Ranma Anime on-line

Of the Ranma ½ Anime I'd suggest you watch the first season and the Oav's the rest is much lower quality (though I do like the opening/endings). They can be purchased in a variety of places such as amazon.com. If you are unable to afford them (the price for them has gone down a lot) you can watch them online in a few places such as Ranmastream, Youtube has many of the episodes, and it can be downloaded from bit torrent in a few places such as Isohunt. I'd watch a lot more Anime if I had high speed internet (dial-up sucks though I do some times use other peoples high speed internet).

The Ranma ½ manga is my favorite manga. The Ranma ½ anime is not my favorite anime. The Ranma ½ anime is not even in my top ten favorite anime (Slayers is #1 if you were wondering).

This isn't that uncommon for me. I find that the books/manga that the anime/Movie is based on to be better than the Anime/Movie quite often. Of course this isn't true of everything off the top of my head V for Vendetta movie was better than the comic and Thank You for Smoking was better than the book.

Movies watched in 2007

A partial and incomplete list of movies I watched during this year can be found here.

I have a tendency to make lists and lose them/have them thrown away/etc. One day several weeks ago I decided to make a list of the movies I had watched over the course of the year. There is no real purpose in doing so but I was having trouble sleeping and the list could be convenient. It is convenient in that I can quickly look up films I had watched.

I can use the list to help me recall movies, I also have a tendency to forget the name of a movie, even though I do remember the plot. A list that also has pictures and if for some reason I can not recall the movie at all, there is also generally a summary I can read to refresh my memory.

I chose to use an amazon store to make the list for a few reasons. The first reason being so that people might make purchases from it and I would get a small percentage. Another reason was because it was an option and I have no other idea as to what to put there. The final reason is I didn't know of a better list making site that also has a picture of the film and quick access to more information.

The list is incomplete since I could not recall every movie I had seen this year at the time or could not recall the movies name. I also didn't list most of the non-fiction videos. Something that surprised me is that there are a lot of movies I've seen that Amazon does not have (at least the version of Amazon I was using). Thinking about it I should not have been surprised since I watch a lot of foreign films many of which were not released in the USA, some of the films were never put on dvd (can only be gotten on vcd or VHS depending on the film), and some were either too small, or on subject that wouldn't interest most people.

A few of the movies I watched that were not on Amazon (or I couldn't find on DVD) are:

• DragonBlade – Honk Kong 3d Film
• My Wife is 18 - Hong Kong Romantic Comedy
• Tales of Ugetsu (AKA: Ugetsu Monogatari) – Japanese ghost story
• The Refusal - Jagerstatter – Documentary about an Austrian Catholic executed for refusing to serve the Nazi's
• The Reluctant Prophet George Zabelka – A documentary about a priest who served those who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He later became a large supporter of non-violence.
• Some were not listed because they are not on DVD yet like the new Sweeny Todd Film
  

The list is here: http://astore.amazon.com/cursedpoolsof-20?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=1

Inspirations for Ranma ½ manga 3

Sandro Botticelli's Birth of Venus inspired a few of the backgrounds in the Ranma ½ manga such as the one below taken from volume 16 of the manga. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a full grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore. In this particular background taken from the manga the Birth of Venus has been combined with the Japanese work of art called Fujin Raijin Zu Byobu (Wind God and Thunder God).

Merry Christmas Anime

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Here is a slide show of various anime characters celebrating Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas one and all.

Here are some quotes of what other people had to say:

May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! ~Author Unknown

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,
for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away
like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.
The good you do for others is good you do yourself...
~Norman Wesley Brooks, "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus Christ, bible MATTHEW 22:39

I like those quotes because peace on Earth is something I really would like to see happen. Lets all hope and pray for the highly improbable to happen; Peace on Earth for all. Praying and hoping are well and good, but rarely are they enough. Do something, anything to brighten the world and make the dream of peace on Earth a reality. Even a small kindness applied at the right moment can change a persons life.

Christmas is a day in which we celebrate Christ's birth. So celebrate it the way Jesus would have wanted us to and do something no matter how small to make the world a better place. What better way could there be to celebrate his birth than to follow his teachings of peace and love. Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, believe in God, or view Jesus as being just a man, I ask that you do something to promote Peace.

If for some unfathomable reason you can't think of something here are a few suggestions:
Donate time or money to a worthy cause
Give someone a hug
Encourage someone
Say thank you to someone for an every day action you generally don't acknowledge
Call up someone you haven't talked to in a while

If you think about it I'm sure you can think of something.

Ranma's drawing ability

Ranma in the manga is not very good at drawing things when he wants to but is good at doodling.

Attempting to draw

Ranma doodling during koi rod of love story arc

Seven of Nine crew integration

In my opinion the way they integrated Seven of Nine into the crew was stupid. Having the doctor teach her how to socialize did not make sense to me considering the doctor wasn't human or even a biological entity. No matter how well he was programed, he was not human and did not have the types of experiences a human/humanoid would have had. For example, he simulated eating and drink but did not require them in the same way that a physical being would. I know that he volunteered to teach her but him being the choice they decided upon did not make sense. There are multiple reasons why I think this but a major one would be because a lot of the crew members thought he had bad bed side manners and wasn't particularly good at socializing.

If I were the person with the decision on how to integrate her into the crew, I would have assigned her quarters with a female crew member. I would not have isolated her by putting her in the cargo bay (or I'd have converted part of the bay see this post). I'd have given the person assigned with her orders to become her friend and help her integrate with the crew. Otherwise I'd have had her be roommates with me.

Seven of Nines upbringing with the Borg made her extremely gifted in some ways but it also left her emotionally and socially stunted. She had the body of an adult and a gifted mind but emotionally and socially she was a child. She needed someone to be with her and help guide her. Yes I know the doctor and the captain did but a more effective way would have been to pair her with someone who can be with her often and who was biological in nature. Someone who could and would know to explain to her how to sit and chew (things she did not know as shown by other episodes and things the doctor would not think about since he does not require doing either).

