Ranma ep 1.1: "A Strange Stranger From China (Here's Ranma)"

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Characters in this ep:
Ranma
Akane
Genma
Soun
Nabiki
Kasumi
Jusenkyo Guide
(first appearance for all)

Summary:

A girl runs through the streets in the rain, being chased by a huge panda that is attacking her with martial arts moves. The girl doesn't seem scared, though, more angry. She argues with it, saying she was against this from the start, and that the panda picked out her fiance for her. Onlookers are startled as the girl defeats the panda and says she's going back to China. But as she starts to walk away, the panda hits her from behind and slings her over its shoulder, growling at the onlookers as they start to protest.

A short while later, a man sits reading a postcard that tells him his old friend, Genma, is coming from China with his son Ranma. The man cries with happiness - we should get used to this - and goes to fetch his daughters: Kasumi, in the kitchen; Nabiki, lounging in her room; and Akane - whom he can't find. Nabiki finds her in the dojo, training, and takes a photo of her, then calls her strange.

The sisters gather, and their father, Soun Tendo, tells them that his friend Genma is bringing his son Ranma, and that long ago he and Genma arranged that their children would be married. So one of them is to marry Ranma, even though none of them - Soun included - has ever met the boy. Akane is uninterested, Kasumi hopes that he's not younger than her, but Nabiki is excited and hopes he's cute. However, what arrives a moment later is not a cute boy and his father, but the panda and girl from before. The panda puts the girl down, and she apologizes in embarrassment and introduces herself as Ranma Saotome. There is some confusion, as both Soun and Nabiki fail to notice that Ranma is a girl, but when the news is broken to Soun he passes right out.

Later, everyone except Akane is disappointed, and Ranma looks incredibly unhappy. Akane feels sorry for her, and offers to be her friend, which Ranma accepts; then she takes her to go spar in the dojo, where the girl avoids every move Akane makes but won't lay a finger on her. Akane is shocked at first, but Ranma laughs, and soon Akane does too, letting her pride go. Then she tells Ranma, "I'm just glad you're a girl... I HATE losing to a boy!" She leaves, not noticing the worried look on Ranma's face.

Kasumi persuades Ranma to go take a bath after her workout. Meanwhile, a strange man shows up and sits with Soun in the sitting room, lit dramatically by the sunset. Soun says, "A martial artist's life is fraught with perils." Nabiki goes to ask Kasumi who the weird guy is, but Kasumi doesn't know, and sends her sister to tell Akane to take her bath.

In the bathroom, a darker-haired, lower-voiced Ranma wonders what to do as Akane starts down the hall to the bath. When she sees Ranma's clothes outside the bath, she figures the girl is already there and they can just share the bath. However, when she opens the door she finds a naked boy standing just out of the bath water. They stare for a moment - he's definitely a boy, and yep, she's definitely naked also - and then she quietly backs out, shuts the door, dresses, gets out into the hallway, and screams herself senseless.

Everyone in the house hears it. Akane runs through the halls, finally grabbing a table to smash the boy with. Before she can get back to him, though, he appears - fully dressed, looking sheepish and unhappy, and apologizes, then introduces himself as Ranma Saotome. The story is now explained: the panda was Genma, Ranma's father. The two had been training in China, and went to a dangerous, ancient training ground called Jusenkyo. Ignoring the helpful Guide's warnings, they jumped right into fighting - because they like that sort of thing - and promptly knocked one another into two separate springs. Only at that point did the Guide manage to tell them that each of the springs are cursed by tragedies that took place years ago: in each spring, a different creature drowned, and now whatever falls into that spring will take the form of that creature. Genma falls into Spring of Drowned Panda, whereas Ranma falls into Nyaniichuan, Spring of Drowned Girl.

Back in the present day, Ranma is very pissed about this. He and his father fight some more, tossing each other into the koi pond in the Tendos' back yard. Soun, however, offers hot water and the placation that Ranma's curse isn't so bad. After all, although cold water turns them into their cursed forms, hot water turns them back, and Ranma IS a real boy after all. So - pick your fiancee, my boy! he tells him, offering each of his daughters in turn: 19-year-old Kasumi, 17-year-old Nabiki, or 16-year-old Akane. Each looks shocked by this forwardness, but Kasumi and Nabiki recover quickly enough to concurrently agree that Akane is the only viable choice. After all, she hates boys, and Ranma's half girl!

Akane strenuously protests, calling Ranma a pervert - he saw her naked, after all - and saying she'd never ever marry someone like him. Ranma is offended, pointing out that she took a pretty good look at him, as well, and then says that he only cares about getting a cure and has no interest in fiancees. Besides, he says, she shouldn't be offended - he's seen himself as a girl naked all the time, and he's better built than she is. Akane at this point smashes him with that table she never got to use before. Genma and Soun agree that Ranma had that coming.

Later that night, when Ranma wakes up (still in girl form), Kasumi and Nabiki try to assure him that Akane really is a very sweet girl. "She's just hopelessly violent," Kasumi adds, which Nabiki tells her is really not helping things. Ranma goes to take a soak in the bath and change back before bed, failing to take into account that Akane never got her bath earlier. The confrontation again takes place at the door, again naked, though both are girls this time. This doesn't matter a whit to Akane, who delivers the biggest slap this side of "Revolutionary Girl Utena". Shortly after, Akane is at the table, ignoring Ranma. Nabiki tells her that they were both girls that time, so it should be okay, right? "It is not okay!" Akane replies. On the porch, Genma talks Akane up, saying she's got spunk and that just makes her cuter, right? Ranma replies that she's not cute. He looks over his shoulder at her, and she's doing the same to him; she scowls and looks away. "She's not cute at ALL!" he snaps.