CURSED SPRINGS OF JUSENKYO

These springs are located in a remote location in the mountains of China. These springs are the subject of great debate among Ranma ½ fans. These magical waters transform any creature that falls into it into the creature that originally drowned there. It is a very dangerous place to be and normally, the warnings are enough to keep people away.

There may be over a hundred different springs in this area and they are all cared for by the Jusenkyo Guide, whose main job is watch over the springs and try to prevent people from falling in and getting cursed. When a person does get cursed, it is also his job to inform the unfortunate victim of the curses and how to change back with hot water.

The springs are also indirectly watched by a group of meddlesome people who call themselves the Jusenkyo Preservation Society. They are basically useless for actually preventing anyone from falling into one of these springs, however. They seem to enjoy finding cursed people who have broken their 'rules' and generally annoying them until they get tired of them and move on.

The springs themselves either give you the shape of whatever drowned there or it gives you what would be closest to your original shape. People are always arguing about that and it can be considered this way: Ranma in girl form is similar to his male form and is actually rather similar to his mother. This could be waved off as a coincidence except that in cases like Herb, their cursed form looks nothing like the redhead but the female versions of themselves. How the rules of magic in this place operate are unknown so any theories are simply that.

Some springs are personality specific and that's horrifying because it's possible to be locked in that form. It's bad enough to have your body be transformed into some other shape but it's even worse have your mind altered in such a way that the natural personality can't be in control. It's just lucky that most of the Jusenkyo victims discovered so far in the series haven't fallen into any.

Getting cured isn't as easy as it sounds or at least one Jusenkyo cursed person would have gotten back to normal. There's a theory in some fanfics that the springs in some way actively prevent cursed people from getting cured but then why does Ranma keep trying to get back to China or have it suggested to him that he visit the springs to get back to normal? That is also really confusing.

That raises the question of whether the springs are sentient in some way or if there is some larger purpose behind its existence. There are some really dangerous springs located at Jusenkyo that could be responsible for creating monsters that could kill dozens if not hundreds of people. Surely, there is some sort of magical security system to prevent such an occurrence. This has also been discussed in many fanfics, but there isn't enough concrete evidence to base this on.

Nothing is known about how it was created, but it had to be fashioned by somebody since the hot-cold water trigger thing seems to be too purposeful to just be random. The story behind these waters alone would make for an interesting show. But no doubt that its mystery is what lends such an intriguing aura of mystic around the place.

The Cursed Springs are not well known except by the Amazon tribe of the Joketsuzoku and the Musk Dynasty who live near it and train sometimes at it or use it for their own purposes. Despite all these people's presence and protections, these waters have cursed Ranma, Genma, Shampoo, Mousse, and Ryouga, among others.

Whatever one's opinion about the Cursed Springs of Jusenkyo or the nature of it, it can not be argued that they are the root of the Ranma ½ series and that the show would be quite different without their existence.