A similar subject also dealing with crew integration, They expected too much from her. They appeared to either treat her like a machine or expect her to act human. Both of which does not make sense. She may have been born a human and has human DNA but she was raised by the Borg. The Borg will have influenced her a lot and that influence will effect her for her entire life. Helping her along and guiding her while she finds out who and what she wants to be makes sense but expecting her to be like a normal human doesn't. The best they should expect from her is along the lines of what a human/vulcan hybrid raised on Vulcan who now lives with regular humans.

How they treated her at first after she had just been taken from the collective also didn't make sense to me. She had just been disconnected from hearing the thoughts of billions, was in a situation she did not understand, and had been forcibly taken from the only home she has known against her will. She should have had lots of counseling. Counseling given to telepaths who suddenly lost their telepathic abilities since for all practical purposes that did happen to her, she had shared her thoughts with trillions of individuals and now her thoughts were hers and hers alone. Counseling given to people who were raised by their kidnappers and now see the kidnappers as their parents. Counseling given to people raised by other species similar to the counseling given to people who are raised by wolves or apes that you sometimes hear about. Counseling for the inevitable nightmares/guilt that she will have when she realizes what she has done as a Borg. Sure the crew was under staffed but the do have holographic technology and likely have counselors programmed in. While I realize that most people would find her therapy sessions to be boring, hence the reason they would not put them on the show, they still could have alluded to them or made mention of some type. I also realize that Seven would have seen them as an inefficient waste of time, but she should still have attended them.

They treated her like a star fleet officer in that they ordered her to do things instead of asking her to do things. An example of this is that she was ordered to give her nanoprobes to save a member of species 8472 in the episode Prey. She did not want to. It was her right to deny the use of her nanoprobes because she was not a member of star fleet. A star fleet officer signed up to be a part of star fleet and has to obey the captain. I do realize that Star fleet is for all practical purposes the Federations military and that civilians have to obey the Captains of ships. The reason I find ordering her around to be unfair is because she was not part of star fleet nor a civilian who decided to be on the ship. She was a civilian taken under duress. Unlike civilian volunteers who are generally given the choice of leaving, she is not given a choice to leave the ship. The order was also unethical. They basically said we want your blood so that we can use it to help the enemies of your race. I would not be surprised that from Seven's point of view she was a slave to the Borg and now she is a slave of the Federation but where the Borg make it clear she has no choice in what she does the Federation gives her the illusion of freedom (not really what the Federation does but it is one possible point of view she could have). There were times in which she should not have been aloud to make her own decisions for her own good but there were also times in which they ordered her to do stuff where she should have been given the choice of what to do.

Ranma reading

In fan fiction it is not uncommon for Ranma to start reading books or have him secretly read books, this is used to show his hidden intelligence often. In the manga, Ranma doesn't hide his intelligence and reads often. I'm not going to list every instance but here are some examples of him reading: While sparing with Akane, while waiting for Ryoga to show up before the Shi Shi Hokoudan arc, after figuring out the Moko Takabisha and waiting for Ryoga to show up again, reads dating magazines during the reversal jewel story arc, reading something when Akane made the edible curry, was reading before going to sleep during the time Miss Hinako stayed at the Tendo's (judging by the open book near him while he was sleeping), a manga at end of the master student pill arc, there is a picture Nabiki took of Onna-Ranma sleeping holding a book, etc. There are many more. Reading is one of the most common things he does, he certainly can be seen doing so more than playing video games (shown once in the manga versus Miss Hinako) or watching television (is only seen doing so while others are doing so, unlike Akane or Shampoo whom we see watch television alone).

Since I am a voracious reader it is an aspect of Ranma's character I easily identify with and makes sense to me for him to do so. Books are a means of acquiring knowledge such as martial arts (we do see Ranma turn to books for information in the manga), they are a form of entertainment that is portable (something he can do on his training trip when not training or while recovering from injuries), does not require electricity (many other forms of entertainment requires electricity and/or other people to participate with which Ranma would have had limited access to occasionally during his training journey), is easily accessible (books are not that expensive, libraries loan books out for free, people throw away books -in Japan Manga are released in phone book size magazines on fairly cheap paper that are not meant to be kept often times after people finish reading them they are tossed out and Ranma could acquire them by taking them from the trash or people giving them to him once they are finished with them), etc. I can think of a lot of reasons for Ranma to read often and I do not see reasons as to why he would not (particularly since we do see him read often).

What do you think Ranma reads?

Things I think he likely reads are:
*Martial arts manuals - at least one of the times it clearly is a martial arts manual.
*Text books - he is in school and we do see him carrying his school books with him often
*Researching a cure for his curse and other problems - would make sense since we do see him research using books - Dating magazines for tips on dating, a book on Chiropractics after Dr Tofu accidentally hurt Ranma, pressure point charts, etc., and since he wants to cure his curse books would be a good place to start a search.
*Cook books - Possibly at least for a recipe. In the manga he is a pretty good cook and likes to eat so this would make sense.

Beyond those he reads for entertainment. I'm assuming the manga he reads, if nothing else, is for entertainment. What genre do you think he reads? Personally I don't think romance or martial arts themed stories since he gets too much of that in his regular life.

Ranma Gameboy and Super Nintendo Games

Some of the Ranma Super Nintendo and Gameboy games can be downloaded from http://www.furinkan.com/ranma/misc/videogames.html and/or http://ranmavg12.tripod.com/vg.html

The second link has the Ranma RPG translated into English. Personally I find the games to be so so. I like the PC Engine game and the Sega Cd (also known as Mega Drive) more than the Super Nintendo and Gameboy games. My favorite type of game is role playing though and the Ranma RPG really is not all that good. There were a few attempts to make a fan made console type Ranma RPG but they were all dropped years ago.

Faq's for some of the Ranma games can be obtained at Game Faq's.

Also if you download the Japanese version of the Ranma Super Nintendo RPG you can add patches from RPG Classics to translate it into English. They have two patches one Manga and one Anime the differences are slight though.

Anime Fanservice Gallery

The Anime Fanservice Gallery is a large collection of screen caps taken from various anime of fan service scenes. Including Ranma 1/2. In fact it started as just a Ranma 1/2 image collection and grew. They also have under the donor gallery edits, in which people added words to scenes many of these are quite amusing.

