Ryoga In Love!

Those who have seen the Ranma 1/2 anime but not read the manga may not be aware that Ryoga does have a girlfriend, and she is definitely not Akane! Ryoga's girlfriend is called Akari Unreo, she is from another town, her family raise Sumo pigs (yes, you read that right, with Rumiko Takahashi as the author, stranger things have been known to happen).

Akari was told by her dying father to go look for a suitable husband, this man must be the one who can defeat the family's greatest Sumo pig, the awesome Kasu Niriki, 14th generation Sumo Pig! This is one HUGE pig, about the size of an elephant! Akari, the sweet, obedient girl that she is, did as instructed and went charging around the land on the back of this incredible pig. The gigantic pig basically brushed people aside with its mighty paw, or swipe them high into the air (those who have been kicked by Akane will know exactly how that feels!).

Akari and her pig eventually arrived at Ranma's town and immediately proceeded with the husband selection process. Hundreds of men were literally swept aside, and the girl and her pig became the talk of the town. One day the pig ran into Ryoga, and was immediately defeated with a mere flick of his umbrella. Akari was very impressed and she gave Ryoga certificate that he has won. Ranma was a witness to all this as he was arguing with Ryoga when the pig attacked, and the enormous creature later fell on his head after being effortlessly batted into the air by Ryoga.

Ryoga has of course been sans girlfriend for as long as we have known him, he felt a fleeting moment of guilt that he was some how being unfaithful to Akane, but a fleeting moment was the maximum duration of this feeling. He took Akari's hands, tears dripping from his eyes, flowers and music was every where but then... Well, you know how the course of true love is never a smooth one in the world of Ranma 1/2. The girl was so pleased with her new man, she heaped the following "praises" upon him.

"You are handsome like a pig!"
"strong as a pig!"
"cool like a pig!"
"kind a pig!"
"you are my ideal man!"

At that moment the music and flowers in Ryoga's head disappeared! He said something like "ARRRRRGGGHHH!!!" and ran away. He decided that he would leave town and just travel again. (for someone who has no sense of direction he sure like to travel!). After Ryoga's hurried exit Akari asked Ranma what she said wrong (causing a big sweat drop to appear on Ranma's face). Ranma, ever the helpful lad, took Akari to the Tendo's house.

Later that night Ryoga turned up at the Tendo's house, Akari and Ranma also arrived soon after. Akari brought two presents for Ryoga, pig shaped cookies and a jumper with a large pig embroidered on it. Ryoga panicked upon see all the pig motif and ran away. Ranma really wanted to bring these two together so he went to get a magic potion from Cologne. This potion works like hypnotism, it causes the drinker to react in a pre programed way to a keyword. Ranma sneaked up on Ryoga, knocked him unconscious and fed the potion to him. Ranma used "pig" as they key word, and instructed Ryoga to hug and say "I love you!" to whoever says the word "pig" within his earshot.

Meanwhile Akari went home to do some thinking, she concluded that Ryoga ran away from her because he loathes pigs, therefore she must learn to loathe pigs too. She then asked Kasu Niriki to beat her up, and he obliged (poor kid!) One week later Ranma arranged for Akari and Ryoga to meet, she did not say anything about pigs, everything went well, Ryoga heard the music and saw flowers again, they were about to kiss, Akari's eyes were closed in anticipation .... then it started to rain... When she opened her eyes Ryoga was gone. (of course he hasn't gone anywhere, he just turned into P-chan, the little black pig!). Akari started to cry and said that Ryoga must really hates her. Ranma, who was there all along practically dragged the poor girl to the Tendo's house (taking P-chan with them) where he dropped P-Chan in the hot water filled bath tub. Ryoga turned to his man form, he thought Akari will never want to see him again, alas no, Akari was ecstatic. she loves pigs with a passion after all. So, once again things were going well and it was beginning to look as if Ryoga was going to live happily ever after with Akari. Hey! but this is Ranma 1/2 we are talking about! Any way, Akari and Ryoga were hugging each other, at that point Ranma (in girl form at the time) said "this is great! the pig lover and the pig". This is of course the keyword Ranma programed into poor Ryoga., So, he let go of Akari, hugged Ranma-chan and said "I LOVE YOU!". Akari was very disappointed to see that Ryoga already loves someone else and left him (Shampoo she isn't!). She sent him a letter afterwards saying they will meet again, and enclosed a ticket to a Sumo show.

End of episode.

Sad huh? Never fear, the lovely Akari does turn up again occasionally, the trouble is Ryoga still loves Akane and he tries to have his cake and eat it. much to Ranma displeasure. ... but that's another story...

« ^ »