My views on Ranma (long post)

[antimatterenergy]

Most of this was already posted on Xero Reflux Strikes Forum in the Ranma section of fanfiction.net. I have revised it some and decided to post it here. (I was originally going to post it on this site in the first place but the site went down.) I made this list because I had started several fanfictions in the past and dropped them because Ranma was to OOC. This includes my views on Ranma, his education, and the differences between his cursed and uncursed form. Please let me know if something is blanetly wrong and explain why.
Ranma:
Ranma has had a very hard life. In the manga Ranma has had many bad things happen to him but it was usually portrayed in a comical fashion. He is also in a losing situation. Pretty much any choice that Ranma makes has pretty serious consequences.
We the readers of Ranma know very little of Ranma's past and what we do know is usually second hand (i.e. from Genma whether he was lying or not telling the whole truth is unknown). Ranma is a live in the moment type person who seems to be either consciously or unconsciously trying to forget his past. His live in the moment way of thinking causes a lot of his problems as well as making him look stupider than he is. Because of it he will get an idea in his head and go with it instead of thinking about alternatives or what the consequences of his actions will be. His live for the moment way of thinking is also the main reason he is letting things around him spiral out of control. My view is that if someone where to give him a real goal (best martial artist isn't enough because he already considers himself to be the best or close enough that he will be soon), force him to decide what he wants to do with his life, give him a responsibility (raising a kid, saving the world, protecting someone), someone dying because of his action or inaction, or just plain making him consider and prepare for the future he would make most of his problems go away instead of letting them continue to spiral out of control. He is powerful enough, devious enough, manipulative enough, smart enough, and/or stubborn enough that he could make just about any of his problems go away.
-Lots of bad luck
-Vain about his looks and gets upset if you say something bad about him
-Tends to insult people but generally the person has insult, hurt him first, being dense I.e. Akane not figuring out P-chan/Ryoga situation, or not letting him explain the situation.
-By Japanese standards Ranma is disrespectful because his respect is earned not freely given.
-Has a tendency to attract girls and guys.
-Has a tendency to piss people off. Usually he doesn't even know he's doing it or why they’re mad. Mostly because of his foot in the mouth problem where while trying to compliment someone or ask forgiveness he'll end up insulting them.
-Is manipulative. Mostly Kuno, Ryoga, and the occasional shop owner. Though he has manipulated or tried to manipulate others. I originally stated that he wasn't as manipulative as nabiki but after rereading part of the manga I've changed my mind I don't think their is even one volume which he doesn't try and manipulate someone in one form or another.
-Very competitive and hates losing. This makes him accept damn near any challenge.
-He seems to learn at an above average speed if he is interested or properly motivated, and if he has existing knowledge in the field he learns at truly impressive speeds.
-Very Confident in his skills which tends to make him underestimates his opponents. Also comes off as arrogant (though to be fair their are only about a dozen people in the world who actually are better than him).
-Tends to fight at a fraction of his abilities, generally limiting him to his opponents’ level.
-Doesn't really like hurting people. Which also limits his fighting abilities because he won't punch people at full strength unless he thinks they can take it, won't use killing or maiming blows or techniques.
-Has a tendency to try and defeat a technique rather than the opponent performing the technique.
-Truthful but usually in direct way that is seen as insulting (brutally honest and unintentionally cruel) Ex. If you asked him if you look fat in something and he thinks you do he'll tell you that yep you're fat.
-Sneaky. Can be very sneaky, is even able to sneak up on Cologne occasionally.
-Shameless. Will wear damn near anything and would even be nude sometimes. This leads to flashing people in battle as a distraction and changing close in front of an entire audience like he did during the Romeo and Juliet arc (always her breasts but I would not be in the least bit surprised if he pulled down his pants as a distraction).
-Insecure and unsure of himself, especially in the first few volumes (Look at him around the Tendos or at school). He also has a tendency to say how great he is and how he's a man to boost his self-esteem.
-Thief. He will steal stuff. Though he only ever really steals food because has little interest in material things and money.
