Ryoga Hibiki

Infobox animanga character
color = Goldenrod
name = Ryoga Hibiki
series = Ranma ½


caption = Ryoga in the anime.
first V = Volume 1
last = None
creator = Rumiko Takahashi
voiced by = Koichi Yamadera (Japanese)
Michael Donovan (English)
alias = P-chan, by Ranma and Akane
Moron, Jerk, Pig-Boy, Fiancé, Brother, Young Master, Two-Timer by Ranma
Charlotte, by Azusa Shiratori
Ryoga dear, by Akari
Joe, by Anna
Stupid piggy, by Taro
Jackass, by Ukyo
age = 16
born = Unknown
occupation = Martial Artist
Wanderer
Pet Pig
relatives = Mrs. Hibiki, mother
Mr. Hibiki, father
Grandparents, Deceased
Shirokuro, his pet dog
divider = yes
aux1 name = Curse
aux1 = Human to Piglet
Horrible sense of direction
Manic-depressive
Inability to see through disguises
Mentally disconnected, straightforward, awkward, and prudish
aux2 name = Fighting style
aux2 = Self-taught; Matial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics

nihongo|Ryoga Hibiki|響 良牙|Hibiki Ryōga is a character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series "Ranma ½". The name Ryoga can be broken down to read as "good fang," which refers to the fact that he has rather prominent canines. Hibiki is translated as "to echo or resound."

History

Ryoga is introduced in chapter 10 of the manga, titled "The Hunter" and in episode 7 of the anime entitled "Enter Ryoga, The Eternal Lost Boy", in which he casually stops a giant boar from attacking rural villagers. He politely asked for directions to Furinkan High School, but overshot the distance by convert|500|mi|km south, and again shortly thereafter by convert|500|mi|km north. A week later, he finally managed to reach his destination and promptly attacked Ranma. The latter had to think hard to remember him, but was glad to see him when he remembered Ryoga as a friend from his old boys' school (Junior High School in the anime, High School in the manga). At first, it seemed like he simply has a grudge because the latter "ran away" from their scheduled fight, at a vacant lot located convert|500|yd from his own house. His bad sense of direction forced him to wander all over Japan for four days looking for his destination, while Ranma only waited three days before leaving with his father for their training trip to China. Ranma recalls the motivation as consistently beating Ryoga to the last bread at lunchtime, slowly building up the latter's resentment towards him.

Ryoga ends up a week late travelling to their next duel. During their confrontation, he discovers Ranma's curse, and the latter accidentally cuts off part of Akane's hair, by kicking away Ryoga's belt-slash, leading both boys to profusely apologise.

After another fight takes place in a rainstorm, female Ranma finds out that Ryoga tracked her to China, and concludes that the reason for his anger lies in being cursed by the springs of Jusenkyo. Ranma finds a dog on the scene which she assumes to be Ryoga and allows it into the house, while Akane finds a suspicious small black piglet in her room and tends to it. Akane tells Ranma to bathe the pig, but when he puts it the hot bath Ryoga appears. Female Ranma almost manages to convince him that he should be mad at the girl who pushed him into the spring, leading him to almost be cooked and eaten, but it turns out to have been herself, during a chase for Genma-panda, aggravating Ryoga once again. Akane decides to adopt the pig, naming him P-chan ["Cultural note": In Japan, if a girl takes a boy's name's first letter and adds "chan" to it, she is implying that she is romantically involved with him.] ("cute pig"; the "P" is actually derived from the English word "pig"), completely unaware of his dual identity and that he has become utterly enamoured with her.

Afterwards, Ryoga frequently finds himself back in Nerima, whether to challenge Ranma, search for a cure for his Jusenkyo curse, bring pastries and gifts to Akane as awkward shows of affection, or simply become entangled in the schemes and chaos that seem to follow his rival. His antagonism towards Ranma gradually lessens with time. It starts out as a fierce rivalry, then shifts back and forth between tense competition, uneasy alliances or non-serious conflicts and, after a brief lapse, progresses to friendly enough terms to repeatedly risk his life to help Ranma. However, they remain highly competitive. Ranma himself considers Ryoga as "generally a friend"I love pigs!; Volume 30, Chapter 2. ISBN: 9789171342539] and as his only true rival/equal.The mark of the gods; Volume 14, chapter 6. ISBN: 9789172695177]

Ryoga has collaborated with Mousse on a few sparse occasions, to get a cure for themselves during the Musk arc, and considered competing together during an onsen race. He and Kuno also made two very brief accidental team-ups against Ranma, when independently simultaneously entering after seeing a photograph where he kissed Akane, and for 1 second during a 3-way food fight. In the anime continuity, they both attacked Ranma in the episode "Ukyo's Skirt! The Great Girly-Girl Gambit!". They also allied in the episode "Pick-a-Peck o' Happosai" and to stop Ranma and Akane from getting together in the episode "Let's Go to the Mushroom Temple". They also both beat up Ranma in the OVA "Curse of the Contrary Jewel". Regardless, Ryoga is not remotely friends with either in the manga storyline, and is here on better terms with Ranma himself.

Profile

Ryoga stands out in the crowd due to his regularly rough appearance. He spends much of his time wandering, often depressed over having to spend so much of his time alone in the wilderness, with the slightest rain turning him into a defenceless pig at the mercy of hungry humans or animals. His most notable characteristic is that, like his parents, and even his entire family,Takahashi's interview answers about Ryoga: www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi5.html] he has no sense of direction whatsoever. He is unable to go the right way, often sticking to the letter of any directions given to him, regardless of whether the path eventually turns. He has an inability to understand even the simplest of directions or draw any legible maps, once running the wrong way at the start of a three-legged race.

This is not due to lack of motivation, however. For instance, on the way to a date, he was supposed to follow the edge of a lake, to reach a statue in plain sight directly in front of him. Instead, Ryoga follows a brook and gets lost again. In the anime, Maomolin the bakeneko possesses Ryoga and tries to lead him towards the girl he loves. However, Maomolin had as much trouble navigating as Ryoga himself even though the former was doing the thinking.

In real world terms, he would be classified as suffering from autistic limitation or brain damage in this area. It is also possible that his lack of direction might be some form of family curse. Another theorethical possibility is that the Hibiki family suffers from an inflamed or infected hippocampus gland, this gland being the human biologic compass, handling orientation and directional accuity along with short-term memory.

In the anime this condition is worsened by Ryoga's ability to traverse obscene distances in surprisingly little time on foot, although how he does this is unknown. When the two problems are combined, it results in Ryoga having essentially no idea where he is at any given time, which allows him to miss his destinations by insane margins. In one case, he attempted to reach Hokkaido and instead ended up in Hong Kong. Luckily, he carries a backpack, which evidently contains essentials for survival in the wild.

In the manga this is not as heavily implied to be a supernatural talent, at least not beyond his comical tendency to pop up at odd moments. He seems to need much longer travel times, and has not explicitly been seen to swiftly and randomly traverse continents under his own power. However, in his first appearance he quickly overshot Tokyo by convert|500|mi|km twice in a row,The hunter; Volume 2, chapter 2. ISBN: 9789172694019] apparently within the span of one or two days, though no explicit reference was given. Through the aid of the Kinjakan, he also quickly made it all the way from Jusenkyo to Moscow and back while out to get some dumplings in Peking.Akane... in Jusenkyo?; Volume 37, chapter 8. ISBN: 9789171343277] His map was also once shown to contain a forest, a café, a road with a red car, the Tendo dojo, some African tribesmen, China, and France,Return to the mushroom forest; Volume 33, chapter 4. ISBN: 9789171343239] and he once sent Akane a postcard in which the photograph displayed that he had unwittingly traversed to Hong Kong.Ryoga's family house is within sight of Mount Fuji, where his dog Shirokuro (Checkers in the English translation) and her puppies live. However, given the Hibiki family's condition, it is usually empty. Ryoga generally leads a nomadic lifestyle, and only occasionally manages to find it. His dog, however, has no such trouble finding her way and recognises him in both human and pig forms. It has been mentioned that Ranma helped to lead Ryoga home when they went to high school together.

The combination of his poor sense of direction and his curse have regularly subjected Ryoga to imminent misery, constantly placing him lonely and lost in the wilderness, with tight food rations, or at the mercy of hungry predators. When first introduced, he is a very angry and seemingly unapproachable individual. Ryoga is emotional, more often than not following his heart rather than his head, though he has shown capability of using strategy when he is focused or lacking distractions. He is emotionally fragile, straightforward and naive. He regularly feels depressed, which thus far has served as the source for his chi projection. He is generally shy, humble and polite, especially around women. He is often easily tricked and used by some of the more manipulative characters and turns extremely grateful, loyal and self-sacrificing for any kindness offered to him.

A running joke is that whenever female Ranma dons a disguise, no matter how transparent, Ryoga will nonetheless be fooled. Ranma has used this to his advantage to find out about any training Ryoga has been doing, to tease him, or to torment Ryoga during any dates with Akane to destroy the latter's prospects.

P-chan

Ryoga's lonely wanderings make him rather desperate for affection, to the point where a hug as Akane's pet P-Chan was his only way to get any kind of warm human contact, and he has been overjoyed when snuggled like a teddy bear or kissed on his snout. However, he generally does not seem remotely lecherous, and will become heavily embarrassed simply from daydreaming about innocent dates or holding hands. When possessed by an Oni, the most evil thing he could conceptualise was peeking on Akane in the bath, and he was utterly mortified in shame afterwards. Even being hugged by Akane can cause the shy Ryoga to nosebleed and faint. He wouldn't enter the girls locker room together with Ranma even though they believed there was a Jusenkyo cure within, until Ranma threw him in and he quickly turned the opposite way of the girls changing. P-Chan is frequently present when the Tendo/Saotome families are talking or are involved in something, sometimes sitting in Akane's lap. Ranma, Genma, and Happosai all know of Ryoga's curse, but apparently don't consider it a problem. Cologne, Shampoo, Mousse, Soun, and several minor characters also know about the curse, but as one of the series running gags, Akane never figures it out.

His piglet form tends to more openly show when he is sad or needs comfort. The curse may also be age-specific, given that it was unchanged when he was turned into a child by the "mushrooms of time".

Ranma has mostly been shown as very considerate regarding Ryoga's curse, likely because he was the one who caused it, sheer sympathy, and possibly due to a silent "warrior's code" vow to the dog that he initially thought was Ryoga. While Ranma was initially willing to threaten to expose Ryoga's secret to Akane,He's got a beef; Volume 2, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172694019] he eventually finds out that Ryoga sees himself as Akane's protector even in his near defenceless P-chan form and endures her regularly violent nightly movements to keep her safe and happy,Moonlight serenade; Volume 7, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172694538] and helped to save her from drowning even in this state.The Water of Love; Volume 4, Chapter 4. ISBN: 9789172694507] He has generally tried to keep Ryoga's curse a secret from Akane ever since, through such actions as catching him when he is about to fall into water, switching Akane's head in another direction, and making up excuses and explanations. He became sad for his rival when it seemed like Akane had found out (when he saw Ryoga's headband in her hands, which is indeed the same as the handkerchief tied around P-chan's neck), and tried to explain that "Ryoga never meant to hurt you", when actually "P-chan" had run away from Akane and left his bandanna behind.Akane guesses the secret!; Volume 14, Chapter 10. ISBN: 9789172695177] Though he still likes to tease Ryoga about it in their ongoing banter and sometimes makes blunders, like when honestly trying to convince Taro that it is possible to live with a curse through support from Ryoga, without considering that Akane was near.Sure fire! Pantyhose meteor kick!; Volume 18, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789171340740] However he also sometimes teases or plays with the piglet, even juggling it with his feet, which can make him attempt to beat it after it bites his hand in retaliation.

The one moment when Ryoga was shown as slightly lecherous occurred close to the end of the manga. When turned into a young child, and Ranma presented him to Akane, he was hugged and very bashfully accepted her offer to sit in her knee. When she offered to bring "Ryoga's brother" into the bath with her, he initially protested but then reconsidered, before being stopped by Ranma, going strongly contrary to his characterisation in all previous appearances, possibly explained by having loosened up somewhat due to meeting Akari. Turning this more interesting is that Akane wasn't the least bit upset when she found out, making it questionable whether she would mind learning about the P-Chan curse, given that nothing nearly as serious ever occurred with the piglet.

Good and Bad Moments

Despite his flaws and occasional lapses, Ryoga is generally portrayed as an honourable individual. A prime example occurred during the time Happosai had weakened Ranma with moxibustion. Ranma's other rivals took advantage by attacking him, but Ryoga saved him from their assault.The world's weakest man; Volume 13, Chapter 2. ISBN: 9789172695160] In fact, he was saddened by the loss of his rival and helped him to regain his strength.The inflammable man; Volume 13, Chapter 6. ISBN: 9789172695160] Unlike Mousse and Shampoo, Ryoga also had no duplicitous intentions when assisting in the fight against Taro and saved him/her from drowning even though he was in piglet form.Rescue team for Akane; Volume 18, Chapter 4. ISBN: 9789171340740] He likevise risked himself to help Ranma against the Musk Dynasty,Ranma! Return to manhood!; Volume 25, Chapter 1. ISBN: 9789171341594] by saving Ranma from being killed by Herb, and entering a closing chasm to unlock her/his curse. Although originally, he only intended to help Mousse and himself. Further, he helped rescue Akane from the Yamata no Orochi,The eight head; Volume 26, Chapter 7. ISBN: 9789171341600] In the concluding arc, he saved Ranma from being eaten alive by Saffron, king of the Phoenix People, and later threw large rocks into their aerial battle, when he realised that Saffron could not withstand hard impacts.'The Saffron saga'; Volume 37-38. ISBN: 9789171343277 & 9789171343284] Ryoga is fiercely proud and brave. Even in completely outmatched piglet form he has stood up to Ranma,He's got a beef; Volume 2, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172694019] Happosai,Moonlight serenade; Volume 7, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172694538] Lime and Mint,Stand up, Ranma!!!!; Volume 24, chapter 11. ISBN: 9789171341587] regardless if he would take a severe beating, and he cannot stand the thought of being seen as weak by Akane.Care to join me?; Volume 6, Chapter 4. ISBN: 9789172694521]

Ryoga's worst lapse in behaviour occurred during and immediately following, the infamous "Fishing rod of love" story.'Fishing rod of love'; Volume 23, Chapters 8-10. ISBN: 9789171341570] He here tried out a magic fishing rod that he did not truly believe in, to gain the love of Akane, although he accidentally snared Ranma instead. When Ranma turned murderously jealous and possessive, Ryoga decided to kill his rival out of desperation, but couldn't force himself to go through with it until Ranma made him furious through a kiss on the cheek. After Akane became involved, Ranma furiously attacked her and attempted to snare Ryoga with the rod. Ryoga confronted the insane Ranma to save Akane, managed to win, and accidentally freed his rival from the spell.

Ryoga's heroic moment was destroyed when he attempted to hug and confess to Akane, but grabbed Ranma instead. This humiliation left Akane to believe that he deliberately tried to gain Ranma's love and "couldn't understand him", while Ranma viewed Ryoga with disgust and suspicion. Mitigating the former, Ryoga had immediately reconsidered his actions directly after the failed attempt,New relationship; Volume 23, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789171341570] and apparently learned his lesson, since he later helped to discourage Mousse from taking advantage of his chance to enforce Shampoo's love with an imprinting egg.Saffron is reborn; Volume 38, Chapter 5. ISBN: 9789171343284]

Directly following this incident, unlike with Taro, Ryoga initially had no intentions to help Ranma find a cure during the Musk arc, and knocked her out from behind to retrieve it for Mousse and himself. After Ranma returned his betrayal with assistance, Ryoga more than paid for the favour, by first saving Ranma’s life from a killing strike, and then putting severe risk on his own by entering a closing chasm to unlock the latter's curse. Afterwards he turned back into a reliable ally in times of crisis.

Relationships

It is very unclear as to what extent Akane is aware of Ryoga's highly visible infatuation with her. He regularly brings her gifts from the widespread locations he visits during his travels. He becomes extremely flustered at even talking to her, outright affirming that he's overjoyed from even innocent "dates" between them. Even more significantly, he becomes furious and comes to her defense at the very notion of anyone, especially Ranma disrespecting or hurting her, and has helped to save her life on multiple occasions. Ryoga has also made a few embarrassed, and highly transparent, attempts to confess his love to her. Perhaps the most transparent of these attempts was during the "Miraculous Soap" short story, in which Ryoga finds the courage to confess his feelings after using a soap (which ended up in his hands after Shampoo lost it) which would nullify his Jusenkyo curse (as a matter of fact, the soap itself was a product from Jusenkyo). However, Ryoga only managed to scare Akane off with his lack of control, as he kept on destroying everything before him while chasing after her.

Despite all the evidence, Akane seems almost completely oblivious to his affection. During Ukyo's prolonged introduction story, she witnessed Ryoga's very emotional reaction when Ranma made him think she was holding his hand, but drew no conclusions. She adamantly protested out of genuine confusion when Nabiki suggested that the latter was actively pursuing her, in the "Fishing-Rod of Love" arc, stating that he was simply a good friend. However, she has mentioned that she considers him as kind, pure and gentle, in the "Sakura-Mochi" arc, and as more honest, sincere, and reliable than Ranma, in the "Tunnel of Lost Love" arc, where she also wanted him to hold her hand in order to comfort and protect her from the ghosts in the cave. Given the above she generally seems to view him as a younger brother.

There have, however, been a few exceptions. Early in the manga, even Akane clearly noticed his feelings when Shampoo's "remote-control acupressure" made her charm Ryoga, making him overjoyed and relentlessly persistent. This ultimately terrified her when she realized that his overwhelming casual power might kill her through a simple hug. She afterwards stated that whoever became his girlfriend had to be a lot sturdier than herself. During the "Sakura Mochi" story she also, for once, actively considered him as a potential boyfriend upon noticing several "petal marks" on Ryoga's face after he ate a "true love predicting" cookie. Even then, Akane was visibly relieved when Ranma's face showed more of them, though the "petal marks" she saw were actually P-chan's hoofprints. She has also consistently been very happy for Ryoga whenever she thinks that he has managed to find a girlfriend, admitting that she has been worried about him due to his overwhelming loneliness.

Late in the manga Ryoga meets a girl named Akari Unryu whose family runs a dojo dedicated to training massive "sumo pigs". By accidentally defeating her strongest pig, Katsunishiki, Ryoga became Akari's betrothed by the decree of her grandfather.'Akari's introduction story'; Volume 30, chapter 1-3. ISBN: 9789171342539]

Akari is a sweet girl who loves Ryoga, although she is initially unaware of his curse, and when she tries to compliment him through comparisons with pigs (which she cherishes above everything), he takes it as a grave insult. Ryoga despises his curse and thinks it makes him pathetic and inferior, which is one of the main reasons he has trouble sharing his feelings with Akane. In the end, Akari finds out about his condition, which only makes her adore him even more. This further complicates Ryoga's life, since he is initially indecisive about her and Akane and once tried to court both of them at the same time.'The Akane & Akari double-date'; Volume 31, chapter 4-5. ISBN: 9789171342546] Towards the end of the series he seems mostly focused on dating Akari,Two Ranmas; Volume 35, chapter 1. ISBN: 9789171343253] Ryoga's and Akari's date; Volume 36, chapter 2. ISBN: 9789171343260] but during the Saffron arc, he adds Akane's photo (purchased from Nabiki) into a holder, which also has Akari's picture. After Ryoga accidentally loses them during one of their initial skirmishes with Saffron, he is desperate to reclaim them, to the point of falling into a deep fissure. At the end of the manga, Ryoga appears content to let Akane wed Ranma without interrupting, until he gets lost and accidentally winds up at the reception anyway.Ranma and Akane; Volume 38, chapter 9. ISBN: 9789171343284]

In the official 'Memorial Book', Ryoga and Akari are described as feeling reciprocal 'great attraction' towards one another, while he only felt 'lingering affection' for Akane. In this respect Ryoga seems to have received a more conclusive ending than most of the main characters, since the others were still caught up in the usual romantic entanglements and complications. His rivalry for Akane is gone and he has met his seemingly perfect match, but his direction sense and remaining curse naturally still complicate matters.

Ryoga and Ukyo as a couple are joked about in both continuities, but somewhat more so in the anime (likely due to the fact Akari was never introduced in this continuity). However, this pairing seems unlikely at best. She has bluntly and abrasively reiterated her derision towards his lack of judgement, direction sense and shyness/'cowardice', followed by hard whacks of her battle spatula. Ryoga also tends to be infatuated with girls who are consistently gentle with his feelings. They seemed even more antipathetic towards one another after being forcefully separated by the ghosts in the "Tunnel of Lost Love", possibly due to the previously referred "break-up curse", alternately simply due to blaming one another.

Regardless, they never cooperate, or speak, again in the manga. In their one real interaction in the anime after the Tunnel of Love story (the "Nihao My Concubine" movie) they were both quite hostile towards each other. Ryoga was initially uninterested in helping Ukyo to vanquish her unwanted paramour Sarutoru, who was courting her at a dinner table, turning to leave until she pointed out that his lack of direction-sense meant that he needed her help to find Akane. It was only then that he was willing to fight Sarutoru, and defeats the latters with a Shi Shi Hokodan blast, whereupon Ukyo seems thankful and leads him away.

Physical Abilities

"See also Ryoga's techniques."

Fighting-skill: 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, having triumphed roughly twice as many times as the opposite if these are included (times of outside enhancements or enfeeblements discluded), occasionally in seconds when sufficiently upset or similarly motivated, but also had a great disadvantage when the latter was far more focused while Ryoga was extremely flustered.A terrible relationship; Volume 23, Chapter 9. ISBN: 9789171341570] Sometimes even Ranma has to distract or trick him to triumph in climax situations. Unlike most cast members, Ryoga seems to be mostly self-taught, with immense natural talent, and relentless hard training as his only mentors. Takahashi has mentioned in an interview that the reason for his great power lies in his constant harsh hiking life.Takahashi's interview answers about Ryoga: www.furinkan.com/takahashi/takahashi5.html]

Physical Power: Under regular circumstances he appears to be a few times physically stronger than or, at the very least, as strong as Ranma. They have never outright competed in this area, since Ryoga tends to rely on skill and special techniques. Ryoga's greatest explicit feat happened during their ice skating competition. When supremely motivated, Ryoga here moved two enormous buoying blocks of ice (to catch/stop Mikado Sanzenin) and far more impressively was shown to hurl at least one of them, with an approximated weight of roughly 206 to 642 metric tons,By comparing the fragmenting boulder with the almost 2 m tall 'tiny' Mikado, and taking an upper gauge based on presumed area below the water surface, with a very rough estimated weight of between 1.5m*10m*15m*917kg/m^3=206*10^3kg and 2.0m*14m*25m*917kg/m^3=642*10^3kg.] at least 30 metres, by using the arm he previously gripped it in.Ryoga explodes!; Volume 4, Chapter 3. ISBN: 9789172694507] He here used Ranma's head as a brace not to fall into the water, but the latter nonetheless supported the pressure from the floating slabs. Although, to throw the weight such a great distance would take some dozen times the effort from simply lifting it. Like with his chi-generation, it seems to undergo a boost depending on his emotional state, beyond his general conscious level, and (much like most 'Ranmaverse' fighters) the force of this seems to be his general power-source, but he has seemingly never used his full capacity to directly empower his physical traits, indirect and dispersed usage of which has been shown to eclipse even Lime in terms of raw power.The tragedy of the ladle; Volume 24, chapter 6. ISBN: 9789171341587]

Further comparative references include that Ranma broke his legs from the effort of supporting a 50-100-metre fall, while carrying four girls.Attack of the killer secret herb; Volume 29, Chapter 7. ISBN: 9789171342522] Then again, the latter likely remained severely weakened from poison at the time, so his peak effort should be greatly multiplied. Ranma also proved unable to get out when trapped under a 90-100 tonne large iron bell, without handicaps, but he wasn’t significantly motivated, and had no hold for his hands to grip.Super Badminton; Volume 11, Chapter 10. ISBN: 9789172695146]

Female Ranma seemingly effortlessly pushed a roughly 40-tonne boulder into the mouth of the Yamata-Orochi while swimming underwater, when supremely determined to save Akane from being eaten.Take care of Akane; Volume 26, Chapter 8. ISBN: 9789171341600] Also, when under the influence of a magic incense a simple hug from Ryoga almost crushed male Ranma's ribs.I love pigs!; Volume 30, Chapter 2. ISBN: 9789171342539] Other hints in this vein include that even a casual Ryoga seemed overwhelmingly stronger when Ranma pretended to be his "sister",'Yoiko'; Volume 11, Chapters 2-3. ISBN: 9789172695146] (almost knocking her out with a playful finger jab to her forehead) but Ranma was in female form at the time. Akane was terrified of his casual power, while she has not reacted this way towards Ranma,Give me a little hug; Volume 12, chapter 11. ISBN: 9789172695153] though Ranma may simply have better conscious muscle control. He was also the chosen counterpart for Lime, but that may simply have been a case of their most pronounced ability.

Striking Force: Other displays of strength include completely shattering a roughly 7 m-diameter, solid rock platform simply by prostrating on it,The inflammable man; Volume 13, Chapter 6. ISBN: 9789172695160] and punching Ranma so hard that the latter made a 4 m diameter, at least 0.5 m deep, indentation in a mountain.The Roar of Heaven; Volume 13, Chapter 7. ISBN: 9789172695160]

Stamina: Ryoga also appears to have greater durability, honed through years of training in the mountains and through Cologne's Breaking Point Training.'The breaking point'; Volume 6, Chapters 4-8. ISBN: 9789172694521] Though the possibility exists that it is simply a more overstated trait than for his counterpart. He has been repeatedly struck with dense heavy objects, fallen hundreds of meters into solid rock, been covered in a rockslide, and even been caught in a closing chasm, without any damage whatsoever, and emerged ready to fight on. He was unfazed by a full force blow from Taro's monster form,Strike back with hot water; Volume 18, chapter 7. ISBN: 9789171340740] while a similar effort rendered female Ranma unable to continue fighting. But she was also struck through a wall and in a state of confusion about the latter's transformation.The demon's true identity; Volume 18, chapter 2. ISBN: 9789171340740] Male Ranma was only briefly stunned on another occasion, when not restrained by these limitations.Empty-handed filial piety random strike!; Volume 32, chapter 5. ISBN: 9789171342553] Ryoga was only slightly discomforted from hundreds of Ranma's punches landed in less than a second, but repeated efforts, and putting both of them in freefall, presumably giving the latter an opportunity to instead land thousands of punches, all instances directed at the same spot, together managed to knock him out.Fast break; Volume 6, chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172694521] He apparently even stayed unharmed after he and Ranma were hit dead-centre by Happosai's smaller Happo-Daikarin,Ranma and Akane; Volume 38, chapter 9. ISBN: 9789171343284] , which are capable of knocking out Taro-monster in a single strike, while his rival was rendered unconscious, although the force greatly varies from occasion to occasion.Where's Akane?; Volume 18, chapter 3. ISBN: 9789171340740]

Limitations: Ryoga seems far more vulnerable if he is distracted and his guard is completely down, so it is not impossible that his durability is bolstered by active chi-infusion. Lime was able to almost beat him in one full-force blow by taking advantage of such an opportunity, after Mint tumbled at Ryoga’s back from behind, and the latter became angered at Mousse for not keeping his fight contained.Death on Horaison; Volume 24, chapter 6. ISBN: 9789171341587] He has also been knocked out by an unexpected staff blow to the larynx from Mousse, while completely focused on Ranma,Screamin' at the Hot Springs; Volume 16, chapter 2. ISBN: 9789171340726] who has likevise managed this feat. For example by showing Ryoga Ukyo's breasts, paralysing him from embarrassment, and then kicking him through the school wall,Ryoga vs. Ukyo; Volume 9, chapter 8. ISBN: 9789172695122] or by hitting the embarrassed Ryoga's head with a stone pillar from behind, when the latter's eyes were closed, since he was tricked by Shampoo into believing he would get a kiss from Akane.Don't follow me; Volume 12, chapter 9. ISBN: 9789172695153]

Speed: While initially an even match, Ranma briefly gained a severe advantage in swiftness and skill after undergoing a power-up at Cologne's hands, but Ryoga quickly catches up in these areas as the manga progresses. By the time of the 'weakness moxibustion' arc, he is able to simultaneously parry, disarm and beat up Mousse, Tatewaki, Principal Kuno and Gosunkugi in under a second.The world's weakest man; Volume 13, Chapter 2. ISBN: 9789172695160] He likewise proved to be swifter than Mousse some volumes later, during an onsen race battle, where he avoided all the latter's attacks.Three-leg scramble; Volume 16, chapter 3. ISBN: 9789171340726] Additionally, when Ranma is turned murderously jealous by a magic koi mark, Ryoga manages to narrowly avoid and parry the latter’s 'Amaguriken'-training enhanced supersonic barrage,A terrible relationship; Volume 23, Chapter 9. ISBN: 9789171341570] and later eventually best his rival.An uncontrollable relationship; Volume 23, chapter 10. ISBN: 9789171341570] In battle with the physically stronger and extremely durable Lime, he easily managed to stay out of his opponent's grasp until Mint's interruption.Death on Horaison; Volume 24, chapter 6. ISBN: 9789171341587] In the final story, he managed to effortlessly parry all of Genma-panda's strikes, while looking in another direction.Saffron is reborn; Volume 38, Chapter 5. ISBN: 9789171343284]

Development: While he has occasionally thrown roughly 10-tonne boulders a considerable distance, Ryoga has not shown explicit feats of greater physical power later in the series. However he did improve his strength enough to stand up to Lime, who seemingly has an upper maximum of around 100.000 tonnes.Ranma! Return to manhood!; Volume 25, chapter 1; By straining to his limit, Lime briefly held apart a closing chasm. Density of pure bedrock used: 2.7tonnes/cubic metre. Chasm depth guesstimated as 20 metres; length guesstimated as 28 metres; total plateau width guesstimated as 60->80 metres. Lower bound: Mass~20m*28m*60m*2.7tonnes/m^3 = 90720 tonnes. Upper bound: Mass~20m*28m*80m*2.7tonnes/m^3 = 120960 tonnes.] More noticeably Ryoga seems to turn into a more balanced fighter, greatly increasing his shown speed, skill, versatility and durability. Near the end of the manga the author spoofs their relationship by portraying Ranma and Ryoga as two constantly feuding and completely evenly matched children, not counting Ryoga's more powerful and dependable force-blasts, which gave him a certain edge.'The mushroom arc'; Volume 33, chapters 3-5. ISBN: 9789171343239]

Possible Potential: In both the manga and anime series Ryoga once helped a starving martial arts calligraphist by sharing his food. As thanks the latter bestowed the "mark of the battling god" on his belly, bringing forth a fighter's full power.The Mark of the Gods; Volume 14, Chapter 6. ISBN: 9789172695177] Under this influence Ryoga temporarily became the, by far, most formidable character ever shown in the series, and was literally capable of casually defeating Ranma with his pinkie finger, or without noticing when tied up, blindfolded and shackled to the floor. Even his piglet form was overwhelmingly superior, capable of effortlessly beating Ranma with a single strike. However, unlike Akane´s battle-dougi it is uncertain whether or not this was intended as an indication of his full potential or if it was a source of power.

Anime differences: In the anime continuity Ryoga was recurrently not treated as nearly as dangerous until near the end of the series (among other things the ice-boulder throwing, and casual stone-platform shattering were both edited out, and Ryoga was occasionally used as swift 'demonstration-prey' for comparatively lacking adversaries), after receiving training from Genma, and was shown as dead even with Ranma in terms of fighting skill directly afterwards. At the end of this episode, after finding out that he had been lied to and manipulated, Ryoga struck Genma so hard that the shockwave caused an earthquake across the neighbourhood. ["Ryoga inherits the Saotome School] However, in an earlier episode, when Ranma attempted a direct grapple attack, Ryoga effortlessly overcame his strength and threw him to the ground, so he apparently remained physically stronger. ["A powerful new disciple appears"]

Notes and references

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

External links

* [http://www.animeinfo.org/featured/ranma/ranmapeople/ryouga.html Ryoga at AnimeInfo]
* [http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/characters/ryoga.html Ryoga at Furinkan.com]