Characters / Ranma ½: The Chinese

Ranma ½ Character Index
Ranma Saotome | Akane Tendō | Ryōga Hibiki/P-Chan | Tendō Household Residents | The Chinese | The Kunos | Other Recurring Characters | Major Story Arc Characters

Ranma and Genma Saotome's travels in China prior to the beginning of the story would cause the main crux in the series, namely, Ranma and Genma's Jusenkyō curse, which would bring them great misfortunes and problems in said country that would carry on back home in Japan. These would begin with their visit to the Chinese Amazons Village (Joketsuzoku -女傑族-, meaning "Village of Women Heroes"), bringing Shampoo into mortal pursuit against Ranma, but later becoming one of his fiancees, her great-grandma Cologne, a martial arts grandmaster who vies for her great-granddaughter's interests, and finally Mousse, a fellow martial artist and "unworthy" pretender to Shampoo's hand in marriage.

These characters serve mainly as antagonists to Ranma and Akane, seeking to end their betrothal, though other minor characters from China are also later shown. Incidentally, most of them would have their own woes related to the Jusenkyō curses, further exacerbating their conflicts and relationships with Ranma.

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Amazons Village

In General

• All Amazons Want Hercules: By custom, the village requires women to only become engaged if defeated by a strong enough man.
• Best Her to Bed Her: It's a written-down law of the village that's centuries old: the warrior women have to marry the man who defeats them in battle. In Shampoo's case, it was Ranma who beat her, so she has to marry him.
• Theme Naming: Most characters from the Amazons Village are named after cosmetic products: Shampoo, Cologne and Mousse.

Shampoo

Shampoo (Japanese: シャンプー, Shanpū; Chinese: 珊璞)

^{Click here to see Shampoo's cat form}

Voiced by: Rei Sakuma (Japanese), Cathy Weseluck (English), Araceli de León (Latin American Spanish, TV series), Mónica Villaseñor (Latin American Spanish, Movies), Isabel Martiñón (Latin American Spanish, OVAS), Samar Kokash (Arabic)

A mysterious female martial artist from China, who initially chased Ranma with a Kiss of Death over a confused first meeting, then stopped and began trying to court him instead. As with all of the main teens, a contradictory sort of girl; she genuinely loves Ranma, yet is still willing to try and use trickery in order to win his heart, and while normally bubbly and playful she's quick to make death threats and start tearing up the surroundings. She is generally a friendly, playful girl, but has no qualms about attempting to kill her rivals for Ranma's heart, if she thinks she can get away with it. Outside of Ranma, the closest friend she has is Mousse — although "close", in this case, is something of a misnomer.

Initially working at Dr. Tōfū's clinic, Shampoo eventually starts working as a waitress and delivery driver for her great-grandmother's ramen restaurant, often encountering Ranma and Akane en-route on her bicycle.

Shampoo is another victim of the Jusenkyo cursed springs, making her transform into a small cat whenever she comes in contact with cold water. Considering that Ranma has an extreme phobia of cats, she often uses her transformation to take advantage of him.

