David Alan Abramczyk said:
We all know about the infamous "Seppeku Pledge" that Ranma and Genma had to sign, but I'm being frustrated to great lengths by the fact that I can't find any details anywhere about what Nodoka actually means by being "A Man amongst Men".
Does anyone have anything that actually explains the details to it?
Nope. It doesn't exist. Not from a canon source anyway. At least, nothing like a direct explanation of the criteria.
It's mostly rooted in cultural ideas of manliness. Part of the whole gag is it's never really clear exactly what standards Nodoka has about what would make her son manly, but they're mostly expected to be sort of understood as her character is considered traditional. She seemed to think Ryuu Kumon suited her ideas of manliness and he was pretty callous and ruthless. She also doesn't like perverts, but is willing to accept it to a limited degree as proof of manliness.
She is serious about the pledge by the way. She goes through the motions of seppuku in her sleep and once captured and dressed her son in the ritual robes after she saw him wearing a Sailor Fuku that Happosai had forced him into. They initially tried having him steal some of Akane's underwear, but as I recall she thought he only wanted it to wear after she found him in the Fuku.
After that incident Akane agreed to letting Ranma peek on her in the bath and it was set up so Nodoka would look on. It was almost botched when he fell into the laundry and she thought he was just after her clothes. After some shenanigans he ended up in the bathroom and it was revealed Akane was in a bathing suit, Ranma was visibly disappointed in this, and Nodoka accepted it as proof that he was manly enough for the moment and backed off of forcing him to kill himself.
It's also clear it's not a one and done situation for Genma and Ranma. The threat of Nodoka forcing them to kill themselves is constantly looming over the two Saotome men, even after she relaxes her standards a little and accepts Ranma.
It's also worth noting that she pretty much ignores Genma and obviously doesn't like him. She isn't concerned for his safety and doesn't react at all when told he is dead. She's often shown to not even notice his presence when he's standing right next to her. Her only focus of interest in regard to him is Ranma and the state of his manliness. Ranma actually does attempt to talk to her as a man, but Genma deliberately prevents it out of fear of the pledge. He knows she's serious about it and that she'd consider the curse a condition of failure. Also, Happosai to some degree, but he's not as deliberate about it.
At any rate, there aren't any specifics, but you can infer a bit based on her interactions with Ryuu and the story that leads to the staged peeping incident. Basically he should be strong, not very emotional, and blunt, but with an obvious interest in girls. She eventually decides to accept him as long as he stays interested in girls and fights like a man, or something along those lines. As I recall there's a line like that at the end of the storyline where Genma tries to steal the 'Saotome Family Treasure' which is a medal won in a martial arts tournament that's only worth about 2,000 yen so he can pawn it off. After that, they live in the Saotome home until the fiancee squad destroys it, after which they move back in with the Tendo family.
