga and Akari.
Just Ignore It: Played with. Ranma lacks the will to deal with his Unwanted Harem, partly because he can't bring himself to make any of the girls mad on his account. On the other hand, he enjoys being liked by them.
Kame Hame Hadoken: The Mōko Takabisha technique allows Ranma to harness his confidence and self esteem into a Hadoken-like energy blast. Despite the skill, Ranma very rarely uses it in canon.
Karmic Transformation: Ranma was raised as a macho jock on Testosterone Poisoning by his father Genma, finding women to be a waste of time. It's very fitting that he's forced to turn into a very Girly Girl-looking form. The irony is not lost on him and it irks him to no end, as he finds it profoundly humiliating, but he puts up with it with surprising grace... right until there's a cure in the offering, and then he will move heaven and earth to try and get it.
Ki Manipulation: Ranma is one of the most versatile ki users on the show. His ki attacks include:
- Hiryū Shōten Ha ("Dragon's Heavenly Ascension Wave")
- Shi-Shi Hōkōdan ("Roaring Lion Bullet")
- Mōko Takabisha ("Fierce Tiger's Pride")
- Hiryū Kōrin Dan ("Dragon's Descending Bullet")
- Ironically, despite the skill, Ranma rarely uses these techniques. In the manga, he only busts out the Mōko Takabisha in a single story after its debut, although even then he shows how versatile he can be with it by learning to launch two of them simultaneously, one from either hand.
Kissing Under the Influence: Unintentionally steals Akane's first kiss while he is under the influence of Cat Fu. To him (his cat self, anyway) it was the typical affectionate face-rub of a cat on a person they like, and was little more than an instant of friction between his lips and hers. But it certainly counted as the real thing to Akane, and the entire school watching and making an even bigger deal of it did not help matters at all.
Kung-Fu Kid: He's a teenager and one of the best martial artists around. It helps he's been training BEFORE he could even walk.
The Lightfooted: One of the aspects on which he is basically unparalled is that, regardless of strength, Ranma is extremely dexterous, graceful and surefooted. There's an effort made in showing how insane his sense of balance is, displaying incredible feats of movement and locomotion, like being able to balance objects while in the middle of hand-to-hand combat.
Lightning Bruiser: Extremely high level of speed and stamina, high level of strength, decent endurance and great level of skill. He can punch a single spot hundreds of times so fast it looks like a single punch. On the other hand, even an offhand swipe with his fist to swat at an annoyance can crush a concrete roller^note into rubble.
Like an Old Married Couple: With Akane. Lampshaded by several characters.
Literal Split Personality: In the anime's Living Shadow and Enemy Without episodes. Also the "Evil Within" episode where Ranma's girl half is separated from him, and they become a couple.
Living Shadow: In the anime, a filler episode has Ranma buy some magical incense to bring his shadow to life for intense training. It's perfectly benign at first, but Ranma overdoses on the stuff, awakening his unrestrained desires in it and allowing it to act on its own until Ranma takes it down. Like a true Jungian shadow, though, the repressed desires expressed by it also include a much more honest manifestation of his feelings for Akane.
Loving Bully: Sometimes he teases and makes fun of Akane for shits and giggles just because he enjoys bickering with her, as she doesn't engage him delicately as other girls would do. Whenever she doesn't indulge on said bickering, well, that means that she's pissed.

M–R

Male Might, Female Finesse: Embodied in the same person. While his male half is still pretty fast, his female form allows him even greater speed and agility, but at the cost of being smaller and weaker than his male form.
Master Actor: While it is true that he can't do a poker-face worth a damn, Ranma is otherwise a master at playing a role that just about any situation calls for. Ranma has successfully impersonated numerous non-existent characters, like Ryōga's sister and fooled just about everyone.
Meaningful Name:
- "Saotome" contains the word "otome (young lady)" and ends with the kanji "onna (female)", both referencing his curse.
- The name "Ranma" is a homophone for "ranma (乱麻)", Japanese for "chaos". Appropriate for both his unruly nature and the trouble he tends to attract.
Mind Control: Alongside Akane, is the most likely to get hit with it in the series. He's also perfectly willing to use it against others in the manga, most notably trying to brainwash Happōsai with "suggestion incense" to change Pantyhose Tarō's Embarrassing First Name and going to the Amazons for a Love Potion to use on Ryōga in the first Akari story.
Mistaken for Gay:
- He and Akane have had a lot of romantic moments when he's in his girl form. This made Mariko think they were lesbians.
- Also, in the manga, Ranma unknowingly eats some pork buns that make him hug anyone who sneezes. Kunō challenges him to a fight and Ranma accepts, expecting it to be a simple battle. Unfortunately for Ranma, Kunō keeps sneezing the entire time. His constant glomping makes the entire school think he's got the hots for Kunō.
