I am currently reading a nonfiction book about vampires and decided to think about all the stories containing vampires that I could remember in a short period of time. Upon completion of the list it occurs to me that I have encountered a significant number of stories pertaining to vampires; some of which I consider good others not so good. If I really thought about it I could probably come up with more, this is obvious since I have thought of a few more after the arbitrary time limit I imposed on myself while making the list. I am somewhat tempted to comment about each one but I simultaneously don't feel like doing so.
Watched, read, or played:
Blood the Last Vampire
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Angel
Vampire Princess Miyu
Slayers Oav
Chibi-vampire
Saga of the Noble Dead series
Bunnicula
Dracula
Vampire Hunter D
Hellsing
Sesame Street's the Count
I am Legend
Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter
Underworld
Blood Rayne
Marvel comics Dracula
Batman versus Dracula
Blood Road
Blood Memories
X-men Apocalypse versus Dracula
Blood + Water
Vampire Huntress
Salem's Lot
Harry Potter
Castlevania
Fred Saberhagen's Dracula
Blacula
The Lost Boys
Blade
Akira Toriyama's Cowa
Blood and Rust
Didn't watch, read, or play and for most have no intention in doing so
Vampirella
True Blood
Twilight
The Vampire Chronicles
30 Days of Night
Rosario Vampire
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Reasonable out of character moment
I have the vague inklings for a scene in a piece of fiction that requires one of the characters to have a very out of character moment so as to advance the plot and get the characters out of a rut they are in. In this instance it is for a Ranma fan fic and the action I want is for Ranma to kiss Akane. They have many near kisses in the manga and a few that don't count (mouth covered with tape, character was temporarily insane, etc.). They are bound to eventually manage to kiss without being interrupted. I have no intention of the fic being a Ranma and Akane shipping fic but them advancing their relationship to kissing and light petting would be beneficial to both characters and would make a later pairing I have in mind easier to accept and smooth out some of the potential problems. Both Ranma and Akane are not confident about relationships and both have very good reasons. The hanging out and going on dates aspect doesn't really bother either of them. Akane has gone on dates with Ryoga and implied to have gone on one with Ranma and Ranma has gone on a lot of dates for various reasons. Physical intimacy of any type even holding hands though causes them both problems. Interestingly since Akane is shown to be a pervert basher it is Akane who seems to have less problems with becoming physical than Ranma does -she has goaded him like after he was kissed by Mikado, teased him about it - like on the way home from the Romeo and Juliet play, she has dreamt about it -spring sleep incense, and implied that she'd be okay with it so long as they were in private - like her comment when she dragged him into a closet to hide from his mom and he thought that she wanted to go in there for a very different reason and hugs her. That said Ranma has clearly put some thought into it as well but is much more hesitant about it and of the two all evidence points to him having to initiate it.
I have come up with a number of scenarios in which Ranma would initiate the very first real kiss, which is the most important one. After that kiss, kissing will become a much easier thing for them both to do and while I find it unlikely for Akane to give the first kiss she would very likely initiate subsequent kisses. It would be a serious confidence boost for both characters as well and open up new avenues in their lives (Ranma for example would be a lot less likely to freeze up when Shampoo or Azusa kisses him - she did that in the manga).
Here are some of the scenarios I have come up with:
1. A joyous occasion in his happiness he grabs her up and kisses her. The reason I am hesitant to use this is because on the few times Ranma was really happy like after he got his strength back he did not do that (though it was actually what Akane seemed to be expecting since it looked very much like she was going for a hug).
2. A desperate situation such as immediately after being returned to a human after Akane was magically turned into a doll. Had the other characters not been around and interrupted I could easily see both of them making out after that; probably would of gone beyond kissing and light petting to a point that neither of them are ready for.
3. Magic or possession. This sort of happened in the actual manga but is not a solution I like. Feel it is too heavy handed.
4. Drugged. Given a hallucinogen such as LSD and kissing her in his inebriated state. Again more heavy handed than I would like and to likely for Akane to notice that he is out of his mind and therefore not likely to count it.
5. This is very similar to being drugged but I like it somewhat more. Ranma does extreme overtraining; mentally; physically; and spiritually (ki); which is something he has done in the manga. The self induced sleep deprivation, hunger, mild heat stroke, and various natural chemicals running through his body (adrenaline, endomorphines, etc.) cause Ranma to enter a mental state in which he can't tell dreams from reality (sleep deprivation, fever, etc. can result in hallucinations similar to those which can be gotten from psychoactive drugs like LSD) and he remains lucid enough for Akane to not be able to notice when he grabs her up and kisses her. With her the next day initiating a kiss.
6. A misunderstanding causes it. Something similar to Akane dragging him into a closet or some place private and Ranma thinking she wants something like that rather than whatever her real reason for doing so.
Drugs, extreme emotion, extreme physical state, etc. can and do cause people to behave in ways that they generally would not but while they can all be used to create a reason as to why a character is acting out of character for a short time none of them really fit for the story idea I am currently contemplating. I almost want to go with they are home alone and bored so one of them decides to initiate a kiss but that is extremely unbelievable. The solution I think would be the most interesting would be via a misunderstanding but can't think of a real good one.
