Shampoo (Ranma ½)
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| Shampoo 珊璞 |
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|---|---|
 Shampoo with her cursed self |
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| Gender: | Female |
| Age: | 16 |
| Curse: | Human to Cat |
| Family: | Cologne, great-grandmother Unnamed father (manga only) |
| Love Interest: | Ranma Saotome, fiancé |
| Loved By: | Mousse Maomolin |
| Rivals: | Akane Tendo Ukyo Kuonji Kodachi Kuno Hinako Ninomiya Pink and Link |
| Occupation: | Cook/Waitress Chinese Amazon Fighter Assistant (briefly) to Dr. Tofu Ono |
| Residence: | Formerly: Joketsuzoku Village, China Now: Cat Café, Furinkan |
| Fighting Style: | Chinese Amazon |
| Attacks: | Bonbori Hissatsu Shiatsuken Hohoemisannengoroshi Delivery Box Blowout |
| Seiyū: | Reiko Noda(as Rei Sakuma) |
| Voice Actor: | Cathy Weseluck |
| 1st Appearance (Manga): |
Volume 3 |
| 1st Appearance (Anime): |
TV Series, Season 1 |
Shampoo (珊璞 Shānpú or シャンプー Shanpū) is an important supporting character in Rumiko Takahashi's anime and manga series Ranma ½.
She is one of the three (main) fiancées of Ranma Saotome, and a rival of both Akane Tendo and Ukyo Kuonji.
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[edit] History
Soon after getting cursed at Jusenkyo, Ranma (as a girl) and Genma (as a panda) drop into a contest in a village of the Joketsuzoku (女傑族 - "tribe of women heroes"; "Chinese Amazons" in more culturally-loaded English terms). Half-starved, they feed on the next available food-stuff - the feast that was to be the first prize for the contest - and are instantly challenged by Shampoo, the village champion. Ranma defeats Shampoo, but this was a bad move; according to the Chinese Amazon tribal laws, if a female Amazon is defeated by a female outsider, she must give the outsider the "Kiss of Death" (死の接吻), hunt her down to the ends of the Earth, and kill her. Ranma and Genma manage to elude her and settle down in Nerima, thinking that they've lost her.
However, Shampoo eventually tracks female Ranma down and resumes her attempts at murder. She finds Ranma—this time a male—in the Tendo household and attacks Akane for hiding female Ranma from her, leading Ranma to accidentally defeat Shampoo a second time while defending Akane. However, instead of receiving a "Kiss of Death," Ranma gets a kiss on the lips; it turns out that if a female Amazon is defeated by a male outsider, she has to marry him. She continues on the path of trying to marry male Ranma and kill female Ranma, until Ranma tricks her into thinking that the male side is just a disguise for the female side.
Heartbroken, Shampoo returns to China, where she undergoes re-training at the hands of her great-grandmother Cologne and finally receives a cat curse at Jusenkyo. Realizing that Ranma had a Jusenkyo curse as well, she then goes back to Japan to try to marry Ranma once more, learning in the process that he is actually male. Unfortunately, the Jusenkyo curse which led to this realization comes with a price: Ranma has been completely phobic about cats since childhood.
Shampoo has managed to gain at least two strong rivals in the herbalists Pink and Link, a pair of twin sisters who live in Yaokaicun, a village near Joketsuzoku. The twins and Shampoo have held a grudge against each other since they were very little girls, and there’s no sign of it ending anytime soon. In their latest attempt at getting back at Shampoo, Pink and Link declared to Joketsuzoku’s local newspaper that Shampoo’s husband (Ranma) was ugly and weak; Shampoo had previously lied to the newspaper, stating that she was already married and living with Ranma.
Even if she has been chased by the Ghost Cat Maomolin a couple of times, Shampoo really has only one strong suitor, her childhood friend Mousse, whom she has always rejected since they were both three. Shampoo, however, does appreciate his friendship. Late in the series, it is hinted that she has been developing feelings for him for at least some time.
[edit] Character
Shampoo might seem like a bimbo, but that's because she's not good at speaking the Japanese language, which she has remarkably learned in about a month. Additionally, her head-over-heels love for Ranma often clouds her mind and makes her act childish, self-centered, possessive and even cruel. She is unafraid to use mind control techniques to try and make her airen love her or to achieve other goals unrelated to Ranma. Even if Shampoo can tolerate or even get along with Akane at times, she's known for attacking her or using her as a hostage to try and get something from the young Saotome.
Shampoo possesses remarkable physical strength and speed, and is an excellent unarmed fighter. However, she commonly uses a pair of bonbori — solid metal spheres on the ends of handles — as her main weapons, though she is shown using sword, spear, bow, and a variety of polearms. Her only true weakness is that she turns into a cat when hit with cold water. As a waitress and delivery girl for her great-grandmother's Cat Cafe, Shampoo occasionally enters the scene riding her bike, which she uses for deliveries. If she spots Ranma in the midst of one of these excursions, she sometimes uses it to slam down on top of him with an energetic "Ni hao!" Otherwise, she often enters a room by punching or kicking a hole in the wall.
