The fact that in the anime Ranma receives an allowance if Akane is to believed since she mentions once that he shouldn't have spent all his allowance. Who is giving him an allowance? Genma giving Ranma money does not seem to be very likely. Stealing money from Ranma seems a lot more likely.
Fridge Brilliance: There's actually three candidates for where Ranma might get an allowance. Firstly, Genma; yes, he is a self-centered Jerkass depiction of a Bumbling Dad, but he does still love his son, as is shown in certain moments throughout the canon — at the very least, he might be giving Ranma an allowance to discourage his son from picking his pockets. Secondly, Soun; he does see himself as Ranma's father-in-law, and so giving Ranma an allowance for minor treats and the like could be his way of bonding with Ranma and assuring him of his welcome. Finally, Kasumi; as the mother-substitute for the family, and as Japanese society traditionally places all financial responsibility on the mother, she may be giving Ranma money for the same reason Soun would; to express that he's part of the family and thus due the entitlements of a family member.
For such a central plot element, Jusenkyo will leave you scratching your head if you think about it. The biggest issue: throughout the series, all the Jusenkyo-cursed men are adamant that a good splash of water from the Jusenkyo Spring of Drowned Man would undo their Involuntary Shapeshifting curse (which, logically, means the same goes for the Spring of Drowned Woman and Shampoo). Rumiko Takahashi has confirmed that this would work, and even in-series, Ranma and Genma have been shown to use "Instant Nanniichuan", which creates a temporary version of the curse, to restore themselves to normal for a time. But then Pantyhose Taro shows up in his return story, and he's somehow added octopus tentacles to his Mix-and-Match Critters cursed form by using water from the Spring of Drowned Octopus, without overwriting his curse completely. So, how actually does Jusenkyo work when it comes to trying to two curses? There are a number of possible explanations for how this could have happenednote it could be a unique trait of Taro's base-curse, or it could stem from the type of springs used, or how much spring water is used at once, but no canon explanation has ever been provided for this dichotomy, leading to yet more Ranma 1/2 fanon.
A explanation was given at the end of that story arc: only by completely submerging oneself/full-body splashing does the curse activate in its entirety; any partial spashing affects only locally (a crow drenched by the Spring of the Drowned Twins split into two, but a single drop of its water falling on Happosai's head only doubled the bump). if he just splashed a bit of it at the base of his wings (which are limbs) he could have only gained octopus limbs growing from the back (had he splashed his head, however, would most likely have given him an octopus head, while bathing in it would have overwritten his curse to octopus). Mixing waters, howevers, turns them into chimera-producing waters instead, since the people affected would be inflicted by several curses at the same time, instead of sequentially.
Genma comes across as a horrendous, uncaring, selfish father and a useless sensei getting Ranma all those fiancées and complicated messes with his honor. Then I realized, Genma says everything is training. He isn't being an idiot, he's being machiavellian setting up challenges for Ranma to think himself out of and use his skills to outwit his enemies. Even the fiancées and honor messes are training just to get Ranma to think critically about honor and give him the skills to debate his way out of that Seppuku contract. Every time Ranma reaches equilibrium, or begins to plateau in his abilities Genma "messes up" and throws in a new challenge. Even Jusenkyo has improved Ranma's physical, emotional, social and critical thinking skills in the long run. No wonder he laughs it up playing shogi all day, he is the best martial arts instructor after all.
