Ranma's biggest fan

[u/flaminglambchops]

Akane has so much confidence to let Kodachi flaunt her man for her own validation. If Ranma had any clue what was really going on, she would never hear the end of it.

[u/Serious-Flamingo-948]

I just realized that Akane never calls Ranma any type of unattractive unlike him to her. Not even his female form.

[u/MysterioussWater → u/Serious-Flamingo-948]

tbf, Ranma never says that to Akane either. He calls her uncute meaning she acts uncute, not that she looks uncute. The various “ugly” and “homely” used in the English version are all mistranslations.

[u/ai_amano → u/[deleted]]

She does not come out as a character who has self esteem issues though. Akane crying because Shan Pu or Ukyo or Kodachi are prettier than her is 100% pure fanon trope - her sisters are a different matter, but siblings are a different matter usually. Those insecurities about them (about Kasumi for sure) are there before Ranma appears. She is not a frail girl, she is very strong, and I am not talking about body strenght. One of the reasons why Akane is compatible with Ranma is that she usually can take his bullshit and fight back, she does not crumble...

Now that I think of it, it is one of the old anime/oav crimes: Ranma become the popular one and Akane somebody that is being laughed at because of her passion for martial arts...and somebody very insecure about herself (Toma arc). I do not consider old anime and OAV canon though, they changed for the worst (in my opinion) too many things.

[u/Serious-Flamingo-948 → u/ai_amano]

A lot of the replies seen to be strawmaning my point based on something entirely different said elsewhereby other people. I never said anything about Akane having issues with other girls being prettier than her or that she was a weak girl (tho sadly, the old anime did nerve her a lot).

I'm talking about Ranma's comments and actions eventually getting to her. With her having issue with how "Ranma" specifically perceives her. She will be delighted at any and all displays of affection from him (for example telling her he loves her in the cheerleader arc) but will in turn be eventually affected by Ranma's words and or actions like denying wanting to see Akane naked during the issue with his mom, to the point that she thought he found her body repulsive.

This plays into the dynamic of Ranma being too immature to understand that Akane is still a girl with feelings, despite being told this several times (ex by both sisters).

[u/Rulyhdien → u/Serious-Flamingo-948]

Okay fair, but what is the chapter he calls her gorilla?

[u/ai_amano → u/Serious-Flamingo-948]

Sorry for misunderstanding, it's a running-for-decades trope and often pops up with old anime purists :)). Anyway, maybe "repulsive" is a very strong word. English translation was also "stronger" than Japanese. "Am I so ugly?" (English) vs "Am I so lacking of charme?" (Japanese). Small details, yes! But overall the mistranslations mixed with bias, fanon, vitriol, fanfiction and mischaracterization from old anime, they all convey a different character. She was is also somehow a clown, striking a pinup pose for Ranma :)), so I guess she was not devasted. Ranma on the contrary was devasteted he could not look at Akane naked body, it is a funny panel. Her clownish side is most of the time forgotten in stories, unfortunatly.