Click here if you want to hear how she would describe herself.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: Played With. Ranma generally treats Shampoo as a pest because of her tricks, her amorality (or, more exactly, distorted morality), and the fact she's an Accidental Marriage. Even though he has indicated on several occasions that he does find her attractive, to the point she is able to briefly distract him with her affections in the manga's final arc, she makes a bad impression because of her dirty methods to try and steal him from Akane.
• Accidental Marriage: When she met Ranma as a man for the first time, he accidentally defeated her by breaking her weapon, causing its head to fall onto hers and knock her out cold. According to the law of her village, Shampoo is engaged to Ranma because he beat her... when, ironically, his beating her as a guy was an accident. That said, he purposefully defeated her when they first met in China, so once the detail of the curse was straightened out, that probably "counted" by Chinese Amazon law.
• The Ace:
  • She's by far the most dexterous girl of Ranma's Unwanted Harem, being skilled in combat, charm, housework, cooking, you name it. Problem is, she's rather prone to disregard people as obstacles in her way. The Shonen Sunday special that provided the "ability scores" of the cast even denotes her as the most powerful of all Ranma's would-be love interests, with maxed-out Heart and Technique scores of 5, a near-maxed Speed score of 4, and 3s for both Power and Stamina. The only girl with a higher ability score than Shampoo is Ukyō, whose Intelligence of 4 is double Shampoo's INT 2. By the same measure, she's also faster, has better Technique, and has vastly superior Heart compared to Mousse.
  • In a more direct sense, Shampoo is the champion warrior of her village, despite only being around Ranma's age.
• Action Girl: Having been trained in the martial art techniques of the Joketsuzoku since birth, with Cologne as her personal instructor and the young female village champion, Shampoo is an excellent armed or unarmed fighter.
• Adaptational Nice Girl: In the manga, she is a cold Manipulative Bitch who has no problem toying with Ranma, and even less so with wanting to kill Akane. In the anime, her feelings towards Ranma are more genuine and she is generally less hostile towards others in general, but Akane in particular.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: Her village basically encourages female martial artists to wed even more skilled men, with a law that they must wed any man strong enough to defeat them in battle.
  • This is also the reason why she doesn't give Mousse the time of day, as he can't defeat her and, in fact, refuses to even try, instead focusing on beating Ranma.
• Anime Chinese Girl: One of the better examples of the "From the Land of Dragons" version. Shampoo hails from a hidden amazon village, deep in the mountains of China. Needless to say, she's almost always seen in Chinese garb, has odango hair and her speech pattern (at least in English) is the stereotypical broken English without pronouns or verb tenses.
• Animorphism: Her curse turns her into a cat when she gets splashed by cold water. This curse is absolutely terrible for her, because Ranma is terrified of cats.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Played with. Shampoo initially tried to entice Ranma through seduction, but since this method proved ineffective, she started resorting to more underhanded methods (mainly coercion). All in all, in spite of her obvious sexual appeal, Shampoo seldom is able to use it for her advantage.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Girl: Very proud of her martial arts skills, prone to boasting about the skills and history of her people, and she can back it up if she needs to.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: A one-sided version. It's easy to believe that Shampoo is just doing her duty in pursuing Ranma, or that her feelings for him are quite shallow. But multiple scenarios have shown that she actually does care for him quite deeply... even if she does have some weird ways of showing it. Her positive feelings for him are more frequently shown in the anime version, but even in the manga, it still happens.
  • When she learns that "the two Ranmas" are one and the same, after attacking Ranma in a fury after being told that the female form is the real one, she ultimately stops and leaves, weeping at having had her heart broken but unable to hurt Ranma all the same.
  • During the Phoenix Pill saga, when Ranma asks Shampoo to help him beat Cologne, she willingly agrees, even though this is sabotaging Cologne's own plan to force Ranma to marry Shampoo.
  • In the anime version of the Dojo Destroyer story, after realizing how upset Ranma is at having to leave Akane to face the Destroyer on her own, she agrees to cut the date short and give him the Instant Nanniichuan if he'll just give her a kiss to make up for it. Even after he betrays her, she chases him, reveals he still doesn't have the real packet, and then decides to bike him to the Tendo Dojo, getting him there just in time to save Akane.
  • In the anime-exclusive episode introducing Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, she gives her little sisters in all but blood both the Kiss of Death to make them stop attacking Ranma, with Cologne herself noting that she had no idea Shampoo's feelings for him were so strong.
  • In the Reversal Jewel arc, it's shown that Shampoo very much acts the way she does towards Ranma because she loves him, and not because of what her laws demand; whilst under the effects of the titular magical item, which has reversed her feelings towards Ranma, Ranma formally challenges her to a match with her hand as the prize. When he wins, a tearful Shampoo defiantly spits that he may have her hand, but he will never have her heart, which is when the realization of what he's doing sinks in (or at least the realization that people are watching and think he's a potential rapist) and Ranma runs away in shame.
  • In the Phoenix People arc, whilst under More than Mind Control and ordered to kill Ranma, she reluctantly obeys, whilst also pronouncing her intent to commit suicide afterwards, as she doesn't want to live in a world without him.
• Badass Adorable: Shampoo is both cute and a fighter. In an anime filler episode, she even attacked the Jusenkyō Enforcer while she was in cat form to stop him from repeatedly drowning Ranma. Her cat form is also remarked as being adorable
• Bait the Dog: After Mousse pushes himself past his limit in an attempt to beat Ranma, Shampoo turns him into a duck to make him stop and appears to be worried about him, making Akane think Shampoo does care for him deep down. Then Ranma and Akane see Shampoo bullying Mousse in duck form, proving her utter contempt for him hasn't changed.
• Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Played with. As a combatant, Shampoo is part of a considerable amount of beatings and she's certainly not left immaculate after those, but she's not left unpresentable. So yeah, she's damaged from time to time, but not to Ranma's cartoony level.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Shampoo is engaged to Ranma by virtue of having been defeated in combat by him, as per her village's rules. Ironically, by the series end, this has technically happened twice over; their very first duel in Shampoo's village (where Ranma only got the Kiss of Death instead of an Accidental Engagement because everybody thought he was a girl), Ranma's accidental defeat of Shampoo protecting Akane when she first caught up with Ranma in Japan, and the time Ranma deliberately challenged her to a match for her hand in marriage whilst she was under the effects of the Reversal Jewel and her feelings for Ranma were reversed from love to hate. Luckily for Ranma, Shampoo is unaware of what happened whilst she was under the Jewel's effects, because that last one would give her a lot more legal ground to stand on.
• Betty and Veronica: Shampoo is the Veronica as the "exotic" and "seductive" "foreigner" compared to Akane's more down-to-earth background and more reserved mannerisms. The anime adaptation of the series even gives Akane and Shampoo, a Vitriolic Best Buds style friendship, much like the Trope namers.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Funny Foreigner she may be, but there are damn good reasons people are scared of her wrath.
• BFS: In her first appearance, Shampoo wields a surprisingly large dao (a Chinese saber), which is about half as long as she is tall — and she hefts it around in one hand as well.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the first movie, Shampoo arrives in time to save Ranma and Litchi from Monlon who almost killed Ranma with her lute strings. Shampoo tells Ranma to take Litchi and go on ahead while she takes care of Monlon.
  • Shampoo had also come in Ranma's defense when Mousse tried to splash him with Yazunichuan water.
  • She also attacked the Jusenkyō Enforcer, Kin'nee, when he was repeatedly dunking Ranma into water, despite the fact she was in cat form at the time. Keep in mind, Kin'nee is built like M. Bison and carries a One-Handed Zweihänder.
  • In the 'Ranma and the Evil Within' episode, Shampoo and Akane were able to defeat Evil!Ranma together when no one else could.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Simply put, she has a bizarre set of ethics due to being raised in a warrior women culture. Nobody's ever quite managed to figure out how she thinks the world works. For example, she doesn't mind assaulting Akane, whom she perceives to be a rival for Ranma's attention, but she would chat cordially with Akane's sister, Kasumi. When Nabiki tries to auction Ranma off, Shampoo attempts to kill her. Considering that even Kodachi's first thought was to pay up instead of hurting Nabiki, that's saying a lot. However, when confronted with a proper challenge, Shampoo does attempt to win fairly, unlike Kodachi, who would simply cheat.
• The Bully: She's the girl who most frequently announces her intention to kill, and makes explicit overtures at it, even if she does always call it off before actually hurting somebody or has it interrupted. Her relationship with Pink and Link in the manga is probably more of a Cycle of Vengeance that the twins started^note Pink poisoned Shampoo For the Evulz when they were kids, Shampoo then beat Link up after being cured because she thought Link was Pink, the twins jumped Shampoo for revenge the next time and they've been fighting ever since, but the way Shampoo phrases it makes her sound like the bad girl, since she says she "beats them up whenever she meets them", without explicitly saying whether this is just because of that first meeting or if it's because they keep attacking her to try and avenge their previous losses. Admittedly, given Pink and Link appear because they're seeking Shampoo out to fight her again, it's more likely that it's a Ranma/Ryōga style rivalry.
• But Not Too Evil: Even though she uses underhanded methods to bring Ranma close to her, it's shown that it's very important to her that he ultimately manifests that he wants to be with her willingly. She wants Ranma to like her and manifest that he enjoys her company, and will turn on her plans on a dime if there's even a remote possibility that it won't be the case.
