Ranma ½/Characters/Tendo Household Residents: Difference between revisions

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== Ranma Saotome (早乙女 乱馬) ==

 

The main character of the series. A teen-aged master of [[Supernatural Martial Arts]], generally assumed to be sixteen years old, though no official age is ever given.<ref>The primary evidence for Ranma's age is that he is in the same class as Akane, who is stated to be 16.</ref> Like most of the other cast members, a very contradictory character, possessing both positive and negative attributes: he can be sensitive and thoughtful one moment, and brash and insulting the next. Cursed to become a [[Gender Bender]] because of his father's stupidity, then bound in an [[Arranged Marriage]] he never even knew about until he was practically at the girl's doorstep, needless to say, he doesn't get on too well with his father.

When it comes to Akane, Ranma's [[No Social Skills|lack of social finesse]] and Akane's mild [[Does Not Like Men|dislike of men]] initially drives them to clash more often than not. But as the story goes on, he gets to know her better and ends up genuinely caring for her as a person.

 

* [[Accidental Pervert]]: Almost never means to do things perverted, and is in fact kind of prudish, but is frequently found in highly incriminating [[Not What It Looks Like]] scenarios.

* [[The Ace]]: Apply mostly in the manga, the anime seems to have more of a bunny ear lawyer or even idiot hero most of the time.

* [[Prehensile Hair]]: He has used his hair as a weapon.

* [[Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs]]: After completing the [[I Am Not Shazam|Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken training]], Ranma devises his own trick based on this trope. While he never [[Calling Your Attacks|names it]] in the manga, the anime and video games confused its name with the speed training and it has become more or less adopted in [[Fanon]] as the actual Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Further training for the "Parlay du Fois Gras" honed this speed for precision through stuffing an opponent's mouth with food without being seen; and the Umisenken involves a "snake-fist" technique with open-handed spear strikes towards the weak spots of an opponent's back, or stealing things swifter than a normal eye can follow... including floorboards.

* [[Real Men Wear Pink]]: Quite skilled at various domestic habits, particularly cooking, and hates a messy house so much he once forgot about a mission (not to mention the fact he was ''breaking into the flat in question'') to clean someone else's flat. He even started cleaning it up again when the owner returned and promptly made a new mess. Admittedly, a lot of his domestic skills can be presumed to stem from the fact he's been taking care of himself for as long as he could remember. In the anime, he also often wears a pastel orange shirt with a dinky little red bowtie, in a more literal version of the trope.

* [[Shameless Fanservice Girl]]: Ranma is aware of the social rules regarding nudity, but simply doesn't care if he/she is wearing clothing most of the time, even in male form (and can often be seen wearing very little clothing such as only boxer shorts).

* [[She Cleans Up Nicely]]: In the second movie, Ranma has to save the ladies from an Harem-slash-arranged marriage to a prince who just so happens to have a potion which turns anything male. Needless to say, [http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/ranko/rdress/dress15.jpg Ranma went all out] to kill two birds with one stone.

 

== Akane Tendō (天道 あかね) ==

A sixteen year old [[Ordinary High School Student]] (or at least the closest you'll get in this series), Akane Tendō is a generally pleasant, friendly girl who is compassionate, helpful and self-sacrificing even to her rivals. However, she's also hot-tempered, very insecure, finds the [[Arranged Marriage]] situation very [[Belligerent Sexual Tension|awkward]] and is notoriously stubborn, which means there are times she's shown a [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] to Ranma Saotome. In general, though, they do get on well enough (although Ranma recurrently mocks her most sensitive spots, and Akane sometimes gives as good as she gets), she frequently helps him out or cheers for him, and is just as willing to make heroic sacrifices for him as he is for her. And despite her frequent [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|denials]], she is extremely possessive and jealous when it comes to Ranma and easily angers when she finds him in the arms of his other fiances.

