Ranma ½/WMG

The Spring Of Drowned Man/Woman wouldn't cure Ranma, Mousse, Ryoga, or Shampoo

Think about Panythose Taro. When he submerged in the Spring of Drowned Octopus, it didn't cancel his previous curse and make him a full octopus with cold water...it MERGED his two curses. Meaning if any of the main cast went into The Spring of Drowned Man/Woman... Ranma would be a male/female hybird (hermaphrodite?), Mousse would be half-duck half-man, Ryoga half-man half-pig, and Shampoo half-woman half-cat.

A particularly horrific fanfiction example has Ranma becoming a self-impregnating mostly-woman.
But hasn't the Instant Spring of Drowned Man powder already shown that it can cure Ranma & Genma?

Ranma Saotome is Inuyasha's reincarnation.

It would be one thing if Inuyasha was just an Expy of Ranma. However, they also share the same voice (in Japanese and post-Season 3 English, no less), and Inuyasha bears a very strong resemblance to Ranma in the manga. With Kagome being pinned as Kikyo's reincarnation with less evidence in canon, it's hardly a far-fetched theory. This is assuming that Inuyasha stays in the past (he does) as opposed to going to the future.

It even makes sense with the cat-vs.-dog thing.
That would explain why Ranma has super strength, super speed, endurance to practically anything, and loves to fight. Hell, I'm sure during the reincarnation process, Inuyasha threatened the being in charge that he'll rip them from adam's apple to asshole if they didn't give his reincarnation some portion of his enhanced demon strengths, and enjoyment of fighting. That's why Ranma is a genius at martial arts. His past life was a half demon who had centuries worth of experience of battling supernatural village busters. Unfortunately, Inuyasha should have included something about cats... Ranma has that horrible fear, it'd be helpful if he had Inuyasha's more sadistic and torturous nature he has towards them (There is nothing any troper can say that will change my mind that all those times he's "happily" playing with Buyo, when he's really just torturing the cat for his own pleasure. Being half demon means he's a trickster who's just waiting for the perfect opportunity to show his true nature - and Ranma's very cunning himself when he wants to be! Another link.).

Ryouga is Koga's Reincarnation.

Like above, he retained the fangs, why Ranma didn't. I'll chalk that one up to Ryouga's blood line being less diluted, Koga and his decendents probably bred with demons for much longer, plus Inuyasha was half to begin with. It also explains why Ryouga's superhuman strength dwarfs Ranma's, also dogs seem to like him :3

...Descendant doesn't mean the same thing as reincarnation. It's possible that Ranma is Inuyasha reincarnated but not descended from him (and thus would have no reason to have inherited the fangs) while Ryouga is Kouga reincarnated and is also descended from Kouga (and thus inherited them). Or maybe, to make things unnecessarily confusing, Ryouga is Kouga reincarnated, but is actually descended from Inuyasha.

Akane is Kagome's reincarnation.

Like the above two, they are very similar in looks and personality. The biggest difference seems to be how they were raised, Akane was the youngest and practiced martial arts in a Dojo while Kagome was the oldest in a temple being a shrine maiden. Besides, why should only the male sides of the love triangle be reincarnated? The two are way to similar to have it be just chance that they are both in love with half men that do the impossible and constantly pound said man into the ground even when it isn't necessary.

The Jusenkyo Preservation Society wasn't trying to stop the cursed heroes to stop transforming.

The is is going to require some explanation. In the 48th episode of the anime, everyone in the series who has been cursed is captured by a mysterious group called the Jusenkyo Preservation Society. They are convinced that, with proper training, the cursed characters can learn to turn the cursed forms on and off. I think that maybe they weren't trying to turn off the transformation... they were trying to convince them they WERE their respective cursed forms. Once the "training" is complete, every time anyone is put into their cursed forms, they convince themselves they are those identities and immediately adopt the personality of their respective form. The warrior Kin'nii has undergone this training, which is why he acts like his views of a priest whenever he is put into his cursed form. Here's a link to the episode.

Or, as both the anime and manga seem to suggest. Some springs effect the personality while others don't. No idea why, I'm guessing rule of funny.

Ryoga is distantly descended from the Musk Dynasty

Those fangs are apparently genetic, and he demonstrates a level of raw strength and endurance that can, even in the Ranmaverse, easily be attributed to a trace of the Dynasty's animal blood.

As for what that animal is, irony would have it be a warthog.
- Alternately, Ranma Saotome is distantly descended from the Musk Dynasty, though his mother's side, and his lineage is that of a monkey. That's why Ranma's girl form, which is stated by Nabiki to be all but identical to a younger version of Nodoka, so very closely resembles the human form taken by that monkey that Herb dunked in the Nyanniichuan.

Ranma is sterile.

Every time he changes genders, he floods his reproductive organs with the other gender's sex hormones. Even if the transformation wipes all, say, all the estrogen from his system when he turns back into a man, the constant crashing back and forth can't be good for his sperm count or her ovaries. Add to this that Girl Ranma never seems to menstruate and it would appear the Tendos would be best served finding another man to sire an heir.