• Car Fu: Almost all of Shampoo's manga appearances are marked by her hitting someone (usually Ranma) with her bike. This gag is absent in the TV anime, but makes occasional appearances in the first movie and the OAVs.
• Cat Girl: When Maomolin captures her to make her his bride, he tries to permanently turn Shampoo into a cat if the New Year's Bell rings 108 times. As the ritual proceeds, she grows cat ears and a tail.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Given Shampoo's violent and protective behaviour, she views anyone who attempts to get between her and Ranma as an "obstacle" which must be removed (or killed).
• Combat Pragmatist: Shampoo fights almost as dirty as Kodachi, just with a lesser arsenal. That said, she doesn't blatantly cheat the way that Kodachi does, but Shampoo is considerably more persistent.
• Contrived Coincidence: Somehow, Shampoo was able to track girl!Ranma and have multiple attempts on "her" life for months on end without ever stumbling upon Ranma on his male form, or even during his transformations. As such, the reveal was almost a deal-breaker for her until she realized that their unique circumstances effectively made Ranma her betrothed.
• Corrupted Character Copy: To Lum from Urusei Yatsura. Shampoo is very likely what Lum would have been if she had stayed an antagonistic love rival to the female lead as Rumiko originally planned until the readers and editors forced her to make Lum the main love interest. While both are Genki Girls who pursue the male lead because of an Accidental Marriage, Shampoo mostly lacks Lum's more sympathetic traits, as she's much more callous to others except for Ranma and her attempts to make Ranma hers are quite devious, while Lum was mainly a Clingy Jealous Girl who just took out her anger on Ataru for his constant cheating and insults. Shampoo is also more methodical and less irascible than Lum.
• Cursed with Awesome: Downplayed, but she's one of the few cursed characters who doesn't have much of a problem with her curse, outside of how it scares Ranma away from her. She would like to be cured, but it's not as prominent a driving goal as it is for Ranma or the Jusenkyo-cursed male regulars.
• Cute Bruiser: Shampoo is the third strongest regular character in the series, right after Ryōga and Ranma. She generally wields giant Chuis as weapons, and is more likely to knock a wall down than use a door. And she's cute and perky to boot.
• Deliberately Distressed Damsel: Ironically, despite her "Chinese Amazon" heritage, Shampoo gets a real kick out of the idea of Ranma being her strong protector, and has on several occasions allowed herself to be used as a Damsel in Distress in hopes of living out one of her romantic fantasies.
  • Maomolin tried to force Shampoo to become his wife a couple of times. Shampoo could have easily dealt with him on her own, but preferred to play the Damsel in Distress role to make Ranma protect her. This backfired on her when it turned out that Maomolin actually did have the magical ability to trap her as a cat forever, and between Mousse's interference and Ranma's ailurophobia, he came damn close to succeeding.
  • During the Pink and Link arc, she easily frees herself from their kidnapping, beats them up, and forces them to stick to the role of kidnappers so she can still be rescued by Ranma.
• Determinator: Shampoo's main trait is her unbending persistence, being the character in the manga who least minds about getting violent. She's also shown to be among the strongest female characters in the series, if not the very strongest herself.
• Disappointed in You: This sums up her attitude towards Mousse, since he'd rather do everything else except being a respectful pursuant of her affections, and behaving like an idiot when she does give him the opportunity.
• Dissonant Serenity: Shampoo is much too quick about considering the violent/murderous approach, and she doesn't as much as stutter at the thought of veering into it, all while remaining her girly and bubbly self.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Played with because of the manga's slapstick humor. Shampoo is extremely dexterous and strong when it comes to combat, but seems to be somewhat unaware of the fact that this does not apply to whenever she's behaving girly and/or flirty. As such, she's very prone to hit Ranma whenever she's being lovey-dovey. This seems to go over her head because Ranma is strong enough to take the punishment, so it's implied that she's not clued-in on the fact that this is not normal behavior for a girl.
• Dragon Lady: Dangerous, exotic, temperamental, violent, easily the most sexual of Ranma's fiances, speaks in broken Japanese/English and usually seen in a Qipao. Being a "Chinese Amazon" let Shampoo be a stereotype of a savage foreign beauty in the 80s/90s setting of the manga without coming across as too much of an outdated racist caricature.
• The Dreaded: Everyone who know her is terrified of her wrath, even Cologne. Enough that when Mousse claims she has decided to enact a legendary torture technique consisting into tormenting him with fake accidents and a smile on her face for a whole years over him accidentally scorching her face with fireworks everyone believes him-and they're all too grateful when it turns it was a misunderstanding and she didn't even know of that torture.
• Dual Wielding: Because she's so strong, she generally carries her weapons in twos, either twin chui or a chui and a sword.
• Dumb Muscle: Shampoo can be emotional, self-sabotaging and prone to foolish plans and fickle behavior that alienates her from Ranma... but at the same time, she's also definitely the strongest of Ranma's female companions, which the manga emphasizes by her tendency to bust through walls rather than use doors. Shonen Sunday even acknowledges this by making Shampoo's Intelligence score her weakest trait, at only INT 2.
• Dynamic Entry: In the manga, Shampoo's biggest running gag is her tendency to appear on-panel suddenly out of nowhere by either landing her bicycle on top of Ranma (implying she was Roof Hopping with it) or just straight-up running him over. The anime largely drops this gag, though it does show up in an OAV or two and the first Non-Serial Movie.
• Effortless Amazonian Lift: She's strong enough to easily catch Mousse in her arms to save him from a villain, or snag a falling Ranma by the ankle and stop him in mid-flight.
• Eloquent in My Native Tongue: Although it's hard to say, as Shampoo only speaks Chinese during the flashback to her and Ranma's first meeting at her village, she seems to be much better at speaking Chinese than Japanese (or "English").
  • In the Chinese translations of the series, her Hulk Speak Verbal Tic is dropped and instead she speaks in an amusingly archaic and excessively formal manner.
• Expy: Of Lum from Urusei Yatsura in terms of appearance (including a planned but dropped color-scheme — see below), nature as an exotic and affectionate yet violently possessive girl, Funny Foreigner In-Universe status (Chinese Amazon compared to Ancient Astronauts Yōkai), and her Accidental Marriage to the main character. However, even when she's as violent as Lum, Shampoo is more scheming and less irascible. Also, while Lum is a protagonist in Urusei Yatsura, Shampoo is considered an antagonist.
• Foil:
  • What helps cement Shampoo and Ukyō as the "Ranma & Ryōga" of the fiancees is that they're polar opposites in many obvious and more subtle fashions. Shampoo's Accidental Marriage to Ranma is contrasted by Ukyō having an Arranged Marriage to him, and in particular by how Ranma treats each of their respective claims. Shampoo is a Shameless Fanservice Girl, flaunting her figure with almost aggressive eagerness and unabashed in her intimate desires for Ranma, whilst Ukyō is very shy despite her raging libido and deliberately dresses like a boy. Whilst both are skilled cooks, Ukyō makes her living from it, whilst Shampoo is largely depicted as the Nekohanten's delivery girl. Finally, Ukyō is generally the "nice girl", whilst Shampoo is more of a blatant jerkass.
  • To Kodachi as well. Kodachi is considerably more selfish and self-centered than Shampoo is, as well as a dirtier fighter, but Shampoo is considerably stronger than her. Shampoo actually makes the effort to appeal to Ranma, while Kodachi tries to force herself into his attention.
  • To Akane. They both have the strongest claims to be fiancees, Akane out of proximity and Shampoo out of appeal, and Shampoo is pretty much everything that Akane isn't, meaning, showy, a good cook, affectionate, persistent, you name it. The problem is that Ranma cares more about Akane than everyone realizes, way more than any of the other girls. Shampoo and Akane also have similar interests, and are the two of Ranma's fiancees that are most alike.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: She is this for the adolescents of the cast, though not down to Kodachi's level. Ranma only keeps contact with her to a bare minimum, since he doesn't trust her, but he keeps her interested because of his male pride, and his avoidance of the whole situation, rather than his own feelings for her. The other girls aren't exactly that fond of her either and of the men, only Mousse wants to be around her. A lot of this can be tracked to the fact that, while the rest are (at worst) Jerk with a Heart of Gold, she more often veers into straight up Jerkass territory, especially with how callous she is towards Mousse.
• Funny Foreigner: Mainly due to her lack of skill in speaking Japanese.
• Genki Girl: Of all the Ranma fiancées, she is the most active and energetic.
• Girly Bruiser: Shampoo is a powerful warrior in her own right, and won't hesitate to kick ass if presented with the opportunity. But, she's also skilled in conventionally "feminine" roles, such as sewing and cooking, and has a prominent romantic streak; she really likes the idea of Ranma treating her to proper dates, like going to the movies, or playing the role of her Knight in Shining Armor.
• Glass Cannon: Despite being the most destructive of the female martial artists, can often be taken down with a single attack. Admittedly, turning into a harmless kitten when splashed with cold water is a pretty blatant weak spot, but she is just as vulnerable to a Tap on the Head as anyone else in the cast.
• The Glomp: The aggressive hugs that Shampoo gives to Ranma are archetypal glomps and are indeed accompanied by the "glomp" sound effect in the manga.
• Gratuitous English: The dub tends to exaggerate her unfamiliarity with speaking Japanese, giving her further grammatical mistakes than the actual Japanese version did.
• Hair Color Dissonance: In the anime, she's usually depicted with dark blue hair with hints of purple; some episodes, and particularly the specials, go so far as to show her with deep purple hair.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Shampoo is so beautiful that, back in her introductory story arc, Ranma couldn't help being attracted to her in spite of the murder attempts.