 

* [[A-Cup Angst]]: Doesn't usually make a big deal about it, but she isn't happy with her breast size at all. She is very quick to take offense at slights (real or perceived) from Ranma about her breasts, gets visibly angry in the first volume/episode when she sees Ranma's girl form naked and realizes that, yes, s/he really is bustier than Akane is, and in the "Bust Battle" manga arc, she not only suggests Nodoka bring "Ranko" bra shopping with them because she's ticked that Ranma boasted about his girl form's larger growth spurt over her own, but is shown to have a whole box full of things meant to make her breasts grow.

* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]]: Is proud of her martial arts skill and being the heir to the dojo, but that gets blown out of the water with the appearance of Ranma and the others, so she falls into [[Can't Catch Up]] status. She's also very stubborn with her pride, refusing to accept help from Ranma even though she has no chance of winning a fight (i.e. Dojo Destroyer). She also falls under this in cooking, refusing to admit that a guy is better at cooking than her.

* [[Improbable Aiming Skills]]: She usually manages to hit Ranma with whatever she throws unless he finds a shield. Whether it's a stone, table, sink or other thrown object. She once managed to nail Gosunkugi with an apple by throwing it ''around a corner'', and early in the manga, she made a perfect shot on an erratic Ranma with a severely-weighted arrow. He snapped it in half, but the shot was true. And then there's her accuracy at throwing hot water kettles over long distances...

* [[I Owe You My Life]]: Akane's main motivation for staying with Shinnosuke and his grandfather to help them and care for them, at least until they found a way to heal Shinnosuke permanently... however long that took.

* [[Kid Samurai]]: Shown to specialize in a wide variety of archaic samurai weaponry, and be just short of Kuno in sword skills. However, strangely despite being shown as a more skilled armed than unarmed fighter, and that this (and battle auras) in fact is the family fighting specialization of her father, fanon tends to play her as a comparatively untalented karateka. Possibly because she is, surprisingly, seen training and fighting with her bare hands (or improvised weapons) more often then using the actual samurai weapons she's trained to use.

** Moreso in the [[Live-Action Adaptation]] where she carries a bokken with her wherever she goes.

 

== Genma Saotome (早乙女 玄馬) ==

Ranma Saotome's father and sole parental figure for most of his life, Genma is a genuinely talented martial artist, but also a man of many faults, including laziness, greed and self-centeredness. He does genuinely love his son and want what's best for him, but he is capable of being extremely childish and often doesn't realize that "best for Ranma" and "makes Genma happy" are not necessarily the same thing.

 

* [[Abusive Parents]]: Frequently considered the worst parent in the series. He hauled Ranma all over the country all of his childhood (causing Ranma to forget he even had a mother), subjected him to harsh martial arts training, is known to have stolen food from Ranma on several occasions, seems incapable of speaking to Ranma without insulting him, forced Ranma to undergo the [[Harmful to Minors|Nekoken training]], made at least two [[Arranged Marriage|Arranged Marriages]] without telling Ranma until the last moment, and gave Ranma his [[Gender Bender]] curse because of his own stupidity. Inversion at the end when he save Ranma from his Mother who saw Ranma being unmanly and was preparing to force Ranma to commit suicide. So his wife is even worst...

* [[Calling Your Attacks]]: A variation: Genma rarely outright ''calls'' his attacks, but he does ''name'' all of them.

 

== Soun Tendō (天道 早雲) ==

Akane's father is a widower who lost his wife about a decade ago to some unknown fate. Though he tries to present himself as the stoic, dignified, traditional sort of person, he is really very emotional and frequently prone to fits of dramatics. It's unknown whether the Tendō Dojo is a business dojo or a family dojo. Soun's own job is left unclear in the original manga (the best evidence he even has one is that he once tries to use "going on a business trip" as an excuse when he thought Kasumi was angry, and it's [[Alternative Character Interpretation|possible]] that was just a gag, and he's actually unemployed), but the anime shows him to be a member of the town council. Even though his source of income isn't very clear, he nevertheless manages to support himself, his three daughters, his three houseguests and the frequent repairs with only occasional bouts of tight finances.

 

* [[Bumbling Dad]]: Truly loves his girls, but is frequently over his head in dealing with them, usually more likely to cause them problems then help them.

* [[Demon Head]]: Probably his most fearsome technique... if not his ''only'' technique.

