>>6514844Ranma is one of the first instances where TG is used in a mainstream manga/anime without it being used exclusively as a throwaway joke and/or major drama (there were a few before it using it but the guy-turned-girl would instantly be hypergirlish and demure "because of what the body dictates").
Ranma was somewhat groundbreaking in that whenever he became a girl he would still have his own personality and try to fight with the same spirit that "she" approached fights and daily life while in the male body, minus the obvious barriers set by it being weaker and having different weakspots.
That's what made it significant at the time.
It was unusual for guy-turned-girl to behave "tomboyishly" or to only dress in a "female manner" for their personal advantadge or "only" because the official competition uniform dictated what was to be worn (see the fight in leotard or the ice-skating one).
Ranma (especially in the manga) only dresses girlishly when:
a.) she is required to by some pre-established rules
b.) wants to piss off her female suitors (especially Akane) to show she can be better at being a girl than they are
c.) she wants to take advantadge of how her female body (by dressing up nicely to get free meals/nights out/etc from random male strangers)
And yet despite this he claims would give all of that up in an instant to have a "normal male life".
The author has been in record to have said that the way she wrote Ranma he considers the times as a girl as "crossdressing". If he isn't going to have a say on if he is to be turned into a girl or not he'll make the most of it and own it up and use it to his advantadge rather than let it dictate his life in a manner that he dislikes.
