Ranma ½ — Characters

Ranma Saotome is the gifted teenage martial artist at the center of the series, a master of the Saotome school of Anything Goes Martial Arts trained relentlessly by his father from a young age. His defining trait is the curse he received at the springs of Jusenkyo, which transforms him into a red haired girl whenever he is splashed with cold water and restores his true male form with hot water. Proud, competitive and quick to brag, Ranma never backs down from a fight and treats nearly every encounter as a contest to win. Beneath the arrogance he is fundamentally kind, loyal and unwilling to let anyone he cares about come to harm.

Akane Tendo is the youngest of Soun Tendo's three daughters and Ranma's designated fiancee, a spirited and capable martial artist with a notoriously short temper. Tomboyish and fiercely independent, she initially claims to hate all boys, a stance hardened by Tatewaki Kuno's edict that suitors must defeat her in combat. Though hot tempered and prone to clobbering Ranma when he insults her, Akane is also deeply kind, protective of her friends and quietly insecure about her looks and her place among more glamorous rivals. She is famously a terrible cook, a running gag throughout the series.

Happosai is the ancient and diminutive grandmaster of Anything Goes Martial Arts, a tiny old man of monstrous power and even greater perversion. The original teacher of both Genma and Soun, he is a notorious thief of women's underwear whose lecherous antics terrorize the household. Despite his ridiculous obsessions, Happosai is among the strongest martial artists in the series, capable of overwhelming nearly every other character when truly motivated.

Tatewaki Kuno is the pompous captain of the Furinkan High School kendo club, a self styled noble samurai who speaks in grandiose archaic Japanese. Obsessed with Akane Tendo, he infamously decreed that anyone wishing to date her must first defeat him in combat. He is also hopelessly infatuated with Ranma's cursed female form, the pig tailed girl, never realizing she is the rival he despises.

Genma Saotome is Ranma's father and the man responsible for both his son's formidable skills and his ridiculous misfortunes. A practitioner of Anything Goes Martial Arts and former student of the grandmaster Happosai, Genma is lazy, greedy, dishonest and quick to flee responsibility, yet undeniably a capable fighter. Like Ranma he is cursed at Jusenkyo, transforming into a large panda when doused with cold water, a form he often exploits for comedic convenience by communicating through wooden signs.

Soun Tendo is the master of the Tendo dojo and father to Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane. A former student of Happosai and old friend of Genma Saotome, he is the one who agrees to unite the two martial arts schools by marrying a daughter to Ranma. Soun is famously emotional, dissolving into floods of comic tears at the slightest provocation, and is far less imposing than his lineage might suggest, though he is still a trained martial artist.

Shampoo is a beautiful Chinese Amazon warrior and one of Ranma's most persistent suitors. Bound by the strict laws of her tribe, she pursues Ranma after he defeated her in combat, obligated to marry his male form while initially sworn to kill his female form. She carries her own Jusenkyo curse that turns her into a small cat when splashed with cold water, an especially troublesome problem given Ranma's deep fear of cats.

Ryoga Hibiki is Ranma's brooding sworn rival, an immensely strong martial artist cursed with a hopeless sense of direction that leaves him perpetually lost. Blaming Ranma for a duel they never finished and for the accident that gave him his curse, he transforms at Jusenkyo into a small black piglet whenever touched by cold water. In that form, known as P-chan, he is adopted as Akane's beloved pet.

Ukyo Kuonji is a skilled okonomiyaki chef and another of Ranma's childhood fiancees, who fights using a giant battle spatula and an array of food based weapons. Raised feeling betrayed by Genma, she spent years dressing and living as a boy out of resentment before reconnecting with Ranma. She is friendlier toward Ranma than his other rivals, positioning herself as both a close friend and a determined suitor.