Many of Genma's named Anything-Goes Techniques are completely bogus, like the Howl of the Demon Dog, Crouch of the Wild Tiger, Ultimate Technique (Run Away) etc. He often seems like he's holding the Idiot Ball when he thinks such moves will stand up to serious situations, like when he teaches Ranma the Howl of the Demon Dog as a counter to the Shi Shi Hokodan. Every serious named attack has been taught to Ranma by someone besides Genma, usually Cologne. This makes Genma seem like a pathetic martial artist with no clue how to train Ranma. Then you remember that all of Ranma's base skills, before named attacks and Ki Manipulation came into play, were learned from Genma off screen. Genma can also, for most of the series, defeat Ranma in sparring, as well as come through in some rare scenes where he shows powerful martial arts ability including Ki Manipulation. This shows that Genma's only aversion is (effective) named attacks. Why? Why can't an expert martial artist like Genma create any good special attacks? Well, he has, and he didn't like the results. The Umisenken and Yamasenken were both created by Genma Saotome, who sealed them away and refused to teach them to Ranma (until Ryo showed up using the latter of those styles). Genma fears creating and using too powerful/dangerous techniques, so he swings too far the other way, creating worthless ones. He probably thinks that allowing Ranma to lose a couple of fights is a lesser evil than unleashing high-powered, lethal techniques on the world. When Ryo showed up, Genma temporarily and partially overcame this reluctance in order to make up for creating those techniques in the first place, by having Ranma fight to seal the techniques away again.
At first glance, Nodoka Saotome appears to be just another quirky character, admittedly with some Yank the Dog's Chain potential (who can forget her entry to the series, where Ranma is awestruck at the possibility of finally meeting his mother, only to discover she's dedicated to the possibility of having to kill him if he doesn't meet her standards), but then, if you think about it, she becomes a lot more unique. Parody, subversion, or just plain strange, but Nodoka Saotome manages to be, simultaneously, both the complete opposite of her Jerkass husband and a living embodiment of Ranma's ideal parent. She is kind, helpful, generous and supportive, giving Ranma the emotional and physical support that his father doesn't, yet at the same time she shares his intense belief in the "sanctity of manhood". "My life is one thing, my manhood is another story!" Was Ranma's angry rebuttal to Genma's questioning whether or not Ranma would have forsaken his life for martial arts, and though he does become more shamelessly opportunistic about it, he clings to the dream of being cured throughout the series. Nodoka is practically a living embodiment of Ranma's desire to be masculine, even if it means giving up his own life if he can't measure up.
Akane is such a violent sleeper that she basically attacks anyone who may be in bed with her. Ranma, meanwhile, is capable of effortlessly dodging in his sleep. It's a perfect match.
Ryoga is also made of iron even more than most of the rest of the characters after the Bakusai Tenketsu arc (to the point that in an exaggerated fanfic, a bullet doesn't even wake him up). He could take the hits and get a good night's sleep despite them.
Akane clearly has the capabilities to be regarded as a Kid Samurai, and it's heavily implied that the Tendo Dojo specialises in using samurai weaponry — and yet Akane only ever uses her bare hands or improvised weapons if she can help it. Why? Because she does not like the comparisons, if only in her mind, between her using samurai weapons and her "arch enemy" before Ranma Saotome arrived — the Jerk JockKid SamuraiLord Error-Prone Tatewaki Kuno.
In fact, Akane may have caused Kuno to first "fall in love with her" because of her skill with samurai weaponry. Thusly, she doesn't use it any more because she wants to try and convince him to fall in love with somebody else and leave her alone.
This also puts her tending to not be able to win against other martial artists a chunk of the time into a very different light; because she's not fighting against them with a style she's actually had plenty of skill and training in. Developing a skill in a specific martial arts takes a lot of time and practice, and she might have been more skilled in a Samurai based fighting style at first, but had to switch to a different fighting style relatively recently to dissuade Kuno from pursuing her. In that case, then she'd probably be miles behind the martial artists that show up in the series who have dedicated themselves to learning their specific craft for years, even if she's good enough at this new style that she can knock out the regular admirers from her school, because she hasn't had enough time to reach the same level than if she had kept going with her original skillset.
Sometimes you wonder why Ranma and Genma didn't dump themselves in the right spring as soon as Ranma had cooled off for getting cursed... Then you realize why: while Ranma was cooling off, Genma and the guide tried to boil a piglet that was actually Ryoga. Considering his super-strength and that he had good reasons to kill the two idiots, can you blame them for running away, taking Ranma with them?