Ranma Hentai Gallery

The Ranma Hentai Gallery was the largest collection of Ranma ½ hentai on the web. In an effort to curb the unapproved distribution of their original work based on Ranma ½ they moved to a new web address, Ranmabooks, and removed all the copyrighted images, fanart that was just edits of other art, the entire manga in scanned format, videos, and dōjinshi (to counter the argument that they themselves are distributing pirated stuff so why shouldn't other people pirate their works). Since they did that the site is now inferior to what it once was, though the new site is likely still the largest collection of Ranma ½ hentai images (some of the stuff that is not on the current incarnation of the site can be found on the internet archive).

In the unlikely event that someone views this post and does not know what Hentai means; it is Japanese for pervert or perverted (unlikely since pretty much everyone who comes upon this post is looking for hentai). Its usage in the English language is as a generic term to describe drawn pornographic material that is or looks to be of Japanese origin (anime, manga, doujinshi, games, and fan pictures based on anime and manga). The term for less explicit images or a less perverted person is ecchi.

I am not a large fan of hentai, but am a large fan of Ranma ½ so I have read most of the comics they have created. I've made comments on those in another post: Queen of the Night and other Ranmabook comics. I've also submitted Ranma images I've found, mostly from Japanese websites I was browsing, to them and two in which I had commissioned. One of which I am using as my profile image. I did not actually draw any. Similarly to my dislike of my fiction writing, I dislike my drawings.

The worst thing about them changing the website is the loss of the mangascans. Sure they can be found on other websites (though many other sites have since removed them as well, for example the manga in scanned format used to be available in Chinese on leftworld.net but is no longer available) and the translation is not always the best but it was convenient for looking something up. I also am saddened by the removal of the dōjinshi that they hosted but did not create. Sure they weren't wonderful but some were interesting or artistic enough and now they are very difficult to find.

Some Ranma Hentai links:

	Ranma ½ Lemon Stories Archive - Largest repository of Ranma lemons (term used in fan fiction for explicit material).
	Ranma Hentai ½ Flash Game in which your do hentai things to Ranma-onna using the pretext of a physical examination. The game is not really that good and has three endings.

Ranma Simpsons

According to tv.com:

In the Mexican version of the Simpsons episode 242 Pygomoelian, the Doctor that Moe replaced in the soap opera said 'They can't replace me! I played the role of Doctor (??) and the voice of Ranma for the last (?) years!'. This was a play on the fact that the guy playing the voice of the Doctor in this episode was the same guy that made the voice of Ranma Saotome, lead character of an anime named Ranma 1/2 which played in Mexico for a while before this episode was made.

The above picture is a screen grab from the episode mentioned of the doctor that Moe replaced.

Wal-mart Protest

Today I went to a protest against Wal-mart. Wal-mart has many dishonest practices that I am against. I do not shop there. People have told me how they are cheaper then other stores which maybe true for where you live but I have gone into the store with a list of items I purchase most often and they were generally not the cheapest place to purchase the items. This is dependent on where you shop and other stores in the area so it may not be that way for you. A specific name brand or a dvd would be around five cents cheaper but generally the big stores prices were around the same price as Wal-mart since the stores are in competition and a few of them even match prices with other stores (if you bring in the ad they'll match it or beat it). When I looked at store brands instead of name brands though a lot of places were much cheaper than Wal-mart.

I could list many reasons to not shop Wal-mart and tell you of the bad things that Wal-mart does but you likely already know many of them and there are sites already devoted to reasons not to shop there. Ranging from criminal reasons, labor issues, environmental reasons, health care issues, sweat shops, censoring, and more.

Some sites:
Wake Up Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Watch
Wal-Mart Movie
Against the Wal
The Writing on the Wal

At the protest around 70 people showed up to protest. A private security company told us we could not park anywhere in the area since it is not allowed. We had to be customers to park there so everyone went and purchased something at one of the other stores so that we had a valid reason for parking there.

For some reason four police cars each with two officers showed up and told us that we had to leave. We were not violent and were on public property (cars weren't but we did purchase something giving us the right to park there). Why were so many officers needed?

Even though I went to the protest and am planning on going to other protests in the future (for other things as well). I occasionally wonder if they are pointless. This protest did not make the news, people still went into Wal-mart even though we were standing there, and there seems to be no noticeable effect. I like to think that I am making a difference and Wal-mart will stop its bad (for humanity) practices but so long as they continue to make a profit they have little incentive to do so.

Energy Saving, Environment Helping, and Money Saving Tips

In all likelihood you already know of the vast majority of these. I'm not the first person to put some variation of these on the Internet. Many of these are just common sense. Less energy used = Less energy costs. If you check a money saving or an environmental concerns book or website they will say much the same thing as this.

1. Use or replace existing items with more energy efficient versions.

   1. Purchase fluorescent or even better LED light bulbs.

   2. Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable ones.

   3. Use a laptop instead of a desktop (uses less energy).

   4. Use solar powered objects if possible (Solar powered battery chargers for instance).

   5. Purchase Energy Star appliances.

   6. Fan instead of air conditioner.

   7. Use a microwave or toaster oven to reheat or cook since it uses less energy than conventional ovens do (if possible solar cooker since is most energy efficient).

   8. Use a battery powered or better yet a water powered clock instead of a plug in clock since plug-in clocks use a lot more energy than they need to (10-100 times as much).

   9. In general if there is a battery operated version of something you use that plugs in switch to that since they generally are more energy efficient (if your using rechargeable batteries).

   10. Toilet and shower head with low flow versions.

   11. Hybrid Car

   12. Front loading washing machine

   13. Convection ovens

   14. Tankless Water Heaters.

   15. Sponges and rags instead of paper towels.

2. Conserve Energy

   1. Insulate/winterize your house as much as possible (plastic over windows, blanket in front of door crack, etc.).

   2. Turn off the lights when your not using them (This is fairly obvious).

   3. Turn off water when not using it. In other words do not leave the water running when brushing or shavings.

   4. Water your plants early in the morning or in the evening. Avoid watering mid day because more water will be lost to evaporation.

