Character fighting techniques (Ranma ½)

Character fighting techniques (Ranma ½)

This article cover fighting techniques used by characters in Ranma ½ that are not practitioners of Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū.

Independent regular characters


=Ryoga=

Ryoga is an exceptionally proficient martial artist, roughly comparable to Ranma, whom he has defeated or fought to a draw on many occasions, especially during shorter or off-screen battles. Sometimes even the latter has to distract or trick him to triumph in climax situations. Unlike most cast members, Ryoga seems to be mostly self-taught, with natural talent, and hard training as his only mentors. Beyond the following techniques, he has also displayed immense strength, durability, and speed just short of Ranma's own, as detailed in his separate profile section.

Iron Cloth: Ryoga seems to have a never-ending supply of his trademark bandannas, using them as razor sharp missiles and can even turn his belt into a blade capable of easily cutting through a tree, or a steel pole, with a single slash. These attacks are assumed to be possible by Ryoga channelling his Chi into them, vastly enforcing the tensile strength and cutting edge of the fabrics. His umbrella is unusually resistant, and so incredibly heavy that Akane could barely budge it, but Ryoga easily wields it with one hand to deadly effect and increased impact damage. However female Ranma was also able to use this, and it's unclear if Ryoga strictly carries this dense version towards the end, as even Plum was able to effortlessly lift it at this point.

Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics: For some unknown reason, Ryoga has a fair knowledge of this martial art. The only time he really uses it is early in the series, when he tries to teach it to Akane, then to Ranma to prepare them for a fight against Kodachi. Given his proficient use of 'iron cloth' ribbon technique whip attacks, it is possible that he studied it for this purpose.

Bakusai Tenketsu (爆砕点穴 - "Breaking Point"): A technique taught to Ryoga by Cologne. Originally used by construction workers to clear away debris, this technique enables Ryoga to shatter rocks and similar substances with a finger. The training is gruelling, consisting of tying yourself and a boulder to a tree and repeatedly slamming yourself, finger first into the boulder until you figure out the 'breaking point.' The technique is useless on humans, but the training's side effects make the user nearly invulnerable to physical attacks. Also, as demonstrated in the manga, this technique is what allows Ryoga to tunnel underground. At some point, Ryoga develops a version, which works on wood, which he uses during the ageing mushroom story. He is also seen using a "Rapid Fire" version at times, striking quickly and repeatedly to produce several small blasts in a row.

Shishi Hōkōdan (獅子咆哮弾 - "Lion's Roar Blast"): This technique was taught to him by an engineer during his wanderings. By concentrating his depression and anger into his chi, Ryoga is able to unleash a massive blast of energy from his palms. When he was first taught it, in its imperfect form, the attack was strong enough to either knock out/defeat Ranma in one blow, or require a few shots, depending on his focus.Prelude to failure; Volume 20, chapter 2. ISBN 9789171340764] The regular version proved enough to stun the latter for up to 10 seconds, even when Ryoga was transformed into a small child.The mushroom of ages; Volume 33, chapter 3. ISBN 9789171343239] He has occasionally been shown to use this to help blow tunnels through solid earth.

Shin Shishi Hōkōdan (獅子咆哮弾 - "Perfect Lion's Roar Blast"): The secret to perfecting the technique lay in the use of the chi and the strength of the user's emotions. As chi generated by depression and anger is 'heavy,' by projecting it into the air, Ryoga creates a massive, 10m-12m diameter, sphere of chi that has been shown capable of instantly creating a roughly 10 meters wide (with an estimated volume of 300-450 cubic metres), smoking crater,Fight!! Lion vs. Tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 77. ISBN 9789171340764] in what appeared to be a stone foundation,Fight!! Lion vs. Tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 70-71. ISBN 9789171340764] and later crack the earth around it, reaching the onlookers up to 20 metres away from the epicentre.Fight!! Lion vs. Tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 70-71. ISBN 9789171340764] A gravitating victory; Volume 20, chapter 6, page 99. ISBN 9789171340764] The visual effect was once shown as a few hundred meters wide, when used to utterly vanquish Lime (arguably the physically by far most powerful character in the series) in a single blow.The tragedy of the ladle; Volume 24, chapter 7, page 115. ISBN 9789171341587]

Simply being grazed by the outermost boundary of one of its most powerful strikes, was enough to immediately conquer Ranma, despite the latter's attempt to lessen the impact with his weakened Moko Takabisha.Fight!! Lion vs. Tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 78. ISBN 9789171340764] But a full hit from a later (apparently much weaker, given the lack of increased crater size) attempt simply stunned the latter for roughly a minute,A gravitating victory; Volume 20, chapter 6, page 88. ISBN 9789171340764] quickly followed by a strike with even less impact.A gravitating victory; Volume 20, chapter 6, page 90. ISBN 9789171340764]

His chi-generation ability is so immense that even Herb was instantly awakened and then awed when he witnessed the final version.The tragedy of the ladle; Volume 24, chapter 7, page 108. ISBN 9789171341587] His power similarly amazed Cologne.Fight! Lion vs tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 77. ISBN 9789171340764] Unlike Herb however, Ryoga thus far has very limited control, has not learned to empower it through any, or all of his emotions combined, and cannot mould or focus it into a cutting edge. It does seem to work with anger or frustration as well, however.