I have come up with a number of scenarios in which Ranma would initiate the very first real kiss, which is the most important one. After that kiss, kissing will become a much easier thing for them both to do and while I find it unlikely for Akane to give the first kiss she would very likely initiate subsequent kisses. It would be a serious confidence boost for both characters as well and open up new avenues in their lives (Ranma for example would be a lot less likely to freeze up when Shampoo or Azusa kisses him - she did that in the manga).
Here are some of the scenarios I have come up with:
1. A joyous occasion in his happiness he grabs her up and kisses her. The reason I am hesitant to use this is because on the few times Ranma was really happy like after he got his strength back he did not do that (though it was actually what Akane seemed to be expecting since it looked very much like she was going for a hug).
2. A desperate situation such as immediately after being returned to a human after Akane was magically turned into a doll. Had the other characters not been around and interrupted I could easily see both of them making out after that; probably would of gone beyond kissing and light petting to a point that neither of them are ready for.
3. Magic or possession. This sort of happened in the actual manga but is not a solution I like. Feel it is too heavy handed.
4. Drugged. Given a hallucinogen such as LSD and kissing her in his inebriated state. Again more heavy handed than I would like and to likely for Akane to notice that he is out of his mind and therefore not likely to count it.
5. This is very similar to being drugged but I like it somewhat more. Ranma does extreme overtraining; mentally; physically; and spiritually (ki); which is something he has done in the manga. The self induced sleep deprivation, hunger, mild heat stroke, and various natural chemicals running through his body (adrenaline, endomorphines, etc.) cause Ranma to enter a mental state in which he can't tell dreams from reality (sleep deprivation, fever, etc. can result in hallucinations similar to those which can be gotten from psychoactive drugs like LSD) and he remains lucid enough for Akane to not be able to notice when he grabs her up and kisses her. With her the next day initiating a kiss.
6. A misunderstanding causes it. Something similar to Akane dragging him into a closet or some place private and Ranma thinking she wants something like that rather than whatever her real reason for doing so.
Drugs, extreme emotion, extreme physical state, etc. can and do cause people to behave in ways that they generally would not but while they can all be used to create a reason as to why a character is acting out of character for a short time none of them really fit for the story idea I am currently contemplating. I almost want to go with they are home alone and bored so one of them decides to initiate a kiss but that is extremely unbelievable. The solution I think would be the most interesting would be via a misunderstanding but can't think of a real good one.
The Polysyllabic Spree
My brother really likes the author Nick Hornby. Since he likes the author I have read several of Nick Hornby's books as well. I found them to be fairly good though I did not like them as much as my brother did. On one of my frequent trips to the library I came across the book The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby and took it out. The book contains several essays that were originally in a literary magazine. While I am not entirely sure that I have never read a literary magazine I don't recall doing so.
I have read next to none of the books that Nick talks about in his essays and for that reason I probably have a more negative view on this book than it really deserves. Part of the reason I have not read them is because some of the books mentioned were not released in my country, are self help books to stop smoking (I never picked up that habit), are on sports like Cricket (I don't understand that game), and are biographies (that is a genre I rarely read). I like how he starts his essays with a list of books bought and books read. The books bought list is usually longer and while that maybe the case for me on some months most months it wouldn't since I prefer to read a book from the library before buying it. That doesn't mean I don't buy books without reading them first I do. I also make impulse purchases and use online trading services to acquire books I have not read before. I probably spend too much on books but the main reason as to why I am trying to read more books than I buy is simply because I don't really have the room for more books.
I like that he doesn't limit himself to critiques on the books and has it more like an informal blog where he tells us about other things in his life or his opinion on other things. While not much of a gossip (I barely can be bothered with remembering actors and actresses names much less anything about them) I like it because as I had mentioned last paragraph I haven't read the vast majority of books he talks about. He does make some comments that I'd like to comment on.
He makes a good point about paperback books. Prior to their invention books could sit on shelves for years until they become popular. Paperbacks and books in general nowadays pretty much have to sell well in their first year or they will go out of print and not develop a readership even if they are very good books their shelf life has gone down significantly. This is true for other reasons as well since the paper quality is much reduced and there is acid in the paper the books physically do not have the same shelf life as well.
Another thing that he mentions that I found interesting was that he doesn't particularly like his own writing and doesn't like to receive books from editors and other people simply because they find them similar to his own writing. He rather be given books with the comment that this book is nothing like yours but is still a very good book take a look. I can understand that. I too don't really like my own writing, to the point that my fiction writing embarrasses me enough that I don't let other people read it.
I have read next to none of the books that Nick talks about in his essays and for that reason I probably have a more negative view on this book than it really deserves. Part of the reason I have not read them is because some of the books mentioned were not released in my country, are self help books to stop smoking (I never picked up that habit), are on sports like Cricket (I don't understand that game), and are biographies (that is a genre I rarely read). I like how he starts his essays with a list of books bought and books read. The books bought list is usually longer and while that maybe the case for me on some months most months it wouldn't since I prefer to read a book from the library before buying it. That doesn't mean I don't buy books without reading them first I do. I also make impulse purchases and use online trading services to acquire books I have not read before. I probably spend too much on books but the main reason as to why I am trying to read more books than I buy is simply because I don't really have the room for more books.
I like that he doesn't limit himself to critiques on the books and has it more like an informal blog where he tells us about other things in his life or his opinion on other things. While not much of a gossip (I barely can be bothered with remembering actors and actresses names much less anything about them) I like it because as I had mentioned last paragraph I haven't read the vast majority of books he talks about. He does make some comments that I'd like to comment on.
