A person I have been talking with about Harry Potter suggested to me to try my hand at writing a fan fic for NaNoWriMo (which I didn't manage to meet minimum word count last year and wasn't happy with what I did write). Since Ranma 1/2 is my favorite series it would be the series I'm most inclined to primarily write for but since I have been talking with someone about Harry Potter in a few dozen or so emails I could possibly write a crossover with the two series. Here are some ideas for a possible crossover between the two series with it being a Hermione/Ranma pairing (because I prefer Ranma stories with crossover girls more than canon girls or original characters and I hate the Hermione/Ron pairing).
I was already thinking about writing a fan fic which uses the spiritual and magical aspects of Ranma 1/2 which don't really show up that often in fan fics so crossing it with Harry Potter would be doable. Though for the story I think it would be best for Ranma to be unable to do direct magic like the Harry Potter Wizards do. Flying a broom, apparition, transfiguring things with a wand and some words, becoming an animagus all not possible for Ranma to do. Creating potions, using magical items and plants, ritual, and rune magic are possible for him though. I'd like for the story to be a mix of Ranma 1/2 things and people with Harry Potter things and people.
Story start six months post Ranma manga and Harry Potter prior to the epilogue but mostly happens pre and beginning manga and during the Goblet of Fire.
- The time period from the end of the manga to the start of the story was very busy, very tiring, and extremely stressful for Ranma (a few examples of the stress is his mother holding the Seppuku contract over his head demanding he do things that she thinks he should while implying not doing so would be unmanly, Happosai, the girls, random challengers, etc.). That being the case Ranma decides to get away from it all for a bit and travels to a remote area of Australia partially to train in the more destructive techniques he knows or is trying to figure out but mostly just to relax and live off the land isolated from annoying people for a bit.
- Hermione at the beginning of the story has left the United Kingdom to go find her parents who she memory charmed and sent to Australia but they weren't where she expected them to be. While fairly near to Ranma she manages to get seriously hurt.
- Ranma happens to be in the area at the time finds her and takes care of her (uses pressure points to paralyze her legs so she doesn't feel the pain of broken burnt legs. Uses water of life to temporarily heal her giving him time to prepare the items needed to actually save her life. Can't take her to a hospital since he is pretty far away from civilization. This is a bonding point and start of a friendship for Ranma and Hermione (not fall in love immediately Ranma likes Akane and Hermione likes Ron at this point). Him taking care of her will have her looking at him positively and her being grateful and talking to him while healing will cause him to look at her favorably.
- Some time passes with her healing up (can't apperate to a hospital but she doesn't know why). They come upon a cave where they happen to run across a type of aboriginal spirit called the Quinkan (Ranma and Hermione hadn't noticed/recognized the crystals outside the cave which were trapping the spirit within).
-Ranma knows the basics of how to fight a spirit and some abilities in which spirits have but he was caught off guard (takes time to create o-fudo and shimenawa) and the spirit is too powerful for him to fight as Ranma is at that point.
- Ranma and Hermione somehow, they have no clue as to how though the Quinkan does know how, enters dreamtime. The dreamtime is a place in Aboriginal mythology where time and space have no meaning.
- Together Ranma and Hermione manage to exit the dreamtime but they do so into their younger bodies more specifically Hermione enters hers shortly before the Triwizard tournament and Ranma finds himself back in China before he acquired his curse (what really annoys him but doesn't surprise him is that the curse stayed with him when he traveled into his younger body).
- The Quinkan, which doesn't perceive the passing of time like humans do, has a small connection to Ranma and Hermione which it will try to use to kill them and use the energy released by their deaths to free itself from it's prison. Weakened, still imprisoned, and from such a far distance its abilities are hampered but it is capable of changing the names on two of the papers that come out of the goblet. Instead of Cedric's name coming out of the goblet Hermione's does. Harry's name doesn't comes out, Ranma's does.
Misc things to happen
- Ranma is not respectful to people that don't respect him and will search the entire castle (because that is something that he does several times in the manga at various places).
- The Quinkan influences things to change the tournament to be harder than canon
- Voldemort changes his plans since Harry is not in the tournament.
- Happosai and therefor people with grudges against Happosai like Taro, Lucky, and Cologne (trying to get back some of the stuff Happosai stole) will show up.
- Ryoga and Ukyo will show up but the muggle repellent wards will stymie Ukyo some. Ryoga doesn't notice them, Happosai, Lucky, Cologne, Ranma, and Pantyhose Taro are not effected by them at all.
- Genma will drag the Tendo's with him (in an attempt to prevent Ranma from ending up with Ukyo or some other girl) and Tatewaki will follow the Tendo's (muggle repellent wards do work on them to a degree).
- Tengu are an enemy of Ranma that showed up after Saffron but before the time travel they are his enemy mostly because he refuses to kill or enslave them after defeating them (which they take as a great and personal insult and is to their view the only acceptable outcomes of battle). The Quinkan will influence them into attacking Ranma again.
- Ranma and Hermione play pranks on their enemies (Something Ranma canonly does but Hermione is less inclined to do though considering she did use blackmail, hexed people, and placed a curse on a contract I could see her doing so).
- Hermione learns that compulsions have been put on her (and all muggle born) and her (their) parents (muggle borns aren't given a choice to enter the wizarding world and are influenced to think less of muggles and their abilities), even more furious to learn that her memories have been altered, and filled with enough rage to be able to caste the killing curse and pain curse when she learns Hogwarts a history is a bunch of revisionist historians lies (it is after-all the type of thing that the pure bloods would be expected to have done) and that the school is purposely teaching flawed and weakened versions of magic (so that those with power can keep the others from gaining more and potentially becoming more powerful than them). For example, she has a compulsion to be respectful to authority which explains why she still is when she has every reason to not be.
- Hermione, and Ranma to some degree, will make use of the scientific method to figure out magic (since it can be experimented with and doing the same thing results in the same results it should be possible for people who can do magic to learn more about it rather than just do spells people have already done).
- Hermione will learn a version of Occlumency and Ranma's meditation and naturally strange by both muggle and wizard standard life protects him from legimancy.
- Ranma, and because of how Ranma does it, and Hermione will make use of some muggle things that are equivalent or better than their magical counterparts (like use a fountain pen instead of a quill).
- To fight the Quinkan and other things that are drawn into the mix Ranma and Hermione will have to transcend their humanity and risk losing it in the process (also no one can enter the dreamtime without it changing them some).
- Ranma has to go through dangerous (because it requires the person to be near death the first few times) and time consuming (mainly) Shinto and Buddhist rituals (as well as purifying rituals) so as to be able to astral project acquiring a spirit form to fight spirits (it is shown that astral projection is possible in the Ranmaverse by a person doings so). Accidental beneficial side effect is that it is a partial cure to the Neko-ken and removes many minor bad luck curses he had acquired (like from Gosunkugi) which stops (and partially explains) the mysterious banana peels or stray bars of soap show up for him to trip on, Akane/people near magically showing up at the most in opportune times, how he could jump on a broken fence manage to jump off in time to avoid falling only to land on another fence that just happens to also broken, and why more hot or cold water seeking him out than the other Jusenkyo victims (which was even pointed out by Genma at one point in the manga).
- Ranma's astral form is a cat girl (more girl than cat) with wings of blue ranging from nearly white to nearly black spirit fire. The reason for the cat part is the Neko-ken, the girl part is because it is shown that the curse effects Ranma's aura enough that animals sense him as being a harmless girl (during the Herb arc), and all spirits (in the manga at least) have spirit fire but Ranma's default state has the fire in the form of wings as a side effect of the phoenix pill and the fight with Saffron more specifically when Saffron was going to absorb Ranma into his egg it went both ways. Ranma's spirit form has abilities and weakness different than his mortal form which he has to learn though most are based on what the spirits in the manga were shown capable of doing including possession, spirit fire, entering dreams, transfiguration, inflict minor curses, create shields, flight, invisibility, communion with animals and nature. It also has weaknesses biggest being that Ranma's body is left defenseless when his spirit doesn't reside within it, Ranma is not the most powerful spirit having to learn how to use the abilities, spirit wards effect it, etc.
- Hermione doesn't (and is incapable of doing so because of the nature of her magic closest she could come is to die and come back like the ghosts seen in the books) acquire a spirit form like Ranma does. Instead she has to learn (mostly figure out on her own since the people who do know don't want to share) old unflawed magic which brings her closer to nature giving herself a new form with different abilities as well.
- The reason that the ghosts and spirits are so different between the two series will be explained by how they are created. When a magical person becomes a ghost they are like Moaning Myrtle or nearly headless Nick whereas when muggles become ghosts they gain more abilities. Magical people are incapable of seeing or interacting with muggle ghosts except in extremely rare cases, so do not believe that muggle ghosts exist.
- Attempts to change things that had happened using future knowledge which works to a very limited degree since people are making different choices and are being influenced by the Quinkan.
Showing posts with label Ranma Story Idea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ranma Story Idea. Show all posts
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Continuation of the last post
1. Were the Ranma and Harry Potter universes the same for the story than Jusenkyo would likely have Repello Muggletum the muggle prevention charm on it. Jusendo would be being made into a tourist resort for the magic community. China and Japan would have there own magical communities that likely would not do things the same as the UK one. It would likely be that China and Japan have a lot more trouble and less inclination to follow the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy to the degree that they are supposed to. The Asians don't have to hide as much since Asians are in general far more accepting of magic than the western world is. While the Wizards in Harry Potter use wands that does not mean that every magical community does so it is possible that other communities use different power focuses.
2. While both series have ghosts there are differences between the two series. The ghosts and spirits of Ranma 1/2 have a lot more abilities than those in Harry Potter. They can possess people, go invisible, create spirit fire, interact with objects and people to a much larger degree, place curses, and transfigure things (paper into underwear for example or Shampoo into a cat though in that case it required more time and special circumstances). The beings that were always spirits and not ghosts (of which Peeves is the only one shown in Harry Potter and that was told in interviews who can interact with objects) in Ranma 1/2 can do what the ghost can but at least one showed the ability to create shields. Ranma has a lot more ghosts and spirits/kami than Harry Potter did. Some of the objects in the Ranma manga seem to be powered by the spirits/kami and not by magic such as the spirit wards.
3. Magic in Harry Potter was mostly point wand and say made up word/s. There were no magic wands in Ranma. Both series had potions (Ranma also had incense which is similar to potions just burned after gathering the ingredients, pills, and powders), magical creatures (though the creatures were different), magical items (the most common type of magic in Ranma 1/2), magical plants (some different but some were the same in both like Mandrake root), divination/prophecies (the reason that the calendar was shown was because Ryoga was doing a type of Japanese numerology called rokuyo to figure out it was a good day and the sakura mochi were supposed to tell you if you were destined to be with someone though my take on that was that it showed if you were compatible not destined), and probably more. Ranma has martial arts though which does allow many similar things to magic like vacuum blades, ki blasts, pressure points with various effects, etc.
4. Technology. Dudley had a Playstation before they even came out in Japan, flying car, train, a bus, magic cameras, magical radio, and the use of a telephone like once is pretty much the extent of technology used in Harry Potter. In Ranma pretty much every bit of technology you would expect to find in a Japanese house in the mid 1990's was used (karaoke machines, rice cookers, microwaves, tvs, vcrs, video game systems, water heaters, cameras, video cameras, floor buffer, telephones -even calls to China, etc.) Several means of transport including trains, buses, boats, hot air balloon, and helicopters (planes were shown like in the first of Ranma's nightmares seen and flying over Hong Kong but not ridden in the series). A few bits of nonexistent to the extent shown in the real world tech - power armor, jet pack, and memory metal. Most of that doesn't matter for the crossover except several characters including Ranma would and did use technology in combat. It is said by Hermione that electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts (and only Hogwarts there is no reason to think it wouldn't work elsewhere and the book she read it in could have been wrong if you really want to have it there) not counting electric weapons (Kodachi's stun baton, collar for her pet, electric trap that shocked Akane, etc.) that still leaves all the other non magic and non electricity using stuff used (tear gas, gas masks, knockout powder, various weapons like swords, staves, knives, explosives, sleeping powder, chloroform, smoke bombs, etc. - guns were shown but never used by one of the non background characters).
5. Since I am not the original author I would probably change the characters, mostly subconsciously. Generally I would try to keep characters in character but with this series I just can't see myself doing that. Hermione would discover that books are wrong on occasion, some are filled with lies, contradicting information, misinformation, etc. she'd also be bored out of her mind in class while still capable of answering all the questions asked she'd no longer care to do so. Ron would be less jealous, Harry would be less trusting and more of a leader. While character development would be included I would likely change the characterization for no adequately explained reason.
6. The entire house point system is screwed up and very stupid. The way I see it Ranma will ignore it entirely. There is no tangible reward for your house getting the most points. The way to get the most points is to be teachers pets. It directly pits the various houses against one another and indirectly pits the members of the house against one another (because it ostracizes those who lose more points). Ranma doesn't much care for following rules/laws and for the most part treats people the way they treat him. He will show respect to those that do so to him. While he would break the rules he will if caught accept the punishments given if he believes they are just.
7. What house would Ranma be sorted into? I don't think it really matters particularly since the person being sorted seems to have the ability to choose the house they want. It could also be argued that he would fit in any of the houses since he has traits that fit all of them but doesn't fit any of them perfectly (also it depends on what definitions of the various traits that are mentioned because several of them have more than one meaning of which Ranma may not fit the most common meaning but does fit some of the other meanings).
8. Japan and England have different schooling systems one thing in common to both is by the age of 16 school is no longer compulsory. The holidays, breaks and length of breaks, starting time (sept first for UK and in the spring for Japan), way the classes are set up, length of the school day (Japan was longer particularly back in the early 90's when Saturday was a school day as well), etc. all differ. Just pointing this out because the changes and less class time would probably effect Ranma somewhat. Though there is no real reason as to why Ranma would have to go to Hogwarts he could interact with things/people elsewhere and acquire knowledge of magic in other ways (such as hiring private tutors - the wizarding world like the real world runs on money and Ranma has the ability though lacks the inclination to acquire a significant amount).
9. Legilimency and Ranma. First off what is legilimency? It is not mind reading this has been said (or so I have been told) by the author. What it is, is viewing memories. Legilimency also doesn't work perfectly Harry was capable of keeping a memory from Snape even when Snape cast the spell out-loud with his wand. I don't think it would work too well on Ranma since he does have practice meditating and knows how to via soul of ice suppress emotions, and Ranma's mind would probably be a very strange and confusing place for the average wizard.
10. Innuendo and Puns. The Harry Potter books have quite a bit of innuendo (not that I caught most of it until it was pointed out to me) and the Ranma manga is chock full of puns (a lot of them were lost in translation or when still kept didn't come out all that great). Put them in a fan fic if you want but personally I don't think that it is easy to do while still keeping the fic interesting.
2. While both series have ghosts there are differences between the two series. The ghosts and spirits of Ranma 1/2 have a lot more abilities than those in Harry Potter. They can possess people, go invisible, create spirit fire, interact with objects and people to a much larger degree, place curses, and transfigure things (paper into underwear for example or Shampoo into a cat though in that case it required more time and special circumstances). The beings that were always spirits and not ghosts (of which Peeves is the only one shown in Harry Potter and that was told in interviews who can interact with objects) in Ranma 1/2 can do what the ghost can but at least one showed the ability to create shields. Ranma has a lot more ghosts and spirits/kami than Harry Potter did. Some of the objects in the Ranma manga seem to be powered by the spirits/kami and not by magic such as the spirit wards.
3. Magic in Harry Potter was mostly point wand and say made up word/s. There were no magic wands in Ranma. Both series had potions (Ranma also had incense which is similar to potions just burned after gathering the ingredients, pills, and powders), magical creatures (though the creatures were different), magical items (the most common type of magic in Ranma 1/2), magical plants (some different but some were the same in both like Mandrake root), divination/prophecies (the reason that the calendar was shown was because Ryoga was doing a type of Japanese numerology called rokuyo to figure out it was a good day and the sakura mochi were supposed to tell you if you were destined to be with someone though my take on that was that it showed if you were compatible not destined), and probably more. Ranma has martial arts though which does allow many similar things to magic like vacuum blades, ki blasts, pressure points with various effects, etc.
4. Technology. Dudley had a Playstation before they even came out in Japan, flying car, train, a bus, magic cameras, magical radio, and the use of a telephone like once is pretty much the extent of technology used in Harry Potter. In Ranma pretty much every bit of technology you would expect to find in a Japanese house in the mid 1990's was used (karaoke machines, rice cookers, microwaves, tvs, vcrs, video game systems, water heaters, cameras, video cameras, floor buffer, telephones -even calls to China, etc.) Several means of transport including trains, buses, boats, hot air balloon, and helicopters (planes were shown like in the first of Ranma's nightmares seen and flying over Hong Kong but not ridden in the series). A few bits of nonexistent to the extent shown in the real world tech - power armor, jet pack, and memory metal. Most of that doesn't matter for the crossover except several characters including Ranma would and did use technology in combat. It is said by Hermione that electricity doesn't work at Hogwarts (and only Hogwarts there is no reason to think it wouldn't work elsewhere and the book she read it in could have been wrong if you really want to have it there) not counting electric weapons (Kodachi's stun baton, collar for her pet, electric trap that shocked Akane, etc.) that still leaves all the other non magic and non electricity using stuff used (tear gas, gas masks, knockout powder, various weapons like swords, staves, knives, explosives, sleeping powder, chloroform, smoke bombs, etc. - guns were shown but never used by one of the non background characters).