   5. Do not leave appliances on standby. Appliances still use energy when left in standby mode it is much better to turn the appliance off. Even better unplug them or if on a plug strip switch the plug strip off.

   6. Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket. This will make it so your water heater doesn't have to run as often since the water will stay hot longer.

   7. Insulate your water pipes.

   8. Put on a sweater instead of turning up the heat.

   9. Air dry items if you can - clothes instead of using the dryer, dishes don't use dry setting on dish washer.

   10. Fill up washing machines and dish washers before using them. If you do use them when only half full or something be sure to set it at half load (or equivalent setting).

   11. Cover pots when cooking since it cooks faster and conserves more heat. Also add a little salt to water so that the water boils at a hotter temperature causing items in the water to cook faster.

   12. Move fridge and freezers as far from heat sources (heater vents and ovens) as possible because they will have to work harder to keep cold.

   13. Sweep your yard with a broom or rake instead of using a hose or air blower.

   14. Put a piece of aluminum foil under your ironing board cover to reflect the heat and make ironing faster.

   15. Keep water in refrigerator for drinking instead of running water until the water cools

   16. Use cold water washing since you uses less energy.

   17. Lower your water heater temperature to around 120°F unless you really need a higher temperature.

   18. Take more showers than baths. Bathing takes more water than showers.

   19. Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.

   20. Turn off stove and oven a few minutes before time is up. Residual heat will finish the job.

   21. Bake foods together if possible (ex. Bake the cookies with dinner instead of separately).

   22. Turn off decorative outdoor gas lamps - these are just wasteful.

3. Do maintenance on items – Things in good condition are more efficient and last longer.

   1. Repair leaky plumbing (faucets, toilets, pipes, etc.) promptly. Your just wasting water otherwise.

   2. Clean or replace filters on your furnace, air conditioner, air purifiers, vacuums, dryer, etc. Do this regularly since dirty ones don't work as well and use more energy (some like dryer after every use).

   3. Clean (vacuum or brush off) the condenser coils on the back of your refrigerator/dehumidifier at least twice a year.

Fanon vs Canon

Fanon

VS

Canon

Canon - In the context of a fictional universe, the canon comprises those novels, stories, films, et cetera, that are considered to be genuine or officially sanctioned, and those events, characters, settings, et cetera, that are considered to have existence within the fictional universe. In this case the manga. Fanon - Means the same thing as canon but uses fan theories/fan fiction as the the source material. Fan fiction - Is fiction written by fans that uses characters, events, settings, etc., of an established work. In this case Ranma ½. Since there are so many different fan fics you may or may not have encountered the ones I have pointed out.

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1. Ranma shortly after meeting new people will tell them his entire life story.

