Kingofwinter

So one interesting aspect of Akane is how Ranma's go to insult of her as "Fat" or "Macho" is one that completely changes in tone as the manga goes on due to Rumiko's developing artstyle.

Akane was never portrayed as particularly overweight, but in the early chapters, as shown above, she was portrayed as having a particularily big rear and huge outwards flaring hips.

Something that meant that when she is actually dressed in her regular, loose on her body attire, she has the appearance of being much, much stockier than she actually is.

Hence why Ranma when he wants to insult her calls her fat, something she really is not, but he knows she is very selfconcious about(as we see when she gets pissed about making a jab at her waist).

and as for macho, Akane was never particularily musclebound, but she has noticably thicker and more developed arms, and an especially thick neck than female ranma does, showing her muclemass.

in other words, the things ranma insults her about are not aspects that does not exist... but he really is making a mountain out of a molehill because he understands that akane is sensitive about these parts of herself, and when ranma gets mad, his go to strategy is trying to hurt the person who annoys him either physically or with words.

meanwhile, skip forward and as Rumiko's artstyle begins its march to becoming more and more like her animated adaptions(that would crystalize during inuyasha's run) Akane's body loses pretty much everything that innitially separated her from Ranma or the rest of the female cast(except cologne) where the only thing that really makes their bodies look any different from each other is differing heights.

she completely loses her rather distinct lower curves, her musclemass, and her thick neck that once stood out is now as slender as everyone else.

this in turn also completely changes the tone of Ranma's go to insults to seeming like something completely pulled out if nowhere. completely generic insults, rather than actual physical traits unique to Akane that she feels very selfconcious about.

So a fun, layered cute detail from the first Ranma 2024 ending.

One of the pictures that shows Akane's mental thoughts on Ranma, is the word Batsu, accompanying a boxers sign.

Now the word batsu means "Wrong" or used when you want to show that a word has been "Censored" the equivelant of having a loud, annoying beeping sound in the west to cover up a character saying "Fuck" but you have to get in by the censors while not actually hiding it.

The word batsu is also used in the context of being symbolized by an X mark, hence why it's often used by japanese people as a gesture for a No, or refusal.

However, that is generally used in front of you, while the overhead gesture is rarer, though still used.

However, there is another meaning, one related to martial arts.

This symbol, used in boxing, is(or at least was as i'll go over below) the japanese symbol a referee uses to illustrate a Knockout, or K.O.

or due to the complexity of the Japanese language, you can read that in turn as O.K instead, which obviously spells out loud Okay, a sign of approval.

The final twist, as the above example uses, is that from what i can tell, Japanese boxing referee's changed what sign they used to reference a K.O at some spot after the year 2000, but it was still used in the 80's and 90's when Ranma is set.

Meaning this one, single, quick shot most people would totally miss is a multilayered reference showing how Akane is a tsundere who actually wants Ranma while professing the opposite, using a dated sports reference modern people wouldn't even get as it's so dated that when Saotome Senshu(the manga the modern sign reference is from) did it for the same point, they used a completely different, more modern sign to get the same point across.

I have my reservations about this newer version, but i'll give them 10 for just going all in on the smaller details.

So one thing that both of Ranma 1/2's best arcs(The Ryo Kumon and Ryugenzawa arcs) does really, really well is that they manage to create strong, emotional stories by both deconstructing the usual Ranma storytelling tropes and devices, then repurposing them into an entirely new way.

In the case of the Ryu Kumon Arc, it was in the service of creating the best antagonist Ranma ever faced, his true mirror(As opposed to his true rival Ryoga), but in regards to Ryugenzawa, it was all about the using the usual bickering, misunderstandings and bad communication to put Akane and Ranma's relationship under the microscope and show us how much Akane both really does love Ranma, but also how much she genuinely takes their relationship completely for granted.

In many ways, Akane treats the first half of this arc as just yet another Ranma story, with a new love rival of the week, wacky side character, and an outlandish yet powerful foe to face at the climax... But where it differs so much from every other arc in the series is how Ranma, usually the focus, is effectively pushed to the sides, both by her, and the narrative.

But rather than this being treated as a wacky series of misunderstandings, we are instead shown how Ranma's and Akane's usual back and forth bickering, and refusal to just treat the other with openess and respect makes their relationship both dynamic(and with it surprisingly powerfull given how it bounces back from the worst shit immaginable)... But also very, very fragile under the wrong circumstances.

When Ranma in his usual way is angry/concerned, Akane reacts in her usual way. That is to say she gets into a completely avoidable fight with him over something trivial, in this case how Ranma(Correctly) thinks that there has to be something more to Akane's suddenly good cooking rather than just give her the compliment she so desperately craves.

