Listing the anime's changes

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I've seen various things on the differences between anime and manga canon bandied around before, so seeing as how I A: am an anime canon fan, B: own the entire anime, C: have plenty of time on my hands and D: am that sort of person, I decided I might as well make a list to note all of the things that are different in the anime in contrast to the manga.

*The anime finished earlier
The company producing the anime went out of business after the Nodoka's Introduction storyline, so later manga stories weren't converted to the anime. Somehow, a select few of the later manga stories were updated into OAVs, and a quintet of original specials (the movies, OAVs 2, 5 and 6) were created. Fun fact; when the Ryugenzawa arc was translated into an OAV, it did so by winning a vote to determine which amongst several manga stories would be converted. One of the others? The Musk Dynasty arc.

*Ranma has a smaller wardrobe
Manga-Ranma has an extensive selection of outfits in the manga, including pajamas (if memory serves, seperate sets for each sex), while the anime-Ranma wears a much smaller selection- usually, he's shown wearing a color-variant of his Chinese shirt, or dressed in undergarments (singlet (undershirt, I think they're called in other countries) and boxers), or simply shirtless. He does have other clothes, including showing up to his "date" with Tsubasa in the "Chinese uniform" style outfit he wears on occasion in the manga. He does, also, have a number of different female outfits.

*Genma sold Ranma several times for food
In the manga, as far as we know, the deal with Ukyo was a once-off (twice-off if you count the Chardins). In the anime, a third time (with a four implied, but never detailed) forms the basis for a modified form of the Martial Arts Takeout Race episode.

*Akane is less trusting of Ranma, yet also more honest
Manga-Akane is quick to ignore any input from Ranma when he does something that makes him look bad, not just hearing only what she wants to hear but finding others to support her views and even consciously rewriting her memories to justify her warped perceptions. Anime-Akane, in contrast, simply doesn't trust Ranma all that much, but when confronted with evidence that her beliefs were wrong will usually back down and sometimes apologises for thinking wrong of him. Still favors people who'll tell her what she wants to hear and generally support her view of the situation though.

*Soun & Genma get more lines
Like it says, Soun & Genma play more of a role in the anime, often stealing scenes or lines that would, originally, have gone to someone else (for example, Soun is the one who explains about octopus pot-fishing to viewers of the anime). Unfortunately, this further focus of the limelight, intended to expand their comic relief role, makes them seem even more of douchebags than they already are- though they do still get their sympathetic moments.

*Genma could be considered more (alternatively, less) complex in the anime
Genma gets some scenes that, depending on your interpretation, could simplify him or make him more complex. For example, in one of the early episodes, after Akane leaves Ranma upset over his thoughtless comments, he tells Ranma a fake story about him breaking up with a former girlfriend to try and emphasize his story that Ranma should treat Akane gently and with patience... though said story has him bluntly telling his girlfriend that he loves the other girl more, and that she's also better looking, richer, more stylish and better-tempered. For another, in an episode focused on him, Genma gets taken in by the doppelganger-people of an isolated village; while he initially leaves the Akane-lookalike to the Kuno-lookalike's mercies, he comes back and saves her, fighting off the Kuno-lookalike and his army of mooks. In a final example, when he fights off Happosai for the Dragon's Whisker, he first saves Ranma from a Fire Burst bomb, reassures him, then declares his actions are motivated by his concern for his son, rather than simple hatred for Happosai as in the manga.

*The other fiancees get better treatment
Like the title says, the other fiancees are treated much more like humans in the anime, whereas in the manga they are simply villains (albeit ones with occasional helpful moments and sympathetic insights) and gag devices. Kodachi is revealed to be a fundamentally lonely girl who is quite willing to give Ranma whatever he asks if he should turn to her, though still with a warped view of the world that makes her perhaps the nastiest of the girls. While Ukyo commits more petty deeds in the anime, she is less malicious and uncaring of Ranma's feelings than she is in the manga. Shampoo is less murderous, though she does have an extra "try to use love magic on Ranma" story, and is shown as genuinely loving Ranma.

*Ranma's manipulative side is shown less
While Ranma still tricks and outwits foes, his more maliciously manipulative moments are generally trimmed from the anime. For example, Ranma doesn't use the Suggestion Incense on Happosai during the Taro story (though, admittedly, Happosai was more reasonable here and/or never escaped after being captured) and doesn't pull the "Yoiko Hibiki" trick. It does still get showcased on occasion- he still pretends to be Ryoga's fiancee during Ukyo's second story.

