Volume Two


So this time we discover the real reason why Ryoga is seeking revenge on Ranma. You see, a little while back, Ryoga challenged Ranma to a fight. Because Ryoga has such a terrible sense of direction, he got lost on the way down the street. Ranma waited 3 days for him before leaving, but Ryoga arrived on the fourth. Upset that Ranma "skipped out" on their duel, Ryoga followed him all the way to China. There, he was knocked in to a cursed spring by a young woman and a panda . Chances are you can see where this is going.

And now when splashed with cold water, Ryoga turns in to a pig. Akane finds this pig and adopts it as her own, naming him P-chan . Getting close to Akane in pig form also causes Ryoga to develop feelings for her. Luckily Ranma agrees to keep his secret by not outright telling Akane, but at the same time he likes to drop hints for her to find.

The next part of the story involves martial arts gymnastics, the start of Ranma 1/2 introducing martial arts to everything it can. A gymnast from an opposing school team, Kodachi "The Black Rose" , younger sister to Upperclassman Kuno , has been going around beating up her opponents before the upcoming match. Desperate, the gymnastics team at Rnma and Akane's school begs for Akane to fill in for them since she knows martial arts and is in shape.

She's terrible at it. Ryoga generously offers to teach her, because he loves her, and she's just terrible at it. In any case, she injures her ankle before the match and so it's up to Ranma to fill in. Also, after chasing P-chan around, Ranma accidentally knocks Kodachi out with a tea kettle and rescues her so that she falls for him when she regains consciousness.

More hijinks happen. Female Ranma tells Kodachi to leave male Ranma alone. Kodachi says that if Ranma (female) loses the fight, then Ranma (male) will date her (Kodachi). This gets Ryoga interested since if he goes steady with Kodachi, Akane will be free to date him. Thus he tries to exhaust Ranma by "training him" the night before.

The match takes place in a rather ridiculous fashion, as I'm sure you can imagine. No bare handed blows are allowed in amrtial arts gymnastics, so things such as table and... brothers are used. Eventually Ranma manages to win by a hair. Don't worry though, Kodachi will be back to harass Ranma another day.

So now that that's over with, the gang goes skating! Akane brings P-chan because of course she does, where he promptly gets kidnapped by a figure skater named Azusa . Azusa likes to name things she thinks are cute and then take them. Yes, that is illegal. She names P-chan "Charlotte". Akane is displeased by this, of course, and Azusa's partner, Mikado shows up to be his womanizing self and try to kiss Akane. Ranma and Akane are not having that, and Ranma challenges Mikado to a duel. The event will be pair skating.

This means that Akane needs to teach Ranma how to skate. Ranma, having his male ego easily bruised, practices as a girl to avoid humiliating himself as a man. Mikado arrives on the scene to plant a kiss on the female Ranma, which sends him in to a rage as it's his first ever kiss. Things become much more personal now.

I did like this volume but it still wasn't the best. It's starting to get its rhythm more. The match between Ranma and Kodachi was hilarious though, 10/10