It's one of those "thangs". Ranma wouldn't hit Akane, cause she was a
girl, (although the only reason he didn't hit her when she had 'the suit'
was because the threatened to never speak to him again if he did). Ranma
doesn't take advantage of obviously underpowered fighters (I present the
case of Happosai not being shipped to the north pole when suffering from
withdrawal). But yeah. I remember him hitting a lot of girls. He just
doesn't hit some girls because they aren't actively violent towards him,
or just no match. How many times has Shampoo gone plumb crazy on Ranma's
ass? Shampoo was very strong at the beginning of the series, and she came
after Ranma with sharp weapons. Ranma no dummy, is he?
Anywho... it's like Ranma the Invincible Fighter, even though he was never
able to finish off (and I don't mean kill) Happosai, Cologne, Pantyhose
(not without a TON of help), or, amazingly, not even his own father, when
they formally dueled. It's one of those things that get caught, snowball,
catapult, roll into some wet mud, THEN start on a slippery slope. Not
necessarily true, but used by everyone nonetheless.
We had a nice essay on Akane the mad malleter a while back, although that
had a little bit more basis on truth, since the anime plays it up like mad
(mallets are common for comic relief in anime. Come on. How many series
have you watched them in? Not really something to be taken seriously). I
don't really see that with Ranma and fighting girls.
DangBat