Well, those points are all that come to me off the top of my head. Further points will be added as they return to me; if you have notes on how the anime is different to the manga, though, feel free to post them here.

[antimatterenergy]

There are a lot of differences, some off the top of my head:

Dr Tofu stays around a lot longer in the anime.

Ranma uses ki blasts more often in the anime (even though they are acquired quite late in the anime).

Nabiki in the anime runs a betting pool, she doesn't in the manga.

Ranma can be seen reading more often in the manga than he is in the anime.

Nabiki dressed up when Ranma showed up in the anime whereas she didn't in the manga.

Ranma keeps his female form secret from the general public for most of the anime.

Akane makes a promise to not hit Ranma in the anime which she breaks, this doesn't happen in the manga.

Ranma makes more trips for the purpose of training in the manga (for example the one where Genma becomes a rich kids pet storyline).

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Some of those I forgot about, but I feel compelled to challenge a few.

*We see Nabiki run a betting pool once in the anime; Ryoga's first 'official' duel with Ranma. Off the top of my head, we don't see it again.

*Given that the anime doesn't cover the entire manga, prove that Ranma reads less in the time covered. Off the top of my head, he's shown reading in the Shi Shi Hokodan episode and the Super Soba episode, goes to consult a scroll of Genma's in the Mark of the Gods story arc, and I'm sure there are more incidents showing him reading a magazine and the like, it's just I haven't watched an episode in months, so I can't remember any more.

*When does Ranma use a ki blast besides the Shi Shi Hokodan stories and the second movie? I can't think of any other time that he uses the Moko Takabisha in the anime. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure he uses more ki blasts in the *manga*.

[antimatterenergy]

We see Nabiki run a betting pool once in the anime; Ryoga's first 'official' duel with Ranma. Off the top of my head, we don't see it again.

Once is still more than in the manga where it was zero times.

As for Ranma reading, it is possible that I am wrong seeing how I haven't seen the anime in years. I just recall seeing Ranma read more often in the manga. But seeing how I haven't watched the anime in a long time I could be wrong.

In the manga Ranma only uses ki blast versus Miss Hinako once (a double version) and during the Shishihadoken storyline. In the anime he does so in the movies, in the oav's (miss hinako storyline), in a few episodes of season 7 (the arc it is introduced but I also think he does so in a later episode). So I believe it to be more just not as much as I thought when I typed that.

To stay on topic:
Kuno learns that the principal is his father much sooner in the manga than in the anime.

Anime Nabiki pours water on sleeping Ranma to take pictures. In the manga she didn't do that only took pictures of him in his natural state -i.e. just doing natural things.

Gosunkugi has a much, much larger role in the manga than the anime.

Ranma can be seen asking Akane for help with school work in the anime, he does not do this at all in the manga.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Again, Nabiki only poured water on Ranma for photos once, all of the other times were photos taken of "her" doing natural stuff (seen in the Kuno Sibling Squabble episode).

No, I can tell you that Ranma only uses the Moko Takabisha twice in the anime. During the final duel of "From the Depths of Despair, Part 2" (his actual formal duel with Ryoga, vs. the Perfect Shi Shi Hokodan). And to destroy the Togenkyo spring in Nihao My Concubine. He never uses it against Hinakoin the anime, having been told by Happosai that she drains ki before getting into a fight with her.

Ranma has been seen asking for help with homework a few times, yes. If memory serves, it's implied -and stated at least once- that this is only when he's been absent from school or sleeping in class more than 'usual'.

[antimatterenergy]

Again once is still more than none. It is still a difference.

Ok then they are even with ki blasts though I thought he also used one during the oav (I've got to rewatch them some time). Ranma only used it in the manga after he learned about her ability, it was used as a distraction.

Ranma sleeps in class in the anime? He doesn't do that in the manga. In fact Akane slept in class more than he did (swimming arc in which she stayed up the night before and when happosai used incense on her come to mind).

To stay on topic:
Ranma inadvertently cursed more people (frog hermit) and jusenkyo has more visitors and governing people in the anime (there are people who protect it and attack Ranma and co for not acting in dignified manner).

