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This article pertains to the Ranma ½ anime and manga series.
Names are in Western order, with the family name after the given name.
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Ranma Saotome
(早乙女 乱馬 Saotome Ranma)
Japanese Seiyū: Kappei Yamaguchi (male), Megumi Hayashibara (female)
English Voice Actor: Sarah Strange (male, #1), Richard Ian Cox (male, #2), Brigitta Dau (female, #1), Venus Terzo (female, #2)
The main character, sixteen year old heir to the Saotome branch of the School of Indiscriminate Grappling, otherwise known as "Anything Goes Martial Arts", Mutsabetsu Kakutō (無差別格闘早乙女流) in Japanese; he is the best martial artist in the series, save for Cologne and Happosai. His greatest strengths are the amazing speed at which he learns new techniques, and his ability to come up with new tactics and new adaptations of old techniques, even in the heat of battle; his greatest weaknesses are a huge ego which doesn't let him back down from any challenge, and an almost complete lack of social skills. He doesn't seem too interested in girls, much less in getting married, yet he is constantly pushed and pulled in multiple directions by people who want to marry him (or her), who want him to marry a specific person, or who want him to not marry a specific person.
Towards the end of a ten year training voyage, Ranma and his father, Genma Saotome, went to Jusenkyo, a cursed training ground in China, to practice their Martial Arts. When Ranma fell in a spring there, he came out as a busty teenage girl (who, in the anime, also has red hair). Now whenever he gets splashed with cold water he becomes female. With warm water, he turns back to a male.
The name "Ranma" means "disorderly horse", a good description of his personality. The name "Saotome" means "quick maiden/virgin", a reference to his female half (the commonly used "rice planting girl" is a mistranslation which has now become fanon).
Ranma is cursed by the Nyannichuan (1500 year old spring of a drowned Girl).
Special Techniques
- 猫拳 Nekoken - a condition Ranma is subject to when his fear of cats reaches an unbearable level - when this happens, he is nigh-invincible, acting like a cat, with cat-swipes that shred everything around him; however, he is mentally a cat.
- 天津甘栗拳 Tenshin Amaguriken - a flurry of attacks of blinding speed.
- 飛龍昇天波 Hiryuushoutenha - a poweful whirlwind created by spiraling opponents' anger with cold energy.
- 猛虎高飛車 Moukotakabisha - a blast of ki fueled by feelings of superiority and confidence.
- 海千拳 Umisenken - learned from Genma.
Genma Saotome
(早乙女 玄馬 Saotome Genma)
Japanese Seiyū: Kenichi Ogata English Voice Actor: Robert O. Smith
The father of Ranma Saotome, and the master of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.
Like his son, Genma was also cursed at Jusenkyo, and transforms into a giant panda when exposed to cold water. Hot water temporarily relieves the curse allowing Genma to return to his human form, but only until the next time he is exposed to cold water.
Genma obsessively trains his son in the martial arts, often ignoring all common sense in pursuit of making his son the greatest martial artist in the world. Often his zealous pursuit of this goal leads the two of them into a lot of trouble, the majority of which usually lands on Ranma's shoulders. Instances of this include the fateful trip to Jusenkyo, the seppuku contract, and the cat fist.
Despite his thoughtless and the both strange and dangerous training, the effectiveness of Genma's tactics are undeniable. By the beginning of both the manga and anime Ranma is a top notch martial artist with few peers, and even fewer betters. As the manga progresses, Ranma gets stronger and stronger while Genma remains at the level he was at the beginning.
Whereas Ranma is unable to tolerate his curse, Genma has learned to live with it, rarely distinguishing between his human and panda forms. While in his panda body, he communicates by holding up wooden signs.
The name "Genma" means "black horse", a good description of his personality.
Genma is cursed by the Shonmaoniichuan (the 2000 year old spring of the drowned panda)
Special Techniques:
- 地獄のゆりかご Jigoku no Yurikago - Genma's only remaining method that is still able to beat Ranma
- 山千拳 Yamasenken - a secret style created by Genma.
- 海千拳 Umisenken - a secret style created by Genma, paired with the Yamasenken.
Akane Tendo
(天道 あかね Tendō Akane)
Japanese Seiyū: Noriko Hidaka
English Voice Actor: Myriam Sirois
The first of Ranma's fiancees/suitors that we meet, and also the only one to claim to not love him (although she secretly is in love with him). She is very bad at all traditional female skills, especially cooking, which even her family refuses to eat; indeed, she's bad at pretty much all physical activities, save for martial arts, ice skating and volleyball. She also has a big temper, which Ranma has a real talent for setting off; her sister Kasumi says of her: "She's really a very sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac."