-Very private person in that he doesn't tell anyone anything about himself unless he has to. ex. didn't tell anyone about neko-ken, didn't tell anyone about Junsenkyo curse until after they've seen it.
-Somewhat of a neat freak. Tends to keep his room clean, seen cleaning the dojo, and cleaned Mrs Hinako's apartment because it was messy even though he had no reason to clean it. Also gets upset when his clothes get torn or dirty.
- Forgiving. Very forgiving will forgive and forget just about anything you do. He is pretty much incapable of holding a grudge, though this is also tied to his live in the moment attitude.
-Some Machiavellian tendencies (usually justifiable but still there). His threatening possessed Kuno with an ax, trying to take power away from people instead of growing to match them, his trying to get the noodle of strength.
-Honorable. Somewhat to a degree though it's his own code of honor not one most people would recognize.
-Friendless. He has people who he considers to be friends but when you really look at it he has no real friends. I.e. people he can talk to about things, people who will help him with out asking for major things in return. I get that lonely in a crowd feeling when thinking about his life.
- Sometimes sensitive to the feelings of others (as when he noticed Akane's crush on Tofu), but insensitive most of the time.
- Though he doesn't actively seek out people in need of help, he won't hesitate to help people in need. Even if the people are his enemies and he has every reason to not help them.
-Even though he is always claiming that he is a guy he is more skilled in many fields usually considered to be woman's work than most real girls his age. Fairly good cook (like eating so no real surprise), knows how to sew, do laundry, clean, and other things that one has to do to take care of oneself (living with Genma this doesn't come as a surprise).
- Good at repair work. This is not a real surprise because of the amount of things that are broken around him.
- Afraid of cats. This is usually over blown in fanfiction.
-Will cheat. As long as he wins he doesn't really seem to care how he did it.
- Has major intimacy issues probably because he was rarely if ever hugged when he was younger. Genma even makes a technique which is basically a hug combined with a fathers love. This technique pretty much makes Ranma sick. His intimacy issues have probably gotten worse since his first kiss was from a guy and left Ranma so mad that he hit the guy around 500 times instead of just knocking him out. Hug from Kuno left him with nightmares.
-His curse has probably desensitized him to woman's bodies. Instead of becoming aroused when seeing naked girls he becomes embarrassed.
-Introverted. When something bad happens he tends to go off by himself and think about it. Generally seems to decide to just forget about the entire situation. This is good in a way because if he dwelled on all the bad stuff that happens to him he would be as depressed as Ryoga.
-Pretty bad manners. Though Ranma does know how he is supposed to act he does it anyways. Ex of bad manners is him using his foot to hold food and other stuff if hands are busy or crouching on the table while eating.
-Ranma's view on weapons, technology, and magic is that they are tools to be used but he generally doesn't need them and doesn't want to become dependent on them. (Ranma uses weapons in the manga, Ranma uses magic in the manga he just doesn't have ready access to it, and Ranma uses what little technology is shown in the manga TV, video games, microwave, stove, etc...)
-Very quick thinker. Will come up with things very fast especially in battle but is pretty bad at plans that are long term because he doesn't think them through enough and will stick to them even when they aren't working.
-Ranma's view on his curse. Has come to accept it and no longer really bothers him, though would very much like it cured. He will use his cursed form to his advantage.
-Ranma's view on dating. By end manga Ranma will pretty much date anyone if he sees an advantage in doing so. Off the top of my head Ranma has gone on a date with a pervert who wouldn't take medicine, Kuno several times (wishing sword incident, when possed by cursed cherry tree, and cursed swim clothes), Ryoga (pretended to be Ryoga's fiancee), Panda ghost, Mrs Hinako (to try and learn her chi draining technique), Shampoo and I think there are more but can't think of them at the moment.
-Ranma has had part time jobs in the manga working as a waitress for both Cologne and Uyko and working at a hot spring. It is implied by Gemna at another point in the manga that Ranma getting a part time job isn't uncommon.
RANMA'S EDUCATION:
-He seems to be more of a lateral thinker (i.e. outside the box) than a logical thinker which doesn't really help in school.
-The way I see it he only went to school sporadically so he did not have a very normal education (we know he missed school while in china, skips school during the manga, and goes on training trips/adventures instead of school). His main teachers would have been Nature, Experience, and Genma with occasionally going to school and martial art masters. He in all likelihood knows a lot of stuff that isn't taught in normal schools.
