In the Ranma manga quite a few potions, powders, plants, incense, and chemicals are used by the characters including Ranma.
Here is an incomplete list (since I think I forgot some - also not listed some technological items, magical items not in powder or potion form, spirit/kami/ghost powered items, pressure points, and those from the anime or games that were not in the manga):
-knock out powder
-paralysis powder
-chloroform
-sleeping powder
-tear gas
-gun powder
-explosives
-smoke bombs
-alcohol
-stomach medicine
-cold medicine
-suggestion incense
-dream sleep incense
-hypnosis mushrooms
-mushrooms of aging
-mandrake root also called mandragora
-poison flower of enfeeblement
-flower of adoration medicinal plant
-combine the last two and you have the flower of womanhood turning the wearer into a perfect housewife
-paralysis vines
-poison snake herb
-woman repellent
-Instant Naniichuan
-rejuvenation potion
-bean throwing plant
-toushintan - fighting instinct rises can not disobey the command to fight (used on Konatsu to get him to fight Ranma)
-mosquito repellent
-forgotten by me or unnamed poisons (like the ones that were shown but not used or were avoided), unnamed antidotes (like the extremely hot one that swelled up Ranma's lips), unnamed medicines (like the one the sick boy took) and plants (like the giant plants or plant with the poisonous pollen or even just the regular not in anyway strange plants like trees and flowers that the characters used or had for one reason or another such as the flowers given by Akane to Ryoga when she thought he was sick or the ones given to Shampoo during the reversal jewel arc).
I don't see very many fics that use these types of things even though they are often used by the characters in the manga. The reason I thought up making this list at this time is because of email conversations about another series that did not really use these types of things even though the characters were students being taught how to make these types of things and wondering why these things (like many other things) aren't used in fan fiction more often.
I would expect that Ranma and some of the others who go off training to be carrying quite a few of these type of things (evidence from the manga would agree with some of these). I would expect Ranma to carry, when going on a trip in his back pack, a first aid kit containing various pharmaceuticals, herbal remedies (such as plants that would be grounded up and made into a paste to reduce bruising and swelling of which there are quite a few and many work as well or even better then the store bought ones), potions (Happosai is shown to have books on potions and Ranma and the Tendo's are shown to go through Happosai's stuff like during the martial arts dining arc or the moxibition of weakness arc), teas that serve a purposes (there are a lot of medicinal teas and Asians in particular use them often), incense (Ranma used incense a few times like the suggestion incense used on Happosai but is also shown to have and use incense at other times since we see him have it burning near him on occasion), pills (several were shown in the manga like the master student pill or the phoenix pill and over the counter medicine most often is in pill format) etc. Beyond the above mentioned items here are some more things I think he'd have in one format or another (over the counter, herbal, a potion that does it, etc.):
medicines and bandages
-pain relievers mostly over the counter such as asprin but also prescription ones like morphine
-muscle relaxants
-sleeping pills
-burn creams
-numbing creams
-antidotes
-poisons
-anti-itch cream
-anti-venom
-mosquito repellent
-stomach medicine
-cold medicine
-vitamins
-sedatives
-antibiotic ointment
-laxatives
-antacids
-tranquilizers
-decongestants
possibly these:
-stink bomb
-itching powder
-bright flash/flash bomb (made from aluminum powder and potassium percholate maybe)
-fireworks that make a loud noise
-glue like Happosai's friend used
-hallucinogens
-gas pellets
-dye packets
-stamina/energy drinks (the Japanese really like these for some reason, personally I can't stand them)
If someone, such as me, were to include these types of things in a fanfic what other effects do you suppose a potion or plant would have? Basically I'm asking you to suggest possible potions, powders, and plants properties preferably strange ones rather than say pharmaceuticals or what could easily be found in a book on herbal remedies (not looking for magic items or spirit powered items of which there also were quite a few in the manga).
Almost forgot. Aphrodisiacs of which very few were shown in the manga (at least that I remember). The only one I can remember showing up in the manga was Mamushi-zake (snake in drink). Ranma's clone in the mirror arc has this. Mamushi-zake is an old folk remedy made by soaking a mamushi (snake) in sake or other alcoholic beverage for about a year it supposedly increases sexual stamina.
Showing posts with label Ranma General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ranma General. Show all posts
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Friday, June 11, 2010
Thoughts on fanon
I was recently thinking about fanon, canon, and authorial intent (author's intention that may or may not match what is shown in the material). A thing that really annoys me is the large amounts of fanon being mistaken as canon and even more so the fanon which outright contradicts canon.
I do not hate fanon, in fact I like it quite a bit and have my own pet theories for events not fully described in the source material. I realize that they are not strictly speaking canon but they all at least do not contradict canon. I also acknowledge that they are just my theories and interpretations rather than what is strictly in the source. Good fanon expands upon canon, fills out parts not needed for the original story, and occasionally explains inconsistencies in the source material.
Below are seven things all of which are fanon, the reason that these aren't on my other list is because while fanon they do not entirely contradict the manga.
1. The engagement is to unite the Tendo and Saotome schools of martial arts.
- The reason this is fanon is because it is commonly assumed that the reason for the engagement is to unite the two schools of martial arts but the source material never says that. This particular bit of fanon rather annoys me because I never interpreted it that way. The way I always viewed it was that it was a joining of the families and that both families had a practitioner of martial arts was coincidental. Had it been about joining the schools no marriage is needed, they could just train each other in their respective styles and Akane would be the only viable choice. That is not the case, Ranma was given a choice by Soun at first and later they were okay with the engagement being switched to Nabiki (until Kasumi pointed out that Nabiki plans on selling the dojo, house, and land to have fun). That doesn't mean that martial arts has nothing to do with the engagement though since Soun and Genma's training together probably is what made them decide to unite their families and the Tendos need a male heir to run the dojo (the Japanese are more sexist than many other countries and a dojo run by a woman would not attract many students).
2. Ranma was 15 at the start of the manga.
-This is one of my favorite theories. In Ranma's grade level (first year; USA equivalent to 10th grade) it is not unusual to be 15 (it depends on what day your birthday falls on) and Ranma's age is not given in the manga until the mushrooms of aging arc where he states he would lose a year were he to eat the 17cm mushroom rather than a few months implying that he only recently turned 16.
3. Nabiki's characterization.
-While many of the characters in fan fiction are fairly different from how they are portrayed to be in the manga, Nabiki's characterization in particular rarely resembles anything like how she is portrayed to be in the manga. She is almost universally made to be a much nicer and less self centered person in fan fiction even though the way Nabiki is in the manga is how some teenage girls in Japan really are (what with enjo kōsai and such). One example, of the many possible, of how her fan fiction characterization differs from her manga incarnation is in fan fiction she will keep her word particularly in business deals. That bit of fanon is straight out contradicted by the manga for example Principal Kuno hires Nabiki for one of his schemes she does not keep her word instead she takes his money and then runs.
4. Characters having knowledge of things that they should have no way of knowing at all.
- This is not a case of fanon so much as an error in keeping track of who knows what. The reason I'm listing it as fanon is because I occasionally see the same errors made in multiple fics. For example I recently read a fic in which Kasumi had first hand knowledge of what happened during the battle with Saffron even though she was a few thousand miles away at the time or Nabiki having knowledge about the Senkens, particularly the Yamasenken, even though she never even met Ryu Kumon and didn't see the battle (only Akane, Genma, and Soun did). Nabiki in particular has this error apply to her in fan fiction sometimes explained by her having minions (which she does not in the manga - though it can be argued that some characters do for example Kodachi in the form of her Gymnastics team who she even had help her in battle) and manga Nabiki does not search for things to blackmail people (Ranma is much more likely to do that since he has searched multiple peoples places) and is often out of the loop (she did not know Happosai weakened Ranma until she looked over Tatewaki's shoulder and read it).
5. Shampoo's people, the Joketsuzoku, are matriarchal and treat males as second class citizens.
- This bit of fanon probably comes from the fact that VIZ calls her people Amazons and that term is associated with certain things. Pretty much everything about how her people are governed and most of their culture is fanon since almost nothing is shown or told to us in the manga. Though Cologne is not called matriarch ever and a society that was extremely matriarchal would not allow Mousse to be as strong as he is or get away with doing what he does.
6. Ukyo hires other people to work at her restaurant when she isn't there.
- Again a bit of fanon I like in that it explains how she can go to school, take trips (like the one with Ryoga to a spring), and go on trips with Ranma and still keep her shop open.
7. Ranma considers Nabiki's clothing to be better than Akane's.
- I've only saw this in one fic but it was strange enough that it caused me to pause and is probably the thing I remember best about the fic. I can see Ranma saying so to purposely anger Akane but other than that I find it very unlikely since Akane cares a lot more about clothing than Nabiki is shown to and half the stuff Nabiki wears is shown to be Akane's.
I do not hate fanon, in fact I like it quite a bit and have my own pet theories for events not fully described in the source material. I realize that they are not strictly speaking canon but they all at least do not contradict canon. I also acknowledge that they are just my theories and interpretations rather than what is strictly in the source. Good fanon expands upon canon, fills out parts not needed for the original story, and occasionally explains inconsistencies in the source material.
Below are seven things all of which are fanon, the reason that these aren't on my other list is because while fanon they do not entirely contradict the manga.
1. The engagement is to unite the Tendo and Saotome schools of martial arts.
- The reason this is fanon is because it is commonly assumed that the reason for the engagement is to unite the two schools of martial arts but the source material never says that. This particular bit of fanon rather annoys me because I never interpreted it that way. The way I always viewed it was that it was a joining of the families and that both families had a practitioner of martial arts was coincidental. Had it been about joining the schools no marriage is needed, they could just train each other in their respective styles and Akane would be the only viable choice. That is not the case, Ranma was given a choice by Soun at first and later they were okay with the engagement being switched to Nabiki (until Kasumi pointed out that Nabiki plans on selling the dojo, house, and land to have fun). That doesn't mean that martial arts has nothing to do with the engagement though since Soun and Genma's training together probably is what made them decide to unite their families and the Tendos need a male heir to run the dojo (the Japanese are more sexist than many other countries and a dojo run by a woman would not attract many students).
2. Ranma was 15 at the start of the manga.
-This is one of my favorite theories. In Ranma's grade level (first year; USA equivalent to 10th grade) it is not unusual to be 15 (it depends on what day your birthday falls on) and Ranma's age is not given in the manga until the mushrooms of aging arc where he states he would lose a year were he to eat the 17cm mushroom rather than a few months implying that he only recently turned 16.
3. Nabiki's characterization.
-While many of the characters in fan fiction are fairly different from how they are portrayed to be in the manga, Nabiki's characterization in particular rarely resembles anything like how she is portrayed to be in the manga. She is almost universally made to be a much nicer and less self centered person in fan fiction even though the way Nabiki is in the manga is how some teenage girls in Japan really are (what with enjo kōsai and such). One example, of the many possible, of how her fan fiction characterization differs from her manga incarnation is in fan fiction she will keep her word particularly in business deals. That bit of fanon is straight out contradicted by the manga for example Principal Kuno hires Nabiki for one of his schemes she does not keep her word instead she takes his money and then runs.
4. Characters having knowledge of things that they should have no way of knowing at all.
- This is not a case of fanon so much as an error in keeping track of who knows what. The reason I'm listing it as fanon is because I occasionally see the same errors made in multiple fics. For example I recently read a fic in which Kasumi had first hand knowledge of what happened during the battle with Saffron even though she was a few thousand miles away at the time or Nabiki having knowledge about the Senkens, particularly the Yamasenken, even though she never even met Ryu Kumon and didn't see the battle (only Akane, Genma, and Soun did). Nabiki in particular has this error apply to her in fan fiction sometimes explained by her having minions (which she does not in the manga - though it can be argued that some characters do for example Kodachi in the form of her Gymnastics team who she even had help her in battle) and manga Nabiki does not search for things to blackmail people (Ranma is much more likely to do that since he has searched multiple peoples places) and is often out of the loop (she did not know Happosai weakened Ranma until she looked over Tatewaki's shoulder and read it).
5. Shampoo's people, the Joketsuzoku, are matriarchal and treat males as second class citizens.
- This bit of fanon probably comes from the fact that VIZ calls her people Amazons and that term is associated with certain things. Pretty much everything about how her people are governed and most of their culture is fanon since almost nothing is shown or told to us in the manga. Though Cologne is not called matriarch ever and a society that was extremely matriarchal would not allow Mousse to be as strong as he is or get away with doing what he does.
6. Ukyo hires other people to work at her restaurant when she isn't there.
- Again a bit of fanon I like in that it explains how she can go to school, take trips (like the one with Ryoga to a spring), and go on trips with Ranma and still keep her shop open.
7. Ranma considers Nabiki's clothing to be better than Akane's.
- I've only saw this in one fic but it was strange enough that it caused me to pause and is probably the thing I remember best about the fic. I can see Ranma saying so to purposely anger Akane but other than that I find it very unlikely since Akane cares a lot more about clothing than Nabiki is shown to and half the stuff Nabiki wears is shown to be Akane's.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Ranma given foreknowledge versus Saffron
This post is inspired by a conversation I had with someone on a forum. Alternate universe stories are pretty common, most commonly they are asking and then answering the question what if? For example what if Mary Jane was bitten by the spider instead of Peter Parker or what if Superman was raised by Lex Luthor. On this forum someone asked the question what if Ranma had battled Saffron going into the battle knowing what he learned during and immediately after the battle, basically another fight with Saffron.
There is many ways that could go. The first thing I thought was that Ranma would not let Saffron attain his ascension, child Saffron can not stop Ranma. That said I'm going to assume that Saffron has already attained his adult form and that the battle in question is the final battle versus Saffron. A lot of people view Saffron as the most powerful character in the manga, even going so far as to call him a god. Calling him a god doesn't bother me in the least since by many non monotheistic religious standards (including Shinto) he would qualify as a god (or Kami). To me it is very debatable that he is the most powerful, energy wise Herb, Happosai, Miss Hinako depending on whom/what she drains of power, Rouge in her Ashura form (a literal goddess/demoness in several religions) could probably match him or even beat him in raw power were they to really try to do so. Skill wise a lot of the characters beat him in that. Physical abilities other than healing and flight he is beat by a lot of the characters as well.
I am going to assume that the scenario (get Akane to the water) and local is the same and that Ranma has not had prep time. I also want to point out that in this battle Ranma knows about Saffron's attacks/abilities and Saffron is clueless about Ranma's (which is an extreme advantage for Ranma). Though Saffron still has several minor advantages in his favor in that as a being who can fly Saffron has an advantage for aerial combat. Saffron's regeneration beats Ranma's healing ability (which is still pretty impressive). Both are under a time limit Saffron in that he is burning himself out since his transformation was incomplete and Ranma because he has to get Akane to the water before her eyes close. Saffron still has more knowledge and practice with the magical staffs than Ranma does (recall Ranma didn't even know how to turn his on). Saffron has the advantage in that he knows Ranma's goal and can focus his entire concentration on Ranma whereas Ranma's concentration is split between fighting Saffron and getting Akane to the water (to the point that he tried to break off the battle and get Akane to the water) also Saffron knows where Ranma is trying to go whereas Saffron can go any where and attack from any direction.
