Ranma 1/2 Nettouhen episode 43 Ryouga no taishitsu kaizen sekken! (aired on 90.09.07) * * * * * * * * * * S P O I L E R S * * * * * * * * * * Ryouga is standing where he can overlook the town, and is daydreaming about Akane. [episode title shown] Ryouga is shown finishing up a letter a letter he's written in a restaurant. (The background music is "Present", the closing theme to the episode.) He finishes the letter, walks out, holds the letter (sealed with a red heart) up in the air and yells "I wrote it!". It promptly starts raining. (oink oink) Ranma and Genma are in the local sento (public bath). P-chan shows up with the love letter in his mouth. He's being pursued by a couple of kids with squirtguns. Ranma slides a bar of soap in front of P-chan, who slips on it, drops the letter, and falls in the hot bath. Ranma catches the letter, and reads "Tendou Akane-sama" on the front of it. Ryouga says "That's mine!", and punches Ranma. Ranma gets the letter back again, and starts trying to read it aloud. Akane is on the girls' side of the sento, scrubbing herself. Shampoo-cat wanders in and splashes hot water on herself. Shampoo shows Akane a cake of blue-colored soap. She's very happy about it, because she thinks Ranma "won't hate her" anymore if she doesn't go around turning into a cat all the time. (The soap is supposed to prevent the person who uses it from transforming when they get splashed with cold water.) Shampoo mentions how important the soap is to her, and it promptly squirts out of her hands, over to the guys' side of the sento. Ranma is on the guys' side of the sento, teasing Ryouga with the love letter. Ranma slips on Shampoo's bar of soap. Ryouga picks up the bar of soap. Shampoo turns herself into Shampoo-cat so she can go over to the guys' side to look for the soap. Ranma is running around frantically, with Shampoo-cat on his head. He knocks Ryouga (who is washing with the special soap) into the wall, accidentally. Genma, watching this, picks up the love letter as it slides across the floor towards him. Later, back in the Tendou household, Akane says "A letter for me?". Genma explains that it fell while he was at the sento, and hands it to her. She sees the "heart" being used to seal the letter, and wonders who it's from. Ranma grabs it, opens it, and starts reading aloud, "Akane-san, I . . . ." Ryouga hits him on the head and says "Don't read that!". Akane says "Ryouga wrote the letter?". Ryouga says "gimme", and fights with Ranma over it. Ranma knocks Ryouga out into the yard, and Ryouga is falling towards the pool. Ranma kneels on a rock, and catches Ryouga by his head to keep him from falling in and changing in front of Akane. Unfortunately, the rock tips over, and dumps both of them into the pool. (!) But when their heads break the surface, it turns out to be Ranma-chan and Ryouga. Ryouga didn't change into P-chan! Ranma-chan is understandably puzzled. Ryouga thinks he's dreaming, but realizes that he isn't -- he's wet, but hasn't changed into P-chan. Ryouga tells Akane, "Read the letter, I wrote my feelings on it." While Ranma-chan is still trying to figure out why Ryouga didn't change, Akane tries to read the letter. The letter is soaking wet, though, and she can't make out a single character. Shampoo is shown watching these developments from the wall around the Tendou household. She realizes that Ryouga must have her special soap. Ryouga has some flowers, and is waiting for Akane (apparently the letter must have told her to meet him here). He's so happy about things that he breaks the adjacent wall into rubble. Ranma splashes Ryouga with a bucket of water, saying "You really don't change into a piglet?" Ranma then starts acting unusually friendly towards Ryouga, trying to find out how he kept himself from changing. (he even calls Ryouga "Ryouga-chan") Ryouga doesn't fall for the act. He knocks Ranma into the air, and yells, "Akane-san! Hurry, hurry, hurry! Akane-san!". Akane turns out to be standing right next to him, and he gets rather embarrassed. Akane asks him what he wrote in the letter, since she couldn't read it. He starts to try and explain it, but gets too embarrassed, and runs off. Shampoo is on a rooftop, explaining the special soap to Ranma. She gives him an envelope and a bow and arrow. An arrow shoots by Ryouga. He grabs it. It has an envelope just like the one he used. It's from Akane (actually from Shampoo and Ranma). He opens it up, and it has a pair of tickets in it. He manages to find his way to the place the tickets were for, then goes to a bath to wait for Akane. Shampoo and Ranma-chan show up, surprising him. [commercial break] Ranma-chan is rubbing Ryouga's back. She notices a bar of blue soap in the bucket on Ryouga's head, and pounds him. Then she takes the soap. Shampoo trips Ranma-chan with a bar of normal soap, and gets the blue soap from Ranma-chan. The two girls argue over the soap, and Ryouga, listening to their conversation, realizes that the soap is what kept him from changing into a piglet when he fell in the pool. Ranma-chan and Shampoo fall into a bath of cold water, and Ranma-chan splashes around frantically with Shampoo-cat sitting on her head. Akane and her friends are by a pool. Ranma-chan runs by with Shampoo-cat on her head, and jumps into the hot water (in more ways than one). Akane bonks him on the head with a bucket, because now he has a nude Shampoo clinging to him, instead. He's surprised, wasn't aware Akane was