* [[It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY"]]: Soun's name is not Romanized in a way that easily shows how it should be pronounced. The hirigana spelling is そううん, which is pronounced in English as "soh-oon". "Sō'un", "Sou'un" or "So'un" would be more accurate.

* [[Land Poor]]: So how does a martial arts sensei with no job (and no students) afford that big fancy house on a nice-sized plot of land in Nerima, a very urbanized part of Tokyo?

** He is shown to make money from renting out the dojo for social clubs, and regularly taking specialist missions catching criminals. Kasumi is shown to help him with the first, and Akane and Ranma with the second. He may or may not take martial arts students in the manga, though the anime is explicit that he has no regular students currently, but is quite willing to accept them.

** A better question would be how can he afford the constant ''repairs'' to the place?

* [[Meaningful Name]]: One reading of his name in English would be "Heavenly Path's Swift Cloud": he's one of the two most ardent supporters of the [[Official Couple]], and he's incredibly quick to burst into tears. More directly translated, "Soun" means "Fast Cloud", which is either a nod to his tendency to burst into tears at the slightest provocation, or else a reference to his willingness to dump any problems that arrive on Ranma's shoulders. "Tendō", meanwhile, means "The Laws of Heaven and Nature", a reference to how his commands are '''always''' obeyed by Ranma.

 

== Nabiki Tendō (天道 なびき) ==

The second of the three Tendō daughters, this seventeen year old is a happy, popular girl, and quite at peace with herself, as well as extremely [[Greed|avaricious]], [[Manipulative Bitch]] and completely amoral. Essentially, she owns a [[PHD]] in The Art Of Being A Bitch. There are no apparent limits to how low she will stoop, nor to whom she will backstab when it comes to making money. Nabiki is a completely untalented fighter, but is able to quickly set up traps when necessary. Thus, she mostly stays out of the line of fire and watches the chaos like it's her own personal floorshow, but occasionally she deliberately sets up life-threatening situations... for her own amusement, or for the opportunity to make a profit.

* [[The Barnum]]: See above. If she never heard "There's a sucker born every minute", she would have invented the saying herself.

* [[Big Eater]]: Frequently snacking, and enjoys eating large meals at the expense of others.

 

== Kasumi Tendō (天道 かすみ) ==

 

* [[Born Lucky]]: Kind of. Never getting involved or hurt by any of the devious schemes that surrounds the house certainly counts as being lucky.

* [[Cool Big Sis]]: To Akane, who adores her.

* [[Flanderization]]: Latter episodes/chapters turned her into [[The Pollyanna]] who responded to everything with [[Catch Phrase|"Oh My!"]].

* [[Friend to All Living Things]]: First displayed when she summons an army of cats to help Ranma get over the trauma induced by his Cat-Fu training just by saying "Here, kitty kitty".

* [[Karmic Protection]]: Out of all the household's residents, she's the most pleasant, polite, affable and well-intentioned. She's also the least exposed to having unpleasant things happen to her and, even in times of big trouble, she remains mostly spared from the violence and zaniness that surrounds her.

* [[Meaningful Name]]: "Misty Heavenly Path", which highlights both her status as "The Nice One" of the cast and her somewhat oblivious antics. Specifically, "Kasumi" means "Haze or Mist", whilst "Tendō" means "The Laws of Heaven and Nature". It also shares the theme of weather-related names with her father, a sign of how close they are.

* [[Team Chef]]: Of [[Supreme Chef]] quality.

* [[Yamato Nadeshiko]]: Mostly a parody: there are plenty of times when she either comes off as so sweet she's oblivious to reality, or times when she actually makes things worse by making some thoughtless but well-meant comment (for example, suggesting that Ranma might try something if he and Akane are alone together and giving her a mallet for protection). There are also times when she does make some very keen observations, though she's usually too ineffective to put them to any good use. For example, she had no doubts at all about the fact that Nabiki was just messing with Ranma's head during her brief stint as his fiancée, and warned Nabiki that playing with Ranma's heart could get her hurt.