Then why has no one ever cured their curses as soon as they got them, and why does nobody ever cure them in the series? Despite the fact a lot of people ask this, it's quite simple, really (even ignoring the whole "Status Quo Is God" thing that Rumiko had serious problems with adhering to). Ignoring the obvious reason why in the penultimate storyline, where Jusenkyo is flooded and, for whatever reasons, they decide they all have to go home to Japan as soon as possible instead of waiting for the floodwaters to recede and restore the magic in the springs, we have the following: Ranma: Firstly, he gets dragged along by Genma from the angry Ryoga. Then, shortly afterwards, he gets chased out of China by Shampoo. Once in Nerima, Genma refuses to let him go from Nerima while he's not married to Akane, as he doesn't trust Ranma to come back to his fiancée and/or he's determined to get the two kids wed as quickly as possibly. Furthermore, Ranma has no money to afford a quick trip to Jusenkyo anyway, meaning he'd have to swim or stowaway to reach China in the first place and then walk & hitchhike his way to Jusenkyo and back. Genma: He caused Ryoga to attack in the first place, and then had to flee China with Ranma. Once in Nerima, he stubbornly refuses to go back to China if Ranma will not marry Akane first. Besides, he's a lazy bum and doesn't mind his curse so much as Ranma does, so he can happily live with it until he can successfully mooch off of Ranma's attempts to get cured. Ryoga: Chases after Genma (and, unknowingly, Ranma) as a result of being near-cooked and promptly gets lost. Logically not knowing that Nanniichuan can cure him at first, he bumbles around and eventually goes back to Japan looking for revenge on Ranma. Once in Japan, he can't find his way back to China because he can't find his own backside with both hands and a road map. Shampoo: Got given her curse as punishment for coming home in defeat; ergo, she cannot cure it until she erases her shame by winning Ranma's hand. Mousse:Honor Before Reason as to why he initially keeps it; he was foolish enough to be cursed, which is clearly a mark of shame to the Joketsuzoku, so he decides to keep it until he proves himself by winning Shampoo's hand. Plus, he's too paranoid about the idea that Shampoo and Ranma might get married if he flies away to Jusenkyo while they're alone in Nerima. Taro: Actually likes his curse, because it gives him a One-Winged Angel powerup that lets him bully and bash his way through life. He doesn't want to be cured, which is to be expected since he's had it his entire life. Herb: Gets Mode Locked moments after getting cursed, meaning he can't cure himself. The whole point of his story arc, for him, is finding a way to get unlocked so he can then go back to Jusenkyo and cure himself. Rouge: Again, her Jusenkyo curse is a One-Winged Angel; it gives her the power to defend herself and destroy her enemies without posing any impact to her life beyond a terrifying but easily dealt back pain. It's Cursed with Awesome at worst, and just plain awesome at best. She doesn't want to be cured, especially after finding out the "Source of Strength" she uses to keep her back pain at bay can be bought in any drug store. Kiima: Deliberately cursed herself for tactical advantages (even creating the specific spring by digging it and then throwing Akane in it) and has no time to cure herself on-screen before things go ka-blooie.
At first glance the Hiryu Shoten Ha, an attack that is formed by the user moving into a spiral with a cold battle aura, forcing up the hot battle aura of his opponent and taking the shape of a tornado seems ridiculous, until you realize that that is exactly how real tornadoes are formed; from dense cold air pushing up light hot air.
The fridge brilliance of it is a little less so, since Cologne outright explains this is how the move works during the story. However, what we do have is a case of In-UniverseFridge Brilliance in that Ranma realizes what the move is trying to accomplish and thusly completes it on his own when Cologne forgets to explain the final step after completing the spiral.