The Musk Dynasty story arc explicitly says that Jusenkyo-borne females are fertile. At least, enough to bear children that inherit their own animal traits.
- The Musk also use the locking laddle to keep them female, so there is no switching back and forth.
In addition, females are born with all the eggs they'll ever have; males, on the other hand, constantly produce spermatozoa. If the female hormones have yet to affect male-Ranma's secondary sexual traits, it's extremely unlikely they'd affect his spermatogenesis.
- On the other hand, have you ever seen Ranma shave?
- Women are born with all their eggs?! Then what do ovaries do?! Of course to actually have kids wouldn't he have to stay in female form till he gets at least 1 period?!
  - Ovaries release the eggs. And technically, no, he wouldn't have to wait until his first period. It's very rare, but some women can actually get pregnant before having her first period.
  - Studies done on mice have shown that ovaries (mouse ovaries if nothing else) do produce eggs after the fact. They're not just glorified egg banks.
  - Your period is what happens after ovulation. It's the uterus clearing out all the crap that didn't get used for embryo implantation this time.
  - Women have been known to ovulate after experiencing orgasm, so if the partner knows what to do. It would be possible to get Ranma to ovulate less than a minute after the transformation. This gives him less than 24 hours to change into a man and abort the pregnancy before it happens.
    - Or not.
- I admit that I haven't gotten that far in the manga yet so forgive me if I'm wrong here, but is it possible the Musk are turning female animals into female humans for the purpose of reproduction? That might explain how they are still able to have kids without any problems due to them not having been born with eggs because they were originally male. If the Musk had been doing this for a while they should have had time to works kinks like that out of the system.
  - Pretty likely. It certainly makes the most sense. And even if Ranma-chan could get pregnant, why on earth would he want to? Ranma canonically has such a strong sexual identity as a heterosexual male that he's gotten aroused by being among naked women (Happo Fire Burst story), and he also despises guys who do attempt to get into "her" pants. He does come to see his Curse as a useful tool and gets adept at hiding his disgust, but whenever "she" does get flirtatious she's always either running on wounded pride or we see hir complaining about having to do so whenever she's not being observed. In either case, Ranma's flirtations are always innocent (more "cute" than "sexy") and he still wants to get rid of his curse more than anything- remember, this is the guy who dumped Akane at the altar to try and grab a cure. If shi did somehow got knocked up and the curse didn't take care of it, this troper can't see why he wouldn't get an abortion as soon as he realised what was going on. Or be given one by either Akane, Kodachi, Shampoo or Ukyo, who definitely would not take kindly to someone taking advantage oftheir "husband".
  - There is zero indication one way or another about those animals being female. Considering that the Musk value strength and they took strong animals as brides, how likely are they to seek out specifically female animals to toss in the spring? Since the manga doesn't bother to tell us, common sense says that they sought out powerful creatures for their power, not their gender, and then tossed those into Nyannichuan. Look at Herb, for instance: hard enough to find, fight, conquer, capture, and submerge a dragon at all, and now it turns out they have to find, fight, (etc) a female one?
Both sexes have both sex hormones, just in differing proportions. In fact, the body converts testosterone into estrogen, so a man who takes testosterone can find himself developing breasts.
The curses transform things treated as part of your body into their analogues. This would include eggs, sperm and sex hormones. The food in your stomach, too, clearly, as Genma eats bamboo as a panda but doesn't get sick as a human. Ryoga's bandanna, which is always tied securely around P-Chan, but in reality would need adjusting - this also happens to "Charlotte's" collar, which would otherwise break or strangle him. Mousse's glasses shrink to fit his duck form perfectly, although I've heard it said that he has a separate pair.
- As for Ranma never shaving or having a period...does Genma ever shave? Does Akane ever have a period? Law of Conservation of Detail.
- This DOESN'T answer Pregnant Ranma, however, as does a baby have a male analogue? Would the fetus not be treated as part of his body, and so be dumped into a random, fatal (for it) location in male Ranma's body during the transformation? Or just disappear until he is back to being a female? If this happens, would the born child still disappear whenever Ranma is a man, necessitating him staying girl?

Ranma is asexual.

A possible extension of his sterility, Ranma shows no sexual interest whatsoever in anyone, anywhere, ever. He seems more worried and annoyed than aroused whenever the many females try and jump him, especially when they're nude at the time. He even purchased Woman Repellent from an Herbalist in China, which he eventually used on Happosai. Maybe he's just Crazy Prepared, but it doesn't say good things for his sex life.

Ranma has shown sexual interest in girls in the manga, for example one time Shampoo jumped out of the tub naked he got a nose bleed and it is kind of implied that he became physically aroused the first time he saw Akane naked. Some of the hints are also there in the anime.
Given that he frequently gets verbally and physically attacked for being in situations that it is just barely possible for a suggestible observer to jump to conclusions about, this seems more a case of Ranma being realistic than an indication of his sexual preferences.

Happosai is a pedophile.

Look: he is constantly stealing underwear from a high school, and out of the three Tendo sisters he attempts to molest Akane the most. Kasumi is eighteen, and he barely even notices her, while constantly bothering the sixteen year old Akane and Ranma.

Sixteen is still to old for it to classify as pedophilia, which mainly concerns prepubescent children. (Whom Happosai has shown no interest in whatsoever.) Rather, it would make him an ephebophile. Plus, the Japanese Age of Consent being 13, Ranma and Akane are both legal anyway. A more likely explanation is that Happosai simply enjoys the challenge.
Ephebophile, my friend. The word you are looking for is ephebophile.
Legalities aside, given that Happosai is older than everyone else in the series bar Cologne and Saffron (technically), isn't this kind of obvious?
Also, though not really a big difference, Kasumi is 19, not 18. The reason that Happosai doesn't harass her is because he respects her, and she's nice to him.