Another thing I want to point out before getting to how I think the battle will go is that Saffron's statement about how his blast should have killed Ranma and his idea about how Akane blocked the blast is pretty meaningless. The reason I state this is because Saffron does not know of Ranma's abilities such as his ability to take physical punishment or what Ranma's heat tolerance is and he was just guessing. Saffron is not the first character to think that Ranma should not have survived their attack take Mikado very early in the manga, he too could not believe that Ranma survived his attack. It is possible that Saffron's theory is correct about Akane taking the heat (not that that theory makes any sense by real life physics but going by real life physics Saffron shouldn't exist either) but personally I don't like that theory since Ranma still took the physical impact (impacted the rock with enough force to compress it) and Akane was very small at the time and most of the heat would have just continued around her (Akane was like six inches tall the blast was several times her size she was not big enough to stop it). While I'm on the subject of that blast, it might have missed Ranma entirely had he not dropped Akane forcing him to change direction (Ranma stopped dodging/running in favor of catching Akane, hell he stopped paying attention to Saffron entirely in favor of catching her).
Okay here is how I think the battle would go. Ranma would pretty much curbstomp Saffron. The reason I say this is: In this scenario Ranma knows about Saffron's healing ability and that killing Saffron will only cause him to be reborn so Ranma is a helluva lot less likely to hold back. Which is something he did in the manga, once he decided that he was running out of options he sliced off Saffron's wings instead of going for a killing blow. This time Ranma would turn on the ice staff and just slice Saffron to pieces (in the manga Ranma did not know how to turn it on only did so accidentally) and Saffron has no way of stopping Ranma from doing that since he did not get the fire staff until later in the battle.
Big lead up, very disappointing fight. The reason the fight is so disappointing is because Ranma's advanced knowledge causes it to be a curb stomp. Were this a true second battle where both Saffron and Ranma have some idea as to the other opponents abilities; both are unarmed, or both are armed with the magic staffs from the beginning, or one armed with one of them the other unarmed; neither have a time limit or one of them under a time limit; etc. the battle would and could go very differently. Personally a second battle between them could go either way, hell that's how it was in the manga. Saffron had an upper-hand, then Ranma did, then Saffron, etc. the battle was much closer than most fan fics I have read make it appear to have been.
Were this a fight versus Herb than my opinion would be very different. Herb unlike Saffron was curb stomping Ranma for the majority of the time, it wasn't ping ponging between them. Even were you to give Ranma post battle knowledge prior to the battle against Herb it would not really matter. Even post manga knowledge (giving him further adaptations/better understanding of the Hiryu Shoten Ha and knowledge of the Senkens) without preptime and I'd still give Herb better odds of wining than I would Ranma (without preptime because given enough preptime the odds would/could change drastically).
There is many ways that could go. The first thing I thought was that Ranma would not let Saffron attain his ascension, child Saffron can not stop Ranma. That said I'm going to assume that Saffron has already attained his adult form and that the battle in question is the final battle versus Saffron. A lot of people view Saffron as the most powerful character in the manga, even going so far as to call him a god. Calling him a god doesn't bother me in the least since by many non monotheistic religious standards (including Shinto) he would qualify as a god (or Kami). To me it is very debatable that he is the most powerful, energy wise Herb, Happosai, Miss Hinako depending on whom/what she drains of power, Rouge in her Ashura form (a literal goddess/demoness in several religions) could probably match him or even beat him in raw power were they to really try to do so. Skill wise a lot of the characters beat him in that. Physical abilities other than healing and flight he is beat by a lot of the characters as well.
I am going to assume that the scenario (get Akane to the water) and local is the same and that Ranma has not had prep time. I also want to point out that in this battle Ranma knows about Saffron's attacks/abilities and Saffron is clueless about Ranma's (which is an extreme advantage for Ranma). Though Saffron still has several minor advantages in his favor in that as a being who can fly Saffron has an advantage for aerial combat. Saffron's regeneration beats Ranma's healing ability (which is still pretty impressive). Both are under a time limit Saffron in that he is burning himself out since his transformation was incomplete and Ranma because he has to get Akane to the water before her eyes close. Saffron still has more knowledge and practice with the magical staffs than Ranma does (recall Ranma didn't even know how to turn his on). Saffron has the advantage in that he knows Ranma's goal and can focus his entire concentration on Ranma whereas Ranma's concentration is split between fighting Saffron and getting Akane to the water (to the point that he tried to break off the battle and get Akane to the water) also Saffron knows where Ranma is trying to go whereas Saffron can go any where and attack from any direction.
Another thing I want to point out before getting to how I think the battle will go is that Saffron's statement about how his blast should have killed Ranma and his idea about how Akane blocked the blast is pretty meaningless. The reason I state this is because Saffron does not know of Ranma's abilities such as his ability to take physical punishment or what Ranma's heat tolerance is and he was just guessing. Saffron is not the first character to think that Ranma should not have survived their attack take Mikado very early in the manga, he too could not believe that Ranma survived his attack. It is possible that Saffron's theory is correct about Akane taking the heat (not that that theory makes any sense by real life physics but going by real life physics Saffron shouldn't exist either) but personally I don't like that theory since Ranma still took the physical impact (impacted the rock with enough force to compress it) and Akane was very small at the time and most of the heat would have just continued around her (Akane was like six inches tall the blast was several times her size she was not big enough to stop it). While I'm on the subject of that blast, it might have missed Ranma entirely had he not dropped Akane forcing him to change direction (Ranma stopped dodging/running in favor of catching Akane, hell he stopped paying attention to Saffron entirely in favor of catching her).
Okay here is how I think the battle would go. Ranma would pretty much curbstomp Saffron. The reason I say this is: In this scenario Ranma knows about Saffron's healing ability and that killing Saffron will only cause him to be reborn so Ranma is a helluva lot less likely to hold back. Which is something he did in the manga, once he decided that he was running out of options he sliced off Saffron's wings instead of going for a killing blow. This time Ranma would turn on the ice staff and just slice Saffron to pieces (in the manga Ranma did not know how to turn it on only did so accidentally) and Saffron has no way of stopping Ranma from doing that since he did not get the fire staff until later in the battle.
Big lead up, very disappointing fight. The reason the fight is so disappointing is because Ranma's advanced knowledge causes it to be a curb stomp. Were this a true second battle where both Saffron and Ranma have some idea as to the other opponents abilities; both are unarmed, or both are armed with the magic staffs from the beginning, or one armed with one of them the other unarmed; neither have a time limit or one of them under a time limit; etc. the battle would and could go very differently. Personally a second battle between them could go either way, hell that's how it was in the manga. Saffron had an upper-hand, then Ranma did, then Saffron, etc. the battle was much closer than most fan fics I have read make it appear to have been.
Were this a fight versus Herb than my opinion would be very different. Herb unlike Saffron was curb stomping Ranma for the majority of the time, it wasn't ping ponging between them. Even were you to give Ranma post battle knowledge prior to the battle against Herb it would not really matter. Even post manga knowledge (giving him further adaptations/better understanding of the Hiryu Shoten Ha and knowledge of the Senkens) without preptime and I'd still give Herb better odds of wining than I would Ranma (without preptime because given enough preptime the odds would/could change drastically).
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Alternative Interpretations
People have different interpretations for things. That people interpret things differently than I do makes perfect sense; after-all people have different perspectives and information than I do. Sometimes I can see as to why other people interpret things the way they do, other times it makes no sense to me at all.
Something's are very easy to interpret differently for example:
What is your opinion about Akane's knowledge of Ryoga liking her.
1. Akane truly is clueless about Ryoga liking her.
2. She is aware that he likes her but is deliberately ignoring the fact that he likes her.
3. Some other reason.
-My opinion is that Akane is fully aware that Ryoga likes her but she does not like him (in that way) so acts like she is clueless about his liking her (that and she is a bit scared of him because of his lack of control when he tried to give her a hug).
What is your opinion on male form Ranma and Ryoga's physical strength?
1. Ryoga is physically stronger.
2. Male form Ranma is physically stronger.
3. Their physical strength is close enough to being the same that the difference is so minor as to not matter.
4. It is more complex since there exists more than one type of physical strength and Ryoga maybe stronger in one type and Ranma stronger in another (absolute strength, dynamic strength, elastic strength, explosive strength, one-repetition maximum, relative strength, specific strength, starting strength, strength deficit, strength endurance, static strength, etc.)
-I'm going with their physical strength is close enough to each others so as to not matter. It does not really bother me when people have Ryoga be stronger than male Ranma, even massively stronger, in fan fiction but it does bother me on forums, wiki's and character descriptions on websites. The reason it bothers me is because the source material is rather inconclusive as to which character is physically stronger (it is also did not really care about being all that consistent about strength and toughness though both characters are shown consistently to be physically stronger and tougher than real humans and the majority of humans in series judging by bystanders reactions and comments). Ryoga really does not have any physical feats of strength not duplicated or exceeded by Ranma (even in female form). The original set up in which Ryoga's strength is showcased also showed that Ranma was extremely strong as well (after-all female form Ranma also had no trouble lifting the umbrella, Akane, and jumping an inhuman distance carrying them). That Ryoga can not control his strength was never an indicator of him being stronger than Ranma in my opinion just a further example that Ryoga is not as skilled as Ranma (who generally can control his strength).
Now for some that make no sense to me:
I was chatting with someone last week who said that Ranma was a real bastard for picking on the weak by sneaking up on and breaking a balloon near Gosunkugi's head. They forgot entirely that Gosunkugi had been stalking Akane and secretly taking photos of the school girls (Akane only really but from Ranma's point of view he just sees a guy crouching next to a window with a camera secretly taking pictures of school girls). They then went on to say that all the stuff Gosunkugi did (stalking Ranma, trying to find out Ranma's weakness to use it against him, joining up with someone who annoyed him -Tatewaki, stalking his fiancee, etc.) was Ranma's fault for picking on Gosunkugi (when said picking on him was surprising him while he was secretly taking photos of girls). How the hell did they get that interpretation from the manga?
It annoys me when I see people claim Ranma is a bully. Ranma is not picking on them for no reason, he usually has a legitimate reason for his actions (not doing so to be mean), and the characters he does it to have done things at least as bad (and usually much worse) to Ranma. Personally I found pretty much (though not) everything Ranma did to others to be justifiable considering what the other characters were either doing (like Ryoga trying to date Akane and Akari at the same time) or because of the things that the characters did to him that were much worse.
The fanfic version of Ranma that is trusting, open, doesn't read, is sexist, doesn't use weapons, lets people push him around, is uncultured, is a braggart, doesn't apologize, and is not manipulative; is a very different interpretation for Ranma than I got reading the manga. My view is that Ranma is very manipulative, secretive, doesn't brag often, is not sexist, uses weapons often, is shown reading often, is probably the most cultured person in the manga, does apologize, and only lets people push him around when he has a reason to (the whole arc in which he got kicked out of the Tendo's house was because he would not let Happosai push him around).
Something's are very easy to interpret differently for example:
What is your opinion about Akane's knowledge of Ryoga liking her.
1. Akane truly is clueless about Ryoga liking her.
2. She is aware that he likes her but is deliberately ignoring the fact that he likes her.
3. Some other reason.
-My opinion is that Akane is fully aware that Ryoga likes her but she does not like him (in that way) so acts like she is clueless about his liking her (that and she is a bit scared of him because of his lack of control when he tried to give her a hug).
What is your opinion on male form Ranma and Ryoga's physical strength?
1. Ryoga is physically stronger.
2. Male form Ranma is physically stronger.
3. Their physical strength is close enough to being the same that the difference is so minor as to not matter.
4. It is more complex since there exists more than one type of physical strength and Ryoga maybe stronger in one type and Ranma stronger in another (absolute strength, dynamic strength, elastic strength, explosive strength, one-repetition maximum, relative strength, specific strength, starting strength, strength deficit, strength endurance, static strength, etc.)
-I'm going with their physical strength is close enough to each others so as to not matter. It does not really bother me when people have Ryoga be stronger than male Ranma, even massively stronger, in fan fiction but it does bother me on forums, wiki's and character descriptions on websites. The reason it bothers me is because the source material is rather inconclusive as to which character is physically stronger (it is also did not really care about being all that consistent about strength and toughness though both characters are shown consistently to be physically stronger and tougher than real humans and the majority of humans in series judging by bystanders reactions and comments). Ryoga really does not have any physical feats of strength not duplicated or exceeded by Ranma (even in female form). The original set up in which Ryoga's strength is showcased also showed that Ranma was extremely strong as well (after-all female form Ranma also had no trouble lifting the umbrella, Akane, and jumping an inhuman distance carrying them). That Ryoga can not control his strength was never an indicator of him being stronger than Ranma in my opinion just a further example that Ryoga is not as skilled as Ranma (who generally can control his strength).
Now for some that make no sense to me:
I was chatting with someone last week who said that Ranma was a real bastard for picking on the weak by sneaking up on and breaking a balloon near Gosunkugi's head. They forgot entirely that Gosunkugi had been stalking Akane and secretly taking photos of the school girls (Akane only really but from Ranma's point of view he just sees a guy crouching next to a window with a camera secretly taking pictures of school girls). They then went on to say that all the stuff Gosunkugi did (stalking Ranma, trying to find out Ranma's weakness to use it against him, joining up with someone who annoyed him -Tatewaki, stalking his fiancee, etc.) was Ranma's fault for picking on Gosunkugi (when said picking on him was surprising him while he was secretly taking photos of girls). How the hell did they get that interpretation from the manga?
It annoys me when I see people claim Ranma is a bully. Ranma is not picking on them for no reason, he usually has a legitimate reason for his actions (not doing so to be mean), and the characters he does it to have done things at least as bad (and usually much worse) to Ranma. Personally I found pretty much (though not) everything Ranma did to others to be justifiable considering what the other characters were either doing (like Ryoga trying to date Akane and Akari at the same time) or because of the things that the characters did to him that were much worse.
The fanfic version of Ranma that is trusting, open, doesn't read, is sexist, doesn't use weapons, lets people push him around, is uncultured, is a braggart, doesn't apologize, and is not manipulative; is a very different interpretation for Ranma than I got reading the manga. My view is that Ranma is very manipulative, secretive, doesn't brag often, is not sexist, uses weapons often, is shown reading often, is probably the most cultured person in the manga, does apologize, and only lets people push him around when he has a reason to (the whole arc in which he got kicked out of the Tendo's house was because he would not let Happosai push him around).
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Stylistic issues and random thoughts
I am nowhere near where I should be for my current writing goal but as I write I started to contemplate style.
I was wondering whether I should use macrons and other diacritics. In general I do not use macrons or diacritics on this blog because I am lazy and they take a bit longer to input. I probably should use them on some of the romanizations of Japanese words that I have used on this blog since the same word depending on whether it is a long or short vowel could mean something else entirely. As for the macron use I'm currently thinking about using in a fan fic are for character names e.g. using ō to indicate that the o in Ryoga's name is a long vowel; Ryōga.
If I do use them should I limit them to names and possible foreign words or use them on other things like acute accents such as in fiancée (which is a word adopted from french)?
Thinking about that should I call Ranma's situation engagements or betrothals i.e. should I say Ranma is engaged to Ukyo and Akane and Shampoo or betrothed to them? It is more common to see people call them engaged, which is why I'm contemplating using that term, but betrothed is probably the better term to use since betrothal often refers to agreements involving not only the couple but their families and often have binding legal or honor implications that engagements do not.
