Ranma 1/2 is a comedy anime and manga by Rumiko Takahashi about a boy named Ranma Saotome who was trained from early childhood to age 16 in the martial arts, and who becomes a girl when splashed with cold water (and is turned back into a boy with hot water) due to a magic curse.

The manga was serialized in Japan in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday where it ran from 1987–1996. Takahashi has stated in interviews that she wanted to produce a story that would be popular with children. Ranma's main audience were boys from elementary to junior high school age. In western fandom, the anime is sometimes criticized for creating some internal inconsistencies compared to the manga, which was less popular in the United States. Another major complaint is the animated series padding out the original story excessively and lacks a strong ending, though the series in North America tends to be much more analyzed (overly so, according to some) than in the East.

Ranma was extremely popular among American otaku in the 1990s, and popularized many of anime's most common visual gags. The infamous 'cursed water' plot device has even come up in anime-themed custom role playing games as a quick transgender device. In fact, the anatomical logistics of the cursed condition were purposely glossed over by Ranma's creator to avoid making it too complicated or a detraction from its comedic effect.

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