The Hibikis are the descendants of Inuyasha and Kikyou

Their part-demon ancestry is the source of their superhuman strength, and their sense of direction is the result of a curse Naraku laid on them as he finally died. Ryoga is attracted to Akane and girls who look like Akane because his family has a tendency to marry their cousins (who will understand about the curse) leading to a very strong resemblance among the Hibiki females to their maternal ancestor, Kikyo, who looks like Akane.

Try, the Hibiki's are descendants of KOUGA. Just look at the names! Ryouga, Kouga, Ryouga, Kouga... and they do look similar too. Not to mention, they both tend to fall for the same type of girls. Both Kagome and Akane do look similar (mainly when Akane still had her long hair) and they are nice to everyone except the guys they actually love, and neither have any qualms in physically hurting that guy for any reason to vent. Ryouga finding an attraction to Akane is practically the same as Kouga finding an attraction to Kagome. In both cases, their feelings are never reciprocated. Also look at their rivals! Ryouga's rival is Ranma, who is the reincarnation of Inuyasha and also Kouga's rival. Coincidence? I think not! I could really keep going on about their similarities.

The events of this series are in a multidimensional nexus.

This is why Ranma is crossed over with everything. The events happen in every universe. Yes, even this one.

Direct this Troper to Jusenkyō, then.
- that way, past the water cooler, left at the rhino, straight on until you see the polar bear eating the penguin, turn right, through the red door, ignore giant flesh eating spider plant, third exit at the roundabout on the Milton Keynes bypass, go north until you reach the small coffee shop, bear straight on at the post office, past the Tesco with the red roof, take the next right, past the monkey puzzle tree beside the exploding volcano, take the under pass below the swimming pool, go south at the mermaid cobbler, across the small brook next to the Eiffel tower and you're there. I got the directions from a nice chap with an umbrella, bandanna and wearing a pair of leather pants.
- One does not simply walk into Jusenkyō. The government of the People’s Republic of China is smart enough to not leave something like completely unsecured, one guide isn’t enough to protect something like that, Jusenkyō isn’t on any maps and is the most secure sites on the planet. Moreover Jusenkyō and associated magics are China’s trump card. . .
  - But Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Mousse, Cologne, and Pantyhose's mother all walked into Jusenkyo... In fact everyone who has been there walked to it, except Ryouga who was pushed into a spring by Ranma-chan and giving him the only truly life destroying curse in the cast. I've always thought Jusenkyo was a geographical version of The Little Shop That Wasn't There Yesterday, that only pops up for chosen victims. If Jusenkyo wants you, there is no escape.
- Consider that everyone who walked into Jusenkyo did so during or prior to the late nineteen eighties. The People’s Republic of China has been much more careful with Jusenkyō since 1987, which is why you won’t find it on any map.
- Given what measures the Jusenkyo Preservation Society use to prevent abuses of curses it is likely they also suppress the exact whereabouts of the cursed springs
  - The Jusenkyo Preservation Society works with the Chinese government to conceal Jusenkyo
  - The Jusenkyo Preservation Society is a secret agency of the Chinese government
  - The Jusenkyo Preservation Society secretly controls the Chinese government from the shadows

Ranma will have his own son, who will be sent back in time by a time-travel curse and adopted by Genma and Nodoka Saotome.

Because any series that can have this WMG should have this WMG. With the time frames in the "Ranma is Sterile" guess responses above, it wouldn't be impossible for Ranma to artificially inseminate hirself (even by accident), and Chinese curses have been thrown around left and right in the series, getting more and more ridiculous, so what's being flung irreversibly back in time? (If I could have made Ranma his own daughter, just for added irony points toward the "man amongst men" oath, I would have.)

Legions of fanfic writers have already gone here including every conceivable variation from "Ranma becomes his own mother" to "Ranma becomes Akane's mother." (That one is kinda squicky)

Ranmaverse will become the Bobobo-Bo Bo-bobo verse in the future

Because their martial arts and curses are too similar (in weirdness, that is) to let such WMG pass.

Nobody drowned in the Nannichuan.

A translation error happened where "Spring of Drowned _____" was actually originally called "Spring of Immersed _____". They're all like Spring of Drowned Akane. (This explains Spring of Immersed Octopus). And no, not a manga translation error, but a translation from [ancient dialect] to whatever form of Chinese the locals and/or travel guide spoke.

Oops, sorry, no. "Drowned" literally means "Submersed until no longer breathing" One may drown and still be resuscitated (That's why the official verdict is often phrased "death by drowning" instead of just "drowned." And a salt-water creature like an Octopus will drown if it is placed in fresh water.
- Did you even read the guess, or just skim for important phrases?

Getting exposed to water from the Nannichuan is the worst thing that can happen to Ranma, or any cursed individual.

Take exhibit A: Pantyhose Taro. When he got dunked in the Spring of the Drowned Eldritch Abomination, and then a second Spring of the Octopus, instead of having the Octopus curse override the Oh-God-Whatthehellisthat form, it added on, creating something worse. By this logic, if Ranma got what he wanted, he would end up being a futa or a dude with a vagina/gynecomastia/androgynous when splashed. Of course Takahashi's answer to this would be obvious.

