> >But they all chase after him nonetheless.  Why?  Cuz every lady wants 
> >a piece of the main character. The hero always gets the girls.
> 
> Well throughout the length of the series Ranma only ever *got* one girl, 
> and he married her first.

I'd suggest that "throughout the length of the series" Ranma didn't
marry _anyone_ (the events of volume 38 are only a near-miss).

For that matter, I'm not sure that there's any place where
Ranma and Akane actually intentionally kiss each other (the cat-fist 
story arc has Ranma kissing while in an unconscious state)

And Ranma's first kiss was from Mikado, which didn't help is
pursuit of "manliness" too much.

On the other hand, we have the Contrary Jewel story, which is based
on the manga as well as being an OAV, where Ranma is going after
the other girls and toying with their affections, just to boost
his ego. Sure, he's really kind of shy and insecure, but he really
deserved the beatings he got from Ukyou and at the end of that
story.

Then too, there's the matter that Ranma and Akane seem somehow
stuck at age 16 and never graduate. So perhaps a "coming
of age" story would be a contradiction in terms.

In some other anime/manga stories: e.g. Maison Ikkoku, Marmalade Boy,
Kimagure Orange Road, Himichan's Ribbon, Sailor Moon we see characters
advancing from one grade to the next, having birthdays and definitely
growing older. But this process is downplayed in Ranma 1/2. It seems
like Akane, for example, gets a bit taller and more leggy by the end
of the manga, but this change is pretty subtle and there are no
milestones to go my.

--
    Albert Lunde                      Albert-Lunde@nwu.edu