A girl is involuntarily engaged to a boy who turns female when hit with cold water and male when hit with hot.
Rumiko Takahashi's story of a high school aged girl named Akane who finds herself engaged to be married because of an arrangement by her father. Unfortunately her fiance, Ranma, turns out to be less of a man than expected and was raised by a giant panda.—David McGuire <bdm55707@jetson.uh.edu>
Ranma Saotome is a teen-aged martial artist who turns into a girl when splashed with cold water. His father Genma has engaged him to a girl named Akane Tendo. If you add to this an uninhibited amazon girl after Ranma, an okonomiyaki cook girl after Ranma, a boy after Ranma's female form, a boy out to kill Ranma, a girl who'd sell freezers to eskimo's and several other psychopaths living in Nerima, you've got Ranma ½.—Tytti M.
The Tendo household is eagerly awaiting the arrival of Saotome, the Tendo father's old friend, and his son Ranma, who has been unwillingly betrothed to one of Tendo's daughters. When the pair arrive, however, they are not father and son, but panda and young girl. Amid much fighting, the situation is eventually explained.—Jean-Marc Rocher <rocher@fiberbit.net>
Several years before the series started, Genma Saotome and Soun Tendo were young martial artists and training under the same sensei, Happosai. They made a pact to have their future children betrothed to each other, to ensure their legacy.
As the series starts, Soun Tendo has three beautiful, teenage daughters: Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane. He is eagerly waiting for the Saotomes to arrive, in order to have one of these daughters betrothed to the younger Saotome, Ranma Saotome. Upon arrival, there is a major complication to these plans. Ranma was born a male, but thanks to a magical curse, constantly shapeshifts between male and female forms.
The fathers have Ranma immediately betrothed to the youngest daughter, Akane Tendo. Akane is a martial artist, a tomboy, and quite temperamental. Neither she, nor Ranma have ever had a previous romantic relationship. They settle into a pattern of constantly bickering with each other, though they are actually attracted to each other.
Further complications arise with new arrivals in the series' cast. During a visit to China, Ranma defeated a young Chinese warrior woman, called Shampoo. She tracks him down to Japan and informs him that she is betrothed to him, due to the customs of her tribal society. A cross-dressing girl called Ukyo Kuonji also tracks down Ranma, and reveals that Genma had Ranma betrothed to her when they were children. A local gymnastics champion (and rival to Akane) called Kodachi Kuno also falls for Ranma, and declares herself betrothed to her love interest. Ranma now has four fiancees instead of one. And they are all formidable martial artists.
Male rivals for Ranma also arrive. Tatewaki Kuno (Kodachi's brother) has been infatuated with Akane for years, and wants to challenge Ranma for her hand. While also developing infatuations with Ranma's female form and with Nabiki Tendo (Akane's older sister). Ryoga Hibiki, a childhood rival of Ranma, follows him to his new home, having devoted his life to the goal of defeating Ranma. But Ryoga quickly falls for Akane, and has a new reason to rival Ranma. Mousse, a rejected suitor of Shampoo, arrives from China with the goal of defeating Ranma and replacing him as Shampoo's betrothed. And the elderly master Happosai schemes to regain control over his former students, and over their families.