Word of God is that the Nanniichuan is a cure for Ranma and the other cursed men (which presumably means Nyanniichuan is a cure for Shampoo). The Instant Nanniichuan (which is not stated to be any different to the real thing, bar only working for a single application) actually did cure Ranma and Genma, on screen, in both manga and anime. The Jusenkyo Guide sent Ranma a cask of the stuff as a thank you for saving/protecting his daughter in the final volume. Beyond that, there's actually multiple potential explanations for why the Octopus curse merged with Taro's. Firstly, Taro's curse is actually four separate animals/curses blending together to begin with, so another curse just got absorbed. Secondly, a dose of "original" spring (so Nanniichuan for guys, Nyanniichuan for girls) will cure, but another spring will blend (so if Ranma got hit with Drowned Octopus water, he'd turn into a girl with tentacles, while Drowned Twins water might cause A: two male Ranmas, B: two female Ranmas, or C: one male Ranma, one female Ranma). Thirdly, it takes exposure to a hefty dose of a Jusenkyo spring's water for the curse to overwrite instead of being assimilated- that whole barrel Ranma got sent by the Guide was just enough water for one person's cure.

Shampoo's hair color is neither blue nor purple.

Shampoo's hair has no specific color: the hue is always changing depending on the current temperature and humidity in the air.

Naturally; her name is Shampoo.
- Female Ranma is never referred to as "red-headed" for the same reason Shampoo is neither blue-haired nor purple-haired. Anime hair coloring helps us distinguish between the characters and often does not reflect their actual hair color. When the characters are all Japanese (or in this case, Chinese), it's safe to assume their true hair color is black.

Ryoga's sense of direction isn't bad. He's cursed/blessed with a sense of direction to be exactly where and when he needs to be. Just not where he often wants to be.

Not my WMG, lost in the Great Crash? It's based off of a fan fiction or something. Basically Ryoga always ends up where he wants/needs to be at the cost of being able to find where he wants to be.

- That Fanfic is Relentless by By Grayson Towler. It's in the second epilogue if you need the exact chapter.
- Daniel Ruth's Journey features a similar premise for Ryouga's sense of direction.

The first opening song is so awesome it can bring world peace

Seriously, listen. If you would play that over the entire planet at once everybody would put down their weapons and we could all sing kumbaya together in a giant peace sign. Unfortunately, it will be stuck in everybody's head for many years afterwords.

This troper's literally had it stuck in her head on and off since January.
- By god, you may be onto something. Also the Shampoo version is cute too. just saying.

== Ranma is not Genma's son ==. Or even daughter half the time. He doesn't look anything like Genma does, even in flashbacks to Genma's younger days. And yeah I'll buy getting a certain amount of looks from Nodoka, but not that much, especially in male form. Given Ranma's resemblance to Ryouga I'm betting Hibiki senior got "lost" somewhere around Nodoka's bedroom one night while Genma and Soun were away on a training trip. Come to that Akane isn't much like Soun or her sisters but is awfully like Ranma and Ryouga in temperament, interest, and general looks, so a similar thing may have happened there too.

== Ranma and Genma are two souls trapped in a loop ==. Okay, so this may take a little bit of explaining (sorry!).

Once upon a time there were "Genma" and "Ranma" ("G" and "R"). G was a horrible parent to R (kind of like in the series). In the end, because R had had such a negative life, the Powers That Be reincarnated G and R, however in the new incarnation, "G" was the son, and "R" was the father, allowing R!Daddy to treat G!Son the way that R!Son had been treated. Unfortunately, since he had grown up as R!Son with only his fathers values, he unconsciously treats G!Son as bas as- if not worse than G!Daddy treated him. As such, the Powers That Be cycle them through again, leading it back to G!Daddy and R!Son. However, with the values that R!Daddy instilled in G!Son based on what G!Daddy1 had taught R!Son1... Well, you get the idea- they'll keep cycling. At least, until the end of the world or something. Or until the powers That Be get their heads out of their butts, and figure everything out. Until then, R and G will be trapped in a cycle of rebirth together.

I'm sorry, what evidence is there for this? It's a decent fanfic plot, but the WMG is supposed to be for things that the current canon makes you think might have any chance of being true, not as a sounding board for fanfic.
- From the top of the page, "This is a "Wild Mass Guess" entry, where we pull out all the sanity stops on theorizing."

Pantyhose Taro is the son of Ranma and Akane

Okay, stick with me here on this. Now in the anime the woman shown in flashbacks is virtually identical to Akane (even more than Only Six Faces accounts for), and we know from Herb et al in the Manga that the descendants of Jusenkyo cursed tend to inherit characteristics of their parents. So any kid of Ranma's would trend to the androgynous, just like Pantyhose does. So for some reason Akane and Ranma end up going back in time and Taro gets conceived, born, cursed twice over (jusenkyo and his name) by Happosai and to let the Stable Time Loop play out Ranma and Akane have to let him go off to seek vengenace.