The name "Akane" is the name of a plant which is called the Madder in English, leading many fans to think that her name means "angrier", referring to her temper. "Tendō" means "way of heaven" or "the laws of heaven and nature". Akane is seen by many fans as the embodiment of an anime character archetype - the angry girl with a penchant for violence (specifically towards her ostensible love interest) and a tendency to ignore things she doesn't want to hear. Other anime girls of this stripe include Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion and Naru from Love Hina, as well as many, many others.
Akane created the Akaneniichuan (spring of the nearly drowned Akane Tendo)
Nabiki Tendo
(天道 なびき Tendō Nabiki)
Japanese Seiyū: Minami Takayama
English Voice Actor: Angela Costain
article: Nabiki Tendo
Akane's older sister, seventeen years old, a shrewd businesswoman. Nabiki is very greedy, and is willing to sell out almost anyone, including family sometimes, for money. She occasionally likes to go out with boys, and not spend a single yen, instead getting the boy to pay for everything. In spite of her mercenary ways, however, she has in some instances been willing to help out when needed.
The name "Nabiki" means "to flap or flutter, as in when blown by the wind".
Kasumi Tendo
(天道 かすみ Tendō Kasumi)
Japanese Seiyū: Kikuko Inoue
English Voice Actor: Willow Johnson
Akane's oldest sister, an unmarried housewife at nineteen, Kasumi is responsible for all domestic chores at the Tendo household. She seems to be extremely oblivious, so much so that she sees Ranma's enemies as his "friends", even while they're in the middle of trying to kill him.
The name "Kasumi" means "haze" or "mist", which refers to how oblivious she can be.
Separate article: Kasumi Tendo
Soun Tendo
(天道 早雲 Tendō Sōun)
Japanese Seiyū: Ryunosuke Ohbayashi
English Voice Actor: David Kaye
Akane's father, and old training parter of Genma's who agrees to marry one of his daughters to Genma's son before he really knows what's going on. He is very emotional, and can easily be reduced to tears of joy or sorrow, or be induced into states of frightening anger.
The name "Sōun" means "fast cloud".
Ryoga Hibiki
(響良牙 Hibiki Ryōga)
Japanese Seiyū: Koichi Yamadera
English Voice Actor: Michael Donovon
article: Ryoga Hibiki
Ranma's foe, and the only recurring character who can come close to Ranma in a fair fight (besides Cologne and Happosai); he is incredibly strong and tough, and swings around an amazingly heavy bamboo umbrella as if it weighs nothing. As for personality Ryoga is usually very melancholy and tends to be very overdramatic. He was cursed at Jusenkyo to turn into a small black pig, he uses this form to become P-chan, Akane's pet pig. Ranma knows that Ryoga is P-chan, but due to a promise to Ryoga is unable to tell Akane and keeps Ryoga's curse a secret. Ryoga is in love with Akane, but is much too shy to ever do anything about it. Though he and Ranma are opponents, it seems there is some kind of friendship between them.
Ryoga's other main characteristic is a terrible sense of direction, sometimes exaggerated by Takahashi and the anime's writers as well as fellow fans. For instance, in the Volume 1 of the manga, after Ryoga is defeated by Ranma for the first time, Ryoga is seen in Okinawa looking for Ranma (Ranma lives in Tokyo).
"Ryōga" means "good fang", referring to Ryoga's fangs. "Hibiki" means "to echo or resound".
Ryoga is cursed by the Heituenniichuan (the 1200 year old spring of the drowned Pig)
Special Techniques:
- 獅子咆哮弾 Shishihoukoudan - a blast of ki that depends on feelings of depression and hopelessness for power.
- 爆砕点穴 Bakusaitenketsu - a finger attack capable of exploding boulders.
Tatewaki Kuno
(九能 帯刀 Kunō Tatewaki)
Japanese Seiyū: Hirotaka Suzuoki
English Voice Actor: Ted Cole
article: Tatewaki Kuno
The self-declared "Blue Lightning of Furinkan High", he is a kendoka and samurai wannabe with delusions of grandeur. When Ranma enters the scene, Upperclassman Kuno considers himself to be the front-runner for Akane's affection, despite the fact that she is repulsed by him. He falls for girl-Ranma, however (without giving up on Akane), and never figures out "her" identity.