Something that just occurred to me some fics talk about some of the honor implications of breaking the engagements, often erroneous legal implications, and possible fallout (like Shampoo deciding that Akane really has to die) but I do not ever recall seeing a fic in which Ukyo or the Tendo's sue Ranma/Saotomes for breaking the engagement, which they could theoretically do under breach of promise laws. I do not know what those type of laws are currently in Japan but I do know that there are books in Japan that do have this as part of their plots for example: Kazumi Takahashi's novel, Hi no utsuwa, has the main character a university dean sued for breaking a marriage engagement.
The next stylistic thing is a common conundrum for Ranma fan fic writers, or anyone writing about a multi or no gendered being; that I have not given much thought about until just recently. Namely how should I indicate Ranma's gender? I've seen books, such as Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier Series use hir and s/he for dual gendered beings but I personally find that annoying though I did enjoy those books. The use of singular they would probably confuse people thinking that they means multiple people instead of just Ranma. I could use it but it is usually not referred to people and may cause readers to view Ranma as not a person.
The way I am currently thinking about doing so is to, when narrating, use Ranma for male form and Ranma-onna for female form. I definitely won't use Ranma for male form and Ranko for female form because I do not believe Ranma would choose to use that alias again because of the memories associated with it and people not in the know would view Ranma and Ranko as two separate individuals. Though this maybe awkward on occasion.
When looking from a character point of view though I am unsure what to do. I originally was going to say that Ranma would always think of himself as being male, but upon further reflection that seems unlikely. Most of the time a person does not think of themselves as being male or female (I, am, me, etc. are gender neutral). Though the main reason is that Ranma has strong associations with some actions as being gender specific, so if Ranma were to be doing or contemplate doing something he associates as female he is likely to view himself as a female during those times (like putting on make-up, wearing a dress, or wearing a swimsuit). As for the other characters it would vary and be dependent on circumstance. Akane, for example, would think of Ranma as male regardless of form most of the time but there would be circumstances that would make her view him as female. Some examples: if it looks like Ranma is about to kiss her in female form or other displays of affection while in female form, a situation in which another girl is needed such as substituting for her in a contest, if he acts like a male while in female form in public (therefor embarrassing her), if she happens to notice that Ranma looks better in some outfit than she does, etc. Characters that do not know his true gender will of course use whatever gender he currently is as his gender. Then there is Tatewaki, he associates Ranma as female when in female form to the degree that all evidence otherwise is ignored, truthfully I think that would be fairly common to some extent. A person who sees Ranma most often in female form is likely to view Ranma as a female even if they know about the curse and that Ranma is actually male; particularly if they see Ranma doing things in female form they usually associate as feminine.
Next stylistic thing. Should I use Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne or should I use Shanpū, Koron, and Mūsu? In many ways it doesn't matter and Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne are more common (they were the ones VIZ chose to use) but I kind of like Shanpū, Koron, and Mūsu more (though you wouldn't really know it from reading this blog since I tend to use the more common one). I like them more in part because it shows that their names aren't actually hygiene products they just happen to sound like them to someone who speaks English (which was deliberately done by Takahasi).
I was wondering whether I should use macrons and other diacritics. In general I do not use macrons or diacritics on this blog because I am lazy and they take a bit longer to input. I probably should use them on some of the romanizations of Japanese words that I have used on this blog since the same word depending on whether it is a long or short vowel could mean something else entirely. As for the macron use I'm currently thinking about using in a fan fic are for character names e.g. using ō to indicate that the o in Ryoga's name is a long vowel; Ryōga.
If I do use them should I limit them to names and possible foreign words or use them on other things like acute accents such as in fiancée (which is a word adopted from french)?
Thinking about that should I call Ranma's situation engagements or betrothals i.e. should I say Ranma is engaged to Ukyo and Akane and Shampoo or betrothed to them? It is more common to see people call them engaged, which is why I'm contemplating using that term, but betrothed is probably the better term to use since betrothal often refers to agreements involving not only the couple but their families and often have binding legal or honor implications that engagements do not.
Something that just occurred to me some fics talk about some of the honor implications of breaking the engagements, often erroneous legal implications, and possible fallout (like Shampoo deciding that Akane really has to die) but I do not ever recall seeing a fic in which Ukyo or the Tendo's sue Ranma/Saotomes for breaking the engagement, which they could theoretically do under breach of promise laws. I do not know what those type of laws are currently in Japan but I do know that there are books in Japan that do have this as part of their plots for example: Kazumi Takahashi's novel, Hi no utsuwa, has the main character a university dean sued for breaking a marriage engagement.
The next stylistic thing is a common conundrum for Ranma fan fic writers, or anyone writing about a multi or no gendered being; that I have not given much thought about until just recently. Namely how should I indicate Ranma's gender? I've seen books, such as Peter David's Star Trek: New Frontier Series use hir and s/he for dual gendered beings but I personally find that annoying though I did enjoy those books. The use of singular they would probably confuse people thinking that they means multiple people instead of just Ranma. I could use it but it is usually not referred to people and may cause readers to view Ranma as not a person.
The way I am currently thinking about doing so is to, when narrating, use Ranma for male form and Ranma-onna for female form. I definitely won't use Ranma for male form and Ranko for female form because I do not believe Ranma would choose to use that alias again because of the memories associated with it and people not in the know would view Ranma and Ranko as two separate individuals. Though this maybe awkward on occasion.
When looking from a character point of view though I am unsure what to do. I originally was going to say that Ranma would always think of himself as being male, but upon further reflection that seems unlikely. Most of the time a person does not think of themselves as being male or female (I, am, me, etc. are gender neutral). Though the main reason is that Ranma has strong associations with some actions as being gender specific, so if Ranma were to be doing or contemplate doing something he associates as female he is likely to view himself as a female during those times (like putting on make-up, wearing a dress, or wearing a swimsuit). As for the other characters it would vary and be dependent on circumstance. Akane, for example, would think of Ranma as male regardless of form most of the time but there would be circumstances that would make her view him as female. Some examples: if it looks like Ranma is about to kiss her in female form or other displays of affection while in female form, a situation in which another girl is needed such as substituting for her in a contest, if he acts like a male while in female form in public (therefor embarrassing her), if she happens to notice that Ranma looks better in some outfit than she does, etc. Characters that do not know his true gender will of course use whatever gender he currently is as his gender. Then there is Tatewaki, he associates Ranma as female when in female form to the degree that all evidence otherwise is ignored, truthfully I think that would be fairly common to some extent. A person who sees Ranma most often in female form is likely to view Ranma as a female even if they know about the curse and that Ranma is actually male; particularly if they see Ranma doing things in female form they usually associate as feminine.
Next stylistic thing. Should I use Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne or should I use Shanpū, Koron, and Mūsu? In many ways it doesn't matter and Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne are more common (they were the ones VIZ chose to use) but I kind of like Shanpū, Koron, and Mūsu more (though you wouldn't really know it from reading this blog since I tend to use the more common one). I like them more in part because it shows that their names aren't actually hygiene products they just happen to sound like them to someone who speaks English (which was deliberately done by Takahasi).
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Things I would like to see more of in Ranma fan fiction
First off I will state that if I want to see more of these things in fan fiction, I should stop being lazy/insecure in my writing and write the damn stories myself. If I do so well enough it may inspire others to do so. That said I am insecure in my writing and lazy, so hence this list (there is some small hope that this list itself will inspire someone to use them).
Second thing I want to say, before I get to the list, is something I have made mention to before; I really do not understand why some things become so common in fan fiction, many thing which blatantly contradict the source material, and other things actually seen in the source material, repeatedly even, do not.
1. Ranma reading.
2. Konatsu - He is an interesting character with some pretty cool techniques and I would like to see more fics with him in it.
3. Ranma attempting to be a matchmaker. Ranma tried to hook Happosai and Cologne up, he did hook up Akari and Ryoga, and he started to teach a clone of himself how to pick up guys.
4. Ghosts, Oni and miscellaneous other Kami. There are quite a few arcs that have supernatural creatures in them and they don't appear very often in fan fics.
5. Ranma being money savvy. Ranma does display knowledge on money. I mostly want to see more of this to counter all the fan fics in which Ranma borrows money from Nabiki (which Ranma never does in the manga), fics in which he gets tutored by Nabiki on how to use money (which doesn't make sense to me since he knows she would cheat him, she will recklessly use other peoples money without worrying, and will sell people out) and considering that he was on a life long trip in which he likely had to make do with very little money fairly often and probably had to deal with people trying to cheat him; it just makes more sense for him to be money savvy (he does barter with Nabiki, cons people for discounts, expressed sadness at having to spend money, expressed worry about money, has taken jobs - once explicitly for money, etc., in the manga).
6. I would like to see more fics with healing things like Ranma doing first aid or cpr (both of which he did do in the manga), physical therapy, meditation (also seen in manga both in the form of prayer and while sitting upside down), massages (again seen in the manga multiple times; once even during a battle), pressure points/shiatsu/Moxibustion for their more common healing purposes, teaching (very important to prevent causing harm), etc.
7. Ranma being sarcastic and pointing out the stupidity/hypocrisy of the people around him. Ranmas fanfiction incarnations generally are not very sarcastic whereas he is pretty sarcastic in the manga.
8. Ranma with black hair like in the manga, or black with red in it like some Japanese people really have but isn't readably noticeable unless backlite, and having different hair styles on occasion such as hanging loose or a ponytail (like Ranma had his hair pre-dragon whisker).
I am likely to add more to or revise this list at a future date.
Second thing I want to say, before I get to the list, is something I have made mention to before; I really do not understand why some things become so common in fan fiction, many thing which blatantly contradict the source material, and other things actually seen in the source material, repeatedly even, do not.
1. Ranma reading.
2. Konatsu - He is an interesting character with some pretty cool techniques and I would like to see more fics with him in it.
3. Ranma attempting to be a matchmaker. Ranma tried to hook Happosai and Cologne up, he did hook up Akari and Ryoga, and he started to teach a clone of himself how to pick up guys.
4. Ghosts, Oni and miscellaneous other Kami. There are quite a few arcs that have supernatural creatures in them and they don't appear very often in fan fics.
5. Ranma being money savvy. Ranma does display knowledge on money. I mostly want to see more of this to counter all the fan fics in which Ranma borrows money from Nabiki (which Ranma never does in the manga), fics in which he gets tutored by Nabiki on how to use money (which doesn't make sense to me since he knows she would cheat him, she will recklessly use other peoples money without worrying, and will sell people out) and considering that he was on a life long trip in which he likely had to make do with very little money fairly often and probably had to deal with people trying to cheat him; it just makes more sense for him to be money savvy (he does barter with Nabiki, cons people for discounts, expressed sadness at having to spend money, expressed worry about money, has taken jobs - once explicitly for money, etc., in the manga).
6. I would like to see more fics with healing things like Ranma doing first aid or cpr (both of which he did do in the manga), physical therapy, meditation (also seen in manga both in the form of prayer and while sitting upside down), massages (again seen in the manga multiple times; once even during a battle), pressure points/shiatsu/Moxibustion for their more common healing purposes, teaching (very important to prevent causing harm), etc.
7. Ranma being sarcastic and pointing out the stupidity/hypocrisy of the people around him. Ranmas fanfiction incarnations generally are not very sarcastic whereas he is pretty sarcastic in the manga.
8. Ranma with black hair like in the manga, or black with red in it like some Japanese people really have but isn't readably noticeable unless backlite, and having different hair styles on occasion such as hanging loose or a ponytail (like Ranma had his hair pre-dragon whisker).
I am likely to add more to or revise this list at a future date.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Nerima Wrecking Crew
The Nerima Wrecking Crew is a moniker given for some of the cast in Ranma ½ fandom. Which cast members compose the Nerima Wrecking Crew is something I have wondered more than once. In addition to who, I also wonder why they were given this title. While it is true that many of the characters can cause a lot of property damage, if they so choose, most really do not (going by the manga).
By my definition the only characters I would say were part of it are Shampoo and Ryoga, seeing as to how they are the only two regular cast members who regularly go around breaking things. Shampoo purposely breaks through walls and things when entering and Ryoga has very poor control of his strength (doesn't even make an attempt to not break things). Even Ryoga is debatable since he does not spend the majority of his time in Nerima and while his house's exact location is not given it probably is not in Nerima (since Akane took a bus to get there). The more destructive characters do not live in Nerima. Pantyhose Taro, Ryu Kumon, Saffron, Herb, etc. do not and never have lived in Nerima.
That is not to say that others do not cause damage, they do occasionally and can be incredibly destructive if they make any attempt to do so, but it is not a common thing for the others to do so. The amount of property damage they do is blown out of proportion in fanon. Most of the people who live in the area do not purposely cause damage and a couple of them have berated the others who do so for doing so and/or can be seen repairing damage (Ranma for example can be seen fixing the damage occasionally such as the Tendo's roof).
The most destructive battles do not occur within Nerima, they are in isolated places: Breaking Point Battle - out in the mountains, battle versus Herb - in the mountains, battle versus Saffron - mountains again, Ryu Kumon battle - at a shrine away from people with no witnesses except Soun, Genma, and Akane, etc. Other battles are most commonly at two locales - Tendo property and Furinkan High.
Most of the battles are not spontaneous bouts of aggression. Challenges are often issued in advance. There are a lot of prearranged affairs in which everyone knows about them before hand. Rhythmic gymnastics, martial arts dining, martial arts cheerleading, Ranma and Ryoga's ki blast battle, Martial arts skating, Ukyo's intro battle (she set up the ring before hand), Mousse's battle against female form Ranma, the takeout race (this one was even televised), etc. all were organized planned events.
For the most part, at least in the manga, the characters get along with one another and spend time doing other things besides fighting/destroying things. They do have berserker buttons but when those aren't pushed they can be civil to one another. Ranma has had polite conversations with Mousse, Tatewaki Kuno, Ryoga, all of his fiancees, etc. It is strange seeing somethings in fan fics like Ukyo and Akane fighting, since they did not have a fight in the manga and besides the issue with Ranma they get along with one another (even cut class together and help each other). The characters who attack Ranma, for the most part, do not do so every day. Ryoga and Mousse both leave to spend time training, the principal takes time to set up his ridiculous challenges, etc.
If you haven't figured it out yet, I dislike them being called the Nerima Wrecking Crew since it is not an apt nickname for them and it is unclear as to which characters are actually part of it.
By my definition the only characters I would say were part of it are Shampoo and Ryoga, seeing as to how they are the only two regular cast members who regularly go around breaking things. Shampoo purposely breaks through walls and things when entering and Ryoga has very poor control of his strength (doesn't even make an attempt to not break things). Even Ryoga is debatable since he does not spend the majority of his time in Nerima and while his house's exact location is not given it probably is not in Nerima (since Akane took a bus to get there). The more destructive characters do not live in Nerima. Pantyhose Taro, Ryu Kumon, Saffron, Herb, etc. do not and never have lived in Nerima.
That is not to say that others do not cause damage, they do occasionally and can be incredibly destructive if they make any attempt to do so, but it is not a common thing for the others to do so. The amount of property damage they do is blown out of proportion in fanon. Most of the people who live in the area do not purposely cause damage and a couple of them have berated the others who do so for doing so and/or can be seen repairing damage (Ranma for example can be seen fixing the damage occasionally such as the Tendo's roof).
