Ranma 1/2's most tragic charachter

[FriendlyEL]

I've seen plenty of these for alot of more serious series, but I'm just wondering if anyone has any say of a charachter in Ranma that you feel has the most horrible life overall in the show.

This is, keep in mind though, different than who you sympathise with the most. For example, you may relate to a charachter who you don't find particularly miserable but either way you find them likable.

[Daniel Jess Gibson]

I'd say Kasumi. She's almost as young as the main characters, yet has to shoulder the burden of running an entire household. Perhaps only Cologne and Ukyo have to match her level of responsibility, but unlike those two, she has no direct stake in the `Ranma Stakes`. Whoever wins, she will always be in the background, with the threat of losing everything hanging over her head.

Almost all the other characters can dream of or boast of victories, and are free to go into the world to face challenges. But due to her commitments and honor, she must stay at home and can only pray that tomorrow is no worse than yesterday.

[mondu_the_fat]

Its diffucult to determine a "tragic" character in Ranma. Because of Ranma's keep a status quo in the characters (with the exception of powerups, you can almost place the stories in any order), the characters don't stay in a rut for long.

In that list, I'd pick Mousse, who is in an eternal "I'm a loser" mode and whose only chance of happiness is a) giving up on Shampoo b) Ranma picking a girl other than shampoo _and_ shampoo seeing him in a different light. All the other characters have something else within reach that their life revolves around.

[Tovath]

Ryoga because he is doomed to travel the world alone

[pspinler]

Shinnosuke. He doesn't have enough short (or long) term memory to survive on his own, and his only caregiver is aged and in failing health. I don't know what will happen to him when his Grandfather dies, but I doubt it'll be good.

-- Pat

[ToastedPine]

The anime only ninja, Sasuke. Unlike Kasumi who actually has admirers and people who care about her outside of the family. He's stuck working for the Kunos for very little, if any, pay and he gets verbally and physically abused. The guy also lives an extremely impoverished life; I'm pretty sure you've hit rock bottom when you think a bowl of pickle brine is the height of luxury.

[FriendlyEL]

Ryoga because he is doomed to travel the world alone

That and while it isn't bad enough to be considered tragic persay, the NWC members he interacts with tend to have a very impatient and uncouth nature which results in him being abused and insulted due to it irritating them. Can't be too good on your psyche to have to deal with that.

The anime only ninja, Sasuke. Unlike Kasumi who actually has admirers and people who care about her outside of the family. He's stuck working for the Kunos for very little, if any, pay and he gets verbally and physically abused. The guy also lives an extremely impoverished life; I'm pretty sure you've hit rock bottom when you think a bowl of pickle brine is the height of luxury.

Yeah, he's one of the ones who has it the worst. Konatsu is another in the manga who has a similar story. Five yen (about five cents) an hour is a "high salary"?

Oh, the poor guy.

[three headed dog]

Most of the cast have pretty tragic lives. Personally I say Ranma. His life isn't necessarily the worst but it is right up there competing for worst. The reason I say Ranma, is because he attempts to follow honor but is in a situation in which his morals/wants contrast with honor often and he is penned in by his honor/giri/duty more so than others. He's in a lose-lose situation no matter what choices he makes people will be hurt emotionally and physically. With some pretty drastic worse case scenario's. The absolute worst case scenario I can think of is: Ranma marries Akane. Shampoo kills Akane. Saotome and Tendo family declare blood feud on the Amazons in retaliation. They attack the Amazon village killing many amazons. Remaining Amazons and any allies they have (possibly Pink and Links village and Phoenix people -who may just join to get revenge on Ranma) retaliate by killing as many of the Tendo/Soatome/ and whatever allies they have (Possibly Kuno clan, Hibiki clan, and Ukyo's clan). Things escalate Japanese and Chinese government get involved. Japanese and Chinese have lots of bad blood between them. Things are said/done that cause things to escalate further into war between Japan and China. Things escalate as allied countries begin to get involved and economies world wide begin collapsing (China and Japan are very important to many economies) and China needs more resources competing with other countries who also need those resources (USA for oil if nothing else); cue world war 3. Further escalation with one side using nukes or some other weapon of mass destruction (viral or chemical). Cue end of life as we know it.

