Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ranma Game Sprites

I really do not see the desire for sprites, unless of course you are planning on making a video game or sprite webcomic. There are several Ranma ½ games and people have ripped the sprites from them (and others have created their own). As time passes and websites succumb to link rot these become more difficult to find. Here are some sites I have found that contain Ranma ½ sprites.
1. Panel Monkey
2. Ronin Fur
3. Nes-Snes-sprites.com
4. The Mystical Forest Zone
5. Ranma fans blogspot
6. Homepage of JulianB / Jim.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Kuno and Shakespeare


A difference in the Anime translation for a change. In the English Dub version they have Kuno quote Shakespeare in the original Japanese Kuno did not know what the Romeo and Juliet play was about. The first time we see Kuno Tatewaki, he is quoting from a Japanese classic, the Heike Monogatari. The Tale of the Heike (Heike monogatari) is an epic account of the struggle between the Taira and Minamoto clans for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Gempei War (1180-1185).

Here is the quote:
The sound of the bell of Gionshoja echoes the impermanence of all things. The hue of the flowers of the teak tree declares that they who flourish must be brought low. Yea, the proud ones are but for a moment, like an evening dream in springtime.
Kuno doesn't realize that the words apply far too well to his own situation.

Sunday, October 21, 2007

Tendo House


This site http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/1035/ranmap.html has a look at the rooms of the Tendo House .

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Ranma PCE Game

This game, Ranma ½ - Datou, Ganso Musabetsu Kakutou-ryuu!, can be downloaded from here: http://snesorama.us/board/showthread.php?t=20178

Monday, October 15, 2007

Which version of Ranma ½ is most familiar to you?

Recent poll asking which version of Ranma was most familiar to you.

Total votes after two weeks is 25.

Anime
7 (28%)
Manga -Viz translation
7 (28%)
Manga -other translation or original
11 (44%)
Fanfiction version
0 (0%)

I'm somewhat surprised with the results. I was expecting more anime votes and maybe one or two people having been more familiar with fanon version of Ranma. I'm more familiar with the manga fan translations and the original.

Even though the poll is gone feel free to add comments about which one is most familiar to you, since I'm interested in knowing what the people who read my posts base their views of Ranma on.

Sunday, October 14, 2007

10 signs your obsessed with Ranma ½

While I figure I might as well create one of these lists, seeing as to how popular lists are and the large number of these lists that had been compiled in the past.

1. You can point out translation errors in the manga/anime.
2. You scourer the internet for Ranma related things.
3. You remember small insignificant details like Kuno's dog name being Arumajiro (Armadillo).
4. You dream about the characters of Ranma ½.
5. You create a website on Ranma ½.
6. You make a detailed analysis on the Manga (like # of times Ranma use hand gestures or times Akane hit Ranma).
7. You spend hours arguing with someone else on the details of Ranma or how he would fair in a fight versus someone else.
8. You write a fanfic that if printed would be around a thousand pages long.
9. You've read the manga in multiple languages to compare the differences.
10. You call people baka and hit them when they upset you.

For more see these sites:
You know you watch/read too much Ranma 1/2 when geocities site.
Dragon Len list (page background gone highlight entire page to see).
Anime Info Ranma 1/2 Library
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/ranma/

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Why wasn't Seven of Nine given her own quarters?


Why was Seven of Nine not given her own quarters or had the cargo bay made off limits to regular crew members?

If they wanted her to become an individual, she should have been afforded the right to privacy that all individuals of the crew have. By not giving her quarters they were further alienating her, treating her more like a machine than a person. Even if they couldn't give her quarters to sleep in because the regeneration chamber couldn't fit in a room they could have cordoned off a part of the cargo hold for her own living quarters (even if resources were scare they could have put up some type of divider like a wooden wall or thick curtains) or given her some quarters for her personal use even if she couldn't sleep there. Seven even complained in the season 5 episode the Drone about people walking into the cargo hold unannounced. Even though she complained to the doctor people continued to walk in and out of the cargo bay she lived in freely. While Seven of Nine most likely would have seen it as a waste of materials and not have seen a point in it at the beginning when first freed from the collective it should still have been given to her. She even expresses wanting quarters in later episodes in which she pretends to have them in the holodeck.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Fan Fiction Idea - Challenge 1

Here is a story Idea/Challenge for any writer to use.

Take a storyline from the manga telling it from a first person point of view while making it into a horror story.

Bonus points for altering it as little as possible.
Bonus points for keeping the characters in character.