The most destructive battles do not occur within Nerima, they are in isolated places: Breaking Point Battle - out in the mountains, battle versus Herb - in the mountains, battle versus Saffron - mountains again, Ryu Kumon battle - at a shrine away from people with no witnesses except Soun, Genma, and Akane, etc. Other battles are most commonly at two locales - Tendo property and Furinkan High.
Most of the battles are not spontaneous bouts of aggression. Challenges are often issued in advance. There are a lot of prearranged affairs in which everyone knows about them before hand. Rhythmic gymnastics, martial arts dining, martial arts cheerleading, Ranma and Ryoga's ki blast battle, Martial arts skating, Ukyo's intro battle (she set up the ring before hand), Mousse's battle against female form Ranma, the takeout race (this one was even televised), etc. all were organized planned events.
For the most part, at least in the manga, the characters get along with one another and spend time doing other things besides fighting/destroying things. They do have berserker buttons but when those aren't pushed they can be civil to one another. Ranma has had polite conversations with Mousse, Tatewaki Kuno, Ryoga, all of his fiancees, etc. It is strange seeing somethings in fan fics like Ukyo and Akane fighting, since they did not have a fight in the manga and besides the issue with Ranma they get along with one another (even cut class together and help each other). The characters who attack Ranma, for the most part, do not do so every day. Ryoga and Mousse both leave to spend time training, the principal takes time to set up his ridiculous challenges, etc.
If you haven't figured it out yet, I dislike them being called the Nerima Wrecking Crew since it is not an apt nickname for them and it is unclear as to which characters are actually part of it.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Change Blindness
Change blindness is the phenomenon that occurs when a person viewing a visual scene apparently fails to detect large changes in the scene. I first heard about change blindness several years ago, I think it was on a special explaining magician tricks. It occurs to me that I've never actually seen it, or inattentional blindness, used in a Ranma fan fic even though they really could apply.
In most fics people see Ranma change form and immediately notice. It is rare for a character to explain it away as being impossible (i.e. that was impossible, therefor logically it didn't happen) which I'd expect to be a common reaction to people who happen to see it only once. I'd expect them to say something like "my eyes must be playing tricks on me" or something of that nature.
It's much rarer for a character to not notice when Ranma changes form at all in fan fics. Both change blindness and inattentional blindness could be used to explain as to why another character would not notice Ranma change. Inattentional blindness could be used, in that the character was looking elsewhere at the time and did not see the change occur and therefor would assume that male form Ranma left and female form came in while they were distracted. Change blindness could be used in that they were not paying all that much attention to Ranma in the first place, they registered his presence but not all the details (considering same hair style and color and clothing this could happen very easily). Before anyone says but Ranma's female form has a different hair color, that is not true of the manga (see the colored versions), and the characters in both the manga and anime do not notice the change in hair color (even though we the watchers do).
Video demonstrating change blindness (had embed off by request).
Video demonstrating inattentional blindness:
Videos of similar nature can be found via google or youtube.
In most fics people see Ranma change form and immediately notice. It is rare for a character to explain it away as being impossible (i.e. that was impossible, therefor logically it didn't happen) which I'd expect to be a common reaction to people who happen to see it only once. I'd expect them to say something like "my eyes must be playing tricks on me" or something of that nature.
It's much rarer for a character to not notice when Ranma changes form at all in fan fics. Both change blindness and inattentional blindness could be used to explain as to why another character would not notice Ranma change. Inattentional blindness could be used, in that the character was looking elsewhere at the time and did not see the change occur and therefor would assume that male form Ranma left and female form came in while they were distracted. Change blindness could be used in that they were not paying all that much attention to Ranma in the first place, they registered his presence but not all the details (considering same hair style and color and clothing this could happen very easily). Before anyone says but Ranma's female form has a different hair color, that is not true of the manga (see the colored versions), and the characters in both the manga and anime do not notice the change in hair color (even though we the watchers do).
Video demonstrating change blindness (had embed off by request).
Video demonstrating inattentional blindness:
Videos of similar nature can be found via google or youtube.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Queen of the Night and other Ranmabook comics
The most requested thing according to statcounter, as well as in emails, is asking for Ranma Hentai, more specifically the books at Ranmabooks. Surprisingly I recently received an email not asking as where to find them online for free, most can be found provided your google-fu is up to it, but asking as to whether I have read any of them and if I had are they worth the price.
In answer to that; I have read most, but not all, of them and am not currently a defender of the site (may or may not become one at some point in the future). I purchased legitimately through the site a few of the books the rest of the books I looked at were downloaded elsewhere. I'm not a large fan of Hentai to begin with since I prefer plots to mindless porn. The ones I purchased where done so while on sale, I personally think that they are a bit too expensive, but I am a cheapskate and when I do spend money I generally prefer to do so on things that are more substantial. In some ways I do not think they cost that much, since time and effort goes into making them and I have purchased a commission from an artist for pictures in the past that cost as much or more (depending on the book) per picture. If you do decide they are too expensive you could download them from one of the several places online that has them for free and if you do like it you could give a donation to the site.
Here are some small reviews of the books:
I dislike The Miss Adventures of P-chan and Learning the Hard Way primarily because they are Ryoga-centric and I dislike Ryoga. A few of them have Ranma-onna with a guy which I also do not like (Black Rose of Furinkan 4 for example). OOC books are pretty good because they are humorous. I don't much like Private Tutor Hinako because it portrays Ranma doing extremely poorly in school which is not something I like (my view on Ranma is that since he is both competitive and cares about how people view him he would not get terrible grades; though I also doubt he's getting perfect grades since has and does miss school). Miss Hinako and the Principal do not go after Ranma for doing poorly, they go after him because he does not conform, obey or respect them.
The book I looked at most recently was Queen of the Night (both parts), so I'll go into a bit more detail with it. The premise of the book I found to be pretty good, Ranma finds out Nabiki is working at a strip club. The art style is also pretty good (the art style for all the books is fairly decent). Like most hentai it has a weak plot and has the characters out of character.
Some aspects I can see the canon characters doing provided the right situation. For example, it's fairly believable that Nabiki would work as a stripper for cash; since it is shown she would do a lot of things for cash, morally worse than stripping, in the source material. That Ranma would strip itself is not all that out of character given a reason, considering he/she has no problem showing some skin to get an advantage in a fight, has very little physical modesty (has been told to put clothes on multiple time in both of his forms), has used his female form to manipulate guys, and likes being the center of attention. If Ranma will go through bridle training, while wearing extremely feminine clothing, to learn and defeat a martial arts style, coming up with a reason to get Ranma to strip, not all that difficult. Ranma going to/being at a strip club is, admittedly, fairly out of character, but given a reason is something he would do (he did end up in a love motel, girls hot spring, girls bath, sexy tea house,... in the manga).
A few out of character things were large enough to really annoy me though. For example, when Ranma gains admittance to the strip club via a fake I.D.; it has Ranma think *gulp* whoa this guy is huge and that he probably got that way from eating boys trying to sneak in. Ranma thinking that the guy is huge with the size of him intimating Ranma way ooc, Ranma in his smaller female form did not react that way to the Orachi, Pantyhose Taro's cursed form, or the Dojo Destroyer all of which were several orders of magnitude larger than that guy. If Ranma wanted into that place, or any place at all, Ranma would get in and not worry about the consequences (he could get in without the guy ever even seeing Ranma if Ranma wanted to avoid him, after-all Ranma can sneak up on people like Cologne, sneaking passed that guy would be simple).
With the given premise of the book, I'd think the story would go in a different direction entirely, instead of Ranma's female form being a stripper to help Nabiki. Ranma after finding out a big secret that Nabiki doesn't want to get out, I would expect Ranma to use, or at least attempt to use, that secret to blackmail Nabiki. Ranma has searched Nabiki's room twice looking for things that he could use against her in the manga and did attempt to blackmail her, finding something he could actually use against her would result in him using it against her.
In answer to that; I have read most, but not all, of them and am not currently a defender of the site (may or may not become one at some point in the future). I purchased legitimately through the site a few of the books the rest of the books I looked at were downloaded elsewhere. I'm not a large fan of Hentai to begin with since I prefer plots to mindless porn. The ones I purchased where done so while on sale, I personally think that they are a bit too expensive, but I am a cheapskate and when I do spend money I generally prefer to do so on things that are more substantial. In some ways I do not think they cost that much, since time and effort goes into making them and I have purchased a commission from an artist for pictures in the past that cost as much or more (depending on the book) per picture. If you do decide they are too expensive you could download them from one of the several places online that has them for free and if you do like it you could give a donation to the site.
Here are some small reviews of the books:
I dislike The Miss Adventures of P-chan and Learning the Hard Way primarily because they are Ryoga-centric and I dislike Ryoga. A few of them have Ranma-onna with a guy which I also do not like (Black Rose of Furinkan 4 for example). OOC books are pretty good because they are humorous. I don't much like Private Tutor Hinako because it portrays Ranma doing extremely poorly in school which is not something I like (my view on Ranma is that since he is both competitive and cares about how people view him he would not get terrible grades; though I also doubt he's getting perfect grades since has and does miss school). Miss Hinako and the Principal do not go after Ranma for doing poorly, they go after him because he does not conform, obey or respect them.
The book I looked at most recently was Queen of the Night (both parts), so I'll go into a bit more detail with it. The premise of the book I found to be pretty good, Ranma finds out Nabiki is working at a strip club. The art style is also pretty good (the art style for all the books is fairly decent). Like most hentai it has a weak plot and has the characters out of character.
Some aspects I can see the canon characters doing provided the right situation. For example, it's fairly believable that Nabiki would work as a stripper for cash; since it is shown she would do a lot of things for cash, morally worse than stripping, in the source material. That Ranma would strip itself is not all that out of character given a reason, considering he/she has no problem showing some skin to get an advantage in a fight, has very little physical modesty (has been told to put clothes on multiple time in both of his forms), has used his female form to manipulate guys, and likes being the center of attention. If Ranma will go through bridle training, while wearing extremely feminine clothing, to learn and defeat a martial arts style, coming up with a reason to get Ranma to strip, not all that difficult. Ranma going to/being at a strip club is, admittedly, fairly out of character, but given a reason is something he would do (he did end up in a love motel, girls hot spring, girls bath, sexy tea house,... in the manga).
A few out of character things were large enough to really annoy me though. For example, when Ranma gains admittance to the strip club via a fake I.D.; it has Ranma think *gulp* whoa this guy is huge and that he probably got that way from eating boys trying to sneak in. Ranma thinking that the guy is huge with the size of him intimating Ranma way ooc, Ranma in his smaller female form did not react that way to the Orachi, Pantyhose Taro's cursed form, or the Dojo Destroyer all of which were several orders of magnitude larger than that guy. If Ranma wanted into that place, or any place at all, Ranma would get in and not worry about the consequences (he could get in without the guy ever even seeing Ranma if Ranma wanted to avoid him, after-all Ranma can sneak up on people like Cologne, sneaking passed that guy would be simple).
With the given premise of the book, I'd think the story would go in a different direction entirely, instead of Ranma's female form being a stripper to help Nabiki. Ranma after finding out a big secret that Nabiki doesn't want to get out, I would expect Ranma to use, or at least attempt to use, that secret to blackmail Nabiki. Ranma has searched Nabiki's room twice looking for things that he could use against her in the manga and did attempt to blackmail her, finding something he could actually use against her would result in him using it against her.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Five Ranma lists
People seem to like lists so here are a few lists. The first one is inspired by a question I had asked on a forum some time ago, second was seen on a forum rather recently, third, fourth, and fifth were at the request of someone who emailed me asking the questions.
List of people who saw the Neko-ken in the manga:
Some school people.
Some people on a beach.
Ghost Cat
Shampoo
Soun
Genma
Tatewaki Kuno
Gosugunki
Akane
Ryoga (might not have actually seen it but was there in pig form when the phobia was explained)
People of note who didn't see it: Ukyo, Kodachi, Ranma's mom, Mousse, Miss Hinako, the principal, Happosai
List of people who know of Ryoga's curse in the manga:
Ranma
Soun
Genma
Akari
Azusa
Shampoo
Mousse
Cologne
Happosai
Pantyhose Taro
People of note who do not:
Akane, Ukyo, Ranma's mom, all Kuno's, Miss Hinako, Gosugunki
List of people who know of Ranma's curse in the manga:
pretty much everyone except Kodachi (only saw it occur once in the manga and might have rationalized that it didn't happen since she has not seen any other magic or seen it repeatedly), Tatewaki Kuno (who has seen it repeatedly and should know but doesn't), and people who are not near Ranma often (for example Mikado)
People who actually saw the senken techniques:
Akane
Soun
Genma
Ryu Kumon
Ranma
People who should have no knowledge of them: Pretty much every other character in the manga baring Nabiki and Kasumi who might know they exist but did not see them used and therefor do not know the majority of there effects. Ranma's mother might because she used one of the scrolls to make envelopes but nothing in the manga indicates she does.
Top 5 characters which used magic or magic items the most often in the manga:
Happosai
Ranma
Shampoo
Mousse
Akane
Did not use magic as often as they are portrayed to do so in fanfics:
Cologne - she has access to magic and gave magic items to Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane to use but she rarely uses it. The above mentioned 5 use it far more often in the manga than she does. The only time she really uses it in the manga, when not as an example of how to use an item, is the noodle of strength and that was to sell terrible noodles she purchased.
Gosugunki - Attempts Japanese voodoo without success and one time purchased magical mind control paper (battle armor was technology based not magic).
List of people who saw the Neko-ken in the manga:
Some school people.
Some people on a beach.
Ghost Cat
Shampoo
Soun
Genma
Tatewaki Kuno
Gosugunki
Akane
Ryoga (might not have actually seen it but was there in pig form when the phobia was explained)
People of note who didn't see it: Ukyo, Kodachi, Ranma's mom, Mousse, Miss Hinako, the principal, Happosai
List of people who know of Ryoga's curse in the manga:
Ranma
Soun
Genma
Akari
Azusa
Shampoo
Mousse
Cologne
Happosai
Pantyhose Taro
People of note who do not:
Akane, Ukyo, Ranma's mom, all Kuno's, Miss Hinako, Gosugunki
List of people who know of Ranma's curse in the manga:
pretty much everyone except Kodachi (only saw it occur once in the manga and might have rationalized that it didn't happen since she has not seen any other magic or seen it repeatedly), Tatewaki Kuno (who has seen it repeatedly and should know but doesn't), and people who are not near Ranma often (for example Mikado)
People who actually saw the senken techniques:
Akane
Soun
Genma
Ryu Kumon
Ranma
People who should have no knowledge of them: Pretty much every other character in the manga baring Nabiki and Kasumi who might know they exist but did not see them used and therefor do not know the majority of there effects. Ranma's mother might because she used one of the scrolls to make envelopes but nothing in the manga indicates she does.
Top 5 characters which used magic or magic items the most often in the manga:
Happosai
Ranma
Shampoo
Mousse
Akane
Did not use magic as often as they are portrayed to do so in fanfics:
Cologne - she has access to magic and gave magic items to Ranma, Shampoo, and Akane to use but she rarely uses it. The above mentioned 5 use it far more often in the manga than she does. The only time she really uses it in the manga, when not as an example of how to use an item, is the noodle of strength and that was to sell terrible noodles she purchased.