5. Since I am not the original author I would probably change the characters, mostly subconsciously. Generally I would try to keep characters in character but with this series I just can't see myself doing that. Hermione would discover that books are wrong on occasion, some are filled with lies, contradicting information, misinformation, etc. she'd also be bored out of her mind in class while still capable of answering all the questions asked she'd no longer care to do so. Ron would be less jealous, Harry would be less trusting and more of a leader. While character development would be included I would likely change the characterization for no adequately explained reason.
6. The entire house point system is screwed up and very stupid. The way I see it Ranma will ignore it entirely. There is no tangible reward for your house getting the most points. The way to get the most points is to be teachers pets. It directly pits the various houses against one another and indirectly pits the members of the house against one another (because it ostracizes those who lose more points). Ranma doesn't much care for following rules/laws and for the most part treats people the way they treat him. He will show respect to those that do so to him. While he would break the rules he will if caught accept the punishments given if he believes they are just.
7. What house would Ranma be sorted into? I don't think it really matters particularly since the person being sorted seems to have the ability to choose the house they want. It could also be argued that he would fit in any of the houses since he has traits that fit all of them but doesn't fit any of them perfectly (also it depends on what definitions of the various traits that are mentioned because several of them have more than one meaning of which Ranma may not fit the most common meaning but does fit some of the other meanings).
8. Japan and England have different schooling systems one thing in common to both is by the age of 16 school is no longer compulsory. The holidays, breaks and length of breaks, starting time (sept first for UK and in the spring for Japan), way the classes are set up, length of the school day (Japan was longer particularly back in the early 90's when Saturday was a school day as well), etc. all differ. Just pointing this out because the changes and less class time would probably effect Ranma somewhat. Though there is no real reason as to why Ranma would have to go to Hogwarts he could interact with things/people elsewhere and acquire knowledge of magic in other ways (such as hiring private tutors - the wizarding world like the real world runs on money and Ranma has the ability though lacks the inclination to acquire a significant amount).
9. Legilimency and Ranma. First off what is legilimency? It is not mind reading this has been said (or so I have been told) by the author. What it is, is viewing memories. Legilimency also doesn't work perfectly Harry was capable of keeping a memory from Snape even when Snape cast the spell out-loud with his wand. I don't think it would work too well on Ranma since he does have practice meditating and knows how to via soul of ice suppress emotions, and Ranma's mind would probably be a very strange and confusing place for the average wizard.
10. Innuendo and Puns. The Harry Potter books have quite a bit of innuendo (not that I caught most of it until it was pointed out to me) and the Ranma manga is chock full of puns (a lot of them were lost in translation or when still kept didn't come out all that great). Put them in a fan fic if you want but personally I don't think that it is easy to do while still keeping the fic interesting.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Harry Potter and Ranma partial discussion
In a relatively recent post I made mention to Harry Potter. Since I did that I have been in correspondence via email about those books with someone. I don't hate them but also do not think the deserve all the hype that they received and I did not like the last few. I have read them both because of the hype and because a couple of family members were reading them.
Harry Potter is not a series in which I read much fan fiction of but I have read probably more than I would like to admit to. I do not seek out Harry Potter stories as I do with other fandoms such as Ranma, Teen Titans, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. The fics that I have read were read because they were A. suggested to me by someone that at least generally has good taste, B. are in a crossover with a series I enjoy (such as Ranma or Buffy the Vampire Slayer), or C. they were written/favored by an author whose work in other fandoms I enjoyed. Just because I did not like the books as much as some people think I should does not mean that there aren't some very good fanfics in that fandom (given the sheer number it is practically guaranteed that there are some good ones amongst the countless terrible or at least uninteresting ones).
In these emails a possible Ranma/Harry Potter Crossover was discussed. Below are my opinions on 10 things discussed (there are more which I may or may not post on later - probably will at least a couple since I have already started them in draft but that isn't a surety).
1. What year should the crossover occur were it to be a direct crossover (i.e. both worlds are the same)?: I suggest after 1994 because Ranma was pretending to be Ryoga's maid and annoying Ryoga in 1994 according to the only calendar seen in the manga. I'd probably choose for Ranma to show up at Hogwarts in 1995 after the summer when the DA is formed (this is in part because I disliked the later books more than the earlier ones).
2. Dumbledore is portrayed to be manipulative. In general Ranma is not portrayed to be manipulative in fan fics even though he is extremely so in the manga though his machinations are usually short term. This can be displayed in a variety ways such as Ranma joining Hermione's organization S.P.E.W as a means of manipulating her into helping him (also could be used to get her to think the way he wants her to think via pointing things out like if you want them to give money sell Okonomiyaki or something). Her desire and inability to really create or do anything for her organization could easily be used as a means to get her loyalty. This works particularly because Ranma dislikes people (which would probably count House Elves) suffering/being hurt, will help people if asked or if he thinks he should, and he would view it as a way to get her to do what he wants (he is quick to notice and exploit any advantage he can in the manga).
3. Ranma being near dementors would likely be detrimental to every single person anywhere near him. Dementors suck out joy and make you live your worst nightmares. Shishi Höködan which is known to Ranma but not commonly used is powered by depression and his worst nightmares are likely to cause him to enter the Neko-ken a state in which he is capable of cutting through pretty much anything.
4. Ranma in a straight fight versus pretty much anyone in the Harry Potter universe would result in Ranma winning. The Harry Potter wizards really don't stand a chance versus him under normal circumstances much less so when Ranma learns some of what they can do even if he can't do what they can. This is one of the main reasons as to why I thought the crossover wouldn't work well. There are ways to work around this and ways to make it still work but Ranma versus Voldemort and all his death eaters at once I'd still give Ranma better odds of winning. Hell Akane versus Voldemort I'd give better odds for her than him especially were she to have seen a wizarding duel prior to encountering him. That is just my opinion though but it is based on what is shown namely tossing one spell at a time, the wands are easily seen used to launch spells which can be knocked out of their hands or broken and the way that characters had dodged spells in the books.
5. Harry Potter is sometimes in fics displayed as a prankster usually because he hangs with the Weasley Twins on occasion or because his dad and friends were. In the actual books he is not a prankster and it would be out of character for him to do so especially if the other person hadn't done something to him. Ranma is more of a prankster than he is though this is generally not displayed in fan fics. Ranma's most common pranks are the use of ventriloquism (for example on Ryoga when she said kiss me in presumably Akane's voice), disguises (like how he pretended to be Ryoga's maid and messed with Ryoga for awhile), and sneaking up on people to see their reaction (most commonly Akane but has done so to others like Cologne, Gosungki, and Happosai as well).
6. Like Ranma the Harry Potter fandom is full of fanon such as Hermione's parents names they like the Tendo's deceased matriarch were never given first names or most everything on some characters like Daphne Greengrass who was only briefly mentioned in one of the books. The use of fanon to some degree is pretty much unavoidable but it is my opinion that some attempt to avoid using common fanon should be made.
7. Starting the crossover later in the series means that Ranma would be behind all the characters, for the most part, in classes on magic. Deaging Ranma and having him start at the beginning is the most common solution for this problem. That is by no means the only solution, particularly when you take into account the existence of time tuners. That said Ranma has no reason or desire to learn some subjects and has no need to learn everything every class has. If Ranma studies it like he does martial arts (hours on end straight through the night for days at a time learning it well enough to be able to match people who had been practicing the style for years) several years worth of studying could be compressed into a matter of months. Astronomy could probably be skipped entirely; considering how a Japanese highschool teaches math arithmancy would not be all that difficult; muggles studies would be a waste of time (I'm also of the opinion judging by some of the Wizards complete lack of knowledge that class would be highly inaccurate also what Ranma considers normal probably differs significantly from both muggles and wizards); history of magic could be substituted by a book with the highlights; divination is mostly an art that Ranma already has somewhat and makes use of (danger sense which includes warning him about indirect dangers like the magic Sakura Mochi Akane made); Potions, Herbology, and care for magical creatures do not need to be taught completely since after the basics are known carrying reference books and using them as needed would suffice for most situations (once you know the basics on cooking a cook book is generally all you need to later make recipes). A lot of the stuff taught in schools is useless trivia that will never be used, school is also extremely repetitive going over things far more often than the people I know ever needed, etc. cut the filler, trivia, and busy work teaching mainly that which is needed to be known and the amount of time needed to do so goes down significantly. Encyclopedic knowledge of spells and stuff taught is not needed (that is Hermione's thing).
8. “Brilliant,” said Hermione. “This isn’t magic — it’s logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven’t got an ounce of logic, they’d be stuck in here forever.” Remembering that quote is a good idea since a lot of things done by the wizarding community do not make much sense such as allowing the Goblins control of all the currency when we are told that A. The Goblins are very greedy, B. The Goblins had periodically risen up and gone to war with the Wizards, C. The Goblins are resentful of the wizards for the actions of the wizards like not being allowed to carry wands, D. the economy requires money and the Goblins can easily mess things up since they control the economy to a significant extent. That is also in part why Voldemort was capable of getting support from non-human magical creatures, he treated them better than the ministry did. Ranma has a tendency to think out side the box (he will exploit any weaknesses and make use of loopholes), is rash/impulsive, but still has more sense and treats supernatural creatures better than the average wizard. Remembering that quote I find to be extremely useful when I read the books because it is how I explained some stuff that didn't make sense.
9. I rarely care for and usually ignore things in interviews (my view is that only what is actually in the source material counts anything said elsewhere maybe of interest and while having more authority than fanon is still not canon). I would use some things said by the authors. I would like to point out that people who can do magic do not always get a chance to since some likely can not afford to be taught, not every country in the world probably does things the same, some can be disallowed from using it, and this quote from the author - There is a character who, in desperate circumstances, manages to do magic quite late in life. This is very rare. [quote from Barnes & Noble chat #1, 1999]. I mainly bring this up to point out why Ranma may not have been contacted at some point before about the ability to use magic - late bloomer, different means of contact, something Happosai did, etc. can be used to explain it were that route be chosen.
10. There are a number of inconsistencies within the books and her comments for example from her comments she has stated that there is something like 3000 wizards and witches in Great Britain. Other statements include saying that there was around a thousand students at Hogwarts which was in a later statement said to be 600 students. Wizards are said to live longer than muggles so the numbers really do not makes sense. 20% of all witches and wizards in the country are between the ages of 11 and 18 and the muggles out number magic users at more than 25,000 to 1 in the UK. Inconsistencies in the numbers both in the work themselves and via comments made elsewhere by her are not the only inconsistencies for example in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix Harry, Hermione, and Ron take seats in the back row of the Quidditch stadium. A moment later Hagrid approaches them coming through the nonexistent rows behind them. I would pretty much ignore any perceived inconsistency (like those seen in the Gambling King arc of the manga with Ranma betting something he didn't know about for another decade) and I would take liberties with the story to better suit my story (while I advocate avoiding common fanon I also do not believe you have to keep everything as it was in canon).
Harry Potter is not a series in which I read much fan fiction of but I have read probably more than I would like to admit to. I do not seek out Harry Potter stories as I do with other fandoms such as Ranma, Teen Titans, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc. The fics that I have read were read because they were A. suggested to me by someone that at least generally has good taste, B. are in a crossover with a series I enjoy (such as Ranma or Buffy the Vampire Slayer), or C. they were written/favored by an author whose work in other fandoms I enjoyed. Just because I did not like the books as much as some people think I should does not mean that there aren't some very good fanfics in that fandom (given the sheer number it is practically guaranteed that there are some good ones amongst the countless terrible or at least uninteresting ones).
In these emails a possible Ranma/Harry Potter Crossover was discussed. Below are my opinions on 10 things discussed (there are more which I may or may not post on later - probably will at least a couple since I have already started them in draft but that isn't a surety).
1. What year should the crossover occur were it to be a direct crossover (i.e. both worlds are the same)?: I suggest after 1994 because Ranma was pretending to be Ryoga's maid and annoying Ryoga in 1994 according to the only calendar seen in the manga. I'd probably choose for Ranma to show up at Hogwarts in 1995 after the summer when the DA is formed (this is in part because I disliked the later books more than the earlier ones).
2. Dumbledore is portrayed to be manipulative. In general Ranma is not portrayed to be manipulative in fan fics even though he is extremely so in the manga though his machinations are usually short term. This can be displayed in a variety ways such as Ranma joining Hermione's organization S.P.E.W as a means of manipulating her into helping him (also could be used to get her to think the way he wants her to think via pointing things out like if you want them to give money sell Okonomiyaki or something). Her desire and inability to really create or do anything for her organization could easily be used as a means to get her loyalty. This works particularly because Ranma dislikes people (which would probably count House Elves) suffering/being hurt, will help people if asked or if he thinks he should, and he would view it as a way to get her to do what he wants (he is quick to notice and exploit any advantage he can in the manga).
3. Ranma being near dementors would likely be detrimental to every single person anywhere near him. Dementors suck out joy and make you live your worst nightmares. Shishi Höködan which is known to Ranma but not commonly used is powered by depression and his worst nightmares are likely to cause him to enter the Neko-ken a state in which he is capable of cutting through pretty much anything.
4. Ranma in a straight fight versus pretty much anyone in the Harry Potter universe would result in Ranma winning. The Harry Potter wizards really don't stand a chance versus him under normal circumstances much less so when Ranma learns some of what they can do even if he can't do what they can. This is one of the main reasons as to why I thought the crossover wouldn't work well. There are ways to work around this and ways to make it still work but Ranma versus Voldemort and all his death eaters at once I'd still give Ranma better odds of winning. Hell Akane versus Voldemort I'd give better odds for her than him especially were she to have seen a wizarding duel prior to encountering him. That is just my opinion though but it is based on what is shown namely tossing one spell at a time, the wands are easily seen used to launch spells which can be knocked out of their hands or broken and the way that characters had dodged spells in the books.
5. Harry Potter is sometimes in fics displayed as a prankster usually because he hangs with the Weasley Twins on occasion or because his dad and friends were. In the actual books he is not a prankster and it would be out of character for him to do so especially if the other person hadn't done something to him. Ranma is more of a prankster than he is though this is generally not displayed in fan fics. Ranma's most common pranks are the use of ventriloquism (for example on Ryoga when she said kiss me in presumably Akane's voice), disguises (like how he pretended to be Ryoga's maid and messed with Ryoga for awhile), and sneaking up on people to see their reaction (most commonly Akane but has done so to others like Cologne, Gosungki, and Happosai as well).
6. Like Ranma the Harry Potter fandom is full of fanon such as Hermione's parents names they like the Tendo's deceased matriarch were never given first names or most everything on some characters like Daphne Greengrass who was only briefly mentioned in one of the books. The use of fanon to some degree is pretty much unavoidable but it is my opinion that some attempt to avoid using common fanon should be made.
7. Starting the crossover later in the series means that Ranma would be behind all the characters, for the most part, in classes on magic. Deaging Ranma and having him start at the beginning is the most common solution for this problem. That is by no means the only solution, particularly when you take into account the existence of time tuners. That said Ranma has no reason or desire to learn some subjects and has no need to learn everything every class has. If Ranma studies it like he does martial arts (hours on end straight through the night for days at a time learning it well enough to be able to match people who had been practicing the style for years) several years worth of studying could be compressed into a matter of months. Astronomy could probably be skipped entirely; considering how a Japanese highschool teaches math arithmancy would not be all that difficult; muggles studies would be a waste of time (I'm also of the opinion judging by some of the Wizards complete lack of knowledge that class would be highly inaccurate also what Ranma considers normal probably differs significantly from both muggles and wizards); history of magic could be substituted by a book with the highlights; divination is mostly an art that Ranma already has somewhat and makes use of (danger sense which includes warning him about indirect dangers like the magic Sakura Mochi Akane made); Potions, Herbology, and care for magical creatures do not need to be taught completely since after the basics are known carrying reference books and using them as needed would suffice for most situations (once you know the basics on cooking a cook book is generally all you need to later make recipes). A lot of the stuff taught in schools is useless trivia that will never be used, school is also extremely repetitive going over things far more often than the people I know ever needed, etc. cut the filler, trivia, and busy work teaching mainly that which is needed to be known and the amount of time needed to do so goes down significantly. Encyclopedic knowledge of spells and stuff taught is not needed (that is Hermione's thing).