This idea came to me from reading the manga Scary Book by Kazuo Umezu in which the very first story is about a girl who spends a lot of time looking into a mirror and her reflection comes to life and tries to take over her life. This has several parallels with the mirror clone storyline in the Ranma ½ manga. In the Ranma manga a beautiful young woman spent most of her life gazing into the mirror and died unloved, her spirit possessed the mirror and takes the form of the person to look in to the mirror. In both stories the mirror reflection causes a lot of trouble. There are other parallels between the two stories such as both reflections want to find love, both places with mirrors are called Mirror Mansion, both mirrors break, etc. Takahashi could have easily made it into a horror story. This is true for many of the story arcs like Ranma losing his strength from Ranma's view point, Akane's view point of being turned into a doll while her body is trying to kill Ranma, or Ranma nearly being dragged to the bottom of the sea by a cursed swim suit, etc.

Even though I mentioned the mirror clone story line the arc I'd most like to see this done to is the Koi Rod Arc told from Ranma's point of view. We are told barely any of his thoughts. You could have Ranma wondering what is wrong with himself with him falling in love with Ryoga and then tell the story where he is falling in love with him. Then have Ranma angsting about what happened under its effects afterwards things like trying to kill Akane, wanting to marry Ryoga, kneeling in a grave praying for Ryoga's happiness while waiting for him kill him, etc. Another way to go about telling it would be for Ranma to be fully aware but unable to stop himself from doing the stuff. With part of his mind silently screaming things like no don't do that or when he (she really) was kneeling and praying for Ryoga part of her was silently screaming to move, get up, fight back, do something anything, etc.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Shampoo on Inuyasha

Shampoo is seen jogging briefly in episode 128 of Inuyasha "Battle Against the Dried-Up Demons at the Cultural Festival".

Monday, October 8, 2007

Amusing Evangelion Picture



I was browsing the web and found this picture. I found it amusing so I decided to put it on my blog.

Inbox Dollars

I have been a member of inbox dollars for awhile now and just received a check for $28.37 after $3.00 processing fee. You can get cash for referring others, you get $5 for signing up, doing stupid offers, reading emails (really just clicking through), making purchases online from sites you already do, and doing surveys ($1 per survey).
http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ranmaofborg. There are ways to quickly accumulate the 30 dollars needed to request a check.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Ranma quiz

I created a quiz to test peoples knowledge of the Ranma 1/2 manga. It only has 14 questions and was done in a hurry. I originally planned on asking 40 questions and putting more details but something came up and I didn't have the time.

The quiz is here: http://www.gotoquiz.com/ranma_1_2_manga_quiz

I don't particularly like quizzes though because often times they don't give enough information or there can be multiple answers. For instance I recently did a quiz for Ranma 1/2 and only got around 70% which I figure I should have done much better.

The problem I had was that I didn't know whether it was for the manga, anime, or personal interpretation.

For instance one of the questions was:
How many fiancee's does Ranma have?
5
4
3
2
6

How am I supposed to answer that? Since I don't know if it is anime or manga? (anime Ranma had the delivery girl fiancee and an unseen one at the end of the episode). Do ones he got rid of count? Like Picollet Cardon. Do self made ones count (Kodachi)? Do Nabiki and Kasumi count since it's technically a Tendo not Akane specific?

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Kuno's name as written by Ranma

In the above page from the manga, VIZ has both Kuno and Ranma spell buffoon wrong with Nabiki spelling it correctly. In the original Japanese version pictured below (click picture for larger) both Ranma and Nabiki are insulting Kuno. Kuno writes his name the correct way which means "9 abilities". Ranma and Nabiki write it so that it means "no ability" (incompetent).

Monday, October 1, 2007

Use of foreign words and phrases in (fan)fiction.

There are times when it is appropriate to use foreign words and/or phrases in fiction. Foreign words are sometimes required since not all concepts/items translate well. It is important to remember though that the gratuitous over use of foreign words is annoying and doesn't really make sense. You are writing for an English (or whatever language you happen to be writing in) audience not a foreign (commonly Japanese in anime fanfiction) one.

Some things that should be written in foreign languages are items. There is no reason to change okonomiyaki into Japanese Pizza, Crepes, or Pancakes since even though it is sometimes considered to be those, it is not those. Sure some people may not know what okonomiyaki are but they should be able to figure out it is a type of food from how it is used.

If a character is Japanese give the character a Japanese name if you don't then at least explain why. This is just common sense. Japanese people will have Japanese names, English people will have English names, Spanish people will have Spanish names, etc. Sure occasionally an English person will have a Russian name but this is not very common and is usually remarked upon by others.