The name "Tatewaki" means "bringing a sword", referring to him always carrying around a bokken. "Kunō" means "nine abilities", a reference to how talented he believes himself to be.
Kodachi Kuno
(九能 小太刀 Kunō Kodachi)
Japanese Seiyū: Saeko Shimazu
English Voice Actor: Teryl Rothery
Kuno's sister, "The Black Rose", falls for boy Ranma, and is the only one of his suitors without some official or semi-official claim on him. A master of "Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts", she ambushes her opponents before their match and disables them, thus winning by default (though she calls it "fighting in all fairness before the match"). She is fond of using paralysis gas and sleeping powers on people (even when she has no apparent motivation), and has a maniacal laugh which creeps many people out.
The name "Kodachi" presumably refers to a type of sword, smaller than a katana but larger than a wakizashi.
Special Techniques:
- 千手こん棒 Sentekonbou - a very fast attack that looks like dozens of clubs attacking at once - which it is.
Doctor Ono Tofu
(小乃東風 Ono Tōfū)
Japanese Seiyū: Yuji Mitsuya English Voice Actor: Ian Corlett
The friendly neighborhood chiropractor who's fixes up Ranma whenever Akane beats him up. Watch out when he sees Kasumi, though, his glasses get foggy and he doesn't really know what he's doing anymore.
Though present throughout the entire anime series, he is only present in the first several books of the manga, never being referred to again. His disappearance is never explained, though it is a point of much speculation among fans.
Translated literally, "Tōfū Ono" means "east wind axe". The Japanese interpret it as meaning "wind that brings the spring".
Happosai
(八宝斎 Happōsai)
Japanese Seiyū: Ichiro Nagai English Voice Actor: Paul Dobson
Genma's and Soun's tiny master, and founder and grand master of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts; he is assumed to be about the same age as Cologne, either 100 years old (manga) or 300 years old (anime). The only things he cares about are martial arts, groping women and stealing their underwear, and satisfying his own hedonism. Even though he's a pervert, Genma and Soun don't have the backbone to stand up to him, and try to force Ranma to apologize when Ranma stands up to Happosai.
"Happōsai" has the same sound as "八宝菜", or "eight treasures dish", a popular Chinese seafood dish in Japan. The 斎 character that 菜 has been replaced with is a common ending for martial arts masters' names in old times.
Special Techniques
- 八宝大華輪 Happoudaikarin - a bomb attack, typically lobbed at opponents.
Shampoo/Shanpu
(珊璞 Shānpú, but usually シャンプー Shanpū)
Japanese Seiyū: Rei Sakuma
English Voice Actor: Cathy Weseluck
Soon after getting cursed at Jusenkyo, Ranma (as a girl) defeats Shampoo, member of the Joketsuzoku ("tribe of women heroes", or "Chinese Amazons" in more culturally loaded English term). This was a bad move, because, according to the Chinese Amazon tribal laws, if a female Amazon is defeated by a outsider, she must give the outside the "Kiss of Death", hunt her down to the ends of the earth, and kill her. Ranma and Genma manage to elude her, and think that they've lost her when they settle down in Nerima.
However, Shampoo eventually tracks female-Ranma down and resumes her attempts at killing her. She tracks Ranma down to the Tendo household, attacks Akane for hiding Ranma from her, and, defending Akane, male-Ranma defeats Shampoo a second time. However, instead of receiving a "Kiss of Death" (死の接吻), Ranma gets a searing, toe-curling kiss on the lips; it turns out that if a female Amazon is defeated by a male outsider, she has to marry him. She continues on the path of trying marry male Ranma and kill female Ranma, until Ranma tricks her into thinking that the male side is just a disguise for the female side. Heartbroken, Shampoo returns to China, where she receives a cat curse at Jusenkyo.
Realizing that Ranma had a Jusenkyo curse, she then goes back to Japan to try to marry Ranma once more. Unfortunately, the Jusenkyo curse which lead to this realization comes with a price: Ranma is completely phobic about cats.
She might seem like a bimbo, but that's because she's not good at speaking the Japanese language, and her head-over-heels love for Ranma often clouds her mind. Shampoo is an excellent unarmed fighter, but she also commonly uses a pair of bonbori as weapons, solid metal spheres on the ends of medium-long handles.
Special Techniques
- 必殺指圧拳 Hissatsu Shiatsuken - technique involving pressure points on the head to erase certain memories.