Nevertheless, no other martial artist in the series, with the possible exception of Happosai, has ever been shown to display a nearly as large amount of impact/force from single self-generated chi-blasts. Since Ryoga is 'emotionally hollow' after the attack, he is typically unaffected by the blast. However, he can be distracted out of this state and thus be hit by his own blast when it falls down from above.

It is unknown if this problem would remain in case he managed to direct it forward instead, given that his regular versions don't show this limitation, whether or not this would increase its force through the initial chi-pillar,Fight! Lion vs tiger; Volume 20, chapter 5, page 78. ISBN 9789171340764] or if its impact against comparatively smaller combatants likewise has been greatly reduced by the very dispersed area effect. Regardless, the displayed raw power of his full blasts has at the very least equaled Rouge's strongest attacks.

Also of note is that the technique's colour varies by source. In the manga and video games, it was supposedly coloured green, while in the anime it is red, and in the second film it is blue. Sixth Sense: Like several other martial artists in the manga, Ryoga has displayed an extrasensory awareness, which warns him from incoming danger/attacks. When the Phoenix people were spying on his meeting with Cologne, Ranma, Mousse and Shampoo, he noticed their presence much earlier than any of the others.Battle for the map of Jusenkyo; Volume 37, chapter 2. ISBN 9789171343277] On the other hand, characteristically he also thought they were located in the wrong direction. Other examples include reflexively downing female Ranma when she tried to sneak up on him in the girls' locker room,From the spring, springs a message; Volume 8, chapter 11. ISBN 9789172694545] instinctively avoiding Ukyo's ambush 'shuriken-spatulas',Ryoga vs. Ukyo; Volume 9, chapter 8. ISBN 9789172695122] and catching Ranma and Shampoo's bicycle when they tried to knock him out from behind.Who do you love?; Volume 12, chapter 10. ISBN 9789172695153] As minutiae, he's also twice had near death experiences to "The River Styx",The Tragedy of the Ladle; Volume 24, chapter 7. ISBN 9789171341587; Jumbo Order of Chilled Ramen Anyone?; Volume 31, chapter 8. ISBN 9789171342546] and telepathically called Akane from afar when on the brink of death,The Tragedy of the Ladle; Volume 24, chapter 7. ISBN 9789171341587] but it's unclear how much Akane contributed.


=Ukyo=

Ukyo is a talented martial artist, with her art based on cooking okonomiyaki. She uses food-based techniques to stun, restrain or confuse opponents in somewhat archetypal 'ninja' reminiscent patterns (shuriken, confusing fog, blinding flash etc). She uses a large spatula as a two handed weapon and has a bandoleer of smaller spatulas she utilises as thrown projectiles. During her introduction, Ukyo gave Ranma more trouble than Shampoo ever managed, but Ukyo's better performance is at least partially due to being surrounded by a hot grill and that Ranma initially held back. However, she also held her own for a while even when Ranma turned furious, and apparently attacked full force. She also managed to fight and parry with Ryoga for a brief time before being overcome. She is strong, agile, and has a versatile range of attacks. Making Ukyo a force to be reckoned with, and undoubtedly one of the most skilled female characters in the story.

Her special techniques are:

Spatula Shuriken: Ukyo carries several smaller spatulas in a bandoleer and uses them as shuriken to attack from a distance, throwing them with great precision. On occasion they are shown to spin like buzz saws, or been fastened in entangling wire.

Battle Spatula: She also carries a large spatula on her back that she uses as a sword or club. She is highly skilled with it, but Ranma has been able to bend it enough to become unusable.

Flour Bomb: A bag of flour used for a smokescreen effect, to hide her movements or distract her opponents. It has a small range and can be overcome by jumping above.

Tempura flash: By mixing tempura flakes with gunpowder, she creates a cloud of explosives to blind and stun her opponents. It was potent enough to pain Ranma to the point of sizzling.

Yakisoba Rope: Large ropes made of rubber Yakisoba (or fried noodles), used to tangle or restrain her opponents to make them easier to hit with her spatulas. Ranma proved unable to swiftly break free. Later in the manga, it is also used like a whip and a rope to swing across gaps.

Adhesive Batter: A special batter made with rubber cement, used mainly to slow her opponents down to smack them with her spatula or other techniques. It takes a while to harden from fluid state, possibly requiring the heat of her grill, but once it did, it seemed to have similar tensile strength to her rubber noodle rope.

Okonomiyaki bombs: Okonomiyaki explosives. When Ranma was struck with one, together with Shampoo's dumpling bombs, in the final story this proved enough to momentarily stun him, though he was taken by surprise so his guard wasn't up.

Super-sized special okonomiyaki: A 4m diameter giant version. Ukyo's final attack during her battle with Hayato Myojin, which she was able to create in (at most) a few seconds. Apparently simply a blunt force restraining manoevre.

Batter Dragon: An anime only attack she used to defeat the Crepe King. In the attack, Ukyo creates a huge dragon made of batter, which fuses all of her attacks. It also traps her foe as an ingredient in a giant okonomiyaki.

Sixth Sense: Like several other martial artists in the series, Ukyo has displayed a certain extrasensory awareness, warning her for incoming danger. For example when sensing the Gambling King's ambush attack.

