Here are background information and character writeups for a game that I ran at GenCon during August of 1997, based on the manga series Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi.
Ranma Saotome barely remembers his mother; he was taken away by his father Genma for martial arts training at a very early age. Their travels eventually ended them up in China when Ranma was sixteen. There they knocked each other into the cursed springs of Jusenkyo; Genma became a panda, while Ranma became a buxom female version of himself.
Akane is the youngest daughter of Soun Tendo, the only one of the three who does martial arts. She has always had a bad temper and generally disliked men. The exception to this was family physician Dr. Tofu, whom she had a crush on until she accepted the fact that Tofu loved her sister Kasumi. Meanwhile Akane spent much of her time at school fending off would-be boyfriends, including Upperclassman Tatewaki Kuno.
Tatewaki Kuno is the captain of Furinkan's kendo club. Of wealthy samurai lineage and the school's best fighter, he naturally felt that he deserved the school's fairest maiden, Akane Tendo.
Ryoga and Ranma were classmates in junior high. Ranma had a habit of grabbing away food before Ryoga could eat it; for this offense, Ryoga challenged Ranma to a fight in the vacant lot behind his house. But Ryoga, who has absolutely no sense of direction, couldn't find the appointed place until four days later. By this time, Ranma had gone off with his father on a training expedition to China.
Kodachi is the sister of Upperclassman Tatewaki Kuno. She attends St. Hebereke School for Girls (Hebereke means something like "dead drunk") where she is captain of the martial arts gymnastics team. Although she is capable of defeating most normal opponents fairly, she prefers to use dirty tricks. Her opponents frequently meet with unfortunate accidents and are forced to forfeit.
In the remotest wilderness of China, not far from the cursed springs of Jusenkyo, exists a little known village of Amazon warriors. These Amazons are a proud people, particularly where combat is concerned. Being defeated by an outsider is considered a great disgrace. An Amazon who is beaten by a woman is required to give the "kiss of death" to her opponent, a promise to chase her to the end of the Earth and kill her. If the opponent is a man, however, the law states that the Amazon must make him her husband.
Ukyo Kuonji's father was a chef who specialized in okonomiyaki, a Japanese entree similar to pizza. He travelled the countryside with his little girl and his yatai (okonomiyaki cart).
These are Ranma 1/2 characters who weren't used as players in this game, but were important in the series during the period in which this game was set.