The Amazon Sweetheart

         Shampoo is perhaps one of the cutest girls in Ranma 1/2, though also one of the deadliest.  She's more than just the pretty waitress and delivery girl at the popular Cat Cafe Restaurant, she's also an Amazon warrior!  So don't underestimate her based on looks, for she's a lot stronger then she appears.  When it comes to a fight, that perky visage melts away and she gets pretty tough!  She also happens to be another of Ranma's fiance's (which like Akane, Kodachi, and Ukyo, he didn't choose).

         Shampoo had just won a tournament in her Amazon village, the first prize being a table full of delicious food.  However, she finds most of it eaten by a girl and a panda (Ranma and Genma, after leaving Jusenkyo, happened to pass through the village with the Jusenkyo Guide).

         Well of course she's furious at such an act, but Ranma challenges her figuring that if he defeats Shampoo, then the prize food would rightfully be his and there wouldn't be any problem.  And to be expected Ranma wins the fight, leaving Shampoo in utter shock of her defeat.  But, due to Amazon pride, being beaten by an outsider is a great humiliation.  So in retaliation Shampoo gives Ranma the Kiss of Death, which is an Amazon vow to track the person to the ends of the Earth and kill them!

         Well, Shampoo certainly makes good on her promise, and tracks Ranma all over China with the soul intent of killing her (Shampoo at this time had only known Ranma as a girl).  Eventually Ranma is able to lose her and returns to Japan thinking that he'd seen the last of Shampoo... that is until she bursts through the wall of an ice cream parlor that Ranma (as a girl) and Akane were eating in.  Well, he's able to escape from her for the time being, only to find her waiting for him back at the Tendo Dojo!

         Well, by then Ranma had changed back into a guy, and it's lucky for him that Shampoo had never seen him as a guy before so he's ok.  Instead Shampoo suddenly attacks Akane thinking that she must be hiding "girl-type Ranma," but Ranma intervenes and accidentally defeats her again, but this time as a guy!  Everyone freaks out, thinking that she'd be after both Ranma's now, but to their surprise Shampoo instead falls in love with him!

          It turns out that Amazon tribal law states that if a female outsider defeats an Amazon, she must then kill her immediately.  But, if a male outsider defeats an Amazon, she must marry him!  Thus, Ranma (against his will) ends up with yet another fiance (as if having to deal with Akane and Kodachi wasn't enough!).  So Shampoo is now in love with guy Ranma but is out to kill girl Ranma, still totally unaware that they're the same person.  And to make matters worse, Akane now hates him, Ryoga's taking every chance he gets to change Ranma into a girl while Shampoo is around, and Nabiki is extorting as much money from him as she can by selling him hot water kettles (and you thought you had problems)!!

         Well, things get even more complicated for poor Ranma when Shampoo realizes that jealous Akane keeps getting in between her and Ranma.  So, she gives Akane the dreaded Kiss of Death, for Amazon tribal states that "womans what interfere are for killing...."  Akane accepts her challenge, and they take the fight outside.  Ranma hurries to catch up with them, but he arrives too late as he finds P-Chan (Ryoga as a pig) crying beside the unconscious Akane.  When he consults Akane on what happened, to his surprise it seems that she has no memory of who he is!  At first it would seem she has amnesia, but strangely Akane remembers everyone and everything else except for Ranma!

         So Ranma immediately takes Akane to see Dr. Tofu, and he tells them that Shampoo used an ancient Chinese shiatsu attack on Akane that has selectively erased all of her memory concerning Ranma and the only way to cure her is with another shampoo called 119.  So Ranma sets off for China to obtain the antidote, but he only gets a few blocks from home when he runs into Shampoo who has the antidote.  He tries to take it from her, but Shampoo is too tricky for him and tells Ranma that she'll only give him the antidote if he kills girl Ranma... though Ranma is able to get her to lessen the deal to him "almost" killing girl Ranma.

         So Ranma returns home, changes into a girl, and begs Ryoga to beat him up so that he'd look "almost dead."  Ryoga refuses to help Ranma out, but after some teasing he gives in and the two fight, though Ranma actually ends up beating Ryoga up!  Fortunately Soun and Genma were touched by Ranma's plan to help Akane, so they happily volunteer to beat the living stuffing out of him!  Seeing the beating, Akane tries to help him but Ranma simply insults her for butting in.  Amazingly Akane gets angry, revealing that somewhere deep inside she must still remember him.  So Ranma continues to tease her, until finally Akane gets so angry that she regains her memory of Ranma and slaps him silly!  Yep, Akane remembers him all right!

         Shampoo, finding that Akane has regained her memory of Ranma, decides she'll just kill her instead.  But Ranma butts in and decides it's finally time to tell Shampoo the truth, and reveals to her that him and girl Ranma are the same person.  However, he makes her to believe that he's really just a girl who disguises himself as a boy.  Shampoo attacks and is about to kill Ranma, when heartbroken she instead leaves....

         Like most Ranma 1/2 characters, however, this is not the last we've seen of Shampoo.  She returns to China, in disgrace, to retrain with her great-grandmother Cologne.  They didn't pick a very good training spot though, and during the fight Shampoo is knocked into the Spring of Drowned Cat and now changes into a pretty pink and purple cat!  Hm, Jusenkyo seems to be a popular place!

         So some time later, a package arrives by mail to the Tendo Dojo for Ranma, and oddly he finds that it's from Shampoo in China.  Suddenly the package starts moving and bursts open to reveal a cute little cat (three guesses who this is).  And  it's no surprise to them that the cat is from Shampoo because it seems to hate Akane!  Well, the cat hangs around the dojo, seeming to particularly watch Ranma, and one time while he's taking a hot bath the cat jumps in with him and to his surprise Shampoo appears!  And happily she has discovered the truth, that Ranma really is a guy.  

         The next day, after the arrival of her great-grandmother Cologne, she informs Ranma that he is to blame for her accident, and see's it as even more reason for him to marry her.   Shampoo and her great-grandmother Cologne have left China and moved to Japan, and also have opened up a ramen shop called The Cat Cafe, and thus they continue hound Ranma into marrying Shampoo!

         It might be kind of hard chasing a guy who's terrified of cats due to a childhood trauma, especially considering Shampoo is half cat herself!  But still she continues her rivalry with Ukyo, Kodachi, and especially Akane (though she won't admit how jealous she gets of Ranma's many female admirers).  Despite all her warrior ways though, Shampoo dreams of nothing more than marrying Ranma.

Ranma Saotome, Genma Saotome, Soun Tendo, Kasumi Tendo, Nabiki Tendo, Akane Tendo, Tatewaki Kuno, Ryoga Hibiki, Kodachi Kuno, Shampoo, Cologne, Mousse, Happosai, Ukyo Kuonji

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