Who are the Ranma 1/2 characters and explain them?! Argh! You guys ask too much!! Well, I did it anyways, here ya go!:
Ranma Saotome: His father took him as a baby and they went training all over the place. Ranma's father brought him to a chinese training ground, Jusenkyou, and basically, that's a whole bunch of puddles with bamboo poles to fight on. Well, Ranma fell into on of these "puddles", called Nyanniichuan, and then the guy that runs the training ground informed him that they are cursed springs. Anyone who falls in the cursed springs takes the form of whatever/whoever drowned there last. Ranma, therefore, is turned into a girl everytime he is splashed with cold water and turned back into a guy whenever he is splashed with warm water. Akane is his "chief" fiance. This kid has Shampoo, Ukyou, Gourry, and more for fiances. Tatewaki Kunou is in love with his girl side and enemies with his male side. He lives with Akane (The Tendos) at the Tendo Anything Goes training hall. Ranma is an excellent martial artist. Also, he's afraid of cats. It's his one phobia. When he can't take his phobia anymore (ie being around the cat too long) then he turns into a cat mentally. Screwed? Yeah, I know.
Genma Saotome: Ranma's father. Genma fell into the cursed spring of the drowned Panda, called Shonmaoniichuan. Now, everytime he is splashed with cold water, he becomes a Panda and turns back with warm water. This guy here has serious problems. His problem is that he has a habit of engaging Ranma to girls for stupid reasons. For a flippin' fish at one point! Or a plate of Okonomiaki. His best friend is Soun Tendo. Him and Soun were trained by the same trainer and when their trainer died, Genma told him that he was going to go in search of martial art technics and Soun was going to open an Anything-Goes Dojo. That's when they made the enagagment between Ranma and Akane, before they were even born!
Nodoka Saotome: When Ranma was an infant, Genma left with him because his mother's influence was detrimental to training Ranma in Saotome-style martial arts. When he left, he promised to make him a manly man inside and out, or they would commit seppuku like men. As a martial artist's wife, she accepted this decision. Nodoka received letters from Genma until their trip to Jusenkyou, until they suddenly stopped. She comes to the Tendou doujou wanting nothing more than to see her son Ranma grown to be a man, and intends to hold Genma to his promise if he isn't. But there she only meets Akane's "cousin" Ranko and her pet panda...
Akane Tendo: Akane's a martial artist that all the guys at her school seem to have the hots for. She hates boys and beats them up everyday before she gets to school because Kuno told the entire school that the only ones that could date Akane were the ones who beat her in combat. Luckily, Akane's a good fighter, but not better than Ranma. She's also engaged to Ranma, but of course, as explained earlier, not by choice. The one reason it was her that got engaged to Ranma and not any of her two sisters was because of her hatred of boys (ie Ranma's now half girl). She doesn't turn into anything, fortunately for her. She also used to have long hair, until a little incident where it got chopped off... Anyways, Ranma has his little nicknames for her, like "uncute" and "tomboy", loving couple, huh?
Soun Tendo: This guy is weird. You think turning into a Panda, or a girl even, is weird? Try being Soun! We call this one, the guy with the hair. This guys cries alot with little rivers flying down his checks, usually for stupid reasons, it took this guy a little while to figure out if Ranma was a girl or not the first time they met (Ranma was a girl at the time). This guy man, what more can I say? This guy is weird!
Nabiki Tendo: Nabiki is a money crazy typical teenaged girl. She's Akane's older sister by a year. She likes making business with Kunou. No, not that kind of business sickos! She sells pictures of girl-type-Ranma and Akane to him. Nabiki is the "cool" one outta the sisters. She's not one of the more popular characters.
Kasumi Tendo: Kasumi took over the role of "mother" after their mother passed away. She takes care of the family, cleans, and cooks. Dr. Tofu (a chiropractor), one of the few guys Akane likes, has the hots for Kasumi like mad! She's a calm one and can make her own little jokes still in the same calmness. That's Kasumi!
