LGBT Manga Character Of The Week: Ranma Saotome
As you may have guessed from the title, I'll be taking over the reigns of the "LGBT character of the week" article for a while. Why, you ask? Well, it seems our overworked Sergeant is flat out of characters. So, until the states finally creates/outs new comic characters, it's up to me to show you guys the best of what Japan has to offer.
Our first spotlight falls on the title character from Ranma 1/2. Ranma Saotome isn't gay, or even bisexual. But he is VERY transgendered. While training with his father over a couple of cursed springs, Ranma and his father fall in, causing Genma (Ranma's dad) to turn into a panda. Ranma gets the unfortunate(?) fate of turning into a girl.
We quickly learn that when exposed to cold water, Ranma transforms into a female version of himself, but hot water will change him back. This creates several hilarious situations that make poor Ranma emotionally unstable (you'd be constantly pissed too if you were always having to worry about wearing a bra or not).
It could be argued that Ranma is a lesbian in his girl form...if he ever actually kissed a girl. For various reasons, Ranma is betrothed to three different girls (not counting the other ones that he meets along the course of the series), but he doesn't seem to have any remote interest in pursuing any of them. And lets not forget Tatewaki Kuno, who hates boy-type Ranma with a passion, but has an undying love for girl-type Ranma.
Sadly, Ranma never finds a real relationship or anything (which is for the best, since that's not really the point of the series), but towards the end it seems like he may lean toward his fiance Akane.
Il Palazzo
Posted to LGBT Character of the Week on 22 January 2009
· Comments (0)
Other stuff like this: LGBT, Manga, Ranma
Post a comment