Ranma Saotome

Ranma Saotome is the title character of the anime and manga series Ranma 1/2.

History
Ranma started out as a fairly normal teenage boy. He came from a long line of martial artists from a traditional, conservative Japanese family, and wanted to carry on his family's legacy. One day while training up in the mountains with his father, they came across a field that is filled with pools of water. They make the big mistake of training there, and both fall into a pool of water. What they don't know was that each of the pools was cursed, because somebody or something had once drowned in them. Now, whoever touches those waters turns into whoever was drowned whenever they touch cold water, and change back to their normal selves when exposed to hot water. Ranma's father fell into a pool where a very fat panda drowned. Ranma himself fell into a pool where a young girl drowned. Now, he and his father try to find a way to rid the curse, while trying to hide it from everyone else.

Appearance
As a girl, Ranma sometimes goes by the name Yoiko. In that form, he looks much like his male self, but with rounder, softer feminine features, slender legs with pronounced hips, a large bust, and red hair. Throughout the series, Ranma/Yoiko wears many different styles of swimwear. A running joke is the possibility of Ranma changing back into a boy while in women's swimwear.