- 微笑み三年殺し Hohoemisannengoroshi - a horrible technique involving pain and fear for three years!
Cologne/Ko Lon
(コロン Koron)
Japanese Seiyū: Miyoko Aso English Voice Actor: Elan Ross Gibson
Shampoo's great grand-mother, contemporary of Happosai, and possibly a leader (or the leader) of the Chinese Joketsuzoku tribe; as well, she is very elderly, being 100 years old (manga) or 300 (anime). Cologne calls Ranma "future son-in-law", and though she tries to trick and scheme to get Ranma to marry Shampoo at first (as well as at a couple of opportunities that fall into her lap), most of the time she is there as an aside, seeming to find joy in just watching the madness. She is a grand master of martial arts, and occasionally teaches Ranma new techniques (and sometimes does the same for his rivals). She gets around by pogoing on a gnarled wooden staff.
Special Techniques
- 天津甘栗拳 Tenshin Amaguriken - taught to Ranma.
- 爆砕点穴 Bakusaitenketsu - taught to Ryoga.
- 飛龍昇天波 Hiryuushoutenha - taught to Ranma.
- 鮫拳 Sameken - a blast of water in the shape of a shark, only usable when in water.
Mousse/Musi
(沐絲 Mùsī, usually ムース Mūsu)
Japanese Seiyū: Toshihiko Seki English voice actor: Brad Swaile
A male Chinese Amazon and hidden Weapons master. He is desperately in love with Shampoo (he's has basically been stalking her since they were both three), and thus sees Ranma as the rival he needs to defeat (or kill) in order to win Shampoo's affection. He has extremely bad eyesight which requires him to wear coke-bottle glasses, but he usually has them propped up on his forehead, leading him to mistake people for other people (or for animals, or even inanimate objects).
He was cursed at Jusenkyo to turn into a duck, having accidentally walked into the spring of drowned duck due to his poor eyesight. Even in the form of a duck he can still make use of many of his missile weapons (such as knives and bombs).
For some reason, Mousse talks in a Tohoku accent in Japanese.
Ukyo Kuonji
(久遠寺 右京 Kuonji Ukyō)
Japanese Seiyū: Hiromi Tsuru English Voice Actor: Kelly Sheridan
When Ranma is and traveling on the road with his father, he meets and befriends Ukyo Kuonji, "son" of an okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza) chef; Ukyo is actually a girl. Unbeknownst to Ranma, Genma engages Ranma to Ukyo (even though Ranma is already engaged to one of the Tendo daughters), then runs away with the dowry, the family okonomiyaki cart, leaving Ukyo behind. Abandoned by her fiancé, and with her dowry stolen, Ukyo renounces her femininity, dresses as a boy, and dedicates her life to revenge. Ten years later, she tracks the Saotomes down and tries to exact her revenge on Ranma, only to discover that Ranma had no idea about what was going on.
His nonchalant attitude about the whole situation enrages her further right until Ranma makes a remark that it was a shame about a "cute girl like her" throwing away her femininity. This remark, combined with her observation of the constant bickering between Ranma and his other fiancé Akane, makes her decide to throw away her ten year long quest for vengeance, and to try to marry him instead.
Ukyo primarily fights with a very large metal spatula (resembling a baker's peel) which she holsters on her back, and with a brace of mini-spatulas that she throws like shuriken, which she keeps on a bandolier which is draped across her torso. She occasionally uses other food-related weapons, like a "flour bomb" that acts like a smoke-screen.
Ukyo speaks in Osaka dialect in Japanese.
The name "Ukyō" is composed of the kanji for "right" and "capital city". "Kuonji" means "eternity".
Pantyhose Taro
(パンスト太郎 Pansuto Tarō)
Japanese Seiyū: Shinnosuke Furumoto English Voice Actor: Matt Hill
Pantyhose Taro had the bad fortune to be born, not only when Happosai was nearby, but when Happosai was experiencing a totally uncharacteristic fit of altruism, and decided to help the mother out with her birthing. This lead to two unfortunate results. The first was that Happosai bathed the newborn Taro in the most accursed spring in Jusenkyo, the Niuhoomanmaorenniichuan (牛鶴鰻毛人溺泉) the spring of drowned "yeti holding an eel and crane riding an ox"; when exposed to cold water, Taro turns into a minotaur with wings and an eel for a tail. However, Taro doesn't consider that to be his misfortune; he rather likes how powerful his cursed form is. The true misfortune was that, because Happosai had bathed the newborn infant, he had to name the child; this was the law of the village his mother came from. Being an underwear stealing pervert, Happosai decides that "Pantyhose" is the perfect name for a boy. Taro loathes his name, but according to village law only Happosai can change it.
