Ranma's worry over Akane is endearing in its clumsiness, but that sequence also offers a good insight as to his character.
First, he asks her to hit him, a tit for tat in order to settle the (perceived) score between them.
When that fails, he follows her around and goes to check on her, trying to get a feel of her mood.
He later reflects and realizes that he's been insensitive (getting mad at Akane for being in the way during his fight with Ryoga, when in reality, he worried over her), but that she's also hurting much more than she shows. He then goes to apologize and even tries to redeem himself by offering her a piggyback ride. He's offering her a favor, something, hoping this might lift her mood, but unfortunately for Ranma, that doesn't address the core issue at hand (an issue much deeper than Ranma believes, but an issue that's not his to fix nor one he can offer much help with).
Finally, after their visit at Tofu's clinic, he seems to understand that part of Akane's hurt is related to her hair, but mostly to her hair in relation to her crush. He tries to cheer her up by reminding her Tofu found her cute, and when that fails, when he's all out of ideas, only then does he reveal how he feels about her new haircut, saying it fits her.
Of course, this sudden honesty makes Akane suspicious and in return, Ranma bristles and closes himself up, falling back on old habits of retracting his words + calling Akane un-cute.
Still, despite his awkwardness and embarrassment, Ranma pushes forward to reveal he likes her short hair. It's taken a lot to get him to open up and show his true feelings, but this vulnerability is much appreciated by Akane (even if she thinks it's all a lie, which is not surprising considering Ranma's track record with her so far).
This entire sequence goes to show that while Ranma does have a good read of others' feelings when given the time to digest things instead of reacting rashly, he doesn't quite know what to do with that information.
His first, if sometimes only, solution of 'hit me back and we'll be even' is the easiest way of patching things up, but not the most emotionally mature. His second option is to offer something up in order to placate the other, but 99% of the time, it doesn't fly by with Akane because she can tell he's trying to buy her forgiveness and isn't flattered with empty niceties.
It's all indicative of how Genma's raised him: 1) to immediately retaliate, to always have the upper hand, and 2) if you can't defeat them, then appeal to them. He's raised a genius when it comes to fighting, with a quick mind and even quicker reflexes, but show Ranma a sad girl and suddenly he's out of his depth.
All that to say, it takes a lot to take Ranma out of his comfort zone and into showing vulnerability and genuineness, yet that's exactly what makes these moments feel much more impactful.
areudirty
jbbartram-illu
izzy806
dailybridgerton
baratheonpilled
stormborns
gummygunk
prguitarman
annaxmalina