- Tsubasa Kurenai also mistakes girl Ranma for a lesbian when he pretended to be Ukyō's lover (while Ranma was in girl form and Ukyō was disguised as a boy), because Tsubasa knew Ukyō was secretly a girl. To complicate matters further, Tsubasa is a crossdresser who chases girls while disguised as a girl, leading everyone to believe he's lesbian.
Mode Lock: Inflicted several times on him, mainly as a female. One arc saw Cologne make his body too sensitive to heat, making him unable to stand water hot enough to turn back into a guy. During the Martial Arts Dining arc, he was forced to wear a steel corset during his training; while he could still use hot water to transform back, the corset would crush his male form unless he remained a girl, effectively locking him that way. Happens literally when Herb uses the Pail of Preservation on Ranma out of spite, which permanently locked one in their cursed form, unless they were to use the Kettle of Liberation.
Momma's Boy: Didn't even know he had one for years, but it doesn't take him long to become attached to Nodoka when she finally comes back into his life. She's one of the few people he won't so much as insult or think less of even when she reveals her own personal quirks. He's so eager to please her and make her happy that he'll do anything for her while posing as "Ranko", no matter how stereotypically girly, even if his ultimate goal is to show her how manly he is.
Moral Myopia: He is very self-centered when it comes to his pride as a martial artist. When Ranma has the clear advantage in a fight, he typically belittles to his opponents and often tries to tell them that there's nothing wrong with giving up, being defeated or being the weaker fighter. On the other hand, when he is the one losing, he will keep fighting doggedly in anger until he is knocked unconscious or loses according to the established rules of a fight. Even after that, Ranma will commit himself completely to avenging his loss. Ranma clearly believes that only he gets to be the Sore Loser when he loses while everyone else must accept defeat with dignity when they lose. In fact, Ranma gets infuriated when his opponent refuses to yield or remains defiant, even though he himself would never accept defeat.
Mr. Fanservice: He provides at least 80 percent of the Fanservice for the show, either in his male or female form.
Murderous Thighs: Particularly in female form, quite adept at using his legs as rudimentary arms to grab, hold and throw others.
Naked First Impression: Akane first meets his male form while he's taking a bath.
Naked on Arrival: His male form is introduced while he's taking a bath.
Never My Fault: It is exceptionally rare for Ranma to ever admit fault in any situation where punishment or grief of any kind is coming his way.
New Transfer Student: He was this in the very early series as he arrived at Fūrinkan High.
The Nicknamer: He frequently gives this to various characters in the series. His most frequent ones include "Tomboy" (for Akane), "Old Man" (for Genma), "P-Chan" and "Pig Boy" (for Ryōga), Old Ghoul (for Cologne), Lecherous Old Man (for Happōsai), Panty Princess (for Pantyhose Tarō).
No Guy Wants to Be Chased: Ranma expresses little to no interest in pretty much every girl that aggressively chases him. Bizarrely, the Mirror Mansion Arc has Ranma demonstrate in female form how it's easier for girls to pick up guys by acting shy and demure, which may well be what Ranma wants.
Nonchalant Dodge: Ranma does all three types at various points, including while he's asleep.
No Poker Face: Revealed to have this during the Gambling King Arc. When playing Old Maid, Ranma will get excited when his opposition is about to take the Joker, while looking sad when they pick another card. Ranma is later humorously put through Training from Hell to help him get a poker face, only to fail spectacularly, but injured his face so much that it was impossible for anyone to tell his emotions anyway because of all the bandages covering it.
No-Sell: In the manga version of the Romeo & Juliet story, at one point, Ranma shows up to interrupt Happosai's attempt at perving on Akane, and asks if the incredulous old pervert really thought that binding him in chains and burying him under concrete was actually going to slow him down.
Not Distracted by the Sexy: Ranma never realized how beautiful Shampoo is because his priority prior to her newfound affections for him were to not be killed by her.
Not So Above It All: Despite his Celibate Hero tendencies, and his loyalty to Akane, Ranma has expressed sexual attraction at several points in canon. Most prominently, he is blatantly smitten with Shampoo on their first meeting to the point of producing Love Bubbles when she gives him the Kiss of Death, he is stopped dead by sudden arousal when confronted with a spring full of cute naked girls in the Happo Fire-Burst arc, and in the anime version of the Scribble Panda story, his response to the doodled panda spirit becoming a cute human girl so they can be together is to smile and mentally admit that maybe this relationship could work.
Not What It Looks Like: Ranma gets caught in these situations fairly often. Including a few times with Ryōga. It's pretty much never what it looks like.
Offended by an Enemy's Indifference: When, Shampoo, who is normally obsessed with Ranma, loses her feelings for him due to a magic brooch; rather than being elated that his Unwanted Harem has one less member, Ranma feels insulted that a girl is no longer interested in him and tries to get her to fall in love with him again, despite all of the pain and misery she's caused him.