...I became depressed by the realization that I'd forgotten pretty much everything I've ever read.He then goes on to comment about how it is actually a good thing because he can reread them as if they were new. I often forget the title and the author but I can remember the plots and some details. Just skimming through something I read in the past is usually enough to recall it. While I have reread some books it is not something I do frequently. Even though some books are worth a second or even an eleventh read through there are so many books in existence that I generally pick up a new book rather than reread a book.
He makes a good point about paperback books. Prior to their invention books could sit on shelves for years until they become popular. Paperbacks and books in general nowadays pretty much have to sell well in their first year or they will go out of print and not develop a readership even if they are very good books their shelf life has gone down significantly. This is true for other reasons as well since the paper quality is much reduced and there is acid in the paper the books physically do not have the same shelf life as well.
Usually, books have gone out of print for a reason, and that reason is they're no good, or, at least, of very marginal interest.In general I agree with that statement but the stated reasons are too commonly not the reasons as to why a book has gone out of print as often as it should be. I have seen pretty good books go out of print for other reasons such as the publisher went bankrupt, they were translated poorly, they were not marketed/advertised well, executive meddling, and piss poor cover designs (sure there is a saying don't judge a book by its cover but that doesn't stop people from doing so). In the case of manga and some foreign novels especially other factors besides not being good are the main reason that they are out of print. The poor quality not good works don't even get considered for translation so are much less likely to ever make it to this country outside of fan translations. A number of publishing companies went belly up, difficulties in acquiring the copyright, and especially poor marketing have killed some very good and extremely popular books. By extremely popular I mean in their home countries they sold more than a million copies, had a long series of manga and novels written about them, had multiple films and television series on them, were re-released dozens of times, etc. but because of mainly stupidity they either were cut short or are out of print here. Even here they were popular amongst those who actually new about them (some have had petitions asking for more that acquired large numbers of signatures) or sold out their first printings but still went out of print.
Every time I read a biography of a novelist, I discover that the novels in question are autobiographical to an almost horrifying degree.I don't know how accurate that statement is because I haven't read very many biographies of novelists; though it did apply to the last one that I recall reading about Lewis Carroll best known for Alice in Wonderland. A lot of the scenes are based on places he had been. Someone (a mysterious they) said write what you know so that likely does explain why many novels are autobiographical in nature. Personally I would try not to contain aspects of my life. A lot of my life is boring and the rest I generally wouldn't want to share with others. I wouldn't even want to use life experiences for settings and background.
Another thing that he mentions that I found interesting was that he doesn't particularly like his own writing and doesn't like to receive books from editors and other people simply because they find them similar to his own writing. He rather be given books with the comment that this book is nothing like yours but is still a very good book take a look. I can understand that. I too don't really like my own writing, to the point that my fiction writing embarrasses me enough that I don't let other people read it.
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sky Blade - Sword of Heaven
I recently read the first two volumes of the manhwa, Korean term for comics and print cartoons, titled Sky Blade - Sword of Heaven. I had picked them up at a local comicbook shop on clearance and upon finishing them I looked online to see if I could find some more volumes. I was disappointed to find out that only two volumes were released in English by the now defunct ADV Manga and there are no online fan translations of the series (at least none I could easily find - though I did find a Korean role playing game called Sky Blade which is based on this manga).
I really dislike it when I start a series and am unable to finish it for one reason or another. It's very annoying when there is a lot more of a series written but you can't read it because it is no longer being translated. In this case I don't really mind all that much because while not bad the series is pretty mediocre at least what I had read. I am far more upset about other series for example the Slayers Novels only the first eight where translated into English (volume 9 and part of volume 10 can be found online) and those I really want. I like the Slayers novels considerably more than the anime (and it is one of if not my favorite anime) or the various manga.
Sky Blade is a martial arts story with a fairly clueless and seemingly unskilled (learn fairly quickly that he isn't unskilled actually a prodigy just not interested in fighting) protagonist who manages to get in embarrassing situations with the three most powerful, and supposedly beautiful, female warriors in the land which promptly decide that he has to die because of that (well two of them the third just wants to kill him for his energy).
I really dislike it when I start a series and am unable to finish it for one reason or another. It's very annoying when there is a lot more of a series written but you can't read it because it is no longer being translated. In this case I don't really mind all that much because while not bad the series is pretty mediocre at least what I had read. I am far more upset about other series for example the Slayers Novels only the first eight where translated into English (volume 9 and part of volume 10 can be found online) and those I really want. I like the Slayers novels considerably more than the anime (and it is one of if not my favorite anime) or the various manga.
Sky Blade is a martial arts story with a fairly clueless and seemingly unskilled (learn fairly quickly that he isn't unskilled actually a prodigy just not interested in fighting) protagonist who manages to get in embarrassing situations with the three most powerful, and supposedly beautiful, female warriors in the land which promptly decide that he has to die because of that (well two of them the third just wants to kill him for his energy).
Nature of Ki Blasts in the Ranmaverse
I've seen ki blast be used in various ways in Ranma (and other) fan fiction involving ki or energy blasts. As I had mentioned in one of my very early posts the ki blast arc is mostly a joke arc. The attacks are basically puns with the attacks working like the literal meaning of the idiom they are based on (there are hundreds of Japanese idioms that involve the word ki in some way- This is not surprising when you take into account that the Japanese language contains over 11,000 known usages of "ki" as a compound).
