This volume is one I don’t care for much overall, and it’s because of the introduction of one of the most problematic characters in the whole series: Master Happosai. He’s a lecherous old geezer who happens to be the master of Anything Goes martial arts. Akane’s and Ranma’s fathers trained under him, and shut him away for a while - but he’s loose now and looking for Akane. Because he really likes young women and their underclothes.
He and Ranma fight quite a bit in this volume; first Happosai wants Ranma to put on a lacy bra when he loses. Then Happosai decided to disguise himself as P-Chan to get into Akane’s bed. Finally Ranma has Akane sew a special patch on Happosai’s gi that will chase women away. This makes Happosai lose his chi. The fathers prepare to send him to the North Pole, but Ranma doesn’t think it’s fair to gang up on someone that weak, so he rescues the old geezer - only to get wet, turn female, and bring back all of Happosai’s energy. e_e
The final story, though, is a very classic Ranma tale. A dojo-destroyer comes to challenge the Tendo dojo. Akane and Ranma are told by their parents that they need to work together to defeat him. However, Shampoo has a packet of instant nannichuan, to turn Ranma back into a full-time guy - but she won’t give it to him unless he agrees to a date, on the day the dojo destroyer is to fight. Akane says she’ll handle it alone, and Ranma agrees to the date. But the whole time he’s worried about Akane, and tries to get through the date as quickly as possible. Shampoo is onto him, and goes back to the dojo with him, saying he’ll only get the powder when he kisses her again. This leads to a bit of fighting between Ranma and Akane (“did she kiss you, or did you kiss her?”), and the dojo destroyer gets into it, revealing that Ranma pretended that the nannichuan was destroyed in order to make Akane grovel, so Ranma boots him out with a massive kick. He gets the instant nannichuan, but it’s good for only one use. At the end, Ranma and Genma chill in the pond in their make forms, until it rains and they’re back to girl and panda again.
This volume has some good things (Ranma and Ryoga fighting Happosai to keep him from perving on Akane is nice - as well as Akane fighting him, too, to defend herself and other girls), and I really like the way Ranma and Akane are settling into their established boundaries - their engagement is being treated like a definite thing with relationship rules (it’s okay for her to question his intentions, and he’s quick to explain - if he can - when things look shady AF with Shampoo). But the Happosai stuff is gross, and didn’t age well. Lecherous old dude being played for laughs has a limited shelf life. At least for me.