Compared to other gender benders, Ranma takes the Jusenkyo curse in stride. Sure, he doesn't like it, and he keeps trying to cure it; but he ALSO doesn't suffer from typical issues faced with turning into a girl. At first, this seams just as simple as Rumiko not wanting to get into that, but then it hit me, what does Ranma do? He adapts! By the time Ryoga shows up, Ranma is beginning to abuse the curse to get what he wants. When Kodachi comes along, Ranma is already ready to be a girl just to beat someone in something. Of course he wouldn't get depressed, be constantly afraid of being girly, or be afraid of losing himself, he's adapted! His whole life has been adapting to the circumstances that come his way, being a girl is cakewalk for him! Yes, he doesn't like it, but he did use it to his advantage in so many ways that it all he has to worry about is the pesky pledge. Heck, Ranma has done practically everything a virgin teenaged girl has done (In Japan). He dressed in numerous types of female clothes including swimwear and formal wear on his own accord, went on dates, deal with perverts, and even find the perks and disadvantages of womanhood. But many people forget this because it isn't made to be a big deal. It shouldn't anyway!
When reading the Battle Dougi arc I wondered two things: Why only Akane could wear it? And why Akane could soundly defeat Ranma the first time she used it but ended up losing handily the second time? And I've just found the answers, all coming from the first one: Akane was the only one who could wear it because, among the martial artists of the Tendo households, she was the only one who couldn't use her style to the full potential. Knowing this, everything else falls into place: Akane could defeat Ranma the first time because he didn't take seriously until he realized she could defeat him and by then it was too late, but won handily the second time because, in the end, Ranma was just that stronger and faster than Akane.
Also, the arc accidentally exposes that the author may know more than we suspected about actual martial arts: in MMA and inter-style matches, grapplers (like wrestlers and judoka) have the advantage over pure strikers, as the formers know how to defend from a punch or kick and the latters have no idea on how to avoid being thrown around or put into some hold (just see the first UFC tournament, in which a grappler crushed a boxer and an immensely powerful kick boxer but had enormous trouble with the wrestler), but someone knowing both tends to win against a grappler due having more options... And in their first battle Akane handily won with a mix of strikes and grappling moves, but in the second Ranma, who has the ability to quickly analyze and copy pretty much any martial art move, knew enough to defend himself and get in her guard.
More Fridge Unfortunate Implications, but when Shampoo & Cologne introduce themselves to Ryoga at the start of the Bakusai Tenketsu arc, it happens because Cologne finds "P-chan" and brings him home to make him into dinner. As Asians Eat Pets may mention, a rather old bit of anti-Chinese slander, one popular enough it still survives in some Urban Legends, has them kidnapping and eating peoples' pets — and P-chan is Akane's pet. Though the Unfortunate Implications are rather lessened when Shampoo, upon recognizing P-chan as Akane's pet, immediately tries to stop her great-grandmother — Cologne didn't know about P-chan being somebody's pet (and neither of them knew about him being Ryoga) in the first place.
Of all of Ranma's usual opponents, Ryoga is the only one who is a close match for Ranma physicallynote in physical strength they seem to be equal, with Ranma having a distinct advantage in speed and Ryoga having far more resistance to damage and ki power, yet, aside for their very first battle, he's just as outmatched as Mousse is. Badass Decay? Nope, he's just unwilling to kill him anymore: more than once, Ryoga proved himself fairly skilled with weapons (and somehow possessing an in-depth knowledge of Kodachi's style), but if he used his umbrella and blades against Ranma and won he'd most likely kill him, and he doesn't want to anymore.
Slightly related to the "Can Ranma become pregnant?"-issue, and it might be more like Fridge Horror, but consider the mood swings that a girl has each month due to changes in hormone levels. Add a similar, if not greater, change in hormone levels several times daily... No wonder that Ranma is such a jerk.
How is that Kuno is so ineffective when he can shatter stone with the shockwave of his strikes? Easy, he practices Kendo, that, differently from his parent martial art, is very schematic in body movements and attacks and needs to announce where you're going to strike for it to be valid in a match, with an emphasis on striking over dodging or blocking enemy attacks. Now, Kuno is smart enough to not announce his attacks outside a Kendo spar or match, but can you imagine the result of attacking and moving in a very schematic way while having poor defence skills when fighting the likes of Ranma, or even Akane and Kodachi?
That's also why Akane could fight Kuno to a standstill in a Kendo match and disguised: while forced to attack and move the same way, she could still anticipate his attacks and put her shinai exactly where she needed to block.