Here is an explanation quoted from someone on a forum (I am unsure as to which forum or the individual who originally wrote this):
It probably is possible to use multiple emotions to power the blast and make them even larger so long as there is no conflict between them. I got this idea from the Rumiko Takahashi anniversary special which has multiple characters from her works interact. In the short Ranma appears to use a Shishi Höködan Möko Takabisha the way I see this working is because Ranma was depressed that he (well technically she) was groped but still had enough confidence to toss a confidence based one.
Ranma's standard Möko Takabisha has no charge up time and can be launched pretty much instantly. Ranma doesn't have to yell Möko Takabisha, nor does he have to be any special stance to throw it. The picture below shows Ranma throwing a blast over his shoulder mainly by accident without yelling Möko Takabisha (I do not know why I have not seen a fan fic in which Ranma is somehow restrained and tosses one out of his head or finger).
The blast can even be thrown as an extension to a punch.
These standard ki blasts are pretty hard to dodge when you consider they require next to no time to prepare (may need time to get in an emotional state but once in that state they can be launched repeatedly) they generally have a fairly large diameter with the standard blasts being larger than Ranma is tall, and they pack a punch (blows through brick walls with ease).
Ranma and Ryoga are not limited to throwing just one or two they can throw them repeatedly for quite a while.
While the power of the blast appears to be determined by the strength of the emotion it appears to be possible to vary the amount of ki used (Miss Hinako's blast became much more powerful when she accidentally drained ki from a bust of Principal Kuno). This means if they want a weaker blast they can be done by using less emotion or less ki (Ranma after all did throw a lot of very little tiny blasts while practicing). The reverses is true as well stronger emotion or more ki built up more powerful the blast - means Ranma can throw more powerful blasts if he feels the emotion stronger (imagine how powerful they'd be if he channeled his fear into a blast while near cats) or if he spent more time building up his aura prior to throwing them (Ranma has demonstrated the ability to build up his aura for example during the time he was at a hot spring island and it is an explicit ability of Ranma's in a few of the games such as Hard Battle).
Normal people in the manga probably can't see ki blasts at all or if they do they most likely see them as shimmers of heat. The reason I think this is because most people can't see aura's and we are shown that ki blasts are hot (not hot enough or possibly just not around long enough to cause things to combust - since fire requires both heat and time around the heat to start). This is shown in a few ways. Nabiki calls Ranma's little ki Blasts balls of hot air, Akane mistakes the heat from a hair drier for Kasumi's aura, Ranma and Ryoga's ki blast while children burnt the mushrooms of aging, and the way the Hiryü Shöten Ha works requires auras to be hot.
Ki does have some blow back Herb used the bounce back from his ki off the ground to do his flight trick and Miss Hinako used Ranma's ki to throw herself high into the air and to propel herself through the water.
The shape of ki blasts can be altered as well Herb used ki blasts shaped like crescents to cut.
Ki blasts maybe used as a steady beam by continuing to feed energy into the technique though this isn't really shown in the manga (Herb did have a whip like ki blast) but is shown in the anime.
Ki blasts are not compressed balls of air if they were they wouldn't have been able to pass through Ryoga when he didn't lose focus on the emotion. They would have hit him regardless of his emotional state.
Ranma can toss more than one at a time as demonstrated by the Möko Takabisha double.
I can think of a large number of possible variations to the technique as well as the battle auras and applications for the technique which causes me to often wonder why I don't see more in fan fics. Possible other variation smaller faster moving but higher density blasts. Doing a perfect Shishi Höködan and then taking all the energy wasted in the column and making a much more powerful blast. A barrage of small blasts. Using ki blasts as suppression fire. Propulsion as it had been in the manga occasionally (Ranma had Ryoga launch him farther by hitting Ranma with one, this type also appears as a move in the games, like Battle Renaissance, where Ranma uses the ki blast to propel himself like a canon ball into enemies). There are a lot of possible variations and times in which this would be very useful in combat but it is rarely shown in fan fics in other ways than how it was first shown. I sort of understand that because Ranma, hell most of the characters, rarely use ki blasts - many reasons for that such as too powerful takes away from the drama (I believe that is the reason stated by Takahashi in an interview for why Ranma doesn't use some techniques all the time but don't quote me on that since I'm not completely positive she said that), Ranma's tendency to fight at around his opponents level and in their style, it is over kill for most engagements, can be countered by ki blasts which makes it somewhat less useful against some opponents, etc.
The Shishi Höködan is focused through the emotion of depression. Since the technique is powered by depression and Cologne calls the technique a terrible one and that it's foolish to fight with it, some fans have adopted the stance that the Shishi Höködan actually induces despair, causing a martial artist who learned and uses it to become more and more depressed and melancholy. This is not the case. Cologne used the metaphor of two lions clawing at each other even as they tumble down a cliff. This is clarified to mean it's pointless to duel with the Shishi Höködan (as the worse you're doing, the more powerful it is — but the better you're doing, the less powerful it is, so the fighters just end up seesawing back and forth until they pummel each other senseless). Ryoga and Ranma prior to him deciding that depression isn't really an emotion that fits him (though considering how his life is you'd think it would be, Nabiki and Kasumi even comment on how his life is pretty bad) had to go out of their way to make themselves as miserable as possible for the fight. Ryoga's personality remained unchanged in subsequent stories.
