Ranma is engaged to Akane Tendo, and to get her riled he calls her "uncute" and she throws furniture at him to get him to shut up. They are heirs to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts and attends school at Furinken High. Other than Tatewaki and Kodachi, he is also chased by Shampoo and Ukyo.

This is Akane Tendo. She's 16 years old like Ranma and by order of their respective families are engaged to each other. She hates boys, which is why her older sisters Kasumi and Nabiki chose her because Ranma is just half a boy. In the first episode or so, she likes Dr. Tofu until she realizes that he's gugu over Kasumi and stops having a crush on him. Originally, Akane has long hair, until that fateful day in the zoo where Ryogo cuts it short with his bandanna (She gave Ryoga and Ranma-chan a wallop on the face for that).

She's jealous of the other girls vying for Ranma's attentions, and keeps denying it, altering it with beating up Ranma. She's a terrible cook--when she makes an attempt at cooking, everybody panics and tries to avoid her cooking.

Akane (def.) - scarlet (cloud)
Tendo (def.) - destiny or way of heaven

The original Genma Saotome is the one on the left, and the giant panda is his alter ego. He's Ranma's idiot dad who took him to the cursed Jusenkyo Springs in China by sea, and I don't mean on a boat! The guy's too cheap for that-- he made 'em swim to China! Like Ranma, he turns into his other self when splashed with cold water. He took his infant son Ranma away from his wife Nodoka with a promise to train him and bring him back to her as a man. But now that Ranma can turn into a girl and him into a panda, there's no way he can fullfil his promise to her now or she'll make them commit suicide!

Genma's thoughts and decisions are governed by his stomach--he once traded Ranma for 2 pickles and a fish! Fortunately, he sneaked Ranma out of that situation.

Genma and Ranma lives with the Tendo family, eats with the Tendo family, and sleeps in the house of the Tendo family (they've no place to go!)

Genma (def.) - "dark horse"

Soun Tendo is the over-emotional father of Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane, the friend and former classmate of Genma Saotome and one of the two unlucky students of Happosai. Genma and Soun trained under that D.O.M. by stealing ladies' underwear and running away from mobs of angry women.

Soun (def.) - fast (cloud)

The eldest of 3, Kasumi Tendo is the level-headed, even-tempered, sweet and motherly daughter of Soun Tendo. At 19, she's took on the role of housewife, mother and mentor to everyone under the Tendo home. She's oblivious to the fact that Dr. Tofu is head-over-heels in love with her. She's the only calm in the funny and stormy series.

Kasumi (def.) - haze, mistful (cloud)

Nabiki Tendo is the smart-aleck 17 year old daughter of Soun Tendo who loves money and knows how to manipulate people. She gets to profit in ALL situations. She mostly gets rich off Kuno by selling pictures of Ranma-chan and Akane to him.

Nabiki (def.) - waving, fluttering (cloud)

A.k.a. "The Eternally Lost Boy"

16 year old Ryoga Hibiki is sooooo lost, he can lose his bearings in a one-door room. He's been Ranma's rival since junior high. They were supposed to fight in a vacant lot behind Ryoga's house, but the guy didn't make it to the place because he got lost. Took him 4 days to find it and by that time, Ranma left for China. Because of Ranma (in girl-form), Ryoga fell into the Heitoueniichuan, spring of drowned little black pig, and he blames Ranma endlessly for it. Akane adopted his pig form and called him P-chan, and to Azusa he's known as Charlotte.

There's one thing you shouldn't do to Ryoga: make him depressed. He had been taught a certain Ki technique where he uses his depression into some kind of super blast of power, which he used to (almost) win against Ranma.

Ryoga (def.) - good fangs (take a good look at his mouth to find out)
Hibiki (def.) - sound, noise

Shampoo belongs to an all-women tribe called the Joketsuzoku. She gave Ranma-chan a kiss of death for defeating her in a fight and for eating her prize for winning the other fight before it. She's been chasing Ranma all over so that she could kill him and regain her honour. When she reached the Tendo residence, Ranma the boy defeated her again. Because of that and according to Amazonian laws, he becomes her future bridegroom. To get rid of Shampoo, Ranma shows her his girl-form and this freaks Shampoo out. She returns to the Amazon and trains with her great-great grandma Cologne at the Jusenkyo. She gets hit and falls into a spring that changed her into a cat, an animal that freaks Ranma out.

Shampoo is also 16 years old and works at the Cat Cafe with Cologne. Mousse is in love with her and Shampoo doesn't return his affections.