1. In the manga, Ranma is a secretive person and has not told his life story to anyone. Ranma rarely tells anyone anything about himself if he can avoid doing so. Akane the person he talks to and hangs around the most doesn't even know very much about him (and has complained about him not telling her things in the manga). The vast majority of the things we know of Ranma's time before coming to the Tendo dojo is from what other people have told us, Genma, Ukyo, Ryoga, etc., not Ranma. The majority of his life is unknown even to the readers.
1. Ranma in fan fiction tells people about his fiancée problems.
   1. In the manga he doesn't even tell his fiancée's about each other. Ukyo didn't know about Shampoo and Shampoo didn't know about Ukyo until 7 Volumes of the manga after Ukyo's introduction (Ukyo introduced Volume 9 meets Shampoo for first time Volume 16). So telling complete strangers seems very unlikely to me.
2. Ranma boasts about battles he fought in the past.
   1. He does have an ego and has said things like "I, Ranma Saotome, have never lost ANY martial arts ANYTHING contest!" and that using a technique on him multiple times is pointless but he has never boasted about fights he had in the past. He has not even talked about any of his past fights.
3. Ranma tells people about his curse shortly after meeting them.
   1. Admittedly this is not overly out of character, but he doesn't tell people about his curse preferring that they don't know (though he will on occasion show but not explain it). For instance he did not tell Ukyo about his curse (she found out later and Akane explained it), Genma told the Tendo's, did not tell Densuke or Yohyo (even commented that he wasn't going to hoping they didn't know). Most people find out about the curse from viewing it when it is accidentally revealed, though he also generally doesn't make much effort to hide it. Even after people find out about his curse he doesn't tell them anything about it, letting them draw their own conclusions.
4. Ranma tells people about his fear of cats.
   1. That is something he does not do. He actively tried to hide his fear of cats and is not going to tell anyone about it, if he can avoid doing so. Ranma telling people about a perceived weakness or admitting he has a weakness of any sort is out of character.
5. Ranma hates weapons and will never use them.
   1. This is untrue. Ranma uses weapons many times in the manga and is extremely good at using them when he does.
6. Cologne does not respect Ranma and sees him as a worthless male good only for breeding.
   1. Cologne does respect Ranma as shown by her being impressed with how fast he was able to learn the Hiryu Shoten Ha, the fact that he put up the best fight she's had in over 50 years, was able to sneak up on her during her first appearance, her saying things like if I were only younger you'd make a good husband to Ranma, and she uses -dono honorific when talking to Ranma which signifies that she highly respects Ranma.
7. The Musk acquire mates by throwing animals in to Jusenkyo; specifically the Nyannichuan.
   1. The Musk did so in the past but no longer do this.
8. Ranma's mother's house is the Saotome ancestral home.
   1. During the Ryu Kumon story arc Ranma's mom says "The poor tenement house where we lived long ago was torn down, so I started over here... You don't remember, do you." to Ryu Kumon when she though he was Ranma. Though many fics seem to put it in Azabu-Juuban, it's exact location is never given.
9. Akane's cooking is so bad it can create life forms or be classified as toxic waste.
   1. This is untrue. Akane's cooking is bad but no where near the level of toxic waste and does see improvement in the manga. She did make fully edible curry just prior to the Orachi story arc.
10. Since Akane hates boys she's a lesbian.
    1. Akane did have a crush on Dr. Tofu so she's not a lesbian. The reason she said she hated boys was because she was having problems with males at her school. It is possible that she maybe bi-sexual but there is no proof.
11. Akane always attacks with a mallet.
    1. Akane rarely attacks with a mallet and usually attacks with her fists or whatever is near by.
12. Akane is the only person to use a mallet.
    1. Both Kodachi and Ranma have used mallets on a few occasions (others did so as well).
13. All Mousse needs to do to marry Shampoo is defeat her.
    1. Though the manga doesn't explicitly say this is untrue and it may help his chances, since Shampoo seems to like strong men, this doesn't make sense. The marriage laws appear to have been made to bring new blood into the tribe, since Mousse is a tribe member his marrying Shampoo will not bring in new blood.
14. Shampoo secretly loves Mousse but can't or won't show it.
    1. When it looked like Mousse was dying Shampoo was more interested in watching Television then helping Mousse.
15. Nabiki is incredibly smart and plans everything through.
    1. Nabiki is opportunistic and thinks only of her immediate gain. She does not factor in the possible consequences of her actions. This is shown on multiple occasions such as her taking picture of Ranma when she knew nothing about how Ranma might retaliate when he found out, not taking into account how dangerous it is to be Ranma's fiancée (which nearly got her killed), or what would happen to her or her family if she lost the 10 yen battle.
16. Nabiki handles the Tendo's money.
    1. There is absolutely no evidence of this in the manga. Nabiki is shown to be one of the biggest drains on the Tendo's money in the manga.
17. Nodoka is a blade master (extremely skilled in sword techniques).
    1. Nodoka has very little skill with the sword and is shown to be a danger to herself and others with it.
18. Ranma frequently and easily goes into the Neko-ken state.
    1. Ranma only went into the cat fist three times in the manga under extraordinary circumstances. It took a room full of cats and the exit of the room being blocked, in another he actively wanted to go into the neko-ken state and it took a cat clinging to him and being pushed in his face to do it, and in the last instance he was licked by a giant ghost cat. The cat fist is not easily triggered and he can resist it for quite a while (did not enter it with cats clinging to him for instance). Also large cats do not bother him, there were several instances he was around tigers without them bothering him. He also can say cat without stuttering.
19. Ranma will not go on dates with anyone especially not boys.
    1. Ranma will go on a date with just about anyone if he sees a reason to and has gone on many dates with males, females, and even spirits.
20. Nabiki likes Ranma if not as a possible husband then like a brother.
    1. Nabiki does not like Ranma. When she thought he might have died in the battle with Herb she shrugged. She sold him during the 10 yen battle to be a slave. She was willing to reveal and speak ill of him to his mother knowing full well the death threat his mom holds over him because he still had a mother and she didn't (that and it was an opportunity to blackmail him - this was changed in the fan translation commonly available online).
21. Ranma frequently endangers innocent bystanders.
    1. Ranma rarely endangers innocent bystanders and has gotten upset at people for doing so. The people who attack him will though i.e. Ryoga throwing his bandannas, Mousse willing to turn many people into ducks to get at Ranma, Mousse throwing knives at Ranma not paying attention to children in the background, Ukyo throwing her spatulas, etc.
22. Genma is incredibly lazy and would never get a job
    1. He is not. While he is somewhat lazy it is nowhere near the degree many fan fics portray him to be since he did and does spend considerable time training Ranma and had a job working for Dr Tofu.
23. Ranma gets hit by a car and is seriously injured so much so that he can never do martial arts again.
    1. Ranma has shown a toughness level and healing ability high enough that if he were to ever be hit by a car he'd probably get up like nothing happened. His getting hit in the first place is stupid since he could easily get out of the way or jump over it.
24. The city Ranma lives in is Nerima and it is a small rural town.
    1. The city he spends the most time in is Tokyo, Nerima is a ward of Tokyo (part of Tokyo) with a population of more than 700,000. Though Ranma spends a considerable amount of time outside of Nerima (Aloha virus island, hot spring island, training on a mountain, in China, etc.)
25. Dr Tofu is a medical doctor.
    1. In the manga he is a practitioner of Chinese medicine (such as acupuncture, acupressure, and moxibustion) called a kanpô (or kampó) who also does chiropractics.
26. Mrs Tendo's name is Kimiko.
    1. Her name is never given in either the manga or the anime.
27. Akane is a perfect student and gets straight A's.
    1. Akane is shown cutting school at least once and since she's in a home-ec type class and had no cooking ability there is no way she could be getting straight A's (she also can't swim which appears to be a requirement).
28. Ranma keeps his room messy.