The Amazons


=Cologne=

Of the entire Ranma cast, only Happosai could compare with Cologne's sheer skill, although the latter's full battle aura, Ryoga's perfect Shishi Hōkōdan, or Rouge's and Saffron's fire projection all seem quite beyond her in terms of raw power. She is the grand master of the Chinese Amazon martial arts and likely knows many ancient martial techniques that have been passed down for thousands of years. In addition to the martial arts, Cologne is knowledgeable in several other disciplines such as arcane lore, cooking, Chinese mythology, and magic artefacts. Cologne is also capable of trickery in combat such as holding back her true martial arts abilities in order to lull her opponents into a false sense of confidence.

Shark Fist (鮫拳 Sameken): A blast of water in the shape of a shark, but only usable when surrounded by water.

Fist of the Ice Bear In the anime, the former technique is replaced with another attack called "Fist of the Ice Bear". (As in the anime this fight took place on a snowy mountain instead of a beach) It consists of Cologne standing atop a life-size ice sculpture of a polar bear and launching it (as well as a number of other ice-boulders) at the enemy with a wave of her staff.

Water-sprout: By whirling her staff in the climactic battle for the Phoenix Pill, Cologne created a gigantic revolving water-sprout that carried her and female Ranma into the air. In the anime version, it was a vortex of air, with Ranma being swirled around helplessly while Cologne remained perfectly stationary in the center. Ranma overcame the latter pseudo-technique by distracting her, causing it whirlwind to dissipate.

Splitting Cat Hairs (Anime): Cologne creates 14 separate afterimages that spin around her opponent at varying speeds while hitting the opponent with her staff. Conquerable if the user is hungry and the opponent is holding food because the real one will eat.

Ki-projection: Cologne once attempted to hit Happosai with a small ki-blast, after the latter claimed that she gave him a stolen heirloom as a token of affection, although he effortlessly avoided it.

Flying Dragon Ascension Blast (飛龍昇天波 Hiryū Shoten Ha): Creates a whirlwind using an opponent’s hot, angry battle aura against the cold, indifferent battle aura of the person using this technique, when moving in a spiral motion.

Breaking Point (爆砕点穴 Bakusai Tenketsu): Cologne taught Ryoga Hibiki this move. It causes any inanimate object to shatter with a mere touch and, more importantly, exponentially enhances the trainee’s durability.

Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire (火中天津甘栗拳 Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken): Simply a speed training exercise, rather than an actual technique. Movements so swift that the practitioner can grab chestnuts roasting on an open fire without getting burned, or throw several hundred punches so swiftly that it looks like a single strike. Full-Body Cat Tongue: A pressure point attack that makes the target unable to bear even remotely warm temperatures without being feeling badly burned. In Ranma's case, it prevented him from turning back into a male. It can be cured by the Phoenix Pill, which she apparently also created.

Non-techniques:

Water-walking: Being a grandmaster of martial arts, Cologne was suspected as able to somehow "find foothold" even on the surface tension of the sea, but it turned out that she was standing on the back of a shark.


=Mousse=

Mousse is an extremely proficient martial artist and is skilled in several systems, presumably including the acrobatic and flexible Joketzusoku style used by the other two Amazons, Shampoo and Cologne. He is a proficient hand-to-hand combatant, a master with practically any weapon, is strong enough to split a large iron bell barehanded, has extreme endurance, and is very agile.

His hidden weapons techniques allow him to occasionally overwhelm opponents with the sheer number of items he can produce, and barrage them from a certain distance. Strictly speaking of their comparative mettle in serious battles with Ranma, he appears vastly more dangerous than Shampoo. However, he does not seem to be as swift or skilled in unarmed combat as either Ranma or Ryoga, and has been consistently beaten despite the advantage of using a barrage of bladed weaponry against mostly barehanded fighters. That said, he came extremely close to beating Ranma on three separate occasions, despite handicaps in each of them.

Hidden Weapons: Mousse is a self-proclaimed practitioner of "dark magic," which is actually just hiding things up his oversized sleeves where it is dark. Mousse is able to keep almost any item imaginable in his sleeves and never seems to run out of room. This likewise holds true in his much smaller duck form, which has been seen swiftly dispatching throngs of projectiles cumulatively greatly surpassing its' own volume. This recurrent manga and anime phenomenon has commonly been labelled hammerspace. Mousse's attack of choice is a discharged throng of cutting or bludgeoning weaponry fastened in entangling ropes and chains, with a few silly items, like yo-yos, thrown in for good measure.

Smoke Bomb: A great fog, which simultaneously works as tear gas, as sneezing powder, and hides his whereabouts. It has set up the following attack.

Exploding Chicken Eggs (雞蛋拳 - Keiran Ken): Mousse pulls a chicken out of his sleeves and it quickly lays eggs into his hand. When thrown, they become similar to grenades, exploding when they hit their target.

Fuse Bomb Barrage: His duck form has also thrown a throng of small regular explosives, without any time delay involved.

Scythes of Sorrow: Used in Mousse's second fight with Ranma. It involves wildly slashing at his opponent with scythe-like blades from his robes. Additionally they can be used as projectile weapons.

Hawk's Talon (鹰爪拳 - Takazume Ken): Large, sharp claws appear on the tips of Mousse's shoes as he jumps far into the sky and then plummets toward his opponent. He stated that it is taught to a single student per generation.

Fist of the White Swan (白鳥拳 - Hakucho Ken): This technique is similar to his others. Mousse removes the "White Swan", in this case a swan-shaped child's training potty, from his sleeves and hits his opponent with it. He usually draws it out, swings it, and then quickly hides it again so the potty cannot be seen by his foe, representing the swan's graceful but unseen swimming.