Shampoo (def.) - uncut jade

Cologne is the leader of the Amazonian Joketsuzoku tribe and the great-great grandmother of Shampoo. She helps Shampoo to snag Ranma and get rid of Mousse. To her, Ranma is called "son-in-law". She and Happosai were once an item, but that Dirty Old Man ruined it between them because of, well, HIM.

Cologne is 200 years old.

Cologne (def.) - possible, rugged mountain
She's also known as O-baba meaning "honorable hag".

Better known as the "Dirty Old Man", Happosai was the mentor of Soun and Genma and the world's biggest little pervert. He collects all types of women's wear, both underwear and skimpy outerwear. Soun and Genma tried to get rid of him by making him dead drunk, putting him in a cave and sealing it off with a boulder, to no avail. Happosai got out and made everyone's life miserable since.

Happosai (def.) - 8 treasure together

Ukyo Kuonji is Ranma's 16 year old childhood friend. When they were kids, she was betrothed to Ranma and her dad gave Genma the Okkinomiyaki (a.k.a. Japanese pizza) cart. And guess what Genma did? He took off with the cart and Ranma, leaving Ukyo behind. Because of that, Ukyo was belittled and teased by her peers that her fiance left her, so she compensates by training to be the best Okkinomiyaki maker in the world. When they met again, Ranma thought Ukyo's a boy at first. When he found out what his idiot father did to her he called her his kawaii iinazuke or cute fiancee.

Of all the Ranma 1/2 characters, she's the most down-to-earth and the only rival to Ranma's affections who doesn't attempt to kill Akane.

Ukyo (def.) - right of Kyoto/capital
Kuonji (def.) - eternal temple

From the first time Shampoo beat him up, throttled him and kicked him, Mousse has always been infatuated with her. He tries to woo her, but because of his bad eyesight, he made a muck out of it and made Shampoo even more disgusted of him. So when Mousse found that Shampoo now loves Ranma, he tries to get him, but of course he can't 'coz he's almost blind. He's 16 years old and from China like Shampoo and wears super-thick glasses for his poor vision. Unfortunately for him, his glasses failed to help him look where he's going and who he's talking to, and it also resulted in him falling into a Jusenkyo spring that changed him into a duck.

Mousse is a practitioner and expert in the form of martial arts that enables him to hide lots of weapons in his clothes.

Mousse (def.) - wash and thread

Before Ranma Saotome came along, there was Tatewaki Kuno, the 17 year old captain of the Kendo team and self-titled "Rising Blue Thunder of Furinken High". He made a proclamation in a school meeting that whosoever gets to defeat Akane Tendo in a fight gets to date her, resulting in a most interesting start of school day for Akane. This also resulted in Akane's irritation for boys. When Ranma came along, Kuno thinks he's there to take Akane away from him, even though it became a well-known fact around school that Akane 'n' Ranma are already engaged. Now, when Kuno met Ranma-chan, he falls in love with him and can't decide who he loves more (Akane or the Pig- tailed girl?).

Tatewaki Kuno is the son of Furinken High's crazy principal and Kodachi's brother. He's one of the funniest characters in the series because he makes a fool of himself despite his "cool" image.

Tatewaki (def.) - bringing a sword
Kuno (def.) - 9 abilities

If Tatewaki Kuno is "The Rising Blue Thunder of Furinken High", Kodachi Kuno is the "Black Rose of St. Hebereke High", an all-girl's school she attends. And if Tatewaki Kuno doesn't like Ranma and loves Ranma-chan, Kodachi loves Ranma and hates Ranma-chan. What a predicament! When Akane joined the gymnastics team of Furinken High, Kodachi went to the Tendo residence and tries to sabotage her. It was during this nightly attempt that she met Ranma in his original form.

Kodachi is the reigning star of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics and is a cheater; she'll use maces, spiked pins, chains, and other harmful accessories to make her win. During her match with Ranma-chan, she hired (or made) the Gymnastic Team to move the ring around in case she falls off balance.

Kodachi (def.) - little long sword

He's the wacky father of Kodachi and Tatewaki Kuno and the weirdo principal of Furinken High. He's most often seen in a Hawaiian shirt, shades on his face, a lei around his neck and a glass of Hawaiian punch with the little umbrella in his hand. His mouth spews cheesy english phrases and not a very beloved principal to everybody. Why?

Well...he wants them all to sport a crew cut hairdo.