Mousse isn't short-sighted

He is long-sighted. It makes perfect sense that someone who is long-sighted would choose a ranged attack like Mousse's and he has no apparent problems with accuracy at range especially since a set of spectacles would be a prime target in a fight, so if you remove his glasses he can still use his fighting style. He also can't identify people close up without his glasses, which is the opposite of short-sighted people.

It's Ryoga's fault that Ranma and Genma didn't get cured.

The reason that Ranma and Genma, canonically, were still in cursed form and hadn't gotten cured when they wandered into Shampoo's village was because they left Jusenkyo without getting some Nanniichuan. According to Ryoga's flashback to when he got his curse, he only got out of the Spring of Drowned Pig because Genma, in panda form, fished him out and carried him to the Guide's house to have him for lunch. Luckily for Ryoga, the Guide was suspicious enough to toss him into a wok full of boiling water first. Between Ryoga's temperment, and his totally justifiable fury that this weird old man and this bizarre panda would try and eat him, Genma and the Guide had no choice but to run for it, grabbing Ranma as they went and escaping Ryoga (who can almost never follow something once he takes his eyes off of it). They headed to Shampoo's village for some reason, supplies perhaps, and... well, things got complicated there and they had to leave China in a hurry, lest Shampoo take Ranma-chan's head and put it on a pike.

Akane knows Ryoga and P-chan are the same, she's faking ignorance to make Ranma jealous.

Ryoga's status as P-chan seems to be Akane's one true blind spot, yet she normally doesn't display such Selective Obliviousness. Furthermore, Ryoga transformed from P-chan to himself twice by jumping into Soun's bath and walking away; surely Soun must have told his own daughter that her pet was actually a human. Akane does, however, have something of a ruthless streak and has been known to take advantage of Ryoga's crush on her at several points in the series for the explicit purpose of making Ranma feel jealous. So, Akane is pretending to never realise that Ryoga is P-chan because it means she can use "P-chan" as a way to make Ranma feel jealous, perhaps in the hope that this will finally make him come out and admit that he loves her.

Shampoo is feigning her Hulk Speak "speech impediment" to be underestimated.

As ditzy as she can be, Shampoo really is quite cunning and ruthless, and pretending to be dumber than you are is a traditional way of getting opponents to let their guard down around you. She also has a fluent, eloquent conversation with Mousse in one late manga story, though it is somewhat ambiguous as to whether she's talking in Japanese or her native language.

Pantyhose Taro's cursed spring didn't come from four drowned animals.

The Jusenkyo Guide describes the backstory behind every cursed spring as a "legend" from X-thousand years ago, but who says that every one of them has to be true? Perhaps, once upon a time, there did live an actual race of giant, winged minotaurs in that region of China, and the Guide's "explanation" is just him/his ancestors making stuff up because said race was not well-known.

The real reason why Ranma is so reluctant to go further in his relationships...

As usual, it's all Genma's fault. The training journey made Ranma one hell of a martial artist, sure, but the caution-to-the-winds nature wreaked havoc on his philosophy, instilling a sort of "never do anything unless there's something in it for you" motto on him. After all, when you don't even know where your next meal is going to come from, your top priority has to be yourself. In this sense, his subconscious is telling him that NONE of his suitors have that much to offer him if he did marry them - he far outclasses all of them in fighting skill, after all. Kodachi is rich, but money never seemed to hold all that much meaning to Ranma except in a vague sort of "this is the stuff that keeps a roof over your head" kind of way. Conclusion? Genma has made sure, consciously or otherwise, that Ranma and romance are largely doomed to fail.

Of all known Jusenkyo curses, the Spring of the Drowned Man would be the best one to have in Real Life

A simple WMG, but still a fundamental one if you were to accidentally find yourself at Jusenkyo. Naturally this excludes any same species or same-sex curses (man into Drowned man spring for example) as that would obviously be the best fate to befall you. Ryoga's piglet form needs no explanation; a quick tour of the Fridge Horror or Blessed with Suck pages will reveal all the unpleasantness of that particular curse. Shampoo's Cat form, Mousse's duck form and Pantyhose Taro's Octopus form (on it's own) for the exact, yet slightly less pronounced, reasons as Ryoga. Taro's main form, the Yeti-riding-Bull-carrying-Crane-and-Eel, would only be good if you were a martial artist who didn't mind being a hulking, 2 metre tall monster. For any normal person who only cares about shopping, going to work and drinking on a Friday night, this monster transformation would probably get you gunned down by the army, or at the very least completely shunned out of society. Genma's Panda form again for similar reasons; although you would probably end up in a zoo instead; hoping that, one day, someone might just spill a piping hot cup of tea through your bars. The Curse of the Drowned girl is oftn portrayed as neutral in the manga, but in real life, if you were a strong man suddenly finding his size, strength and reach halved, it would certainly lead to many complications - especially if you were a soldier or a builder for example. The spring of the Drowned Man however... how many women could honestly see the flaw in temporarily (or permenantly) becoming stronger and more powerful everytime in rained? the only disadvantage mentioned in the manga is that a the male form is slightly slower than the female form... but unless you're a track runner, it should in no way prove to be anything more than a slight inconvenience. I can guarantee any Jusenkyo curse omitted from this list incorporates the Ryoga or Genma flaws in some fashion - either being small and weak or large and liable to get you killed.