8. “Brilliant,” said Hermione. “This isn’t magic — it’s logic — a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven’t got an ounce of logic, they’d be stuck in here forever.” Remembering that quote is a good idea since a lot of things done by the wizarding community do not make much sense such as allowing the Goblins control of all the currency when we are told that A. The Goblins are very greedy, B. The Goblins had periodically risen up and gone to war with the Wizards, C. The Goblins are resentful of the wizards for the actions of the wizards like not being allowed to carry wands, D. the economy requires money and the Goblins can easily mess things up since they control the economy to a significant extent. That is also in part why Voldemort was capable of getting support from non-human magical creatures, he treated them better than the ministry did. Ranma has a tendency to think out side the box (he will exploit any weaknesses and make use of loopholes), is rash/impulsive, but still has more sense and treats supernatural creatures better than the average wizard. Remembering that quote I find to be extremely useful when I read the books because it is how I explained some stuff that didn't make sense.
9. I rarely care for and usually ignore things in interviews (my view is that only what is actually in the source material counts anything said elsewhere maybe of interest and while having more authority than fanon is still not canon). I would use some things said by the authors. I would like to point out that people who can do magic do not always get a chance to since some likely can not afford to be taught, not every country in the world probably does things the same, some can be disallowed from using it, and this quote from the author - There is a character who, in desperate circumstances, manages to do magic quite late in life. This is very rare. [quote from Barnes & Noble chat #1, 1999]. I mainly bring this up to point out why Ranma may not have been contacted at some point before about the ability to use magic - late bloomer, different means of contact, something Happosai did, etc. can be used to explain it were that route be chosen.
10. There are a number of inconsistencies within the books and her comments for example from her comments she has stated that there is something like 3000 wizards and witches in Great Britain. Other statements include saying that there was around a thousand students at Hogwarts which was in a later statement said to be 600 students. Wizards are said to live longer than muggles so the numbers really do not makes sense. 20% of all witches and wizards in the country are between the ages of 11 and 18 and the muggles out number magic users at more than 25,000 to 1 in the UK. Inconsistencies in the numbers both in the work themselves and via comments made elsewhere by her are not the only inconsistencies for example in Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix Harry, Hermione, and Ron take seats in the back row of the Quidditch stadium. A moment later Hagrid approaches them coming through the nonexistent rows behind them. I would pretty much ignore any perceived inconsistency (like those seen in the Gambling King arc of the manga with Ranma betting something he didn't know about for another decade) and I would take liberties with the story to better suit my story (while I advocate avoiding common fanon I also do not believe you have to keep everything as it was in canon).
Monday, June 14, 2010
Ranma's Slave
I recently read a fan fic in which Ranma enslaved Akane against her will. While not what I consider a good fic it did inspire some thoughts. The first thing I thought was that Ranma would not enslave anyone. Upon further reflection that is a personal bias of my own. Ranma is shown to be willing to trick, manipulate, bribe, blackmail, and even use mind altering substances/magic to get people to do what he wants in the manga. It really is not that far fetched to believe he'd enslave someone. I can't really think of a reason as to why Ranma would do so though. I can't see him up and deciding to enslave someone without a reason and if he did he's extremely likely to feel guilty and let them free after a short time (Lima Syndrome). I can think of quite a few reasons as to why Ranma would kidnap someone though and I suppose that could count as enslavement, though I generally do not associate them as being the same (just like prison is enslavement). The most likely reason he'd kidnap someone is probably to get a tactical advantage (while Ranma hadn't actually kidnapped anyone in the manga, unless you count things like tying P-chan to the Charlotte cup, it does happen a number of times in the manga and Ranma is pretty pragmatic when it comes to combat).
I started to think about Ranma having a slave. The first idea that came to me is that someone that is very submissive gives themselves to Ranma; voluntarily becomes a slave to him. None of the cast members are submissive they pretty much all are fairly aggressive except for possibly Kasumi. I have no idea as to how Ranma would react if this happened, besides finding the situation to be extremely weird. How he reacts is likely to be majorly influenced by the person who wants to be enslaved and their reasons for wanting it. On his own I figure he'd view it as being a Daimyo/Samurai type relationship since that is probably the most familiar to him.
After thinking about it some more I thought why would someone enslave themselves. I can think of a lot. In most of the world for most of known history slavery existed and it was often enough better than the alternative. It was sometimes easier, better, and occasionally you had more rights/privileges than the alternative. I don't want to defend slavery since I find it to be immoral but given a choice I would rather have been a slave than an extremely poor free person depending on place and time in history. Slaves were property so they were often taken care of and had more protections than expendable poorly paid laborers. Depending on the time and place there were more laws protecting slaves than free persons (you could get away with killing a free not land owning person a lot easier than an owned slave for example).
I'm getting off topic the fic was about Ranma enslaving someone against their will. I can think of a number of ways to do this most of which I can not see Ranma doing unless the situation was extremely dire. The most likely ways I see him doing so is via accident using a magic item he doesn't really understand following that having kidnapped someone and letting Stockholm syndrome sink in. One thing from the fic I can't see happening at all is Ranma physically taking advantage of someone sexually (even in the form of kissing). Ranma places an extreme amount of importance on kissing (not at all uncommon in Japanese society where kissing is considered an extraordinarily intimate act) and has some intimacy issues (it requires more trust and openness than he's willing to give).
It is not unreasonable to think that if Ranma did not consider the being to be human he'd enslave it. After all the majority of people do not view our enslavement of animals as being morally wrong or even view it as slavery (cows, dogs, horses, etc.). What if Ranma enslaved a Kami via kotodama (also written kototama; a Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names)? Ranma somehow finds out a kami's true name and uses that to enslave the kami (this is a pretty common belief throughout the world; the ancient Egyptians for example had similar beliefs). Ranma knowing about kotodama is extremely easy to explain first he is shown to go to Shinto shrines multiple times and second in many Japanese martial arts, such as aikido which the founder of the style (Morihei Ueshiba) used kotodama as a spiritual basis for his teachings, it is considered a fundamental part of the art (using a kiai to gather inner energy or spirit is a form of kotodama). Seeing this written could be pretty interesting if for no other reason than almost every fan fic I can remember reading focuses on the physical aspects of martial arts neglecting the spiritual and religious aspects that many martial arts, particularly Japanese styles, have entirely (other than using ki blasts). I don't think I could write it though too many moral issues and a fic like this, at least if I tried to write it, would likely be too philosophical.
I started to think about Ranma having a slave. The first idea that came to me is that someone that is very submissive gives themselves to Ranma; voluntarily becomes a slave to him. None of the cast members are submissive they pretty much all are fairly aggressive except for possibly Kasumi. I have no idea as to how Ranma would react if this happened, besides finding the situation to be extremely weird. How he reacts is likely to be majorly influenced by the person who wants to be enslaved and their reasons for wanting it. On his own I figure he'd view it as being a Daimyo/Samurai type relationship since that is probably the most familiar to him.
After thinking about it some more I thought why would someone enslave themselves. I can think of a lot. In most of the world for most of known history slavery existed and it was often enough better than the alternative. It was sometimes easier, better, and occasionally you had more rights/privileges than the alternative. I don't want to defend slavery since I find it to be immoral but given a choice I would rather have been a slave than an extremely poor free person depending on place and time in history. Slaves were property so they were often taken care of and had more protections than expendable poorly paid laborers. Depending on the time and place there were more laws protecting slaves than free persons (you could get away with killing a free not land owning person a lot easier than an owned slave for example).
I'm getting off topic the fic was about Ranma enslaving someone against their will. I can think of a number of ways to do this most of which I can not see Ranma doing unless the situation was extremely dire. The most likely ways I see him doing so is via accident using a magic item he doesn't really understand following that having kidnapped someone and letting Stockholm syndrome sink in. One thing from the fic I can't see happening at all is Ranma physically taking advantage of someone sexually (even in the form of kissing). Ranma places an extreme amount of importance on kissing (not at all uncommon in Japanese society where kissing is considered an extraordinarily intimate act) and has some intimacy issues (it requires more trust and openness than he's willing to give).
It is not unreasonable to think that if Ranma did not consider the being to be human he'd enslave it. After all the majority of people do not view our enslavement of animals as being morally wrong or even view it as slavery (cows, dogs, horses, etc.). What if Ranma enslaved a Kami via kotodama (also written kototama; a Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names)? Ranma somehow finds out a kami's true name and uses that to enslave the kami (this is a pretty common belief throughout the world; the ancient Egyptians for example had similar beliefs). Ranma knowing about kotodama is extremely easy to explain first he is shown to go to Shinto shrines multiple times and second in many Japanese martial arts, such as aikido which the founder of the style (Morihei Ueshiba) used kotodama as a spiritual basis for his teachings, it is considered a fundamental part of the art (using a kiai to gather inner energy or spirit is a form of kotodama). Seeing this written could be pretty interesting if for no other reason than almost every fan fic I can remember reading focuses on the physical aspects of martial arts neglecting the spiritual and religious aspects that many martial arts, particularly Japanese styles, have entirely (other than using ki blasts). I don't think I could write it though too many moral issues and a fic like this, at least if I tried to write it, would likely be too philosophical.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Misc Ideas
November is fast approaching and I've yet to decide anything. By this point I ought to have some clue as to what I'm going to write next month, I don't. I should have the beginnings of an outline and researching specifics. Coming up with ideas is very easy, choosing which to use and implementing it not so. I continually think of new ones and not every idea I have is Ranma related (I am not that obsessed with Ranma 1/2), though many could be were I to try and make them.
Another series I have had many ideas for is Slayers (which is one of, if not, my favorite anime). Though I am unsure as to where the best splitting point or continuity to use (novels, manga, games). Though it would be very unlikely that I'd use the games, many reasons but largest being Xelloss is killed in the SNES Slayers RPG.
Some miscellaneous, and probably not all that good since very little thought was put into them, ideas:
1.Ranma/Slayers crossover. One possibility Ranma watches the Slayers anime then deciding to have some fun he splashes himself with water and pretends to be Lina Inverse using ki techniques and tricks to mimic her spells as best he can. Another would be to have him be summoned by a sorcerer in the Slayers universe. Most of my ideas for Slayers are not crossovers (and are not posted anywhere).
2. Lupin the Third/ Ranma crossover:
Kodachi is kidnapped by a criminal organization. I chose Kodachi because she was not kidnapped in the manga, is the most reliant on objects rather than pure physical abilities, and in my opinion rates lower in skill than Ranma's other fiancees (Akane or Shampoo locked in a brick walled and steel bared room would, judging by the manga particularly the scene where Akane does just that, break out). While Ranma does not love Kodachi he would go to rescue her. The thing is he does not know where she is and her release is dependent on Ranma acquiring (i.e. stealing) several things for them.
Here is where Lupin enters the story, he is trying to get the very same items. Conflict between Lupin and Ranma, which of course would be resolved eventually, they then find out why the villain wanted the items, which leads to a grander adventure. The person who kidnapped Kodachi was just a cog in another villains very large plan for world domination (not that Ranma actually cares about who rules the world but he does care about kidnapping people he knows and murder).
3. I'd like to see a Ranma/ Dirty Pair crossover but I don't even have a vague idea how to cross those two series.
4. Idea that came from a combination of the Romeo and Juliet play and the play Ranma wrote to convince Happosai to change Pantyhose Taro's name. A year has nearly passed since the Romeo and Juliet play and the drama club approaches Ranma with a request that he star in the play for this years competition (last years play may not have followed the script but it did win the competition and was enjoyed by the audience). They word their request in such away as to trigger Ranma's competitive nature so he agrees making the stipulation that he gets to chose the play; the play Ranma chooses is one of his own making. Ranma does not write himself as the hero of the play instead he makes himself the villain who kidnaps the heroine. That's all I have for this idea, at this time.
All the above ideas and the recently posted ones, baring the Inuyasha one and the rehash of ideas in the second post that mentions national writing month, are newly conceived ideas. I have recently found a text file I created a few years ago labeled Ranma Story ideas. I am not going to post any of them. Every single one of the ideas in that text document is terrible, which tells me something about how my thoughts have changed in the intervening years. Not a one of them looks to have have anything worth even trying to salvage for possible later use.
Another series I have had many ideas for is Slayers (which is one of, if not, my favorite anime). Though I am unsure as to where the best splitting point or continuity to use (novels, manga, games). Though it would be very unlikely that I'd use the games, many reasons but largest being Xelloss is killed in the SNES Slayers RPG.
Some miscellaneous, and probably not all that good since very little thought was put into them, ideas:
1.Ranma/Slayers crossover. One possibility Ranma watches the Slayers anime then deciding to have some fun he splashes himself with water and pretends to be Lina Inverse using ki techniques and tricks to mimic her spells as best he can. Another would be to have him be summoned by a sorcerer in the Slayers universe. Most of my ideas for Slayers are not crossovers (and are not posted anywhere).
2. Lupin the Third/ Ranma crossover:
Kodachi is kidnapped by a criminal organization. I chose Kodachi because she was not kidnapped in the manga, is the most reliant on objects rather than pure physical abilities, and in my opinion rates lower in skill than Ranma's other fiancees (Akane or Shampoo locked in a brick walled and steel bared room would, judging by the manga particularly the scene where Akane does just that, break out). While Ranma does not love Kodachi he would go to rescue her. The thing is he does not know where she is and her release is dependent on Ranma acquiring (i.e. stealing) several things for them.
Here is where Lupin enters the story, he is trying to get the very same items. Conflict between Lupin and Ranma, which of course would be resolved eventually, they then find out why the villain wanted the items, which leads to a grander adventure. The person who kidnapped Kodachi was just a cog in another villains very large plan for world domination (not that Ranma actually cares about who rules the world but he does care about kidnapping people he knows and murder).
3. I'd like to see a Ranma/ Dirty Pair crossover but I don't even have a vague idea how to cross those two series.
4. Idea that came from a combination of the Romeo and Juliet play and the play Ranma wrote to convince Happosai to change Pantyhose Taro's name. A year has nearly passed since the Romeo and Juliet play and the drama club approaches Ranma with a request that he star in the play for this years competition (last years play may not have followed the script but it did win the competition and was enjoyed by the audience). They word their request in such away as to trigger Ranma's competitive nature so he agrees making the stipulation that he gets to chose the play; the play Ranma chooses is one of his own making. Ranma does not write himself as the hero of the play instead he makes himself the villain who kidnaps the heroine. That's all I have for this idea, at this time.
All the above ideas and the recently posted ones, baring the Inuyasha one and the rehash of ideas in the second post that mentions national writing month, are newly conceived ideas. I have recently found a text file I created a few years ago labeled Ranma Story ideas. I am not going to post any of them. Every single one of the ideas in that text document is terrible, which tells me something about how my thoughts have changed in the intervening years. Not a one of them looks to have have anything worth even trying to salvage for possible later use.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Ranma/ Kim Possible crossover
Even though, in an earlier post, I had ruled out comedy as being the main genre for a story this idea still came to me. This idea is mostly about Ranma and Shego hanging out and playing pranks on the various Kim Possible villains (and some of the other people as well).
Ranma would be neither a hero or a villain. Doesn't give a crap who rules the world and has no idea as to why anyone would want to, seeing it as being more trouble than it is worth. Shego won't turn good. Basically Ranma and Shego are going to do whatever the hell they feel like. Sometimes it will be stealing, sometimes scamming a casino for cash, sometimes playing pranks, and sometimes saving the world. Not a Shego/Ranma pairing, they will only be friends. Though Shego is willing to cross lines that Ranma would not which would cause contention between them.
Ranma-onna wakes up in a prison cell with Shego not knowing how he got there but more importantly very hungry. Upon learning that food will not be given for several hours Ranma breaks out taking Shego with him. Ranma than not having anything better to do at the moment goes with Shego to Dr Drakkens latest lair.
Some things that could happen in the fic:
- Ranma will not interrupt fights between Shego and Kim.
- Yamachi ninja school will attack Ranma over a misunderstanding.
- Many pranks done at others expense (Ranma does do this in the manga like using ventriloquism to say "kiss me" in Akane's voice to Ryoga, sneaking up on Akane to see her reaction, dressing Akari's pig as Akane and telling Ryoga that she wants to kiss him, etc.).
- Shego will fight some of Ranma's fiancee's, if official duel Ranma will not interfere, otherwise he would attempt to stop them from fighting.
- Skillwise, in my opinion, for the girls: Shampoo>Ukyo and Akane>Kodachi, Kim Possible, and Shego. That does not necessarily mean that Shampoo would beat Kim or Shego since there are many other factors (An example as to why skill alone does not necessarily matter: Kodachi, since she is willing to fight the dirtiest using things like paralysis powder and traps, could conceivably defeat all of them at once depending on other factors).
Ranma would be neither a hero or a villain. Doesn't give a crap who rules the world and has no idea as to why anyone would want to, seeing it as being more trouble than it is worth. Shego won't turn good. Basically Ranma and Shego are going to do whatever the hell they feel like. Sometimes it will be stealing, sometimes scamming a casino for cash, sometimes playing pranks, and sometimes saving the world. Not a Shego/Ranma pairing, they will only be friends. Though Shego is willing to cross lines that Ranma would not which would cause contention between them.
Ranma-onna wakes up in a prison cell with Shego not knowing how he got there but more importantly very hungry. Upon learning that food will not be given for several hours Ranma breaks out taking Shego with him. Ranma than not having anything better to do at the moment goes with Shego to Dr Drakkens latest lair.