-obviously knows how to take care of himself
-probably knows more about the human body than some doctors not the names of bones and diseases but if you hit a person here it does this, this part here can bend this much, at least common pressure points, first aid, how to put on a cast, best way to heal this muscle, how to stitch up a wound, many herbal remedies, Would probably be great as a physical therapist.
- What plants, animals, and fish are poisonous, edible, and good as herbal remedies. May not know there names or at least not their common names (locals may call the plant/fish something different)
- Some foreign languages like Chinese and English. Might not be able to read or write the languages but he probably can speak and understand the languages (people might have to speak slowly and clearly for him to understand it though). In the manga he had no trouble translating something from English to Japanese so he maybe able to read and write some English.
-Geography of the places he's been.
-Might be able to read some ancient Chinese and Japanese because lots of martial art scrolls would be in those languages.
-A lot of the history he knows is most likely from various martial arts teachers and word of mouth so he probably knows a lot about history and folk lore but it might have been taught in a different way than if he had learned it from books.
-probably knows other things as well but it's mostly just speculation since only some of this can be proven by the manga (manga can prove cooking, cleaning, laundry, sewing, repair work, herbal remedies, basic first aid, some knowledge of the English language, travel to foreign countries, enough raw knowledge to be in high school, and some knowledge of how the human body works).
-Ranma's had at least enough of a regular education that he is able to be in the same grade as Akane and is maintaining a passing grade (probably just passing) even though he often misses school and doesn't really have an interest in the stuff the school teaches in the first place. (Probably because he doesn't see a need to learn most of the stuff they teach in school and it's very boring.) If Ranma were properly motivated he could probably get near perfect marks though he'd have to work for it (I don't think he's some super genius who will just absorb all knowledge). It wouldn't even be very hard to get him to take school seriously just A. Show him how it can benefit his martial arts. B. Attack his ego by flaunting how much better you are. C. Trick him into promising to get good grades. D. Offer him something he wants as a reward for good grades (all you can eat buffet, martial art techniques, etc...) E. Put martial arts in the subject i.e. Science of martial arts, Math for Martial Artists, etc... F. Show him how it can benefit him directly. Ex, want him to learn magic that's easy convince him that by learning it he'll be able to cure his curse.
Ranma often exhibits super human abilities. In the manga he clings to ceilings, walks on the wall, throws energy blasts, goes invisible, swam from China to Japan, turns into a girl, thinks he's a cat sometimes, takes blows that should kill him, was buried alive, tends to step/perch on peoples head lots of times without the people even noticing, runs up a telephone pole, massive feats of strength, extreme flexibility, etc... So don't expect Ranma to act like a normal person he's more alien then some of the Sailor Senshi villains and the aliens on Tenchi even though he's human.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RANMA WHEN MALE AND WHEN FEMALE:
-While he is female people expect him to act different than when he is male (sit differently, use female specific words, dress differently, etc...)
-People also treat him differently while female for instance Akane seems to be nicer to Ranma while female, Kuno and Kodachi treat him very differently depending on his gender, Shampoo wanted to originally kill him because he was a girl, some people prefer Ranma to always be one gender and not the other, etc...
-Physical differences. Female body is physically weaker, slower in some ways (running) , faster in some ways (dodging), differently balanced, appears to be more flexible, and shorter.
-Has to sit to use the toilet.
-He is more emotional while female (whether this is female hormones or his macho attitude that says feeling emotions is wrong while a guy is unknown).
-More shameless while female than while male. Will do some stuff only while female but will occasionally do them while male as well (occasionally forgets he’s a guy at the time).
The following is purely opinion and can't be confirmed by the manga.
-May have more sensitive touch because of the differences in male and female skin.
-May have different sense of taste. Not sure but he seems to eat more sweets while female than male.
-May menstruate.