One-Man Army: Ranma is no stranger to mowing through numerous enemies at once. Even when he is weakened during the Moxubustion Arc, he still managed to hold his own using the Hiryū Shōten Ha technique.
Opposite-Sex Clone: The anime and the manga each have a filler story where Ranma gets an independent copy of his female form made. In the manga, it's a spirit-clone created by a lonely ghost that tries to seduce him. In the anime, Happōsai creates a splinter-spirit that turns out to embody Ranma's evil side and which tries to seduce Ranma — Sōun and Genma note that they seem like a perfect couple and agree that this makes sense as they are two halves of the same person.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Ranma is frequently able to fool Ryōga with little more than a change of clothes and occasionally hairstyle. He even lampshades it from time to time by remarking how he's surprised his disguise worked so well or thinking about what an idiot Ryōga is for falling for it.
Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Zigzagged. Ranma and Akane certainly don't look like a happy couple, given their propensity to bicker (which quickly turns into Akane either trying to or successfully hitting Ranma), and their fathers look silly for insisting that they are. But they are attracted to each other, are shown to pine when they are separated, can pull together in the absolute worst situations, and do get plenty of cute moments of subtle affection. It's just that they're too proud and cautious to tell each other that they care, as each demands the other confess first.
Person of Mass Destruction: Not to the extent of Ryōga, but Ranma can cause immense destruction if he chooses to. His Hiryū Shōten Ha being the most notable example, capable of summoning a destructive tornado. Played for laughs at the end of the Moxibustion arc when, after regaining his strength back, Ranma was so thrilled to be back to full power that he happily began breaking everything in sight.
Pimped-Out Dress:
- During the Martial Arts Dining arc female Ranma wears several of these, including accessories such as necklaces and flowers. Various other stories have her in outfits that probably fall in this trope as well, such as cheongsams and kimonos.
- Ranma is also one of the rare examples of a male falling under this trope, as he is quite willing to dress up in fancy outfits in male form when the occasion arises.
Please Put Some Clothes On: He has very, very few qualms about his own nudity, so this has to be told (or even done) to him several times in both forms, usually by Akane. Ironically, when actual girls are naked around him, this tends to be his response.
Politically Incorrect Hero:
- In the beginning of the manga, Ranma has a macho attitude and denigrates on women by calling them a waste of time. He repeatedly makes fun of Akane's lack of femininity, and a great deal of his problems stem from the fact that he was (and somewhat remains) very selfish, uncaring and vain. A significant part of the manga consists of Ranma learning to become a better person, mainly due to his interactions with Akane.
- One of Ranma's biggest pitfalls is the fact that he's markedly ungentemanly and tends to make insensitive jokes. Ranma has a tendency of treating his peers as if they were boys, regardless of gender. His bickering with Akana is rooted on his lack of tact, even when he doesn't intend this to be the case.
Poorly Timed Confession: A Running Gag. Ranma tends to have extremely ill-timed Love Epiphanies whenever he gets the drive to be nice with Akane, which usually come right in the middle of him tricking her into doing something for his own benefit. Akane always ends up realizing that they stemmed from a selfish drive and berates Ranma for those, who tries to apologize without success.
Pragmatic Hero: He is a heroic character overall, but this doesn't mean he won't use dirty tricks to win... the only rule he respects is Thou Shalt Not Kill.
The Prankster: Ranma loves to prank people and has a rather mischievous sense of humor.
Prefers Rocks to Pillows: Ranma has stated that due to the nomadic nature of his training, he can sleep just about anywhere with comfort. As such, as he tells Genma, having a bed or a futon at the Tendō household is not a plus for him.
Prehensile Hair: Once, while still cursed by the Dragon's Whisker, his hair grew by so many yards he started fighting back by tying heavy, blunt objects with it and swinging it like a flail. Considering the objects he tied to his hair as he swung his hair around—truck tires, park benches, cinderblocks, and bricks, Ranma must have an incredibly strong neck and even stronger hair!
Pretty Freeloader: He stays and eats at Akane's house 24/7. Downplayed in that he has had a job at Cologne's place (in girl form as a waitress) with his pay going towards the household, and has protected the dojo from dojo-destroying antagonists on several occasions, as well as coming to Akane's rescue, frequently.
Pride: In relation to strength, attractiveness, skill, manliness, and overall capabilities, Ranma sees himself as nothing short of the best. This happens to be one of the reasons he's incapable of being straightforward with Akane and ultimately getting along with her; that, and his awful sense of timing.
Proud Beauty: Ranma doesn't like turning into a woman, but he's shown to be quite proud of his female form's good looks and takes advantage of it whenever he can. After Ryōga attacked his female form, he yelled in rage at how Ryōga had scratched his perfect complexion. Notably, he gets very offended when someone calls him "ugly" and goes out of his way to prove his charm to others. Note that he's just as vain about his male form, it's just that people insult his male looks much less frequently.