Anime Nabiki is a much better person than her manga counterpart (though this is true about most of the characters). She was for example genuinely distressed at Kasumi's possession.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I don't mind you listing them as differences, I just wish you'd be a bit more precise- if it's only a once-off thing, than please list it as such. Leave room that it can be interpretated as something that happens constantly, and people will take it that way. That's all I'm asking.

Ranma sleeps/skips class on occasion- but this is not the norm. The cause seems to be when he's been held up/away fighting or when the lesson is something that he finds really boring. About the only time I recall him being shown sleeping in class is in one episode where he got no sleep the previous night.

My own contribution...
*The Schools of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony are different
In the anime, the Daimonji school of MATC is on the only remaining "legitimate" school, and is overseen by Sentaro's grandmother, the matriarch, and her advisors, a trio named Matsu, Take and Ume. The names are references to plants and, presumably, hanafuda cards, though which plants and whether this is a winning combination is unknown to me. The other school is the Miyako-Oji's "Shadow School", an old rival that is the only other school of MATC to survive since their days of glory passed. It to is run by a matriarch and a trio of female elders; in this case named Ino, Shika and Cho, after the hanafuda combination of Boar, Deer and Butterfly.

The schools of MATC take part in 4 seperate episodes spread out across the later seasons. In the first episode, Sentaro kidnaps Ranma- not to fight "Satsuki" (whose monkey, Sennae, is absent in this continuity), but to try and challenge the Daimonji matriarch so Sentaro has the right to choose his own bride, rather than being married immediately to the first girl his grandmother presents to him. In the second episode, a purely farcical piece, Ranma-chan is kidnapped to massage the matriarch's legs. The third has her being kidnapped by the Miyako-Oji, which leads to Ranma, Akane and Sentaro going to rescue her, which is when Sentaro finally meets Satsuki in the anime continuity- the result is mutual love at first sight. The final episode, from season 7, has them call Ranma and the three Tendo girls to help safeguard an heirloom ceremonial teaset made completely from gold- a thief apparently intends to steal it, which would make the upcoming wedding impossible, though things aren't as they seem...

[TerraEpon]

A couple more things:

Azusa and Tsubasa both have major parts in later episodes. In the manga, they're never seen again after their main arcs.

IIRC, the anime has Gemna and Soun's game occasionally change, while it's always Go in the manga (I may be wrong, but I remember reading something about this). Likewise, I think they get drunk more -- and drink beer on occasionally as opposed to just sake.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Just bits 'n' pieces...

*The duel with Hinako went differently
Ranma fought Hinako outside and as a girl in the OAV. She also had to contend with the interference of the hormone-driven male members of her class, who feared that Ranma's nullification of Hinako's draining abilities would lock her into her child form- Ranma promptly used them as a shield when Hinako tried to drain her. She also never tried to use a double Moko Takabisha to distract her in the anime.

*Ranma gets an allowance
Ranma has a somewhat irregular supply of petty cash, though we are never told where or how he gets it. He is shown lamenting over not even having enough to buy some takoyaki in one episode where he has no access to any food at all, and comments that he'd be flat-broke after buying even half of the stuff on Akane's christmas gift list in the fifth season (though he still buys her some stuff anyway). He still, however, prefers to try and swindle shopkeepers into giving "her" some extra food when she buys, or having Akane (or anyone else in general) pay.

*Ranma keeps the curse secret longer
While Ranma's gender-switching comes out around the duel with Mousse in the manga (see below for why), Ranma actually manages to keep his female form's tie to himself a secret up until the seventh season, where it is finally revealed during the duel with Mariko Kuonjo.

*Ranma fought Mousse as a girl
In the manga, Dr. Tofu interrupts the duel Ranma is having with Mousse to give him the Old Man Tokyo pressure point, a once-off counteraction for the Full-Body Cat's Tongue... which means Ranma switches genders back and forth in front of the audience. In the anime, Ranma gets the pressure point from Tofu before even meeting Mousse, but it gets deactivated while sparring in preparation for the duel; Ranma thusly shows up in a parody of Mousse's getup as part of a plan to manipulate everyone into thinking his female body is just a disguise/illusion.