Gosugunki - Attempts Japanese voodoo without success and one time purchased magical mind control paper (battle armor was technology based not magic).
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Random comments inspired by fan fiction
I've been reading some more Ranma fics and this post is pretty much a continuation of the post entitled: few comments inspired by Ranma fan fiction.
*I recently looked at some of the reviews for fics and find it somewhat interesting what people complained about. For example in a story, that I did enjoy reading, the reviewers complained about Ranma being able to speak English and swearing. Neither of those things go against the manga. Ranma swears both in word and in gestures in the Japanese and online fan scans of the manga (VIZ decided to remove them). There is no information as to how well Ranma can speak English in the manga, both unable to and fluent are equally possible. What we do know is he is in English class (with a teacher he doesn't respect) and is widely traveled, his grades are unknown and we don't know what countries he has been to (he could have even left Asia - since he did make more than one trip out of the country, his first memory is of a foreign land).
What I find even more interesting is; what was not complained about that I thought they would (or at least not as much as I thought they would). I expected more complaints about fanon that directly counters the source material, things that did not make sense to me, and factual inaccuracies.
*I've seen more than one fic have Ranma use Nabiki to distract the others from going after him. That fails in so many ways if you think about it. Biggest most obvious reason being Ranma does not trust her to not betray him, with good cause since she has been shown to be entirely willing to betray an agreement/someone to make a quick buck. The second biggest reason is that if Nabiki did sell/give them false information they are all entirely willing to get disappropriate revenge against her. There are more reason as to why it doesn't make sense but those reasons alone are big enough reasons.
*Is Shampoo Ranma's wife? I've seen her mentioned as his wife in fics. I really don't know if she is or isn't, by Japanese law she's not, the individuals being married have to place their hanko's on the marriage certificate in front of an official with two witness's at a ward or city office for it to be legal. They also can't be married by Chinese law. Chinese marriage law states that a male has to be at least 22 and females have to be at least 20. Ranma, at least, is not old enough (Shampoo might be since her age is never given).
That doesn't mean that they aren't married though. A definition of getting married is: performing whatever ritual is prescribed by your religious sect, Indian tribe, or native group, or, should none of the preceding be relevant, exchanging vows before an authorized public official. Using that definition, they could be married by the laws/customs of Shampoo's village. A license is only needed to get state recognition of the marriage, which Shampoo doesn't need since her laws would already give her that recognition. So Ranma may very well be married to her, though the marriage would not be recognized by China or Japan and would only be legal by the laws of Shampoo's village.
*Ranma using the name Ranko. This is really dependent on the situation and where the source of the story splits from the manga. If the story is set post manga, I do not think Ranma would use Ranko for his female form. The reason I say this is because Ranma has bad memories associated with that name i.e. hiding from his mom. Ranma came up with Ranko quickly after already starting to say his name, given time to think about it he is likely to think of another name. Ranma has and does use other aliases such as Yoiko and Kew in the manga.
*I've mentioned this before on this blog, but feel like doing so again. I don't really like the use of Ranma-chan to indicate Ranma is in female form. There really is not anything wrong with using Ranma-chan, the only complaint I have with it is that the chan honorific does not always mean female, though it does more often than not. For example: Young boys and close friends could use the chan honorific. An example from the manga, Ukyo calls Ranma, Ran-chan - using the chan honorific regardless of Ranma's gender. An example from another source, in Lupin the 3rd sweet lost night, Lupin calls Goemon; Goemon-chan.
Relatedly the use of the kun honorific does not necessarily mean male. Example from the manga, Tatewaki Kuno uses the kun honorific for Akane. Example from another source, the inspector in Detective Conan often calls Ran; Ran-kun.
*Where does Ranma get all the disguises and clothing he wears in the manga. If you look at the manga, Ranma has a lot of different disguises, including accessories like wigs, make up, jewelery, purse, rabbits, doves, hats, shoes, etc. Some like the outfit he wore to battle Mousse with is easily explained, we see him construct it himself. Some of the others are just as easily explained, they were borrowed/given to him by others, for example the shrine maiden outfit or nurses uniform. Others though not so easily explained, where did he get several rabbits and a dozen doves?
How many different outfits does Ranma have anyway? Female form Ranma has quite a collection of clothing and accessories. Multiple sets of shoes - high heeled boots, high heeled shoes, tai chi shoes, geta, etc. Jewelry - for example two sets of bracelets (worn while teaching mirror clone how to pick up guys), armlet (10 yen battle arc), several wigs, a few different style purses (teaching mirror clone,date with Densuke, on the beach, etc.), mini skirts, sun dress's, kimono's, tennis outfit, cheongsam, bunny outfit, buruma, swim suits, etc. Male form's got quite a bit as well pajamas, yukata, couple tuxedo's (last volume, date with Kodachi different style), gi's, Mao suit, and several different Mandarin pants and shirts (which at least the sites I checked say are unisex though some call them kung fu shirts). What kind of clothing budget does Ranma and Akane have? A lot of their clothing is very expensive.
*Jedi mind tricks. This is debatable but I'm of the opinion that Ranma and some of the other characters can do this in a limited fashion. The force of Jedi fame (Star Wars, incase someone doesn't know) is based on Asian views on ki/chi. Here is some examples as to why I think some characters can do this. Colognes ability to control a shark, the techniques Ranma used while Ryoga had the mark of the gods would only work if there was some type of compulsion in effect (or the enemy was a really big idiot), Ryu Kumen's yell of stop during the Yamasenken arc (yelling stop is not going to work on it's own and Ryu was surprised it didn't work), etc. These types of techniques are not very effective against Ranma, for example Lucky's hypnotism technique didn't work. (Magic and drugs still work though -like the hypnosis mushrooms Shampoo used).
*I recently looked at some of the reviews for fics and find it somewhat interesting what people complained about. For example in a story, that I did enjoy reading, the reviewers complained about Ranma being able to speak English and swearing. Neither of those things go against the manga. Ranma swears both in word and in gestures in the Japanese and online fan scans of the manga (VIZ decided to remove them). There is no information as to how well Ranma can speak English in the manga, both unable to and fluent are equally possible. What we do know is he is in English class (with a teacher he doesn't respect) and is widely traveled, his grades are unknown and we don't know what countries he has been to (he could have even left Asia - since he did make more than one trip out of the country, his first memory is of a foreign land).
What I find even more interesting is; what was not complained about that I thought they would (or at least not as much as I thought they would). I expected more complaints about fanon that directly counters the source material, things that did not make sense to me, and factual inaccuracies.
*I've seen more than one fic have Ranma use Nabiki to distract the others from going after him. That fails in so many ways if you think about it. Biggest most obvious reason being Ranma does not trust her to not betray him, with good cause since she has been shown to be entirely willing to betray an agreement/someone to make a quick buck. The second biggest reason is that if Nabiki did sell/give them false information they are all entirely willing to get disappropriate revenge against her. There are more reason as to why it doesn't make sense but those reasons alone are big enough reasons.
*Is Shampoo Ranma's wife? I've seen her mentioned as his wife in fics. I really don't know if she is or isn't, by Japanese law she's not, the individuals being married have to place their hanko's on the marriage certificate in front of an official with two witness's at a ward or city office for it to be legal. They also can't be married by Chinese law. Chinese marriage law states that a male has to be at least 22 and females have to be at least 20. Ranma, at least, is not old enough (Shampoo might be since her age is never given).
That doesn't mean that they aren't married though. A definition of getting married is: performing whatever ritual is prescribed by your religious sect, Indian tribe, or native group, or, should none of the preceding be relevant, exchanging vows before an authorized public official. Using that definition, they could be married by the laws/customs of Shampoo's village. A license is only needed to get state recognition of the marriage, which Shampoo doesn't need since her laws would already give her that recognition. So Ranma may very well be married to her, though the marriage would not be recognized by China or Japan and would only be legal by the laws of Shampoo's village.
*Ranma using the name Ranko. This is really dependent on the situation and where the source of the story splits from the manga. If the story is set post manga, I do not think Ranma would use Ranko for his female form. The reason I say this is because Ranma has bad memories associated with that name i.e. hiding from his mom. Ranma came up with Ranko quickly after already starting to say his name, given time to think about it he is likely to think of another name. Ranma has and does use other aliases such as Yoiko and Kew in the manga.
*I've mentioned this before on this blog, but feel like doing so again. I don't really like the use of Ranma-chan to indicate Ranma is in female form. There really is not anything wrong with using Ranma-chan, the only complaint I have with it is that the chan honorific does not always mean female, though it does more often than not. For example: Young boys and close friends could use the chan honorific. An example from the manga, Ukyo calls Ranma, Ran-chan - using the chan honorific regardless of Ranma's gender. An example from another source, in Lupin the 3rd sweet lost night, Lupin calls Goemon; Goemon-chan.
Relatedly the use of the kun honorific does not necessarily mean male. Example from the manga, Tatewaki Kuno uses the kun honorific for Akane. Example from another source, the inspector in Detective Conan often calls Ran; Ran-kun.
*Where does Ranma get all the disguises and clothing he wears in the manga. If you look at the manga, Ranma has a lot of different disguises, including accessories like wigs, make up, jewelery, purse, rabbits, doves, hats, shoes, etc. Some like the outfit he wore to battle Mousse with is easily explained, we see him construct it himself. Some of the others are just as easily explained, they were borrowed/given to him by others, for example the shrine maiden outfit or nurses uniform. Others though not so easily explained, where did he get several rabbits and a dozen doves?
How many different outfits does Ranma have anyway? Female form Ranma has quite a collection of clothing and accessories. Multiple sets of shoes - high heeled boots, high heeled shoes, tai chi shoes, geta, etc. Jewelry - for example two sets of bracelets (worn while teaching mirror clone how to pick up guys), armlet (10 yen battle arc), several wigs, a few different style purses (teaching mirror clone,date with Densuke, on the beach, etc.), mini skirts, sun dress's, kimono's, tennis outfit, cheongsam, bunny outfit, buruma, swim suits, etc. Male form's got quite a bit as well pajamas, yukata, couple tuxedo's (last volume, date with Kodachi different style), gi's, Mao suit, and several different Mandarin pants and shirts (which at least the sites I checked say are unisex though some call them kung fu shirts). What kind of clothing budget does Ranma and Akane have? A lot of their clothing is very expensive.
*Jedi mind tricks. This is debatable but I'm of the opinion that Ranma and some of the other characters can do this in a limited fashion. The force of Jedi fame (Star Wars, incase someone doesn't know) is based on Asian views on ki/chi. Here is some examples as to why I think some characters can do this. Colognes ability to control a shark, the techniques Ranma used while Ryoga had the mark of the gods would only work if there was some type of compulsion in effect (or the enemy was a really big idiot), Ryu Kumen's yell of stop during the Yamasenken arc (yelling stop is not going to work on it's own and Ryu was surprised it didn't work), etc. These types of techniques are not very effective against Ranma, for example Lucky's hypnotism technique didn't work. (Magic and drugs still work though -like the hypnosis mushrooms Shampoo used).
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Five Random things on the Ranma manga
1. During the dragon whisker story arc in the manga, when it flashes back to the time Ranma got the dragon whisker, the Viz version says years ago whereas the Japanese versions says China training period.
2. A recent read Ranma fan fic made mention of Ranma disdaining the use of guns and another one implied that guns did not exist in the Ranmaverse. Personally I think, depending on the situation, Ranma would use guns. He has used drugs, magic, killing techniques, and assorted weapons in the manga, why wouldn't he use guns? (beyond them being illegal and hard to acquire in Japan - not that Ranma actually cares about legalities). As for them being in the manga; Here is a scene from the manga in which Genma, Soun, and Happosai are being shot at:
3. During the hot spring race (in the manga), Ranma makes mention of a prom in the VIZ version, I'm unsure what the Japanese version says but I know that it doesn't say that because the Japanese do not have proms.
4. Something that I've been finding annoying in relatively recently read Ranma fics is the repeatedly revealed investigations of Nabiki Tendo. In the manga, Nabiki does not spend time spying on people to find dirt on them, Nabiki does not have an information network, Nabiki is not good at finding people who do not want to be found (the fiancees are likely better at that than her and if Ranma didn't want her to find him, she never would be able to, if he wanted to he could hide in the same room she is in and she wouldn't know), Nabiki does not show as great an ability to figure things out overly quickly as she does in fanon (Ranma is usually the person who figures out things the quickest -couple examples:what the Ashura's source of power was and who the principals son was), Nabiki does not generally look up information (Akane and Ranma are seen turning to books to find info more often than Nabiki is), etc.
5. Who is the character that spies on people? Quite a few characters, of which Nabiki isn't one of them. If she happens upon something to use against you she will but she doesn't actively seek them out the way other characters do. Ranma does though: During the Sakura-Mochi storyline Ranma wears a tenugui (hand towel used as a sneaking mask in Japanese works) and spies on Akane, during the time Nabiki was his fiancee he clung to the ceiling and listened into Nabiki and Kasumi's conversation, Ranma searches Nabiki's room for stuff to use against her twice in the manga, Ranma also searched: Happosai's room, the Chardon's mansion, Yohyo's mansion, Miss Hinako's apartment, etc. Ranma is far more likely to investigate you and try to find your secrets out to use them against you than Nabiki is.
2. A recent read Ranma fan fic made mention of Ranma disdaining the use of guns and another one implied that guns did not exist in the Ranmaverse. Personally I think, depending on the situation, Ranma would use guns. He has used drugs, magic, killing techniques, and assorted weapons in the manga, why wouldn't he use guns? (beyond them being illegal and hard to acquire in Japan - not that Ranma actually cares about legalities). As for them being in the manga; Here is a scene from the manga in which Genma, Soun, and Happosai are being shot at:
3. During the hot spring race (in the manga), Ranma makes mention of a prom in the VIZ version, I'm unsure what the Japanese version says but I know that it doesn't say that because the Japanese do not have proms.
4. Something that I've been finding annoying in relatively recently read Ranma fics is the repeatedly revealed investigations of Nabiki Tendo. In the manga, Nabiki does not spend time spying on people to find dirt on them, Nabiki does not have an information network, Nabiki is not good at finding people who do not want to be found (the fiancees are likely better at that than her and if Ranma didn't want her to find him, she never would be able to, if he wanted to he could hide in the same room she is in and she wouldn't know), Nabiki does not show as great an ability to figure things out overly quickly as she does in fanon (Ranma is usually the person who figures out things the quickest -couple examples:what the Ashura's source of power was and who the principals son was), Nabiki does not generally look up information (Akane and Ranma are seen turning to books to find info more often than Nabiki is), etc.
5. Who is the character that spies on people? Quite a few characters, of which Nabiki isn't one of them. If she happens upon something to use against you she will but she doesn't actively seek them out the way other characters do. Ranma does though: During the Sakura-Mochi storyline Ranma wears a tenugui (hand towel used as a sneaking mask in Japanese works) and spies on Akane, during the time Nabiki was his fiancee he clung to the ceiling and listened into Nabiki and Kasumi's conversation, Ranma searches Nabiki's room for stuff to use against her twice in the manga, Ranma also searched: Happosai's room, the Chardon's mansion, Yohyo's mansion, Miss Hinako's apartment, etc. Ranma is far more likely to investigate you and try to find your secrets out to use them against you than Nabiki is.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Pointless Ranma Questions
I occasionally see a list of pointless question on forums and websites so here is a list of pointless questions. Feel free to answer them via commenting if you want to.