Fire breathing: Likely the technique used in real life. Mousse never made use of this move in combat, but has nonetheless mastered it.


=Shampoo=

Shampoo is very strong, agile and acrobatic. Having been trained in the martial art techniques of the Joketsuzoku since birth, with Cologne as her personal instructor, she is an excellent armed or unarmed fighter, and commonly uses a pair of 'chúi' (solid metal spheres on the ends of handles) as her main weapons. However, she has also been shown using sword, spear, bow, and a variety of pole-arms.

Shampoo apparently doesn't remotely compare to Ranma himself, and was completely outmatched and effortlessly overpowered the few times she's seriously faced him in one on one combat, even when the latter held back by only using restraining tactics, but she's managed somewhat better when wielding her chúi.

Beyond basic fighting ability, Shampoo has displayed knowledge of ventriloquism/voice imitation, shiatsu-induced unconsciousness, mind-control or memory loss, sleep-fighting, intuitive multi-step strategy, defence against enchanted herbs, Chinese cooking, and incredible tracking-skills enabling her to hunt Ranma from rural China to the east of Japan. She also has access to minor magic equipment, and is capable of using her bike to literally bounce across the city. Her true strength may lie in sheer versatility.

Hissatsu Shiatsuken (必殺指圧拳" Xi Fa Xiang Gao"): This is an attack in which she uses a specially devised herbal shampoo in conjunction with a shiatsu massage technique involving pressure points on the head to erase her opponent's memories. The process takes at most 6 seconds.

Dumpling Bombs: Similar to Ukyo's okonomiyaki bombs, but given their smaller size, likely less damaging. Only used in the final wedding story.

Fork Darts (Anime): Similar to Ukyo's spatula shuriken.

Remote Control Acupressure: Activated by pressing both fingers against an unprepared target's temples. Used to turn a distracted Akane unconscious during the 'waterproof soap' story. Afterwards the victim is susceptible to a brief mind-control effect, and made Akane put herself in harm's way by standing in front of a roller coaster, then affectionately hug Ryoga and finally urge him to give back Shampoo's waterproof soap.

Sleep Fighting: Used against Pink & Link. When her life is threatened while unconscious, Shampoo can efficiently auto-fight without awakening.

Less useful moves:

Voice Imitation/Ventriloquism: Another 'secret soap' technique. Shampoo perfectly imitated Akane's tone of voice, but it is unclear if she used ventriloquism or not given that she crouched behind her rival.

Chow Mein Strike: The user turns a bowl-full of ramen noodles into a whip, forcing the intended food recipient to eat his way out during take-out competitions. Given its limited tensile strength it's likely not useful beyond this function.Delivery Box Blow-out (also known as the Box-Blower Blow): A move from the school of 'Martial Arts Takeout,' a style in which Cologne has stated that she's 'not half bad.' This allows Shampoo to instantly 'overcook' the food contained within a delivery box with a finger or pointed hand strike. It may have had a similar effect when she accidentally struck a water tower instead, although more likely it simply burst after being slightly cracked. This technique only appears in Shampoo's arsenal in the manga; in the anime it is the property of Kaori Daikoku.

The Kunos


=Kodachi=

Kodachi is an expert in Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics, making her skilled in acrobatics and weapon use (i.e. balls, clubs, hoops, ribbons, and ropes). As a cunning individual, she is not averse to using unorthodox methods in combat such as rigged weapons, explosives and various poisons.

Compared to the rest of the regular Ranma cast, outside "Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics" tournaments Kodachi has managed to hold her own against Ukyo and Shampoo in very brief free-for-alls, and has been able to fight/parry with Tatewaki on even, or slightly superior, footing. She is also incredibly agile, possibly approaching her 'beloved' in this respect.

Sentekonbou (千手こん棒 - A Thousand Clubs): A very fast attack, using at least 13 clubs to attack at once, and able to contend with Ranma (very early in the series), or her brother's bokken strikes. She can also aim all of them as projectiles.

Thread Ribbon: Catches and throws her opponent. Also used to snare other objects with incredible precision, sometimes using them for blunt attacks. Considered her trademark technique.

Razor Hoop: Kodachi throws a gymnastics hoop that contains a razor capable of cutting through solid metal.

Spiked Club: Kodachi swings a custom-made club, with hidden spikes that are sent out upon pressing a special button, while releasing the trigger makes them retract again.

Black Rose Blizzard: Spinning her gymnast ribbon, Kodachi unleashes a storm of black rose petals. It is not usually used as a fighting technique. Instead, it is applied with dramatic flair when entering or leaving, although she has also used them to paralyse a large crowd of bystanders with poison gas. Her maniacal laughter often accompanies this.

Black Rose Scattered Bomb Shots: While in mid-air, Kodachi tosses several explosive black roses to her opponent. One of her stronger techniques, and used in an attempt to incapacitate Asuka Saginomiya’s date.

Smokescreen: A rose thrown at the ground when she needs to quickly depart from a scene.

Sixth Sense: Kodachi has shown a low-level esp, warning her from Asuka's ambush bomb.

Principal Kuno

Principal Kuno does not appear particularly dangerous in terms of martial arts skill, but has managed to contend with his son on roughly even footing, and has employed a wide variety of dirty tricks and goofy attacks. These have included: Forcing the teachers to dress up as ferocious animals or statues of the principal and attack the students, unleashing Robber Crabs trained to shave heads and using remote-controlled miniature aeroplanes to attempt to "buzz" students.

