All right, let's start; open your notebooks.  Today's lecture 
is entitled:

**Creep: The Truth About Gosunkugi**

As with Ukyou, it is not hard to see the reasons why Hikaru 
Gosunkugi's character might engender some sympathy among fanfic 
readers.  He is an unattractive, unathletic loser with no 
prospects: Gosunkugi is therefore easier for the average anime 
fan to identify with than are the superhumans who surround him 
in Ranma 1/2.  Moreover, some of the original manga/anime 
characterization, particularly the paper doll story, paint his 
character as more pathetic than despicable.

Again like Ukyou, there has been established a new, canonical 
characterization for Gosunkugi in Ranma fanfics.  Once more, 
John Biles' "Putting Your Heart in the Righ Place" is the 
grounding for this new basis of characterization: Biles' 
Gosunkugi is rookie magician of some promise and a boy of 
generally good nature.  Most, if not all, fanfics featuring 
Gosunkugi also start from these two assumptions.

Of course, review of the manga and anime belies both 
assumptions.  First of all, Gosunkugi is no more magical
than you or I, having actively dealt with or controlled mystic 
forces _less_ than many other characters in Ranma 1/2.  While 
he carries around those voodoo dolls and attempts to invoke 
their alleged power, he has never been successful in cursing 
anyone (pretty sad, considering how easy it is to get cursed in 
Ranma 1/2).  His single, successful application of magic 
involved the paper dolls, which he purchased, much as Akane and 
Ryouga purchased the recipe for the enchanted sakura mochi and 
fishing rod, respectively.

Gosunkugi's misfortune at the end of his anime introduction 
(the Akane no bento story) may be possible sign of magical 
potential; you can interpret the scene to believe that he 
called down the lightning.  I prefer to think that the 
lightning was evoked not by magic but by the unseen force of 
humorously catastrophic coincidence that holds sway over all 
slapstick scenes.   Actually, that scene may be a primary 
driver for the fallacy, as Gosunkugi claims, "I'm a magician!" 
a claim he never makes in the manga.  Plainly, magic is not a 
significant element in Gosunkugi's makeup, it's just something 
else for him to be a loser at.

The second fallacy, borne out of the sympathy I described 
before, is that Gosunkugi is generally a nice guy, or at least 
no worse than the more prominent characters in Ranma 1/2.  The 
evidence to the contrary is strong.  Most despicable is 
the underhanded and stealthy character of his offenses, 
contrasted against the more open offensive acts of other 
characters.  In both the manga and the anime, Gosunkugi 
secretly observes and photographs Akane using extraordinary 
methods.  Ask any woman who's been victimized by a stalker how 
deserving of sympathy Gosunkugi is.  Among his other "crimes" 
unique to the manga:

- he uses camouflage to position himself where he can jump 
Akane-Juliet; Kunou has done nothing worse to Akane

- also in Romeo and Juliet, he attempts to kidnap Akane by 
attacking her with chloroform and goes so far as to hold off the 
competition with a knife to Akane's throat; those actions nearly 
equal Shampoo at her worst, even if motivated by a twisted parody
of love

- he exposes and attempts to exploit Ranma's fear of cats, 
putting Ranma in as threatening a situation as any plot cooked 
up by Ranma's more conventional enemies

- he pretends to help Ranma when he is weakened by Happosai's 
cautery, in reality exposing Ranma to attack; acting in concert 
with Kunou, Mousse, and Kouchou at their worst, Gosunkugi works 
up the "guts" to get in a cheap shot on Ranma

Unique to the anime:

- he tries to frame Ranma with the "toorima" hoax; after Ranma 
forgives him, Gosunkugi attempts a sneak attack with his spike; 
I can't recall any other Ranma enemy violating a "ceasefire" 
like that

- when Kunou takes over the school as substitute principal, 
Gosunkugi gladly works as Kunou's stoolie until Akane asks him 
to stop

As with many characters' less reputable acts in Ranma 1/2, it 
would be ludicrous for us to overanalyze these offenses.  
None of Takahashi's characters are irredeemably evil.  But the 
wholly (by my recollection) positive spin on the Gosunkugi 
character by fanfic authors is remarkable given that there are 
multiple examples in fanfic of strongly negative portrayals 
of Happosai, Shampoo, Cologne, Kodachi, Nabiki, and even Ryouga.


In my opinion.

Taleswapper