Raised by Dudes: Ranma grew up with only his martial arts-obsessed father for guidance. Mind you, with how quirky his mom is, it's not really certain she'd have been a better influence.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: After completing the Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken training, Ranma devises his own trick based on this trope. While he never names it in the manga, the anime and video games confused its name with the speed training and it has become more or less adopted in Fanon as the actual Kachū Tenshin Amaguriken. Further training for the "Parlay du Fois Gras" honed this speed for precision through stuffing an opponent's mouth with food without being seen; and the Umisenken involves a "snake-fist" technique with open-handed spear strikes towards the weak spots of an opponent's back, or stealing things swifter than a normal eye can follow... including floorboards, or the clothes off of someone's back.
Rapid Hair Growth: Ranma once accidentally ate 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 his gender was changed.
Real Men Cook: Zigzagged. Ranma is a good enough cook to impress not just Kasumi, the Tendō family homemaker, but his own mother Nodoka. Weirdly, early in the series, during the Bakusai Tenketsu arc, his father claims he's "horrible", but given the evidence, he's probably just complaining for the sake of complaining. Of course, Ranma's culinary prowess aggrieves Akane to no end. Which might explain why Ranma almost never shows off his cooking skills.
Real Men Hate Sugar: A subversion; he, in the anime, personally loves ice cream, but would not be caught DEAD saying he does, much less going to restaurants and ordering them (it's not manly, after all). Fortunately, his "curse" allows him to openly and gleefully order chocolate sundaes with a cherry on top in public; heck he even delights in the fact the young and impressionable clerks will sometimes give him free scoops or even free parfaits!!
Real Men Wear Pink: Quite skilled at various domestic habits, particularly cooking, and hates a messy house so much he once forgot about a mission (not to mention the fact he was breaking into the flat in question) to clean someone else's flat. He even started cleaning it up again when the owner returned and promptly made a new mess. Admittedly, a lot of his domestic skills can be presumed to stem from the fact he's been taking care of himself for as long as he could remember. In the anime, he also often wears a pastel orange shirt with a dinky little red bowtie, in a more literal version of the trope. There's also the fact that Ukyō, arguably his best friend, is a girl
Redheads Are Ravishing: Ranma's female form is a beautiful redhead with a large bosom. Pretty much every guy who doesn't know Ranma is a Sex Shifter has shown attraction to his redheaded girl form. In fact, several of his classmates find female Ranma hot despite knowing the truth.
Relatively Flimsy Excuse: He very convincingly played the part of "Ranko", Akane's non-existent cousin, to fool his mother Nodoka, because he (and the rest of the household) believed that his gender-changing curse merited an immediate failure of his father's "I will make him a man among men or we will both commit seppuku" pledge.
Resigned to the Call: As much as Ranma dislikes turning into a girl, he eventually finds uses for it, and even for circumstances where it's not imperative. For instance, with full knowledge that he'll get wet, he'll go to the beach as a girl and wearing a bikini. Likewise, he'll attend swim class at school as a girl in a bathing suit.
Respected by the Respected: By Cologne of all people, in regards to dating Shampoo. To her, Ranma more than worthy of Shampoo's affections, though her methods of convincing him to date Shampoo are pretty forceful, to say the least.

S–Z

Sacred First Kiss: Ranma's first kiss was stolen by the playboy iceskater Mikado Sanzen'in while he was in his female form. Ranma becomes so angry that he cries, cracks an ice rink in half, and beats Mikado senseless with 518 punches.
Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Ranma knows himself to be quite attractive in both male and female form, and he seems under the impression that he can get away with murder every time he has to use his looks to pull through. This almost always doesn't work the way he intends to, and more often than not, he ends up getting the wrong kind of attention. Part of the humor related to Ranma is precisely the fact that he cannot reap the fruits of his conceit.
Screw Yourself: Nearly happened in the episode where Happosai uses an incense that split his forms. His girl half became a supernatural seductress who spirits Ranma away every night.
Second Love: Akane fell for Ranma after she finally accepted that Dr. Tofu would never love her in the same way he loves Kasumi.
Sex Shifter: Due to his curse, Ranma can change between genders, turning into a girl when cold water is splashed on him, and changing back when hot water is splashed on him.
She Cleans Up Nicely:
- Ranma is just as gorgeous as a girl as he is handsome as a boy, so needless to say, whenever "she" dresses up, it's a head-turning situation. It's so prevalent that he's even gotten marriage proposals.
