Pantyhose "Don't CALL me that!" Tarou is one of the major Ranma 1/2 villains, first appearing in Volume 18 (Viz Volume 16). He was baptised (at Jyusenkyou, of course) at birth by Happousai, from whence he received his humiliating name and his curse from the spring of... (deep breath) ...Niuhoomanmaorennichuan, the Spring of Yeti-Riding-Bull-Carrying-Crane-And-Eel. This odd conglomeration of creatures turns him into a gigantic minotaur-like monster with wings and an eel for a tail. Were that not enough, he later returns to Jyusenkyou and splashes himself with Spring of Octopus, gaining a set of tentacles and the ability to shoot ink from his fingers. Yes sirree, he's Ranma's own cthuloid tentacle monster.

Unsurprisingly, he loathes his name, which he feels is so horrible and humiliating that he must always live alone, unable to find love. Unfortunately, due to the laws of his people, only the person who named him can change his name, and Happousai isn't terribly cooperative.

Perhaps this is the reason he grew up to be such an antisocial prick. Perhaps not. Either way, Tarou is a grade-A arrogant cocksure jerk (even compared to Ranma, who also possesses all those qualities in abundance). Despite the fact that his cursed form is immensely powerful, he's also an impressively good martial artist in his human form, more than able to hold his own against Ranma. He's more than willing to use either of his forms to beat the living crap out of anybody who calls him by his name, or just annoys him in general. Ranma frequently does both, and Tarou refers to him as "fem-boy" and "crossdresser" in return (in between bouts of violence), and accordingly the two loathe each other with a passion.

So why does Blade like Pantyhose Tarou, and why should you do so as well? Simple. Tarou is COOL. Sure, he's an arrogant asshole. He's also a sneaky, intelligent strategist who went toe-to-toe with half of the Nerima crew by himself and almost won. He's beaten the crap out of Happousai. He calls Ranma "fem-boy" and gets away with it. He wears a cool dragonscale vest. He chuckles evilly every second sentence. He's bishounen. He rescues random women in China from attacking animals and then runs off screaming when they ask his name. He has Takahashi's favourite cursed form. He's the only one of Ranma's rivals who never becomes friends with him and saves his life later. He has those cool dangly hair things.

Because. Just because.