around. Ranma steals a bar of blue soap from Ryouga by hitting him on the head with a large piece of statuary, and washes with it. But, when Ranma pours cold water on his head, he turns into Ranma-chan anyway (it was the wrong soap). The surrounding people find this transformation quite . . . interesting. Ryouga shows up, tossing the real soap into the air and catching it, teasing Ranma-chan. Ryouga gets another letter from "Akane", asking about a date. Shampoo explains to Ranma that if Ryouga goes on a date, he'll have to leave the soap somewhere. Akane gets a fake letter too, but doesn't know who it's from. She's waiting for whoever wrote it to show up. When Ryouga shows up and mentions the date, Akane re-reads the letter, and realizes it's a fake written by Shampoo. Then, a mechanical squid rolls up, jumps into the air, and squirts black ink into Ryouga's face. Shampoo and Ranma-chan show up to carry Ryouga to the nearby pool so he can wash his face off. The ink won't come off without soap, apparently, so he starts to use the special soap. Shampoo and Ranma-chan pound Ryouga in an effort to get the soap, but Ryouga gets it back. Then, Ryouga hears a voice from Akane's direction, asking for a kiss. It's actually Shampoo, crouched down behind Akane. Akane notices Shampoo, and kicks her into the air. Ranma-chan then pounds Ryouga in the head with a piece of concrete, so Ryouga never notices that it was really Shampoo saying it. While Ryouga's flat on his back, Ranma-chan feels around on him, looking for the soap. Akane knocks Ranma-chan out of the way, and asks Ryouga if he's OK. Ranma-chan complains that Akane's in the way. Akane is irritated about Ranma-chan interrupting the date with "her Ryouga-kun". Shampoo returns, and yells something into Akane's ear with the aid of a megaphone. Ranma-chan complains about Akane being faithless. Akane then drags Ryouga away, up a flight of stairs (ouch). Ryouga wakes up near some tables, with Akane looking over him. Ryouga asks if they're on a date, and Akane agrees. Ryouga's very happy, and asks Akane where she wants to go. She has no suggestions, so he looks in a guidebook and decides that he should take her to a "romantic movie". So they head off in search of a movie theater. He gets lost, and they end up at what looks like a haunted house. Shampoo and Ranma show up. Ranma uses a spinning door to separate Ryouga and Akane. Shampoo pretends to be Akane, and grabs Ryouga from behind. This dazes Ryouga, and Shampoo feels around on him, looking for the soap. (That probably dazes him even more.) This gives Ryouga quite the wrong impression about Akane, since he doesn't realize it's really Shampoo doing it. Ranma explains the soap to Akane. She complains about Ranma thinking that the soap is more important than her date with Ryouga, and flattens Ranma with the nearby door. Shampoo and Ranma watch Akane and Ryouga leave the haunted house. Ryouga says something about his feelings towards Akane. Akane looks startled. He continues talking. She asks what he's talking about. He says it's OK, and sweeps her off her feet. (boy is *she* surprised) Ranma and Shampoo run towards them, and Shampoo seems rather happy about the prospect of Akane and Ryouga getting involved with each other (would leave Ranma for her). Ryouga kicks the soap at Ranma, who gets it caught in his throat. Ryouga carries Akane off, while Shampoo beats on Ranma's back in an effort to make him cough up the soap. Ryouga takes Akane to the top of a bunch of logs. He keeps trying to hug her, but only succeeds in breaking off the tops of the logs. Akane is very confused at his behavior. Ryouga corners her against the remaining log, which breaks, dropping the two of them towards a pool. Ranma shows up and kicks Ryouga out of the way. He catches Akane and carries her to the edge of the pool. Ranma says something insulting about Ryouga, and Akane knees him in the head. Akane bitches Ranma out. Ryouga stands up in the water, and knocks Ranma into the air. Akane is *not* thrilled to see Ryouga again. Ryouga says something about hugging Akane. She panics, and starts running. Ryouga follows her, breaking pieces of log along the way. He slams into a concrete wall, not watching where he's going. Ranma and Akane are running away, arguing. Ryouga is by a waterfall, confused at Akane's sudden "change" of behavior. He punches the waterfall, and hears a female scream. He sees Akane (actually Ranma-chan dressed up in Akane's clothes) behind the waterfall. Ranma-chan asks Ryouga to hug her. Ryouga thinks about the times Akane has hugged him as P-chan. He takes Ranma-chan's hand, draws her out of the waterfall, and hugs her, crying with his happiness. Akane is sitting down, wearing Ranma's clothes. Some of her friends are there. Ryouga is squashing Ranma-chan with the intensity of his hug. He realizes that it's actually Ranma-chan, and not Akane. The bar of soap lands on Ranma-chan's head. Ranma-chan grabs it and starts to run off. Ryouga is *pissed*, and starts to take a swing at Ranma-chan. Just at that moment, the soap wears off, and Ryouga's wet clothes cause him to collapse in a pile of bubbles (as P-chan). Ranma-chan is disappointed that the soap wears off. Ranma-chan and Shampoo are standing next to Akane, who is holding P-chan in her lap. Shampoo is disappointed about the soap. Akane comments on Ryouga's sudden strange behavior (romantic advances). P-chan starts crying, and lets out a whimper.