Counterpoint: Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man. Spring of Drowned Twins might be if you can get a legal identity set up for the new person. The Shiva spring would be kick-ass if you lived in India or a place with a large Hindu population. Probably several others in those vein.
- Only fundamentalist Hindus would openly accept the personification of Shiva. Everyone else would either run scared or turn violent (especially if they decide the curse is a fake. No one would willingly let such an open mockery of their beliefs go without confrontation). I'm assuming the Spring of the Drowned Virtuous Man is the same thing as the curse of the Good Samaritan Pantyhose Taro tried to infect Happosai with. Given how the idea was to produce a kind, gentle Happosai, arguably this curse destroys your free will by effectively making you a doormat; that may sound harsh, but given Happosai's dominant personality it's hard to think of this curse as doing anything else. Once again, imagine the problems in real life if you were in a position where you have to be violent such as as a soldier in a war zone - if you became nice and gentle in the face of the enemy you would almost certainly be killed. Finally the Curse of the Drowned Twins... it would be horrific. Can you honestly say that if you were split in two you would be happy about it? an identical duplicate to yourself, with all of your memories and feelings, suddenly wanting to be recognized as a real person? because he has every memory and thought you do, he would want to move in with your family, go out with your friends, have sex with your girlfriend, go to your job, use your stuff. He's also unlikely to accept a new identity because he will probably think of himself as the original - watch the Farscape where John is duplicated for all the problems that would raise. To put it simply, in real life most people who fall into this Spring would end up attacking each other - whether sooner or later.
  - Personally, I would consider being split into twins less unpleasant than becoming a man, but I'd hold out hope for a Spring of Drowned Shapeshifter or Spring of Drowned Insanely Wise, Knowledgeable and Content Person.
  - The Springs might be energy-efficient, rather than uniform in their effect. The Spring of Drowned Virtuous Man would entirely change Happousai, but only have minor effects on someone who was fairly virtuous already. In the unlikely event, the person cursed was a soldier in a war zone, it would only have an effect if the person was fighting for reasons a virtuous person would not consider valid.
Doesn't the gender part of this depend on who's getting cursed? Putting aside the potential difficulties of mistaken identity and pursuing a romantic relationship, a lot of women would find becoming a man very difficult just in terms of the gender identity issues, wardrobe restrictions and changing social expectations. On the other hand, being a teenage girl is hardly a tragedy in physical terms. Most people aren't strong men and most strong men don't actually need that physical prowess outside of controlled environments.

Ranma characters can be interpreted as having Street Fighter videogame identities.

The only Street Fighter character that very likely actually is an expy is Makoto to Akane, but when playing the game it is very easy to pretend that one of the characters is the Ranma counterpart. There's Kumon Ryu<->Guile, Ranma<->Ken, Ryoga<->Ryu, Ukyo<->Ibuki, Kasumi<->Rose, Nabiki<->Juri (or Nabiki<->Crimson Viper, with Kodachi<->Juri, depending on which version you subscribe to), and posssibly even Mousse<->Vega. Can anybody think of other fits?

The springs curse

If say a human girl fell into the spring of the drowned girl she would look like the original girl, but if a man or animal fell in they'd be human female versions of them selves, though they may have some slight traits of the original (all those who fell in that spring seam to be busty). Now if they fell into the Akane spring the men and animals would still turn into human female versions of them selves (though potentially with smaller breasts) the reason the bird woman turned into an exact copy of Akane was she already had a drowned girl curse so the two mixed. This would apply to all cursed springs.

Each spring has a set gender

So for example if both a boy and a girl fell into the spring of the baby black pig they would both turn into baby black pigs of the same gender

it seems to be implied the curse forms are versions of the person who falls in, this is why they often have similar eyes and obviously in human gender springs it's just a switch.

Ranma-chan won't age much more

Think about it "girl" is an age specific term, so Ranma's female form will probably only age with him until age 18, into the very early 20's at most. Ranma's girl form was regressed when he was under the influence of those. AR mushrooms because he would still be a "girl" albeit more literally. Likewise since the cure is the spring of drowned "man", if a young boy fell in, he would probably turn to about 18 years old as well.

And yes, if there is no "spring of drowned woman" Shampoo's cure will be a fountain of youth, form

Ranma is a MtF Transsexual

Okay this one may be a stretch but hear me out. S/he is the soul heir to a to the Anything-goes style and has to procreate with a Tendo, for it to live on. There's also that pesky promise hir dad made to hir mother. In short, s/he is OBLIGATED by familial ties to be a man. She is indeed a bit of a tomboy and likes martial arts. In the infamous "pretty womanhood" episode s/he describes her past and her memories of being male quite accurate to what transsexuals feel. She pretends to hate her cursed form because she fears allowing herself to enjoy it will result in her being unable to go back to her male lifestyle and fulfill her duities. Though a particular image song as well as several outings imply, the LADY doth protest too much. In the pretty womanhood episode, she takes a spill and acts exaggeratedly feminine due to a potent mix of head trauma and working out her anxieties and gender dysphoria by embracing her proper gender identity. Getting hit on the head, doesn't cause a new gender identity, regardless of the fact Ranma happened to have boobs at the time, she was a girl BEFORE.