I am annoyed when people attempt to place the characters on a hierarchy based on ki strength. There are a number of reasons as to why this bothers me. The first being they tend to place Saffron and Rouge's Ashura form on the scale when neither of them used ki attacks they used raw fire (as well as lightning in the case of Rouge). Second they tend to rank Miss Hinako very high on the scale when I find it debatable that she should even be considered since, while she has tossed some pretty powerful ki blasts, it is not her ki she's using she has to drain it from someone else to toss them. Third most of the characters don't toss around ki blast often or like the already mentioned Rouge and the not mentioned Ryu Kumon they aren't tossing around ki (Ryu tosses around vacuum blades and Tatewaki tossed around air pressure waves). Fourth some clearly powerful people like Happosai and Genma don't go around tossing ki blasts even though they can create massive sky scrapper sized auras. Fifth because of the nature of emotion focused ki blasts a less powerful person could toss a much larger blast than a more powerful person by simply reaching a depth of emotion that can not be matched by the other character. Sixth, and the last reason I'm going to give for now, Takahashi did not attempt to do so at all. Characters did not try to generally match each others power they tended to use techniques/skill/trickery instead (and in several cases it is quite clear had the character been using lethal force, brute power, strength, raw speed, etc. they could have overwhelmed the opponent) and several of the characters clearly limited themselves (such as not using lethal techniques).
Here is an explanation quoted from someone on a forum (I am unsure as to which forum or the individual who originally wrote this):
The shishi houkoudan is based on the idiom 気が重い which means being bummed out/depressed, but literally means the ki is heavy. The perfect shishi houkoudan is based on 気が沈む, being gloomy/ melancholic, but literally the ki sinks, (hence the downward arrow on the scroll and Ryouga understanding when he sees the fish toy sink) that's why unlike the normal version the perfect shishi houkoudan drops down from above. The mouko takabisha is based on 強気, confident/aggressive, but literally strong ki.The power of ki blasts appear to be based on the strength of the emotion that they are being focused through and the amount of ki used. Shishi Höködan uses depression and Möko Takabisha uses confidence. Other emotions could probably be used as well such as anger/rage or fear. If a character can't focus on one emotion such as depression they aught to switch to a different emotion since that is exactly what Ranma did in the manga. Physical strength appears to have little to do with the power of the blasts -Ryoga's regular ki blasts did not decrease in size during the time he was made younger and Miss Hinako is not the physically strongest character.
After Ranma figures out the shishi houkoudan and before deciding on the mouko takabisha he tries out a couple of different puns/idioms/emotions, but they aren't particularly useful as attacks: Not feeling like it/ "the ki doesn't progress": The ball of ki sticks to his hands instead of flying away. Distracted/ "the ki scatters": The ball of ki scatters harmlessly.
Confused/ "the ki strays": The ball of ki comes back and hits him.
Impatience/ "short ki": a series of very small balls.
It probably is possible to use multiple emotions to power the blast and make them even larger so long as there is no conflict between them. I got this idea from the Rumiko Takahashi anniversary special which has multiple characters from her works interact. In the short Ranma appears to use a Shishi Höködan Möko Takabisha the way I see this working is because Ranma was depressed that he (well technically she) was groped but still had enough confidence to toss a confidence based one.
Ranma's standard Möko Takabisha has no charge up time and can be launched pretty much instantly. Ranma doesn't have to yell Möko Takabisha, nor does he have to be any special stance to throw it. The picture below shows Ranma throwing a blast over his shoulder mainly by accident without yelling Möko Takabisha (I do not know why I have not seen a fan fic in which Ranma is somehow restrained and tosses one out of his head or finger).
The blast can even be thrown as an extension to a punch.
These standard ki blasts are pretty hard to dodge when you consider they require next to no time to prepare (may need time to get in an emotional state but once in that state they can be launched repeatedly) they generally have a fairly large diameter with the standard blasts being larger than Ranma is tall, and they pack a punch (blows through brick walls with ease).
Ranma and Ryoga are not limited to throwing just one or two they can throw them repeatedly for quite a while.
While the power of the blast appears to be determined by the strength of the emotion it appears to be possible to vary the amount of ki used (Miss Hinako's blast became much more powerful when she accidentally drained ki from a bust of Principal Kuno). This means if they want a weaker blast they can be done by using less emotion or less ki (Ranma after all did throw a lot of very little tiny blasts while practicing). The reverses is true as well stronger emotion or more ki built up more powerful the blast - means Ranma can throw more powerful blasts if he feels the emotion stronger (imagine how powerful they'd be if he channeled his fear into a blast while near cats) or if he spent more time building up his aura prior to throwing them (Ranma has demonstrated the ability to build up his aura for example during the time he was at a hot spring island and it is an explicit ability of Ranma's in a few of the games such as Hard Battle).
