After reading *many* Ranma fanfics with fighting sequences depicting the
"Anything Goes" style of martial arts, I decided that I'd try to write
some sort of detailed description/analysis of exactly WHAT this style is 
and how it operates. I don't really expect that anyone will take this as
gospel, because it's certainly not. However, I have done a fair bit of 
research and I've searched thoroughly through the manga and anime for
examples and references from which I have drawn my conclusions. Anything
within this "thing" is open to argument and I will gladly discuss any 
martial arts related topic with anyone who wants to debate anything I 
have said. If you are unfamiliar with any part of this or have not heard 
of some of the styles I will mention, please email me and I will give you
a brief rundown. It would take too long to discribe them all here.

Anyway, without further ado, let's get on with...

An Analysis of the Unrestricted (Anything Goes) Style of Martial Arts
=====================================================================
By: Plunger

Note: I am refering to Ranma's style unless mentioning another 
      practitioner by name.


The Unrestricted style is, by definition of it's name, a derivate of the 
better and more flexible parts of other martial arts. As a result, much 
of it's teaching is most probably taken from the Tao of the more classical 
styles. Taking this into account, the first thing I will do in this analysis 
is attempt to weed out the techniques and styles that I am certain do NOT 
form a part of this style. 

The first thing I notice about the Unrestricted style is that it is
predominantly very northern asian art in style and execution. That is, it's 
techniques are primarily taken from the Chinese and Japanese styles of 
fighting. Since this is the case, I have decided that it is highly unlikely 
that the Unrestricted style has been influenced in any significant way, shape
or form by any of the South East Asian styles. That is, I have excluded
styles like Muay Thai, Bando, Pentjak-Silat, Escrima, Kali and any of 
the Korean styles, which are, in themselves, highly derivative of 
the chinese styles. 

With all of these styles excluded, the remaining styles are predominantly
based in China and Japan. These styles include the hundreds of forms of
Kung fu (which I shall mention later) and the japanese arts such as Karate,
Akijutsu (aka: Aikido), Jujitsu and Kenjutsu (aka: Kendo). 

Given this basis and the information given in the manga about the nature 
of the style, specificly it's "Kempo" background, it is possible to make
some assuptions about it's structure.

Firstly, the Unrestricted style appears to be very kata or form driven. 
This is shown by the regular use of kata by Ranma in the anime and manga 
series. This in itself is odd, given that by it's name, it should have a very 
similar Tao to that of styles such as Jeet Kune Do and Jujitsu. That is, that 
freedom and flexibility are of far more importance than regimented structure 
and fiddly techniques.

Secondly, there is no evidence that throwing is a regularly used technique
in any of the manga series with the exception of Akane chucking Ranma away,
and Happousai's use of leverage techniques (which I will go into later). It
is my belief that some such techniques are taught but Ranma prefers to use
striking techniques based on speed and precision striking rather than the use 
of such power and leverage techniques favoured by others lass physically
blessed. An examples of this is Cologne and Happousai, who use a large number 
of leverage throws due to their waning strength from age. 

Thirdly, and most importantly, the Unrestricted style is shown throughout the
series to be *heavily* influenced by the assorted schools of Kung fu and of
chinese martial arts in general. As evidence, I sight the use of a number of
the animal forms of Kung fu and particularly the Drunken Style in the "school
play" story arc. While there is a japanese variant called Suiken, I believe
that it is more likely that the chinese form is used, especially since he
refers to it as "drunk-fu" rather than Suiken. In addition to this, a great
deal of Ranma's teaching has come from Cologne, who is of course, chinese her-
self, and hence, privvy to many of the more secret techniques of the rarer 
schools of Kung fu such as Dim Mak and other "internal" chinese styles such
as Hsing-I, Pakua, Tai-Ch'i-Chuan and presumably An Chi, based on Ranma's
climbing and clinging abilities. This is evidenced by Colgone's use of the 
"Full Body Cat Tongue Shiatsu" and assorted other pressure point strikes 
throught the series.

As the Unrestricted style is so heavily influenced by chinese martial arts,
it is my belief that the references to "Kempo" are actually describing the
Shorinji Kempo style, which is a japanese derivative of Kung fu. Therefore,
I contend that the Unrestricted style of "Kempo" is actually a concoction of
dozens of techniques and substyles of Kung fu, rather than any specific 
school as it is known today. Having reached this point, it is possible to 
better classify some of the individual interpretations of the Unrestricted 
style. 

Ranma himself uses very much a classic hard style Choi-lay-fut/Wushuu/Karate 
basis, taking advantage of his phenominal physical prowess and natural 
genetic gifts. This is largly apparent from his use of roundhouse, side, 
sweeping, hooking and thrusting kicks and his use of thrusting punches as 
backhands, all of which are hallmarks of classical "hard" style. Ranma does 
not evidence any use of elbows, throws, joint locks/holds, grabs, pressure 
points and guard reveral techniques that are common in many of the softer 
styles. It is my belief, based on the Wing Chun stance he takes up after 
sweep kicking Kodachi in the park, that Ranma has some form of grounding in 
most of these other techniques, but distains to use them in favour of more 
flashy "hard" style actions instead.

Ranma is also apparently well versed in the use of many weapons including,
katana (and presuably jo), nunchaku, bo as well as assorted other throwing
and hand held weapons. As this is the case, it is likely that Ranma has had
at least some formal training in Kenjutsu/Akijutsu/fencing techniques as well
as Bojutsu and the armed techniques of Kempo which include nunchaku, sai, jo,
knife and assorted pole arms. It is impossible to determine if Ranma is 
schooled in such obscure weapons as the Kama, Kusari-gama and Manriki-gusari 
groups of chain and blade weapons as no use of these has been shown. Based on 
what is known, it would be reasonable to assume that Ranma has handled these 
weapons and is reasonably familiar with their use. 

