Here is just a few FAQ's about Ranma½.

Jusenkyo -

Who has what curses, and what other curses exist?

Who	From (yrs ago)	Spring-of-Drowned-
Ranma, Herb and a monkey	1500	Girl
Genma	2000	Panda
Ryöga	1200	Piglet
Shampoo	1800	Cat
Mousse	1300	Duck
Pantyhose	1300	Yeti-riding-a-Bull-holding-a-Crane-and-Eel
Lukkosai	N.A.	Boy
Rouge	4000	Ashura
A bird	N.A.	Twins
none	1200	Virtuous-Man
Pantyhose	2500	Octopus
Kiima	0	Akane

How were the pools cursed?
Presumably when something 'drowned' in an non-cursed pool. After that, everyone who falls into that pool (or gets splashed with water from that pool) gets that curse. It is not known if the thing had to drown and die, but it is highly likely - after all the legends are all tragic. In V37 Akane falls into a pool, and she doesn't drown, but the pool is cursed. This could be because some special method was used, but this hasn't been stated or indicated.

Are characters' cursed form the copy of the person/thing that drowned in the pool?
No. Ranma, Herb and the monkey definitely do not look exactly the same - onna-Herb's ears are still pointed, has slit eyes and the same white/blue hair as his male side.. Because the characters are toons, it is hard to tell the real facial differences between any two young people (bit easier with the non-teenagers) so whether there is any further resemblance (other than being a young girl) is hard to tell. When Ranma's mother turns up, it is pointed out that they look very similar, and this implies that onna-Ranma form is not a copy/clone, but based on his male body. In other words, if Ranma had a sister, she could look very much like onna-Ranma (if they were the same age). The pool Akane curses is a special case - see question on how the pools work.

Can Ranma be cured by the pools of Jusenkyö?
Yes. It has been stated by Miss Takahashi that the Spring-Of-Drowned-Man will cure Ranma. When Ranma used the 'Instant Spring-of-Drowned-Boy' powder he was cured (and so was Genma), so this is pretty certain.

Why does onna-Ranma has red hair in the anime, but black in the manga?
Makes it easier to distinguish male and female Ranma (in the manga, onna-Ranma has a hair-glint), and also, red-heads have a certain reputation for being more 'spirited'.

Do characters' cursed forms change/age?
Pantyhose was cursed right after he was born (and turned into a tiny baby-monster), and he now turns into a huge adult monster. Also, since V34.5 onna-Ranma's chest has gotten bigger, though whether this was caused by aging and general growing up or Ranma just getting better a larger build in is unknown. It could be that some cursed forms do not age (ie those ones that imply age in the name) while others do.

How do the curses work?
This is very tricky because what evidence is rather varied and quite limited. For what the cursed versions of the characters looks like, imagine a normal person have a set of characteristics, and the cursed pools set some characteristics when the curse is activated, and these will override the current ones.
For example Ranma, has (among others) the characteristic of being male, about normal height and weight, and the spring he fell into sets the two characteristics of age to be young and gender to be female - everything else stays the same. So if Ranma was tall, he would be a tall when female as well, etc. Another example is Genma's pool, which changes his species to panda, and nothing else. And the Spring-of-Drowned-Virtuous-Man would set someone's characteristics to be male, and personality to be 'virtuous'.
The characteristics that are set are those implied by the name of the spring. So because the spring Akane cursed is called Spring-of-Drowned-Akane, it has a specific quality of changing the cursed person's appearance to be like Akane's.

Why does cold water make the change?
From the point of view of the series it is much more useful for Ranma to change to female due to cold water - as this is much easier to come across, so more likely to occur naturally - ie due to rain, being splashed etc. Also, a common occurrence is for onna-Ranma to be on the girls' side of a hot bath, and to fall into the hot water and then all the girls beat up the 'pervert', and something similar would be much harder to do if it was the other way around.
A 'real' explanation could be something on the lines of that the springs are in fact cold, and so any new cold water would replicate the original in effect. So if they were hot, then the curse might be the other way around.

What temperature water is needed?
Normal 'room temperature' (about 20°C) will certainly cause the curse, and 'hot' water often seems to be pretty hot - the characters often say that its hot, and you can often see actual water-vapour coming from the water. Where the actual divide is is not known - perhaps around body temperature.

How much water is needed?
Very little - for example in V34.5, Happosai gets Ranma with a little water-pistol (and you can actually see speed lines as Ranma shrinks to female) - thats probably about 20-30ml. Spots of rain don't immediately effect anyone. However in V23.4 a small amount of water from Spring-of-drowned-Twins lands on a bump on Happosai's head - it makes a copy of the bump.

Does it matter what part of the body is splashed?
No.