Why don't Shampoo, Ryoga and Mousse appear in the live-action special? Because their cursed forms are little animals, and it would be nearly IMPOSSIBLE to get real life animals to behave in the way the characters act in the anime/manga. Genma, on the other hand, is able to appear in cursed form because his panda form can easily be recreated by someone in a panda costume, unlike the other three.
It seems ridiculous that Ranma would interfere with Mariko Kuonjo and Kuno's budding relationship given how much he hates Kuno's status as a romantic rival. And yet, when you think about it, actually, it makes perfect sense: Kuno is a huge lech, whose arrogance and perversion combined means he sees no problem with trying to chase after multiple girls at the same time. Whenever he's tried to choose between "the pigtailed girl" or Akane Tendo before, he's always inevitably given up choosing after a minute and just declared he'll take them both. So, the reality of it is, Ranma loses absolutely nothing by breaking up Mariko and Tatewaki, and in fact he gains by at least avenging Akane's wounded pride; even if he hadn't broken them up, Kuno would have kept on chasing after his old loves anyway, despite Mariko's presence! This is particularly sensible behavior in the anime continuity, as, in an earlier filler episode, Kuno had become convinced that Nabiki was his destined soulmate (long story), and the climax features Kuno finally making a "choice" by declaring that he'll simply wed Nabiki and then keep Akane and "the pigtailed girl" as his concubines.
Furthermore, if Mariko had stuck around, she probably would have ended up turning into a pseudo-rival, constantly harassing Akane and Ranma in both of his forms; the girls for their role in the Love Triangle, male Ranma for "bullying Kuno". So, yeah, chasing her off was as much for the sake of Ranma's sanity as it was to avenge Akane.
Early on, Akane adopted often the Karate Sanchin Dachi◊ as her to-go fighting stance, only modifying it by keeping both feet under the shoulder, even using it against Shampoo in their first match. Something unusual for a practitioner of the Anything Goes... But has two very good reasons:
The "feet under shoulders" variant of the Sanchin Dachi is extremely close to the original Karate stance, created when the early Karateka had to fight bare-handed against multiple opponents at once-and Akane has just gone through weeks of fighting dozens of opponents every morning. She clearly started to use the original Sanchin Dachi to deal with them (only modified with closed fists because she didn't want to maim the Hentai Horde), and just got in the habit.
While she'd use different stances against opponents in single combat when she knew they were coming, she once again went to the Sanchin Dachi against Shampoo because, being made to deal with multiple opponents, it would put her in a better position against her highly mobile opponent. This being Shampoo it ended with Akane being jumped over and hit from behind anyway, but at least she forced Shampoo to actually try.
In the Battle Dougi story arc she goes against Ranma-and in the final fight, the only one where we she has the initiative, she once again takes the Sanchin Dachi, as Ranma is even more mobile than Shampoo. Between her having far more experience than at the start of the series and the Battle Dougi itself, Ranma can't do as Shampoo previously did.
Ranma's willingness to avail himself of the various treats offered to him in girl form by guys looking to get lucky seems kind of odd, given his distaste for being hit on, but it actually does make sense when you think about it. Firstly, Genma has openly stated that it's a "Saotome code" to always eat whenever you have the chance, because you don't know when you'll get another chance — now, Ranma has expressed contempt of this idea, but it's clear that Ranma's apple didn't fall as far from the Genma tree as he'd like to act. Secondly, it's pragmatism; as Ranma himself points out, if people are offering you free food, why not take advantage? Finally, it's likely because Ranma holds those guys in contempt; the "Love Pills" storyline opens with one such hornball running in horror after Ranma confirms that he's actually a boy, which makes Ranma laugh — given his distaste for being hit on, accepting their gifts can easily be seen as punishing them for trying, since it costs them money and Ranma has no intention of responding in the way they hope. He may have even driven off would-be suitors with an Unsettling Gender-Reveal.
