NABIKI TENDO

Nabiki Tendo is the middle daughter of Soun Tendo, a talented mercenary, and is said to be the most realistic character of the Tendo family and of the series. Her life was a simple one of trading wits with Tatewaki Kuno (usually a one-sided battle :) ) when she wasn't selling him pictures of Akane for money and keeping a finger on the pulse of Furinkan High for any monetary or blackmail opportunities that may come up.

When Ranma arrived, her calculated lifestyle was thrown out of kilter but she was also faced with the fascinating challenge of marketing an unique individual. Taking bets on Ranma's fights, selling pictures of his female form and information about his less than normal life to interested student buyers, and just generally taking advantage of Ranma's naivete may be worth the chaos to her.

Nabiki is quite knowledgeable about the ongoings and interworkings of the martial artists of Nerima and she is always willing to help any one of them out. For a fee, of course. She has the ability to gather and organize information efficiently and in a timely fashion. Whenever something new develops, Nabiki is one of the first to know about it and to exploit any marketable value out of it.

Despite all this, she isn't entirely coldhearted or unfeeling. She does show concern for her family and she does have limits she won't cross but she always remains true to her personality of approaching everything from a business perspective. Nabiki may not be a top martial artist but she is sharp, resourceful, and not to be underestimated, nevertheless.

Nabiki is said to be the most selfish character on the show. As expected, I will use my annoying ability to find the good in everybody. Hmm. I'd be a lawyer except I'd be compelled to defend both sides.

Nabiki is the Ice Queen, a person who will do almost anything and has in order to make a profit. This is all true but that doesn't mean she wouldn't give a kidney if one of her family needed it. She hides any compassion she may possibly have under a mask of indifference but if one watches the anime long enough it can be seen that she does care in some way.

In her own twisted way, (except when she's mad) she shows she cares for people like Ranma the only ways she knows how. By exploiting him! If this is amusing, that's good but a deeper meaning is also intended.

The girl is apparently very good at photography as well as sneaking around. She could probably become a journalist or something but she really shouldn't be taking pictures without permission. Granted, the pictures always seem to be 'tasteful' and not anything scandelous as Nabiki is too smart to set herself up for any blackmail or police charges probably, but really, there are so many other ways to make money that she could no doubt accomplish. She's just being lazy in my opinion

I doubt she was born like this since nobody could be. I'm convinced that deep down (maybe some place very deep) is a good person who with some help and effort could rise to the surface. I am in no manner suggesting that she'd transform into a Good Samaritan but maybe she'd at least take other people's feelings more into consideration.

Speaking of which, she is most comfortable in her world of calculations and manipulations and in her enthusiasm to prove her intelligence and get what she wants she tends to step over other people without really considering how they might react or feel about it. She does tend to think of herself but that doesn't make her evil, just self-absorbed.

She doesn't seem to mean to be mean as she often appears to be happy and well-adjusted. In her eyes, the ends justify the means for many things and someone should probably point out that they really don't. But to her, what she does is just business and since no one gets physically hurt it must be okay. It's this attitude that makes her so dangerous as she doesn't seem to realize what power her words and actions has over others. In her own way she's just as much trouble for Ranma as the regular super powered martial artists that attack him. They can only hurt him physically or at least try to, but she can do damage to his reputation and heighten the chaos in his life.

Actually, I have this theory that she helps his life out more often than harms it. I'm not talking about canon events from the anime or manga but about Nabiki's position as head of the Rumor Mill at Furinkan High. Everybody knows that Ranma is always getting into 'compromising' or simply weird situations at school but everyone seems to find the truth out at some point or another. It may be Nabiki selling out her version of the truth. From a business point of view, selling the truth of what happens to Ranma would be very successful since anybody can come up with bizarre theories of what's going on but not many can tell the student population what they want to know. Besides, the truth is usually stranger than any fiction and probably more profitable too! Ranma's life is like a manga after all.

But Nabiki's not all work and business. It's easy to tell that she has a very high sense of humor and tends to find amusement in all the things that occur around her and sometimes she participates in them herself. She has the potential to be a great practical joker but because she has kept herself so distant from everyone she has no friends to do such things to.

Nabiki is not as cold as many think, at least outside of her business deals. She's human and prone to a wide variety of personas. Until money gets into the picture, she's not a bad person to be around. With a dry sense of humor and a cynical attitude, she reminds me of one of my friends really. She actually mellows out some over the course of time when the wackiness finally infects her too. No one is safe from Ranma mania! (Insert evil laughter)

It must be lonely to know that the only reason anyone associates with you is either because they owe you or want money or they are requesting a favor. It's not surprising that Nabiki is so cynical being surrounded as she is by such people. Then again, this is the world she has created and some think she deserves it but she wouldn't be the first person who ever would have wanted to create a new one.

It's not often that one gets to see the inner Nabiki but it might not be wrong to say that since Ranma and Company arrived she has started to get out of her shell more often. It's very hard to stay isolated from human contact when there's nearly always someone barging into one's home or school, and maybe that's what she needed.