Happosai (Ranma 1/2)

Happosai (八宝斎) is a major antagonist in the anime and manga Ranma ½. He is the legendary perverted master of the two main characters' respective fathers Soun Tendo and Genma Saotome who returned to ruin their lives.

Why Young Girls Should Intentionally Stay Far Away From Him

 * 1) He's the very definition of a "dirty old man", as the only defining trait of Happosai is his perversion, which he has a serious and unhealthy addiction to. Not only that, he is extremely unlikable and his thing with outright stealing women’s undergarments (sometimes even swimsuits, bikinis, and skimpy gym shorts), fondling their breasts, and flipping skirts without their consent is very intolerable and creepy. There are so many things wrong with him you can’t even list them all.
 * 2) * In fact, it is revealed during his past that he has been a lecherous monster since his youth, which is the main reason why his old flame Cologne lost her respect and love for him and dumped him in the first place.
 * 3) *To make matters worse, it is evident in one episode of the anime where he couldn't even last long without having a grasp on women's underwear, where he passes out from severe withdrawal, becoming very weak and crawling along the ground, repeatedly muttering "pretty ladies" as the result of giving up on his old perverted ways for the sake of pursuing a romantic relationship with Miss Midori, a preschool teacher whom is a lot younger than him.
 * 4) **Similarly in another episode of the anime, when he was cursed with an odor that repelled women and therefore is no longer able to touch any women, he nearly ends up dying in Ranma's arms until the rain of a storm changes Ranma into his female form, allowing Happosai to regain some of his strength.
 * 5) Despite being the main antagonist of Ranma ½, he is more of a plot device than a character, adding to how he is overused in the anime from Season 3 to the point where it gets old and serves as a filler in general.
 * 6) There are many examples that point to him being often the source of misery for those he encounters:
 * 7) *He is responsible for teaching Hinako Ninomiya the unique ability to drain the auras of others when she was a little girl, though this technique was used against him by her after he nearly kills Ranma who gave him comeuppance for his sexual harassment, which of course, he deserved.
 * 8) * He ruined the chance for everyone who was about to finally get rid of their respective curses in one episode.
 * 9) *He is responsible for naming one character with the embarrassingly demeaning name "Pantyhose Taro" which, unsurprisingly, the latter hates him for and demanded him to change because. If that wasn’t enough, Happosai insisted on helping Pantyhose’s mother by bathing him when he was just a newborn baby, however, this "bath" was in the worst of the cursed Jusenkyo springs that turns him into a demon creature which is basically a hybrid of an ox, bird, eel and abominable snowman altogether, and adding salt to the wound, because he's the one that bathed Pantyhose as a baby, by Chinese culture only he is allowed to decide Pantyhose's name to his desires. Although not deliberately, he wasn’t even sorry for the misfortune he caused!
 * 10) *In one episode, he crippled Ranma for life by permanently taking away his strength, rendering the latter ludicrously weak as a baby, and then informing all his enemies to attack Ranma, which ended with Ranma easily defeated by his enemies in the most humiliating ways imaginable, and if it wasn't for Ryoga saving Ranma from being hit, Ranma probably would have been severely injured.
 * 11) **To make matters worse, when Ranma discovers that the cure for regaining his strength is in a drawing Happosai stole and attempts to obtain it, Happosai repeatedly hits Ranma very hard (knowing that Ranma is in a weakened state), then when Ranma transforming into a female Happosai gropes and hits her again, and then starts hurling hurtful insults at Ranma. Damm, even Akane, Ukyo, and Kasumi had to intervene to stop Happosai, and even after that Ranma was left extremely depressed by this incident.
 * 12) *He was also willing to kill the Niku Men if they did not give up information regarding the Dragon's Whisker.
 * 13) *In one episode, when he threatens to use his signature firebombs which he refers to as "Happo-Fire Burst" against his enemies for the very first time, this causes his students Soun and Genma to get scared of him and chicken out due to how terrifying the destruction effects of said firebombs are.
 * 14) Relatively speaking, he shows absolutely NO remorse for what he does.
 * 15) Even the characters in the series can’t stand him, though with the exception of his two friends Rakkyosai and Chingensai. Until then, he is immensely hated by nearly everyone for obvious reasons.