It's the usual Ranma/Akane fight, seen it a thousand times before, and thousand times after.

The difference here is that rather than get into their usual rythm of sorta making up and continuing with their day, Akane sending Ranma flying once again isolates him from her, and means that her relationship with Shinnosuke and his grandpa once again takes center stage, while Ranma gets shoved off to the side.

And when Akane realizes Ranma is jealous of shinnosuke, she does the thing she always does in that situation, she rubs it in his face, because she wants him to admit it.

You'll find this very same thing a dozen other places theough the franchise.

The difference here compared to all other times, is that here, this is a genuine mistake on Akane's part, as she completely fails to read the situation, thinking it's just another moment just like it.

Just the same as always... Right?

Then after saving Shinnosuke's life, Ranma and Akane have their usual misunderstanding, where Ranma leaves before Akane can explain herself.

Again, seen it a thousand times elsewhwere.

Except this time, it's a bit different, because Ranma is taking this very, very serously, and badly... Meanwhile Akane does not in any way even consider that this was something important. Just another misunderstanding eith Ranma.

This time with the roles reversed(Which is rarer, but does happen), but still, just another unimportant thing thst will be glossed over in time.

Just like it always is.

But this time, that doesnt happen.

The breakdown of her and Ranma's relationship that Akane has been too oblivious even realize was happening reaches it's climax as Ranma has finally had enough, and decides he's gonna do the exact thing that Ryoga wanted to do, to lay out his feelings and demand she give an amswer here and now.

If she really wants to break up with him for real, he'll accept that... But if so, she will tell him that, face to face.

Of course the big thing this entire thing relies on, and is about, is that neither Akane nor Ranma is reading the situation correctly at all.

Ranma is not wrong in his assessment of Shinnosuke as by far the most "Dangerous" of his many love rivals for Akane's affection, but he believes they are much farther along on this journey than they actually are. In essence, he thinks this is the final climax of the love triangle one way or another, when it's really only about a third in.

Meanwhile Akane completely misreads the situation as her boyfriend just being jealous as usual, and completely overreacting to Shinnosuke's pressence, and so rather than try to calm him down or reassure him, she makes the choice of prioritising keeping Shinnosuke's mental state in better condition than Ranma's, rather than recognizing that Ranma is pouring his heart and soul out to her, and that he is being dead serious that this time is NOT just another argument between them.

He WILL take whatever she does next 100% seriously as her definite statement of where she wants their relationship to go next.

Which is why when she slaps him, for him, that's it.

It's over.

He poured his heart out to Akane, and told her to give him an answer one way or another, and her answer was to slap him.

She doesnt want him. Simple as that.

Then, to drive the nail into the coffin even further, rather than apologize in a more meaningful way, Akane instead feebly tells Ranma to hit her back.

As if that would make up for what she just did, or be something Ranma would actually want to do.

What she tries to do with those words is to get them to go back to the dynamic they had before, the bickering, the arguments, the bullshit teen drama... But it doesnt work.

Ranma does NOT come back to her.

For Ranma, all of that was built around the foundation that Akane really did love him despite it all, as he loved her, and once that is gone, that's that.

There is no going back to what they were before. Not withouth that foundation of mutual love.

While i personally think the Ryu Kumon arc is much more solid overall in action, development, resolution and as a character study of Ranma and the Saotomes, I still find the sequence of events as Akane Tendo completely unintentionally burns her own relationship to ashes using all the same storytelling tropes and character tics and traits that the manga spent almost 300 chapters before this exploring, to be Rumiko's single best bit of writing.

While It's a shame that the arc as a whole isn't quite as good(The choice to end the big, final battle against the Yamato at a joke anticlimax was... not a good decision), this very specific bit of writing(along with Akane's love triangle as a whole) is still the best Ranma has to offer.

It's a perfect example of for all that Rumiko addmits she writes by the seat of her pants with no planning, her greatest strength as a writer by far, is that she understands fully how her characters tick and works, and how to get the best out of them for her stories.

So just a fun little detail about Ranma getting slapped by Akane during his little fight with Shinnosuke.

While charging Shinnosuke and preparing to pummel him, he uses a low guard boxing stance, a fighting style that trades away all defensive capacity for maximized offense as it makes it easier to punch as hard as you can while having more freedom in how you do it.

The downside of the move, as Akane so nicely illustrates here by stopping Ranma's mometum dead by slapping him, is that it leaves the head completely open to any and all attacks.

It's a fun little detail that is so easy to miss, and yet ties in so much to how Ranma is feeling, and yet also actual martial arts.

Ranma was putting his entire self and drive into this pretty incosequential little bout, and gave up any and all defences to go all in... And Akane just shatters his entire self with one blow as a result.