In a great number of Ranma fics that I've read, Akane is a very good
student at Furinkan while Ranma is utterly horrible.  Is there

anything in

the manga that would support this, or is this just a fanfic cliche?

In one of the later mangas, there are hints that Akane is at least the
equivalent of a "B" student (an 86 on a test). Ranma's test score is

never

revealed and as far as I know there is no actual evidence as to his

grades.

This story was so funny, with the principal Kunou desperate to show the
entire school what lousy scores Ranma had.  And eventually entire Japan
knew of it since it was shown on national TV.

I personally believe that Ranma is intelligent - especially when it
comes to martial arts.  Maybe even in school, he just doesn't focus
himself enough.  (I mean maybe he doesn't a study all that hard.)  It's
often said that Ranma is intelligent, but not in a bookish sort of way,
'cause that's just not Ranma.  It's understandable, perhaps, with him
wandering all over Japan for the past ten years and not settling down
and attending school on a regular basis before he came to live with
Akane.

As to personal relations skills, he's close to zero in this area.  He
doesn't understand Akane at all, always teasing her without seeming to
know how much it hurts her when her skills are belittled.  He's so
stupid in the reversal jewel episode, to allow Cologne to manipulate him
like that.

As to evidences of his martial arts skills, I was pretty impressed with
the way he learned the Umi-sen-ken after Genma showed him once, and how
he knew how the Hiryu shoten ha worked after Cologne showed it to him
once.  He also grasped the concept of how the shishihokodan worked in a
short time.  Also, the way he is able to modify his attacks to be able
to defeat his opponents, like what he did with the Hiryu shoten ha while
fighting HErb and Saffron, is another testament to his skill as a
martial artist.  He's very good at developing attacks and counters in a
relatively short time.

One evidence of his "stupidity" is the way he kept losing to the Gambler
king on a kid's card game....

So I think it's a relatively safe conclusion to say that Ranma's dumb as
a box of bricks at anything besides martial arts.  But his "stupidity"
is kinda endearing, and funny.  And his bumbling ineptness with women
seems almost sweet and innocent at times.

Stiffanie Flores