Re only the mallet question....

There has been so much argument on the subject that several days ago I
began looking through every single volume of Ranma 1/2 to see who uses
them, and when.

So far, being busy, I've only gone through volume ten.  Akane hasn't
used one once, but she uses them more later...

The current users are:

Kodachi
Happosai (twice so far)
Soun
Ranma
An unnamed young woman who shows up at the Dojo and mallets Ranma

More to come - in full

June