- In the second movie, Ranma has to save the ladies from an Harem/arranged marriage to a prince who just so happens to have a potion which turns anything male. To do so, he had to use his girl form to infiltrate a party held by said prince "attended" by his would-be wives. Needless to say, Ranma went all out◊ to kill two birds with one stone. While arguably the most extravagantly feminine Ranma has ever looked, having to doll up as a woman is no foreign concept to him, as he's needed to do it in a couple of other occasions.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: Whenever someone mentions he and Akane are engaged, they immediately try to explain that it was their parents choice, not their own.
She-Fu: A heavy basis of his fighting style in either form. As strong and skilled as practitioners of the Saotome style are, Ranma has a particular focus in acrobatics, agility, and almost superhuman flexibility.
Shipper on Deck: Actively and successfully set up Ryōga and Akari, attempted to hook up Cologne and Happōsai (albeit as an prank to Troll the latter instead of a legitimate attempt), and is willing to help others with their woes such as Mousse and his mirror clone, etc. Subverted in a time-travel episode of the anime, where he is the one to speak up the most about the possibility of young Happōsai and young Cologne possibly hooking up, then calls Akane and Shampoo out for trying to make them get together.
Show Some Leg: Not at all above abusing this, especially against Happōsai.
Sleeves Are for Wimps: Early on, several of his iconic clothes included short-sleeved or sleeveless Chinese shirts. Although both the manga and the anime eventually settled on his classic long-sleeved tang, he'll often end up in a tank-top regardless, especially in summer-based manga stories.
Slipping a Mickey: Ranma on occasion has drugged, or attempted to drug, people (for example: tried to add knockout powder to Kunō's food, got Happōsai drunk, used chloroform on Happōsai, etc.). Once, it backfired; in another occasion, Ranma tried to add life-saving medicine to someone else's drink, who happened to slip Ranma a mickey at the same time.
Slipknot Ponytail: Although his braid has resisted the massive abuse Ranma usually takes during his fights, it would come undone at the merest tug during the story arc that focused on it.
Sobriquet Sex Switch: To hide his real identity from his mother, Ranma shows himself as a girl in front of her and uses the name "Ranko".
Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond: When a cursed brooch made Shampoo despise Ranma, rather than being grateful that one of the most troublesome angles on his Love Dodecahedron had fixed itself neatly, he took a massive blow to his ego and set out to win her back, just so he could feel manly.
Sore Loser: Ranma takes defeat very badly and will do whatever it takes to win against an opponent who has beaten him once. Whenever one of his rivals gets the better of him, he will obsessively train or try to figure out their new technique/ability. This has happened a fair few times with Ryōga such as when the latter learned the Shi-Shi Hōkōdan or when Ryōga was powered up by the "Mark of the Gods". His humiliation would get worse if such a defeat comes from someone he normally looks down on as a fighter, such as Akane, Tatewaki Kuno and Hikaru Gosunkugi (to be fair in the last three cases, they had power ups practically handed to them on a silver platter while Ranma actually had to work for his skills).
Spider-Sense: Like most of the major characters in the series, Ranma possesses some degree of precognition that warns him of danger.
Spirited Competitor: Ranma likes getting challenged and is always seeking to improve himself. It's actually downplayed because what he really likes is proving his superiority as a martial artist to himself and others. While he enjoys fighting skilled opponents, he enjoys victory much, much more and absolutely hates being defeated.
Stay in the Kitchen: To Akane. Whether this is because he feels she would just get in his way (as he claims, vociferously) or because her relatively lower abilities (compared to the rest of the cast) make him sincerely worried about her is up for debate.
Stealth Hi/Bye: The manga version enjoys doing this, particularly to Akane, but has done it to others as well. The anime version gets a few cases of it in as well.
Stock Shōnen Hero: Ranma has quite a few attributes of this trope. He's the carefree protagonist who is a prodigy at martial arts. While Ranma isn't stupid, he's too lazy to try hard academically leading him to be Book Dumb for common sense. He has a huge amount of pride and hates losing, which will crush him and make him obsess over beating whoever surpassed him. Despite his jerk tendencies, overall Ranma is very chivalrous and will come to the aid of those that are helpless or weak. Unlike most examples, he also has an Unwanted Harem and turns into a girl whenever he's splashed with cold water, with his personality remaining unchanged in his female form.
Story-Breaker Power: His Hiryū Shōten Ha technique can pretty much defeat anyone, no matter how powerful they are. Justified in that it uses an opponent's strength against them. What keeps it from being an instant-win button during his serious fights is that several of the opponents that he's used it on have either experienced it before, and are aware of how to counter it, or are outright unaffected by the basic form and Ranma has to come up with specialized variations on the fly.
Stringing the Hopeless Suitor Along: Ranma doesn't reciprocate Shampoo's feelings, but in an storyline where a cursed item causes her to ignore him, he tries to win her back purely because Ranma's ego cannot accept a beautiful woman no longer loving him. This seems to just apply to Shampoo though; Kodachi is so dangerous he'd rather she leave entirely, and he'd presumably be happy for Ukyō if she moved on to someone else.