• Heroic Willpower: Played With. During the Phoenix People arc, when Shampoo falls under Kiima's More than Mind Control and is told to kill Ranma, she tries to make it into a Suicide Pact instead; she can't resist Kiima's orders, but she doesn't want to live in a world without Ranma in it.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Shampoo genuinely likes Ranma, and part of her attitude towards him is rooted in the fact that she takes offense at him not choosing her. From her perspective, her feelings should be more than obvious, and she has a point, considering it's one of the main reasons Ranma can't bring himself to alienate her. Her dedication to pursuing him is such that she became a working resident of Furinkan all the way from her village at China just to be with him.
  • It's implied that part of the reason why Shampoo doesn't return Mousse's feelings for her is because she dislikes how Mousse is willing to forsake his pride — by humiliating himself to try and impress her, by stooping to dirty tactics, and by blatantly cheating in an effort to win duels, and by consistently going back on his words — as part of his efforts to pursue her.
  • Whilst she doesn't seem too bothered by the idea of resorting to lethal force, it's actually not her preferred tactic. Even when she first came to Furinkan, she made no moves against Akane until Akane had repeatedly assaulted Ranma in front of her and then tried to steal the lunch Shampoo made for him, and even then, Shampoo just gave her Laser-Guided Amnesia.
  • Though often considered to be just female Dumb Muscle, Shampoo is actually quite clever; she has repeatedly made some rather clever plans in battle, and come up with elaborate schemes to get her own way.
  • Shampoo at least implicitly knows enough about shiatsu and presumably herbalism to get a job as Dr. Tofu's nurse.
  • In the anime, Shampoo is shown to be a beautiful calligraphist.
  • Shampoo is a romantic who likes the idea of being rescued by a white knight type character, a trait she actually shares with Akane... although this trait doesn't go so far that she approves of Mousse taking her to "the world's most tasteless wax exhibition" in an effort to try and get some scared cuddling out of her.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Ranma is distrustful of her, and her actions towards him, Akane, and everyone in general, serve to feed this distrust. Girl has A+ marks in all other aspects, in combat, girliness, cooking skills among others, but her tendency of having a stone to throw by default has not done her any favors at all.
• Honest John's Dealership: Shampoo is a frequent buyer of products that come from the Jusenkyo springs, which range between iffy as hell to cartoonishly effective, all while having unexpected side effects, one-time uses, and hilariously short time limits. What makes it even funnier is the fact that Shampoo is well aware that said Jusenkyo products are pretty crappy, but is not always aware that they come from there until it's too late.
• Hypocritical Humor: Shampoo dislikes Mousse's willingness to forego honor and play dirty, which is exactly the same approach she employs to trying to woo Ranma.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Most of her "romance" interactions with Ranma consists of "dates" she bribes him into. It's very much implied that she'd much rather prefer that this wasn't the case due to the fact that Ranma doesn't ever enjoy her company as much as she'd like him to, as she has to force him to stay. What irks Shampoo the most is the fact that she knows that Ranma is more than aware of her attributes and still doesn't choose her.
• Identical Granddaughter: In the anime, it's revealed that Shampoo looks very much like her great-grandmother Cologne did when she was a teenager; Cologne had dark blue hair and green eyes to Shampoo's bright blue hair and red eyes.
• Improbable Weapon User:
  • Shampoo often uses her delivery bicycle as a battering ram, and can even knock down brick walls with it.
  • Due to her training in Martial Arts Takeout Delivery, which is only shown in the manga, she's capable of using takeout equipment (chopsticks, the heating box, plates and bowls) and even food as weapons if need be.
• It's Personal: Played with. Shampoo is the fiancee who expresses a dislike towards Akane the most, and will be the first to point out Akane's shortcomings compared to herself, though it's implied that she dislikes Akane in function of Ranma's affections and she doesn't mind Akane that much in hindsight. However, she's more than aware that there's not getting to Ranma while Akane is there.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Ranma is indeed the strongest, most dexterous and capable boy she's met, and he's handsome to boot. So yeah, she has a point in pursuing him, as there's literally no other man in Shampoo's life that even comes close to how much he appeals to her.
  • For all intents and purposes, Shampoo is an excellent candidate to become Ranma's fiancée, and thus, she should be leading in all metrics; Ranma even found her very attractive while she was still pursuing him to kill him, and still does. However, her cavalier attitude towards hurting others puts her behind Akane by default.
  • Shampoo may appear to be cruel and dismissive of Mousse's affections towards her, but as long as he doesn't respect himself, she won't respect him either. Adding insult to injury, Mousse will still behave like an idiot even when she gives him the opportunity to prove himself.
  • Furthermore, Shampoo's treatment of Mousse isn't new; she makes it very clear when Mousse arrives that she has never been interested in Mousse and has been rejecting him since they were three years old. Of course she insults and hits him; because he won't leave her alone. The fact Mousse instead blames Ranma for "stealing" Shampoo, and what Mousse's behavior towards Ranma implies about how he acted around guys Shampoo may have liked back in the village, makes Shampoo's treatment of him far more understandable.
• Leaving You to Find Myself: Shampoo becomes heartbroken when she finds out Ranma-kun and Ranma-chan are one in the same person, the former she wants to marry and the latter she is out to kill. She is about to kill Ranma-chan, but doesn't have the heart to follow through and instead retreats back to China in disgrace. After receiving her Jusenkyō curse, she returns and rekindles her love for Ranma now that she knows the girl form of Ranma is a Jusenkyō curse as well.
• Leg Focus: The camera focuses on her legs whenever they're exposed, which is often thanks to the thigh-high slit in her default outfit and propensity to exploit her looks. A specific example is in episode 16, where Shampoo is chasing Ranma in only a dress shirt and she jumps in the air over him with her legs well on display.
• Mistaken for Gay: During the flashback to Ranma's first meeting and duel with Shampoo, Shampoo kisses female!Rama on the cheek, causing Akane to get jealous and think Shampoo fell for female!Ranma. Ranma then explains Shampoo was giving him the Kiss of Death as a vow to hunt his female form down to avenge her defeat.
• Ms. Fanservice: Perhaps even more worthy of the title than Ranma, given that while she does end up naked less often, she's much more likely to be deliberately trying to be sexy and seductive when she is naked. Also, there's that high-slit cheongsam she often wears, and the fact she doesn't care about being naked.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: While she doesn't seem to have any qualms about contemplating it, she won't actually try it unless she's got a very, very good chance of being able to get away with it cleanly, and she will easily shrug and let it go if it turns inconvenient or stops being important (in the manga with Miss Hinako, for example; she's fine with nulling the Kiss of Death and letting Ranma handle her when he brings the subject up). Still, she did once say, "Obsticle is for killing."
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite having the build of an average girl, Shampoo is extremely strong. She bursts through concrete walls like they were nothing, and she can dual wield chui.
• Must Not Die a Virgin: During the last arc, while still under the mental control of Kiima, Shampoo manages to capture Ranma and is ready to kill him as commanded —but first, she throws him onto a bed and cuddles up to him to make a good "final memory" before she murders Ranma and then commits suicide to follow him. Ranma is able to manipulate her lust and free himself before things get too far.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: "Obstacles are for killing", if she can get away with it. Most notably, when Nabiki briefly became Ranma's fiancee Ukyō and Kodachi were quickly suckered into trying to buy the engagement off of Nabiki, but when she arrived Shampoo went straight for the attempted murder because that way it was free (something Ukyō and Kodachi subscribed to once she spelled it out).
  Shampoo: If Nabiki dead, then Ranma is for free!
  Ukyō: (pounds fist on palm) Oh yeah!
  Kodachi: Now there's a deal you can't beat!
  • During the Pink and Link arc, after the twins use a technique that puts Shampoo into a deep sleep, it turns out that Shampoo was actually trained to fight whilst sleeping. In this instinct-driven state, she brutally beats both twins, and at one point has to be prevented from simply strangling one of them to death with her bare hands.
  • A formidable example comes in the final arc: after she's brainwashed by Kiima and tasked with retrieving all parts of the Jusenkyo Map she starts with a surprise attack on Cologne because she knows she'd fail if she discovered her switching sides before she could deal with her, and then proceeds to steal the other pieces with trickery because she knows it would be harder to actually fight them-and the only reason Ranma even had a small chance was that she tried to use his shyness and got distracted before being remined of her job and switching to a more effective method.
• No Sense of Personal Space: No matter what the situation, if she sees Ranma, she'll latch onto him if she can. She only expresses this trait around Ranma, as it's not so much that she doesn't understand personal space as she's just infatuated with Ranma.
• Not So Stoic: Though a nigh-immovable force in terms of emotional determination, Shampoo does not take it well whenever Ranma insults her. She can take almost anything that's thrown at her except when he's rude.
• Not Worth Killing: An unusual variant; when Shampoo first learns that Ranma's male and female selves are one and the same, due to Ranma lying that the "girl-type Ranma" was the real one, she attacks Ranma in a blind rage — but, just before she hits Ranma, she stops and runs away, crying as she does because her heart is broken; she really was in love with "boy-type Ranma". When she returns, she reveals she went all the way back to China, where she was punished for coming back without having completed the Kiss of Death. Luckily for Ranma, finding out that his male form was the real one seemingly means the Kiss of Death is invalid.