I for one love the idea of this and could think of a very good set of arguments for it or against it. I hate to be very critical, but the one you put forth was fairly appalling, to START with, you might consider dropping the gender ambiguous pronoun slander, for two reasons really, the first, if you really believe Ranma is MtF, you might dignify her by using the correct pronouns she would want. second though, they're sort of an eye sore, they or them, despite being plural usually works just fine if you need gender neutral, lots of Languages screw around with plurality. moving right along. the 'infamous pretty womanhood was very played for laughs. It doesn't shed a lot of light on Ranma's character or feelings at all, the only slightly plausible explanation is that Ranma has a very narrow dirt poor view of women. The anime isn't really a good source for any theories in my mind, It takes many liberties with the characters. I think the best scenario in mind for this idea is that Ranma has gender identity disorder and rejects it, not that Ranma's secretly knows she likes being a woman but is hiding it. I can really see the beginning chapters of Genma's daughter being plausible for canon Ranma, In that confronting this problem would be extremely and unbearably difficult for her, it's just plausible that Ranma might consider being male 'hard' because of his fathers words or even his own sheer bravado and cultural upbringing, but even baring that, the magical nature of the curse leaves open the question of weather it could maliciously make someone desire to be who they're not, rather than just be inconvenient. Theres plenty of wiggle room to push it in either direction. Certainly, I wonder how skeptics of this theory might explain why Ranma so frequently forgets what sex he is in at any given moment, at the very least it implies that Ranma's female form doesn't irritate her and draw her attention to the fact that shes in the wrong body again.

Ryouga's Sense of Direction is a Family Curse

It seems that everyone in the family has this problem. Even those added to the family by marriage.I assume the name is attached to the Hibiki family, I'm not sure if women marrying (and thus changing their surname) would then be "cured"

Ryouga's Sense of direction gets worse as he ages

And likewise for his parents. He was able to at least attend school several times a week when he was in middle school, hence the "bread feud" By the time he is high school aged he clearly no longer was able to attend school regularly without a lot of help to get to and from school, not to say nothing of how academically behind he is behind other people his age. His parents are never seen are gone from home for months at a time.

Ukyo Kuonji was raised the same exact way Ryuunosuke Fujinami was from Urusei Yatsura.

Other than the fact both were confused as boys despite being female there are other things this bother this troper. When Ukyo was first introduced she was dressed as a boy and was given the boy's name Ukyo. Then it turns out there is another character who was also given a boy's name and dresses like a boy, Ryuunosuke! So I guess Mr. Kuonji wanted a son so he forced his daughter to dress like a boy, raise him as a boy and gave him a boy name. Now not much about Ukyo's past is revealed and keep in mind that she was like this BEFORE Ranma and Genma stole her cart. Also the freaky part of this thought is both characters are missing mothers, Now it was confirmed Ryuunosuke's mother died during childbirth but as for Ukyo her mother was never seen nor mentioned. Coinsidence?

Happosai is an Underpants Gnome

This is self-explanitory.

The Chinese Amazons are members of the Qiang Minority.

Based primarily on their societal srructure and social beliefs.

Nabiki is secretly one of the most powerful characters in the show.

If she actually joined a fight, she'd either have broken the series or become the prototype for Aizen. Or both.

Think about it. She's the only one in the series with fully effective Plot Armor and has demonstrated the ability to one-shot both Happosai and Copycat Ken (disguised as Happosai) at the same time. While also eating some kind of bread and reading a manga or magazine. In fact, she's the only character able to consistently ward off Happosai's attempts at perversion. She's also conspicuously absent when her presence would require a demonstration of martial ability to avoid injury, and shows knowledge that her absence was to her benefit when she returns at the end of an episode when all the trouble's died down. It's possible that Nabiki wasn't the one Ranma was saving from a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when she tried auctioning him to his fiances.

Also, she's Dangerously Genre Savvy and Rumiko Takahashi is stated to have an affection for her. Which for a character means God loves her and she knows it, and that in turn would explain why she's grown progressively less subtle about being a bitch over the course of the series. This is taken Up to Eleven when both the 'dead mother' and 'middle child' cards are pulled to sucker Ranma (and probably the audience) into believing she's got a Freudian Excuse or two, but even those aren't things she genuinely cares about, just more pity party meal tickets. In effect, her Plot Armor is so thick you can't even hurt her feelings.

Well, only the Plot Armor and Manipulative Bastard part is true, but if you want to see Nabiki being played as the actual most powerful character in the series, there is always Ajimu Najimi of Medaka Box.

There will always be a cure for Jusenkyo victims.

In other words: creatures that fall into the springs will not be cursed if there's no spring around that would serve as a cure. If you grab a penguin or some other animal that has not yet drowned in a Jusenkyo spring, it will not be cursed no matter which spring you throw it in. If you drown it, it'll create a Spring of Drowned Penguin, and from that point on, penguins will be considered "fair game" for all the Jusenkyo springs.

Jusenkyo curses "evolve" the longer they're kept around.

Most of the Jusenkyo-cursed characters we see in the series have had their curses for a year, tops. Ergo, they keep all aspects of their personality when they transform. Anime-only character Kin'Nee, however, instantly does a 180 in personality when his curse is triggered, because he was cursed at a young age and kept the curse (for whatever reason) well into adulthood. Also note that Kin'Nee's curse ought to qualify for another mere "Spring of Drowned Man", and thus have no effect on him, but instead turns him into an entirely different man. What if the man he turns into is the priest who originally drowned in the spring?

