Genma Saotome

  • Gender: Male
  • Age: mid-40s
  • Hair: None (originally black)
  • Eyes: Blue
  • Nationality: Japanese
  • From the manga Ranma 1/2, by Rumiko Takahashi
  • First Appearance: Chapter 1

Ranma Saotome’s free-loading, deceitful and all-around disreputable father, Genma is known for his baldness, his cowardice, his lack of foresight and his overwhelming (even in comparison to Ranma) ego, greed and laziness. He convinced Ranma’s mother to allow him to take their only son on a training journey that has lasted over a decade, where he tried to impart all his martial techniques (and personality traits) on the impressionable young boy. For the most part, he succeeded.

Despite these traits (and in contradiction to all appearances), Genma is a very talented martial artist and a gifted (if somewhat unorthodox) teacher. In his youth, he is known to have created several powerful martial arts techniques and even entire new styles of fighting. However, his tendancy to be lazy and cowardly often negates any sort of advantage he might have in a battle, unless it is against a clearly inferior opponent. At the beginning of the Ranma 1/2 series, Genma can be considered to be on par with Ranma in fighting ability, but is falling behind.

Due to his own stupidity, Genma is cursed with the Spring of Panda from Jyusenkyou. When doused with cold water he turns into a large panda, a state he does not object to nearly as much as he says he does. Hot water, of course, reverses this transformation.

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