On Sun, 21 Jul 1996, Scott Johnson wrote:

On Sun, 21 Jul 1996 pcorrig@UOFT02.UTOLEDO.EDU wrote:

   Question here: given that by now the Japanese students know very well 
that Monet and Angelo (say) are anything but normal Americans, why is 
Paige (say) so concerned with keeping her mutation a secret from Team 
Ranma? I don't quite follow... 

Well, from what I know of the X-Men as they stand today, being a mutant
isn't exactly something you reveal casually.  Hanging around with
mutants... well, that's one thing.  Actually *being* one is something you
don't reveal to people who are still more or less strangers unless you
absolutely have to.

   Fair enough. I notice though that Monet, for instance, who isn't 
marked as a mutant by any unusual appearance (like Angelo, say), reveals 
her powers of flight qite openly, for instance. I suppose some are simply
self-conscious about it than others. Mutants, after all, are individuals.
   In any case, it may be that anti-mutant feeling is not as prevalent in 
Japan as in America, which would permit the mutants to be more open 
around Team Ranma than normally. Ranma, for instance, who is not a 
particularly enlightened Japanese, wonders elsewhere in the story why 
normal Americans worry about the mutants so much. (If they're so worried 
about mutant attacks, he thinks, they should get some martial arts 
skills and be done with it.) Mind you the Japanese themselves are not 
famous for their tolerant attitudes towards those who are "different".

	"No." ordered Cologne, "It would be best if Shampoo put some work
into discovering the truth for herself, I cannot be there to think for her
all the time and such an exercise of the mind would be beneficial for the
child." 

   Even if the child's life were at stake? Rather cavalier attitude to take. 

The Joketsuzoku are very big on putting themselves into life-threatening
situations to prove themselves.  After all, Shampoo was sent off alone to
try and kill a martial artist who'd proven herself better than Shampoo -
if Ranma had been the sort to react to a deadly threat with deatly force,
Shampoo might have ended up dead fairly quickly, for all they knew.

   True, but there Shampoo was following the dictates of Amazon law, 
which must be followed to the letter. It wasn't just a matter of 
"building character," as it were. Here, on the other hand, there's no moral 
obligation for Shampoo to risk life and limb.

   To tell you the truth, this scene doesn't show Nabiki in the best of 
lights. (Of course, this may be your intent.)
   Did Nabiki _have_ to sell him the photo? A Ranma pic I'd understand--  
she doesn't like Ranma--or an Akane even, but Monet? (And she seemed so 
proud of it, too...) I thought even Nabiki had a bit more integrity than 
that. Just why does she sell it to Kuno, anyway? It can't be for the 
money (you can't use Japanese yen in American stores, after all; didn't 
Kuno think to change his money at the airport?). To save face, perhaps? 
That would make more sense; she wouldn't want to be shown to refuse a 
paying customer--she has a reputation to maintain--much less let Kuno of all 
people know that she was developing a soft spot for a woman, for God's 
sake. ("<SAPPHITE, PREPARE TO DIE!>")

Actually, given Kunou's very historically-oriented nature, I'm not sure
he'd take it quite like that - as I understand it (though I haven't been
able to research the matter), for most of Japan's history, before it was
exposed more to Western ideas, same-sex relationships weren't really
frowned on, and were, in certain contexts at least, accepted or even taken
for granted.  (I'll have to see if I can find references on this, though.)

   Well, this is where interpretation of character comes in. What clues I 
have indicate that Kuno's far more Westernized than he lets on, 
especially given his family background. (His father's Hawaiimania hardly 
needs mentioning; Tatchi himself addresses his father as "Daddy," in 
English. Kodachi for her part goes to a Catholic school, and the Church's 
negative view of homosexual acts is well known.) If Kuno has absorbed 
Western attitudes towards such matters, as I suspect, he would indeed be 
quite repulsed.

I think Kunou would likely find it somewhat distasteful, to an extent
("<What?  For some reason she has chosen to romance the fairer sex rather
than the likes of my illustrious self?  How odd.>"), 

   Heh. (Mind you I don't see him worrying too much about Nabiki's having 
no interest in him. He has no interest in her, after all, dozens of 
fanfics to the contrary. Which is just as well, because that's probably 
why she's the only girl he doesn't act like a total twit around--and 
consequently the closest thing to a friend he's got.)