What would happen if someone fell into another cursed spring?
If it is a spring of their normal form (ie Spring-of-Drowned-Boy for Ranma) then they'll be cured. Otherwise, it is not precisely known - the only evidence is Pantyhose who used the Spring-of-Drowned-Octopus to give himself octopus tentacles on his back. But how he did it is unknown (though he probably splashed his back). It seems multiple curses sort of merge together, though some specific parts of the originals remain. For example, Pantyhose has the wings of a crane, the tail of an eel, tentacles coming out of his back from an octopus, and his main body is rather like that of a big minotaur, though he has a mane rather like that of a bison.

How does the curse effect people mentally?
Those that turn into animals don't seem to be effected in mental ability or personality, though there might be some subtle changes. However, some characters do have a personality change - ie when Rouge changes to Ashura she gets a very aggressive personality, and presumably the Virtuous-Man spring would also have a mental effect. As a note, Ranma managed to trick Pantyhose into getting his tentacles stuck in a smoke stack (because octopi instinctively go for enclosed spaces), so this can be a little complex, though this example is probably the result of a plot necessity.

Are the children of cursed characters effected by their parent or parents' curse?
For most of the series the only evidence we have is that a long time ago the men of the Musk Dynasty threw animals into the Spring-of-drowned-Girl and then splashed them with the Chiisuiton to make them permanently female. It is not explicitly stated whether or not their offspring were immediately effected or that they changed (mutated) over time.
Because the people of Mount Phoenix have also changed because of the waters of Jusenkyö, we now know that the offspring of cursed humans and normal/cursed humans are also genetically effected. Again, it is not known if this happened immediately or not.
I think the most likely case is that while the children of cursed parents will be effected, it will only be in a subtle and minor way. I doubt that the children of humans cursed to transform into another type of human will have, will be effected by their parent's curse. In other words, Ranma's children would not be more likely to be female.

Joketsuzoku - Village of Amazons -

What are the known laws of the village?
In the case of a woman of the village being beaten by an outsider (someone not of the village) then if that person is female then she is given the Kiss of Death and then be chased until one of them is dead. If the other person is male, then they must marry.

If Mousse beat up Shampoo, would Shampoo have to marry Mousse?
Almost certainly not. There are no laws stating what happens when a woman is beaten by someone of the same village. If it was the same as regarding the outsiders, then obviously the law would say it applies to everyone because it wouldn't be sensible to have it as two separate laws. So, it is very likely that men of the village don't have to marry any female they beat. Also if the law did apply to anyone, the women wouldn't be able to fight with others at all, because someone would loose, so someone would have to die, or get married every time a female has a fight.

Would a woman from the village have to be beaten to get married?
Almost certainly not. The women are probably on average stronger than the men in the village, and so not every woman would be able to get a husband if they had to get beaten. Since these women would be the strongest, it is not very sensible to stop them from marrying and having strong children as they are a warrior race.
The village could work something like this - the women train, so that they can become as strong as possible, and then fight each other to see who's the strongest. The strongest unmarried woman would most likely want the strongest available man (they'd probably fight to prove this as well), so it effectively boils down to a pecking order, with the stronger women getting the stronger men and having (on average) stronger children. The women in this female dominated society might also marry for other reasons - ie love, arranged marriages, wealth, position etc.
It is possible that the women do have to beaten to get married, but thats rather unlikely in this matriarchal society, and it would probably also leave the strongest women unmarried. They could let themselves loose, but it would be very unlikely that they do that as it would be a terrible blow to their pride.

What would happen if a married woman got beaten by an male outsider?
Maybe marry that person as well - nothing says they can't have more than one husband. Or the two guys fight to the death, and the winner gets the woman. Or the woman commits suicide for loosing again, or something else.

What if a woman got beaten by a married male outsider?
Maybe just ignore this and keep the guy in the village. Maybe kill the other wife, or just marry the guy anyway, or something else.

Why would the Amazons have the laws Shampoo has to follow when she was beaten by Ranma?
Since the women of the village would most likely be a lot stronger than most of the other people in the world, then if they get beaten by an outsider, it probably means that that person is very strong. So, if the person is a woman, she has to die a) because she humbled the Amazon and b) because it'll stop them from having strong children with out outsiders - so their village gets stronger in relation to the world. And likewise, if the person is a male, then they must marry because it'll increase the strength of the village compared to the outsiders.
It also makes a very useful plot device.

What would Mousse have to do to get Shampoo to love him?
Cologne has said (V5.6) that the women of her village want to marry a strong man, and to Shampoo Ranma is the strongest young man in the area, and also very strong compared to everyone in the world. So, Ranma is the best available man to her, and so Mousse would have to be shown to be better than Ranma for Shampoo to consider marrying Mousse - though Shampoo does love Ranma, which'll cause some problems.
Also, he'd have to stop mistaking other objects/people for Shampoo - which pissed her off when they were children and so she rejected him, and still does because he hasn't learnt yet. If Ranma married Akane, then Mousse would have an easier time, though Shampoo would not necessarily give on Ranma immediately, but if he was the strongest bachelor in the village he would be best suited for marrying Shampoo.

Strange and Unusual Objects and Things -