[iiradned]

(Massive snip)
-May menstruate.

This is quite likely. The Musk use the Nyannichuan to convert animals into human females for brides. This is how the Musk have children. Any children from such a union will exhibit certain characteristics from the mother's original animal form.
I also think this practice in now rarely used as Herb went to Jusenkyo, if I remember correctly, more out of curiosity than a need to find a bride.

[Drawde]

(Massive snip)
-May menstruate.

This is quite likely. The Musk use the Nyannichuan to convert animals into human females for brides. This is how the Musk have children. Any children from such a union will exhibit certain characteristics from the mother's original animal form.
I also think this practice in now rarely used as Herb went to Jusenkyo, if I remember correctly, more out of curiosity than a need to find a bride.

It may be likely, but not a certainty. The ladle may have been neccesary for them to be able to get pregnant, or only animals that were female originally could (just possibilities).
And yes, the Musk don't do that anymore. Herb said they arrange marriages with the surrounding villages. He cursed the monkey to get used to the female form.

[antimatterenergy]

Or Ranma might have to stay in his cursed form long enough for it to happen.
Or Ranma might not have started menstrating yet. Stress and many other factors could delay it or In Ranma's family they might just start late. The girls in my family tend to start late most were in there late teens around 17-18.

[bissek]

Ranma appears to have a large amount of what he would consider to be practical knowledge, he doesn't have much in the way of what a school would consider important knowledge. But let's be honest: some of the things that people are required to learn in school are totally useless. Who cares about the proper structure of a poem after they stop taking high school literature?
Ranma's grades would probably go up considerably in one of two cases: One: He sees that a particular subject has relevence to his worldview. For him, it would be plausible to get him interested in the physics of motion at the Newtonian level (Force, momentum, pressure and the like all are very relevent to martial arts - the Einsteinian level is only really relevent at the near light speed level, which he wouldn't need to care about), military history (Strategy and tactics are very important to somebody who gets attacked several times a week), and practical knowledge concerning anatomy. Two: somebody walks up to him and says "I challenge you to make the honor roll". Given his total inability to back down to a challenge, he would make a serious effort to improve his grades.
One of Ranma's serious problems is a tendency to see the immediate trouble he is in but not the overall problem. His viewpoint on a normal challenge would be "Ryoga has learned ANOTHER new technique and is trying to kill/maim me AGAIN, how do I counter this and keep my title as the best?". He doesn't get that the real problem is "Ryoga keeps trying to kill/maim me with these stupid techniques for no intelligent reason, how do I make him knock it off?". He keeps surviving the immediate difficulty, but never attempts to solve the ultimate problem.
The fiancee problem is a challenge he cannot defeat by himself as he is now. This is because of two factors: First, thanks to Genma, he doesn't have the foggiest idea as to what the basic rules of handling a relationship are. The fact that all of the girls after him are playing by different rulebooks doesn't help, and makes it impossible for him to infer any consistent notion as to how to deal with girls (A fic where Ranma tries to figure the rules out, writes his notion of them down, and then has his rules found and read by the fiancees could be extremely funny). The second issue is that it is hard to state what a victory for Ranma in this situation would be. The girls have it easy: She who drags Ranma to the altar wins. What would Ranma's victory be? Marriage to some girl? Getting out of the engagements without dishonoring anybody? Getting out of the engagements without getting anybody killed? It's hard to say. I don't think Ranma can resolve that mess without the help of a third party who is initially unbiased to all claimants for his hand (Bias resulting from the fiancee's actions after meeting the third party is acceptable). This would require an OC or a crossover, as I don't think there ARE any parties in Nerima who are neutral in the mess that is Ranma's life (At least, not out of the people who interact with him on anything regarding a regular basis).