1.Which do you prefer, the manga, the anime, or the fan fiction?
2.Have you written a Ranma fan fic?
2a. If yes, is it posted online?
2b. If yes, where is it located at?
3.Do you have a favorite quote from the series?
3a. If yes, what is it?
4. Did you like the ending?
5. Ranma has a large number of crossovers in Fan fiction. In many of them Ranma ends up with a girl not from his series. Taking that into account, what character from any work would you like to see Ranma pair up with?
5a. Akane paired up with?
5b. Any other character?
6. Which character is your favorite?
7. What is your least favorite story arc?
7a. Most Favorite?
8. Do you own or have played any Ranma ½ games?
8a.If yes, which ones?
9. Have you ever wondered why Nodoka married Genma?
10. Do you think Ranma is attempting to learn magic?
My answers to the above pointless questions:
1. Manga without a doubt.
2.Yes.
2a. No
2b. N/A While I have written some snippets in the past I've never posted them, always unhappy with them and deleted them (also never got very far into any of them for various reasons).
3."Did you really think sealing me in concrete and burying me in the yard was even going to slow me down?!" - Ranma
4. Yes, I liked that it was open ended leaving the readers to come up with what happens next (that mentioning of the wedding being postponed for a little time is only the online scans not the VIZ version, the Chinese or the original Japanese version). There are too many problems to solve in anything like a short period of time and the characters are not ready for marriage (Ranma in particular knows he is not ready and does not want to resolve the fiancee mess since it is in his best interest to keep the status quo relationship wise).
5.In general I prefer crossover couples in fan fiction more than I do the canon coupling or couplings with canon characters. Part of the reason I prefer them is many of the fan fics using the canon people are not very good, massive out of character (I like the manga mostly because of the characters), and too many of them are just solve everything quickly and easily (completely unbelievable, Just because Ranma and Akane decide they like making out with one another is not going to solve the problems, in fact I'd say that at least in the short term the problems would get worse not better). Some crossover pairings I'd like to see, or in some cases more of, are: Ranma/ Cutey Honey pairing, a Ranma/Shego from Kim Possible, a Ranma/ Illyria from Angel TV series, Ranma/Sailor Saturn from Sailormoon (there are quite a few of these but I really like this match up) and a Ranma/Harley Quinn from Batman.
5a. I'd also like to see more Akane paired up with people from other series, Ranma gets paired up with others often Akane doesn't. I'd like to see Akane paired up with Marvel Universe's Thor, actually that's the only one I could think of at this point in time that I'd like to see. It is far easier to match up Ranma with others than it is Akane.
6. Ranma is my favorite character
7. Gambling king arc is by far the worst arc in the manga what with the massive plot hole, the complete out of characterness, the extreme stupidity, etc.
7a. I don't really have a favorite arc. It changes depending on mood and what I've read lately.
8. Yes. Pretty much all of the officially released ones and several fan made ones.
9. Several times, figure Genma was a better person when younger but really all evidence points to him not being better since Nodoka remembers him hiding from and jumping on bill collectors.
10. Yes, considering he wants to cure his curse, he has used magic items several times, he came to Nerima carrying several magic items with him (girl repellent and dragon whisker), he has sought out power ups (Dogi), and his opponents attempt to use magic on him somewhat frequently - I think he spends considerable time trying to learn anything he can about magic.
This post inspired by random question threads everywhere, with some questions taken from them.
1.Which do you prefer, the manga, the anime, or the fan fiction?
2.Have you written a Ranma fan fic?
2a. If yes, is it posted online?
2b. If yes, where is it located at?
3.Do you have a favorite quote from the series?
3a. If yes, what is it?
4. Did you like the ending?
5. Ranma has a large number of crossovers in Fan fiction. In many of them Ranma ends up with a girl not from his series. Taking that into account, what character from any work would you like to see Ranma pair up with?
5a. Akane paired up with?
5b. Any other character?
6. Which character is your favorite?
7. What is your least favorite story arc?
7a. Most Favorite?
8. Do you own or have played any Ranma ½ games?
8a.If yes, which ones?
9. Have you ever wondered why Nodoka married Genma?
10. Do you think Ranma is attempting to learn magic?
My answers to the above pointless questions:
1. Manga without a doubt.
2.Yes.
2a. No
2b. N/A While I have written some snippets in the past I've never posted them, always unhappy with them and deleted them (also never got very far into any of them for various reasons).
3."Did you really think sealing me in concrete and burying me in the yard was even going to slow me down?!" - Ranma
4. Yes, I liked that it was open ended leaving the readers to come up with what happens next (that mentioning of the wedding being postponed for a little time is only the online scans not the VIZ version, the Chinese or the original Japanese version). There are too many problems to solve in anything like a short period of time and the characters are not ready for marriage (Ranma in particular knows he is not ready and does not want to resolve the fiancee mess since it is in his best interest to keep the status quo relationship wise).
5.In general I prefer crossover couples in fan fiction more than I do the canon coupling or couplings with canon characters. Part of the reason I prefer them is many of the fan fics using the canon people are not very good, massive out of character (I like the manga mostly because of the characters), and too many of them are just solve everything quickly and easily (completely unbelievable, Just because Ranma and Akane decide they like making out with one another is not going to solve the problems, in fact I'd say that at least in the short term the problems would get worse not better). Some crossover pairings I'd like to see, or in some cases more of, are: Ranma/ Cutey Honey pairing, a Ranma/Shego from Kim Possible, a Ranma/ Illyria from Angel TV series, Ranma/Sailor Saturn from Sailormoon (there are quite a few of these but I really like this match up) and a Ranma/Harley Quinn from Batman.
5a. I'd also like to see more Akane paired up with people from other series, Ranma gets paired up with others often Akane doesn't. I'd like to see Akane paired up with Marvel Universe's Thor, actually that's the only one I could think of at this point in time that I'd like to see. It is far easier to match up Ranma with others than it is Akane.
6. Ranma is my favorite character
7. Gambling king arc is by far the worst arc in the manga what with the massive plot hole, the complete out of characterness, the extreme stupidity, etc.
7a. I don't really have a favorite arc. It changes depending on mood and what I've read lately.
8. Yes. Pretty much all of the officially released ones and several fan made ones.
9. Several times, figure Genma was a better person when younger but really all evidence points to him not being better since Nodoka remembers him hiding from and jumping on bill collectors.
10. Yes, considering he wants to cure his curse, he has used magic items several times, he came to Nerima carrying several magic items with him (girl repellent and dragon whisker), he has sought out power ups (Dogi), and his opponents attempt to use magic on him somewhat frequently - I think he spends considerable time trying to learn anything he can about magic.
This post inspired by random question threads everywhere, with some questions taken from them.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Insults via gestures in Japan
A question I recently received via email is: Ranma is frequently sticking up his middle finger, does it mean the same thing in Japan as it does in the US? Several people have also come to this blog, according to statcounter, to find out what hand gestures are negative in Japan.
Ranma is insulting the person who he shows his middle finger to but it is just an insult in Japan. It does not have the sexual connotations or the severity that it does in the United States. A judge in Japan even ruled that the sign of raising the middle finger with the back of one's right hand down is recognized in Japan as an act signifying insult or provocation. The use of this gesture is not as common in Japan as it is in the US.
Some insulting/rude body gestures in Japan:
-Showing the soles of your feet demonstrates disrespect, exposing the lowest and dirtiest part of your body is insulting.
- Spread fingers slightly apart and tuck the thumb into the palm while thrusting your hand into your target’s face is very insulting. It roughly means animal and was used primarily on Koreans.
-Inserting the thumb between index finger and middle finger, in imitation of the clitoris, is the sexual connotation that the middle finger has in the USA.
-Passing an item to someone with one hand is very rude in Japan, two hands should be used when passing things.
-Form a circle with fingers to indicate O.K. - means okay in the USA. In Japan it means money and depending on the context asking for money would be rude.
-Tugging at the eye, often accompanied by sticking out one's tongue, is a childishly offensive gesture.
-there are more.
For non insulting body language see this post: Japanese Body Language which links to a site that explains some Japanese body language.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Answer to ranma related keywords used
As I have stated in a previous post, the best thing about a counter is finding out the keywords used to find the site. Some are really interesting, most are asking a question, and some I have no clue as to why the search engine would direct the keyword to my blog in the first place. They also tell me what readers, or potential readers, of this blog are looking for, sadly according to statcounter 87% of the people who come to this blog are looking for porn of one type or another. I will now answer some of the questions that the keywords used imply.
Keyword: meaning of ranma in japanese
The name Ranma can actually mean a variety of things; Ran can mean disordered, confused, chaotic, boisterous, abusive, reckless, random, excessive, indiscriminate, extravagant, inordinate, haphazard, reckless, social disorder, disturbance, rebellion, civil war, war, riot, revolt, be corrupt, be demoralized, and used to in the past but no longer mean ulceration and decomposition as well.
Ma in compounds simply means horse. Outside of compounds it can mean other things but I won't go into that. -source few online dictionaries and the defunct Wotclub Faq
Keyword: nickname shampoo calls ranma
Shampoo calls Ranma Airen which isn't so much a nickname as a term of endearment. Airen is mandarin chinese and literally means love person Ai=love Ren=Person. It was for a long time the predominate word used when referring to your spouse.
Keyword: weapon ranma used the most
Ranma frequently uses weapons, generally improvised objects laying around. Personally the weapon I think he uses the most is a staff/polearm, since he has grabbed up sticks/brooms/poles etc.,on a number of occasions and used them in combat.
Keyword: Kasumi love Dr Tofu
There is no evidence that she loves him and the Ranma ½ memorial book/Art of Ranma ½ written by Takahashi has a love chart that states his love is an unrequited love.
Keyword: Ranma fight all out
I'm not sure where the idea that Ranma doesn't hold back or fights all out comes from. Ranma, baring the battle with Saffron and possibly Happosai, has held back his abilities the majority of the time. The reason I say this is because he clearly did not hit many of his opponents as hard as he could (Ukyo, Konatsu, etc.). He did not kill or maim his opponents which he would have had he not been holding back. He generally tests his opponents, fighting at what he perceives to be their level, and he clearly plays with some of them for example Kuno (once he decided to get a bit serious Kuno was taken out faster than anyone could see). He does not use ki blasts or the majority of his techniques every time (he rarely uses ki blasts). He is perfectly willing to fight many of his opponents on their terms (limiting himself to their styles and rules of combat). Many of his opponents he didn't even hit once for example Miss Hinako and the french guy. et cetra
Keyword: Ranma wear make-up
Ranma does wear make-up while in disguise. Wore make up during Orachi arc, wore lipstick on date with Kuno to get wishing sword (Genma even suggested it), can be seen applying powder to face while getting ready to trick Ryoga, etc.
There were more that would take longer to answer, or I refuse to on principle such as the ones asking where to get the Ranma hentai doujinshi that have to be purchased for free, and some non-ranma related ones I might answer later (if I feel like it).
Keyword: meaning of ranma in japanese
The name Ranma can actually mean a variety of things; Ran can mean disordered, confused, chaotic, boisterous, abusive, reckless, random, excessive, indiscriminate, extravagant, inordinate, haphazard, reckless, social disorder, disturbance, rebellion, civil war, war, riot, revolt, be corrupt, be demoralized, and used to in the past but no longer mean ulceration and decomposition as well.
Ma in compounds simply means horse. Outside of compounds it can mean other things but I won't go into that. -source few online dictionaries and the defunct Wotclub Faq
Keyword: nickname shampoo calls ranma
Shampoo calls Ranma Airen which isn't so much a nickname as a term of endearment. Airen is mandarin chinese and literally means love person Ai=love Ren=Person. It was for a long time the predominate word used when referring to your spouse.
Keyword: weapon ranma used the most
Ranma frequently uses weapons, generally improvised objects laying around. Personally the weapon I think he uses the most is a staff/polearm, since he has grabbed up sticks/brooms/poles etc.,on a number of occasions and used them in combat.
Keyword: Kasumi love Dr Tofu
There is no evidence that she loves him and the Ranma ½ memorial book/Art of Ranma ½ written by Takahashi has a love chart that states his love is an unrequited love.
Keyword: Ranma fight all out
I'm not sure where the idea that Ranma doesn't hold back or fights all out comes from. Ranma, baring the battle with Saffron and possibly Happosai, has held back his abilities the majority of the time. The reason I say this is because he clearly did not hit many of his opponents as hard as he could (Ukyo, Konatsu, etc.). He did not kill or maim his opponents which he would have had he not been holding back. He generally tests his opponents, fighting at what he perceives to be their level, and he clearly plays with some of them for example Kuno (once he decided to get a bit serious Kuno was taken out faster than anyone could see). He does not use ki blasts or the majority of his techniques every time (he rarely uses ki blasts). He is perfectly willing to fight many of his opponents on their terms (limiting himself to their styles and rules of combat). Many of his opponents he didn't even hit once for example Miss Hinako and the french guy. et cetra
Keyword: Ranma wear make-up
Ranma does wear make-up while in disguise. Wore make up during Orachi arc, wore lipstick on date with Kuno to get wishing sword (Genma even suggested it), can be seen applying powder to face while getting ready to trick Ryoga, etc.
There were more that would take longer to answer, or I refuse to on principle such as the ones asking where to get the Ranma hentai doujinshi that have to be purchased for free, and some non-ranma related ones I might answer later (if I feel like it).
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Onna-Ranma hit Akane?
I was recently wondering something, some Akane fans defend her hitting him because he insults her. Which is not a good argument, hitting people is not, or rather should not be, acceptable behavior in retaliation for an insult. Though our society does have the double standard in which it is deemed acceptable for a girl to hit a guy but not for a guy to hit a girl. In fact a girl hitting a guy is often viewed as being both humorous and empowering for women. This double standard is common in all types of fiction, not limited to comedy, or even limited to fiction.
The argument doesn't really work even if you do view that as acceptable, Ranma doesn't insult or belittle her anywhere near as often as some fan fiction portrays him to (and she doesn't hit him as often as fan fiction portrays). It also doesn't work since Akane has hit Ranma for other reasons, unconnected in anyway with his words or actions, or regardless of them. I can list some examples but I don't feel the need to since most people who have read the manga will probably remember an instance of her hitting him for another reasons like the actions of others, for example Nabiki and Shampoo. Though Ranma on occasion did do jerkish things, like sneaking up on Akane - which interestingly enough was rarely something she hit him for.
I was wondering would people find it humorous/acceptable if Ranma had splashed himself, so as to utilize female form, and then hit Akane in retaliation for her insults and actions (Akane has done many jerkish things as well, like insulting him, dating Ryoga to make him jealous, or using/making fun of his cat phobia - which was very often the reason Ranma insulted her that resulted in her hitting him)? In other words, if he had hit her as a male people would not find it funny but would it have been acceptable/funny if Ranma did so in female form?
