I suggest you look up the excellent Ranma 1/2 Faq at
http://www.soton,ac.uk/~jar/c/RanmaFAQ/.
>From what I recall, Hinako is most definitely in her mid-
twenties.  She keeps reverting to a child (about 6 years
old) because her body is extraordinary weak.  About 
20 years ago, Happosai found her in a hospital, and took
pity on her.  He taught her the special technique of
sucking other peoples' battle/anger auras into her own 
body.  When she does this, she has more than enough
energy to both "revitalize" herself so that she can grow
normally to her proper adult size, as well as give off chi-blasts.
  How else can you explain that she is a certified teacher
if she really is just a "kid".  Ms. Hinako is not some sort
of child prodigy (she's pretty scatterbrained) and Happosai 
himself said he taught her twenty years ago.  (Okay so he
has been known to lie, but in this instance it was in his
interest to tell the truth).
  The pressure points that Ranma had to use was Happy's
method of disabling Hinako's chi-sucking abilities.  If you
do it once successfully, she is disabled for one day.  Only
if you consistently do it everyday for a month will she lose
the ability forever.
   The reason you usually see her as a child is because
she has not sucked anybody's chi and/or that she cannot
retain the chi energy for long periods.  Usually she reverts
to child form in about an hour .  She is not
a real villain and only absorbs "delinquent" 's energy.

Hope that helps!

--Ilsa, OAA and COR


At 08:52 PM 20/04/96 -0300, you wrote:

Can someone clarify this for me... about Ranma's teacher (Hinako), is she 
a kid or an adult? Or does she just change forms when pressure is applied 
on the appropriate pressure points? I've seen a couple of fanfics 
mentioning her but I still can't get this straight.