In the arc where Ranma is stuck in female form because Cologne took away his heat resistance with a pressure point, Dr. Tofu temporarily cures him with the Tokyo Grandpa point, and tells him that It Only Works Once. If it is why old men in Tokyo have high heat tolerance, why did it wear off so quickly? Switching between bodies can't be good for blood circulation. note This is assuming that the Tokyo Grandpa point is why Tokyo Grandpas have heat tolerance, rather than the point being named after them, and that Tofu didn't say that it was temporary
Given how often it could have been useful, it makes one wonder why Ranma never revealed his cooking skills until the "Tendo Family Recipe Book" story. But then that very story shows that Akane is quite hostile to the idea that Ranma is a better cook than her, so Ranma would likely keep that talent under wraps in order to keep the peace between them.
...and Kuno is consistently delusional about anything that doesn't fit with his perception of him as the strongest.
It is fitting that Ryoga habitually carries around that big umbrella, because he has an extra reason to not want to get caught in the rain compared to most people—it would otherwise turn him into a pig!
For a story with Gender Bender as its main plot device, at first, I found it disappointing that ultimately, it was about as heteronormative as any other show of the same era, as if Rumiko Takahashi was blind to the implications of her own plot. Then I wondered: Maybe I didn't read it carefully enough? On a second re-reading, it struck me that this is not a conservative work masquerading as conservative, but on the contrary, it's a subversive work masquerading as conservative. When reading the so-called "homophobic" parts of it, it's perfectly possible to read them as a pretty effective allegory about internalized homophobia and how to deal with it. And it's also perfectly possible that this hidden level of reading had been deliberately left there by Rumiko Takahashi herself.
Akane's use of the shinai and bokken as her preferred weapons of choice in at least the early part of the series actually drips with symbolism. Not only does this showcase her Kid Samurai aspect, but it also emphasizes her Tomboy aspect at the same time — whilst women of the samurai class were often taught how to fight, they typically favored the naginata, to the point the weapon is traditionally considered a feminine one in Japan. By using swords (albeit fake ones), which are associated with male samurai, Akane is showing yet another way in which she's extremely macho for a girl, by Japanese standards.
The Jusenkyo Springs have one very poignant bit of this, which Ryoga forces a viewer to realize: when Ryoga first turned into a pig from falling into Jusenkyo, the tour guide nearly ate him. He seemed to consider the possibility of someone having fallen into the spring, but laughed it off as he threw P-chan into the boiling pot. There's the distinct possibility that some other poor unlucky fool fell into one of the springs, transformed into an animal, and was then killed, cooked, and eaten by someone.
However, this spawns a bit of Fridge Brilliance: the fact that this Fridge Horror exists explains why the Guide hoiked a living pig into boiling water instead of killing it; as someone who lives near Jusenkyo 24/7, he's naturally well aware that nothing around the springs can be trusted to be what it seems to be. He's not being a sadist, he's deliberately checking that Ryoga isn't human!
Hopefully the Guide is on 24/7 duty for this, because animals tend to fall into swimming pools, wells, and other steep-sided bodies of water or liquid on occasion, sometimes drowning (many of the La Brea Tar Pits' victims had gone in for a drink from the layer of water over the tar). This brings up the disturbing prospect of "human" girls with the minds of squirrels, sparrows, or even bugs wandering around Jusenkyo.
Because the series is a comedy, who could believe that Nodoka Saotome would actually be so Honor Before Reason as to call Ranma in on the seppuku contract. The fact is, she is serious about doing it if Ranma ever proves himself unmanly, but that's not the Fridge Horror. The Fridge Horror is that she is not only a genuinely loving mother in every other area, but this is actually an extension of that love. She sincerely believes that Ranma must be a man, and that if he is even the slightest bit "unmanly", then the most loving thing she can do is make him commit suicide to atone for it. And even though she ultimately accepts Ranma's curse, the fact is that Genma, her own husband, believed the risk was serious enough that he did everything he could to avoid her so long as Ranma was cursed.
In another story involving Kuno, Ranma has to get Kuno to compliment his bathing suit or it will drag him to the bottom of the ocean. While Kuno eventually compliments it at the last minute, its heavily implied that there were other girls who were drowned by it.