Note that girl-type Ranma, a glance, is essentially a shorter Ranma with boobs and red hair. What if the girl who originally drowned in the Spring of Drowned Girl looked nothing like girl-type Ranma does, except for the red hair? The longer that Ranma goes without getting his curse cured, the closer his cursed form will grow to resemble the original drowned girl, in both appearance and personality.

(I realize that Taro is the largest piece of counterevidence to this theory, as he's had his curse for pretty much most of his life. However, Kin'Nee is still older than he is, and could theoretically have had his curse longer.)

Alternatively the curses devolve in the Jusenkyo becoming more and more generic. Spring of drowned Akane is but a recently created spring, but give it a couple of hundred years and it will basically be another spring of drowned girl.

Jusenkyo curses don't merely shapeshift their victims...

Physical discomfort is rarely, if ever, displayed by curse victims when they transform (several times, they don't even notice until it's pointed out). What if the curses aren't a matter of merely twisting and warping their flesh and bones? Sure, one could say that A Wizard Did It, but where's the fun in that?

As soon as someone hits the water in a spring, the powers behind Jusenkyo craft an entirely new body (a la the haunted mirror) that serves as their "cursed form". From then on, whenever a curse victim is splashed with cold water, their non-cursed body is simply swapped with their cursed body; their mind/soul/whatever stays where it is. In either form, their "alternate form" is stored in a cave or something beneath Jusenkyo, ready to be summoned whenever cold/hot water rears its unwanted head. Wounds/mind control/whatever that one form suffers are generally transferred to the corresponding areas on the alternate form, wherever it is.

This also serves as a handy little solution to the "pregnant Ranma" debacle; the fetus would be transported with its "mother" to the aforementioned cavern. The male form remains unaffected, as it does not possess corresponding organs. Of course, that opens up a good old can of Fridge Horror...

Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. The Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire attack/training method. Ranma learns it as a girl during the Phoenix Pill story arc. Thereafter he uses it at least as often as a man. If Ranma's cursed form was separate and existed in a different physical location, then how did his male body get the speed of the Chestnut Fist?
Two people with the same curse are hit with cold water simultaneously, or one is while the other is still in cursed form. What happens? The body is taken.
Easy. Every time someone falls into a spring - even if it is the same spring - a new cursed body is created. Each cursed individual has his or her own "spare" cursed form.

Ranma, his allies, and rivals are becoming bad publicity.

Somehow, there is an unseen reporter who manages to find out what they did and manages to pin all that blame on them. They don't know it's reported because they don't read or watch the news.

Nabiki was working for the social service!!

The abusive nature of Genma to Ranma attracted the attention of the social service in the very first episode. They needed someone who is a bad seed but can be easily persuaded with favors and is willing to do it for money. That's when Nabiki gets the call and has a wire planted on her. She manages to report of what Genma did throughout the show. Because of the wire, the service finds out about the robbing of the Saotome family treasure and the attack on Nodoka, Ranma's mother, by throwing a table on her, and makes Nabiki report this to a pawnshop store owner. This would explain of when Genma attempts to pawn the heirloom for money, he shows him a ticket to show the ancestors owned him. At the end chapter, when Ranma and Akane are about to get married, the social service ordered Nabiki to ruin the wedding by sending Ukyo, the Kudos, and the others in order to get the bad people in one go.

Mousse really wants to hit Shampoo for being with Ranma.

If only we know if there's a rule to make him hold back...

The waters of the cursed spring come from the Fountain of Salmacis.

The curse was a result of the Greek demigod Hermaphroditus, after merging with the nymph Salmacis, to suffer a similar fate as him. Somehow, someone got the water from the fountain and brought it to China where it was poured into the springs.

Jusenkyo was created by the crash of a Prawn vessel.

Clarke's Third Law is applied here. The unusually high concentrations of fluid made that the springs can easily absorb new DNA and provoke fast transformations, also known as curses, to those who are exposed to it, then to matching stimuli.

This actually matches a fringe theory about how aliens supposedly crashed (and, according to some, still live) in the real-life Bayan Har Shan region, where Jusenkyo is in the manga.

Nabiki unwittingly saved Ranma and Akane.

Despite being the bitch that she is, she unknowingly let them advanced through the plot. Therefore, if there's a punishment for her in the end, despite getting away in the end, it's them going on all thanks to Nabiki herself.

Cursed forms provide the instincts of the body, but overlay the human mind over it, much like Animorphs.

Ranma, as a girl, notably goes into Pervert Revenge Mode several times, or at least reacts with aggression and anger to perversion most of the time, particularly from Happosai. This could be his personal distastes. Ranma can flirt effectively when "she" wants to, and has a cute feminine smile and body postures at times. Shampoo, on the introduction of her cursed form, acts much like a real cat, especially in showing her dislike for Akane. She couldn't have expected her attack/aggression to have any effect due to the size difference, and there was no logical reason to hiss at Akane. Genma may be calmer as a panda, and this may explain his not transforming back when he easily could have - if he is more relaxed, he may see little reason to transform back. Most of the time when he does change back, he needs to - to talk or eat human food. P-Chan has mannerisms of a scared, small animal at times. Kin'nee is the ultimate example, although he is only semi-canonical, Played for Laughs, and it can be debated to what extent being a pacifist is instinct.