                                                     but I think she's be
in much greater trouble due to the fact that Kunou would now see her as a
rival for Monet's affections, and in some ways no better than Ranma in his
eyes.  ("<Foul blackmailer! What sordid hold to do you have over my
Moorish goddess that forces her into your arms rather than mine?  Never
fear, Monet, my love, I shall rescue you from this plight!  TENDOU NABIKI,
PREPARE TO DIE!>")

   On the other hand, it might not occur to him that Nabiki could 
possibly be a threat, for how could Monet have any affection for any save 
himself? ;)
   Mind you, after thinking about it a bit more I'm no longer so sure 
that Kuno would realize at once just why Nabiki was so unwilling to give 
up the photo, though I doubt he's so unobservant as to notice something 
amiss. It's not something that would occur to one at once, even if he 
were more intelligent than Kuno. 
   (#<Doth Nabiki Tendo take ill, that she would not sell to me that 
photo of my Moorish love, though I offered half my illustrious estate? 
But this cannot be, for she did not partake of her beautiful sister's 
unhappily pernicious foodstuffs. What doth move her to refuse me the photo? 
Hath she developed a love for the photographic art for art's sake? 
Mayhap 'twould not be a bad thing, for to be sure a depiction of beauty 
such as a photo of a beautiful woman, and especially of the lovely Monet, 
is worth more than a hundred pieces of gold, and 'tis a sad thing truly 
that Nabiki heretofore held a financial report above the finest poetry. 
But what could move Shylock to go to the font of his own free will? For 
something doth disturb Nabiki Tendo, for such conversions do not happen 
for no reason. Very well, then, though it may be folly to try to unravel the 
mysteries of a woman's heart, that singular and fickle thing, I, Tatewaki 
Kuno, shall get to the bottom of this!>#)
   (You know, Kunoisms are really fun to write, don't you agree?)
   Of course, Nabiki might not want to take the chance of Kuno figuring 
out what's up, even if he does lack the brainpower.

   But I still think it would be better if Nabiki refused to sell the 
photo, making some excuse to save face (for instance, noting that in 
America it is the U.S. dollar that serves as currency, not the yen, and 
if Kuno doesn't have any "real" American money that's his own problem).

That would work - but I think part of the point of this scene is that
Nabiki's finally feeling pangs of conscience about her money-grubbing, and
that it's making her feel so sordid.  And she'd only be delaying the
inevitable until he could get to a money-changer's...  at which point we'd
see some variant on this scene again.

   I see what you mean. But he'd be put off for a long while. (Foreign 
exchange is quite hard to obtain in the United States--you have to send 
away for it through your local bank, usually--and good luck trying to get 
dollars for yen outside an airport.)

   Mind letting us know why Pryde was "resisting her reflexes"? (I am 
guessing that the answer involves some facts about Pryde's abilities 
which I unfortunately am not privy to. Could it be that if Pryde had gone 
all out she'd have beaten Akane more badly than would have been good for 
Ranma's uncute fiancee?)

Nah.  It's just that Kitty Pryde, a.k.a. Shadowcat, is a phaser.  When she
sees a punch coming at her, her first instinct is to go immaterial, and
let the punch go through her.  Fighting Akane, who doesn't know she's a
mutant, she's got to suppress that reflex and use the blocks she learned
for her martial arts - blocks she's been called on to use rarely at best.

   I see.

   Hm. Ranma here seems to consider the "advanced techniques" (the 
hiryushotenha and mokotakabisha, for instance) cheating. Why so? He's 
used them against opponents of much lesser ability than Logan. (He's used 
the hiryushotenha against Kuno and the principal, for instance.) Does he 
want to hide the full extent of his abilities from the foreigners? That 
would be understandable, if it were not the case that the School already 
knows he is anything but a normal martial artist (even if he is normal 
genetically), which is at least partly the reason he's in America at all, 
and hiding his abilities at this stage would be useless.

This is a test of how good his martial arts are, not how good his ki
attacks are.  If he used them against Logan, who he believes to be just an
ordinary man, he'd be as much as admitting he couldn't beat him any other
way.  That doesn't apply to Kunou and the Principal, both of whom he's
defeated in other ways before, and who he isn't trying to prove himself
to.

   It's an honor thing, huh? :) Fair enough.

   It occurred to me while...that if Akane and/or Ranma had simply
told Kuno [they weren't interested] at the very beginning, instead of 
just punching him senseless, or, even worse, leading him on (as 
Ranma has a few times, what with his girly-girl "Kuno-SEMPAI!" act 
and all), they'd have saved themselves a lot of bother and heartbreak.

True.  But it would need to be something this forceful to actually get
through.  Akane didn't realize that until far too late, when it seemed
like nothing would get through to him, and Ranma's never been one for
talking out his problems.  Nowadays, the 'Akane and the pig-tailed girl
love me' delusion is so firmly implanted it might take far more than this
to get through to him.  Monet was lucky to catch it early enough.

   I think I see what you mean. Thing is, will even that be enough to get 
Kuno to quit his nonsense? :)

Besides, if manga characters acted logically all the time, there wouldn't
always be much of a story. ;-)

   Good point. :)

Paul Corrigan
pcorrig@uoft02.utoledo.edu