[Cyber_Skaarj]

-Physical differences. Female body is physically weaker, slower, differently balanced, appears to be more flexible, and shorter.

Most of that I will agree on, but where is your proof that Ranma is slower in female form? If anything, the reduced muscle density and superior flexibilty will make his female body faster agility wise, not slower. The only time his male form will be faster is when running, which relies more on muscle power and height than agility.

[Khortez]

-Has a tendency to piss people off. Usually he doesn't even know he's doing it or why they’re mad. Mostly because of his foot in the mouth problem where while trying to compliment someone or ask forgiveness he'll end up insulting them.

Actually there are some points where he just makes fun of Akane simply to get a rise out of her. I think he actually enjoys pissing people off, as he does insult several other people just in passing. He's also very petty and spiteful, though never for a long period of time.

-Doesn't really like hurting people. Which also limits his fighting abilities because he won't punch people at full strength unless he thinks they can take it, won't use killing or maiming blows or techniques.

He actually does get a sort of sick pleasure beating on people. I mean, there was the time that he just beat his father for every thing his father did to him on their training trip. After he gained his strength he broke though several buildings, I don't remember if he actually started hitting his other challengers. After the super-soba incident he is shown arm wrestling Akane and there are bandages all over her face and a hole on Akane's side of the floor. This goes back to my previous comment on him being spiteful.

-More shameless while female than while male. Will do some stuff only while female but will occasionally do them while male as well (occasionally forgets he’s a guy at the time).

Could you provide any examples of this? I don't seem to remember this at all.

-May menstruate.

Actually I think it may be impossible for Ranma to even get pregnant due to the nature of the female reproductive cycle. Women have all the eggs (by this I don't mean a real egg, but the female gamete) they are ever going to have already partially developed before birth. Males only start producing semen after puberty. Besides, if you noticed the Musk only gained animal traits from the uncursed forms of their mothers, so I assume that the animals would have to be female in order for that to happen, or else the egg would be purely human in origin. If they were female thier original eggs would be changed only to be able to be fertilized by humans.
Besides, if Ranma would be capable of being pregnant, he would be very infertile, as half the semen would contain the Y chromosome, and not be able to be fertilized. Any child he would have, whether male or female, would have very male characteristics. That means he wouldn't have girls that look anything like his female side, except for maybe hair color, as many authors have postulated.

[Draconis Stelanaris]

On the menstruating..
I realy dont think the Musk would have checked on gender with some of the creatures used. Example, the Dragon. Who in their right mind goes around and checks if a blooming DRAGON is a boy or girl? Let alone go about finding out how to tell, most reptiles are rather hard to tell on.
As for Ranma, I think its a mater of time spent as a girl. If I understand right, the cycle takes a whole month to move through and Ranma sort of keep hiting the restart button.

[antimatterenergy]