    1. Ranma keeps his room very clean and is shown to hate messy rooms. He is shown to have a compulsion to clean messy rooms, having to think about what he's doing to stop, example he cleaned Miss Hinako's room when he had no reason to and complains when his clothes gets damaged or dirty.
29. Ranma will not hit girls.
    1. Ranma does not like hitting girls but he will. The whole situation with Shampoo for instance started by him defeating her with a kick, he wanted to hit Kodachi during the rhythmic gymnastics match, he hit Konatsu when he thought he was a she, etc. Some people think that he only will fight girls as a girl, he will and has fought girls in his male form (Herb before knew was male, Kiima, Rouge, etc.).
30. Genma is a weak martial artist.
    1. Genma can hold his own against Ranma for a good portion of the manga and invented two extremely powerful and dangerous martial art styles.
31. Genma thinks school is a waste of time and only sends Ranma to school because the law says he has to.
    1. Genma doesn't care about the law very much, High school is not mandatory in Japan (also not free) and Genma was the one to send Ranma to school in the first place.
32. Ranma goes away or never shows up and the Tendos have a completely normal life.
    1. It wasn't normal before Ranma came and several of the things did not come because of Ranma. Ex. Akane fighting a horde of boys before school, Picolet Chardon III would still have shown up, Happosai probably still would have shown up, Principal Kuno would still have come, Taro might have shown up looking for Happosai anyways, etc.
33. Ranma went on a ten year training trip
    1. Ranma left his mother as a baby who had yet learned to walk. Making his training trip significantly longer than ten years.
34. Ranma does not apologize to people.
    1. Ranma frequently apologizes, often for things that are not his fault or to calm down Akane (even comments at one point he isn't going to apologize to her just because she is upset).
       1. For his curse in the very first volume
       2. For Ryoga cutting off her hair
       3. In volume 19 (Japanese or fansub counting) Ranma tries to apologize to Soun but instead apologizes to Akane then wonders why he is apologizing.
       4. Ranma apologizes for accidentally jumping on Miss Hinako
       5. Ranma apologizes to Ryoga because the magic mushrooms were damaged.
       6. Ranma apologizes for landing in the changing room while Akane is trying on a new bra
       7. There are many more times. Ranma apologizes more than anyone else in the manga. Likely got into the habit from apologizing for things his father had done during the training trip.
35. Akane never apologizes for her actions.
    1. Akane does apologize for her actions though not as frequently as Ranma and not every time.
       1. Akane apologizes multiple times for hitting Ranma with the softball
       2. Akane apologizes for not believing him about the Hypnotic Mushrooms
       3. Akane apologizes for the Super soba.
       4. Akane apologizes for using him in her fight against Nabiki (when the engagement was switched).
       5. Akane apologized for making bad rice balls.
       6. There are more but you get the general idea.
36. Ranma hates his life and girls fighting over him.
    1. Ranma is pretty content and while the girls do annoy him on some occasions he likes that multiple girls want him.
37. Ranma always insults Akane's cooking, sewing, etc.
    1. There are several instances where he could have but did not. For example the very first time Akane cooks Ranma does not insult her instead both Genma and Ranma attempt to resume training.
38. Akane always hits Ranma when he insults her.
    1. While she generally does, she doesn't every time. For example; Akane did not hit Ranma when he insulted her cooking immediately prior to the Orachi story arc.
39. Genma and Soun go out drinking a lot.
    1. Other than the first volume where they were just reunited after not seeing each other for years and celebrating the impending union of their families they are not shown to drink at all except at special occasions (Ranma's actually gotten drunk more than them in the manga).
40. Shampoo frequently uses magic in Ranma's food.
    1. Shampoo does not hide things in Ranma's food. She at one time used mushrooms to try and get Ranma to hug her but did not hide it in his food she straight out force fed him it. Kodachi is the person who adds things to food not Shampoo. Ranma is shown to trust Shampoo's cooking. He doesn't trust Akane's or Kodachi's cooking.
41. Ukyo likes Ryoga
    1. Ukyo can barely tolerate Ryoga. She likes him only in that she can use him to try and separate Ranma and Akane. She frequently hits him over the head for being stupid or getting lost, and after the tunnel of love it was shown that she really doesn't like him.
42. Nabiki likes Tatewaki Kuno
    1. Nabiki does not like Tatewaki and he does not like Nabiki. Nabiki does use Tatewaki Kuno for personal gain though.
43. Akane loves Ryoga
    1. Akane thinks of Ryoga as a friend but does not love Ryoga. His lack of self control scares her (he nearly killed her with a hug) and she considers him to be weird especially after using the koi-rod of love on Ranma.
44. Kasumi loves Dr Tofu
    1. Kasumi is kind to Dr Tofu, borrows books from him, and gives him snacks for taking care of Akane but she shows zero interest in him. The art of Ranma (also known as the memorial book) even states that the love is one sided.
45. Ranma will not wear girls clothing
    1. Ranma wears a lot of girls clothing for his various disguises like pretending to be Ryoga's fiancée, when she went on a date with Kuno, etc.
46. Ranma is completely unable to be romantic.
    1. Ranma has gone on more dates than anyone in the manga, Ranma read dating magazines during the manga, during the reversal jewel arc Ranma dressed up nicely and brought Shampoo a dozen roses and said “even the beauty of these roses can compare not to yours”.
47. Tatewaki Kuno never gets along with male Ranma
    1. Tatewaki Kuno occasionally gets along with Ranma - example when fighting with Kodachi after he got his photo album of Ranma-chan pictures he offered to show them to Ranma.
48. Ranma when he sees people fighting will immediately take sides and join in
    1. Ranma makes himself comfortable, then he pulls out some snacks and sits and watches the fight. Then he interferes.
49. Ranma frequently uses his most powerful techniques on everyone.
    1. Ranma rarely uses his most powerful techniques. He generally prefers to fight using regular techniques rarely using his special techniques.
50. Nabiki has great business ethics and if she makes a business deal with you she will honor it.
    1. She has no business ethics, will take the money and run (for example when Principal Kuno hired her), will swindle amnesic people (for example Tatewaki Kuno watermelon technique arc) and children (gambling king arc and Ten yen date arc).
51. Ranma has no idea how to use money and will go to Nabiki for advice on how to use it.
    1. Going to Nabiki for advice on how to use money would be one of the stupidest thing he could possibly do. He has shown to actually be better with money than Nabiki is. She is more frivolous with her money (concert ticket) and has no qualms spending her families finances (Volume 29 and 34). Ranma has shown concern for the Tendo's funds (10 yen battle arc), barters down prices (with Nabiki), expressed happiness at saving money (first time he used girl form to get free eats), and dislikes spending it (several times ex. when feeling guilty for destroying Nabiki's ticket he purchased sushi and expressed sadness for wasting money).
52. Ranma will not wear make-up or jewelry.
    1. While he doesn't really like it he has for multiple reasons, such as accessories to disguises. Some examples are: wore make up in a few arcs - lipstick first date with Kuno to get wish sword (Genma was the one to suggest wearing it) and during the Orachi story arc, wore bracelets while teaching girl form clone how to pick up guys, Necklace during dining arc, etc.
53. Genma and Soun never take responsibility
    1. Soun took responsibility for what he thought Ranma did (sleep with Miss Hinako, Ranma didn't though). Genma took responsibility for Ukyo's engagement in so far as letting Ukyo beat him up and responsibility for creating the senken techniques.
54. Nabiki has a vast network of informants
    1. In the manga, she has a couple of friends but no network of informants is seen. If you do count a couple of friends as a network of informants than Akane and Ranma have a network of informants as well. Ranma has two male friends, Akane is shown to have several friends as well.
55. Akane is really insecure in her martial arts abilities
    1. She is not insecure in her Martial Arts abilities. If anything she is overconfident in them. She always thinks she is capable of doing whatever martial arts task is at hand be it beat the dojo destroyer or Kodachi even though the Dojo destroyer defeated her father and she did not know martial arts gymnastics. What she is really insecure with is her looks (she keeps an entire box full of things that are supposed to increase breast size as seen during the bust battle).
56. Ranma is practically an atheist and doesn't meditate.
