Soun Tendo

treat her less than charitably afterwards however, but in the latter case, the family had no choice but to handle the repairs themselves, rather than let a professional craftsman look at it.

being intensely paranoid in this regard, but despite being fully aware of Ryoga Hibiki's piglet curse after having watched the latter change in front of him in the bath and being completely unsurprised when seeing it again during Taro's introduction story, Soun doesn't mind that Akane keeps Ryoga as a pet and allows him to sleep in her bed at night without telling his daughter the truth. The trait that is most taxing for Ranma's and Akane's nerves is Soun's willingness to openly talk about their relationship. He has no trouble loudly expressing the very awkward couple's feelings for each other, and is completely oblivious as to whether this creates conflict between the two. If they lash out against each other in the face of his enthusiasm, he sometimes turns sad and confused.It is assumed that Soun has some stable job or another source of steady income. He has never explicitly seen training students, although this may simply occur off-screen. In the original anime continuity, however, one episode revolves around the fact that the dojo has no students at all, leading to monetary troubles. He likely earns money from the recurrent monster and troublemaker hunts alongside Akane and the Saotome family, and has rented out the dojo for events such as when he had Kasumi serve food for a local ladies' club meeting. He doesn't mind occasionally treating his family and guests to dinner, or a vacation by the sea, but does complain about money troubles at times.He has complained about the costs of hosting two freeloading house guests, but conversely has not pushed Genma or Ranma to somehow earn their keep, although Genma briefly worked for Dr. Tofu Ono . In the manga Soun is mortified when Nabiki often spent his meagre savings on expensive gifts for herself as well as a battle between Pantyhose Taro and Rouge repeatedly made holes in the house In the first case, he forgave his middle daughter for her misdeeds as he had never shown to hold a grudge beyond the initial shock

depending on the situation. In the manga, Soun and Genma are not explicitly implied as friends, rather than fellow previous training partners under the same master, as they don't seem to independently interact much socially. They had neither seen nor heard from each other in many years at the beginning of the story, and Soun was initially shown as unaware of what Genma's wife Nodoka looked like. In fact, Soun's relationship with Genma comes under notable strain as the latter severely mistreats his wife, which Soun naturally finds outrageous. Soun shows a similar disdain after learning the Genma's branch of their martial arts school was intended for burglary. They seem to be on more friendly terms in the anime and frequently play shogi together, despite Genma tends to cheat. Soun cheats as well though, so it could be that both of them do so as a way of training together.Soun still mourns, and is extremely loyal to, his deceased wife. He has a traditional Japanese altar devoted to her memory somewhere in the house, prays for her every year on the day of their wedding anniversary, and visits her grave in memorial of her death. However, he remains capable of joking about it to lighten up the mood, when offered compassion by Hinako Ninomiya. He wants nothing less than the best for their daughters, but his quite old-fashioned ways often cause them trouble, especially for his youngest daughter. He has become similarly intensely furious and overprotective when hearing the very notion of striking Kasum even to get rid of an oni possession leading her to poison and scratch his back bloody,but lets most of the parenting of his younger daughters to his eldest daughter He is proud of Akane's prowess in martial arts, but looks forward to the day she and Ranma will marry so the two can inherit the dojo instead of naming Akane his sole heir.Likewise, Soun tends to become furious whenever he suspects that Ranma is 'cheating' on Akane or otherwise is treating her badly

Soun is very emotional, and is prone to visibly displaying this, whether it be a tragic, happy, or angry occasion. He is regularly brought to tears which gush from his eyes when caught up in sentimentality or if he thinks the affection of his children is in doubt. When enraged, he displays a giant battle aura, frequently in the form of a giant demon headed version of himself, which most people, except Happosai and his daughters, find very intimidating. Unlike Genma, Soun has been portrayed as mostly honorable person, frequently showing compassion and offering hospitality or aid for people in trouble. He was willing to assume responsibility, as the master of the household, and is a respected member of his community, being regularly approached to take care of unusual problems like apprehending assaulting pigtail-cutters during the Dragon's Whisker arc, help get rid of an oni when Happosai first appeared, or later when the grandmaster terrorised a tourist resort as a thieving and molesting 'octopus jar'. He has acted as referee for formal martial arts matches and in many instances, he has worried about Ranma's welfare when overviewing them, and determinedly stepped in to interfere when the latter was about to be strangled to death in his confrontation with Ryu Kumon, and tried when Akane was about to be struck unconscious by the Dojo Destroyer, but in the latter case he was stopped by being bumped on the head by Ranma's suddenly entering bicycle.Soun's wish to maintain the martial school legacy and occasional cowardice in confronting Happosai both mirror Genma's, however, although Soun has also been willing to stand firm against and attack Happosai on several occasions, sometimes by himself, and forcefully strangled the latter in wrath when he had apparently crippled Ranma for life with a 'weakness moxibustion'. Soun can be quite (albeit rightfully) ruthless towards his old master, having attempted to kill or post him to the North Pole, but can also show pity and help

Soun is a middle aged man with shoulder length hair and a mustache, which he did not wear when he was younger. He is usually seen in a medium coloured gi (brown in the anime). In the remake version, he remains largely the same only his mustache became thicker. In his younger years during flashbacks alongside Genma Saotome while being trained by Happosai, he retains his middle aged appearance but his thick mustache was cleanly shaved.