Some things that could happen in the fic:
- Ranma will not interrupt fights between Shego and Kim.
- Yamachi ninja school will attack Ranma over a misunderstanding.
- Many pranks done at others expense (Ranma does do this in the manga like using ventriloquism to say "kiss me" in Akane's voice to Ryoga, sneaking up on Akane to see her reaction, dressing Akari's pig as Akane and telling Ryoga that she wants to kiss him, etc.).
- Shego will fight some of Ranma's fiancee's, if official duel Ranma will not interfere, otherwise he would attempt to stop them from fighting.
- Skillwise, in my opinion, for the girls: Shampoo>Ukyo and Akane>Kodachi, Kim Possible, and Shego. That does not necessarily mean that Shampoo would beat Kim or Shego since there are many other factors (An example as to why skill alone does not necessarily matter: Kodachi, since she is willing to fight the dirtiest using things like paralysis powder and traps, could conceivably defeat all of them at once depending on other factors).
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
A Japanese Ghost Story
This idea is for a supernatural fantasy/ghost story. Ranma has for several months (offscreen parts during the manga) been sneaking into the school after hours and playing with a ghost named Hanako. Hanako is a very common ghost story told in Japanese schools (several movies and the story is told in just about all the schools with kids really being to afraid to go to the bathroom to the point that schools have started upgrading the bathrooms to make them less scary). To call the ghost you go to the third bathroom stall and say "Hanako-san, Hanako-san let's play a game". The ghost then comes out and says "Yes. Do you want to play." Depending on the story sometimes she is nice and wants to play, some times she scares people, and sometimes she kills people. She usually, and for the fic idea would, have short hair and wears the color red.
Ranma has been keeping her company some nights and they play games like Chess, Monopoly, Trivia Pursuit, Life (very popular in Japan), cards, Go, Shogi, Renju, etc. The thing is Ranma left for awhile and neglected to tell her where he was going. She starts to worry about him and goes in search for him, by randomly popping out of toilets (for the purpose of this fic she is metaphysically bound to them - place bound spirits are common in ghost stories, particularly vengeful ones, generally bound to the place they died usually by strong emotional ties). When he finally does show up and summons her she is initially glad to see him but upon learning that he was not in danger, just forgot to tell her he'd be busy for a few weeks and was not able to visit her, she gets extremely angry and drags him (still alive) either to the Sanzu river (Buddhist river of the dead), Purgatory (Catholic waiting room to the afterlife), or to Yomi (Shinto afterlife) - the Japanese would not see a problem with all three existing congruently and I don't know what afterlife I'd choose were I to write this.
That is really all I have for this idea, besides after that event instead of occasionally meeting supernatural creatures/spirits he does so with a greater frequency than he did in the manga (though he did encounter quite a few in the manga). Some would be dangerous such as the Teke-Teke (ghosts that are missing the lower half of their bodies and chase people while carrying scissors or a sickle with the intent of chopping off humans lower half and making them into Teke-Teke). Some would be harmless though freaky looking such as man-faced dog (Dog with the face of a man often seen digging in garbage, sometimes chases cars, generally tells people who happen to see them to leave them alone). Some would be helpful like the Baku (a monster that eats nightmares).
The ghosts would also have common ghostly powers, though some would be dependent on type, such as the ability to enter dreams (like the astral form of an old man Ranma went on a date with in the manga), hitodama (balls of spiritual fire that most of the ghosts had like the lady ghost who wanted her panties stolen or the Bakeneko, ghost cat, in the manga had), possession, intangibility, ability to place curses, shapeshifting, etc.
Ranma has been keeping her company some nights and they play games like Chess, Monopoly, Trivia Pursuit, Life (very popular in Japan), cards, Go, Shogi, Renju, etc. The thing is Ranma left for awhile and neglected to tell her where he was going. She starts to worry about him and goes in search for him, by randomly popping out of toilets (for the purpose of this fic she is metaphysically bound to them - place bound spirits are common in ghost stories, particularly vengeful ones, generally bound to the place they died usually by strong emotional ties). When he finally does show up and summons her she is initially glad to see him but upon learning that he was not in danger, just forgot to tell her he'd be busy for a few weeks and was not able to visit her, she gets extremely angry and drags him (still alive) either to the Sanzu river (Buddhist river of the dead), Purgatory (Catholic waiting room to the afterlife), or to Yomi (Shinto afterlife) - the Japanese would not see a problem with all three existing congruently and I don't know what afterlife I'd choose were I to write this.
That is really all I have for this idea, besides after that event instead of occasionally meeting supernatural creatures/spirits he does so with a greater frequency than he did in the manga (though he did encounter quite a few in the manga). Some would be dangerous such as the Teke-Teke (ghosts that are missing the lower half of their bodies and chase people while carrying scissors or a sickle with the intent of chopping off humans lower half and making them into Teke-Teke). Some would be harmless though freaky looking such as man-faced dog (Dog with the face of a man often seen digging in garbage, sometimes chases cars, generally tells people who happen to see them to leave them alone). Some would be helpful like the Baku (a monster that eats nightmares).
The ghosts would also have common ghostly powers, though some would be dependent on type, such as the ability to enter dreams (like the astral form of an old man Ranma went on a date with in the manga), hitodama (balls of spiritual fire that most of the ghosts had like the lady ghost who wanted her panties stolen or the Bakeneko, ghost cat, in the manga had), possession, intangibility, ability to place curses, shapeshifting, etc.
Ranma the backstories
Summary: Have you ever wondered what made the characters the way they are? Well wonder no longer for here is the tell all back stories for those memorable characters.
We know how the characters in the Ranma manga are now but besides a few glimpses into their past we don't know what made them the way they are. So I thought maybe write a story that tells how the characters came to be the way they are.
While I have a few ideas, this is mostly brainstorming/free writing. I'll use the Kuno family as the first idea. There are some things told in the manga. Such as something happened to their mother, Kodachi cooks for herself and her brother, the father had not been fixated on America prior to his leaving, Kuno senior left them by themselves for more than three years, etc.
This idea could start with whatever happened to Tatewaki and Kodachi's mother, be it her dying or just leaving them. Than the fic shows Tatewaki and Kodachi both wondering if it is because of something they did, so they try to become the best. Tatewaki tries to take upon the virtues of a samurai and Kodachi throws herself into gymnastics with the need to win, to the point she will do anything to do so. Time passes and their father becomes more and more unhinged until one day he just leaves them. Suddenly a 14 year old Tatewaki and a 13 year old Kodachi are left alone to take care of themselves. This does not go well for Tatewaki and Kodachi. He tries to control her after their father leaves them because he thinks he is protecting her and not understanding that is not how she views it. Kodachi feeling that Tatewaki is trying to lord it over her and control everything she does so she lashes out against him. This leads to them arguing and fighting until it reaches the point in which Kodachi start to regularly add sleeping powders to his food. Then we follow Tatewaki and Kodachi's lives until shortly after they meet and fall for Ranma (showing what Ranma means to them and how he fills a hole in their lives).
Instead of the Kuno's maybe do Ukyo. Start with her friendship with Ranma and daydreams about marrying him. Then show her being abandoned by her friend and the pain it causes her, not knowing why they left her. Than show her being ridiculed by the mean children in the neighborhood, particularly those she talked about Ranma to. Her being pitied by her elders. Her deciding that she will never love another man and throwing herself into her training. Show bits and pieces until after Ranma is back into her life, not knowing the pain he caused her and fighting with his fiancee. Deciding that she was wrong and that she wants to marry Ranma and those dreams she had could still come true.
This could be done for any and all of the characters.
We know how the characters in the Ranma manga are now but besides a few glimpses into their past we don't know what made them the way they are. So I thought maybe write a story that tells how the characters came to be the way they are.
While I have a few ideas, this is mostly brainstorming/free writing. I'll use the Kuno family as the first idea. There are some things told in the manga. Such as something happened to their mother, Kodachi cooks for herself and her brother, the father had not been fixated on America prior to his leaving, Kuno senior left them by themselves for more than three years, etc.
This idea could start with whatever happened to Tatewaki and Kodachi's mother, be it her dying or just leaving them. Than the fic shows Tatewaki and Kodachi both wondering if it is because of something they did, so they try to become the best. Tatewaki tries to take upon the virtues of a samurai and Kodachi throws herself into gymnastics with the need to win, to the point she will do anything to do so. Time passes and their father becomes more and more unhinged until one day he just leaves them. Suddenly a 14 year old Tatewaki and a 13 year old Kodachi are left alone to take care of themselves. This does not go well for Tatewaki and Kodachi. He tries to control her after their father leaves them because he thinks he is protecting her and not understanding that is not how she views it. Kodachi feeling that Tatewaki is trying to lord it over her and control everything she does so she lashes out against him. This leads to them arguing and fighting until it reaches the point in which Kodachi start to regularly add sleeping powders to his food. Then we follow Tatewaki and Kodachi's lives until shortly after they meet and fall for Ranma (showing what Ranma means to them and how he fills a hole in their lives).
Instead of the Kuno's maybe do Ukyo. Start with her friendship with Ranma and daydreams about marrying him. Then show her being abandoned by her friend and the pain it causes her, not knowing why they left her. Than show her being ridiculed by the mean children in the neighborhood, particularly those she talked about Ranma to. Her being pitied by her elders. Her deciding that she will never love another man and throwing herself into her training. Show bits and pieces until after Ranma is back into her life, not knowing the pain he caused her and fighting with his fiancee. Deciding that she was wrong and that she wants to marry Ranma and those dreams she had could still come true.
This could be done for any and all of the characters.
The Ranma and Happosai war
This fan fic idea is set the day after the failed wedding in the manga. Ranma and Happosai have fought a lot in the manga and Ranma is pretty upset with Happosai for drinking the Nannichuan; though not a lot because he assumes it was an accident. Even though Ranma is not that upset he is not above getting some petty revenge against Happosai for drinking it. To do so Ranma searches Happosai's room (wouldn't be the first time, Ranma searches peoples rooms pretty frequently in the manga), looking for something to use against Happosai (incidentally stealing any magic item/ martial arts books/scrolls/pressure point charts that Happosai happened to leave there). In his searching of Happosai's room for something to use against Happosai, Ranma finds a barely legible notebook that Happosai has written. It turns out to be a diary (Happosai got distracted and forgot to hide it away properly). Ranma reads through it hoping to find something to use against Happosai but it mostly lists girls and their three sizes and critiques on various under garments brands/styles, but interspersed amongst that is some useful information. One of the things, and the most important for this story idea, that Ranma finds out is that Happosai knew that it was not sake and that Happosai has acquired Nyannichuan to recurse Ranma if Ranma did find a cure.
Needless to say that really pisses off Ranma. Prior to finding Happosai's diary Ranma was considering just destroying Happosai's collection of undergarments and helping the girls at school booby trap the girls locker room if he didn't find anything to use against Happosai in Happosai's room, after finding it he feels like that would not be sufficient revenge. A problem Ranma has is that he doesn't know what to do for revenge, he does not want to kill or seriously hurt Happosai but does want to do something worse than just antagonize and inconvenience him.
Ranma being the impatient live in the moment type person he is generally would come up with a plan and implement it often times without thinking it through all the way. This time because Ranma is pissed and wants to come up with a really good revenge spends days trying to come up with a good plan. He comes up with hundreds but discounts them; some he feels are too excessive (those that would end up with Happosai dead), others are discounted because they are insufficient, still others are discounted because he actually spent enough time to notice the flaws in his plan, etc.
That is where the first major problem I encounter with this fic idea comes about. I can think of many possible ideas for revenge but have yet to think about a really good one.
Lets skip ahead a bit to after Ranma has successfully come up with a good revenge plan. He implements it and while it does not go exactly as planned it still is successful. This of course brings the fic to the point where Happosai retaliates. Happosai's retaliation is simple, he does what he did before ordering things in Ranma's name, trying to get Ranma blamed for things, pokes holes in the walls, etc. That does not work so well, it is sufficient to get Ranma kicked out of the Tendo house for a bit but that does not bother Ranma very much (he fully expected and planned for worse than that). Happosai, not having any magical item available to use on Ranma (Ranma stole them earlier) decides to go to various shrines and free trapped spirits - things like Kappa, Oni, and Tengu just causing as much trouble as he can knowing Ranma would go and trap them.
Ranma is then forced to hunt and capture these things, learning more about spirits and things like spirit wards. This is where there is a twist in the story. I'm not sure if I want to give it away at this time because I may, if not soon, eventually decide to write this story.
Needless to say that really pisses off Ranma. Prior to finding Happosai's diary Ranma was considering just destroying Happosai's collection of undergarments and helping the girls at school booby trap the girls locker room if he didn't find anything to use against Happosai in Happosai's room, after finding it he feels like that would not be sufficient revenge. A problem Ranma has is that he doesn't know what to do for revenge, he does not want to kill or seriously hurt Happosai but does want to do something worse than just antagonize and inconvenience him.
Ranma being the impatient live in the moment type person he is generally would come up with a plan and implement it often times without thinking it through all the way. This time because Ranma is pissed and wants to come up with a really good revenge spends days trying to come up with a good plan. He comes up with hundreds but discounts them; some he feels are too excessive (those that would end up with Happosai dead), others are discounted because they are insufficient, still others are discounted because he actually spent enough time to notice the flaws in his plan, etc.
That is where the first major problem I encounter with this fic idea comes about. I can think of many possible ideas for revenge but have yet to think about a really good one.
Lets skip ahead a bit to after Ranma has successfully come up with a good revenge plan. He implements it and while it does not go exactly as planned it still is successful. This of course brings the fic to the point where Happosai retaliates. Happosai's retaliation is simple, he does what he did before ordering things in Ranma's name, trying to get Ranma blamed for things, pokes holes in the walls, etc. That does not work so well, it is sufficient to get Ranma kicked out of the Tendo house for a bit but that does not bother Ranma very much (he fully expected and planned for worse than that). Happosai, not having any magical item available to use on Ranma (Ranma stole them earlier) decides to go to various shrines and free trapped spirits - things like Kappa, Oni, and Tengu just causing as much trouble as he can knowing Ranma would go and trap them.
Ranma is then forced to hunt and capture these things, learning more about spirits and things like spirit wards. This is where there is a twist in the story. I'm not sure if I want to give it away at this time because I may, if not soon, eventually decide to write this story.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Ranma/ X-men Evolution crossover
I have read a number of Ranma/X-men Evolution crossovers that I really enjoyed. My favorite being the ones on the anime adventure Ranma Evolution and Ranma evolution. The strange thing about me liking them is that I have read several of the X-men comics, seen several of the cartoon series, and seen I believe all of the movies and while I found some things interesting, overall I find the X-men to be a median rated series at best. That said, since I did like several of those fan fics I have contemplated writing one myself. The problem I have with this fic idea is that I have not really thought of a plot, instead I spent my time thinking on the logistics of merging the two (much of which is not in this post).
I decided that this fan fic would be set several months post manga and be an X-men evolution alterverse. For reasons that even I do not know why I thought up; I came up with a lot of back story for events that would happen between the end of the manga and the beginning of the story. If I were to write the story though I would be unlikely to even tell any of the back story only alluding to it or telling that which is relevant to the story.
I'm not going to list all the things I came up with for the back-story, because it is not relevant and most readers would likely see it pointless to add non relevant information. Though some of the ideas for the back-story could be made into stories themselves. Here is one though that maybe included:
-On the way back from China they made a stop over in Hong Kong, while in Hong Kong Ranma remembered his last trip there, and on impulse decided to rob that casino making a clean get away with a little more than 50 million dollars (Ranma has little qualms with stealing in general and none at all when stealing from slavers).
Should Ranma be a mutant? A lot of fics have Ranma be a mutant, this is a convenient way to explain why he's around them, but really considering Ranma's abilities and the way he acts he doesn't need to be a mutant. He is stranger than most of the mutants and has demonstrated a lot of abilities. I think I'd go with him not being a mutant. There was a group in the comic books I remember seeing that did not have the X-gene but did have many of the abilities of mutants via training and hated mutants (this was read several years ago and I no longer can remember the specifics but do remember it existing so someone like Ranma does exist in at least one of the X-men continuities).
Some ideas for a possible Ranma/X-men evolution fan fic:
- Akane is found out to be a mutant. When her powers activate for the first time this makes her very happy for two reasons. Reason 1: she has a new ability. Reason 2: a side effect is bigger breast, something Akane feels insecure about and canonically wants as much as Genma wants hair (she has an entire box of things that are supposed to increase breast size but doesn't work like creams and exercise books).
- The fact that Ranma is not a mutant is not believed by anyone who learns of mutants existence (they are still extremely rare). That he doesn't have an x-gene and every mutant detecting means in existence says he is not a mutant convinces absolutely no one that he isn't. It is not solely because of the martial arts, his curse, or even his abilities that lead people to this conclusion (though those things certainly do add to the belief), Ranma occasionally behavior (things like talking to ghosts, howling at the moon, crouching on the table while eating when really hungry, writing with his foot, etc.) are also a large part of that belief.