    1. Ranma is seen praying in multiple story arcs (at Tendo's grave, at his families grave, during magical koi rod arc, etc.), dreamed about the Buddhist after life, and goes to both Shinto and Buddhist shrines in the manga. He is seen meditating once while upside down and prayer is a form of meditation.
57. Ranma has to threaten someone to get alcohol
    1. Ranma was able to get alcohol on several different occasions for various reasons. During the story arc with the 10 year sauce Ranma purchased alcohol from a vending machine. During the Romeo and Juliet arc, Ranma managed to get several bottles of sake to get Happosai drunk. During the Orachi arc, Ranma used the celebratory sake as a weapon.
58. Ranma wakes up with a hang over
    1. Ranma of the manga does not get hangovers. In the two instances he got drunk (once as a male in a pool full of alcohol and once as a girl), he did not have a hang over. Shampoo did though. (Ranma's healing speed in the manga is high enough that he wouldn't get hangovers or scars since the wounds heal fast enough that scar tissue is unlikely to form).
59. Ranma does not use magic
    1. Ranma came to Nerima carrying at least two magic things with him - girl repellent and dragon whisker. Has used magical things often in the manga (magic weapons, magic toys gotten from Cologne, suggestion incense in multiple arcs, etc.). He has also been seen both in manga and the anime actively seeking out magic to cure his curse or for some other reasons (like the shadow clone magic he used for training in the anime or the dogi in the manga). In all likelihood Ranma is trying to learn any magic he can to defend himself when others use it against him and to acquire a cure for his curse.
60. Ranma is tormented for killing Saffron.
    1. He is not. Killing is the last thing Ranma would want to do but once he decided to do it he was okay with the decision. He was not shown to be tormented in the least bit, granted Saffron being reborn may have something to do with this but even before he knew that it didn't bother him that much.
61. Ranma knows nothing about interpersonal relationships and sex.
    1. Ranma knows a fairly large amount, with his curse and relationship problems it would be nearly impossible for him not to. He even said (paraphrasing here) that he is very familiar with a girls body - while trying to get the Shampoo from Shampoo to restore Akane's memory. He gives a lesson to the mirror clone on how to pick up guys, attempted and nearly succeeded in seducing Akane at one point (to get magical dogi), recognized Akane's crush on Dr Tofu, has gone on more dates than everyone else in the manga, and hangs out with perverted boys.
62. End manga Ranma no longer has to worry about the Seppuku pact.
    1. Even after his mother finds out about his curse and accepts the curse as not his fault, she still holds the pact over him. After that arc, Ranma is a bit depressed about leaving the Tendo's, Ranma's mother considers that type of behavior unmanly and goes to pull out her sword but is stopped by Genma.
63. Akane has more potential than Ranma and would quickly catch up or even surpass him.
    1. This is very much untrue and makes no sense. Ranma has been training by the start of the manga for 13-14 years and is shown to be a very fast learner of techniques with others even commenting on this (Genma comments on how fast Ranma learned the Umisenken, Cologne surprised at the speed Ranma learned Hiryu Shoten Ha, Akane stated Ranma learned fast at the beginning of the Romeo and Juliet arc, etc.). It would take years for her to even come close to reaching his level, in which time Ranma would still be improving, and she is no where near as fast a learner as Ranma is. This most likely comes from the battle Dogi arc in the manga. Still makes no sense though considering the dogi was capable of fending off Ranma on it's own, Ranma was limiting himself, at the very least, by not hitting Akane only trying to hit one spot without hitting Akane. Akane has taken credit for abilities that were not hers before (the jellyfish swimsuit for example) and Ranma's full potential is unknown even if it was known it would take Akane years to reach it.
64. Shampoo's people are primitives.
    1. Very much untrue. They have a newspaper which means they have a printing press, Shampoo had no trouble adapting to modern technology, the amazons can send mail to Japan (send the newspaper), and they have telephones. Quite likely they have more technology but it is an unknown since we do not see much of their culture. They also have access to quite a bit of magic, to the point that is used in every day items and toys.
65. Ranma is massively confident in everything.
    1. No he is not. He is confident in his own abilities but beyond that he is not confident in several things. He is not very confident about his manhood because of his curse, insult manhood or imply he is a girl is easiest way to anger him. He is not very confident in his looks, if he was he would not have cared so much about Tsubasa being cuter, would not have became sad and thought himself ugly on the rich guys not functioning hot spring island, or that Asuka's boyfriend was better looking.
66. The fiancees have no life except chasing after Ranma (not so much fanon but it seems to be this way in quite a few fics).
    1. Shampoo returns to her village occasionally, works at a restaurant, practices martial arts, and plays video games. Ukyo does volunteer work at a shrine, practices martial arts, goes to school, and runs her own business. Akane goes to school, has after school activities (volleyball team), practices martial arts, and goes on trips with friends (to hot spring for example). Kodachi cares for her plants, is the leader of her rhythmic gymnastics team, goes to school, poisons her brother, and practices martial arts.
67. Genma calls Ranma a weak girl all the time.
    1. Genma does not call Ranma a weak girl very often. I do not remember Genma calling Ranma weak ever and he extremely rarely makes insults involving calling Ranma a girl (I can only recall him doing so once in the entire manga).
68. Akane really wants to be taken as a serious fighter by Ranma and wants him to hit her back.
    1. In the manga during the time she has the magical dogi she most definitely does not want that even says if Ranma ever dared to hit her, their relationship would be over once and for all. While she probably would like Ranma to take her more seriously than he does (considering that he does other stuff while sparing with her like read or jump rope) I do not remember her ever telling him to hit her. In the anime, she does say fight back and take her seriously a few times, this does not happen in the manga.
69. Ranma doesn't fall into Jusenkyo or eat the dragon whisker and still has his hair in a pigtail.
    1. In the manga flashbacks show Ranma's hair in a ponytail not a pigtail, flashback to Jusenkyo for example has it in a ponytail as does the flashbacks to his junior highschool.
70. Cologne is the matriarch of her village.
    1. That is never stated in the manga, while she is somewhat important based solely on strength and wisdom, there is not even any evidence her people have a matriarch.
71. In fan fiction Genma is often portrayed as being fat and out of shape.
    1. In the manga he is not fat (we saw him in the furo), is capable of keeping up with Ranma for a majority of the manga, and swam the sea of Japan.
72. Nerima is a martial arts mecca.
    1. Only about a dozen martial arts show up and most don't live there, a typical city in the USA would have a martial arts academy of some type.
73. Everyone's common means of traveling is to roof hop.
    1. Many are capable but for most characters it is not their prefered method of travel. Ryoga for example rarely does preferring to go through walls (and later in the manga tunneling underground), Soun, the male Kuno's, Miss Hinako (there is some evidence she could land a multi-story fall, but landing and jumping are very different), most of the one shot people, and Dr Tofu never did in the manga, Ukyo, Cologne, Genma have but rarely, etc., the only characters who use it as a common means for travel is Ranma, Kodachi, Happosai, and Shampoo. Those who do so rarely, obviously can just not their preferred method of travel, of those who didn't some probably could. Akane, at least manga Akane, probably could considering she has some impressive jumps and if it is just a matter of strength, she's got quite a few feats of strength.
74. Ranma borrows money and is in debt to Nabiki.
    1. Ranma has not borrowed money from her, pays her off at once when she extorts money from him, and owes her nothing.
75. Ranma uses the roof of the Tendo house as a place to think in private.
    1. Ranma tends to leave the Tendo property entirely and sits in random trees when he wants to think in private. He does use the roof of the Tendo house as a meeting place though. Ranma does not go under a bridge to think in the manga, does do that a couple times in the anime.
76. Kasumi is fanatical in her pursuit of domestic harmony.
    1. Kasumi gave Akane a mallet and has done other things like call Shampoo to come over which are counter to domestic harmony.