Pineapple Bombs: Principal Kuno's love of Hawaii has caused him to incorporate pineapples and other tropical themes into his attacks.

Shears and Scissors: Principal Kuno has a penchant for cutting people's hair. He is often seen running around Furinkan High School with a pair of shears or scissors in his hands.

Wooden Sword Shredder: The "secret move” of the Kuno family. Basically the Principal uses his opponent's wooden sword/staff as a ramp to get to their hair, shaving the opponent's head and destroying the weapon. In the anime, this technique is called the "Aloha Sword Shredder".


=Tatewaki=

As captain of the kendo team at Furinkan High School, Tatewaki Kuno was the school's most powerful warrior (and greatest pervert, according to one schoolmate) before Ranma's arrival. Initially he constituted a legitimate threat to Ranma, but has afterwards either been treated as a running joke, had a certain edge against Akane, or been a roughly even match for his sister.

Upon losing his memory during training to slice watermelons, Kuno temporarily became far more than a match for Ranma, demonstrating the potential to exceed his nemesis. While he has mastered his chosen art of Kendo, he has apparently failed to learn any unarmed combat skills and is therefore very dependent on his bokken to defend himself. Despite his speed, he is also not shown as comparatively strong.

Air-Pressure Strikes/Blue Thunder Attack: Kuno's primary move. He jabs his bokken at a target at high speeds, in the anime yelling "Atatatatatatatatatata!". During their first battles the air pressure alone proved enough to shatter a stone pillar, gave a significant bruise to Ranma's throat, and later made him unable to hold back the tears from the severe pain over his entire body.:Note: Kuno occasionally invents different names for this move.

Senpū-Ken (Whirlwind Sword): (Anime) Kuno spins his sword at his target in small circles, creating a small whirlwind. Only usable when he thinks he is under the effects of Happosai's speed of light elixir.

Watermelon Splitter: A conditioned reaction, usable to greatly boost the speed and power of his strikes, although the training to learn it rendered him amnesiac. When in the presence of watermelons, Kuno can spin rapidly, creating a forceful torrent of wind, and easily slices through all watermelons in sight. His defence in this state is almost impenetrable, and his assault taxing to avoid, even for Ranma himself. Even outside of their presence, Kuno's regular attacks repeatedly got through Ranma's guard/held him/her at sword-point, and kept his female form strictly on the defensive/running for her life.

A shown limitation was that Kuno remained comparatively physically 'weak'. He seemed unable to defend himself against, and was briefly stunned by, a thrown small (2-3-ton) boulder. Female Ranma likewise managed to overcome the technique through distracting, and then placing a watermelon on Kuno's head, making him instinctively knock himself out. This also restored his memory. Kuno later revealed that it was training for a watermelon-slicing contest, which he intended to win to impress the "pigtailed girl". He hasn't been shown close to this level in later encounters, so he may either have lost the ability beyond the originally intended usage, or require the proximity of several watermelons to 'power-up'/'enter a trance', but never had the sense to do so. He later uses the technique in the OVA "Tendo Family Christmas Scramble" as part of a talent show act, and uses it in the "Battle for Miss Beachside" episode of the anime, apparently at Nabiki's request so that she can earn money from both spectators and selling the resultant watermelon slices.

Other recurring characters

Konatsu

Trained by his father and stepfamily, he is actually a talented fighter, and supposedly a genius “kunoichi”, which only comes along once every hundred years. He generally doesn't seem nearly as dangerous as Ranma, Ryoga, or Mousse in open combat, but it is conceivable that he might give the third some challenge when brought to his peak, either through motivation or the “Toushintan”, and is quite a bit sneakier.His strength lies more in being a master in the ninja arts, i.e. stealth, distraction, ambushes and traps.

Generally useful moves:

Duplicating Body Technique: He seemingly turns into 4 doubles. Given that this would be Konatsu's by far most useful ability, and that it was never used in combat, it may be an illusion similar to Cologne's 'Splitting cat hairs', or simply thus far of limited usage under pressure.

Smoke bomb: Distracting fog to cover an exit.

Bill Whirlwind Attack: Unleashes a whirlwind of paper bills, capable of creating distraction to

The Greetings Suplex: Konatsu grabs his opponent from behind and slams them head first into the ground, but Ranma instantly recovered.

Beautiful Woman's Dart Attack: Konatsu throws several shuriken, piercing a wooden fence.

Kunoichi Takemitsu Blade: Originally meant to be a ninja blade that Konatsu had pawned, he resorted to using a Takemitsu—an imitation sword made of bamboo, but it is still capable of easily cutting through small tree trunks.

Sixth Sense: Like several other martial artists in the series, Konatsu has displayed a certain extrasensory awareness, warning him for incoming danger.

Traps, or unreliable techniques:

Hundred Wet Towels Attack: Only used as a trap, and likely not preferable to shuriken in actual combat. Konatsu throws several rolled up hot wet towels with unusual force. This Technique was successfully used as a surprising ambush sucker-attack against Happosai, after first destroying his guard through faux 'feminine' distraction (as anyone is able to do with lingerie), and then throwing 4-5 of them into his open mouth.

The Drink-Snack Attack: Konatsu throws a barrage of very heavy and durable snacks. Used in combination with the former, and may technically be useful in general, but less so than regular shuriken.