- For this fic at least, Ranma is not just a martial artist, though that is what he considers himself. He is also a Miko (deals with spirits/kami, visits shrines fairly frequently, and prays) and he has acquired some more training in this (both from priests and his father - who did seal Happosai in a cave using shimenawa). He is also a budding ki sorcerer, for the purpose of this fic, the active use of ki is a very rare learned ability made easier by martial arts but knowing martial arts is not a requirement to using ki - only the highest end martial artists who devoted most of their life/time to martial arts use ki, and most never progress beyond the subconscious use of it.
-Ranma has been and will revise existing techniques and create techniques based on ones he knows/has seen (this would be true of any fic I were to write). This is something which I would expect of him since we do see him revise techniques fairly frequently - i.e. multiple revisions of the hiryu shoten ha or changing the shi shi hadoken to the moko takabisha to the double moko takabisha. Many of the techniques he thinks up will have limited or even no combat use, being only viable under certain circumstances, taking to long to set up, Ranma having insufficient power to use for a prolonged time, or just being too ineffective to be used in combat (though they may have some none combat purposes). Though Ranma will continue to rarely uses special techniques in combat.
- The existence of mutants is not commonly known but when it is Japan will be very anti-mutant, though the majority of the Ranma cast do not care in the least bit if people are or are not mutants (they are not prejudiced in that way). A funny thing is that Ranma in the VIZ translation of the manga once called the Principal a mutant and this will be commented upon if I were to write this fic.
- Ranma and Telepathy: I thought about this awhile and decided that the standard means of telepathy would not work right when Ranma is involved. Images or thoughts can be projected into to Ranma's mind but telepaths can not hear Ranma's thoughts or enter his memories. The explanation for this in the fic is that Ranma's thought process have deviated too much from the human standard to make sense of. Communicating from the astral/spiritual plane or in dreams though works even better than normal. The real reason being I think that it is better for everyone to not be able to enter Ranma's mind and I do not want telepaths roaming around in there (there is some really, really scary stuff in there and not just the neko-ken).
- Ranma and Rouge's touch: This too works differently. I have no plans of hooking up the two but Rouge will not drain Ranma's abilities or thoughts when she touches him, instead Ranma will receive random thoughts and powers from people she has touched in the past (temporarily). There will be no explanation for this, it will stump everyone; no one will be able to conceive a logical reason for this happening.
-The comedic relief for this fic would be Wolverine. There would be back story about Ranma having met Wolverine repeatedly over the years and Wolverine always ending up hurt badly through no fault of Ranma's. This would lead Wolverine to having an irrational fear of Ranma which would be played for laughs (Wolverine will act like Ranma is the bringer of the end of days).
- I realize that some people would view it as me making Ranma too powerful but he still has weakness's and will fight the way he did in the manga. While I have not made it clear in this post, if I were to write this Akane would play a major part of the fic as well and Ranma would not be an opponent of the X-men or most mutants (they have to do something to piss him off first). This like most of the other fic ideas recently expressed is still in the brainstorming stage.
I decided that this fan fic would be set several months post manga and be an X-men evolution alterverse. For reasons that even I do not know why I thought up; I came up with a lot of back story for events that would happen between the end of the manga and the beginning of the story. If I were to write the story though I would be unlikely to even tell any of the back story only alluding to it or telling that which is relevant to the story.
I'm not going to list all the things I came up with for the back-story, because it is not relevant and most readers would likely see it pointless to add non relevant information. Though some of the ideas for the back-story could be made into stories themselves. Here is one though that maybe included:
-On the way back from China they made a stop over in Hong Kong, while in Hong Kong Ranma remembered his last trip there, and on impulse decided to rob that casino making a clean get away with a little more than 50 million dollars (Ranma has little qualms with stealing in general and none at all when stealing from slavers).
Should Ranma be a mutant? A lot of fics have Ranma be a mutant, this is a convenient way to explain why he's around them, but really considering Ranma's abilities and the way he acts he doesn't need to be a mutant. He is stranger than most of the mutants and has demonstrated a lot of abilities. I think I'd go with him not being a mutant. There was a group in the comic books I remember seeing that did not have the X-gene but did have many of the abilities of mutants via training and hated mutants (this was read several years ago and I no longer can remember the specifics but do remember it existing so someone like Ranma does exist in at least one of the X-men continuities).
Some ideas for a possible Ranma/X-men evolution fan fic:
- Akane is found out to be a mutant. When her powers activate for the first time this makes her very happy for two reasons. Reason 1: she has a new ability. Reason 2: a side effect is bigger breast, something Akane feels insecure about and canonically wants as much as Genma wants hair (she has an entire box of things that are supposed to increase breast size but doesn't work like creams and exercise books).
- The fact that Ranma is not a mutant is not believed by anyone who learns of mutants existence (they are still extremely rare). That he doesn't have an x-gene and every mutant detecting means in existence says he is not a mutant convinces absolutely no one that he isn't. It is not solely because of the martial arts, his curse, or even his abilities that lead people to this conclusion (though those things certainly do add to the belief), Ranma occasionally behavior (things like talking to ghosts, howling at the moon, crouching on the table while eating when really hungry, writing with his foot, etc.) are also a large part of that belief.
- For this fic at least, Ranma is not just a martial artist, though that is what he considers himself. He is also a Miko (deals with spirits/kami, visits shrines fairly frequently, and prays) and he has acquired some more training in this (both from priests and his father - who did seal Happosai in a cave using shimenawa). He is also a budding ki sorcerer, for the purpose of this fic, the active use of ki is a very rare learned ability made easier by martial arts but knowing martial arts is not a requirement to using ki - only the highest end martial artists who devoted most of their life/time to martial arts use ki, and most never progress beyond the subconscious use of it.
-Ranma has been and will revise existing techniques and create techniques based on ones he knows/has seen (this would be true of any fic I were to write). This is something which I would expect of him since we do see him revise techniques fairly frequently - i.e. multiple revisions of the hiryu shoten ha or changing the shi shi hadoken to the moko takabisha to the double moko takabisha. Many of the techniques he thinks up will have limited or even no combat use, being only viable under certain circumstances, taking to long to set up, Ranma having insufficient power to use for a prolonged time, or just being too ineffective to be used in combat (though they may have some none combat purposes). Though Ranma will continue to rarely uses special techniques in combat.
- The existence of mutants is not commonly known but when it is Japan will be very anti-mutant, though the majority of the Ranma cast do not care in the least bit if people are or are not mutants (they are not prejudiced in that way). A funny thing is that Ranma in the VIZ translation of the manga once called the Principal a mutant and this will be commented upon if I were to write this fic.
- Ranma and Telepathy: I thought about this awhile and decided that the standard means of telepathy would not work right when Ranma is involved. Images or thoughts can be projected into to Ranma's mind but telepaths can not hear Ranma's thoughts or enter his memories. The explanation for this in the fic is that Ranma's thought process have deviated too much from the human standard to make sense of. Communicating from the astral/spiritual plane or in dreams though works even better than normal. The real reason being I think that it is better for everyone to not be able to enter Ranma's mind and I do not want telepaths roaming around in there (there is some really, really scary stuff in there and not just the neko-ken).
- Ranma and Rouge's touch: This too works differently. I have no plans of hooking up the two but Rouge will not drain Ranma's abilities or thoughts when she touches him, instead Ranma will receive random thoughts and powers from people she has touched in the past (temporarily). There will be no explanation for this, it will stump everyone; no one will be able to conceive a logical reason for this happening.
-The comedic relief for this fic would be Wolverine. There would be back story about Ranma having met Wolverine repeatedly over the years and Wolverine always ending up hurt badly through no fault of Ranma's. This would lead Wolverine to having an irrational fear of Ranma which would be played for laughs (Wolverine will act like Ranma is the bringer of the end of days).
- I realize that some people would view it as me making Ranma too powerful but he still has weakness's and will fight the way he did in the manga. While I have not made it clear in this post, if I were to write this Akane would play a major part of the fic as well and Ranma would not be an opponent of the X-men or most mutants (they have to do something to piss him off first). This like most of the other fic ideas recently expressed is still in the brainstorming stage.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Ranma Inuyasha crossover
This is not a new idea it an old one, with some revisions made, that I am currently reconsidering (file says last modified April 09, 2004). This is from before Inuyasha was finished so I had not watched the entire anime or read the entire Inuyasha manga (still haven't gotten around to doing that).
On one of Kagome's forays into the past she is injured by a youkai requiring medical attention beyond the abilities of the healers in the feudal era. Inuyasha brings her through the well to her family and they get her to a hospital where the doctors do manage to save her life but it will be some time before she is fully healed. The hospital is short staffed, so Ranma and Akane volunteered to help when asked (Akane primarily transporting various items from unit to unit and visiting patients keeping them company, Ranma having some preexisting medical skills is working as a volunteer medical orderly/nurses assistant doing things like feeding patients who can't feed themselves, transporting patients, and helping nurses move people that are too heavy for them to move themselves). One of the patients Akane visits is Kagome and Kagome opens up to Akane not expecting her to believe her. Akane, of course, does believe her having seen things that are as strange or even stranger than what Kagome tells her. Akane and Kagome become friends and Kagome asks Akane to bring her somethings from her house (she did not think of asking her family members when they had been there).
Akane goes to the shrine that Kagome lives at and is attacked by a yōkai Naraku sent through the well (an ability Naraku only recently acquired). Akane puts up a good fight but the yōkai is simply too powerful and it takes the unconscious Akane through the well thinking that she is Kagome. Back in the feudal period Inuyasha intercepts the yōkai when it exits the well and kills it after a brief but surprisingly difficult battle. Inuyasha has no idea who Akane is but can smell Kagome on her. Inuyasha brings her to Kaede.
At this point I was conflicted as to what I wanted to happen. Should Akane stay in the feudal period for little while and Ranma tracks her down following her to there? Should Inuyasha bring Akane back through the well and Ranma mistakes Inuyasha for someone trying to kidnap Akane? Should Akane come back and explain to Ranma what happened and both of them go back to help Kagome and Inuyasha?
That is all I had for this idea at the time, though there were additional notes comparing Ranma to Inuyasha and speculation for how they would interact.
A story in which Ranma just joins the Inuyasha gang in their fight versus Naruku may interest some, while I do not remember where I was originally going with this fic idea, I don't really see the point in doing that. Sure Ranma would help, particularly if asked, and I could have Ranma try to play match maker for Inuyasha and Kagome or Sango and Miroku (Ranma does attempt to hook people up in the manga). I think I'd rather have Ranma find something out while in the feudal period that leads to him making changes in his life and alters his view on a few people. Ranma then going off on his own, or maybe with Akane or his other fiancees possibly Kodachi since those fics are rare, to deal with a different problem that he stumbles upon while the Inuyasha gang continue to deal with Naruku.
On one of Kagome's forays into the past she is injured by a youkai requiring medical attention beyond the abilities of the healers in the feudal era. Inuyasha brings her through the well to her family and they get her to a hospital where the doctors do manage to save her life but it will be some time before she is fully healed. The hospital is short staffed, so Ranma and Akane volunteered to help when asked (Akane primarily transporting various items from unit to unit and visiting patients keeping them company, Ranma having some preexisting medical skills is working as a volunteer medical orderly/nurses assistant doing things like feeding patients who can't feed themselves, transporting patients, and helping nurses move people that are too heavy for them to move themselves). One of the patients Akane visits is Kagome and Kagome opens up to Akane not expecting her to believe her. Akane, of course, does believe her having seen things that are as strange or even stranger than what Kagome tells her. Akane and Kagome become friends and Kagome asks Akane to bring her somethings from her house (she did not think of asking her family members when they had been there).
Akane goes to the shrine that Kagome lives at and is attacked by a yōkai Naraku sent through the well (an ability Naraku only recently acquired). Akane puts up a good fight but the yōkai is simply too powerful and it takes the unconscious Akane through the well thinking that she is Kagome. Back in the feudal period Inuyasha intercepts the yōkai when it exits the well and kills it after a brief but surprisingly difficult battle. Inuyasha has no idea who Akane is but can smell Kagome on her. Inuyasha brings her to Kaede.
At this point I was conflicted as to what I wanted to happen. Should Akane stay in the feudal period for little while and Ranma tracks her down following her to there? Should Inuyasha bring Akane back through the well and Ranma mistakes Inuyasha for someone trying to kidnap Akane? Should Akane come back and explain to Ranma what happened and both of them go back to help Kagome and Inuyasha?
That is all I had for this idea at the time, though there were additional notes comparing Ranma to Inuyasha and speculation for how they would interact.
A story in which Ranma just joins the Inuyasha gang in their fight versus Naruku may interest some, while I do not remember where I was originally going with this fic idea, I don't really see the point in doing that. Sure Ranma would help, particularly if asked, and I could have Ranma try to play match maker for Inuyasha and Kagome or Sango and Miroku (Ranma does attempt to hook people up in the manga). I think I'd rather have Ranma find something out while in the feudal period that leads to him making changes in his life and alters his view on a few people. Ranma then going off on his own, or maybe with Akane or his other fiancees possibly Kodachi since those fics are rare, to deal with a different problem that he stumbles upon while the Inuyasha gang continue to deal with Naruku.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Ranma/Star Trek Voyager
I like Star Trek and I like Ranma so I have thought about writing a crossover involving the two series. Figuring out how to bring Ranma into the Star Trek universe is extremely simple considering things like time travel, Q, the Preservers, sleeper ships, holodecks, etc. This, for example, would work: Spatial anomaly opens up in engineering stopping the entire ship and spitting out Ranma. Ranma had been looking for another cure for his curse activated some ancient magical/technological item and somehow ended up there.
I liked the idea of Seven of Nine, but not the implementation. I did not like that she got paired with Chakotay. I did not like how the crew treated her. There is actually a lot about Star Trek Voyager I did not like. That is in part why I want to introduce Ranma into the series, basically so I can have him force a change in things, particularly in how the crew thinks.
I would like a Ranma/Seven of Nine pairing. As such, the first thing I need to set up is a reason for Ranma to be around Seven of Nine. This fic would be set shortly after Seven of Nine is brought on to the ship, a time when she had very poor social skills, and was sorely lacking in knowledge in many things (she did not know how to sit or eat because of her Borg upbringing). The means I'm considering using to keep Seven of Nine and Ranma in close proximity is to have Ranma's aura interfere with the ships sensors and more importantly the Bioneural gel packs (similar to how several aliens were affected strangely by the sensors and how some spores that Nelix acquired messed with the gel packs). To prevent his aura from interfering with the ships systems, a Borg technology is needed to neutralize the effects forcing Ranma to stay within a certain radius of Seven.
I want to use Ranma for this fic because he is significantly different than the other humans; in many ways he is more alien than the aliens.
I want Ranma to point things out that I thought about that never really seems to be thought about in the Star Trek universe (an example: Combadges lost, why don't they ever use sub-dermal tracking devices for emergency beam outs?). Simple solutions to complex problems they would not think about since they prefer complex solutions involving lots of technobabble.
I want Ranma to point out differences between his world (in some cases our world) like why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't breed together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can. Ask why people do not have jet packs or power armor since both existed in his time (both are seen in the manga).
Things that will not happen:
Ranma suddenly knowing how the technology works (he will learn the rudimentaries, so as to function in that society but he won't know the details - basically he will be taught how to drive a car but not how the car works, how to do anything but the most common fixes for the car, or how to build a car).
I'm still just brainstorming and this idea is no where near fully formed. There are all kinds of details that this is lacking in current form and all kinds of things to add. Could have Ranma train with the Holodeck, have them build him a gravity belt, Ranma be like a supped up Jem Hedar/ genetically engineered person (in Enterprise the humans who were genetically engineered were resistant to phaser blasts), could have Ranma learn new techniques for example how to travel via warp speed without a ship (like the alien known as the Traveler did and taught Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG).
I liked the idea of Seven of Nine, but not the implementation. I did not like that she got paired with Chakotay. I did not like how the crew treated her. There is actually a lot about Star Trek Voyager I did not like. That is in part why I want to introduce Ranma into the series, basically so I can have him force a change in things, particularly in how the crew thinks.
I would like a Ranma/Seven of Nine pairing. As such, the first thing I need to set up is a reason for Ranma to be around Seven of Nine. This fic would be set shortly after Seven of Nine is brought on to the ship, a time when she had very poor social skills, and was sorely lacking in knowledge in many things (she did not know how to sit or eat because of her Borg upbringing). The means I'm considering using to keep Seven of Nine and Ranma in close proximity is to have Ranma's aura interfere with the ships sensors and more importantly the Bioneural gel packs (similar to how several aliens were affected strangely by the sensors and how some spores that Nelix acquired messed with the gel packs). To prevent his aura from interfering with the ships systems, a Borg technology is needed to neutralize the effects forcing Ranma to stay within a certain radius of Seven.
I want to use Ranma for this fic because he is significantly different than the other humans; in many ways he is more alien than the aliens.