Of all the fiancées, Shampoo is the most sexually uninhibited and the most sensual, possibly due to her upbringing in a female-dominant society. Nudity is also not a problem for her, as she rather enjoys being naked and has attempted to seduce Ranma many times, even in dangerous places like under a giant bell. Early in the series, Kasumi Tendo had a talk with her about modesty. Although she did cease her faint-inducing habit of popping out of the tub naked anytime Ranma tried to take a bath, the conversation has apparently had little effect on her behavior other than that.
There are hints in both the anime and manga—both more frequently seen and more evident in the later volumes in the manga—that she does have some feelings for her childhood friend Mousse. For instance, Shampoo once turned herself into a cat to scare Ranma away from him. Later in the anime, she was the one who convinced him to stay in Japan rather than go back to China and agreed to go on a date with him when he proved himself a man of honor. Shampoo even beat him up while wearing the Reverse Jewel incorrectly—which Cologne commented on by saying that she seems to have some feelings for him. She also gave Mousse a scarf she was making for Ranma and tearfully cradled him in her arms when he saved her life but was almost killed in the 'Nihao, My Concubine' movie. Nevertheless, her feelings for Mousse are not as strong as the love she holds for Ranma. Shampoo does care for him, but she vehemently professes the contrary.
[edit] Special Techniques
Having been trained in the martial art techniques of the Joketsuzoku since birth, Shampoo is very strong and highly skilled in a wide range of combat abilities, particularly those which involve speed and acrobatics. With Cologne as her personal instructor, she, along with Ranma, is one of the finest warriors of her generation. While she mainly fights with her two Bonbori, she is also skilled using other weapons such as swords.
Her first attack is the Hissatsu Shiatsuken (必殺指圧拳 Xi Fa Xiang Gao), which she uses a shampoo and massage technique involving pressure points on the head to erase certain memories. A variation of the technique appears in the manga version of the waterproof soap story arc, which shows it can be used to create a mind control effect.
There is another technique called the Hohoemisannengoroshi (微笑み三年殺しThree Year Smile of Death). It is a horrible technique involving pain and fear for three years. At the conclusion of the chapter in which it is featured, it is revealed that Shampoo doesn't even know about this technique.
Another attack she has is the Delivery Box Blowout, which involves a restaurant variant of the Bakusai Tenketsu and allows Shampoo to utterly ruin the food contained within a delivery box with a touch of the finger. This technique only appears in Shampoo's arsenal in the manga; in the anime it is the property of the Martial Arts Takeout Master Kaori Daikoku. Similar "transplanted" techniques include the Noodle Noose and the Fishcake Blizzard, all of which are renamed for the anime.
[edit] Trivia
- The kanji in her name are shān "coral" and pú "uncut/unpolished gem". The real pun in Shampoo's name though, is that all of the Chinese characters from her village are named after beauty products, such as Mousse and Cologne.
- She had three voice actors in the Latin American Spanish dub: the deceased Aracelli de Leon (TV series), Mónica Villaseñor ("Big Trouble in Nekonron, China"), and Isabel Martiñon ("Nihao My Concubine")
- Her name was changed to Bambou in the French Version and was voiced by Barbara Tissier who voiced female Ranma until episode 40 when she was replaced by Amilie Morin.
- In the Hong Kong version of the anime, she speaks more fluently than she did in the original version.
[edit] References
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Ranma ½ Characters
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| Saotome Family | |
|---|---|
| Ranma Saotome | Genma Saotome | Nodoka Saotome | |
| Tendo Family | |
| Soun Tendo | Kasumi Tendo | Nabiki Tendo | Akane Tendo | Mrs. Tendo | |
| Chinese | |
| Shampoo | Mousse | Cologne | Jusenkyo Guide | Pantyhose Taro | |
| Kuno Family | |
| Tatewaki Kuno | Kodachi Kuno | Principal Kuno | Sasuke Sarugakure | |
| Notable Furinkan Residents | |
| Ukyo Kuonji | Hikaru Gosunkugi | Dr. Tofu Ono | Hinako Ninomiya | Konatsu | |
| Major Adversaries | |
| Ryoga Hibiki | Happosai | Mariko Konjo | Herb | Ryu Kumon | Saffron | |
| Recurring / Other Characters | |
| Akari Unryu | Tsubasa Kurenai | Shinnosuke | Ranma ½ minor characters | |
| Other Articles | |
| Locations in Ranma ½ | Anything Goes Martial Arts | Chinese Amazons | |