  • In her first story, after giving Akane a Kiss of Death, she effortlessly beats her... and then uses a technique to wipe away Akane's memories of Ranma instead of killing her. Whether this was Shampoo being merciful, insulting, or both, is unkown.
• Now or Never Kiss: During the New Year's storyline with Maomolin, Shampoo only evades being trapped permanently as a cat by squeezing through the bars of her cage and kissing a currently stunned Ranma before the final bell to seal the spell is rung.
• Patriotic Fervor: She is extremely proud of her Amazon lineage, so much so that when male Ranma mocked Amazon women (Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung mainly), she became enraged and challenged him to a rematch
• Pet the Dog: When Cologne captures Ryōga-in-piglet form at the start of the Bakusai Tenketsu story arc, Shampoo thinks that the pig looks familiar, recognizes it as being Akane's pet, and promptly runs into the kitchen to try and stop Cologne from making it into today's special. Keep in mind, up until the moment when Ryōga leaps naked out of the pot, Shampoo has no idea that this is anything more than an ordinary pig that just happens to be Akane's pet. Also, Shampoo and Akane haven't the best of relationships, so that she doesn't do the petty thing and let Akane's pet be made into dinner is most impressive.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Shampoo will usually be completely naked when reverting from cat form. Much to Ranma's dismay when this happens near him.
• Poor Communication Kills: The whole mess with the Kiss of Death could probably have been avoided if she had been able to warn Ranma that she would be expected to chase and kill "her" if she lost, or if Ranma had told her from the start he was really a guy.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: She's actually the one to do it first in the series, with a twist: she didn't punch dozens of time, she moved her hands at incredible speeds to wipe Akane's memory of Ranma by washing her hair with a special shampoo and hitting pressure points in less than a minute. After that, however, she didn't do it too often.
• The Rival:
  • Her beef with Ukyō is similar to that of Ranma's with Ryōga, in that they fiercely compete for Ranma's affections^note whereas he and Ryōga compete for Akane's, and as chefs. However, it's mostly seen in the anime since they hardly interact in the manga.
  • Shampoo is second only to Akane when it comes to the race for his affections. Ukyō and Kodachi are simply obstacles that pester Shampoo, but for her, Akane is the target.
• Running Gag: In the manga, she tends to appear on her bike, typically falling on Ranma's head from above.
• Sacred First Kiss: Her Kiss of Marriage to Ranma plays with this trope. It means she's technically the first girl to ever give Ranma a "real" kiss^note Ranma had been kissed before Shampoo's arrival in story, but as a girl, when he got kissed by Mikado; Ranma would also "kiss" Akane whilst under the influence of the Nekoken when he brushed his face against Akane's due to his feline mindset. Heck, even when she gave Ranma the Kiss of Death on the cheek, she was still the first girl to ever kiss him.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: She chased two strangers across China, over the ocean, and into the heart of Japan, while barely speaking their language or the language of the second country. And she had no idea that her quarry were shape-changers, which meant she could only follow information based on sightings of their alternative forms. On the other hand, she was basically chasing down a buxom, foreign, Hot-Blooded girl (who is often soaking wet) that doesn't speak the local language and a giant Panda that acts like a human and has martial arts skills. One would imagine that they tend to leave an impression, and if their general behavior is anything to go by, Ranma and Genma don't really bother trying to hide their tracks once the immediate danger has passed by (she never actually manages to find Ranma once she starts actively hiding after running into her... even after running into her in an enclosed room while the latter was still recovering from her injuries after the battle against the Golden Pair).
• Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful!: Shampoo is so beautiful and enticing that, in spite of her underhanded tactics and dangerousness, she's effectively second only to Akane in the pursuit of Ranma.
• Sexy Cat Person: In spirit at least, if not strictly to the letter. She turns into a cat, and is very sexualised and sexually aggressive.
• Sexy Slit Dress: Shampoo often sports a qipao, showing off her long, slender legs. This is only natural, as she hails from China, and works in a Chinese restaurant. And it also allows her to try and entice Ranma.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Probably the biggest example in the series, even more than female Ranma forgetting to cover her chest. She has no problem with nudity at all, and had a habit of showing up in Ranma's bathtub unexpected in the early part of the manga.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: She ends up unexpectedly naked when she changes back into human form (admittedly, she doesn't care much).
• Shout-Out: Shampoo is generally considered to be a homage to Lum — the anime was even going to give her green hair and light blue eyes originally, as can be seen in the season one opening credits. For a Mythology Gag, she's seen from behind jogging through a scene wearing Lum's trademark outfit in one episode of Inuyasha.
• Silk Hiding Steel: Don't let her cuteness fool you; Shampoo is among the most dangerous girls on Ranma's Unwanted Harem (if not the most dangerous herself), and the one who least minds getting her hands dirty.
• Smarter Than You Look: Shampoo may sound like a bubbly airhead, but it's only because she's not fluent in Japanese. She can easily be a Manipulative Bitch if she chooses to, and has deployed countless sneaky techniques to try and win Ranma for herself.
• Stating the Simple Solution: When Nabiki tried to auction off Ranma, she suggested simply killing Nabiki to save money.
• Stock Wushu Weapons: Her main weapons are chui, Chinese hammer or mace-like weapons that are basically basketball-sized spheres of solid steel on the ends of short staves.
• Suicide Pact: In the final arc of the series she tries to pull one with Ranma using Akane as a hostage. Granted, she was brainwashed and had been told to kill him, but still...
• Super-Speed: Slower than Ranma (eventually), but considerably swifter than Akane. In their first "match" she was able to dodge Akane's attack, get behind her, and complete her Laser-Guided Amnesia inducing Pressure Points attack, all in the span of seconds (five to six in the anime, though a much less impressive 56 in the manga). An even more impressive display occurs during the manga's version of the Miss Takeout Race story, which doesn't happen very long afterwards; Cologne throws a barrage of daggers at Shampoo, who is currently serving some customers. Without looking back, Shampoo tosses her order straight up in the air, uses the serving tray to deflect the daggers right back where they came from, pinning the people that Cologne was showing off to harmlessly to the wall, then catches the order back on the tray and resumes serving it. All without spilling anything or seeming even the slightest phased by this. Akane, meanwhile, doesn't get a similar feat until the second-last manga story — and her version, while still impressive, still isn't quite in the same league.
• Super-Strength: In the Super Soba story Shampoo is explicitly shown as stronger than regular Akane, as she topples over her rival after a brief arm-wrestling competition. She also routinely effortlessly plows through wood, concrete and steel as though it is wet cardboard.
• There Was a Door: In the manga, almost never uses a door if she can make a dramatic entrance through a solid wall instead. Even in the anime, she's still the one most likely to do this. Notably, she was once given a hypnotic suggestion to "go home peacefully" and she still smashed through the Tendo's courtyard wall.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Doesn't come up often but, yes, really! Shampoo is very into the idea of Ranma doing the "white knight" routine for her, and in both the New Year's Cat Ghost story and the Pink & Link story is shown deliberately allowing herself to be used as a hostage so she can revel in having Ranma fighting to save her for once. She's even been shown daydreaming about Ranma kissing her awake, Sleeping Beauty style.
• The Tease: Shampoo is no stranger to how attractive she is, so most of her efforts veer towards ending up in compromising situations with Ranma. However, as stated at I Just Want to Be Loved, she's neither happy nor satisfied at the fact that she basically has to force Ranma to pay attention to her regardless. Dude just has his eyes elsewhere.
• The Three Faces of Eve: The Seductress (alluring, sexually aggressive, and manipulative) of Ranma's official fiancées.
• Through His Stomach: Alongside Ukyō, Shampoo is among the best cooks of Ranma's fiancées;.
• True Love's Kiss: This is what's to break the curse placed on her by Maomolin, and ONLY Ranma can do it. It's doubtful if Mousse did it, it would not work anyway since Shampoo doesn't love him that way.
• Tsundere: Shows shades of this towards Mousse during the very rare moments in that she shows some sympathy for him, particularly in the anime specials. It can be noted that she beat up Mousse exactly like usual while she is wearing a cursed brooch that made her hate those she loves. Cologne even commented that "It seems as if Shampoo does not hate you so much after all". But considering Cologne enjoys being snide with Mousse, and the Reversal Jewel explicitly affects only love, it's up to the reader whether it was business as usual or an actual smidgen of affection.
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Has stored items in her chest on more then one occasion.
• Waif-Fu: A short and slender Chinese girl that can take down mammoth opponents without trying. Unlike most examples, her acrobatics are downplayed (but still there) in favor of brute strength.
• What the Hell, Hero?: When she returns to the series with her own Jusenkyo curse, she calls Ranma out on how she only ended up getting it because he tricked her into believing his cursed form was the "real" Ranma, which led to her going home in defeat and being punished with her own Jusenkyo curse. Downplayed in that she doesn't do a very good job of calling Ranma out, thanks to the linguistic issues keeping her from making very elaborate speeches.
• You No Take Candle: In the English dub, which ends up giving her Hulk Speak. She speaks simplistic/broken Japanese, too, which fits the Japanese stereotype of a Chinese person trying to speak their language. She is not the only Chinese character in the series to do this. In fact, several other Chinese characters speak this way (and judging by the flashback episode, Cologne used to). The Mexican Spanish dub avoids this really hard and she use childish speak instead, mixed with some Chinese words, but without exaggerating to this level. The French dub ignores this entirely (but the French dub is best not to be spoken of).