I want Ranma to point things out that I thought about that never really seems to be thought about in the Star Trek universe (an example: Combadges lost, why don't they ever use sub-dermal tracking devices for emergency beam outs?). Simple solutions to complex problems they would not think about since they prefer complex solutions involving lots of technobabble.
I want Ranma to point out differences between his world (in some cases our world) like why are interspecies babies so easy to produce when chimpanzee have around 99% the same DNA as humans and they can't breed together whereas aliens that have evolved on entirely different worlds can. Ask why people do not have jet packs or power armor since both existed in his time (both are seen in the manga).
Things that will not happen:
Ranma suddenly knowing how the technology works (he will learn the rudimentaries, so as to function in that society but he won't know the details - basically he will be taught how to drive a car but not how the car works, how to do anything but the most common fixes for the car, or how to build a car).
I'm still just brainstorming and this idea is no where near fully formed. There are all kinds of details that this is lacking in current form and all kinds of things to add. Could have Ranma train with the Holodeck, have them build him a gravity belt, Ranma be like a supped up Jem Hedar/ genetically engineered person (in Enterprise the humans who were genetically engineered were resistant to phaser blasts), could have Ranma learn new techniques for example how to travel via warp speed without a ship (like the alien known as the Traveler did and taught Wesley Crusher in Star Trek TNG).
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Ranma Detective Conan idea
I used to read mystery novels when I was a preteen but I have not read very many mystery novels in the last few years. I sort of got bored of them, to many were either too easy to figure out (the author gave too many clues) or impossible to solve (lack of clues or erroneous, not misleading - misleading are good, clues). I have considered writing a mystery novel, I have even attempted to back when I was very interested in them, and I have considered writing one during my current brainstorming session.
Mystery is not a genre that many people choose to write Ranma fan fics for; there are a few though. The main reason is probably because it is easier to write Ranma fan fics in other genres. There are ways to do so, for example, Ranma disappears and someone eventually calls the police and they suspect murder. There are plenty of suspects. It is not unbelievable considering Ryoga had planned to kill Ranma and bury his body in the woods (even went so far as to dig the grave). Contrary to some fanon police do exist in the Ranmaverse both in the manga and the anime (for example, Ranma jokes about calling the police for sibling abuse when he pretended to be Ryoga's sister, during the Orachi arc one of the characters dresses like a policewoman, and Ryoga has asked at a police box for directions).
Though I'd more likely choose to do a crossover than a pure Ranma fan fic. Possibly Detective Conan. For an example of how to start the story: A murder has been committed and a rich man has gathered together several private detectives including Shinichi Kudo (who for obvious reasons can't show up), Kogorou Mouri, and Heiji Hattori. In addition to them they also asked the Tendo dojo for help (they are asked/called up to help people several times e.g. the Chonaikai have done so a few times in the manga, a mayor of a town being besieged by an octopus jar came to them for help, they got a phone call to deal with monster sightings, etc.).
This would be Ranma's first time dealing with a murder mystery, he is usually called upon to deal with the supernatural (Oni, Horse kami, living octopus jar, etc.), though he is sometimes asked to figure out who is committing a crime (such as figure out who is attacking people with pig and pony-tails or to stop a panty thief). Ranma does have many of the skills required, though not always from the side of law (for example Genma has shown the ability to break into safes and Ranma has stolen things). He has searched several peoples rooms, is good at finding out people's weakness and secrets (he tends to use them against people, though this is more commonly attributed to Nabiki who generally just takes advantage of a situation in the manga), is usually the first person to figure things out (like that Tatewaki was the principal's son), he is very observant when he wants to be (can figure out techniques by having seen them only once), he is naturally suspicious of people (for example, Nabiki a few times or Happosai's friend lucky when he was pretending to just be a child), etc.
There are also several things that could be done to make the two universes and the story flow better. One thing would be to make those books we see Ranma reading fairly often, but most of the time can not tell as to what they are, mystery novels and manga. Another thing would be to have Ranma had been in a mystery club in junior high school (we know very little of Ranma's past and since Ranma hates telling people anything about himself if he can avoid it, it is likely that even the other casts members would not know). Yet another thing would be to change Ranma's physical abilities from blatantly super human to borderline super human. The super natural things would not have to be excised from the story since Detective Conan has things that do not fit with our reality as well. Things like the poison given to make Shinichi young (which could be explained as having one of its ingredients be a mushroom of aging), the perfect disguises of kaitou kid, that detectives and police workers allow a ten year old around a crime scene, none of the side effects from Conan constantly using tranquilizers on Kogorou Mouri (which are particularly dangerous in combination with other depressants, such as alcohol which he drinks a lot of), that the creator of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) believed in fairy creatures enough to be tricked by a couple of teenage girls using trick photography to make fake fairy creatures, the large number of murders that happen near him (which is lampshaded in the series), the FBI having jurisdiction in Japan (though I do understand why the mangaka chose to use the FBI since Japan does not have an organization comparable to the FBI - Japan has the NPA and Naicho but they are considerably different from the FBI), Several characters like Ran's and Kazuha believe in ghosts, Conan has premonitions, Ai Haibara can sense the Black Organization members, etc.
Mystery is not a genre that many people choose to write Ranma fan fics for; there are a few though. The main reason is probably because it is easier to write Ranma fan fics in other genres. There are ways to do so, for example, Ranma disappears and someone eventually calls the police and they suspect murder. There are plenty of suspects. It is not unbelievable considering Ryoga had planned to kill Ranma and bury his body in the woods (even went so far as to dig the grave). Contrary to some fanon police do exist in the Ranmaverse both in the manga and the anime (for example, Ranma jokes about calling the police for sibling abuse when he pretended to be Ryoga's sister, during the Orachi arc one of the characters dresses like a policewoman, and Ryoga has asked at a police box for directions).
Though I'd more likely choose to do a crossover than a pure Ranma fan fic. Possibly Detective Conan. For an example of how to start the story: A murder has been committed and a rich man has gathered together several private detectives including Shinichi Kudo (who for obvious reasons can't show up), Kogorou Mouri, and Heiji Hattori. In addition to them they also asked the Tendo dojo for help (they are asked/called up to help people several times e.g. the Chonaikai have done so a few times in the manga, a mayor of a town being besieged by an octopus jar came to them for help, they got a phone call to deal with monster sightings, etc.).
This would be Ranma's first time dealing with a murder mystery, he is usually called upon to deal with the supernatural (Oni, Horse kami, living octopus jar, etc.), though he is sometimes asked to figure out who is committing a crime (such as figure out who is attacking people with pig and pony-tails or to stop a panty thief). Ranma does have many of the skills required, though not always from the side of law (for example Genma has shown the ability to break into safes and Ranma has stolen things). He has searched several peoples rooms, is good at finding out people's weakness and secrets (he tends to use them against people, though this is more commonly attributed to Nabiki who generally just takes advantage of a situation in the manga), is usually the first person to figure things out (like that Tatewaki was the principal's son), he is very observant when he wants to be (can figure out techniques by having seen them only once), he is naturally suspicious of people (for example, Nabiki a few times or Happosai's friend lucky when he was pretending to just be a child), etc.
There are also several things that could be done to make the two universes and the story flow better. One thing would be to make those books we see Ranma reading fairly often, but most of the time can not tell as to what they are, mystery novels and manga. Another thing would be to have Ranma had been in a mystery club in junior high school (we know very little of Ranma's past and since Ranma hates telling people anything about himself if he can avoid it, it is likely that even the other casts members would not know). Yet another thing would be to change Ranma's physical abilities from blatantly super human to borderline super human. The super natural things would not have to be excised from the story since Detective Conan has things that do not fit with our reality as well. Things like the poison given to make Shinichi young (which could be explained as having one of its ingredients be a mushroom of aging), the perfect disguises of kaitou kid, that detectives and police workers allow a ten year old around a crime scene, none of the side effects from Conan constantly using tranquilizers on Kogorou Mouri (which are particularly dangerous in combination with other depressants, such as alcohol which he drinks a lot of), that the creator of Sherlock Holmes (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) believed in fairy creatures enough to be tricked by a couple of teenage girls using trick photography to make fake fairy creatures, the large number of murders that happen near him (which is lampshaded in the series), the FBI having jurisdiction in Japan (though I do understand why the mangaka chose to use the FBI since Japan does not have an organization comparable to the FBI - Japan has the NPA and Naicho but they are considerably different from the FBI), Several characters like Ran's and Kazuha believe in ghosts, Conan has premonitions, Ai Haibara can sense the Black Organization members, etc.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Ranma - The Nightmare saga
A rather simple story idea I came up with, that I am considering writing, is a collection of short stories featuring the nightmares of the characters. This idea came from the fact that we see several of the characters nightmares in the manga (most often Ranma's though - he has a lot). The basic structure of the fic would most probably be one nightmare per chapter.
Thinking of nightmares for the characters is pretty easy. Take Ranma for example; Could have nightmares about the Neko-ken, being trapped as a girl and losing his identity, having Tatewaki's children, the battle with Saffron with different outcomes, everyone wanting a piece of him and tearing him apart, losing his strength forever and having to rely on others, his mother finding him to be unmanly, etc.
The other characters, like say Akane, are almost as easy to come up with nightmares they might have. Her losing her mother, the pervert boys who attacked her every morning winning, ghosts, the vengeance doll retaining her body leaving her trapped in the doll, etc.
Thinking of nightmares for the characters is pretty easy. Take Ranma for example; Could have nightmares about the Neko-ken, being trapped as a girl and losing his identity, having Tatewaki's children, the battle with Saffron with different outcomes, everyone wanting a piece of him and tearing him apart, losing his strength forever and having to rely on others, his mother finding him to be unmanly, etc.
The other characters, like say Akane, are almost as easy to come up with nightmares they might have. Her losing her mother, the pervert boys who attacked her every morning winning, ghosts, the vengeance doll retaining her body leaving her trapped in the doll, etc.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The rise and fall of Jusenkyo valley
This idea is fairly simple, it is just a fictional account of the Jusenkyo valley as told by someone who is investigating the area for historical purposes via their journal. Basically an alternate history that explains some of the things seen in the Ranma ½ manga in greater detail. The reason I decided to not write this story is because this idea is lacking in many things like drama, comedy, suspense, etc. While those could be introduced they were not what I was thinking about when this idea came to me. I notice that a problem with a lot of my ideas is that they are not so much to tell a story but to point out an aspect of the manga in more detail.
Here are some things that I had thought about including:
-A long time ago at around the time that civilizations were being built up around the Indus river, the Yellow river, the Nile River and the Tigris-Euphrates rivers; Another civilization existed around the area of Jusenkyo which is in the Bayan Har (Bayankala) Mountains in the Qinghai Province of China and is where the Yellow river originates from.
- A wannabe historian learns something about Jusenkyo and goes to investigate.
- We are told in the manga that Jusendo has been guarded by the Phoenix people for more than 4000 years. Which would mean that their civilization dates back to at least what is traditionally thought as the first civilizations. It would also mean that the taps of Jusendo have been around for at least as long as the pyramids of Egypt.
- Was considering using the Dropa stone discs, which are thought to have come from that area and some people believe were constructed by aliens. That those aliens who left the Dropa stones built something deep under a mountain and its run off eventually got into the water that is the source for Jusendo.
- Answer questions like who created Jusendo and for what purpose? How long has the area been settled? How old are the various races?
- Show what life is like for the various cultures in the area (Joketsuzoku, Musk, Phoenix, and Yakusai).
- Magical level (Joketsuzoku have toys and weapons that are magic), herbology (Yakusai have fast growing and multiple kinds of plants), and technological levels (printing press and phones are shown; other technology probably around as well since Shampoo had no trouble acclimating herself to the technology in Japan).
- Explain why so few people know about the people of Jusenkyo and Jusenkyo itself (The ruling people of each village uses magic to keep themselves hidden away from the majority of the human population. A compulsion to stay away from the entire area was placed a long time ago and they mind control the few people who ignore the compulsion and do come into the area anyways).
- Explain why the Chinese government does not do anything about the people in the area. Namely it's a remote area with little interest to them and three out of the four cultures that live there have demonstrated knowledge about mind control (It is shown that the Phoenix people mind control government officials using the magic eggs in the manga).
- Talk about possible wars they have had. Come up with a reason why the Phoenix people have become so xenophobic that the other cultures do not even know they exist (Cologne knew of them only from myths). What happened to the Musk, while not creatures of myth like the Phoenix people, they are still so little known that Cologne had thought them extinct.
- Come up with the various usages the various cultures have developed for Jusendo and Jusenkyo (Phoenix people for Saffron's ascension and to hide amongst humans; Musk used to acquire animal traits - though no longer do so; Joketsuzoku used it for a training ground - but very rarely since Shampoo did not even know of its existence prior to being taken there for training).
- Mention that there are tribes of people living in remote areas of Africa and South America who have just been found recently.
There is probably all kinds of other things I could include but as I said probably won't write this fic. This type of fic does have some obvious advantages, in that writing it as a personal journal, would give a lot of latitude in the writing of it.
Possible start would be similar to this:
November 1st 2009
I've never actually kept a journal before so I am unsure how I should go about writing this. I guess I should start with my name; my name is Neil Fenimore (name gotten from Random Name Generator). I consider myself to be a historian. Technically I am only a student at Johns Hopkins University, but I am enrolled in the history courses and am planning to major in history. I recently learned of an organization known only as Jusenkyo corp. from an anonymous letter sent to my professor. I never heard of them before. I asked my professor as to whom they are and he said that he did not know, but an internet search came up with them being a company run out of a remote area of China that claims to sell magic items.
Here are some things that I had thought about including:
-A long time ago at around the time that civilizations were being built up around the Indus river, the Yellow river, the Nile River and the Tigris-Euphrates rivers; Another civilization existed around the area of Jusenkyo which is in the Bayan Har (Bayankala) Mountains in the Qinghai Province of China and is where the Yellow river originates from.
- A wannabe historian learns something about Jusenkyo and goes to investigate.
- We are told in the manga that Jusendo has been guarded by the Phoenix people for more than 4000 years. Which would mean that their civilization dates back to at least what is traditionally thought as the first civilizations. It would also mean that the taps of Jusendo have been around for at least as long as the pyramids of Egypt.
- Was considering using the Dropa stone discs, which are thought to have come from that area and some people believe were constructed by aliens. That those aliens who left the Dropa stones built something deep under a mountain and its run off eventually got into the water that is the source for Jusendo.
- Answer questions like who created Jusendo and for what purpose? How long has the area been settled? How old are the various races?
- Show what life is like for the various cultures in the area (Joketsuzoku, Musk, Phoenix, and Yakusai).
- Magical level (Joketsuzoku have toys and weapons that are magic), herbology (Yakusai have fast growing and multiple kinds of plants), and technological levels (printing press and phones are shown; other technology probably around as well since Shampoo had no trouble acclimating herself to the technology in Japan).
- Explain why so few people know about the people of Jusenkyo and Jusenkyo itself (The ruling people of each village uses magic to keep themselves hidden away from the majority of the human population. A compulsion to stay away from the entire area was placed a long time ago and they mind control the few people who ignore the compulsion and do come into the area anyways).
- Explain why the Chinese government does not do anything about the people in the area. Namely it's a remote area with little interest to them and three out of the four cultures that live there have demonstrated knowledge about mind control (It is shown that the Phoenix people mind control government officials using the magic eggs in the manga).
- Talk about possible wars they have had. Come up with a reason why the Phoenix people have become so xenophobic that the other cultures do not even know they exist (Cologne knew of them only from myths). What happened to the Musk, while not creatures of myth like the Phoenix people, they are still so little known that Cologne had thought them extinct.
- Come up with the various usages the various cultures have developed for Jusendo and Jusenkyo (Phoenix people for Saffron's ascension and to hide amongst humans; Musk used to acquire animal traits - though no longer do so; Joketsuzoku used it for a training ground - but very rarely since Shampoo did not even know of its existence prior to being taken there for training).
- Mention that there are tribes of people living in remote areas of Africa and South America who have just been found recently.
There is probably all kinds of other things I could include but as I said probably won't write this fic. This type of fic does have some obvious advantages, in that writing it as a personal journal, would give a lot of latitude in the writing of it.
Possible start would be similar to this:
November 1st 2009
I've never actually kept a journal before so I am unsure how I should go about writing this. I guess I should start with my name; my name is Neil Fenimore (name gotten from Random Name Generator). I consider myself to be a historian. Technically I am only a student at Johns Hopkins University, but I am enrolled in the history courses and am planning to major in history. I recently learned of an organization known only as Jusenkyo corp. from an anonymous letter sent to my professor. I never heard of them before. I asked my professor as to whom they are and he said that he did not know, but an internet search came up with them being a company run out of a remote area of China that claims to sell magic items.
Monday, October 19, 2009
National Novel Writing Month redux
I have pretty much decided that I am going to attempt to write a 50,000 word fan fic in the month of November. I even signed up at the National Novel Writing Month website. A considerable amount of my time over the last week has been spent brain storming ideas. I have and have had many story ideas, too many even. I am having trouble deciding anything. I attempt to work out the details, possibly create an outline, for one idea and I just get more ideas. While I will continue to brainstorm ideas, it is likely that I will end up just writing as I go.