Strong Family Resemblance: Color of hair and eyes aside, Ranma in his girl form is almost identical to his mother. This is actually Played for Laughs where Nodoka once mistook a random bespectacled guy for Ranma due to his resemblance to his father, before Akane explained that Ranma didn't look like his father and took after his mother's side.
Super-Speed: Even from the series' beginning, he demonstrated this ability, tapping an insulting translation of Kunō's name onto Kunō's forehead without anyone noticing. Then, when Kunō and Ranma had their real fight, he managed to individually kick every single vulnerable point on Kunō's torso while making it look like he merely swept his leg up from the ground to above Kunō's head. A bit later on, he hit Mikado Sanzen'in over 500 times in less than 5 seconds. All of this before he learned any speed-boosting techniques, after which he became even faster and more precise — he was able to hit Ryōga a few hundred times so swiftly that it looked like a single strike, dispose of food so rapidly that viewers couldn't see it in the Chardin arc and, in one anime filler OAV, and learned to run so quickly he could briefly speed across water without falling in. He can basically move at around 2-4 times the speed of sound, but not run that swiftly.
Super-Strength: Countless examples exist of Ranma lifting up boulders, smashing through walls, and cracking the ground with his fists. This even carries on to his female form, although Word of God states that his female form is weaker. In fact, his weaker female form has actually managed to keep up more or less with Ryōga, which is one of the reasons why "Ryōga is stronger than Ranma!" isn't as clear-cut as Fanon suggests.
Super-Toughness: Bordering on Nigh-Invulnerable levels sometimes, although Ryōga is emphasized as being considerably tougher than him after learning the Bakusai Tenketsu.
Supreme Chef: Implied. In a story where Kasumi is temporarily sick and Nodoka offers to cook (and teach Akane Tendo how to cook properly), Ranma decides to intervene to keep Nodoka from getting hurt. Given their usual belligerence, this quickly devolves into a Cooking Duel between the two, with Nodoka being asked to tastetest. When she tastes "Ranko's" meal, she beams with delight and announces it to be delicious, much to Ranma's evident joy... though that quickly wilts when she announces that "Ranko" will make somebody a lovely bride. In comparison, Nodoka takes one bite of Akane's food and passes out in disgust.
- In the anime-only story "Am I Pretty? Ranma's Declaration of Womanhood", set much earlier in the series than the aforementioned example, the family sits down to a meal and announce that Kasumi has outdone herself. Kasumi then reveals that the dinner was actually cooked by Ranma, who is currently Not Himself and believes he is really a girl.
The Tease: He enjoys using his cute female form to mess with the ever-so-shy (and clueless) Ryōga Hibiki. He also enjoys teasing and tormenting others, especially Akane, but the first example is closest to the letter of the trope.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Aside from the anime's red hair, female Ranma gains a few distinctive traits that wouldn't logically be explained by physical sex. She has a "glint" or shine to her hair (unmistakable in the manga, more subtle in the anime,) long and noticeable eyelashes. The anime version consistently gives her blue eyeshadow and freckles on the bridge of her nose. Some of the manga's color illustrations, especially the later ones, give girl Ranma red eyeshadow and pouty pink lips. Meanwhile, male Ranma's eyebrows are thicker and much more defined and his eyes are slightly smaller.
Third Law of Gender-Bending: Over the run of the series, Ranma becomes more willing and likely to act like a girl, most prominently by wearing more feminine clothing voluntarily instead of needing to be forced into them. Chapter 101 has Ranma willingly wear a bunny girl outfit of her own volition when earlier in the manga she was aghast at the idea of Kodachi forcing her into a similar outfit. It's perhaps best exemplified in chapter 367 where Ranma dresses up in a skimpy dress with the express purpose of teaching her mirror copy how to better flirt with men, just to prove they're attractive.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: He has been shown to avoid using lethal force in combat even if his foes show no such compunctions — such as Mousse regularly using blades and lethal weaponry against him. Most telling of all is the incident with Herb: despite the Chinese prince attempting to murder Ranma several times, in and out of combat, Ranma went as far as saving his life. However, he has his limits: when Akane's life is threatened by Saffron, Ranma uses an enchanted Absurdly Sharp Blade of his own to let loose attacks that would have killed almost anyone else. And after barely surviving an attack that vaporized mountains, and knowing neither he nor Akane could survive a second volley, Ranma let loose with a counter that was fully intended to freeze and shatter his enemy in a single hit.
Through His Stomach: He loves food, the girls around him know that, and so they are frequently trying to use food to get some attention from him. It actually doesn't work quite as often as you might think, even when it's not Akane who's trying it.