Normal people in the manga probably can't see ki blasts at all or if they do they most likely see them as shimmers of heat. The reason I think this is because most people can't see aura's and we are shown that ki blasts are hot (not hot enough or possibly just not around long enough to cause things to combust - since fire requires both heat and time around the heat to start). This is shown in a few ways. Nabiki calls Ranma's little ki Blasts balls of hot air, Akane mistakes the heat from a hair drier for Kasumi's aura, Ranma and Ryoga's ki blast while children burnt the mushrooms of aging, and the way the Hiryü Shöten Ha works requires auras to be hot.
Ki does have some blow back Herb used the bounce back from his ki off the ground to do his flight trick and Miss Hinako used Ranma's ki to throw herself high into the air and to propel herself through the water.
The shape of ki blasts can be altered as well Herb used ki blasts shaped like crescents to cut.
Ki blasts maybe used as a steady beam by continuing to feed energy into the technique though this isn't really shown in the manga (Herb did have a whip like ki blast) but is shown in the anime.
Ki blasts are not compressed balls of air if they were they wouldn't have been able to pass through Ryoga when he didn't lose focus on the emotion. They would have hit him regardless of his emotional state.
Ranma can toss more than one at a time as demonstrated by the Möko Takabisha double.
I can think of a large number of possible variations to the technique as well as the battle auras and applications for the technique which causes me to often wonder why I don't see more in fan fics. Possible other variation smaller faster moving but higher density blasts. Doing a perfect Shishi Höködan and then taking all the energy wasted in the column and making a much more powerful blast. A barrage of small blasts. Using ki blasts as suppression fire. Propulsion as it had been in the manga occasionally (Ranma had Ryoga launch him farther by hitting Ranma with one, this type also appears as a move in the games, like Battle Renaissance, where Ranma uses the ki blast to propel himself like a canon ball into enemies). There are a lot of possible variations and times in which this would be very useful in combat but it is rarely shown in fan fics in other ways than how it was first shown. I sort of understand that because Ranma, hell most of the characters, rarely use ki blasts - many reasons for that such as too powerful takes away from the drama (I believe that is the reason stated by Takahashi in an interview for why Ranma doesn't use some techniques all the time but don't quote me on that since I'm not completely positive she said that), Ranma's tendency to fight at around his opponents level and in their style, it is over kill for most engagements, can be countered by ki blasts which makes it somewhat less useful against some opponents, etc.
The Shishi Höködan is focused through the emotion of depression. Since the technique is powered by depression and Cologne calls the technique a terrible one and that it's foolish to fight with it, some fans have adopted the stance that the Shishi Höködan actually induces despair, causing a martial artist who learned and uses it to become more and more depressed and melancholy. This is not the case. Cologne used the metaphor of two lions clawing at each other even as they tumble down a cliff. This is clarified to mean it's pointless to duel with the Shishi Höködan (as the worse you're doing, the more powerful it is — but the better you're doing, the less powerful it is, so the fighters just end up seesawing back and forth until they pummel each other senseless). Ryoga and Ranma prior to him deciding that depression isn't really an emotion that fits him (though considering how his life is you'd think it would be, Nabiki and Kasumi even comment on how his life is pretty bad) had to go out of their way to make themselves as miserable as possible for the fight. Ryoga's personality remained unchanged in subsequent stories.
I am annoyed when people attempt to place the characters on a hierarchy based on ki strength. There are a number of reasons as to why this bothers me. The first being they tend to place Saffron and Rouge's Ashura form on the scale when neither of them used ki attacks they used raw fire (as well as lightning in the case of Rouge). Second they tend to rank Miss Hinako very high on the scale when I find it debatable that she should even be considered since, while she has tossed some pretty powerful ki blasts, it is not her ki she's using she has to drain it from someone else to toss them. Third most of the characters don't toss around ki blast often or like the already mentioned Rouge and the not mentioned Ryu Kumon they aren't tossing around ki (Ryu tosses around vacuum blades and Tatewaki tossed around air pressure waves). Fourth some clearly powerful people like Happosai and Genma don't go around tossing ki blasts even though they can create massive sky scrapper sized auras. Fifth because of the nature of emotion focused ki blasts a less powerful person could toss a much larger blast than a more powerful person by simply reaching a depth of emotion that can not be matched by the other character. Sixth, and the last reason I'm going to give for now, Takahashi did not attempt to do so at all. Characters did not try to generally match each others power they tended to use techniques/skill/trickery instead (and in several cases it is quite clear had the character been using lethal force, brute power, strength, raw speed, etc. they could have overwhelmed the opponent) and several of the characters clearly limited themselves (such as not using lethal techniques).
Every Dog has a Gift
Every Dog Has a Gift: True Stories of Dogs Who Bring Hope & Healing into Our Lives by Rachel McPherson (who started The Good Dog Foundation) is a book that contains several stories about dogs helping people. As I have mentioned before I like dogs. Personally I feel dogs do not receive enough credit for their contributions to society. This book mentions a few of the ways dogs have and do contribute to society but no where near all the ways that they do. Dogs have been helping people for thousands of years in a large number of tasks. For example (my list not purely from the book): autism service dogs trained to handle the challenges of autism; seeing-eye dogs for the blind; dogs offer comfort to people at funeral homes, hospitals, and nursing homes; dogs locate trapped or missing people; dogs locate bombs and drugs; dogs are/were messengers during war; dogs help people hunt; dogs protect peoples property; dogs help in corralling other animals; dogs offer friendship/companionship to people; dogs provide entertainment; dogs encourage people to exercise; have been experimented on; went to space; dogs are substitutes for children to many people; etc.This book contains a few waffy (warm and fuzzy feeling) stories but not really that many. I feel that the author could have and probably should have included more. The best thing about this book is that it gives you some information about raising service dogs that I did not know before. It is a much easier task according to the book than I believed it to be.
