At 08:13 AM 9/17/98 PDT, Freemage . wrote:
When Ranma Was Two
When Ranma was Two
or
A Funny Thing Happened at Jusenkyo
This was absolutely fantastic. Looking forward to part two.
Henh. I aim to kill... I mean please! I aim to please! That's it! Yeah!
(please disregard the gun in my hand which I am now attempting to conceal
behind my back) ^_^
Genma was happy, sad and really, really, hot-to-trot at the
same time.
Your characterization of Genma was probably the best in the story--not
too despicable, but not very likable, either. Just the right humorous
edge.
You know, this is a perfect set-up for me to be able to get up on my
soap-box and start ranting about people portraying Genma as an absolute
bastard without any morals or feelings beyond mere selfishness et cetera
et cetera, while sometimes portraying Soun as a sympathetic character.
It would also then give me a chance to say that while in a darker, more
serious and (I wish there were another word to use) angst-filled story
the Genma=bastard father of the year equation can work (and be a powerful
tool for plot/story development), that there has been a lot of Genma
bashing lately. People tend to forget that Genma is rather buffoonish; he
is similar to a creature which makes itself look bigger to scare off
predators, but is really rather small....
However, while it is a perfect set-up, it might be too perfect a
set-up, and I'm not going to fall into that trap! ^_^
Genma's a humourous character, and I think he deserves our laughter
more than our love or our hate (especially in a non-serious story such as
mine) and I'm glad you thought I captured that.
Hmmm.... Do you mean that you'll only want to use duck, cat, panda girl
or Tarou's curse? Or that you don't want anything really bizarre? If
the former, you're kind of limited.
Well, there are a few other curses that appear in the manga or the anime.
They don't necessarily have to be from recurring characters, just have
appeared (the SoD Akane is, for rather obvious reasons, also unavailable).
Heck, even the SoD Man is potentially available (although then I'd have to
tackle with what that would do to an uncursed man) :-(
I think you need to do something to raise Ryouga's challenge level, BTW.
This Ranma has already received a level of training the other hadn't
until a few volumes into the series. When Ryouga shows up, unless he's
improved considerably, he's going to be no match at all.
You know what no one's yet suggested? that Ryoga also gets the SoD Twins...
That has possibilities too, I suppose, but it still isn't in the 3 that
I've narrowed it down to. Each curse he gets will have its own
advantages and disadvantages, against Ranma and otherwise.
This is one of the arguments that will be factored into the decision,
mind you.... Deliberations continue.
Of course, one of the changes I made was not having Ranma and Kuno
fight (well, not immediately at least. It could change ^_^ ), so what about
Ranma and Ryoga? OTOH it seems inevitable that they do so to me, too. More
than just inevitable, it seems both logical and reasonable for it to happen.
(Okay, so you guys can count on at least one thing staying the same, albeit
even so it won't be quite the same because of Ranma's curse....)
So, if you're stuck with the "core" curses, you probably need to give
him Tarou's just to balance things out. If you're willing to use
another "basic" curse, then how about a large predator (a feline would
not be appropriate, because the Neko-ken would solve things too quickly,
but SoD Wolf has possibilities, and I can see Nabiki adopting the wolf
as a pet, too [OK, I admit it, I've been reading too many
Bartram-fics... ~_*]).
This gives him the ability to continue fighting even while in cursed
form.
Other Springs of Drowned [predator] that might be interesting....
Hawk/Falcon/Eagle
Turkey Vulture (these guys are HUGE)
Velociraptor (Heh. Be very, very afraid)
Snake (Anaconda would be very appropriate for Ryouga)
Of course, if you just want to abuse Ryouga, then I'd say stick him
with, say, SoD Gerbil or Ferret (the latter being another good adoptee
for Nabiki).
If I wanted to abuse him, I'd say hell with it, and just stick him with the
same one. It is possible, I suppose that he could have fallen in the same
spring, but I wished to highlight the alterations this change in Ranma's
curse could/would create. This shouldn't mean Ryoga's going to end up all
bright and cheery and happy with everything going for him or anything...
that'd be a whole new character after all; just that I'm not going to be
unnecessarily cruel....
I'm against unnecessary cruelty... _Necessary_ cruelty, on the other
hand, is a whole different kettle of fish.... ^_-
Just my two bits.
--Freemage
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"The world, however, is not for Fun," Khattam-Shud replied. "The
world is for Controlling."
"Which world?" Haroun made himself ask.
"Your world, my world, all worlds," came the reply. "They
are meant to be Ruled. And inside every single story, inside
every Stream of the Ocean, there lies a world, a storyworld, that
I cannot Rule at all. And that is the reason why."
--from Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman
Rushdie (p.161)
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