The Drink: Another comical follow-up to the previous two. Konatsu hits the opponent over the head with a bottle of Sake. Happosai instantly recovered, but was bashed when groping 'her' behind (possibly characteristically freezing from revulsion).

Kunoichi Mystery Bust Technique: A one-use resort. Konatsu stuffs his chest with pepper smoke powder, and when an opponent tries to grab on to his non-existent breasts, it can be released, causing the attacker to sneeze, while Konatsu wears a scarf for limited protection. It can easily be reflected however.

Toushintan: A drug that was fed to him by his mean stepmother in order for his fighting instinct/ability to be stimulated to its full current potential. (Likely similar to turning supremely motivated for other fighters, rather than Akane's battle-dougi manner), which turned him into a much greater challenge for Ranma, and managed to reach a draw. However, it was explicitly stated and very apparent that Ranma held back and limited himself evasion and restraining tactics for all but the final seconds, due to his belief that Konatsu was a girl and given that the latter was subject to mind-control.

Poisonous potions: Konatsu paralysed Genma through leaving free food on the pavement. He tried to poison a meal to his abusive stepfamily, and later the Tendo's rice dinner, but decided to eat it instead. He gave Ranma an envenomed gym towel, but it's unknown if this would have worked through the skin.

Completely useless moves, or renamed previous mentions:

Sleepy Kunoichi Shuriken Throw: Just regular shuriken throwing, but while just awakened.

Sneak Up and Crimson Hell Attack: Despite how it sounds, it's just a small kiss mark, left on Ranma's shirt hem.

Kunoichi's Gratitude Technique/Kunoichi Delaying Tactic Crimson Storm: This technique can give hundreds of kisses in less than a second. It has also been used to keep male customers from leaving Ucchan's.

Cute Disguise: Konatsu will dress up as a cute girl, to get close to and poison an enemy, but similarly to Ranma's disguises it's quite transparent.


=Taro=

More often than not, Pantyhose Taro favours the use of his powerful chimera mode, to overcome the fact that his fighting ability and strength are comparatively low in human form. Male Ranma had a significant advantage during their first encounter, and female Ranma an even greater during their second, at the times she wasn't goaded into sucker-attacks.

Taro has stated himself that he hasn't trained to get any better, but rather focused on shortcuts to enhance his cursed form. Despite the comparatively small wings it can somehow fly for extended periods, even across an ocean, and is manoeuvrable enough to avoid several of Rouge's lightning strikes.

*Octopus tentacles: It now sprouts 8, comparatively thin, octopus tentacles which can guard its' back, confuse or give additional strikes.
*Ink blast: The monster has also inherited an ability to shoot blinding ink, but from its' fingertips.

Non-recurring significant characters


=Herb=

Herb is an immensely skilled, swift, dangerous and ruthless martial artist and consistently outmatched Ranma in direct combat. However he is easily distracted or infuriated by being shown breasts, and is arrogant enough to be taken by surprise attacks, when assuming a premature victory or underestimating a physically overmatched but more creative opponent using a move he is not familiar with. The combined effect from extensive usage of all his attacks, during his prolonged final confrontation with Ranma, is shown to directly create a 2m-3m wide, deep chasm in Mount Horaisan, with a shown span of at least 14m, but which stretches off page. Herb commented that the mountain was crumbling under the force of his attacks, and later Ranma, funnelling the spent energies from Herb's earlier blasts, gave it the final push. However, individually his shown abilities have been far more limited in power.

Herb has been shown capable of flying for at least brief periods, but never for an extended time, and preferred to spring when racing Ranma for the kettle.

Supersonic Fist: An unnamed, almost indiscernible, barrage of incredibly swift blows, apparently exceeding the speed of Ranma's own supersonic strikes.

Chi-blasts: Herb can project and mould wider, 'regular' chi-blasts, shown capable of making a roughly 1m x 1m x 12m path through solid rock, and were implied to have destroyed even the magic metal ladle itself. They've also proven enough to briefly stun female Ranma.

Ryu Sei Hisho ("Soaring Dragon Spirit): While using his ability to fly, Herb dive bombs his opponent one-handed while firing chi blasts that bounce off the ground to catch his opponent off guard. Capable of knocking out female Ranma for 1-2 minutes, when struck from all directions at once. The blasts cannot bounce off water, however. It is also one of the few moves that Ranma failed to develop a counter or a defence for, even after he learned how it worked.

Hito Ryu-Zan Ha ("Flying Sword of the Dragon"): Herb's most dangerous attack. With this move, he creates blades of chi that can fly through the air and effortlessly slice through dense objects, shown to include a 4m-5m diameter mountaintop, but his aim is also completely ruined when enraged. While similar in appearance to the Yamasenken's "Demon God Multiple Strike" move, the blades are made of chi, not vacuum.

Chi-sword: Herb can also create a sword of chi with his hand, and has claimed that this is powerful enough to cut female Ranma's head off.

Hiryu Shoten Ha: Being a dragon descendant and chi-master, Herb was familiar with this move and managed to both counter and use it against Ranma.

Kiima

Kiima's extremely powerful wing attack makes her one of the most dangerous female martial artists shown in the series, although she's not remotely a match for either Ranma, Ryoga or Mousse in direct hand-to-hand combat.