In one of the final manga stories, a Jusenkyo spring that turns into people a replica of Akane is created. Imagine in one thousand years the Spring of Akane will still be the Spring of Akane. It's still highly probable someone will fall into the spring, possessing Ranma's personality, completely nonchalant about preserving her modesty. Akane proved it's now entirely possible to have someone run around destroying your reputation whilst you are still alive...
Ranma's situation in how he was raised, most particularly the Cat Fist, is portrayed as comedic, given the silliness of acting like a cat and so on. But the depths of Genma's child abuses becomes increasingly more disturbing with each storyline.
The Cradle From Hell arc is just a mounting array of these. So, Ranma proves he has progressed to the point Genma can't beat him up anymore. Genma is horrified by this and decides to invent a new "super move"... which is designed to basically horrify Ranma into submission. Not only that, Genma's idea for the one thing guaranteed to frighten Ranma into submitting? Hugging his son. And it works like a charm. And it's quite explicit that it's not the embarrassment of being hugged by his father that makes Ranma stop, the move genuinely scares him. Think on what that says about Ranma & Genma's relationship.
The big Shipper on Deck scene from Dr. Tofu in regards Ranma/Akane is actually pretty creepy, when you stop and think about the implications.
First of all, there's the fact that upon finding out that Ranma's injuries, which he describes as "brutal", were inflicted by Akane, he stops being horrified by them and instead laughs them off, treating Akane's brutalization as just non-serious fun. This guy is supposed to be a doctor! No wonder Akane can be such a brat if everybody who should be using their authority figure status to call her out on her temper tantrums and violence is instead laughing it off and letting her get off scotfree.
Afterwards, Dr. Tofu, who again is supposed to be a reasonable, rational authority figure, stealth-paralyzes Ranma because he believes that crippling him again will bring out Akane's nicer side and help them get closer together. This despite the fact he knows that Akane and Ranma are fighting to the point that Akane will viciously brutalize Ranma. Again, it just makes one question how sane Dr. Tofu really is, especially when you see his madness around Kasumi.
Considering Shampoo's incredible martial arts talent and disturbing willingness to commit murder, one has to wonder... has she killed before?
Unlikely: while her ethics allow her for killing she's been shown to be rather laid-back about it, and the rare times she actually was motivated to go through with itnote Ranma-chan at the start, Akane early in the series, and Hinako there was always something to stall her until she had reason to change her mind.note With Ranma-chan she just couldn't land a killing blow on her until she had fallen for male!Ranma, and when she found out they were the same and thought Ranma was really a girl she couldn't bring herself to kill the man she loved - and by the time she returns she knows the truth. With Akane she initially opted to erase her memory of Ranma, when Akane recovers her memory Ranma stops Shampoo, and when Shampoo comes back she knows it's a bad idea getting caught and can't be bothered to frame someone else unless the right situation falls in her lap. And with Hinako she eventually decided the whole mess was just too embarrassing On the other hand it's likely she killed two persons during the series: Pink and Link are her old enemies and the only people Shampoo has been shown to actually hate, and were only alive because she couldn't be bothered to actually go through with it, but in the last panel of their storyline it's shown they made Ranma look like a weakling at Shampoo's home village, and Shampoo is seen asking Ranma if he wants to join her in hunting them down and killing them.
Highly doubtful. We've seen that what little training/sparring he does with others is a LOT nicer than his father's. Yes, it does seem that insults (Uncute macho tomboy, anyone?) seem to be part and parcel of the Saotome-Ryu style, so I could see Ranma following Genma insofar as that is concerned, but I doubt he'd be as blatantly cruel; what better way to get back at someone than by living well, and raising your child to be better than you yourself are, after all?
The fact that Happosai is a extreme pervert and he lives in a house with 3 young women and Ranma who turns into a girl... Doesn't it strike anyone that a extremely powerful pervert like Happosai would molest them in their sleep at anytime and any night? Kasumi and Nabiki aren't even martial artists who could fight back against a molester, so they are even more vulnerable! Luckily for everyone that he's not completely invincible and does seem to have some limits to his perversions, because as bad as he is in-canon, he could be a lot worse.