All of this is of course, relatively pointless as Ranma distains from using
weapons anyway, believing, correctly, that weapons reduce your options in
combat. This is very much a case of overspecialising and introducing weakness
as a result of an inability to adapt to a new conditions. In this respect, 
Ranma seems to very much embrace the Bruce Lee Jeet Kune Do Tao of variety and 
flexibility when facing new foes. This is very evident in his endless ability 
to create new techniques to defeat his opponents regardless of their powers.
This is odd when considering the very formal basis on which his "hard" style
fighting rests.

Overall, Ranma appears to have chosen the aspects of his martial that best 
suit his physicality and to some extent, ego, to create his own subform, which
relies on his inredible tenacity and encyclopedic knowledge of the Tao of
martial arts and his imagination. Ranma will often lose the first round as he 
learns to read the opponents abilities. Once he has an understanding of the
strengths and weaknesses of any school or technique, he will be able to 
formulate an effective counter to it.

Genma is very much like Ranma in his techniques, except that he uses his 
greater strength as his focus rather than the speed that Ranma relies so
heavily on. It is a mark of the success of the style that it has adapted so 
greatly and effectively in it's transference from father to son.

The Tendou variant of the Unrestricted style is a little more difficult to
classify as there has not been a lot of it shown. In the manga and anime,
only Akane and Soun are seen performing any of it's techniques. Based on the
fact that Soun settled down to look after his family (unlike Genma), he has
not been exposed to anywhere near the number of styles and techniques that
Genma faced while stealing food and training Ranma. However, using what we
have seen of Akane's fighting, and allowing for the fact that she is FAR below
Ranma in terms of skill, training and dedication, it is possible to see that
the Tendou style is very much the classic hard style japanese kempo that is
not evidenced by Ranma's style. Having seen some of Akane's kata and strike 
patterns, it is likely that since Soun cut short his training, he missed out 
on many of the rarer and more secret techniques and hence much of the more 
spectacular ariel work that is such a part of the Saotome variant.

Interestingly, Happousai, to whom the entire thing can be traced, uses a very
soft style or dirty tricks manner of fighting using pressure points, leverage
throws, locks, evasive body movements and quasi-magical tricks that are most
noted in the internal chinese schools of Pakua, Hsing-I, Tai-Ch'i-Chuan and
incorperating such tactics as Dim Mak, San He and the legendary Kongjin, 
which is the realistic basis of all Ch'i blast attacks. It is likely that 
Happousai's age has caused this change in the style as he has realised that 
his aged body simply cannot deliver the force it once could. As this is the 
case, he has cast aside the use of "power" moves in favour of techniques 
which rely on skill rather than strength. It is likely that as Ranma ages, he 
too, will develop a philosophical style based more on his skills than the 
physique he relies so heavily on at this time. This is particularly likely as
he will probably have aged significantly by the time he is sparring with his
own son, who will most likely have Akane's "monster strength" for him to 
contend with. =)                                

Many of the more powerful techniques that have become part of Ranma's 
Unrestricted style have not been in the teachings of his father, or of 
Happousai for that matter (has he actually taught Ranma ANYTHING, or just 
gotten him into trouble?). In actual fact, it has been Cologne who has 
most significantly influenced Ranma's style, making it even more "chinese"
than it was before.

It is clear from the tactics that Cologne uses that she is a master of 
virtually all of the significant schools of Kung fu and is obviously skilled
in such things as Shiatsu and Chi-kung healing techniques. Cologne, like
Happosai, uses mostly pressure points and leverage throws to fight these
days. However in various flashbacks of Cologne's youth, we do see her 
unleashing some very Ranma-esque manouvers to dispatch Happousai to another
zip code. =)

While things such as the Hiryuushoutenha are basicly a load of utter bunk 
with no real basis, techniques such as the Kacchu-tenshin-amiguri-ken or 
speed strike and the Mouko Takabisha or double opposed hand palm strike have
proper bases in the internal chinese styles that Cologne shows a mastery of.
It is likely that the Ch'i blasts come directly from the use of Kongjin.
                                                                 
All in all, the Unrestricted style of martial arts can probably be said to
be in a constant state of flux despite it's rigid kata based structure. It
is, IMHO, however, NOT a japanese martial art. there have been far too many 
examples of various chinese internal techniques that simply *cannot* be found
in any of their japanese derivatives. Although Ranma currently uses a VERY
hard style, time will most likely temper this youthful exuberance with a 
better understanding of the power of the internal "soft" styles that he 
currently appears to distain.

This style has taken many aspects of the schools it has encounted throughout 
it's history and added them to it's own repetoire. It is likely that Ranma 
will learn more techniques than his father knew and, in time, Ranma's son
will surpass his father too, for such is the nature of this art. Using the 
basis of dicipline and form given by Kempo, a solid structure is formed for 
the practitioner to create and develop his own style within the bounds of his 
own capability. It is interesting that a style with such a classical back-
ground should have such a modern Jeet Kune Do-esque philosophy.

The fact is that Unrestricted Martial Arts is a kung fu-esque Shorinji Kempo 
style combination of facets of Kempo techniques, Five Animal Forms, various
Kung fu schools such as Choi-lay-fut, Wing Chun, Wushu and to a lesser extent, 
the rare internal chinese styles of Tai-Ch'i-Chuan and it's associate forms.
The effect of all of this is a powerful, complex, creative and adaptable
style. If only it's Tao were more honourable.

Of course, all of this is just my opinion....

Any comments?


                                                               P-word.

==============================================================================
plunger@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au