Ryouga Hibiki: Ryouga is a fun character. He completely HATES Ranma, and he's always lost. No, I don't mean lost in his own little world or lost in conversations or lost in the city but'll find his way eventually! No, I mean the kind of loss where it takes you 5 days to get to school, lost! or 3 days to get to the place, which is very near your starting place, I might add, where he's to fight Ranma. Also, he has the hots for Akane. He also fell into a cursed spring, Heitouenniichuan. The cursed spring of the drowned pig! Now, when splashed with cold water, he becomes an adorable little Piglet that Akane names P-chan and Azusa names Charlotte. Oh, we're only getting started with the chars :)
Shampoo Nyu-che-zuu: A chinese amazon girl, champion of the Joketsuzoku, defeated in her village's annual contest by Ranma as a girl. She gives her the kiss of death, and chases her out of China trying to kill her. After showing up in Japan seeking the girl Ranma, she meets and is defeated by the boy Ranma, but this time she declares her love for him and calls him "husband". By the customs of her clan, recorded in the Joketsuzoku scriptures, when defeated by an outsider, if it is a woman you give her the kiss of death and kill her, but if it is a man you marry him. Crushed when Ranma reveals his secret to her, she returns to her village and renews her training at Jusenkyou with her grandmother, who knocks her into Maoniichuan, where a cat drowned 1800 years ago. Assured that Ranma is really a man, she returns to Japan and tries to get Ranma to fall in love with her, working at her great-grandmother's Chinese restaurant and making deliveries on her bicycle.
Cologne: Shampoo's really, really, really, really, really, really old great grandmother that tries to get Ranma to marry Shampoo. She trains Ranma in martial arts and calls him "son-in-law". She and Shampoo run the Neko Hanten restaurant. She also hops around on a wooden staff which she uses as a weapon.
Mousse: He shows up in Japan in search of his love, Shampoo who HATES him. He mostakes poles, trees, and people for other people through his THICK glasses. When Cologne tells him that Shampoo is gonna marry Ranma, Mousse challenges Ranma and looses miserably. He then goes to Jusenkyou so he can train so that he can defeat Ranma. He then falls into Yaazuniichuan, spring of the drowned duck (if there's a place a duck can actually drown, it's here).
Tatewaki Kunou: Tatewaki is a dramatic poet, but his poems suck! He's always reciting them! He has the hots like mad for Girl-Type-Ranma and Akane too. He's annoying and refuses to beleive that Ranma and his pig-tailed-girl (Girl-Type-Ranma) and the same person. He waves around a big stick alot (a wooden sword called a bukutou) and calls himself blue thunder. Yeah, he's queer alright.
Kodachi Kunou: Tatewaki's sister. She's a martial arts rhythmic gymnastics expert from the rival Saint Hebereke's girls' academy, who wins her matches by default by taking out her opponents "fair and square" before the competition. After a thwarted attack on Akane in her bedroom before their upcoming match, Ranma, chasing P-chan, accidentally knocks her off the doujou roof, then unknowingly rescues her. When she comes to and sees who "saved" her, she falls for Ranma. However, not only is Akane in the way, but also a strong pony-tailed girl who has the audacity to use her Ranma's name! Her flippin' weapon is a ribbon! She's a psycho moron.
Principal Kunou: He's the psycho principal of the high school who gets back from Hawaii and is therefore still "in" Hawaii. He goes to extreme lengths to make the students miserable, especially Ranma. He makes up crazy rules whenever he feels like disciplining.
Happousai: A powerful old man, possessed of an evil spirit. The feared and loathed sensei of Genma and Souun. 10-several years ago, he harshly trained them by making them take part in his plundering and endure the punishments when he left them behind. Finally, they got him drunk, chained him in a barrel, threw the barrel in a cave, and sealed the cave with dynamite and a boulder hung with Buddhist scriptures. Years later, he escapes. He moves into the Tendou doujou to train his successor, where Genma gives him Ranma to train. A 110% pervert, he constantly goes around lifting skirts, stealing women's underwear for his extensive collection, and committing frottage. His perversions are the source of his strength; without touching young female bodies or underwear, he loses his power. Ranma and Akane are his favorite targets.
Ukyou Kuonji: Ukyou is a kewl character. She carries a great big spatula and makes okonomiaki. Ukyou's father told Genma that Ukyuo wanted to be Ranma's bride and was going to give him the yatai as a dowry. Genma then agreed. He asked Ranma which he liked better: okonomiaki or Ukyou? SInce Ranma didn't know of the engagement OR even who Ukyou was, he said okonomiaki. Genma and Ranma then left Ukyou, with the yatai. Ukyou decided she hated boys and dressed and lived as one. She devoted herself to okonomiaki martial arts. Year later, Ukyou finds Ranma and finds out that him and his fiancee, Akane, don't get along and then becomes in love with Ranma. But Ranma treats her as an old friend.
That's all the characters! I hope you realize my hand now hurts from typing that all up!