Cologne

Cologne (Japanese: コロン, Koron; Chinese: 可崘)

^{Click here to see Cologne in her youth (anime only)}

Voiced by: Miyoko Aso (Japanese), Yuko Kobayashi (Japanese, young), Elan Ross Gibson (English), Magda Giner (Latin American Spanish), Anje Yousef (Arabic)

Shampoo's great-grandmother is an ancient grandmaster (grandmistress?) of Chinese martial arts and mystical lore, clocking her age in centuries. Though she initially attempts to strong-arm Ranma into agreeing to honor his Accidental Marriage to Shampoo, she calms down and mostly sticks to the sidelines after that (which may mean it was actually a test of character). She is a frequent source of advice and aid to Ranma... but she has also helped his enemies once or twice as well, usually as a ploy to force Ranma to become even stronger and thus a better catch for Shampoo.

Cologne runs a ramen restaurant at Furinkan where both Shampoo and Mousse work.

Note: It should be noted that the animated version directly states her age somewhere in the 300s, but the manga never outright states her age, vaguely placing her over 100.

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• Always Someone Better: It's implied that Happōsai may be stronger than her, but this partly has to do with the fact that she'd much rather not deal with him as much as she can, since she greatly dislikes him.
• Berserk Button: Don't go insulting her figure; she's accepted that she's old, but she doesn't like it when people are rude about how cruel aging has been to her. Whenever anybody makes a negative comment on her looks, she gets angry and usually hits them in the head with her staff.
• Big Good: The closest the series gets to one. When she's not scheming to win over Ranma's hand in marriage for Shampoo, then she's treated as the most authoritative martial arts grandmaster that the other younger heroes turn to for aid. Her wealth of knowledge and unparalleled martial arts skill make her an essential ally when dealing with powerful threats.
• Blow You Away: She was the one who taught Ranma the "Hiryū Shōten Ha" tornado technique after all. Unfortunately, she had previously used it on Happōsai, who recognized it almost as soon as Ranma initiated it, and promptly began defending against it.
  • In the anime version of the final battle in the Full-Body Cat's Tongue arc, she demonstrates the ability to create wind vortexes with a wave of her staff, culminating in her creating a tornado on the spot that she levitates insides of, using the swinging of her cane to sustain the wind.
• Combat Pragmatist: Summoning a great white shark to help you in combat makes you this.
• Cool Old Lady: A somewhat more antagonistic version; Ranma generally goes to her for advice on the strange and unusual, but he prefers to avoid her otherwise.
• Doppelgänger Spin: In the anime, has a technique called "Splitting Cat Hairs" where she multiplies into 18 clones of herself, entrapping her foe in the center of a ring of Colognes and rotating around them at high speed. Whilst only the one Cologne is real and can batter her victim, the other Cologne's make it extremely hard to hit her in return.
• Exact Words: The very first time she and Happōsai are brought together in a non-flashback form, Ranma is trying to set them up together. Happōsai even describes his "type" as someone with "big eyes" and "long hair", which Ranma is only too happy to point out.
• Foil: To Happōsai, as they're both experienced and peerless martial arts masters. However, Cologne's experience makes her worthy of respect from all characters who seek her advice, while Happōsai's experience inspires fear at the most, and disgust and rage at the least.
• Glass Cannon: Although she was never defeated in combat, and is one of the two most skilled martial artists in the series, she can be knocked out with a sharp Tap on the Head if she lets her guard down.
• Hidden Depths: It's very important for her for Ranma to be okay for the sake of Shampoo, so she'll help him and his friends in times of need, with the condition that he ends up together with Shampoo.
• I Was Quite a Looker: As an eighteen-year-old girl, she was basically a slightly older Shampoo, with long dark blue hair, green eyes, and a nice figure. In the present, she's a shriveled up midget.
• In-Series Nickname: Ranma consistently refers to her as "Old Ghoul", and even other characters will sometimes refer to her in this fashion on occasion. Happōsai calls her "Li'l Cologne" or "Cologne-chan" when they meet each other again.
• Ki Manipulation: It takes considerable motivation for her to resort to these, but when she does, she doesn't even need to call out the attack. She just tosses a fireball that can melt through metal. Of course, the Hiryū Shōten Ha falls into this category, and fanon attributes the Shark Fist, Fist of the Ice Bear, and Bakusai Tenketsu to ki manipulation.
• Making a Splash: Her "Shark Fist" technique from the manga, which fires a blast of water shaped like a shark.
• The Man Behind the Man: It's implied that most of Shampoo's behavior is due to her influence. She's considerably more keen on forcing Ranma into a marriage with Shampoo than the girl herself.
• Mind over Matter: In the anime version of the final battle in the Full-Body Cat's Tongue arc, she is seen levitating enormous ice boulders and using them as projectile weapons. She also displays the technique "Fist of the Ice Bear", in which she rides around on a life-size ice sculpture of a bear and telekinetically uses it as a bludgeoning weapon.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: A "typical" example, going from a Shampoo-like Amazon in her teens to a wrinkly she-gnome with long hair by the time of the series.
• Ms. Exposition: Will typically sit down and explain lore related to Jusenkyō, ancient Chinese tribes, magical devices, and the occasional secret martial arts technique, and she will fulfill this role even if Shampoo is nowhere present in the plot.
• N-Word Privileges: Despite how she quickly responds with angry words or a blow from her staff when others insult her withered appearance, she usually lets Ranma get away with calling her "Old Ghoul", a sign of her respect for him.
• Never Mess with Granny: This "little old lady" can kick the ass of just about any of the main characters in the series when she feels inclined. There's a reason she's the go-to person for some of the series' more devastating, useful, and powerful techniques. She can even toss Pantyhose Tarō's monster form around like it is nothing.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Albeit she knows that they're pandering to her, she doesn't dislike being fawned upon by the young men in the story.
  • As shown in her initial appearances, she's very partial to food.
• Old Master: She looks like a deformed she-gnome, measures her age in centuries rather then years, and can still beat down any two of the teenage martial artists at the same time. She's also the real wise old martial arts master in the series- nobody ever learns anything useful from Happosai, but Cologne is a repository of martial arts knowledge and commands the respect of most of the younger fighters, particularly Ranma and Ryōga.
• The Only One I Trust: Shampoo is her pride and joy. She trusts Shampoo so much that she's always cavalier, even when Shampoo contradicts her or takes Ranma's side against her.
• Pressure Point: She is a master of this, able to make a person sensitive to high temperatures, or fall asleep. She also taught Ryōga the Bakusai Tenketsu technique.
• The Reliable One: Even when she has underlying intentions, Cologne is a great source of knowledge for most of the cast that interacts with her, and there are occassions where she'll impart said knowledge regardless of any benefit. There's a general sense that she wants the young folks that come to her to be well, if she has the power to do so.
• Secret Test of Character: Most of the tricky trials she puts Ranma through serve to both gauge his skills and dedication, as well as building him into a better combatant and prospective husband for Shampoo.
• Trickster Mentor: Gives her students everything from sound advice to Training from Hell, but if she can teach them and make them look stupid at the same time, she's much happier.

Mousse

Mousse (Japanese: ムース, Mūsu; Chinese: 沐絲)

^{Click here to see Mousse's duck form}

Voiced by: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English), José Antonio Macías (Latin American Spanish, TV series), Daniel Abundis (Latin American Spanish, episode 26), Rocío Prado (Latin American Spanish, kid, episode 32), José Gilberto Vilchis (Latin American Spanish, OVAS and Movies), Rafat Bazoo (Arabic)

Shampoo's "stupid friend from childhood" and next-door neighbor at their village, Mousse is head-over-heels for her and chases after her madly in a desperate attempt to win her love, either by kissing her feet or by proving his prowess by defeating the man she wants to marry. Though his relationship with Ranma is much more bitter and hostile than, say, Ryōga's, Mousse does eventually come to something of an understanding with him, and stops actually attempting to kill him — though not enough to make him stop blaming Ranma for "keeping Shampoo from him". While she doesn't seem to outright hate him, she certainly doesn't seem to have any romantic interest in him, to the extent that even saving her from mind control (giving up a chance to make her his literal love slave in the process) didn't earn him so much as a "thank you," and she had to be tricked into helping save his life.

Mousse is a great trickster who uses a vast array of hidden weapons he hides on his clothes, and is very partial to using underhanded tactics in order to defeat Ranma. Shampoo dislikes his dishonorable tactics and his dumbness in general, so she rejects his advances by arguing that she already defeated him when they were 3. Mousse eventually became another victim of the Jusenkyo springs, turning into a duck when doused with cold water.

Mousse is extremely near-sighted, an ailment that brings him into many unflattering misunderstandings whenever he's not wearing his glasses.