[Nekomata-sensei]

Ranma, because many of the other characters problems are traps of their own illusions. Ukyo didn't have to pretend to be a boy. Konatsu could have left his step-sisters and step-mother at any time to get a better job as a ninja. Sasuke never had to work for the Kunos. Gosunkugi would be noticed more if he actually did things and spoke up more often. The Kuno's are living the high life and can run away from their family to some random part of the world on an extended vacation if they wished. Kasumi could find some nice guy and get married pretty easily, and leave the Tendo home to be with her husband, she really wouldn't be leaving the Tendo home in a rut because it has been shown that both Ranma and Mrs. Saotome are good at cooking, cleaning, and repairs, and both are living there by the end of the manga, and it has been indicated that at least Mrs. Saotome regularly helps out around the house, and that Ranma cleans compulsively when he sees something messy. Shampoo allready got punished for failing to get Ranma with her Jyuusenkyo curse, she could return to the village at any time, she stays because she believes she loves Ranma and really wants to marry him. Mousse has plenty of other prospects than Shampoo with his looks when his glasses are off, and if he got a better prescription with nicer looking frames he could probably easily catch some nice girl that is just as good looking and with a better personality than Shampoo, who would actually appreciate him, he is under no obligation to get together with her. Ryoga is pretty downtrodden, but if he remembered to keep track of his dog Shirokiro, then the dog could lead him everywhere, negating the lost curse, and he allready takes advantage of the pig curse.

Ranma's problems are primarily ones he or others would lose large amounts of honor in order to escape, he had perhaps the most traumatic childhood of all the characters, especially with the neko-ken factored in, and has a good few problems that won't solve themselves without ridiculous luck that might not be so good which have mutually exclusive solutions and huge reprecussions if all of them aren't solved soon. It's like he's stuck so that no matter which direction he moves he is getting cut by a bunch of razor blades, and causing others to be cut by other blades, and the blades are allready steadily moving towards him and the others from many directions at one, with no way to dodge them all for Ranma.

[Dumbledork]

@Nekomata-sensei

Shampoo isn't that easy to get rid off. She was cursed because she failed to kill female Ranma, not because she wasn't able to get a husband.

[Seed00]

@Nekomata-sensei

Shampoo isn't that easy to get rid off. She was cursed because she failed to kill female Ranma, not because she wasn't able to get a husband.

I always wondered if she would have preferred that Ranma be an evil person and kill her instead, but Ranma is slapstick. Gotta remind myslef that.

Ranma's choices: go ronin.

[Southern Cross]

Actually,Seed00,going ronin ISN'T a viable choice for Ranma because he would be free of the panda's engagements,but not Kodachi or Shampoo.Kodachi because she isn't formally engaged to Ranma,and Shampoo doesn't care about outsider laws anyway.
Worse yet,going ronin would leave the Tendo family defenseless,especially Akane.(Ranma doesn't trust either of the two fathers,and with good reason).

[Goldarmy]

I second Shinnosuke, it is unlikely that anything other than a lone death is awaitng him.

As from the options here is my rank for tragicness:
1)Ranma
2)Kuno
3)Ryoga
4)Shampoo
5)Ukyo
6)Mousse
7)Akane
Kodachi

[Necavit]

Ryoga

Doomed to wander the earth for his entire life? I know its all made a joke.
But if we take this seriously Id say its by far the worse. He can never have
a normal life. School, relationships, career... all suffer. Oh and lets not forget
he becomes somthing edible when doused with cold water, thats gotta be a pain in
the wild.

If you look at the Shishihokodan arc, It is Ryoga who had more fodder for the blast
than Ranma. While some may argue Ranma has it bad, he just dosnt dwell on it. Isnt it
the dwelling that matters? Ryoga is consumed by his depression. While Ranma seems generally happy with his life.

Ryoga's only escape is thinking of Akane. While Ranma has a normal (in comparison) life, and several people competing for his company, which he loves. If you think for one second he dosnt love it, read the reversal jewel arc.

Personally Ive never consider Ranma as tragic. Look he has it tough in some respects. But in the end hes admired and loved. His family may be bizzare but he does love Nodoka and is deffiantly affectionate to Genma. Ryoga is lucky if he sees his parent once a year. Genma may be a prick but Ranma has good memories being raised by him, which I argue is better than having no parent and wandering alone at a young age.

Hmm that was longer than I intended, I was just suprised that people nominated Ranma.

So I thought Id throw in my two cents.