*Kodachi only meets her father in the anime
And, what's more, she seems to have been exempt from the tortures he inflicted on Tatewaki, as she's quite fond of him.

*Soun can use Happosai's "Gargantua Aura" technique
He displays it in the anime take on the Scrippled Panda story.

[Acey]

*In the anime, Akane learns (or flukes depending how you look at it) how to cook passably by the original episode The Great Girly-Girl Gambit. In the manga (and the OAVs!) she never makes anything that well until much later, at the beginning of the Ryuugenzawa arc.

*Mousse has mentioned family in the anime, in the form of a (rather shabbily thought out) mother, who presumably lives with the Joketsuzoku.

*Kuno's relationship with the principal is outed during the latter's introduction story in the manga, whereas the anime saves that "bombshell" for later in that season. And the events leading to the revelation in the manga are roughly translated into the the later anime ep Me is Kuno's Daddy as well.

*The anime states that Ukyo's fighting style is an inherited one (implying her great-grandfather was a legendary practitioner) rather than created by her, whereas the manga makes no such distinction. Also, Ukyo apparently takes losing a fight far worse in the anime - being defeated by Joe in a martial arts cooking battle in Revenge! Raging Okonomiyaki sends her into a spiral of depression and self-doubt. She casually shrugs off losing a similiar contest in the managa to Hayato. The anime writers characterised her closer to Ranma in that regard.

*The Ghost Cat makes several more appearances in the anime (possessing Ryoga, showing up to wreck Tatewaki's tenure as vice-principal, working for the Nekohanten at the beach) than in the manga where IIRC, he only features in his introductory storyline and Shampoo's New Year's Curse story.

*In the anime, Shampoo shows less of her great range of pressure-point awareness, only using her skills on Akane with the Memory-Erasing shampoo during her first visit to Nerima. She never uses her pressure-point techniques to manipulate Akane into embracing Ryoga during the Waterproof Soap tale. And as the anime ended before the manga, never gets an opportunity to use them on Pink and Link in the anime.

*The anime somewhat implies that Happosai is a superior fighter to Cologne (he's able to casually slip past her guard and place a bra on her without her noticing). Also, that Cologne and Happi knew each other as young adults is revealed much earlier in the anime during the first Nanban Mirror episode, whereas we aren't told this until the Shiryuu Hoten Ha storyline in the manga. (Strangely, it's revealed a second time in the anime ep of that story, and like in the manga, everyone is shocked. Continuity is optional in this series .)

*Finally, there is never any mention of the Naban Mirror in the manga, and the idea that young Cologne truly cared for young Happi in never intimated.

[TerraEpon]

That reminds me of one not said -- the anime suggests that Happy and Colonge are over 300, where Colonge implies she's "only" 100 in the manga.

[Cheb]

she never makes anything that well until much later, at the beginning of the Ryuugenzawa arc.

Correction: that wasn't her, that was the water of life which made her cooking taste good.

[whatever]

Correction: that wasn't her, that was the water of life which made her cooking taste good.

[/quote]

I think Acey is talking about the edible curry that she made before arriving to Ryugenzawa.

[Zwzn]

That reminds me of one not said -- the anime suggests that Happy and Colonge are over 300, where Colonge implies she's "only" 100 in the manga.

When is it implied Happy and Colonge are only 100 in the manga?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Zwzn: I believe Cologne states that she's around 100 years old in her introduction into the manga series; it's part of her comments in response to Kasumi's complimenting her ability to speak Japanese. In the anime, she says she's lived "over 300 years" in that scene. Happosai's age is never stated outright, though an unknown narrator (likely Sasuke) estimates it... I think it's over 400 in the dub, and 450 in the sub. He seems to be about the age of Cologne, as they were teenagers together.

Whatever & Cheb: Acey is actually talking about an anime-original episode that happens much earlier. Basically, to sum it up, Ukyo gets depressed over how Ranma seems to see her as merely "one of the guys" and tries dressing in girl's clothing to see if that will elict a reaction. It does, but not the one she hoped. It basically ends with a big cooking contest between the 4 girls out for Ranma. It's never actually said that Akane made edible food there- and as it's back to toxic levels for the rest of the series, I'd say Ranma's own theory -that it was so mixed up with all of the high-quality stuff that Ukyo, Shampoo and Kodachi had fed him- explains what happened.