The first story ideas I considered, and disregarded, were ideas I have already expressed on this blog or on various forums (though I may use aspects from them).
- The Ranma/Hellsign/other crossover idea while I think has promise; I don't think I want to go that way. The new girl/Sailor Saturn is too much of a Mary Sue and there are some other problems with the fic idea that would have to be ironed out.
- Taking a story arc from the manga and changing the point of view to first person to change the genre and include character thoughts. I again like the idea, else I would not have suggested it in the first place, but I think I'd rather go with something more original rather than rewriting a story arc in the manga. Though this would be a lazier way of going about it since much of it would be a rehash of events.
- Ranma monster hunter - A stand alone story that changes very little of the status quo, set in the USA, dealing with Vampires and Voodoo. This one is interesting in that it would have portrayed aspects of Shinto and shown that Ranma is a monster hunter (he is in the manga). I may include some things from this fic idea, most probably that at one time monsters were common (until humans killed off most of them) and martial artists were needed; they aren't really anymore (this is even shown in the manga, in that the bean gun plant had been very common before, used to fight oni but now since there are so few monsters left the bean gun plants are extremely rare and little more than myth).
- Ranma/ Dark Angel crossover - A fan fic idea that primarily explores the various eugenic programs seen in both series and pits them against one another that I never had any intention of actually writing.
- A story in which Ranma disappears somehow for 20 years. Haven't thought about the how but if Happosai can survive in a cave without food and water for around 15 years, Ranma might figure out how to do so as well. This idea was originally posted on a forum that I do not think exists anymore. The idea was mostly to see how Ranma reacts to all the changes since he disappeared. There were several secondary ideas, such as Tatewaki Kuno's delusions having grown to the point he actually believed that the pig-tailed girl was a goddess and Ranma's male form was a demon. Tatewaki Kuno over the intervening years had started a religion that is growing by the day and already has several temples and millions of followers (people do listen to him, after all he did convince many boys to attack Akane every morning). With all the weird things that happened around Ranma and his abilities it is not really that hard to see why people would believe that. I don't remember all the details I had come up with, though a major part of the fic idea was Ranma dealing with being thought of as a deity (it is one thing to be popular like a movie star or singer, it is something else entirely to have people think you are a deity and worship you). I was also contemplating that the acts of worship and such would actually be deifying him or at least empowering him (possible pointing out that it is shown that things like statues that are knelt before in hatred, and presumably in worship, absorb ki - Miss Hinako accidentally drained a bust of the principal which altered her personality and gave her a lot of ki).
- The last (not new) fic idea, I considered is actually one that I really, really would like to write but sadly I believe it to be entirely out of my current skill level. A Ranma versus Nabiki story. The reason I think it is not within my current abilities is because it would have massive amounts of character interaction, butterfly effect, character growth, dialogue, etc. Even though I don't think it is in my abilities, I may very well, come November, attempt to write this fic.
While I have put out other ideas in the past, such as a Ranma/Terminator/Sailormoon crossover, none of the other ideas I could remember are of any interest to me anymore. That particular one just mentioned had too much fanon, too many series, and was overly complex. I have a lot of new, or at least never posted on a forum or blog, ideas that I am contemplating (I may deluge this blog with them anon).
The first story ideas I considered, and disregarded, were ideas I have already expressed on this blog or on various forums (though I may use aspects from them).
- The Ranma/Hellsign/other crossover idea while I think has promise; I don't think I want to go that way. The new girl/Sailor Saturn is too much of a Mary Sue and there are some other problems with the fic idea that would have to be ironed out.
- Taking a story arc from the manga and changing the point of view to first person to change the genre and include character thoughts. I again like the idea, else I would not have suggested it in the first place, but I think I'd rather go with something more original rather than rewriting a story arc in the manga. Though this would be a lazier way of going about it since much of it would be a rehash of events.
- Ranma monster hunter - A stand alone story that changes very little of the status quo, set in the USA, dealing with Vampires and Voodoo. This one is interesting in that it would have portrayed aspects of Shinto and shown that Ranma is a monster hunter (he is in the manga). I may include some things from this fic idea, most probably that at one time monsters were common (until humans killed off most of them) and martial artists were needed; they aren't really anymore (this is even shown in the manga, in that the bean gun plant had been very common before, used to fight oni but now since there are so few monsters left the bean gun plants are extremely rare and little more than myth).
- Ranma/ Dark Angel crossover - A fan fic idea that primarily explores the various eugenic programs seen in both series and pits them against one another that I never had any intention of actually writing.
- A story in which Ranma disappears somehow for 20 years. Haven't thought about the how but if Happosai can survive in a cave without food and water for around 15 years, Ranma might figure out how to do so as well. This idea was originally posted on a forum that I do not think exists anymore. The idea was mostly to see how Ranma reacts to all the changes since he disappeared. There were several secondary ideas, such as Tatewaki Kuno's delusions having grown to the point he actually believed that the pig-tailed girl was a goddess and Ranma's male form was a demon. Tatewaki Kuno over the intervening years had started a religion that is growing by the day and already has several temples and millions of followers (people do listen to him, after all he did convince many boys to attack Akane every morning). With all the weird things that happened around Ranma and his abilities it is not really that hard to see why people would believe that. I don't remember all the details I had come up with, though a major part of the fic idea was Ranma dealing with being thought of as a deity (it is one thing to be popular like a movie star or singer, it is something else entirely to have people think you are a deity and worship you). I was also contemplating that the acts of worship and such would actually be deifying him or at least empowering him (possible pointing out that it is shown that things like statues that are knelt before in hatred, and presumably in worship, absorb ki - Miss Hinako accidentally drained a bust of the principal which altered her personality and gave her a lot of ki).
- The last (not new) fic idea, I considered is actually one that I really, really would like to write but sadly I believe it to be entirely out of my current skill level. A Ranma versus Nabiki story. The reason I think it is not within my current abilities is because it would have massive amounts of character interaction, butterfly effect, character growth, dialogue, etc. Even though I don't think it is in my abilities, I may very well, come November, attempt to write this fic.
While I have put out other ideas in the past, such as a Ranma/Terminator/Sailormoon crossover, none of the other ideas I could remember are of any interest to me anymore. That particular one just mentioned had too much fanon, too many series, and was overly complex. I have a lot of new, or at least never posted on a forum or blog, ideas that I am contemplating (I may deluge this blog with them anon).
Friday, October 16, 2009
National Novel Writing Month
There is a website that touts November as National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write one 50,000-word novel within a month's time. I am contemplating an attempt to do this. I have stated a desire to write many times, even wrote a bit, but I always ended up dropping the projects I take up. The reasons I drop them are multifarious; but ultimately comes down to me being unsatisfied with my own writing.
I know for a fact I can write 50,000 words since this blog has significantly more than 50,000 words. Last month I wrote around 10,000 words on this blog. Writing in a story format, within the set duration, and only on one topic not so sure. Even if I do, I'm not sure that I'd want people to read it, which I realize is idiosyncratic since I am, and have been for a while now, writing this blog in which anyone with access to the internet can read.
The subject matter, not surprisingly, I am considering writing is Ranma ½ fan fiction. While I have had several ideas in the past for fics, I have yet to decide what I would write if I were to take up this endeavor. There is a multitude of things to take into account.
Should it be a crossover or not? At the moment I am considering a crossover with the cartoon version of Teen Titans; since I have been reading a considerable amount of Teen Titans fan fiction lately. That is not the only series that I have ideas for though.
What should the primary genre be? Action, horror, romance, drama, etc. the only one I have really ruled out is comedy. I would still try to have some comedic moments, since a story that blends genres is generally superior, but I am not a very funny person and, as I had pointed out in an earlier post, the type of comedy in Ranma ½ is primarily graphical in nature which does not transfer well to the written word.
Where should the story split from the original work? The point of time would influence the story and there are plenty of places in which to do so. Currently, mostly for convenience sake, I am ruminating upon using a couple months after the manga (ignoring the anime entirely). Were I to decide to crossover with Teen Titans, it would probably be prior to the battle with Trigon (including some influences from the comic book incarnation).
The idea for a crossover between Teen Titans and Ranma ½, that I am pondering at this moment, is probably not that good; which in and of itself does not matter as much as many people think, implementation is often more important than the idea itself (crappy cliched ideas have turned into good stories). Here is the idea: Ranma has become betrothed to Raven though not by his or her choice, or his father, and unlike the other engagements it is magically binding. As you can probably tell I have not put much thought into it.
Here are a few other thoughts I have had that could be incorporated into the story:
The battle with Saffron freaked Ranma out, big time, not that he almost died, but because he thought Akane died several times in a very short period of time. There is a very sad thing in which people who are abused, scared, or otherwise traumatized take drastic, irrational methods to protect themselves. Ranma has been and now would be scared that someone he cares about maybe killed/die, this causes some changes in Ranma. The first and most important to the story change would be that Ranma is more proactive rather than reactive. This can be demonstrated by having him attempting to create more powerful and deadly techniques while making a concentrated effort to learn magic. He would first attempt to learn that which is most familiar, build upon existing techniques and seek out a Shinto priest willing to train him in spirit wards.
Later, as in at the very beginning of the fic, he would come into contact with someone using magic for not benign reasons. Possibly have run ins with a group similar to the Hand of the Marvel comics (a ninja order that serves a demon referred to by members as the Beast that often seeks out and steals magic items in an attempt to bring the Beast to Earth). This could be used to create a convoluted means by which Ranma and Raven become magically betrothed. Of course, if I went with a Teen Titans crossover the group Ranma would have a run in with would probably worship Trigon (Church of Blood in the comics) or another similar, possibly rival group. It might be interesting to have Ranma messing with forces he does not understand and drawing attention from beings he's better off had they never noticed him (plus it is not really that out of character for him).
A secondary change to Ranma, if I went with this type of fic, would be in how he fights. For the majority of battles he would fight as portrayed in the manga (see block quote at bottom of post). Though there would be some variation since I view combat tactics differently than Takahashi did/does. In some circumstances Ranma would take more drastic action (very simple be brutally efficient -speed blitz, over power, break enemies legs or arms, hit pain points, make the immediate use of underhanded tactics, use techniques he would not normally use like those created by Genma, etc.). The specific circumstances that would trigger the change in his fighting style are: if his opponent(s) has killed/tortured/raped someone willfully, kidnaps someone close to him and he doesn't know that the kidnapped person is being treated well, or threatens to kill him/someone (threats of this nature will be taken at face value unless he is absolutely certain it is just trash talk). While seemingly a good tactic to take, this is not a good thing. It signifies a fear and a lack of confidence in his abilities, which is his primary source of confidence. A novice has to retaliate against lethal force with lethal force, a median skilled level martial artist can afford to use techniques that are not outright lethal against lethal techniques but will still need to use potentially lethal techniques and maiming techniques, only a very skilled martial artist can afford to use non lethal and non maiming techniques.
I know for a fact I can write 50,000 words since this blog has significantly more than 50,000 words. Last month I wrote around 10,000 words on this blog. Writing in a story format, within the set duration, and only on one topic not so sure. Even if I do, I'm not sure that I'd want people to read it, which I realize is idiosyncratic since I am, and have been for a while now, writing this blog in which anyone with access to the internet can read.
The subject matter, not surprisingly, I am considering writing is Ranma ½ fan fiction. While I have had several ideas in the past for fics, I have yet to decide what I would write if I were to take up this endeavor. There is a multitude of things to take into account.
Should it be a crossover or not? At the moment I am considering a crossover with the cartoon version of Teen Titans; since I have been reading a considerable amount of Teen Titans fan fiction lately. That is not the only series that I have ideas for though.
What should the primary genre be? Action, horror, romance, drama, etc. the only one I have really ruled out is comedy. I would still try to have some comedic moments, since a story that blends genres is generally superior, but I am not a very funny person and, as I had pointed out in an earlier post, the type of comedy in Ranma ½ is primarily graphical in nature which does not transfer well to the written word.
Where should the story split from the original work? The point of time would influence the story and there are plenty of places in which to do so. Currently, mostly for convenience sake, I am ruminating upon using a couple months after the manga (ignoring the anime entirely). Were I to decide to crossover with Teen Titans, it would probably be prior to the battle with Trigon (including some influences from the comic book incarnation).
The idea for a crossover between Teen Titans and Ranma ½, that I am pondering at this moment, is probably not that good; which in and of itself does not matter as much as many people think, implementation is often more important than the idea itself (crappy cliched ideas have turned into good stories). Here is the idea: Ranma has become betrothed to Raven though not by his or her choice, or his father, and unlike the other engagements it is magically binding. As you can probably tell I have not put much thought into it.
Here are a few other thoughts I have had that could be incorporated into the story:
The battle with Saffron freaked Ranma out, big time, not that he almost died, but because he thought Akane died several times in a very short period of time. There is a very sad thing in which people who are abused, scared, or otherwise traumatized take drastic, irrational methods to protect themselves. Ranma has been and now would be scared that someone he cares about maybe killed/die, this causes some changes in Ranma. The first and most important to the story change would be that Ranma is more proactive rather than reactive. This can be demonstrated by having him attempting to create more powerful and deadly techniques while making a concentrated effort to learn magic. He would first attempt to learn that which is most familiar, build upon existing techniques and seek out a Shinto priest willing to train him in spirit wards.
Later, as in at the very beginning of the fic, he would come into contact with someone using magic for not benign reasons. Possibly have run ins with a group similar to the Hand of the Marvel comics (a ninja order that serves a demon referred to by members as the Beast that often seeks out and steals magic items in an attempt to bring the Beast to Earth). This could be used to create a convoluted means by which Ranma and Raven become magically betrothed. Of course, if I went with a Teen Titans crossover the group Ranma would have a run in with would probably worship Trigon (Church of Blood in the comics) or another similar, possibly rival group. It might be interesting to have Ranma messing with forces he does not understand and drawing attention from beings he's better off had they never noticed him (plus it is not really that out of character for him).
A secondary change to Ranma, if I went with this type of fic, would be in how he fights. For the majority of battles he would fight as portrayed in the manga (see block quote at bottom of post). Though there would be some variation since I view combat tactics differently than Takahashi did/does. In some circumstances Ranma would take more drastic action (very simple be brutally efficient -speed blitz, over power, break enemies legs or arms, hit pain points, make the immediate use of underhanded tactics, use techniques he would not normally use like those created by Genma, etc.). The specific circumstances that would trigger the change in his fighting style are: if his opponent(s) has killed/tortured/raped someone willfully, kidnaps someone close to him and he doesn't know that the kidnapped person is being treated well, or threatens to kill him/someone (threats of this nature will be taken at face value unless he is absolutely certain it is just trash talk). While seemingly a good tactic to take, this is not a good thing. It signifies a fear and a lack of confidence in his abilities, which is his primary source of confidence. A novice has to retaliate against lethal force with lethal force, a median skilled level martial artist can afford to use techniques that are not outright lethal against lethal techniques but will still need to use potentially lethal techniques and maiming techniques, only a very skilled martial artist can afford to use non lethal and non maiming techniques.
Ranma's standard methods of fighting include:
-While in competition:
*limit himself to his opponents style (beat them at their own game is something he does a lot)
*obey the rules set forth for the competition
*use minimum amount of force needed (tries to not hurt opponent)
--This can be seen in the rhythmic gymnastic match, cheer-leading match, martial arts dining match, ice skating match, take out race, etc.
-Anything goes battle, not competition
*has somewhat of a level of escalation; changes depending on circumstance and goals
1. Attempt to talk to opponent into ending battle while primarily dodging. Examples: offering Ryoga bread to stop Ryoga's feud against him or trying to convince Ukyo that she has no reason to fight him.
2.Majority of battles do not proceed beyond second stage.
-inflict minimum damage to opponents as possible. Generally attempts to restrain opponent.
-plays with his opponent (like taking the time to write out an insult in bruises on Kuno).
-attempt to defeat opponents techniques/style and not the opponent (for example Miss Hinako whom he did not just knock out instead tried to nullify her technique or Akane wearing the dogi trying to take it out without hitting Akane)
-fight at around his perceived view of his opponents level (meaning he generally won't speed blitz/over power his opponents even though he easily could - example battle with Kuno once he decided to get serious defeated Kuno faster than Kuno or Nabiki could see).
3. At this stage Ranma has stopped playing around and takes the battle seriously.
- attempt to take out opponent fast. For example, kicking Tatewaki's pressure points to defeat him fast or kicking Ryoga fast and hard enough to knock him back and into a cliff-side with enough force to collapse the cliff-side.
- use of underhanded tactics. This could probably be placed in an earlier stage as well because he uses underhanded tactics in non combat situations more than he does in combat situations (such as his attempts to drug Kuno to steal from him, use alcohol or chloroform to get Happosai out of the way, his attempt to blackmail Nabiki, etc.).
