Genma Saotome is Ranma's father and head of the Saotome Dojo, which teaches Anything Goes Martial Arts—a style that emphasizes adaptability over rigid technique. He's best known for being the architect of Ranma's decade-long training journey across China, which was supposed to make them unstoppable fighters. It didn't go as planned.
The problem was Jusenkyo, a cursed training ground Genma insisted on visiting despite not understanding Chinese. When Ranma knocked him into the Spring of Drowned Panda during a sparring session, Genma got cursed. Now whenever cold water hits him, he transforms into a giant panda. Hot water reverses it. The curse stuck, and honestly, he never really adapted well to the situation.
Despite this disaster, Genma dragged Ranma back to Japan to honor an old agreement with his friend Soun Tendo. The deal was straightforward: Ranma marries one of Soun's daughters and keeps the Anything Goes style alive in the family. After some drama with Soun's older daughters, they settled on Akane, the youngest, as Ranma's intended fiancée.
Genma now lives at the Tendo Dojo, spending most days playing Go or Shogi with Soun while waiting for Ranma and Akane to actually get married. He briefly worked at Dr. Tofu's clinic but didn't stick with it. One quirk of his curse: unlike other cursed characters, his clothes automatically return when he transforms back to human form, even though they shouldn't fit given the panda's size.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
