The first episode entitled, “The Stranger from China,” sets up a few things, including the curse, the arranged marriage between Akane and Ranma, and the roles of our characters. Beginning the episode with a feud between a young redheaded girl and a cutesy panda, the viewer is introduced to the main characters in their sub-form, and it is not until the end of the episode that there true forms are revealed. Thus, when Ranma encounters the Tendo family for the first time, he is in girl form, setting Ranma up for an extremely awkward bathing scene with an unsuspecting Akane. Before this encounter however, the audience is given a preview of the personalities of each of Soun Tendo's daughters, each of them shown in the setting most suited to their personalities. Nubiki, who will be the most self absorbed and cunning character, is found in her room reading a magazine. Kasumi, the oldest and most responsible character, is found in the kitchen washing dishes, and finally Akane, the designated tomboy, is found in the dojo practicing her martial arts. In correspondence with these roles, when they are told by their father that one of them will be engaged to Ranma (whom they’ve never met) Kasumi submits, giving no opinion at all, Nubiki asks about her prospects, and Akane throws a fit. Yet, despite Akane's initial outrage, once she is under the opinion Ranma is a girl, she immediately befriends him. This friendship is short lived however, when, under the assumption Ranma is a girl, Akane walks in to join Ranma just as Ranma (in male form) is getting out of the bath. Infuriated, Akane and Ranma begin their love-hate relationship. However, upon the revelation that Ranma is indeed a boy, the sisters then nominate Akane as his fiancé, saying that since she hates boys and Ranma is only a man half the time, that they would be perfect for each other. This bath scene is particularly gender bending, as Ranma, a boy who suddenly finds himself periodically in the body of girl, is no stranger to a sixteen year old girl’s body, yet he is still struck cold upon seeing Akane’s naked figure. Furthermore, this isn’t the only time they will run into each other naked in this episode, however, the second time they are both girls, and as a result Nubiki deems this situation okay. Because of his changing form, whether or not to treat Ranma as a boy or a girl is often questioned in this way. This curse, which continually disrupts and confuses everyone who is involved with Ranma, is inflicted on a training journey in China, where Ranma and his father Genma fall into the cursed springs at Jusenkyo. Unknown to Ranma and his father, if a person is unlucky enough to fall into these springs, they take on the physical form of anything that has drowned there in the past. Ever after, whenever they come into contact with cold water they change into their new form and inversely, when in contact with hot water, they revert to their old selves, that is, until their next cold water exposure. Thus, Ranma takes the form of a woman when splashed with cold water, while Genma takes the form of a panda. These conversions immediately bring gender and nationality into the picture, Ranma literally gaining both a male and female identity, while his father takes on the identity of an animal that is only found in China. It seems Ranma and his father have been infiltrated by the Chinese, not only through the metamorphosis that happens at Jusenkyo and consequently the Chinese entourage that follows them back to Japan, but in culture, as both are clad in traditional Chinese dress. Inevitably, as the title suggests, they bring this Chinese influence into the Tendo household, who for the rest of the series will always be battling against the magical forces, such as Ranma’s curse, coming from China.
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