3a. this is part of both 3rd and 4th stage
- use of ki techniques like the Hiryu Shoten Ha and the Mokotakabisha
4. Very few battles have progressed to this stage.
- At this stage, he doesn't have the option to take out his opponent without seriously hurting them. At this point he will risk maiming his opponent.
5. Only one battle really reached this point.
- This is the point Ranma has run out of other options and has become desperate. If you haven't figured it out this is the point in which he actively tries to kill his opponent.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Some Parallels
I recently saw a review of a fan fic which claimed a technique that was used came from a different show/manga. It didn't. It is much easier to crossover a series when parallels already exist. For some unfathomable reason, at least to me, I decided to write these lists of some parallels between Ranma and some other very popular series (part of the reason it is unfathomable is because I have watched very little of two of these series and do not much like the other two):
Naruto - a show about ninja's that in general don't act much like historical ninja.
-Kawarimi - is the technique often used by ninja's in which they switch places with an object. Ranma uses this technique frequently.
-Konatsu has a duplicating body technique similar to Naruto's. He made four of himself.
-Smoke screens are fairly common and used by most of the Ranma characters at one point or another.
-Ceiling cling and wall climbing are often used in both series, most often by Ranma in the manga.
- Throwing of kunai happens frequently in Naruto, it also happens often in Ranma though in Ranma more often it is a different object (Mousse threw knives at Ranma, Ranma used pin wheels on Mousses duck form, Konatsu and Mint threw large amounts of daggers as their attacks, etc.).
- Naruto has explosive tags, Ranma cast make pretty much anything to explode (Happosai's fire crackers, Ukyo added gun powder to her okonomiyaki, Shampoo added gun powder to buns, Mousse used explosive eggs, Konatsu's sisters had TNT, and the Principal had both added explosives to pineapples and had grenades).
- Both series use pressure points/vulnerable points, though in Naruto they are called Chakra points.
-The ninja Jiraiya can sort of be seen in the Ranma manga during the Romeo and Juliet story arc (in that one of the other classes has a play involving the mythical character Jiraiya, which the Naruto character is based on).
Avatar the Last Air Bender - elemental based martial arts.
Many of the techniques seen on Avatar also happen in the Ranma manga.
- Aang spun a wooden staff to deflect fire. Ranma also spun a simple wooden staff to deflect fire.
- Air bending involves manipulating the air. Many of the Ranma attacks do as well. Ranma's Hiryu Shoten Ha (a tornado technique), Kuno's air pressure technique, and the vacuum blades are all manipulating the air.
-Earth Bending - Ki Blasts and breaking point are earth bending techniques (Ryoga even uses them to tunnel through the Earth).
-Fire Bending - Several characters like the Ashura and Saffron did this. Though other characters did occasionally as well -Mousse for example during the mushrooms of aging arc was trying to master fire breathing.
-Water bending - Cologne did several attacks that were this - created a water sprout and the Shark fist was blasts of manipulated water.
Read or Die - A show about a librarian that can control and influence paper.
-Ranma uses paper fans occasionally, counters a punch from Happosai with a paper fan and uses them to blow powders and stuff back at people.
-Konatsu uses a technique called Füjin Seikyü Shyo (wind blade bill) a whirlwind of paper bills surrounded Ranma, and sliced through his clothes.
-Ryoga's trick with his belt and bandanna's applied to paper instead of cloth.
-Ranma can be seen reading frequently (it appears to be the thing he does the most for entertainment in the manga)
Harry Potter - A series of books about witches and wizards.
Magic is rampant in both Ranma and Harry Potter.
-Both have supernatural creatures, phoenixes, ghosts, possibly giants (a couple characters like the Dojo Destroyer was at least Haggard's size), yeti (part of Taro's curse), and dragons (dragon whisker soup, Orachi, and Herb's ancestor was a dragon) though there are differences in how the creatures acted and some different supernatural creatures entirely.
-Magic items are pretty common in both - more seen in Ranma (For Ranma there are the Umbrella of love, mirror that makes clones, mirror that people could enter and had a large amount of room in it, lightning ring, sentient fire breathing staff, etc.).
-Potions are in both, like Happosai's rejuvenation potion or Colognes hair growth potion.
-Mandrake root (even screamed in both when pulled out) and other magical plants were in both.
-Both have means of shapeshifting.
-Both have apothecaries
-Jusenkyo can be used for transfiguring people and animals into other animals, act like animagus, and work like polyjuice (as shown by kima).
-Wizards use owls to deliver stuff (like the brooms) and send messages. The Phoenix people are shown to use crows the same way (even able to kidnap people with them like Akane).
-Paintings in both can move - Panda ghost came from a painting.
-magic marks. Dark mark used by voldemort and mark of the gods seen in Ranma.
I had the idea of writing a few scenes in which the characters names are never told and then having people try and guess the series in which the story is supposed to be a fan fic of. Purposely using technique/objects that commonly are associated with one series but exist in a similar form in other series. Of course the techniques names would not be given only their effects.
Naruto - a show about ninja's that in general don't act much like historical ninja.
-Kawarimi - is the technique often used by ninja's in which they switch places with an object. Ranma uses this technique frequently.
-Konatsu has a duplicating body technique similar to Naruto's. He made four of himself.
-Smoke screens are fairly common and used by most of the Ranma characters at one point or another.
-Ceiling cling and wall climbing are often used in both series, most often by Ranma in the manga.
- Throwing of kunai happens frequently in Naruto, it also happens often in Ranma though in Ranma more often it is a different object (Mousse threw knives at Ranma, Ranma used pin wheels on Mousses duck form, Konatsu and Mint threw large amounts of daggers as their attacks, etc.).
- Naruto has explosive tags, Ranma cast make pretty much anything to explode (Happosai's fire crackers, Ukyo added gun powder to her okonomiyaki, Shampoo added gun powder to buns, Mousse used explosive eggs, Konatsu's sisters had TNT, and the Principal had both added explosives to pineapples and had grenades).
- Both series use pressure points/vulnerable points, though in Naruto they are called Chakra points.
-The ninja Jiraiya can sort of be seen in the Ranma manga during the Romeo and Juliet story arc (in that one of the other classes has a play involving the mythical character Jiraiya, which the Naruto character is based on).
Avatar the Last Air Bender - elemental based martial arts.
Many of the techniques seen on Avatar also happen in the Ranma manga.
- Aang spun a wooden staff to deflect fire. Ranma also spun a simple wooden staff to deflect fire.
- Air bending involves manipulating the air. Many of the Ranma attacks do as well. Ranma's Hiryu Shoten Ha (a tornado technique), Kuno's air pressure technique, and the vacuum blades are all manipulating the air.
-Earth Bending - Ki Blasts and breaking point are earth bending techniques (Ryoga even uses them to tunnel through the Earth).
-Fire Bending - Several characters like the Ashura and Saffron did this. Though other characters did occasionally as well -Mousse for example during the mushrooms of aging arc was trying to master fire breathing.
-Water bending - Cologne did several attacks that were this - created a water sprout and the Shark fist was blasts of manipulated water.
Read or Die - A show about a librarian that can control and influence paper.
-Ranma uses paper fans occasionally, counters a punch from Happosai with a paper fan and uses them to blow powders and stuff back at people.
-Konatsu uses a technique called Füjin Seikyü Shyo (wind blade bill) a whirlwind of paper bills surrounded Ranma, and sliced through his clothes.
-Ryoga's trick with his belt and bandanna's applied to paper instead of cloth.
-Ranma can be seen reading frequently (it appears to be the thing he does the most for entertainment in the manga)
Harry Potter - A series of books about witches and wizards.
Magic is rampant in both Ranma and Harry Potter.
-Both have supernatural creatures, phoenixes, ghosts, possibly giants (a couple characters like the Dojo Destroyer was at least Haggard's size), yeti (part of Taro's curse), and dragons (dragon whisker soup, Orachi, and Herb's ancestor was a dragon) though there are differences in how the creatures acted and some different supernatural creatures entirely.
-Magic items are pretty common in both - more seen in Ranma (For Ranma there are the Umbrella of love, mirror that makes clones, mirror that people could enter and had a large amount of room in it, lightning ring, sentient fire breathing staff, etc.).
-Potions are in both, like Happosai's rejuvenation potion or Colognes hair growth potion.
-Mandrake root (even screamed in both when pulled out) and other magical plants were in both.
-Both have means of shapeshifting.
-Both have apothecaries
-Jusenkyo can be used for transfiguring people and animals into other animals, act like animagus, and work like polyjuice (as shown by kima).
-Wizards use owls to deliver stuff (like the brooms) and send messages. The Phoenix people are shown to use crows the same way (even able to kidnap people with them like Akane).
-Paintings in both can move - Panda ghost came from a painting.
-magic marks. Dark mark used by voldemort and mark of the gods seen in Ranma.
I had the idea of writing a few scenes in which the characters names are never told and then having people try and guess the series in which the story is supposed to be a fan fic of. Purposely using technique/objects that commonly are associated with one series but exist in a similar form in other series. Of course the techniques names would not be given only their effects.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Ranma/ Dark Angel
I like many people get story idea's fairly frequently but rarely do I make an attempt to write them. When I do make an attempt to do so I either do not like them, so they end up in the recycle bin, or I procrastinate until I no longer am interested in the idea. Here is an idea I've had but have no intention of writing. It is a Ranma ½/Dark Angel crossover.
Ranma ½ is extremely easy to crossover with other series, which is part of the reason it has such a high ratio of crossover fan fiction. Quite often I will watch a television show, read a manga, or watch a movie and decide to look for a Ranma fic that crosses over with it. A surprisingly large number of times I find it crossovered with what ever I happen to look for. For example, there is at least one Ranma ½/Dark Angel crossover in existence that I know about. I don't particularly like it but it exists. In that crossover Ranma is in a similar situation to Max (main character of Dark Angel) an escapee from Manticore just a different type.
Some background information about Dark Angel is probably helpful and can be gotten in a number of places like wikipedia (which is generally good for the basics but not so good with minute details and things open to interpretation). Here's the basics though: Dark Angel was a pretty good television show on Fox that ran for two seasons before it was canceled. The show was about a genetically engineered super soldier named Max. It was set in a near future United States that has gone to hell because an electromagnetic pulse did major damage (if a nuclear explosion occurred 200 miles up it's electromagnetic pulse could blow transformers all across the country as well as fry many electronics). Max, was created by the United States military as a super soldier via genetic engineering and escaped, the government of course wants her back.
The main reason I would like to cross these two series together is because both series use various means of eugenics. Dark Angel has the genetically engineered super soldiers, which Max is one of, and later we learn about a 4000 year old cult that has created super warriors via selective breeding. Though really the use of some type of eugenics is far more common than people think, both the USA and Japan had them in the past and they still exist in some form or other in many places of the world (though many of them are more benign such as genetic testing to determine if children will inherit/develop a genetic disease).
The Ranma manga has several eugenic programs.
The Joketsuzoku, Shampoo's people, have a law in which at least the girls marry strong males (whether it applies to the other gender is unknown and doesn't come up in the manga). This is a form of eugenics - mating the best physical specimens.
The Musk who seclude themselves until adulthood training like the Spartans and who used the magic of Jusenkyo, specifically using Nyannichuan, to mix animal DNA into their bloodlines to get the abilities of the animals (practice of using Jusenkyo to acquire animal abilities is no longer used by the time of the manga).
The Phoenix people used a magical spring of similar nature to Jusenkyo to acquire bird characteristics and use Jusendo to force the ascension of Saffron.
The last people we know of that might (no direct evidence) practice a type of eugenics is Ranma's family. Comments by Genma and that his ancestors are shown to be martial artists leads to the idea that it is likely that his family has been marrying martial arts families for a long time.
The basic idea would be to have an organization attempt to use Ranma, Max, and Shampoo for unethical exploration in the creation of better super soldiers. The antagonists would try to figure out what are acquired characteristics and what are because of genetic manipulation (via science, the magic of Jusenkyo, or selective breeding). They would attempt to use there scientific know how in combination with Jusenkyo to create super soldiers of unparalleled strength.
The choice of characters is because Ranma is the main character, chance to make up Ranma's lineage, and my favorite character. Shampoo because of the Amazons access to magic, their law (which is a form of selective breeding), and their antiquity. Max to tie the scientific and modern technological aspects of the story in. The Ranma storyline would likely diverge from the manga at sometime prior to the last volume, likely mid manga after Herb storyline, but at least mentions of the Phoenix people would show up in the story. Dark Angel would diverge from the storyline after the meeting of 4000 year old cult that used selective breeding (the cult and the amazon will have had numerous battles in their thousands of years of existence).
The story would start in Japan with one of the people from the cult attacking Shampoo. Ranma would get involved shortly thereafter. Shampoo would tell about the ongoing feud between her people and the ancient cult. Things would happen resulting in Ranma and Shampoo having to leave Japan for a while and ending up in Hong Kong. Things would happen in Hong Kong that leads Ranma and Shampoo to Seattle where they encounter Max.
Think it would be interesting to view some of the martial arts abilities as acquired characteristics that anyone with proper training could do but for some others to be solely because of genetics. This is a basic cast gets kidnapped and experimented on by unethical people, escape, and learn more about themselves and fight back against the people type fic.
That's all I have for this idea.
Ranma ½ is extremely easy to crossover with other series, which is part of the reason it has such a high ratio of crossover fan fiction. Quite often I will watch a television show, read a manga, or watch a movie and decide to look for a Ranma fic that crosses over with it. A surprisingly large number of times I find it crossovered with what ever I happen to look for. For example, there is at least one Ranma ½/Dark Angel crossover in existence that I know about. I don't particularly like it but it exists. In that crossover Ranma is in a similar situation to Max (main character of Dark Angel) an escapee from Manticore just a different type.
Some background information about Dark Angel is probably helpful and can be gotten in a number of places like wikipedia (which is generally good for the basics but not so good with minute details and things open to interpretation). Here's the basics though: Dark Angel was a pretty good television show on Fox that ran for two seasons before it was canceled. The show was about a genetically engineered super soldier named Max. It was set in a near future United States that has gone to hell because an electromagnetic pulse did major damage (if a nuclear explosion occurred 200 miles up it's electromagnetic pulse could blow transformers all across the country as well as fry many electronics). Max, was created by the United States military as a super soldier via genetic engineering and escaped, the government of course wants her back.
The main reason I would like to cross these two series together is because both series use various means of eugenics. Dark Angel has the genetically engineered super soldiers, which Max is one of, and later we learn about a 4000 year old cult that has created super warriors via selective breeding. Though really the use of some type of eugenics is far more common than people think, both the USA and Japan had them in the past and they still exist in some form or other in many places of the world (though many of them are more benign such as genetic testing to determine if children will inherit/develop a genetic disease).
The Ranma manga has several eugenic programs.
The Joketsuzoku, Shampoo's people, have a law in which at least the girls marry strong males (whether it applies to the other gender is unknown and doesn't come up in the manga). This is a form of eugenics - mating the best physical specimens.
The Musk who seclude themselves until adulthood training like the Spartans and who used the magic of Jusenkyo, specifically using Nyannichuan, to mix animal DNA into their bloodlines to get the abilities of the animals (practice of using Jusenkyo to acquire animal abilities is no longer used by the time of the manga).
The Phoenix people used a magical spring of similar nature to Jusenkyo to acquire bird characteristics and use Jusendo to force the ascension of Saffron.
The last people we know of that might (no direct evidence) practice a type of eugenics is Ranma's family. Comments by Genma and that his ancestors are shown to be martial artists leads to the idea that it is likely that his family has been marrying martial arts families for a long time.
The basic idea would be to have an organization attempt to use Ranma, Max, and Shampoo for unethical exploration in the creation of better super soldiers. The antagonists would try to figure out what are acquired characteristics and what are because of genetic manipulation (via science, the magic of Jusenkyo, or selective breeding). They would attempt to use there scientific know how in combination with Jusenkyo to create super soldiers of unparalleled strength.
The choice of characters is because Ranma is the main character, chance to make up Ranma's lineage, and my favorite character. Shampoo because of the Amazons access to magic, their law (which is a form of selective breeding), and their antiquity. Max to tie the scientific and modern technological aspects of the story in. The Ranma storyline would likely diverge from the manga at sometime prior to the last volume, likely mid manga after Herb storyline, but at least mentions of the Phoenix people would show up in the story. Dark Angel would diverge from the storyline after the meeting of 4000 year old cult that used selective breeding (the cult and the amazon will have had numerous battles in their thousands of years of existence).
The story would start in Japan with one of the people from the cult attacking Shampoo. Ranma would get involved shortly thereafter. Shampoo would tell about the ongoing feud between her people and the ancient cult. Things would happen resulting in Ranma and Shampoo having to leave Japan for a while and ending up in Hong Kong. Things would happen in Hong Kong that leads Ranma and Shampoo to Seattle where they encounter Max.
Think it would be interesting to view some of the martial arts abilities as acquired characteristics that anyone with proper training could do but for some others to be solely because of genetics. This is a basic cast gets kidnapped and experimented on by unethical people, escape, and learn more about themselves and fight back against the people type fic.
That's all I have for this idea.
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