The argument doesn't really work even if you do view that as acceptable, Ranma doesn't insult or belittle her anywhere near as often as some fan fiction portrays him to (and she doesn't hit him as often as fan fiction portrays). It also doesn't work since Akane has hit Ranma for other reasons, unconnected in anyway with his words or actions, or regardless of them. I can list some examples but I don't feel the need to since most people who have read the manga will probably remember an instance of her hitting him for another reasons like the actions of others, for example Nabiki and Shampoo. Though Ranma on occasion did do jerkish things, like sneaking up on Akane - which interestingly enough was rarely something she hit him for.
I was wondering would people find it humorous/acceptable if Ranma had splashed himself, so as to utilize female form, and then hit Akane in retaliation for her insults and actions (Akane has done many jerkish things as well, like insulting him, dating Ryoga to make him jealous, or using/making fun of his cat phobia - which was very often the reason Ranma insulted her that resulted in her hitting him)? In other words, if he had hit her as a male people would not find it funny but would it have been acceptable/funny if Ranma did so in female form?
Friday, October 17, 2008
Few comments inspired by Ranma Fanfiction
I was reading some Ranma fanfiction, which is something I haven't done a lot of lately, and now feel like making some comments inspired by recently read Ranma fanfics.
-In one fic I read, I saw mention of Ranma being unable to get somewhere because of a mountain range in his way forcing him to spend weeks going around it. I don't get why Ranma would have trouble climbing or even going directly through the mountain if he wanted to. Even had the mountain been virtually vertical it would only cause him little trouble seeing how he has the same ability as Spiderman to cling to impossible surfaces and he could, had he wanted to, just gouge his fingers into the stone (can casually do this as seen in the arc in which he gets strength back). How he could go through the mountain is the very same way Ryoga does tunnel through the earth via breaking point and ki blasts.
-I find it extremely unlikely that Ranma doesn't know the breaking point since he has seen it repeatedly, witnessed the training for it, and he has learned other techniques with less exposure. If Ranma knows it why doesn't he use it? Simple from a combat point of view, against his normal opponents, it has very few offensive abilities. Ryoga doesn't even try to use it on Ranma, in the manga, after it's intro arc since it can't hurt Ranma. There is only one time in the manga in which Ranma would have had a reason to use it, when he (technically she at the time) made a hole in Ryoga's house's wall, but Ranma chose to instead make a perfect circular cut barehanded to the wall. There are times where it would be useful though, for example against armor, though the shrapnel from the armor may kill the person so Ranma would not use the technique in that way lightly.
-In another fic I saw Nabiki swear to pay a debt she owes. This is extremely out of character for her. In the manga, she has no qualms about leaving her debts to others or running instead of doing what she was paid to do (like when the principal hired her and she took the money and ran).
-Comments of this nature: "Ranma is sexist so the pools made him female to learn that males and females are equal"; are untrue and do not make sense. Ranma is no more sexist than anyone else in his society. There are only two things, that I remember, him saying that can be construed as being sexist. One that guys tend to go easy on girls - which isn't really a sexist statement so much an observation, guys do tend to go easy on girls in fights. The second being that he doesn't like to fight girls (not that he won't, just that he doesn't like doing so). There are many reasons as to why he would dislike fighting girls beyond seeing them as being inferior (for instance how society would view him for hitting a girl -this is sort of implied to be at least part of the reason since he did have a daydream once in the manga about hitting Akane after she pissed him off and the shown reaction of the bystanders when he defeated Shampoo during the Reversal Jewel arc). He does treat females as serious opponents, he does not mind taking females like Shampoo or Ukyo with him on his training trips, he has fought with females, and he has asked females (such as Cologne and Akane) for help. Ranma is less, sexist than Akane is (she does have a valid excuse in that boys were attempting to defeat her for the privilege of dating her because of Tatewaki's proclamation) who thinks it's perfectly acceptable for a girl to see a guy nude but not for a guy to see a girl nude (or that it is fine for girls to hit guys but not for guys to hit girls). If anything cursing him to be a girl would make him more sexist, not less, since his female form is physically weaker than his male form and people expect him to act differently (like a girl) while female (mostly people who don't know his true form but still happens).
The main reason people probably view Ranma as being chauvinistic has nothing to do with any of his words or actions. The reason people view him as chauvinistic or misogynous is simply because he turns into a girl and doesn't want to. People construe not wanting to be a girl as him viewing girls as being inferior to guys. That is not the reason Ranma doesn't want to be a girl, he doesn't want to be a girl because it is a curse, not his natural state of being, and has caused him all kinds of problems (up to and including nearly getting him killed).
-I've seen fics in which Ranma knows every technique in the manga/anime. It is true that Ranma has a very high learning curve, if he sees the technique, particularly if he has seen it repeatedly, he probably knows how to duplicate it. He can't do so instantly though, even he needs some time to perfect the technique. Ranma can reasonably be expected to know the breaking point, Happosai's firework technique, Mousse's hidden weapons, and Kuno's sword techniques. He seen them enough that based on his learning other techniques (for example the Umisenken and tea ceremony) he should know them. He should not know some techniques like Shampoo's remote control acupuncture, because he hadn't seen it, and should not know Miss Hinako's ki draining techniques since they required her to be physically altered to do (though given time and motivation he could probably develop his own version).
-Ranma in all likelihood knows some and could duplicate other techniques which can kill. Ranma is not a killer, I do not like fics that have him be one. That is not to say Ranma won't kill, he would but only as a last resort or if killing would save peoples lives. Having Ranma go to someone to learn them is really not needed, existing techniques can, and have been, altered to kill.
-I've seen fics in which Ranma finds it abhorrent or criticizes people for using magic. Ranma in all canons (manga, games, and anime) has used magic. He came to Nerima carrying the girl repellent, he has borrowed magic items from the amazons, he bought magic items, etc. Even in the anime he uses magic, for example he bought magic that brought his shadow to life to practice with (then proceeded to train for three days straight wearing out the magic). I would not be in the least bit surprised to find out he was actually attempting to learn magic - to cure his curse and to counter other people using magic on him (I'd be more surprised if he wasn't).
-This has bugged me for awhile now, fics in which Ranma sleeps in school. If you read the manga that is not a common occurrence for him (eating in class yes, sleeping no). Akane has slept in class more often than Ranma, yet he is the one who is said to sleep in class not her in fanon. Actually the whole Akane being better than Ranma when it comes to schooling bothers me. Akane has been shown to cut class, does so with Ukyo in one arc but there are other times as well (though this is something Ranma does as well). Akane has disrupted class, a few times. Akane has incited riots, while Ranma doesn't he instead tries to manipulate the people doing things that bothers him to get his way (Akane solution get students up in arms to cut Kuno's hair, though she did eventually see it as being wrong, Ranma's solution use female form and attempt to manipulate Kuno into cutting his own hair). Et cetera. Yet in fan fiction Ranma is said to be the worse student. Ranma is not shown to be a worse student than Akane is in any way. Though this maybe different in the anime.
As far as grades are concerned, Ranma's grades are pretty much unknown (based on the evidence you can interpret them any way you want though it is implied that he is at least maintaining a passing grade). As for Akane, like Ranma her grades are mostly unknown and it is implied that she too is passing but there is some evidence that she is doing poorly in at least one class (and likely more). She is shown to be in a home economics class and she is also shown to be absolutely terrible at every single thing that class teaches. Since she can't cook she likely would do bad in related classes such as chemistry and since she can't swim she is probably not getting a great grade in that class (swimming is shown to be part of the curriculum).
-In one fic I read, I saw mention of Ranma being unable to get somewhere because of a mountain range in his way forcing him to spend weeks going around it. I don't get why Ranma would have trouble climbing or even going directly through the mountain if he wanted to. Even had the mountain been virtually vertical it would only cause him little trouble seeing how he has the same ability as Spiderman to cling to impossible surfaces and he could, had he wanted to, just gouge his fingers into the stone (can casually do this as seen in the arc in which he gets strength back). How he could go through the mountain is the very same way Ryoga does tunnel through the earth via breaking point and ki blasts.
-I find it extremely unlikely that Ranma doesn't know the breaking point since he has seen it repeatedly, witnessed the training for it, and he has learned other techniques with less exposure. If Ranma knows it why doesn't he use it? Simple from a combat point of view, against his normal opponents, it has very few offensive abilities. Ryoga doesn't even try to use it on Ranma, in the manga, after it's intro arc since it can't hurt Ranma. There is only one time in the manga in which Ranma would have had a reason to use it, when he (technically she at the time) made a hole in Ryoga's house's wall, but Ranma chose to instead make a perfect circular cut barehanded to the wall. There are times where it would be useful though, for example against armor, though the shrapnel from the armor may kill the person so Ranma would not use the technique in that way lightly.
-In another fic I saw Nabiki swear to pay a debt she owes. This is extremely out of character for her. In the manga, she has no qualms about leaving her debts to others or running instead of doing what she was paid to do (like when the principal hired her and she took the money and ran).
-Comments of this nature: "Ranma is sexist so the pools made him female to learn that males and females are equal"; are untrue and do not make sense. Ranma is no more sexist than anyone else in his society. There are only two things, that I remember, him saying that can be construed as being sexist. One that guys tend to go easy on girls - which isn't really a sexist statement so much an observation, guys do tend to go easy on girls in fights. The second being that he doesn't like to fight girls (not that he won't, just that he doesn't like doing so). There are many reasons as to why he would dislike fighting girls beyond seeing them as being inferior (for instance how society would view him for hitting a girl -this is sort of implied to be at least part of the reason since he did have a daydream once in the manga about hitting Akane after she pissed him off and the shown reaction of the bystanders when he defeated Shampoo during the Reversal Jewel arc). He does treat females as serious opponents, he does not mind taking females like Shampoo or Ukyo with him on his training trips, he has fought with females, and he has asked females (such as Cologne and Akane) for help. Ranma is less, sexist than Akane is (she does have a valid excuse in that boys were attempting to defeat her for the privilege of dating her because of Tatewaki's proclamation) who thinks it's perfectly acceptable for a girl to see a guy nude but not for a guy to see a girl nude (or that it is fine for girls to hit guys but not for guys to hit girls). If anything cursing him to be a girl would make him more sexist, not less, since his female form is physically weaker than his male form and people expect him to act differently (like a girl) while female (mostly people who don't know his true form but still happens).
The main reason people probably view Ranma as being chauvinistic has nothing to do with any of his words or actions. The reason people view him as chauvinistic or misogynous is simply because he turns into a girl and doesn't want to. People construe not wanting to be a girl as him viewing girls as being inferior to guys. That is not the reason Ranma doesn't want to be a girl, he doesn't want to be a girl because it is a curse, not his natural state of being, and has caused him all kinds of problems (up to and including nearly getting him killed).
-I've seen fics in which Ranma knows every technique in the manga/anime. It is true that Ranma has a very high learning curve, if he sees the technique, particularly if he has seen it repeatedly, he probably knows how to duplicate it. He can't do so instantly though, even he needs some time to perfect the technique. Ranma can reasonably be expected to know the breaking point, Happosai's firework technique, Mousse's hidden weapons, and Kuno's sword techniques. He seen them enough that based on his learning other techniques (for example the Umisenken and tea ceremony) he should know them. He should not know some techniques like Shampoo's remote control acupuncture, because he hadn't seen it, and should not know Miss Hinako's ki draining techniques since they required her to be physically altered to do (though given time and motivation he could probably develop his own version).
-Ranma in all likelihood knows some and could duplicate other techniques which can kill. Ranma is not a killer, I do not like fics that have him be one. That is not to say Ranma won't kill, he would but only as a last resort or if killing would save peoples lives. Having Ranma go to someone to learn them is really not needed, existing techniques can, and have been, altered to kill.
-I've seen fics in which Ranma finds it abhorrent or criticizes people for using magic. Ranma in all canons (manga, games, and anime) has used magic. He came to Nerima carrying the girl repellent, he has borrowed magic items from the amazons, he bought magic items, etc. Even in the anime he uses magic, for example he bought magic that brought his shadow to life to practice with (then proceeded to train for three days straight wearing out the magic). I would not be in the least bit surprised to find out he was actually attempting to learn magic - to cure his curse and to counter other people using magic on him (I'd be more surprised if he wasn't).
-This has bugged me for awhile now, fics in which Ranma sleeps in school. If you read the manga that is not a common occurrence for him (eating in class yes, sleeping no). Akane has slept in class more often than Ranma, yet he is the one who is said to sleep in class not her in fanon. Actually the whole Akane being better than Ranma when it comes to schooling bothers me. Akane has been shown to cut class, does so with Ukyo in one arc but there are other times as well (though this is something Ranma does as well). Akane has disrupted class, a few times. Akane has incited riots, while Ranma doesn't he instead tries to manipulate the people doing things that bothers him to get his way (Akane solution get students up in arms to cut Kuno's hair, though she did eventually see it as being wrong, Ranma's solution use female form and attempt to manipulate Kuno into cutting his own hair). Et cetera. Yet in fan fiction Ranma is said to be the worse student. Ranma is not shown to be a worse student than Akane is in any way. Though this maybe different in the anime.
As far as grades are concerned, Ranma's grades are pretty much unknown (based on the evidence you can interpret them any way you want though it is implied that he is at least maintaining a passing grade). As for Akane, like Ranma her grades are mostly unknown and it is implied that she too is passing but there is some evidence that she is doing poorly in at least one class (and likely more). She is shown to be in a home economics class and she is also shown to be absolutely terrible at every single thing that class teaches. Since she can't cook she likely would do bad in related classes such as chemistry and since she can't swim she is probably not getting a great grade in that class (swimming is shown to be part of the curriculum).
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Jusenkyo people
I was talking to some people about the people who live near Jusenkyo in the Ranma manga. They were under the opinion that since they now are relatively small villages in a remote area of China they always were.
It is possible but personally, that doesn't make sense to me. We are told a little bit about how old these people are. Shampoo's people are over 3000 years old, the Phoenix peoples age is not told but Jusendo is at least 4000 years old and they have been using it for a very long time to force Saffron's ascension, and the Musk are 1400 years old. Herb gives us a date of 1400 years for his people (wikipedia and the online fanscan state it as 14000 years). The chances of them not having expanded beyond village size in that long a period of time is extremely remote. Possibly if they were peaceful farmers but at least two of those cultures are very aggressive. The Musk and the Joketsuzoku have also been training for an extremely long time. These three cultures are fairly xenophobic but they, given the massive time period involved, would have expanded in the past. I can not believe that any culture could exist and not expand in a time period of around 13 times the length my country has existed (232 years) never expanded beyond the size of small cities.
An empire is a state that extends dominion over populations distinct culturally and ethnically from the culture/ethnicity at the center of power. If any one of the known people who live in that area had conquered another of the people in that area they'd have been an empire (since they are all culturally different).
I will mention that since Jusendo was built (the pipes, faucets, hollowing out of the mountain, etc.) around 4000 years ago and probably took whomever built it generations (IMO - it was the Phoenix people). At around that time in history the Pyramids of Giza were built.
Random things about the area
- The province it is in (Qinghai) prior to 1724 was under Tibetan control not Chinese.
- The area in real life was an ethnic melting pot for centuries, mixing Tibetan, Han Chinese, Mongol, and Turkic influences. -Amazons and Musk aren't really Chinese since area is more than just Chinese and their cultures predate China's.