Attack names are ok to be in Japanese because even though it is not required or really needed they sound cooler. Example: Shishi Höködan sounds cooler than lion roar shot. (You could also just say he threw a ki blast).

I have seen people make this mistake before: they have a Japanese character introduce himself in Japanese to another Japanese character. On the surface this doesn't seem like a mistake. They are Japanese so it makes sense that they do so in Japanese. The reason this is a mistake is because the supposed setting is in Japan and we are to believe that everyone is speaking Japanese the entire time.

While technically there is nothing wrong with the following, it reads awkwardly. Japanese people will occasionally use English words while speaking. For instance the person may say "I'm Sorry" in English. To convey that the person is speaking another language some people will have the person speak Japanese and say "Gomen" instead of having it in English. This can be confusing for some people especially if you are purposely putting in Japanese words/phrases elsewhere in the fic to convey terms that don't translate well into English. In this case it is generally better to choose a third language such as Spanish and have the person say "lo siento" or convey it by other means.

Foreigners in the fic should use their native tongue occasionally since if you have ever met a foreigner they generally do so. For instance Shampoo saying "wo ai ni"(I love you in mandarin ) to Ranma is appropriate. Using it this way is to convey that the person is speaking their native tongue with the reader and the people hearing it consider it to be foreign. This is especially true for first person; for third person where the reader is supposed to know what is being said and the other characters aren't use "quotes with said in Chinese", italics, different color text, [in brackets],*in asterisks*, or some other means of conveying that the language is different.

One thing that does not translate well is honorifics. The use of honorifics can add a lot to the story with very little trouble and even if people do not know what they mean the story will still be readable. Personally I like when people do this since it makes the fic seem more authentic as well as gives more information on social structure/the person by their choice of honorifics. I'm not going to go into detail as to what honorifics to use since they are easy to find out. They aren't limited to just Japanese either many cultures use honorifics such as the Vietnamese, Indian, even English has and uses honorifics though they are rarely used in English outside of formal situations and children addressing adults (e.g. use Mr for your teacher).

Japanese pronouns have multiple meanings as well that really don't translate well since Japanese pronouns are not the same as English pronouns. Their pronouns function more like nouns for the purposes of sentence structure, grammar, and syntax. Unlike with honorifics I recommend that you do not use these. The reason I advocate against the use of these is because it may make your writing difficult to follow and the readers will actually have to know the meaning of them. If the reader doesn't know the meaning of an honorific they can still read and enjoy the story, the same is not true for the use of Japanese pronouns. Doing so can convey a lot of information for example depending on which pronoun used you can gather more information on social hierarchy, how the person thinks about the other person/themselves, age of person, and often their gender (the Japanese like the Spanish have many gender specific words). These are sometimes mistaken for or used as honorifics. An example of how it is mistaken is this: Ranma called Pantyhose Taro Pantyhose-temee in the manga. Temee is not a honorific it is a pronoun that works similarly to the word you in English but is also very disrespectful and would be somewhat similar to an English speaking person saying you as well as Pantyhose Bastard/Bitch- it can also be used as a standalone word (the name part is not required).

The next thing I'd like to discuss is insults/profanity. A cuss word can have many meanings depending on context, body language, etc. The choice of which cuss word used can also tell a lot about the person as well. For instance Ranma in the original manga occasionally uses profanity and otherwise derogatory language that is basically the same as cussing (VIZ toned it down since they like censoring manga). Depending on his choice of insult/cuss word you can tell the degree of how upset he is with the person. For instance when not upset with Happosai he uses ojiisan (similar to grandfather) and when upset he uses jiji (similar to old man and more rude than ojiisan) and when really upset he uses Temee (very rude form of you that is >= Bastard), etc. Several people may want to use the word Baka in their fics since Akane uses it a lot in the anime. Even though using Japanese cuss words in your fic is ok. I advocate against doing so. The reason for this is it's often better to use an English one since people will know it and your less likely to use it inappropriately. For instance the word Baka is a mild insult it basically means idiot, moron, silly, crazy, dumb-ass, etc., depending on context and body language. Saying this in say school won't get you in much trouble if at all. I've seen people use Baka as a substitute for stronger insults like Fuck you. It's not, Fuck you is much stronger and more personal than Baka and has sexual connotations that Baka does not. The Japanese do have words that are similar to Fuck You in meaning and they use the English insult as well, Baka is not it though. Also it depends on region for instance Osaka from Azumanga Daioh is less likely to use the word Baka she would instead use Aho since she is from Osaka/western Japan and Baka is a Tokyo/Eastern Japan insult (though this is less common now since Baka is the most common one used on Television).