The author said that she does not think in terms of societal agendas and that she created the Ranma ½ concept from wanting "a simple, fun idea.

The manga artist gave Ranma a pigtail to make the character easy to identify regardless of whether he was in his male or female form.

[7][8] In English, male Ranma was voiced by Sarah Strange in the OVAs, films and first 64 episodes of the TV anime, before Richard Ian Cox took over the role.

[11] 16-year-old Ranma Saotome has been trained in martial arts by his father Genma since childhood, namely in the Musabetsu Kakutō Ryū (無差別格闘流) or "Anything-Goes" style.

When Ranma was a toddler, Genma took him from home and set out on their journey, vowing to his wife that he would make their son a "true man among men."

While training in the Bayankala Mountain Range in the Qinghai Province of China, Ranma and Genma fell into cursed springs at Jusenkyo.

When someone falls into a cursed spring, they take the physical form of whatever drowned there thousands of years ago whenever they come into contact with cold water.

Two weeks after the accident, they move in with Genma's old friend Soun Tendo at his Nerima, Tokyo home, with the expectation that one of his three daughters will marry Ranma.

Shampoo's local custom dictates that female warriors kill the woman that defeats them, as such she tracks Ranma to Nerima.

[17] In a poll conducted by goo, fans voted female Ranma their third favorite anime role performed by Megumi Hayashibara.

[18] With 18.1% of the vote, female Ranma came in first in a goo poll of 250 men and 250 women on "cute redhead girl" anime characters.

[20] Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network called Ranma the "least formed" character of the series as of the first two volumes of the manga.

[23] The Fandom Post's Kory Cerjak called the "not-so-relationship" a constant form of entertainment due to "how they interact when they’re hating each other and when they’re being smitten.

"[25] Martin called Venus Terzo's English performance as female Ranma a vast improvement over Brigitta Dau's and said it elevates the rest of the dub to an overall acceptable level.