 * 16) Whenever he's not stealing women's underwear, he has been known to have stolen or plundered many treasures, artifacts, and valuables from other people without their consent, including a magic mirror he has stolen from Cologne.
 * 17) He feels like a rip-off of Master Roshi from Dragon Ball, as both of them are elderly legendary perverted martial arts masters. Except that while Master Roshi is a likable hero despite their perverted nature, Happosai on the other hand is a loathsome villain with no redeeming traits.
 * 18) *It doesn't help the fact that another (likable) elderly legendary perverted martial arts master from similar action/comedy/martial arts manga/anime series, Jiraiya from Naruto, who debuted a few years later, bears several similarities to Master Roshi from Dragon Ball, the character which Happosai is a rip-off of.
 * 19) He is a blatant pedophile as he is frequently harassing Akane, Ranma (in his female form), and many other young girls when he gets the chance. At his worst, he once had Akane knocked unconscious and kidnapped her so he can sleep with her, which is creepy and downright disturbing. On top of it, Akane is 16 years old, and most of the girls he normally harasses are of age 16-19 range, which is again creepy and disturbing.
 * 20) *In one episode he entered to participate in a play of Romeo and Juliet to play Romeo with the sole purpose of kissing Akane (who played Juliet).
 * 21) *He sometimes even gets young girls to model lingerie or swimsuits to satisfy his own sick and perverted fantasies, as there are many occasions throughout the anime where he'd either get female Ranma to put on lingerie that he has stolen or at least get him to stay in his female form and in one episode he even gets male Ranma to turn into a girl so that he could put on a swimsuit which he has stolen, all even through the use of force or trickery, all much to Ranma's anger and irritation.
 * 22) He is selfish and lies to advance in his game such as how he told tall tales about his life which are almost never true, such as when he claims to be a tall, handsome man in his youth when in fact he was still as short and ugly throughout his entire life. To add insult to injury, he is devoid of sympathy and is oblivious to the feelings of the people he hurts, and has zero remorse for his actions.
 * 23) He has an INCREDIBLY OBNOXIOUS voice in both Japanese and English, which wasted the talent of both Ichiro Nagai (who sadly passed away on 27 January 2014 due to myocardial infarction) and Paul Dobson.
 * 24) *On that topic, his repeated catchphrase "What a haul!" every time he steals women's underwear is incredibly annoying.
 * 25) He is a horrible and cruel master to Soun and Genma. During their training, he used them like tools to participate in his rank. He also used Kuno as a decoy so he could steal undies and bras for his own personal enjoyment.
 * 26) *He even has gone to relentless extremes to torment Ranma, Genma, and Soun by sticking them with large, unpaid food bills, framing them as neighborhood panty-thieves, calling the zoo to pick up Genma (in panda form), or leaving false panda paw prints on the walls just to frame Genma (in panda form).
 * 27) He is very immature and plays victim whenever he gets called out.
 * 28) He is extremely petty, sadistic, and vengeful towards anyone who sufficiently displeases him. Like Akane, he is also unable to handle criticism, as each time other characters like Ranma call him out for his horrible deeds, he angrily retaliates against them, often in incredibly violent methods, usually with his signature firebombs which he refers to as "Happo-Fire Burst" (or in the case in only one episode, of the anime, mold bombs which he refers to as "Happo-Mold Burst").
 * 29) He has committed a long list of crimes throughout the entire series, such as sexual harassment, theft, destruction of property or physical abuse. In fact, within his universe he is considered a wanted criminal.
 * 30) His perverted nature gives the Anything Goes Martial Arts school as well as its students (including Soun and Genma, who are the future inheritors of the martial arts school) a bad name.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Despite the above-mentioned, he does have his funny moments.
 * 2) At least he gets what he deserves in most episodes, being punished or reprimanded for his bad actions.
 * 3) *In fact, his comeuppances for his actions are satisfying.
 * 4) *It's fun to see how Ranma, Soun and Genma try to kill him or get rid of him on several occasions, although they always fail.
 * 5) His touching backstory with Cologne, although he stole her mirror and other things from several other women, caused Cologne to hate him.
 * 6) He is an excellent martial artist.
 * 7) He is at least self-aware. In one episode where he was trying to get his young self to avert his lecherous ways.
 * 8) As the lecherous villain he is, he's clearly supposed to be hated as such.