Too Dumb to Live: Hoo boy, where to start? First off Ranma seems to almost have no common sense whatsoever at times and there are times where he completely fails to think things through. This is how he ends up perpetually trapped in a Love Dodecahedron in the first place. Characters often comment how much an idiot Ranma is. Notable examples are When he and the Gambling King played a high stakes game of old maid and they ended up switching the old maid back and forth, when he had Happosai and a demon trapped in a sealed box and could’ve buried them thus getting rid of the menace for good and instead sets them adrift in the ocean where they end up wreaking havoc in the United States. And the list just goes on...
Tornado Move: His most powerful technique, the Hiryū Shōten Ha, uses circular movements to generate a powerful wind vortex. It's essential to getting back his strength after he is Brought Down to Normal, and revisions of the technique are ultimately responsible for beating his two greatest adversaries (Herb and Saffron) in the manga, as well as Prince Kirin in the anime.
Trapped by Gambling Debts: Ranma is a tremendously unlucky gambler, which is one of the reasons he lost the deed to the Tendō Dojo when he was little when he played against the Gambling King. This bad luck extends even beyond the fact that the Gambling King was cheating at the time.
Tsundere: Harsh type towards Akane, who is just as tsundere back to him. Ranma is a complete abrasive and insulting jerk to Akane and absolutely refuses to admit any positive feelings he has for her. When it comes down to it, it's not hard to see he does care about Akane a lot and, as long as their feelings for each other are not being alluded to in any way, they get along pretty well.
The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: In either form, Ranma is considered very attractive. Genma, meanwhile, isn't exactly good-looking — and turning into a panda doesn't improve his looks in the slightest (a female panda proclaimed he is "fat, old and ugly" even by panda standards).
Unconscious Objector: Taken to silly levels (like everything else in the series). Ranma cannot be struck in his sleep, instinctively dodging and ducking attacks.
Unfriendly Fire: Played for laughs in the Moxibustion arc. Ranma succeeds in getting Happosai to emit the hot ki needed to perform the Hiryu Shoten Ha, but he also gets attacked by Kuno, Mousse, and the principal. Seeing that Ranma's prepped the technique due to all the opponents he's facing, Cologne shouts to him to use it now. At first, Ranma was reluctant since his opponent is supposed to be just Happosai and that the others will get caught up in it. Then he suddenly remembered how Kuno, Mousse, and the principal unfairly ganged up on him when he couldn't fight back. Ranma fires the technique at full blast.
Cologne: Son-in-Law! What are you waiting for!? Use the Hiryu Shoten Ha!
Ranma: (thinking) But if I do that, these guys'll get caught up in it, too! I can't do that! They've done nothing to deserve- (suddenly remembered how they all ganged up on him when he was weakened) WHAT AM I THINKING!? (speaking) You guys shouldn't have ganged up on me... you really... SHOULDN'T HAVE! HIRYU SHOTEN HA!!!

Unmanly Secret: As a mixture of his pride and his huge insecurities about his masculinity, he's extremely sensitive about his behavior or flaws being seen as unmanly; therefore, he will resort to his female form to save face. In the anime, he is shown to adore ice cream, but because he steadfastly believes that Real Men Hate Sugar, he always goes into girl form when he goes to buy some. Then, when it turns out he can't ice-skate to save his life, he reasons that a man who can't skate looks pathetic but no one will think twice about a girl who has to ask for help. His covering up his ability to cook probably counts as this as well.
Vanity Is Feminine: Although Ranma is vain about his appearance in both forms, the inherent comedy of having such an otherwise macho character react like a typical vain woman means that insults about his looks tend to be directed at his female form, most prominently by Tsubasa Kurenai and the Mirror Ranma, and his reactions to these insults tend to be more extreme.
Ventriloquism: Possibly used a few times in the manga, when hiding behind someone else, although when these situations have been rendered in anime format it's not displayed as modulating voice projection, but rather as plot-induced Idiot Ball.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Ryōga eventually evolve into this. They're still at each other's throats as they always have been, but at least they can be genuinely helpful towards the other from time to time.
Waif-Fu: Word of God states that Ranma's female form is weaker, but "she" is still a powerhouse. Early in the series, female form Ranma supported Ryōga on "her" head while Ryōga pulled two artificial icebergs out of the water to crush Mikado Sanzen'in between them in mid-air, and then threw at least one of them in a swift movement. Female form Ranma was also able to use Ryōga's heavy combat umbrella, which a regular person can't even budge with two hands, with apparent ease, for example being able to effortlessly leap from the ground to a treetop while carrying it. The most reliable gauge may be when female Ranma picked up a boulder that was hundreds of times "her" size and effortlessly swam with it swiftly enough to ram it into the mouth of the Orochi of Ryūgenzawa in order to stop it from eating Akane, despite it having carried Akane off several seconds/panels before.
Wall Crawl: Scrambling up walls, poles and other sheer surfaces is a frequent habit of his, either to escape or gain a height advantage.
