SHAMPOO

Shampoo is from the village of the Chinese Amazons. (Yes, I'm serious!) She was the best warrior in the village being the great-granddaughter of the powerful Cologne. Shampoo's life was a simple one of getting through the day's chores and fending off the advances of a love-sick suitor named Mousse, who had tried to get her to marry him since they were three! Things were pretty routine until the day a certain redhead showed up.

During the annual martial arts contest to see who the best fighter in the village was, a girl and her panda wandered in and started eating the prize banquet that the winner was supposed to get! Shampoo, being the champion, was understandably upset.

The girl (Ranma) and Shampoo get into a fight and to the Amazon girl's surprise she was beaten. To that end, she gave Ranma-chan the Kiss of Death. According to her village's laws, if an outsider female defeats an Amazon, said Amazon had to pursue the outsider to the ends of the earth to eliminate her and her threat to the tribe.

Because of this, Shampoo was forced to leave the village and chase Ranma and his (her?) father all throughout China. Finally, she caught up to them in Japan and was accidentally beaten by Ranma's male form in the midst of searching for his female side.

Apparently, if a male defeats an Amazon, she has to marry him! Ranma is forced to reveal that he and the redhead are the same person. Shampoo goes back to China in confusion and is punished by her tribe and Cologne with a Jusenkyo curse (she turns into a cat) for failing to uphold her honor.

To quickly get back to Japan she mailed herself back in her cursed form, only to find that Ranma is deadly afraid of them and that his phobia is an incurable one. That is another obstacle between Shampoo and her goal of gaining Ranma as a husband.

She is now currently working at the Nekohanten with Cologne and Mousse. In her spare time she either tries to convince Ranma to take her on a date and fall in love with her or else she conceives plans on how she can get his heart. (That isn't literal by any Amazon law. *I hope!*)

Shampoo believes herself to be superior and acts accordingly in a haughty manner. This may due to her Amazon upbringing, her status as best warrior in her village, and the fact that she can walk through walls without leaving a scratch on her person. (I've always wondered if she knew some 'cushioned' version of the Bakusai Tenstuku.) This had done plenty to create both admiration and dislike of this character since she can either be seen as strong-willed or stuck-up.

From what I have seen, Shampoo is a very good fighter and does have sufficient reason to be proud of herself. She has been trained by Cologne after all and while she may not be as good as Ranma who defeats her easily because she's not as fast that doesn't mean she couldn't give him a good fight if she really wanted to. There is more to fighting than just speed or strength or whatever. The first fight between Ranma and Shampoo was a little short but it was also inconclusive in many ways.

The reason Shampoo lost to Ranma may have been due to fatigue from fighting the whole tribe of warriors all day, overconfidence, too much emphasis on offense and not defense, whatever. It is the start of her descent into the underworld as she constantly tries to bring herself up in her eyes and the eyes of the village and sometimes, she goes too far. The Amazon Princess is proud, too proud sometimes, and she often overlooks her good judgement and common sense for an immediate goal and victory.

Many say she is dumb but why? The way she talks? I'd like to see you try to speak an unknown foreign language without sounding like an idiot. (Knowing that somebody out there can actually do this, my apologies :) ) Mousse and Cologne may have picked up Japanese relatively quickly, but that doesn't prove anything. Cologne's old as dirt (that's not a bad thing, mind you! *Looks around fearfully*) and Mousse could have just had a lot of spare time back in the village. Actually, it's also likely that Shampoo refuses to learn the language properly because that would be like admitting that she had failed to the extent that she actually had to stay in 'barbarous' Japan.

Actually, it's probably the way she throws herself at Ranma that creates this opinion. I agree a little bit, but I always get the feeling that this is how she would treat any man she was engaged to. Remember, by her law, Ranma is engaged at her (or married depending on your interpretation) and I suppose one could say she technically has the right to shower Ranma with affection and that she can beat him up out of jealousy whenever a suspicious situation comes up. (With Ranma, this occurs more often than one would think.)