---

• Above the Influence: A key part of his character. He's an obnoxious stalker who defines himself solely by trying to win Shampoo's affections... but is willing to make any sacrifice for her well-being. In the final arc of the series when Shampoo emerges from an egg that will make her obey the first person she sees without question. Mousse has the perfect opportunity to become her master, but when Ryōga points out that she will be a mindless slave, he instead shows her a mirror. As Shampoo first sight is of herself, her free will is restored... and she immediately goes back to chasing Ranma. Afterward he says it was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever done, but in the moment that mattered, he didn't think so.
  • In fact, out of all the people involved in the Love Dodecahedron (and excluding Ranma and Akane), he's the only suitor who has never manipulated, blackmailed, charmed, or bewitched the object of their affection, even if his "If I kill/beat up Ranma Shampoo will be mine" strategy leaves much to be desired.
• Animorphism: His curse turns him into a duck when he's doused with cold water.
• At Least I Admit It: In stark contrast to Ryōga, Kuno or Ranma himself, Mousse is quite blunt about the fact that he considers pragmatism to trump honor. Whereas they are frequently used for Hypocritical Humor, Mousse brazenly admits he'll do anything, including lying and cheating, in order to win Shampoo's heart. A pity for him that she doesn't seem to appreciate this behavior.
• Badass Longcoat: For all of THREE panels when he first appears. He can still give this impression when he fights seriously.
• Best Her to Bed Her: Invoked but subverted; despite this being the law of the Joketsuzoku tribe, he never challenges Shampoo to any marriage matches, instead trying to focus on beating Ranma. There is a passing reference in his introductory arc that he's actually already tried to do this and failed, although he indignantly protests that it shouldn't count, because it happened when he and Shampoo were three years old. Precisely why he never takes the direct approach is never explained in the series; two predominant fan theories are that either he's not allowed to do so whilst Shampoo is engaged to Ranma; he can't bring himself to hurt Shampoo even if it would result in their marriage, or a combination of the two.
• Blind Without 'Em: Played for laughs. He will constantly mistake inanimate objects for the people he's talking to. He once mistook a tanuki statue for Shampoo, even going so far as to ask "her" how and when she got so fat. And he's frankly not much better off even when wearing them. However, when engaged in serious combat, he can and will fight very effectively without his glasses, even against opponents that he shouldn't be able to track accurately through sound alone. It was even because of his terrible eyesight that he got his curse in the first place: he simply wandered into the Spring of the Drowned Duck without seeing where he was going.
• The Bully: Is perfectly willing to join an assault on a weakened Ranma, to ambush and kidnap Akane for the sake of luring Ranma to him, to threaten to afflict Akane with a Jusenkyō curse for added "incentive", to cheat in the name of victory, and to kill for expediency. He also instinctively starts beating up the youthenized Ryōga and Ranma when he realizes they look like his rivals.
• Can't Catch Up: For a while, when Ranma and Ryōga kept gaining power ups from training, he just couldn't keep up with their level. He constantly gets trounced whenever pitted against them. Ryōga once even managed to simultaneously fight him, Kuno, Principal Kuno, and Gosunkugi off when they decided to gang up on a weakened Ranma in a Go Through Me moment. However, he was still able to fight toe to toe with Mint in the Musk Dynasty arc, and, later on, going on multiple "dates" with a heavy Jizō statue without stopping to sleep accidentally brought up his strength and endurance tremendously.
• Character Development: He started off the series as a rather amoral, almost sociopathic character who would stoop to any lows to defeat, or even kill, Ranma, and thus clear the way to Shampoo. As the series went on, however, and especially after the turning point of the Musk Dynasty saga, his relationship with Ranma changed considerably, so that he refocused his priorities into winning Shampoo over instead of eliminating his rival, and would even seek out the latter's help in more than one occasion. The Glasses of Invincibility storyline, in particular, began with him still trying to prove his superiority to Ranma, but in a context and a conclusion that show how much he has changed from his first arrival from China.
• Childhood Friend Romance: He has been pursuing Shampoo since they were kids. Whether he actually is her "childhood friend" or not is up for debate, considering Shampoo calls him her "stupid friend from childtime" and all of his flashbacks to that point in their life show her treating him the exact same way she does now (alternatively ignoring him and hitting him when he does something that bugs her).
• Combat Pragmatist: Just look at how he fights and how many implement of cutting, piercing and blunt death he carries... Although he's plenty skilled in unarmed combat, he rarely does so if he can still pull out a weapon hidden somewhere in his person (the one time he tried and dropped the Badass Longcoat with his many weapons he suddenly revealed he has knives in his shoes).
• Cursed with Awesome: While at a general disadvantage as a duck, he does gain the ability to fly and he can still use hidden weapons (usually throwing knives in his wings).
• Dogged Nice Guy: To Shampoo. The manga makes it very clear that, when he's not fighting Ranma over her, he's extremely devoted to her and sincerely tries to do right by her, working himself to an early grave if it means taking her out on a happy date... He just has the most horrible tastes and even worse timing, and she doesn't appreciate his persistence.
• Duct Tape for Everything: In the anime-only go-kart race episode, Mousse stops to duct tape a jet engine on his go-kart, which works too well as he winds up speeding everyone but Kasumi and Nabiki off the track.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: In the manga, Shampoo considers him to rate somewhere between bacteria and pond scum, no matter what he does for her. In the anime, she was appreciative during the second movie.
• Foil: He stands uniquely contrasted to both Ryōga and Kuno, his fellow rivals of Ranma:
  • To Ryōga: Whereas Ryōga is extremely emotional, Mousse is logical and cunning. Where Ryōga is, ultimately, an honorable rival who demands a fair victory in his ongoing battle with Ranma, Mousse is amoral and couldn't care less for honor; he only cares about victory. Ryōga prefers unarmed combat, whilst Mousse wields weapons. And, finally, Ryōga has perfect eyesight, but No Sense of Direction, whilst Mousse can always find where he's going, but can't see where he is.
  • To Kuno: Mousse is a rustic villager from the Chinese mountains, whilst Kuno is a Japanese aristocrat. Whereas Kuno is flashy, arrogant and bombastic, Mousse is straightforward, pragmatic and will humiliate himself shamelessly for victory. Kuno wields a melee weapon, whilst Mousse favors ranged weapons. Both are in denial that the girl they love returns their love and is merely kept from them by her engagement to Ranma, but Kuno is infatuated with two girls, whilst Mousse is strictly interested in one girl.
• The Glasses Come Off: Likes to invoke this... but, usually, whenever he takes the glasses off dramatically, he ends up looking stupid and ruining the effect.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Without his glasses he's a gorgeous Long-Haired Pretty Boy. Too bad he's also blind as a bat.
• Hidden Depths: In spite of being directly affected by it, Mousse respects Shampoo's self-determination, and would not have her if she's not fully in love with him out of her own volition. Problem is, that line of thinking of his doesn't apply to anyone else.
• Hidden Weapons: Literally the Master of Hidden Weapons. His oversized sleeves houses a massive Hyperspace Arsenal.
• Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Most of Mousse's childhood was spent unsuccessfully trying to win over Shampoo, resulting in him frequently embarrassing himself, getting into accidents, or even being swatted by Shampoo herself for doing something stupid like confusing a cow for her.
• His Own Worst Enemy:
  • Shampoo doesn't respect him both because he can't defeat her, and also because he doesn't respect the rules of courting her by actually trying to defeat her, instead choosing to get rid of Ranma as if that were enough to woo her. Though she doesn't mind him and somewhat cares for him, she dislikes the fact that Mousse doesn't respect himself enough to do it right.
  • Another reason why Shampoo doesn't like him is because he has rather tacky and weird hobbies. When given an opportunity to take her out on a date, Mousse chooses to take her to a gruesome wax museum, eliciting her ire. So, it's not only that he's unworthy, he's an idiot too.
  • Mousse's stubbornnesss in pursuing Shampoo further turns her off. She's been rejecting him since the start, when they were three years old, but he just won't take "no" for an answer. Even Shampoo can at least claim that Ranma gives her somewhat mixed signals.
• Hopeless Suitor: He's even worse off than Shampoo when it comes to his one-sided crush. Whilst Shampoo can at least claim that Ranma does find him attractive, and that they've barely known each other about a yer, Mousse has been trying to court Shampoo for over a decade and has been rejected ever since he started.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: The sheer amount of crap he can conceal and actually use relatively effectively, with or without modifications, is truly amazing. Lampshaded in a Filler episode where he's able to pull out a bomb far larger than he is from his person, and states he couldn't be a master at concealed weaponry if he couldn't. Even without his coat he can pull weapons from nowhere; in one of the movies, when attacked in his bathing suit, he responds by launching several Kusarigama from his wrist bands.
• I Let You Win: Played with. It's implied that one of the reasons he doesn't fight Shampoo to woo her may be that he can't bring himself to raise his hand against the girl he loves, so he'd much rather beat up Ranma.
• Impossibly Awesome Magic Trick: His hidden arsenal defies all laws of volume and mass, but no supernatural justification is implied. He's just that good at hiding things.
• Jerkass Has a Point: He's right on calling out Shampoo and Cologne on using the excuse of the former having defeated him in combat when they were just 3-year-olds, which is rather petty.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be very petty and insufferable in his rivalry to Ranma and in his attempts to win over Shampoo. However when the situation gets really bad he will become sensible and assist his rival until the danger is averted. When Maomaolin had cursed Shampoo into permanently turning into a cat, he even agreed to allowing Ranma kiss her due to her needing a True Love's Kiss... lthough he took so long to admit this that she nearly ended stuck as a cat permanently. In the final story arc, he even gives up his best chance to bend Shampoo to his will because he was Above the Influence.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair is almost as long as Shampoo's, and he's a very handsome guy, almost a Bishōnen type... so long as he's not wearing his Opaque Nerd Glasses.
• Mad Love: He will stoically suffer through virtually any amount of abuse Shampoo heaps on him, firmly convinced that his dedication and displays of prowess will win her over, no matter that she has stated outright that she hates him and wants him dead.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: During the first half of the series, Mousse made at least four attempts to kill Ranma, so he can have Shampoo for himself. One of them through subterfuge. Although he apparently simply attempts to prove himself stronger in their few confrontations after the Herb arc.
• Never My Fault: He refuses to admit that Shampoo doesn't like, never did like him, and probably never will like him, given that she's been consistently rejecting him since they were three years old. Instead, he's fixated on the idea that Ranma is exclusively to blame for his lack of success in wooing her. Hence, he focuses on breaking up Ranma's engagement to Shampoo, ignoring that Shampoo didn't consider him her boyfriend even before she got engaged to Ranma.
• Nothing Up My Sleeve: From his sleeves, he can pull out duck potty, yo-yos, cup-and-balls, gauntlets on ropes, multiple swords (the first Non-Serial Movie has him create "wings" by sprouting about six or seven broadswords from each sleeve) and more.
• Opaque Nerd Glasses: He actually prefers to be Blind Without 'Em because of how they make him look goofy.'
• Pet the Dog: He refuses to do anything harmful to Shampoo in his pursuit of her; he never even considers taking the "Best Her to Bed Her" option, lets her kiss Ranma in the "Ghost Cat" arc to keep her from being trapped as a cat, and chooses Above the Influence in the final arc, despite once having claimed he would happily commit any act to make Shampoo love him — specifically because her being his mindless slave is not what he would consider love.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Implied. Even with the possibility of Mousse defeating Ranma, there's no guarantee of this winning him Shampoo's affections. As a matter of fact, this wasn't a possibility for him even when Ranma wasn't in the picture, as he's more or less hopelessly trapped in the Friend Zone when it comes to Shampoo.
• The Resenter: His initial relationship with Ranma is defined by his bitterness, with Mousse essentially using Ranma as a scapegoat for his own inability to win Shampoo's heart, despite the fact she was rejecting him for years before either of them heard of Ranma. Unlike Ryōga, he only resents Ranma in the field of love, and otherwise he's indifferent to Ranma.
• The Rival: To both Ranma and Ryōga. Though he has a much more personal one with the former due to conflicts over their relationships with Shampoo. With Ryōga it's more of a power struggle and a conflict in nobility, as Ryōga does not stoop as low as Mousse does.
• Skewed Priorities:
  • As previously mentioned, Mousse would rather get rid of Ranma than making the effort to woo Shampoo. The problem with this is that, given the opportunity to try anything with Shampoo, his awful tastes and lack of self-reflection end up spoiling said opportunities.
  • Mousse rarely appeals to support the relationship between Ranma and Akane, even when this would benefit him considerably. This is due to the fact that said liaison doesn't deter Shampoo from pursuing Ranma, so he focuses on getting rid of Ranma.
• Spear Counterpart: He has a lot in common with Shampoo: He pines for Shampoo the same way she behaves with Ranma. His rivalries with Ranma and Ryōga also mirror Shampoo's with Akane and Ukyō, respectively.
• Stalker with a Crush: Pretty much defines who he is. Notably, he's one of the few SWaCs who is not a Yandere; He's an endless annoyance, but he never makes a trespass against Shampoo herself, restricting himself to fawning over her and jealously attacking Ranma. He repeatedly halts his pursuit if Shampoo is any danger whatsoever, and even refuses a chance to make her his mindless slave because he doesn't want her unless it's of her own free will... and is naturally paid with no appreciation whatsoever (or even noticing that he's there).
• Super-Speed: Fast enough to be in the same general league as Ranma and Ryōga, but they are shown as able to avoid most of his attacks by exerting themselves. Sometimes considered by fanon to be the fastest of the three, as he was pitted against Mint, the fastest of the Musk Dynasty warriors.
• Super-Strength: At least around the same level as Ranma, going by the fact that the latter was very impressed after a thoroughly exhausted Mousse split a large iron bell barehanded.
• Super-Toughness: Although not as tough as Ranma or Ryōga, his constant punishment at the hands of Shampoo, and his duels with Ranma have given him super human toughness. During the final arc, he is surprised when a foe cannot simply shrug off being hit by a boulder that "couldn't weigh more than five tons."
• Took a Level in Badass: After his first two battles with Ranma, Mousse became something of a non-entity in both continuities, but he went on to have a sudden impressive battle in both the anime's second Non-Serial Movie and in the manga's Musk Arc.
• Wax On, Wax Off: He gained tremendous stamina and strength by going out on dates with "Shampoo" (in reality, a stupendously heavy Jizō statue that had crudely assumed her likeness), thanks to the fact he was going days without rest and constantly hauling around the statue when he wasn't doing his jobs at the Nekohanten.
• You No Take Candle: Averted. Mousse is the same age and just as Chinese as Shampoo, yet he speaks fluent, if accented, Japanese. In the English versions, he speaks slightly more formally than the other teenagers.

Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung

See the Major Story Arc Characters page.

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Other Chinese Characters

Pantyhose Tarō

Pantyhose Tarō (パンスト太郎, Pansutotarō)

^{Click here to see Tarō's beast form}

Voiced by: Shinnosuke Furumoto (Japanese), Matt Hill (English), Irwin Daayán (Latin American Spanish)

The only recurring villain of the series outside of the main cast, who appears in three stories, Pantyhose Tarō was named by Happōsai (as if you couldn't guess) and unintentionally baptized by him in the "Spring of Drowned Ox-Riding, Crane and Eel-Carrying, Yeti". As his cursed form is a powerful monster, as opposed to a girl or a small animal, Pantyhose Tarō has no problems with his Jusenkyō form (it also helps that he has lived with it from the moment he was born), but hates Happōsai with a vengeance for his name and is dedicated to having him change it... by his village law, Happōsai is the only person in the world who can do this, so if he can't make the old pervert see sense, he'll live with the name "Pantyhose Tarō" for the rest of his life. Between his first and second stories, he somehow manages to use "Spring of Drowned Octopus" water to give his cursed form giant tentacles, and become even stronger.

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• Accidental Pervert: He accidentally stumbles across Rouge bathing, which leads to their enmity for each other when she beans him with a nearby rock and accuses him of trying to steal her "source of power" (magnetic back-ache pads), because they were on said rock and stuck to his iron wristbands before he ran away.
• A Handful for an Eye: An oft-forgotten, seldom-used aspect of his upgraded curse is that he can also launch volleys of octopus ink from his fingertips to blind his opponents. He largely ignores this in favor of focusing on his Combat Tentacles.
• Arch-Nemesis: He is the sworn enemy of Happōsai for the embarrassing name that the old man bestowed upon him, and the fact that due to his village law only the one who named him can change it. He has dedicated his life to capturing Happōsai and making him change his name, but constantly gets thwarted due to his attempts clashing with the Nerima Wrecking Crew.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: One of the few characters in this series with both the attitude and the skills to back it up.
• Berserk Button: Being called by his name. Before it was revealed, he reacted the same way to Ranma calling him "pansuto yaro" ("pantyhose bastard") which sounds close enough to his actual name to infuriate him.
• Big Bad: Tarō is closest the series gets to a Big Bad, as he's the only character to repeatedly appear for the sole reason of being an Arc Villain. Other antagonists tend to either only appear for a single arc, or have less than antagonistic depictions.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: After losing to Ranma in the first encounter, Tarō decides it'd be quicker and easier to just make his cursed form even more of a powerup than it would be to train and get stronger the old fashioned way, despite the fact he was arguably one of the strongest and most skilled martial artists that Ranma had ever faced when they went toe-to-toe for the first time. In his final arc, he even decides to steal Rouge's "special treasures" after he mistakenly believes they will somehow empower him even further.
• The Bully: Relishes the power of his cursed form and uses it to beat up and terrify others into submitting to him. During his fight with Ranma in his mountain lair, he delights in taunting Ranma about how the environment gives him every advantage, sadistically taunting Ranma by making feints he's about to transform and using that to pummel Ranma as Ranma tries to prevent this.
• Combat Pragmatist: Tarō's defining approach to combat is that he likes to stack the deck in his own favor. In his introductory story, he first attacks his possible targets during the rain, trusting that their differing Jusenkyo curses will strengthen him and weaken them. He then follows up with this tactic by setting up his lair in a mountain filled with cold underground springs and rivers, where any damage to the scenery (or the triggering of the multiple water-releasing traps he's set up) can either transform him into his more powerful cursed form, transform theirs into their weaker cursed forms, or both. Likewise, rather than particularly focus on training in martial arts to get stronger between his first and second appearances, he instead augments his curse to make it stronger.
• Combat Tentacles: After his first appearance, he goes back to Jusenkyo offscreen and modifies his curse by somehow cursing himself in the Spring of Drowned Octopus. This gives him eight octopus tentacles that are huge and enormously strong, allowing him to attack from multiple angles and making it far easier to grab and throw his opponents.
• Create Your Own Villain: Happōsai is to blame for how he turned out, both in terms of his monster curse and how he's bitter and twisted. Though unlike most examples, Happōsai is far from a saint, so it's really a villain creating an even bigger villain.
• Cross Cultural Kerfuffle: Pantyhose Tarō's name is based on a peculiarity of Asian linguistics that doesn't quite translate into English. In Japanese, the Pantyhose part of his name is a prefix while the Tarō part is a suffix (think Jotarō or Kentarō, ergo, "Pansutotarō") so he can't simply use "Tarō" as his only name. In English, of course, it's awkward to use both fragments as a complete name, giving the appearance that "Tarō" is a separate name. This leaves English viewers not understanding why his name bugs him so much; from their perspective, he can just not use his "first" name.
• Cursed with Awesome: Although the other cast members initially presume that Tarō hates Happōsai for cursing him, after finally being forced to talk, Tarō explains that he actually likes his curse, for a very simple reason. While he's at least skilled enough to give Ranma a serious run for his money, with similar speed and agility, and is much wilier and cunning, his titanic cursed form's size, strength, and the surprising speed it retains despite its bulk, give him a hell of a trump card with some cold water. In other words, while other characters are overall weaker in their cursed form, Pantyhose Tarō's forms actually makes him stronger once he changes.
• Disappointed by the Motive: His entire background depends on the idea that his village would demand both that he be named by his midwife and that the midwife is the only person who can change his name, even after being saddled with a name as lousy as his. Everyone he tells this openly replies how ridiculous it is.
• Embarrassing First Name: The prefix of his name is Pantyhose. Is it any wonder he runs away from girls who ask him what it is? His planned new name isn't much better either: when he announces to the world that he wants to be called "Awesome Tarō" (Kakkoiitarō in Japanese), all of the other characters think it's even more embarrassing, but are either stunned into silence or have a good grace not to say anything.
• Fate Worse than Death: Pantyhose Tarō considers living his life with the name of Pantyhose Tarō as this, which is why he is so hellbent on hunting Happōsai to force him to change it.
• Foil: To Ranma. Both characters are martial artists who are cursed by the Jusenkyō springs, and are routinely screwed over by Happōsai. While Ranma has managed to remain a more or less noble individual and does his best not to dwell on what would be a more than well-justified grudge, Pantyhose Tarō has completely given in to his rage and resentment, not only going after Happōsai, who is the ultimate cause and target of his rage, but is more than willing to grievously harm, if not kill, anyone he comes across whom he thinks might be in the way, even if they have nothing to do with him, like Akane.
• Giant Flyer: His cursed form is a mass of solid muscle several stories tall, and yet his wings are appropriately crane-sized. He still pulls off fancy aerial maneuvers and can fly fast enough to travel from deep mainland China all the way to Japan within a a very short amount of time.
• Hates Everyone Equally: As Akane finds out, Tarō has no conniptions about hitting women in equal measure as he would do to a man.
• Iconic Item: For all his hatred for his first name, he still wears a pair of pantyhose around his waist in lieu of a sash. It is also his calling card when he first appears in Furinkan, wrapping all his victims in pantyhose as a way to taunt the person who named him.
• Jerkass: Regardless of his motivations and grudges, he's petty, rude, and an all-around unapologetic asshole.
• Kill It with Water: Plays around with this trope. Dousing him with hot water reverts him to his weaker human form, making him vulnerable. On the other hand, letting him get splashed with cold water lets him turn into his monster form, at which point he's more than happy to hand out some beatings.
• Lightning Bruiser: His cursed form is enormous, ridiculously strong, and tough enough to the point that being punched in the same spot on his head by Ranma, Ryoga, Shampoo and Mousse simultaneously — all of whom have Super-Strength — merely staggers him rather than leaving him out cold (or dead). But rather than being slow, his seemingly ineffectual wings let him soar with considerable speed, and even on the ground, he can move surprisingly quickly.
• Manipulative Bastard: One of the few fighters who has successfully manipulated (and outcheated) Ranma during battle, and capable of setting up strategic traps.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Pantyhose Tarō's cursed form is apparently constructed with the premise of "what types of creatures would you have to mix to create something more-or-less archetypical demonic-looking?" Answer: You toss a yeti, an ox, an eel and a crane into one Jusenkyō Spring, and get a creature with the frame of a yeti, the head and hooves of an ox, an eel as a tail... and a pair of crane, rather than bat, wings, which is the only odd one out. He is even referred to as "The Demon King Pantyhose Tarō" in the play Ranma set up for Happōsai. Later he turns into a spoof of a "tentacle-demon" by adding "Spring of Drowned Octopus" to the concoction... with the bonus of shooting blinding ink blasts from his fingers.
• My Instincts Are Showing: During his second appearance, Ranma is able to beat Tarō by luring him up near a chimney, causing Tarō's octopus tentacles to instinctively slip inside of it, based on the way octopuses will crawl into pots for shelter. This leaves Tarō temporarily trapped and unable to move or use his Combat Tentacles, letting Ranma get the upper hand.
• The Nicknamer: He never refers to others by their real name. He specifically singles out Ranma to call him "okama yaro" ("crossdressing bastard," or just "crossdresser" in the English release) and annoy him to no end.
• Noble Demon: He may be a complete asshole, but he will still save helpless girls he encounters.
• Pet the Dog: Despite his ruthless nature, and stating that he has no hesitation about beating or killing a woman who was in his way, he is known to have saved a number of girls from being attacked after encountering them in danger. After accidentally spotting Rouge in the nude, he let her beat him up in retribution until he figured she'd had enough.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He repeatedly calls Ranma, an unwilling Sex Shifter, an "okama yaro", a term with some rather homophobic/transphobic meaning that loosely translates into English as "crossdressing bastard", or "girly man".
• Skilled And Strong: Whilst Tarō does freely exploit the massive power boost his unique cursed transformation gives him, the fact is he's also a pretty decent martial artist. During his first duel with Ranma, Tarō genuinely keeps Ranma on his toes and even displays an affinity for Ranma's signature Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs technique. Whilst there is an argument to be made that Ranma was both held back by being in his weaker female body and forced to hold back even further to avoid accidentally activating Tarō's curse, Tarō still has grounds to claim he was Ranma's most challenging martial arts opponent to date even without his cursed form during his debut.
• The Sociopath: Pantyhose Tarō is ruthless, selfish, power-hungry and vicious. He will happily threaten or hurt anyone in his way, and has shown a willingness to deliberately endanger others out of spite. In his first appearance, when battling Ranma and his allies at his mountain lair, he deliberately tries to gore Akane with his horns when he spots her trapped and vulnerable on a cliff-face. In his third appearance, after Rouge reverts to human form in his grasp, he threatens to crush her to death unless she tells him how to use her "power source" for his own end. He's even boasted about wanting to take over the world.
• Super-Speed: Able to keep up with Ranma when in human form; his chimaera form is slower, but not by much (and is downright lightning-fast in relation to its size and bulk), and he more than made up the difference once he acquired octopus tentacles.
• Super-Strength: Roughly the same level as male Ranma when human, given that their punches had literally equal effect on one another in the Rouge arc, and much stronger as a chimaera.
• Sympathy for the Devil: He's an absolute bastard who has done countless outright cruel things with many of them being completely unnecessary, but the heroes all sympathize with his backstory and how it turned him into the twisted individual he is. Many instances the heroes try to or offer to help him, which usually results in him being an Ungrateful Bastard about it.
• Take Over the World: In his third story, after misunderstanding what Rouge's "sources of power" are, he declares he'll use them to increase his own power and use it to conquer the world.
• Ungrateful Bastard: Despite everything Ranma's team have done for him, he remains very rude to them and will not hesitate to beat them up.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Sort of. His cursed form is enormous and powerful — albeit a bit silly-looking — so he's the only one to regularly carry cold water with him. Especially if he's going to a fight.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Who else but Happōsai would think naming somebody after pantyhose was a good idea?
• Would Hit a Girl: He doesn't usually bother with weaklings, and deliberately lets slighted women take out their anger on him for as long as he deems appropriate, but if the girl in question proves strong enough to fight, he holds nothing back.
• Your Size May Vary: Depending on the needs of the scene, his minotaur-like form can vary between about just twice as tall as a man, to being able to fit an human being comfortably into his palm. The addition of Combat Tentacles doesn't help; their length and thickness are quite variable too, where they can shift from a mess of relatively short tentacles on his back, to being twice as long than his cursed form is tall.

The Jusenkyō Guide

The Jusenkyō Guide (呪泉郷 の ガイド, Jusenkyō no gaido)

Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese), Ian James Corlett and Michael Donovan (English), Martín Soto (Latin American Spanish), Rafat Bazoo (Arabic)

A mysterious man who acts as something of a tour guide to Jusenkyō and, to a lesser extent, the surrounding areas. He's not a very good one, though, as he seems to need a map to find his own way around the springs and he fails to prevent anyone from ending up cursed at Jusenkyō. He also utterly failed to keep Ranma from ending up getting the Kiss of Death/Kiss of Marriage from Shampoo.

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• Character Catchphrase: "Very tragic story!"
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Even the most polite characters refer to him as Mr. Guide/Guide-san.
• Limited Wardrobe: Always seen in the same faded olive green Maoist uniform, cap and all, even though it's not implied to be standard attire for his job.
• No Name Given: He's one of the minority of characters in the series who never gets even a last name. He is simply "The Jusenkyo Guide".
• Poor Communication Kills: He fails to disclose the nature of the Jusenkyō springs to anyone in time to prevent mishaps. He fails to warn Ranma that challenging, and then defeating Shampoo as a man or as a woman will have consequences either way (even while he's translating said challenge and he's perfectly aware of the implications). He neglects to inform anyone that Jusenkyō can be drained, just so long as they restore the flow at the source again. And finally, he never says anything about Jusenkyō's level coming back down after it becomes flooded, so everyone goes home and gives up on the cures. In the anime, there's an episode where he comes to Furinkan because, on this once-a-millenium day, the Tendō Dojo's koi pond can be turned into a Jusenkyō outlet. He naturally fails to warn that if they stuff this up, it can't be performed again for 1000 years, and that something like breaking the rope he surrounds the pond with will cause the ritual to fail and leave them all stuck with their curses.
• You No Take Candle: However, unlike Shampoo, his dub voice doesn't use Hulk Speak (although he comes pretty close).

Plum

Plum (プラム, Puramu)

The Jusenkyō Guide's young daughter, who seemingly is studying to take his place when she grows up. Unusually mature for her age, exceptionally mature for the characters of Ranma ½.

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• Damsel in Distress: When Ranma first encounters her, he has to rescue her from Koruma and Masala.
• Girlish Pigtails: One on each side of her head, above the ears.
• Hell Is Coming With Me: She arrives at Furinkan to warn the cast about the Phoenix People's plan to drain Jusenkyō, and ask for their help, while carrying the secret map that would reveal the location of the source of Jusenkyō, which the Phoenix People are after. The characters are then embroiled in a quest that, otherwise, would've blown right over them without incident.
• Poor Communication Kills: Takes after her father, so it seems. After Jusenkyō is drained and the cursees are all angsting, she remembers that they could simply reopen the flow at the source. They then call her out on not telling them sooner and sparing them the grief.
• Ugly Guy Cute Daughter: The characters just can't believe the Jusenkyō Guide has a daughter, let alone a cute one.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Although her age is never explicitly stated, she looks similar in age to the six year-old child Ranma. She's still far wiser than the teens whose help she seeks (or, indeed, the adults), is incredibly resourceful (managed to get from deep inland China to Japan on her own, while on the run from deadly warriors), and is also quite fearless.

Pink and Link

See the Major Story Arc Characters page.

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