Khortez:
I never said that he doesn't piss people off on purpose ever because he occasionally says something to Akane to get a rise out of her. I just said that usually he pisses people off without knowing he's doing it.
I don't think Ranma really enjoys beating up anyone. He was beating up his father as a form of petty revenge but caused no serious or even pain that lasted more than a few minutes and it was a lot more tame then what most people in Ranma 1/2 would have). After he got his strength back he did break lots of stuff but didn't hurt anyone or attack anyone he was just enjoying being strong again. If you go and look at the super soba story line it is true that he defeated her in arm wrestling afterwards but he did not hurt her and there was no Akane shaped hole see http://ranmahentai.ranma.ws/RanmaManga/ ... 11-193.jpg Akane earlier in the story left a Ranma shaped hole and cuts on Ranma though. Ranma never in the entire manga attacks someone unprovoked. He doesn't use techniques that can seriously injure or kill on anyone (with the exception of Saffron and he didn't start with them than either) unless he is sure they can take it and Ranma is strong enough to seriously injure several of his opponents if he wasn't holding back his strength. (against normal human Ranma could probably punch a hole right through their chest with only a little effort.)
Ranma is commonly shameless wearing a playboy bunny suit, wringing out his shirt, changing clothes in front of the entire audience during the Romeo and Juliet Arc. Pretending to be a cutesy girl. (This is the one he'll do while male and be looked at weird.) Walking around in his underwear. etc...
As for menstruating. It's a magical curse that we really don't know how works. I listed it as a possibility and not a certainty because I can't prove or disprove it. Both are equally possible in the Ranma manga and we can't know for sure without more information. If it changes Ranma as 100% girl physically as it appears to than it in all likelihood it is possible for the magic to give Ranma all the eggs he'd have normally if he was born a girl. Oh and I read somewhere that boy babies are capable of producing extremely tiny amounts of sperm, but don't quote me on that since it has been a long time since I seen the article.
Cyber_Skaarj I should of said slower in someways (such as running), faster in others (such as dodging).

[mondu_the_fat]

Could you provide any examples of this? I don't seem to remember this at all.

First few pages on the second book.
"When it comes to eats, girl body is the best."
However, examples of Ranma doing something female while in male form because he forgot that he's male is hard (unaware he's currently male, plenty, forget he's male, zip).
With regards to late menstruation: this is quite possible in real life. Gymnasts, who are put on rigourous physical conditioning, have their menstruation delayed, sometimes for years. This is mainly due to very low body fat (fat produces estrogen). Ranma's female form, however, is quite bouncy. I'm more inclined to believe in the "hormonal reset" he undergoes when changing back to male.

Comes off as disrespectful because people have to earn his respect.

Then he _is_ disrespectful. In their society mere age is enough to earn respect. Authority figures are automatically given respect.

Truthful but usually in direct way that is seen as insulting (brutally honest and unintentionally cruel) Ex. If you asked him if you look fat in something and he thinks you do he'll tell you that yep you're fat.

He'll also tell someone they're fat to piss 'em off. He also has no concept of relativism and only accepts his own truth as truth.
Akane is nowhere near fat. Maybe compared to his girl form akane's waistline is greater, but the amount Ranma stresses that Akane is fat is blatantly false.

[antimatterenergy]

Mondu_the_fat: Ranma doesn't give a crap about a persons age only actions so yes he would be considered as disrespectful by Japanese standards, so I'm going to change that to By Japanese standards Ranma is disrespectful because his respect is earned not freely given. Which just happens to be my point of view as well. Like I'm supposed to respect a judge or the president just because of their positions in society. I respect them or disrespect them depending on their actions.
I only used fat as an example. That calling Akane fat is one of his favorite insults is inconsequential. It doesn't make it any less true that he generally tells it how he sees it. After all we can easily tell that it is an insult and not how he really sees it because Ranma has shown that he knows that Akane isn't really fat or uncute. I could of just as easily said if he thinks your cooking tastes bad he'll tell you it tastes bad and inadvertently insult you in the process by saying something like This tastes like crap who taught you to cook? The guy down the street who eats garbage.

[mondu_the_fat]

I'm going to change that to By Japanese standards Ranma is disrespectful because his respect is earned not freely given. Which just happens to be my point of view as well. Like I'm supposed to respect a judge or the president just because of their positions in society. I respect them or disrespect them depending on their actions.

This is sad, and contrary to one of the central precepts of confucian-touched socities -- respect for the elders. You do not respect elders because they are old -- you respect them because they bloody well know more than you do and have done more than you have. Unless you have their experiences, any judgement to whether their actions are worthy of respect or not by someone who has not borne their level of responsibility will likely be wrong.