- The civilization of China 3000 years ago had not spread to the area that Jusenkyo is at that time. It is very likely that their civilization grew up isolated like it did several other places in the world -Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, and the Americas for example.
It is possible but personally, that doesn't make sense to me. We are told a little bit about how old these people are. Shampoo's people are over 3000 years old, the Phoenix peoples age is not told but Jusendo is at least 4000 years old and they have been using it for a very long time to force Saffron's ascension, and the Musk are 1400 years old. Herb gives us a date of 1400 years for his people (wikipedia and the online fanscan state it as 14000 years). The chances of them not having expanded beyond village size in that long a period of time is extremely remote. Possibly if they were peaceful farmers but at least two of those cultures are very aggressive. The Musk and the Joketsuzoku have also been training for an extremely long time. These three cultures are fairly xenophobic but they, given the massive time period involved, would have expanded in the past. I can not believe that any culture could exist and not expand in a time period of around 13 times the length my country has existed (232 years) never expanded beyond the size of small cities.
An empire is a state that extends dominion over populations distinct culturally and ethnically from the culture/ethnicity at the center of power. If any one of the known people who live in that area had conquered another of the people in that area they'd have been an empire (since they are all culturally different).
I will mention that since Jusendo was built (the pipes, faucets, hollowing out of the mountain, etc.) around 4000 years ago and probably took whomever built it generations (IMO - it was the Phoenix people). At around that time in history the Pyramids of Giza were built.
Random things about the area
- The province it is in (Qinghai) prior to 1724 was under Tibetan control not Chinese.
- The area in real life was an ethnic melting pot for centuries, mixing Tibetan, Han Chinese, Mongol, and Turkic influences. -Amazons and Musk aren't really Chinese since area is more than just Chinese and their cultures predate China's.
- The civilization of China 3000 years ago had not spread to the area that Jusenkyo is at that time. It is very likely that their civilization grew up isolated like it did several other places in the world -Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus Valley, and the Americas for example.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Theory on Jusendo
This is just speculation. I had argued this some on a forum, those who felt like commenting did not necessarily agree. This has been altered some based on that discussion.
I speculate that the Phoenix people were the ones to have built Jusendo for the purpose of Saffron and that Jusenkyo was a side effect/add-on of the building of Jusendo.
The phoenix people evolved from run-off of a spring at the top of phoenix mountain that is cursed like Jusenkyo but not part of Jusenkyo. I speculate that at one time in the past they went searching for the source of their spring. They found an underground water vein that had magical properties but did not alter people like their spring did. They experimented with the water eventually producing Saffron. To make his ascension easier they drill another mountain that has the underground water vein beneath it, Jusendo, and build the pool for him and the taps. The building of it happened around 4000 years ago according to one the characters in volume 37. The Phoenix tap is used for Saffron's ascension, the dragon tap though also has a purpose for them. Namely while experimenting with the water they noticed that if something drowns in the water the pool gives the next person that body. This is very useful to them so they create Jusenkyo with the water from the dragon tap. We know they use Jusenkyo since at least two of the characters were cursed to turn into humans so they could blend in with humans. We also know that the phoenix people create new Jusenkyo pools since they created the pool using Akane as the template.
Somethings from the manga that support this:
-Only known usage for Jusendo is Saffrons ascension.
-The Phoenix people have the most reason to look for the source of the water -namely to figure out why they are changing.
-The Phoenix people are the ones who know the history of Jusendo.
-The Phoenix people have more of a reason than any other people in the area to use and build it.
-There is no evidence of any people using the pools as long as the Phoenix people. The Musk for example can only be shown having used it for less than 1500 years since that is the age of the girl spring that they used to transform animals. Though it is possible that there are other girl springs since there are at least three male springs we know about - pious man, boy and the one that can cure Ranma.
-The map at one point in history was likely the phoenix peoples. After all they knew about the map and that when submerged in the water it would show the safe way into Jusendo.
-The Phoenix people's culture and way of life is based on it's use.
-both Phoenix mountain and Jusendo are trap ridden.
Why did the Phoenix people need the map if they built it? Simple knowledge is often lost in intervening years and while they knew where the taps were they no longer knew the safe entrance.
How did the guide get it? Who knows, maybe it was stolen or maybe the guide had worked for the phoenix people the last time they had need of the map (100 years or so ago) and one of the guides in the in between times switched to working for someone else.
Why did the safe entrance say "employee's only"? Originally the map was needed to find the safe entrance but in time someone other than the creators/phoenix people found the mountain. They located the safe entrance, or created a new entrance, and labeled it employee's only.
That they chose to make a dragon tap and the Musk leader being part dragon is just a coincidence. Dragons are common in all cultures within real life. There are other similar coincidences in the manga, like the ugly bird that was on Kuno's head being called a phoenix as well.
It is also possible that Phoenix mountain did not have the same source as Jusendo since there was also a Jusenkyo type spring in Japan but it had dried out by the time Ranma found it.
I speculate that the Phoenix people were the ones to have built Jusendo for the purpose of Saffron and that Jusenkyo was a side effect/add-on of the building of Jusendo.
The phoenix people evolved from run-off of a spring at the top of phoenix mountain that is cursed like Jusenkyo but not part of Jusenkyo. I speculate that at one time in the past they went searching for the source of their spring. They found an underground water vein that had magical properties but did not alter people like their spring did. They experimented with the water eventually producing Saffron. To make his ascension easier they drill another mountain that has the underground water vein beneath it, Jusendo, and build the pool for him and the taps. The building of it happened around 4000 years ago according to one the characters in volume 37. The Phoenix tap is used for Saffron's ascension, the dragon tap though also has a purpose for them. Namely while experimenting with the water they noticed that if something drowns in the water the pool gives the next person that body. This is very useful to them so they create Jusenkyo with the water from the dragon tap. We know they use Jusenkyo since at least two of the characters were cursed to turn into humans so they could blend in with humans. We also know that the phoenix people create new Jusenkyo pools since they created the pool using Akane as the template.
Somethings from the manga that support this:
-Only known usage for Jusendo is Saffrons ascension.
-The Phoenix people have the most reason to look for the source of the water -namely to figure out why they are changing.
-The Phoenix people are the ones who know the history of Jusendo.
-The Phoenix people have more of a reason than any other people in the area to use and build it.
-There is no evidence of any people using the pools as long as the Phoenix people. The Musk for example can only be shown having used it for less than 1500 years since that is the age of the girl spring that they used to transform animals. Though it is possible that there are other girl springs since there are at least three male springs we know about - pious man, boy and the one that can cure Ranma.
-The map at one point in history was likely the phoenix peoples. After all they knew about the map and that when submerged in the water it would show the safe way into Jusendo.
-The Phoenix people's culture and way of life is based on it's use.
-both Phoenix mountain and Jusendo are trap ridden.
Why did the Phoenix people need the map if they built it? Simple knowledge is often lost in intervening years and while they knew where the taps were they no longer knew the safe entrance.
How did the guide get it? Who knows, maybe it was stolen or maybe the guide had worked for the phoenix people the last time they had need of the map (100 years or so ago) and one of the guides in the in between times switched to working for someone else.
Why did the safe entrance say "employee's only"? Originally the map was needed to find the safe entrance but in time someone other than the creators/phoenix people found the mountain. They located the safe entrance, or created a new entrance, and labeled it employee's only.
That they chose to make a dragon tap and the Musk leader being part dragon is just a coincidence. Dragons are common in all cultures within real life. There are other similar coincidences in the manga, like the ugly bird that was on Kuno's head being called a phoenix as well.
It is also possible that Phoenix mountain did not have the same source as Jusendo since there was also a Jusenkyo type spring in Japan but it had dried out by the time Ranma found it.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Statcounter and my blog
I've got a statcounter counter on this blog. I occasionally check it to see who came here from where and the like. I do not get all that many hits but 80% of keyword searches that find my blog, according to statcounter, are from people looking for Ranma hentai. I barely mention Ranma hentai since that is not why I'm interested in Ranma. A lot of hentai disturbs me. I mainly like Ranma for the characters. I do not want to see things like Ranma with a guy, or rape, or anything like that. I do like webcomics and dōjinshi; I don't really like hentai ones. Sadly the majority of Ranma dōjinshi seem to be hentai. Non-hentai dōjinshi are much harder to find, at least for Ranma. I have found that it is much easier to find non-hentai for some other series such as Slayers (I've read more than 20 non-hentai Slayers dōjinshis).
I do not believe that statcounter is the best counter available but it is adequate for my usage. I know it doesn't count every person who looks at this blog since it is fairly easy to prevent statcounter from detecting you. You can prevent its cookies or block it via ad blocking software such as the adblockplus add-on to Firefox and some anti-spyware programs delete its cookie or prevent it from detecting you. Statcounter offers both a free and a pay version; I use the free version that is limited to giving detailed information on only the last five hundred pageloads. It is also possible that people are viewing my blog via an RSS feed and since I do not have the statcounter on the feed I can not tell how many people are reading it through that means (I am aware that it is possible to add the statcounter script to the RSS feed but do not care enough to add it on).
The best thing about a counter is not the counting of the number of people that come to the blog but what search terms are used to find the blog. Quite often the term indicates a question, the answer of which is often times on this blog. The thing is the search engine often directs the person to the wrong posts. I am going to answer, in this post, some of the questions that directed people to this blog, but to the wrong posts. I will start with the Ranma ½ questions and then the one not related to Ranma ½.
Which city does Ranma live in?
He lives in Tokyo, Japan. In the ward of Nerima to be more specific. Nerima lies at the northwestern edge of the 23 special wards of Tokyo.
Does Jusenkyo exist?
Jusenkyo is a group of fictional pools in Ranma ½. It does not exist in real life.
Where is Jusenkyo located?
Nowhere since it doesn't exist but in the manga it is located in the Bayankala (Bayan Har Shan) mountain range, south of Mount Kensei, in Qinghai Province, China.
What order should I watch Ranma anime episodes?
Any order you want. If you want to watch them in the original Japanese order here is the order:
Ranma ½ Episodes 1-16
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 7-9
Ranma ½ Episodes 17-18
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 1-6
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 10-100
Ranma ½ Movie 1
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 101-135
Ranma ½ Movie 2
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 136-143
Ranma ½ OAVs 1-8 (first 8 OAVS)
Ranma ½ Movie 3 (which is the last OAV in the US release)
Ranma ½ Super OAVs 1-3 (OAVS 9-11)
Here is the OAV's by US title in Japanese released order:
OVA 1: "The Curse of the Contrary Jewel".
OVA 2: " "Tendö Family Christmas Scramble"
OVA 3: "I'll be the One to Inherit Mother's Recipes".
OVA 4:"Stormy Weather Comes to School! Growing up with Miss Hinako".
OVA 5-6: "The One to Carry On" parts 1 and 2.
OVA Special 1-2: "Reawakening memories" parts 1 and 2.
Movie 3: "One Flew Over the Kunö's Nest"
Super OVA 1:" Cursed Love Destroying Cave".
Super OVA 2: "The Wicked Demon".
Super OVA 3: "The Revenge Doll".
If you want to look at more of the changes made when Viz adapted the anime for release in America see: Ranma ½ Editing Report
Nabiki one of the biggest expenses for the Tendo's example?
Volume 34 page 10: Tadaimaa, kore zenbu uchino tsukede kacchattaa! (Hi I'm home, and I brought all this on our family's credit!).
---------------------------------------------
NON-Ranma - find these to actually be more interesting then the Ranma ones though this time there weren't very many.
What is the confidential nature of confessions?
Confessions in the catholic church are very confidential. A priest is bound not to break the sacramental seal by thought, sign, word, or deed; to do so he would incur the highest clerical penalty. More can be found at newadvent.org.
All the other keywords were actually directed directly to posts that gave the answer. In the past I have gotten some really interesting keyword searches to my blog and fairly strange ones completely unrelated to anything I have discussed.
I do not believe that statcounter is the best counter available but it is adequate for my usage. I know it doesn't count every person who looks at this blog since it is fairly easy to prevent statcounter from detecting you. You can prevent its cookies or block it via ad blocking software such as the adblockplus add-on to Firefox and some anti-spyware programs delete its cookie or prevent it from detecting you. Statcounter offers both a free and a pay version; I use the free version that is limited to giving detailed information on only the last five hundred pageloads. It is also possible that people are viewing my blog via an RSS feed and since I do not have the statcounter on the feed I can not tell how many people are reading it through that means (I am aware that it is possible to add the statcounter script to the RSS feed but do not care enough to add it on).
The best thing about a counter is not the counting of the number of people that come to the blog but what search terms are used to find the blog. Quite often the term indicates a question, the answer of which is often times on this blog. The thing is the search engine often directs the person to the wrong posts. I am going to answer, in this post, some of the questions that directed people to this blog, but to the wrong posts. I will start with the Ranma ½ questions and then the one not related to Ranma ½.
Which city does Ranma live in?
He lives in Tokyo, Japan. In the ward of Nerima to be more specific. Nerima lies at the northwestern edge of the 23 special wards of Tokyo.
Does Jusenkyo exist?
Jusenkyo is a group of fictional pools in Ranma ½. It does not exist in real life.
Where is Jusenkyo located?
Nowhere since it doesn't exist but in the manga it is located in the Bayankala (Bayan Har Shan) mountain range, south of Mount Kensei, in Qinghai Province, China.
What order should I watch Ranma anime episodes?
Any order you want. If you want to watch them in the original Japanese order here is the order:
Ranma ½ Episodes 1-16
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 7-9
Ranma ½ Episodes 17-18
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 1-6
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 10-100
Ranma ½ Movie 1
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 101-135
Ranma ½ Movie 2
Ranma ½ Nettohen Episodes 136-143
Ranma ½ OAVs 1-8 (first 8 OAVS)
Ranma ½ Movie 3 (which is the last OAV in the US release)
Ranma ½ Super OAVs 1-3 (OAVS 9-11)
Here is the OAV's by US title in Japanese released order:
OVA 1: "The Curse of the Contrary Jewel".
OVA 2: " "Tendö Family Christmas Scramble"
OVA 3: "I'll be the One to Inherit Mother's Recipes".
OVA 4:"Stormy Weather Comes to School! Growing up with Miss Hinako".
OVA 5-6: "The One to Carry On" parts 1 and 2.
OVA Special 1-2: "Reawakening memories" parts 1 and 2.
Movie 3: "One Flew Over the Kunö's Nest"
Super OVA 1:" Cursed Love Destroying Cave".
Super OVA 2: "The Wicked Demon".
Super OVA 3: "The Revenge Doll".
If you want to look at more of the changes made when Viz adapted the anime for release in America see: Ranma ½ Editing Report
Nabiki one of the biggest expenses for the Tendo's example?
Volume 34 page 10: Tadaimaa, kore zenbu uchino tsukede kacchattaa! (Hi I'm home, and I brought all this on our family's credit!).
---------------------------------------------
NON-Ranma - find these to actually be more interesting then the Ranma ones though this time there weren't very many.
What is the confidential nature of confessions?
Confessions in the catholic church are very confidential. A priest is bound not to break the sacramental seal by thought, sign, word, or deed; to do so he would incur the highest clerical penalty. More can be found at newadvent.org.
All the other keywords were actually directed directly to posts that gave the answer. In the past I have gotten some really interesting keyword searches to my blog and fairly strange ones completely unrelated to anything I have discussed.
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