A photo gallery with some picture of dogs from this book can be found at: Tarcherbooks
Inspirations for Ranma ½ manga 5
I recently noticed that the original Japanese title of volume 19 part 3 and VIZ volume 17 part 3 is a reference to the novel The Catcher In the Rye by J. D. Salinger. VIZ called it Catcher in the Rind whereas the Japanese version is translated Catcher in the Watermelon Patch.
I have not read that novel or if I did I don't recall doing so. I have a list of books I'd like to eventually read and that book is on it though.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Ranma's disguises
I've seen people on various places on the internet criticize Ranma's disguises. That annoys me because I don't think they are bad. I'll admit that they could probably be improved but given how little time Ranma spent on them they do seem to be pretty good. For instance while pretending to be Ryoga's fiancée Ranma spent little time preparing but she did wear a dress, a wig, glasses, put on make-up (face powder), and spoke using feminine word choices. What more could she really have done except maybe put on contacts so she'd have a different eye color? It's not like he had the time to add prosthetics or detailed make-up work, realistically Ranma's disguises are about the best a person can do given time constraints.
The main reason I view them as being good is because they did what they were supposed to - fool the person that she/he (this is one of the times that English not having a good gender neutral pronoun annoys me) was attempting to fool. The most interesting thing about it is that Ranma himself, in the manga at least, was surprised that it worked the first time he did so. Since it was proven to work he did so again and again. Ninja, the historical spy/assassin type, commonly used disguises to infiltrate and considering how many aspects of ninjitsu Ranma displays him doing so makes sense. The thing is most of the reasons as to why the disguises worked for ninja is because the people who they were being used on didn't know the person in the first place (which is the case for some of the ones Ranma uses). The only person who seemed to always be able to see through them was Akane which is very strange when you consider that she can't figure out Ryoga and P-chan are one and the same when she has been given many clues (such as Ryoga's desire to get the cure) and knows the nature of Jusenkyo as well as anyone else in the series; though it could be an indication to show how she and Ranma are connected (the Japanese have a term for the connection between two people who have been around one another for a long time and can seemingly sense them from their connection to one another but I can't recall it at this time).
That is another thing I have seen that annoys me -when people deride Ranma's disguises I've seen the claim that even the guileless Akane can see through them. What manga were they reading by chance? Akane is not guileless. She tends to be less deceitful than most of the cast members and is generally honest but she has displayed various degrees of guile. Some examples of her displaying guile: Her lying to Ranma's mom about Ranma's identity when he was pretending to be Ranko. Her going along with the plan to pretended that she really was married to Ranma to convince Ukyo to leave. Her convincing Ranma's mother to take Ranma bra shopping as revenge for insulting her. Going on a date with Ryoga for the sole purpose of making Ranma jealous. Lied to Miss Hinako about Soun being married. Akane can be and is deceptive and willing to be dishonest even though she tends to do so less often than other cast members.
Of course if Ranma had bothered to spend more time thinking and planning (he is fairly impulsive) he would have made better disguises or decided a disguise wasn't needed at all. The thing is even if Ranma didn't have a reason to do so or did come up with other ways to do what he wanted to he'd probably still don a disguise. Ranma finds it to be fun to put on a disguise and mess with people, he has even stated that he was enjoying doing so on occasion.
I don't see Ranma putting on a disguise in fan fiction very often and when I do see him do so it is most commonly disguising himself as a sailor senshi or Ranko. This is one of the many things Ranma does in the source material that I just don't see in fanfiction as often as I think it deserves. There are a lot of reasons as to why he would do so and has done so. What in particular I'd like to see more often is Ranma impersonating people in authority for example a police officer or ranking person in some type of organization, heck even pretending to be a secretary to get information on a business/the government would be interesting. I've had an admittedly not put much thought into story idea about Ranma being hired as a political impersonator, thought it would be funny for an assassination attempt to happen only to find that the small caliber bullet used doesn't have enough force to penetrate Ranma's skin (considering the amount of damage Ranma can absorb small arms like those carried by the regular police in Japan and most commonly found on the Japanese black market simply wouldn't be able to penetrate) or for Ranma to impersonate a celebrity because they pissed him off (Ranma is shown to be perfectly willing to mock people like he did Mousse's fighting style by implying that it was just like a stage magicians). While I could see Ranma doing so as a means of identity theft (like Ryu Kumon did to Ranma) those types of fraud I more associate with Nabiki (I keep expecting to see a fan fic in which Nabiki is doing identity fraud and remittance scams, they are far too common in Japan at this time, but have yet to see one even though it is something I find extremely likely for her to do).
Ranma enjoys doing so, his disguises aren't bad considering the amount of time he generally puts into coming up with them (very little), they work on his intended targets and Ranma would make a very good method actor. I was rereading the arc in which Ranma disguised himself as Yoiko Hibiki (Ryoga sister) and if I didn't know better I'd have believed that Ranma was Ryoga's sister, he got pretty caught up in playing the part. Ranma being an actor or into role playing in fan fiction simply doesn't occur very much yet Akane being an actress, going to school to be one, or wanting to be one shows up more frequently than I think it should especially when you consider that at the beginning of the Romeo and Juliet arc she clearly did not want to be one even tried to convince them to chose Ranma instead of her until she learned of the part they wanted her to play (she only wanted to be that one character because of past experiences and had zero interest in becoming an actress playing any other character).