I only used fat as an example. That calling Akane fat is one of his favorite insults is inconsequential. It doesn't make it any less true that he generally tells it how he sees it. After all we can easily tell that it is an insult and not how he really sees it because Ranma has shown that he knows that Akane isn't really fat or uncute. I could of just as easily said if he thinks your cooking tastes bad he'll tell you it tastes bad and inadvertently insult you in the process by saying something like This tastes like crap who taught you to cook? The guy down the street who eats garbage.

This makes little sense, and the first part utterly contradicts your statements that Ranma doesn't insult people -- that Ranma doesn't insult people and that he's honest. No, he's not. Calling Akane fat is an insult that he throws out sometimes even when "fat" isn't the subject of the matter, and it is also untrue. I fail to see how this is "generally tells it how he sees it." That he knows Akane isn't really fat or uncute makes it worse -- again he insults and lies.

[antimatterenergy]

First I didn't say Ranma doesn't insult people I said as one of the first things posted:

-Tends to insult people but generally the person has insult, hurt him first, being dense I.e. Akane not figuring out P-chan/Ryoga situation, or not letting him explain the situation.

What I'm trying to convey is not that Ranma doesn't insult people I'm trying to convey that he is more often than not truthful but in a very blunt and direct way seen as insultive but not meant to be. My examples need work though. The fat example doesn't work because it's a favorite insult for Ranma. The second example I gave doesn't work because it isn't something Ranma would normally say unless he's trying to be insultive. (That one was really off, I must be more tired than I thought) Ok I'll try again. Ranma while wearing Akane's clothes because his clothes weren't available mentioned when asked how they fit said that it was too tight around the chest and too loose around the waist. As you can see in this example (hopefully) Ranma was telling it how it was but accidentally insulted Akane's figure. He was being very truthful but had no tact therefore he insulted Akane when he had no intention to.
As for my views on respect. I know way to many people who expect respect based only on their jobs or postition in society. Ex. old boss expected me to respect him because of his position but I wouldn't because he was stealing from the company. I should respect him because he's my boss but I wouldn't because of his actions. From what I have seen age or position does not impart wisdom. Another person who is older than me by about 20 years and has a masters degree. Has managed to be in and out of jail for the last 10 years. can list many more.
Now Ranma should respect Happosai because Happosai is his teacher (technically) but won't because of the actions Happosai does. Ranma should respect Kuno since Kuno is his senior but because Kuno acts the way he does Ranma doesn't. Ranma should respect most of the people older than him but doesn't becuase of their actions. (genma to many to list, Soun becuase of his crying and trying to force Ranma into a marriage. etc...)
Ranma does show respect to Kasumi and Cologne (old ghoul seems to be more of a nickname he has for her rather than him being disrespectful) and was proper to most of the people (not showing respect or disrespect) just being polite to most of the characthers until they did something.

[DBHay]

Ranma insults people because he's been raised that way by Genma, he's crude and mannerless, having no idea how to talk to people, or often what he's said thats upset someone.
At the same time he insults Akane on purpose, but she's just as bad, calling him idiot or pervert first many times.
The other reason he insults people is to keep them off balance in a fight, an opponant whose lost their temper is easier to beat, look at how often Ryoga goes berserk and starts lashing out without thinking.
On the respect issue, it seems to be a theme in the series all the people who expect and demand respect based on age or position yet really don't deserve it; Genma and Happosai being two of the worst cases.
DBHay

[Vasey]

Now Ranma should respect Happosai because Happosai is his teacher (technically) but won't because of the actions Happosai does. Ranma should respect Kuno since Kuno is his senior but because Kuno acts the way he does Ranma doesn't. Ranma should respect most of the people older than him but doesn't becuase of their actions. (genma to many to list, Soun becuase of his crying and trying to force Ranma into a marriage. etc...)

When has Happosai ever taught Ranma anything?