Azusa Shiratori took one look at Pchan and claimed him as her own and called him Charlotte. When Akane goes looking for him, she found him in Azusa's arms. A challenge for a Martial Arts Figure Skating Tournament was issued, winner takes pig. To make the challenge even more binding, Azusa places a pink, unbreakable, iron necklace around Pchan and won't be removed until the Tournament is over and Akane wins...IF she wins. Akane pairs off with Ranma, which poses a problem because Ranma can't skate and little kids were watching him. Azusa is partnered with Mikado Sanzenin, and together they make (and are) the Golden Pair of Martial Arts Skating. During the Tournament itself, the Golden Pair do their infamous Goodbye World where they grab their opponents by their legs and spin them around until they let go. But Ranma won't let go of Akane and ends up getting hurt. Ryoga (with the necklace digging into his neck), grabs Ranma-chan by mistake and pairs off with her. Azusa recognizes the necklace and started to beat Mikado up.

Azusa is 16 years old. She collects anything that's cute (even a little rice cake) and names them silly European names like Charlotte. She also collects fishballs and kind of adopted Genma (in panda form) and names him Oscar.

Azusa (def.) - catalpa tree
Shiratori (def.) - white tree

Mikado Sanzenin is the Don Juan heartthrob of Martial Arts Firgure Skating and kisses an average of 1000 girls (or so he says). The next girl he kisses must be more beautiful than the next--so imagine what he did to Ranma-chan when she fell down on the ice? He kissed her, and for that Ranma beat him up 600 times.

Mikado (def.) - emperor
Sanzenin (def.) - 3000 palaces

Nodoka Saotome is Ranma's mom, and right now father and son are terrified of her and what she'll do to them if she finds out about their "better halves". So, during the OAV "Like Water, Like Ranma", they switch to their other selves. In this same episode, she teaches Ranma-chan (or Ronko) and Akane how to cook. Genma doesn't fare well here because his wife keeps feeding him Akane's mistakes...poor Genma!

Dr. Tofu is the town's chiropractic specialist. He tried to treat Ranma's "condition" after Cologne pressed a certain pressure point in his chest that disabled him from standing the heat in hot water. Akane used to think she was in love with him, but doesn't now because she realizes he loves someone else--Kasumi. The poor man can't think straight when Kasumi's around. His glasses fog up and does a lot of nutty things, like ripping up a rare manuscript (AIIIEEEEEEEEAAAAA!!!).

And Kasumi doesn't even know...^-^

Tofu (def.) - east wind

Sasuke Sarugakine is Tatewaki Kuno's little ninja henchman. Kuno treats him like dirt and so does Kodachi. He sleeps on a straw mat and drinks water coming down from the roofs of houses. He can't choose sides and if he does, he'll get kicked out of the house. He may be treated this way, but oddly he likes his masters very much...

Sasuke (def.) - help
Sarugakine (def.) - monkey, hide

When the Jusenkyo-nites least expect it, when they're in the midst of a chase or battle, when they don't look where they're going...she's there...

She's armed with her ever present can of cold water...

She's...The WasherWoman!
Be warned...

Just when his listeners like Ranma and Genma are about to, or are already in a cursed spring, the Chinese guide of Jusenkyo always begins his explanation with, "Very tragic story...". He's there to (supposedly) prevent anyone from taking a dip in the springs, and he's obviously not doing his job. In the manga, he has a daughter named Plum.

Some say Linlin and Ranran are Shampoo's little sisters from China who've come to help Shampoo win Ranma. Others say they're just sent in from Shampoo's Amazon tribe to help her. In any case, they came to Japan to get rid of all Ranma's fiancees so that his union with Shampoo will come true.

Their sacred Amazonian tradition depends on it!

Tsubasa Kurine is a crossdresser who challenges Ranma one day at Furinken High. He chases Ukyo 'coz he likes her and he thinks Ukyo thinks he's a girl. He cross-dresses so that he can go to an all-girls' school.

Tsubasa (def.) - wings

When Miss Hinako Ninomiya was a little girl, she was in a very delicate and fragile condition and had to be put in a hospital. One day, Happosai came to her and helped her get well by teaching her the Happo 5 yen satsu, a form of coin kung fu. With this technique, Hinako has the ability to absorb other people's strengths and take it into her own, turning her into a well-developed, sexy woman. Happosai had another reason for teaching her this: to take out the nurses while he runs off with their underwear!

Hinako Ninomiya works at Furinken High in order for her to get rid of its "delinquents".

If anyone has a good reason to hate Happosai, the pervert, its this guy. Its because Happosai gave him his name "Pantyhose Taro"(or Pantyhose bastard), and this filled him up with rage ever since. When he was a baby, he was baptized at a Jusenkyo spring where a yeti riding a bull carrying a crane and an eel drowned 2500 years ago. I wonder why the Guide never bothered to warn about that spring!?

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