 

== Ryōga Hibiki (響 良牙)/P-Chan (P-チャン) ==

Ranma Saotome's most persistent rival, a boy with a [[No Sense of Direction|notoriously bad sense of direction]] who he met in junior high school. Initially, Ryōga was angry with Ranma for consistently taking his lunch, and not staying for a duel despite knowing about his handicap of always getting lost (Ranma waited three days, Ryōga showed up on the fourth). It's worth noting that the venue was directly behind Ryōga's house. For this, he started to chase him and ended up in China... then he genuinely started to despise him after Ranma accidentally pushed him into the "Spring of Drowned Piglet". After finding out that Ranma actually ''was'' directly responsible, things briefly got even more heated, but their relationship soon becomes that of romantic and "professional" rivalry along with an annoyance on Ryōga's part for Ranma manipulating and making fun of him. As the series develops, the two gradually work out their differences. Ryōga's curse allows him to masquerade as the pet of Akane Tendō, whom Ryōga swiftly develops a massive crush on. Ryōga has a noble heart and usually means well, but he is also driven almost entirely by his whims and emotions; he can just as easily beat Ranma up as he can save his life.

 

* [[Adorkable]]: He's just so awkward and insecure around other people that his pitifulness becomes endearing. Also, contrasting Ranma, whilst Ranma is very brash and arrogant (especially by Japanese values), Ryōga is far politer and more reserved.

* [[Angst Nuke]]: His signature technique, the "Shishi Hokodan", gets more powerful the more depressed he is. Normal levels are a basic ki blast, but when he's truly depressed a giant ball of energy crashes down from the sky.

* [[I Was Just Passing Through]]: A rare example of someone who can claim this, and actually be believed because there's a very real possibility that he truly was. He tends to unexpectedly pop up whenever someone he knows/the plot has need of him.

* [[Kudzu Plot]]: Akari + Ryōga's lack of control when emotional + Ryōga's [[Super Strength]] = ...[[And Call Him George|Let's all hope that Akari is the toughest female in the series]].

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: As impossibly strong and durable as he is, he still manages to be fairly fast.

* [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: Ryōga's romantic desires sometimes run away with his common sense. There have been several occasions when he's actually gotten a chance to take Akane on a date, only for him to ruin things because he got so overexcited: he once contemplated staying in a [[Kimodameshi]] forever because Akane was asking him for protection while they were there, and he only allows Akane to think of him as P-chan because he's got a crush on her and he believes he can use it to protect her... despite being more or less harmless in [[Baleful Polymorph|piglet form]].

 

== Happōsai (八宝斎) ==

Soun and Genma's abusive master and the founder of Anything Goes Martial Arts (the anime, at least, goes to the extent of having him refer to his moves as "Founding School Anything Goes"), this ancient pervert is the by far most powerful fighter in the series and lives solely to sate his own desires, usually getting away with it due to the powerhouse he is, and is a frequent source of trouble. Soun and Genma got away from him by getting him blind drunk, chaining him in a barrel, throwing it (and a bundle of lit dynamite) into a cave, and then sealing it with a boulder covered by a [[Zigzag Paper Tassel]], but he finally managed to free himself and forced himself into Soun's home. He claims to intend to train Ranma as his heir, but has never actually ''done'' any training.

 

* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: In the anime, one late episode is set during the rainy season and the constant damp renders Happōsai's favored Happo Fire Burst technique useless. So, he sets to trying to come up with new variants, creating several failures (resulting in explosions of garbage, creepy-crawlies, banners and pigeons/doves) before he comes up with the Happo Mold Burst, which makes his bombs unleash paralyzing, suffocating clouds of mold.

* [[Badass Boast]]: [[Large Ham|You're the one who's got it coming! How dare you use that tone. I won't allow it. For the sake of all mankind I promimsed I'd never again use this technique, but... By the power invested in me as Master of the founding School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts, I Happosai do hereby invoke my most powerful and mighty Technique. Happo Fire Burst!]]

* [[Trickster Mentor]]: He's supposed to be Ranma's master, but will annoy him to no end, foist all his troubles onto him, and generally treat him like dirt for as long as he can get away with. Ranma never learns anything ''from'' him, directly, but by having to come up with ways to ''thwart'' him.