She does live in a remote village of Chinese Amazons so she would be used to far different customs than people well, anywhere else. She is more clever and intelligent than people give her credit for, but she is also pretty ruthless in finishing her goals. She seems willing to do almost anything to overcome an obstacle in her life. While this is mostly a useful trait, too much of it is out of place in the modern world where there have to be limits.

There are many people who believe that she pursues Ranma simply because of her laws, but there is indication that over time she grows to love him or at least be infatuated with him. She may barely know him or associate with him a lot, but that doesn't mean her feelings are any less valid. She has to be somewhat aware that he doesn't love her since she has to use so many potions or plans to try to convince him to be with her.

Shampoo has sort of a split personality. She can be a sweet, rather nice person or she can be the ruthless, coldhearted Amazon. This doesn't mean she's a bad person. She's just different. I'm all for respecting the traditions and customs of other lands, but there are reasonable limits and she has to realize that at some point. Living in Japan may have helped her mature a bit in that she is not the best martial artist around and may have helped her in learning humility and compassion.

The girl can be sneaky and be outright vicious in many cases in her attempts to get what she wants. It may be because she's spoiled and is allowed to get away with too many things. It could be due to her culture and the way she was brought up to think and act. Wouldn't it be easy to shift blame for Shampoo's actions onto people like Cologne and say it's their fault? Well, the truth is Shampoo is responsible for everything she has ever done and she isn't afraid to accept that. She is sneaky but in an open way and once a plan has been put into motion she's not afraid to take credit for it.

I like Shampoo most of the time. She tends to be a very happy and optimistic girl and generally doesn't let little things like constant rejection faze her. A very enthusiastic person as well as young and impulsive, she sometimes goes a bit overboard in the things she does. Loyalty and honor are some of her better qualities and I think all this Amazon really needs is an attitude adjustment and refresher course on concepts like morality and ethics. Or simply just somebody to keep her in line whenever she gets a crazy idea. Some people say Shampoo is cruel and point to her treatment towards Mousse as an example. Besides the fact that every female martial artist in Nerima regularly beats up a male(s), I'd have to say I don't blame her. Anyone would be fed up if they were chased for so many years by someone they didn't like being glomped by on a regular basis.

You'd think Shampoo would have learned something from this. :) She could be nicer though and find a better way to let him down if she really didn't like him instead of throwing him through a wall and expecting him to get the picture. It doesn't work for Tsubasa, Kuno, Happosai, or any other hormone-crazed male in the Ranma 1/2 universe so why would it work for Mousse?

She doesn't seem to hate Mousse as a person as much as the fact that he really, really gets on her nerves sometimes. She hates being annoyed and doesn't hesitate her displeasure at that, though she doesn't seem to mind being an nuisance herself. She gets mad at Mousse because he mistakes objects for her and he's clumsy without his glasses so he causes Shampoo to have more work to do. As someone who is always crashing into people with her bicycle I don't think she should be so picky.

I really think Shampoo and Mousse are friends to some degree if only to the degree that they can stand living in the same building. If anyone has forgotten, she did give him a job and she cared enough to worry for him after his first real fight with Ranma and with the Birdman incident. Even if it was only concern for another warrior, it is enough. It must be remembered that while Shampoo may not love Mousse, that doesn't mean she hates him either.

If the two were shown more often, many parallels between them and the Ranma-Akane relationship could be seen though there are many differences. This doesn't necessarily prove anything, but if Mousse cleaned up his act and could prove himself to Shampoo, I don't think she would really mind too much.

Her upbringing and her pride won't let her settle for second-best. When she sets her mind on something, she will do anything to get it. If her mind somehow ever got set on Mousse, he'd better watch out!

In any event, Shampoo is a person full of conflicts between her heritage and the new life she has gained. One could say she has become softer in her personality, but she is still very tough in terms of skill. Come on, she has had far more opportunities to fight and expand her talents than fighting in her village where she could easily beat any of the other Amazons up except of course for the elders or people like her sisters who train to get up to her level.

In my opinion, she has outgrown the village life and while it may always be home she can't be bound down to one place and she can't spend the rest of her life chasing after someone who doesn't want her. Shampoo deserves better than that, but only she can decide what she wants her life to be like.