Weak, but Skilled: Comparatively speaking. Ranma is actually pretty powerful, but tends to use a combination of skill speed, strategy, and power to win a fight. In battles against opponents that are clearly displayed to have more raw offensive power than himself, such as the Orochi, Happōsai, Saffron, Rouge, or even Herb, Ryōga, and Ryū Kumon, he has either won or obtained his objective because of his quick thinking, trickery, using exploitable weak spots, powerful weaponry, etc., rather than by matching them outright. There was also an arc where Happōsai took away his strength, making him weak as a baby, therefore forcing him to only use his skills of evasion to avoid his enemies. Cologne comes to his rescue and teaches him the Hiryū Shōten Ha, which draws strength from the enemy rather than the user to be powerful. He was able to defeat Happōsai, Kunō, Mousse, and the principal with the move despite being strengthless.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Ranma isn't afraid of anything, except cats. He screams in terror and invariably faints or runs away at the mere sight of housecats and the ghost cat. This stems from one of the series' more infamous moments of Black Comedy, involving the "Cat-fu" training that his father forced him to undertake by throwing a young Ranma into a cellar full of starving cats.
Wig, Dress, Accent: Frequently puts on a disguise to better manipulate people. However, in canon said "disguises" literally almost always only consist of simply changing his clothes, and otherwise look exactly the same. As this is a comedy series this is explicitly used as a Running Gag in that no matter how ridiculously bad the disguises almost consistently are, Ryōga will be tricked. For example, in the "waterproof soap" story Ryōga recognises Ranma and Shampoo, but when they instantly change into swimsuits he doesn't. When informed who they are he says "so, your ingenious disguises fooled even me." To Ranma's surprise, this doesn't work on any of his schoolmates in the Tsubasa story, but the female form in itself can be useful against people who have never seen it before, such as Principal Kunō, even with just a swimsuit, or a dress and P-chan be enough to make tranced Happōsai see a mother and her baby. Akane even manages to see through the by-far most ambitious disguise Ranma ever donned — a wig, glasses, make-up, and big dress. The only time Akane is fooled was because Ryōga has just been fooled into thinking Ranma is his non-existent sister, and his word was enough to convince Akane in turn.
With My Hands Tied:
- Kodachi tries to hinder female Ranma's agility by shackling her to P-chan. It backfires spectacularly since it provides Ranma with a piggy-shaped flail.
- Near the end of the manga, Ranma's hands and arms are held in place and encased in nigh-indestructible crystal, product of Saffron's metamorphosis. He is still able to fight almost to his full abilities, using his frozen arms as a hammer, as support while his feet do the fighting, or even wielding the spear-like Gekkaja with his toes and cutting a giant Phoenix statue's neck in half that way.
Worthy Opponent: Views most of his rivals as this, the exception being Happosai.
Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Downplayed; Ranma may fights girls depending on the circumstances, but he's definitely gentler with them across the board, even when they have serious intent to harm. (Coincidentally, Ranma may be in female form to make it look better, but it's never suggested to make a difference in-character.) In the very few cases a girl challenged Ranma to a physical confrontation, rather than a non-violent Cooking Duel, he's varied between fighting them directly (Kodachi, Shampoo) and just avoiding their attacks (Akane), and he never significantly injures them in any case. Otherwise, Ranma will do little more than grumble at girls hitting him in anger, contrast with how he'll attack guys even for nonviolent offenses or when they can't defend themselves. Ranma's encounter with Tsubasa Kurenai best demonstrates this: When it appeared Tsubasa was female, "her" stalking multiple girls and forcefully rejecting boy Ranma's advances earned no retaliation. As soon as it's revealed Tsubasa is male, Ranma beats him black-and-blue.
Wowing Cthulhu: During the Saffron Arc, Ranma manages to wow Saffron twice. First by mastering the Kinjakan, which was previously believed only Saffron could successfully wield. A second time after Ranma manages to survive Saffron's Entire Empire Instant Annihilation Shot which no mortal should survive, by freezing himself with the Gekkaja.
You Keep Telling Yourself That: Ranma may moan a great deal about Akane, but if there's even a mere hint that something's not right with her, he won't be right either. This is something that only applies to Akane, though he's very quick to deny it.
You're Not My Type: He insists this is the case with Akane. ("You don't have to worry about me trying anything, because you're not even my type.") It's pretty obvious that these are lies, since Ranma always turns down romance with every other type of girl who offers it.

Characters / Ranma ½: Ranma Saotome

Ranma Saotome (早乙女乱馬, Saotome Ranma)

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Characters / Ranma ½: Ranma Saotome

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Ranma Saotome (早乙女 乱馬, Saotome Ranma)

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Ranma Saotome (早乙女乱馬, Saotome Ranma)