This was a list comparing fanon that contradicts the manga canon in Ranma ½. The fan fiction you read may or may not have had these in them some are more common than others after all.

Ranma Dailies

This : http://www.iglou.com/members/scarfman/ranma12.htm page has two mini Ranma comic (as in drawn and not written) crossovers. One with Dr Who/Ranma the other with Sailormoon/Ranma.

Unusual Ranma Altered Images

This site http://www.fortunecity.com/tatooine/pratchett/199/unusualranma.html has several photoshoped pictures. Things like the Ranma cast dressed as the Sailor Senshi or one characters head put on another character's body. (Picture taken from site is Ranma and Shampoo's heads put on Kei and Yuri's from Dirty Pair's bodies).

Ebay and Me

I do not often purchase things, either in person or on the internet. I have used ebay a few times to make some purchases, for example it is where I acquired the Ranma 1/2 manga in Japanese. It was a very good deal, go the entire set in one purchase. I have been purchasing things on ebay for awhile now, but had never tried to sell stuff on e-bay. I recently sold some items on ebay. I do not own a scale so I decided to use the post offices Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes and Envelopes, I'm not sure if that was a good idea or not.

Other than the few items I sold on ebay recently, selling things online is something I've never done before and don't really know much about. I've traded and still do trade stuff. I used to trade anime fansubs via the mail (had too slow an internet to download them -still do), I've traded games, and I am actively trading books on a few sites listed in another post, but never sold anything.

My experience of selling things did not work out so well. I must have done something wrong since the way I figure it I lost money. I hear of people making a lot of money from ebay but I have no idea as to how they do it. I was not expecting a lot of money but I expected to get more than I did.

I put new items up for sale. Stuff still in their original boxes. I had good feed back from purchases I had made in the past. I did not get any bids until the last day of the auction. One bid per item. The items ended up selling for .99 cents a piece. After the listing fee, ebay's percent from the price and Paypals fee, I got around 40 cents per item. It definitely was not worth the trouble of doing. I had to spend time making the listing, taking pictures of the items, uploading the pictures, package the items, and shipping the items. I suppose I should have put a reserve price or maybe a buy it now thing, but I figure it would not have sold at all had I done that.

I was recently reading on another blog about how a person purchases books new, reads them as fast as possible, than sells them on ebay. Somehow making a profit. How? New books are sold at suggested retail price at most places and books are extremely easy to find online (just check a site like abebooks or dealoz). To make a profit, he'd have to sell the books for more than retail price, who would buy them for more than retail when many places online would sell them at retail. Even if he bought the books at discount, why would the ebay price approach the retail price? and would the discount he got the books at cover the various ebay/paypal fee's?

If you have any pointers for selling stuff online, I'd appreciate them being left in the comments. I'm not even sure if Ebay is the best place to sell things but it's big and everyone has heard about it but there are other services online that maybe better.

How do you get people to bid higher than the minimum when you have little feedback and only want to sell the occasional thing (sometimes with months between sales)?

What is the best way to list the item?

Reserve prices and buy it now, good ideas? or not?

What is the best way to ship the items, assuming you do not have a scale?

How do people make a profit?

Ranma fan made live action musical

The above video is a clip from a live action Ranma musical that I found somewhere.

SwapaDVD

I recently signed up with Swapadvd. It is a DVD trading site similar to PaperbackSwap but for DVD's instead of books. While personally not as interested in DVD's as much as I am in books, I thought I'd give this site a try. Considering I'm more into Asian cinema at the moment then American released films (mainly because I've seen most of the American ones I wanted to since they are easier to obtain), I really don't expect much from it but maybe I'll find some good films who knows.

While on the subject of online trading, for trading books I've had more luck and had more trades through bookmooch than I've had with Paperbackswap. If you were thinking about using a book trading site I think you should sign up for both to get the most chances, but I find bookmooch to be the better site, even though the other site does give the option of purchase credits at a reasonable price from them and bookmooch doesn't.