Personalities:
1.  Ranma is hot headed, arrogant, impatient, and overestimates himself.
2.  Ryu has always been portrayed as the opposite of the above.

Ranma is also subborn. He'll sulk away to train, and then keep coming back
for more until he wins.

Skills:
Ranma:
1.  Chestnut fist technique.  (I can't spell Japanese properly yet, no
complaints. :-P)
 Ryu has assumingly faced off against Honda and Chun-Li in the past, so
he's seen this before and would know how to deal with it.

2.  Mouko Takabisha vs. Ha dou ken
 Ranma's attack is stronger but Ryu's will partially cancel it out.
Ranma also telegraphs his attack, and Ryu is smart enough to notice.

The Mouko Takabisha has no more of a telegraphing than the Ha dou ken; they
both have to shout as the bursts are released.

3.  Hiryuu Shoten Ha vs Sho ryu ken
 Ranma's is obviously more flashy, but Ryu's is defintely stronger.  In a
manga published in the U.S. (Tokyama Comics I think?  Yes, I own it.) Ryu
commented that the odds on someone getting up from a *single* sho ryu ken
are next to nil.  Getting grazed by one is bad enough.  All Ranma's Hiryuu
Shoten Ha does (that I've seen) is toss someone high into the air.

The sho ryu ken can be dodged, which is more Ranma's style anyway. The best
way to avoid damage from an attack is to just get out of the way.

Also, there's nothing only about the Hiryuu Shouten Ha. Being tossed high
into the air and spinning rapidly is not something you can shrug off. The
spinning rapidly part would cause you to black out as well mess-up your
inner ear while doing it (the blood is forced into the brain, causing the
swolen vessels to compress the tissues and make them cease functioning, as
well as threatening a hemorage, which is not a Good Thing), and being
dropped from a high place unconscious is not healthy either.

The circumstances requiring a Hiryuu Shouten Ha would also make avoiding
one impossible once it's thrown. Your opponent has to be hot from anger,
which means that he would be very seriously pissed off and not thinking
straight. Ryu would never see it coming.

 Ryu is also in his 20s, 5 to 10 years older than Ranma.  He is
definitely more experienced.  Any comments to this?

Ranma defeated Happousai and Cologne, who are pushing 100.

                           ---------------------
##   ## ##   ## #######  ##   ##  AKA Tom Jefferys, Time Lord for Hire
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Tribbleniichuan -- 'Nuff said.