However she's also an experienced strategist, spy, actress and seductress, can use Jusenkyo to create disguises if needed, and her lieutenants seem very loyal to her. Her hybrid seabird heritage makes her capable of winged flight.

Thousand Wings of a Seabird: By flapping her wings very rapidly Kiima can send out huge numbers of razor-sharp feathers, capable of effortlessly slicing through solid steel, and even cutting off a chip of the incredibly durable phoenix-tap.

Bird control. She can command great flocks of birds (possibly most efficiently with crows), to aid her in battle/create distraction, perform tasks from a great distance, or gather information.

Lukkosai

It is uncertain just how skilled a martial artist Lukkosai is, but he seems to be of at least Ranma's level, and at most Happosai's/Cologne's. He has been able to swiftly defeat Ranma 1-on-1, when not distracted by being focused on Happosai, and displayed a higher degree of running/body movement speed. Note: all of Lukkosai's moves begin with the phrase "Raijin-Mouhitsuken"/"Lightning Sharp Pen".

Circle of Fire Attack: Lukkosai draws a ring around his opponent, which then ignites into fire.

Blow-Gun Brush Bomb: Exactly what it sounds like. When used in combination with the former it was enough to defeat and knock out Ranma for a few seconds.

Wasabi Stink-Bomb Ink: Ink with an intense distracting smell of week-old gym socks.

Dance of the Butterflies: After recovering the Butterfly Brokade, Lukkosai used it to create an illusory swarm of hypnotic, Rainbow coloured “Butterflies”, which ideally distract an opponent, and allow him to get breast-prints from beautiful women. However, Ranma managed to shake off the trance, due to his/her arduous martial arts training.

Nikawa Kinbaku-Boku/Inescapable Ink: Special ink infused with glue that wraps around an opponent and tightens the more he/she struggles. Ranma was unable to break it.

Ink Web: Similar to the above move, but the ink is in the form of a large spider web. It had a bra on it to lure in Happosai.


=Mariko=

Mariko's fighting style is built on using cheerleading tools, for example by using batons as bludgeons, or throwing them with great stealth and accuracy, to knock out an opposing team without notice. She managed to give Ranma a harder challenge than Ukyo and particularly Shampoo were able to do. Then again so did Kodachi when Ranma was similarly restricted to restrained, unfamiliar battle-rules, but that was much earlier in the series, before Ranma's power-up at Cologne's hands.

Nyoibo Baton Crash: Mariko extends her baton to attack. Nyoibo is the name of Goku (from Dragon Ball Z)'s extending stick. In the manga, the spectators even make a comment about it being an obvious Dragonball reference and ask if they are in the right manga. She almost instantly beat Ranma-chan through using this move.

Black Widow Ensnaring of the Lover Ribbons: Mariko uses spider-wed ribbons to disarm her opponent.

Flying Sea Urchin Pom-Pom Love Bomb: Mariko's pom-poms turn into balls of spikes, which she hurls as revolving shredders towards an opponent.

Love's Deepest Cut: Mariko throws a swarm of razor-sharp cheerleading batons.

Cupid's Arrow Straight Down: Mariko jumps high into the air and descends, striking an opponent's head with her club. This attack was powerful enough to knock out female Ranma when the latter was distracted.

Love Bursting Out All Over: This technique involves Mariko's team throwing her into the air while she hides behind her pom-poms. It is followed by the "Love Rival Elimination Kick."Less useful moves:

Quicksand of Love: Mariko is supported by her team-mates’ pom-poms, while her opponent is held in place.Zombie of Love: Mariko uses Kuno to attack Akane through using the following two methods:

*Mid-air Clash of Hearts: Mariko moves Kuno into the air and makes him use his blade as a shield.

*Puppet of Love Baton Storm: Mariko flings numerous batons from behind Kuno.

Completely useless moves:

The Shower of Confidence: Mariko showers Kuno with love letters, giving him the confidence he needs in order to win.

The Fireworks of Love: Mariko's pom-poms explode and spell out "Kuno" and "Love".

Rouge

Rouge's cursed form is one of the characters with highest amount of raw power ever to appear in the series, but also seems quite physically weak and susceptible to impacts, when compared to the cast of highly trained martial artists. Being unexpectedly hit to the head by a frying pan, falling from just a few meters above, immediately made her unconscious. However, given her ability to hover and attack from out of reach this has not constituted a serious problem. Beyond this weakness, her three separate minds can occasionally make it very difficult to make quick decisions. Rouge is capable of effortlessly flying for extended periods, including chasing cursed Taro from China to Japan under the span of a sunny afternoon to a dark evening/early night.

Thunder Heaven Snakes Retribution: A blitz of multiple lightning bolts streaming from her hands, taking considerable manoeuvrability to evade, and momentarily stunning Ranma when holding on to her. Alternately summoned as a single, and much wider, focused strike from above, which appears to be her strongest attack, as the full power, combined with the impact from falling about 50 meters to the ground, was enough to knock out cursed Taro for several minutes.

Six-Fisted Random Comet Shots: She uses all of her six arms to throw several miniature blazing meteors, capable of briefly stunning the behemoth and sending him plummeting towards the ground.

Flaming body: A protective sheath of flames, singeing the hand of Taro's cursed form, forcing him to release his grip on her.

Fire Dragon Great Circle Dance: Rouge’s most impressive feat. She continuously twirls her body, resulting in a turbulent revolving inferno, approximately 40-50 meters across. Literally a firestorm, which Ranma found painfully hot, and was able to bother Taro-chimera through prolonged exposure.