Another thing that somewhat bothers me is that Ranma in fan fiction rarely uses any alias other than Ranko (which I have already mentioned on this blog is not one I find likely for Ranma to use again because of the memories associated with it). In the manga he has used several for example: Yoiko Hibiki and Kew. I would think that more fan fiction writers would think of giving him a different alias on occasion.
The main reason I view them as being good is because they did what they were supposed to - fool the person that she/he (this is one of the times that English not having a good gender neutral pronoun annoys me) was attempting to fool. The most interesting thing about it is that Ranma himself, in the manga at least, was surprised that it worked the first time he did so. Since it was proven to work he did so again and again. Ninja, the historical spy/assassin type, commonly used disguises to infiltrate and considering how many aspects of ninjitsu Ranma displays him doing so makes sense. The thing is most of the reasons as to why the disguises worked for ninja is because the people who they were being used on didn't know the person in the first place (which is the case for some of the ones Ranma uses). The only person who seemed to always be able to see through them was Akane which is very strange when you consider that she can't figure out Ryoga and P-chan are one and the same when she has been given many clues (such as Ryoga's desire to get the cure) and knows the nature of Jusenkyo as well as anyone else in the series; though it could be an indication to show how she and Ranma are connected (the Japanese have a term for the connection between two people who have been around one another for a long time and can seemingly sense them from their connection to one another but I can't recall it at this time).
That is another thing I have seen that annoys me -when people deride Ranma's disguises I've seen the claim that even the guileless Akane can see through them. What manga were they reading by chance? Akane is not guileless. She tends to be less deceitful than most of the cast members and is generally honest but she has displayed various degrees of guile. Some examples of her displaying guile: Her lying to Ranma's mom about Ranma's identity when he was pretending to be Ranko. Her going along with the plan to pretended that she really was married to Ranma to convince Ukyo to leave. Her convincing Ranma's mother to take Ranma bra shopping as revenge for insulting her. Going on a date with Ryoga for the sole purpose of making Ranma jealous. Lied to Miss Hinako about Soun being married. Akane can be and is deceptive and willing to be dishonest even though she tends to do so less often than other cast members.
Of course if Ranma had bothered to spend more time thinking and planning (he is fairly impulsive) he would have made better disguises or decided a disguise wasn't needed at all. The thing is even if Ranma didn't have a reason to do so or did come up with other ways to do what he wanted to he'd probably still don a disguise. Ranma finds it to be fun to put on a disguise and mess with people, he has even stated that he was enjoying doing so on occasion.
I don't see Ranma putting on a disguise in fan fiction very often and when I do see him do so it is most commonly disguising himself as a sailor senshi or Ranko. This is one of the many things Ranma does in the source material that I just don't see in fanfiction as often as I think it deserves. There are a lot of reasons as to why he would do so and has done so. What in particular I'd like to see more often is Ranma impersonating people in authority for example a police officer or ranking person in some type of organization, heck even pretending to be a secretary to get information on a business/the government would be interesting. I've had an admittedly not put much thought into story idea about Ranma being hired as a political impersonator, thought it would be funny for an assassination attempt to happen only to find that the small caliber bullet used doesn't have enough force to penetrate Ranma's skin (considering the amount of damage Ranma can absorb small arms like those carried by the regular police in Japan and most commonly found on the Japanese black market simply wouldn't be able to penetrate) or for Ranma to impersonate a celebrity because they pissed him off (Ranma is shown to be perfectly willing to mock people like he did Mousse's fighting style by implying that it was just like a stage magicians). While I could see Ranma doing so as a means of identity theft (like Ryu Kumon did to Ranma) those types of fraud I more associate with Nabiki (I keep expecting to see a fan fic in which Nabiki is doing identity fraud and remittance scams, they are far too common in Japan at this time, but have yet to see one even though it is something I find extremely likely for her to do).
Ranma enjoys doing so, his disguises aren't bad considering the amount of time he generally puts into coming up with them (very little), they work on his intended targets and Ranma would make a very good method actor. I was rereading the arc in which Ranma disguised himself as Yoiko Hibiki (Ryoga sister) and if I didn't know better I'd have believed that Ranma was Ryoga's sister, he got pretty caught up in playing the part. Ranma being an actor or into role playing in fan fiction simply doesn't occur very much yet Akane being an actress, going to school to be one, or wanting to be one shows up more frequently than I think it should especially when you consider that at the beginning of the Romeo and Juliet arc she clearly did not want to be one even tried to convince them to chose Ranma instead of her until she learned of the part they wanted her to play (she only wanted to be that one character because of past experiences and had zero interest in becoming an actress playing any other character).
Another thing that somewhat bothers me is that Ranma in fan fiction rarely uses any alias other than Ranko (which I have already mentioned on this blog is not one I find likely for Ranma to use again because of the memories associated with it). In the manga he has used several for example: Yoiko Hibiki and Kew. I would think that more fan fiction writers would think of giving him a different alias on occasion.
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