Vahn wrote:Had an interesting little debate via pm with someone that is pro-akane. His impression is that Akane is a better fighter than most of the women in Ranma 1/2 maybe even Shampoo or at least able to hold her own against Shampoo. Example of this is Akane actually deflecting Kiima attack toward the end of the manga run where as shampoo has problem with it Kiima even after going all out . Another is the the Tendo Sister where she owns Kurumi.
Thoughts?
Those are very poor examples; not applicable at all for the argument being made, in fact.
The only time I remember Kima and Akane actually in a confrontation was when she was at Jusenkyo. I don't recall her deflecting anything there. All she did was hit a few crows/ravens. We can't even say that she dodged Kima's attack because the whole point was not to injure or kill her, but to make her fall into a spring so Kima could disguise herself as Akane, which was accomplished during the "attack."
As for Shampoo? She didn't even have a direct confrontation with Kima until near the very end; it wasn't until Ranma was fighting the newly-hatched Saffron that they fought, and she was doing well enough to take the offensive, but the fight ended prematurely. If you're referring to getting caught in an egg, that was a surprise attack from behind by one of Kima's lackeys; Akane never had to deal with it.
And Kurumi was out of her league. The only victory she can claim is
as a team with
Ranma, and that's only after being defeated.
Now, in general, I believe it's the opposite. I think Akane can handle Kodachi, but that's more based on luck, depending on what kind of underhanded tactics Kodachi employs. Ukyo is more resourceful and has performed physical feats that Akane hasn't been shown to match, so I would expect Ukyo to win.
Shampoo? It has been definitively proven that Akane is completely outmatched. We know Shampoo's stronger and faster, period, has a wider range of techniques at her disposal, and Akane has been unable to defend herself against Shampoo on at least two occasions (with Shampoo getting behind her while evading a punch and making her forget Ranma on one occasion, and sneaking up on her and using mind control in an attempt to get the water proof soap on another), whereas I can't think of an occasion where Akane has bested Shampoo under normal circumstances (as in, sans super soba or the like). And if that's not good enough to prove it, during the super soba story, Ranma and Akane have this exchange:
Ranma: "Why get all upset about it
now? You've always lost to Shampoo."
Akane: "That's why I'm upset!"