Fire Breath: A stream of fire from any of her 3 mouths. It stunned Ranma for 5-10 seconds when distracted from the skirmish by arguing with Pantyhose, and was likely the sucker-attack that took down Happosai for at least 1-2 minutes, when catching the latter unawares.

Fireballs: Small spheres of fire thrown from her hands. Instantly boiling a small fountain of water.

Asura flash: She projects an omni-directional, temporarily blinding burst of light.

Shining Nimbus: She is frequently surrounded by a glowing globular corona, roughly 12 meters across, which might be useful to light her way at night.


=Saffron=

Aside from his immense fire generation, Saffron also possesses decent skill with the Kinjakan. While using his wings to fly, he has superb manoeuvrability, although his physical defences against blunt impacts are very low, due to being pampered since birth. He's one of the characters with highest amount of raw power in the series, but he's very lacking in fighting prowess compared to the most experienced martial artists of his world.

Fire Ball and Fire Column: When Saffron was released from his rebirth process, he gained an endless source of flaming energy which allows him to release large orbs of pure fire and the ability to create columns of fire as well. But since his rebirth process was incomplete, he did not have full control of it.

Blazing Emperor's Wing: Saffron can rip off his wings and set them ablaze so he can throw them at his enemies like a buzz saw or a boomerang.

Regeneration: Apparently Saffron is capable of re-growing lost limbs, such as when Ranma cut off his wing and it instantly grew back. He continued to rip them off to use his "Blazing Emperor's Wing" attack. In conventional phoenix manner, he was reborn as a baby in an egg after Ranma managed to shatter his body beyond conventional repair. It is left uncertain how far this ability could be stretched, and if repeatedly destroying his helpless infant form would eventually wear him down.

Kinjakan: The Kinjakan is Saffron's primary weapon and mode of transportation. It generates immense heat, and acts as a sword and/or a boomerang when the tip is removed. It can cut through almost anything and also acts as the Jusendo spring's primary key. The Gekkaja causes vast freezing cold.

Instant-Annihilation-of-all-Mortals-Blast: Saffron's strongest attack, and likely the most powerful shown in the series. He creates a huge sphere of fire, light, and heat (approximately 10x larger than Ranma), and shoots it forward as a beam. The move was stated to blow away, and possibly vaporise, an entire mountaintop directly in its path, and Ranma only avoided being killed by using the Gekkaja's freezing power on himself. It is unknown if Saffron could perform this move without wielding the Kinjakan.

Movie characters

Jasmine

Battle Aura: Jasmine can project a battle aura that can become massive and powerful enough to knock away all the pursuers chasing Ranma, Akane, and Happosai at the beginning of the movie, making her the only animal shown to be capable of generating one, not counting Genma in panda form.

Physical combat: Jasmine is fast and skilled enough to prevent all of Team Ranma’s initial attempts to board the small ship she and Lychee are on by knocking them off. She can use her trunk as a powerful suction device, and is also able to execute a series of body slams on Happosai.

Prince Kirin

Chopsticks: Kirin can use his chopsticks to block almost any physical attack. He can even move fast enough to block all of Ranma's Chestnut Roasting on an Open Fire moves. They cannot stop water, and presumably not any attack with something that chopsticks cannot hold. Another possible weakness of this defence is demonstrated by Akane, who forced Kirin to block one of her fists then successfully defeats his guard with her other fist showing that Kirin can only use this guard with one hand at a time.

Hundred Chopsticks Sting: Using his chopsticks and his incredible speed, Kirin flings countless pieces of rice (from his always present bowl) after charging them with chi, making them look like single yellow chopsticks.

Monlon

Phantom Restriction Attack: Monlon uses her lute strings to entrap her opponents. She can then send vibrations along the strings, which are magnified as they travel the strings’ length, cutting into the targets’ flesh. If the vibrations are powerful enough, the targets can even be killed, especially if a lute string is around their necks.

Sarutoru

Shadow Ability: Sarutoru is able to create an illusion of a shadow that he is able to hide in, move over great distances quickly and attack unseen. He seems to be able to hide others with this move as well.

Shadow Fall: Sarutoru's ultimate move, he wraps an opponent in shadows, forcing them to experience their worst nightmares. While usually an unbeatable move, it is foolishly used on Ryoga, thus supercharging his Shishi Hokodan move, which feeds on depression.

Prince Toma

Illusion Sword: Toma's fighting style involves using illusions created by his sword and the sword itself to attack. These illusions include, but are not limited to, bright flashes of light, turning nearly invisible, creating high winds, teleportation, and creating a giant peach.

Mirror aura: Toma holds his sword in front of him and becomes transparent. Any attack that hits him while he is in this state is reflected back and hits its user.

Mystic Illusion Chaos Strike: Toma's ultimate technique creates the illusion of a huge fiery explosion around his opponent. The perceived pain makes them pass out. However, after seeing it once, the move becomes useless against Ranma. Although the scene never made it into the movie, a deleted portion of the movie has Cologne give Ranma a large pin, which he can use to cause himself real pain that blocks out the illusion. The large pin is seen in Ranma's hand in the movie during the fight.

Notes and references

Used references: Online fan-translation and Egmont's Swedish pocket-manga editions.

ee also

*List of fictional martial arts


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