Nabiki can generate a Battle Aura, hinting that she may actually have martial arts training. Considering her personality and that even Akane (her sister) makes very clear that she thinks she's completely untrained...
Kasumi of all people can also generate one, hinting that she may also be trained. Given herpersonality, any victim of hers would be even more blindsided. Maybe this is why Happosai doesn't molest the girls in their sleep, or why he doesn't go after Kasumi.
Konatsu's backstory, whilst Played for Laughs as a parody of Cinderella, is truly disturbing. When you look at all of the horrid things his stepfamily did to him, you have to wonder just how far they took it. Given they ran what was basically a brothel, and Konatsu's status as the only looker of the bunch... yeah, not a pretty picture, is it?
The final story arc has the imprinting eggs, that envelop the victim into an egg and once it hatches they'll obey anyone they see. Shampoo and Genma are hit by these eggs and brainwashed into obeying Kiima and Shampoo respectively, and while Shampoo is broken out of it by being hit with another egg and shown her own image in a mirror when it hatches, Genma simply has Shampoo tell him to do as he wants. Not only he's actually still into Shampoo's thrall and will come back in her service the moment she decides it would help her goals, in the meantime he's been ordered to do as he wants... And he's a major selfish jerkass.
This actually explains why in the finale he went after the Nannichuan Water, when earlier he would have been able to wait until the wedding had been celebrated: he really wanted to break his curse, and Shampoo has obliterated his impulse control.
Ya know, the series take place somewhere in the late 1980s to early 1990s and Genma is in his 40s (mid 40s in the manga and between late 30s to early 40s in the anime), right? Where I am going with this? Well, I consider and thought about what years that the characters would have been born in and i've put in Genma's age in the manga in the calculator. I found that he would have been born somewhere around in the early to mid 1940s at most. You know... where World War II was going on. This leave some serious implication.
More Fridge Squick than anything, but in the final chapter of the series, Ranma (along with Ryoga, Genma and Mousse) tries to make Happosai vomit up the Nanniichuan water that he drank. This means that Ranma (and the rest) would have been willing to slather himself in Happosai's puke just on the off-chance that it might still retain its original magical properties despite having been inside the old man's guts. Which says a lot about just how badly Ranma wants to be normal again!
Shampoo's engagement to Ranma has two horrific points:
Shampoo initially goes after Ranma because her village's law states she has to marry a male that defeats her, but she quickly falls for him for real. Considering how Mousse treats anyone he mistakes for having romantic intentions for her, this says a lot of horrible things about how desperate for companionship she is.
Shampoo is engaged to Ranma by the laws of her village. During Panthyose Taro's first arc she comments that the laws of Chinese villages are absolute and cannot be broken on extremely severe punishment - and when she had apparently broken another law she ended up forced to take a dangerous task and cursed. Meaning Shampoo has to marry Ranma, no matter if she falls out of love with him... And she and Cologne won't take lightly to any interloper.
It's hinted after Shampoo's second arc that the reason Cologne doesn't just force Ranma to comply is that Shampoo is interceding.
And we mustn't forget perhaps the biggest piece of Fridge Horror in the series; the infamous "Pregnant Ranma" question. Sure, he/she would likely get an abortion, but what if he/she actually fell in hot water before he/she noticed the pregnancy? Rumiko famously didn't want us to think about that forvery good reason.
Unfortunate Implications, but when Shampoo & Cologne introduce themselves to Ryoga at the start of the Bakusai Tenketsu arc, it happens because Cologne finds "P-chan" and brings him home to make him into dinner. As Asians Eat Pets may mention, a rather old bit of anti-Chinese slander, one popular enough it still survives in some Urban Legends, has them kidnapping and eating peoples' pets — and P-chan is Akane's pet. Though the 
◊ as her to-go fighting stance, only modifying it by keeping both feet under the shoulder, even using it against Shampoo in their first match. Something unusual for a practitioner of the Anything Goes... But has two very good reasons:
