The Tendos
Akane
Akane used to be just another high school girl. One who hates all boys, albeit, but just
another high school girl, nonetheless. All the boys in her school were in love with her,
especially one named Tatawake Kuno, and every morning they would battle her for their
love. (yes, i agree it's odd). Then Ranma Saotome entered her life, home, and heart and
things have never been the same.... Ranma is the one boy that won't start drooling over
Akane, and althought that's not how their continuous argument got started, it is the reason
that it continues for over thirty issues ^_~. Their feud starts when Akane walks in on a
naked Ranma and lables him as a pervert. She won't give him a chance to explain or point
out that it *was* she who walked in on him.
When the series starts out, Akane admits a long-lived childhood crush on Dr. Tofu, who
is madly in love with her sister, Kasumi. She soon gets over this, however, and a crush on
Ranma begins forming. Later in the series, Ryoga arrives, also with a curse, and becomes
a rival for Akane's love. She is completely oblivious to the fact that he is in love with her
and that she is sleeping with him in pig form (aka. p-chan). She shows a kindness towards
Ryoga that she shows towards not many others, perhaps because he is overly-kind to her,
himself.
Back to the aforementioned Tatewake Kuno. He has been in love with Akane since they
started going to school together, and he admires Akane's strength and "purity". Then
again, Kuno lives in a very disillusioned world. Next on the list of Akane's admirers come
Mikado and Happosai, who pretty much like every girl they see and want to kiss them/ see
them in one of his many bras.
Akane lives with her father, two sisters named Kasumi and Nabiki, and the "visiting"
Saotome. Also known to show up at their house is Ryoga, who, as P-chan, has full access
to their house. Shampoo sometimes shows up, more often then not bare-naked in the
bathtub.
Akane is really just a normal girl who probably just claimed to hate boys at the beginning
of the series because the only experience she ever had with them is Dr. Tofu who
continually breaks her heart (yes, she does have one) and the discusting boys who try to
attack her as she enters the school. And who wouldn't hate Ranma with his endless supply
of insults? Akane isn't especially mean or anything, she just does what most of us would
do. I mean, what right does some man/woman have to call you things like that?
Another side of Akane that is often overlooked is her naive-ness. She still hasn't figured
out that P-chan and Ryoga are one and the same or that Ryoga is in love with her!!!!!!!!
Although, not as naive as he is, she is still pretty clueless. She must get it from Kasumi
^_^.
As for those of you who think that she does not like Ranma at all.....what are you
thinking? Hasn't she on numerous occaisions jumped in to save him, never taking into
consideration that she is putting her own life on the line? (For example, when Ranma
needed help, Akane abosolutely forgot that she couldn't swim and jumped in after her.)
Such feeble attempts must have been blinded by love. :::sigh:::
I hope I have thoroughly convinced everyone out there to like Akane, or at least see why
she does stuff. (Hehe, I like all of the characters, except for the Furinkan High principal.
Even happosai is kinda growing on me. ^_^) I know this is kind of incomplete but I'll
write more later.
Nabiki
The middle Tendo sister, Nabiki is a smooth-talking buisness woman. She has a deep,
sarcastic tone of voice. She doesn�t really have much of a role in the series but she does
seem to take part in the plot when Tatewakae Kuno�s involved. She will do anything for
money, including selling pictures of her own sister and Ranma to Kuno, or selling time
with Ranma on the roof. This is the main part of her personality, along with her sarcastic
sense of humor and intrest in �cute men�. She is the most enthusiastic when Soun tells
them that they are going to be engaged to one of his friends. She even thinks Ranma-chan
is cute until she figures out he�s a girl (::poke poke:: ::poke poke:: Hahhaha, I love that
part!!!) She is also the most worldly of the sisters, and actually, probably the most
worldly of any of trhe characters (except for maybe Happosai, but he kind of lives in his
own little fantasy world.)
My personal favorite part about her, is her relationship with Kuno. She calls him
�Kuno-baby� (I swear it catches on. I added the suffix �-baby� to everyone�s name for at
least 2 months), and kind of treats him like a baby. HE is a steady source of income for
her, as she sells him tons of Akane and Ranma-chan paraphanelia. She also tries to explain
to him that �the pigtailed girl� and Ranma are the same person as simply as possible, but
even with a visual aid, Kuno never gest it. However, Nabiki seems to be Kuno�s only
friend, even though their friendship is kind of competitive (frendships in Ranma are always
kind of rough like that). Nabiki and Kuno end up falling in love (::gasp:: SPOILER!!
Dundundun..), which I think is really sweet. They�re a perfect match (If Kuno could be a
perfect match for anyone.)
Kasumi
The oblivious and always cheerful Kasumi acts as a mother for Akane and Nibiki and
comforts Soun when Akane gets to him. She is the stabilizer in their family. She cooks,
cleans and does all of the first aid for the Tendos and the Saotome family and although
she�s not the most popular character, the two families wouldn�t survive without her.
The best part about Kasumi is the obliviousness sshe has (think Nikaido from Maison
Ikkoku). She is even worse that Akane on the whole P-chan/Ryoga ordeal, and even
considers Shampoo a frainnd after she does her bizarr
�lets-go-have-fun-with-Ranma-naked-�cause-I�m-a-cat-and-I-can-do-that� happenings.
(�Shampoo, I think we need to have a discussion about men and bathtubs�). She also
doesn�t seem to react much when bad things happen, as if she doesn�t recognize that she�s
in danger.
One thing in the beginning of the series that kind of fades throughout the rest of the
sreies is her relationship with Dr. Tofu. He is head-orver-heels-crazy for her, so much that
Akane once tried to be like KAsumi in every way in hopes that he may like her too.
Kasumi seems cordial enough to him and in the song �Red Shoe Sunday� she seems to
even love him.
Soun
Soun Tendo is an odd character. HE really has many sides to him. He wants the best for
his daughters and his inheritance and acts as the father figure except when he�s crying all
the time. This is a little annoying, but can be understood when he finds that his best friend
is a panda. ^_^
He also cowers under Happosai, but mostly he just cowers under Akane. When she
glares at him he will start crying again with only Kasumi to comfort him.
He has a scary side as well. When Ranma or someone else threatens Ranma and Akane�s
relationship (especially if it�s Ranma himself) and his inheritance ot the Tendo Dojo, Soun
gets a HUGE face and a scary lizard tongue.
All I can say about Soun is that....well, he is an odd father to go along with an odd
family.