Thus, when he becomes an adult, he sets off on a quest to track down the shriveled old lecher and force him to change his name (in the English anime version, he wants to be named "Mister Cool"; in the Viz graphic novel, he asks for "Awesome Taro"). Taro is arrogant and cold hearted, and he angers off all of his potential allies, especially Ranma, whom Taro really hates for some unknown reason.
Later, he jumps into another pool at Jusenkyo, gaining giant octopus tentacles and ink-squirting abilities as well, making him even more formidable.
The "Taro" in "Pantyhose Taro" is actually a common ending for male given names in Japanese, or even a common name by itself (so an American could think of Pantyhose Taro as "Pantyhosebob" or "Pantyhose Ed").
Principal Kuno
(九能 校長 Kunō Kōchō, meaning Principal Kuno) - Kōchō is not his real name
Japanese Seiyū: Tatsuyuki Jinnai
English Voice Actor: Scott McNeil
Kuno's father is the principal of Furinkan High School, which Ranma, Akane, Tatewaki Kuno, Nabiki and Ukyo attend. Though Japanese by birth, he has spent some years in Hawaii in the United States and has returned with very dark skin and a fake Hawaiian accent. He loves nothing more than making life miserable for his students, and is also obsessed with cutting hair. He combines these two by trying to enforce really bad haircuts on the student population (buzz cuts for boys, bowl cuts for girls).
Hinako Ninomiya
(二ノ宮 ひな子 Ninomiya Hinako)
Japanese Seiyū: Yumi Touma English Voice Actor: Janyse Jaud
A teacher hired by Principal Kuno, she has a reputation with reforming troublesome students, a reputation which causes surprise when she shows up and turns out to be all of 12 years old. But her reputation is justified, since she has the ability to absorb a person's battle aura, rendering them incapable of fighting. After absorbing aura, she instantly grows into a voluptuous woman, and is then capapable of firing the aura as a large ball of energy with which to strike at her oponents; she returns to her child form after using the energy this way.
The reason for her strange abilities and situation is that, as a small child, she was very sickly. Happosai was raiding nurses' panties at her hospital, and "helped" her by manipulating her pressure points, thus changing her metabolism so she could absorb the auras of other people to increase her health; however, his only motive for doing this was so she could absorb the battle auras of the enraged nurses whose panties he stole, thus preventing the nurses from chasing him. This changed metabolism makes her default form age very slowly, so her true age is that of her adult form.
The battle aura absorbing techniques can be countered by hitting 5 pressure points on her body: two on her back, three on her chest. The problem with the counter is that the placement of the pressure points causes the attacker to look like a pervert when trying to simultaneously hit the 5 points, as Ranma unfortunately discovers.
Special Techniques:
- 八宝五円殺 Happougoensatsu - the ability to suck opponent's fighting intent (闘気) and grow into an adult woman by sucking energy through a 5 yen coin.
- 八宝五十円殺 Happougojuuensatsu - similar to the Happougoensatsu, but using a 50 yen coin for more effect.
- 八宝釣銭返し Happoutsurisengaeshi - an attack releasing sucked energy in the form of a large ki blast; after releasing this attack, Hinako returns to her normal child form.
Nodoka Saotome
(早乙女 のどか Saotome Nodoka)
Japanese Seiyū: Masako Ikeda
English Voice Actor: Lisa Bunting
Ranma's mother. She is a gentle, attractive woman, who very closely resembles Ranma's female form (Nabiki comments on how similar they look during Nodoka's first visit to the Tendos). She always carries around a fairly large bundle, which contains a family katana. Before departing on their training journey, to allow him to take Ranma away from his mother, Genma promised her that he would train Ranma to be "a man among men". If Genma were to fail in this regard, both he and Ranma would commit ritual seppuku. Nodoka agreed to this and also that she would be the kaishukunin for her husband and son. Hence the need to always carry the katana. Because of this promise, Genma and Ranma are terrified of showing their true forms to Nodoka and for her to find out about their curse. To prevent Nodoka from finding out, they hide in their cursed form, with Ranma taking the alias of "Ranko" and pretending to be Akane's cousin, and Genma taking the alias of "Mr. Panda" and pretending to be Ranko's pet.