Ranma 1/2 is the story of a young martial artist named Ranma Saotome, only son of martial artist Genma, who spirits the boy away from home and his mother\'s arms to train him to become \"a man among men.\" This so-called training involves any number of harebrained schemes, the worst of which results in the pivotal dunking at the cursed training grounds of Jusenkyo, China. Even though he doesn\'t speak a word of Chinese, Genma insists on taking Ranma to Jusenkyo to train, where falling into one of the area\'s many springs transforms the unlucky swimmer into whoever--or whatever--drowned there last. And then there\'s this little accident.... From now on, a splash of cold water will change Genma into his alter ego, a roly-poly giant panda, while Ranma becomes an incredibly welll proportioned female version of himself. Hot water will reverse the effect, but only until the next time. Even with the outrageous martial arts motif, the dramatic engine of Ranma 1/2 is undoubtedly the reluctant romance between Ranma and tomboyish Akane, one of the daughters of fellow martial artist Soun Tendo.