On Thu, 13 Feb 1997, Ben Kosse wrote:

Personalities:
1.  Ranma is hot headed, arrogant, impatient, and overestimates himself.
2.  Ryu has always been portrayed as the opposite of the above.

     Ryu can't adapt his techniques to the situation. They never change.
Ranma's techniques adapt to the situation.

Skills:
Ranma:
1.  Chestnut fist technique.  (I can't spell Japanese properly yet, no
complaints. :-P)
 Ryu has assumingly faced off against Honda and Chun-Li in the past, so
he's seen this before and would know how to deal with it.

     Ranma's chestnut technique is several times faster than Honda's or
Chun-Li's technique, not to mention stronger.

True. Ranma's punches are like being hit with a full-swing sledgehammer,
and I don't think he would take off their power to add speed.
Also, Ranma had used a technique similar to the Lightning Kick even
*before* Ryouga showed up. Remember his first real fight with Kuno? He
kicked him all over in less than a second.

2.  Mouko Takabisha vs. Ha dou ken
 Ranma's attack is stronger but Ryu's will partially cancel it out.
Ranma also telegraphs his attack, and Ryu is smart enough to notice.

     Ryu's Ha dou Ken is, in the Anime, a very slow technique to use.

The problem here is *which* Hadouken to consider...
-SF Games: The Mouko takabishya would overwhelm that little fireball and
blast right through it. It also leaves Ryu very vulnerable for a long
period of time.
-SFII Movie: Regarding energy level, both techniques are about equal.
Ryu's electric chi sphere is quite devastating. But, as you mentioned, it
takes him *way* too long to charge up.

3.  Hiryuu Shoten Ha vs Sho ryu ken
 Ranma's is obviously more flashy, but Ryu's is defintely stronger.  In a
manga published in the U.S. (Tokyama Comics I think?  Yes, I own it.) Ryu
commented that the odds on someone getting up from a *single* sho ryu ken
are next to nil.  Getting grazed by one is bad enough.  All Ranma's Hiryuu
Shoten Ha does (that I've seen) is toss someone high into the air.

     Ranma is substantially sturdier than Ryu. Ranma, in female form, can
wield Ryouga's umbrella as a weapon. Furthermore, he can lift those chunks
of ice which Ryouga made out of the skating surface of the the ice arena.
As to standing up after a Sho Ryu Ken, I think he could do it fairly
easily. Ryu just isn't in the same class as Ranma. Even Ryouga isn't near
Ranma's level--once Ranma gets serious.

Ben has mentioned Ranma's endurance, so I'll go and analyze the other
points. Hiryuushoutenha is the more powerful, by a long shot. It doesn't
just "toss someone into the air," it uses the conflicting vacuum to knock
out the opponent (also by pulling the ch'i in the environment) and send
him/her spinning so rapidly he/she lands with a very hard impact. For
example:
1. The first time Ranma used it, in a fight with Ryouga, both of them
ended up nearly dead --Ryouga was blasted up half a mile upwards and
landed at least two miles away from the blast site, Ranma was pushed into
the ground by the currents.
2. When he used it against Happosai, Mousse, Kuno and the Principal, it
blew all of them away, and could have killed Akane as well.

So far, the only two people that have actually resisted a Hiryuushoutenha
are Herb (because he already knew it) and Saffron (he was flying when it
hit, so it only sent him off balance for a bit.) However, the Flying
Dragon Ascention Wave is a very versatile technique, like Genma's
Yamasenken and Umisenken. Ranma can revise it and modify it very easily:
in vol. 25, he nearly blasted Herb into a coma with the Hiryuukourindan;
in vol. 38, he actually destroyed Saffron with the Hiryuuhiyoutoppa, which
froze the Phoenix prince solid; afterwards, the Hiryuugyoutenha demolished
a stone statue that had resisted even the Bakusaitenketsu.
This is to say that, if Ryu tried to use the Shoryuuken, he would be
caught instantly in a Hiryuushoutenha. He would probably resist it for a
limited period of time, until he couldn't take the aeolic pressure any
longer and faint.

 Ryu is also in his 20s, 5 to 10 years older than Ranma.  He is
definitely more experienced.  Any comments to this?

     But, he is slower, weaker, and his experience isn't as broad as
Ranma's. Seriously, Ranma deals with a much wider variety of attacks directed
at him.

Yep. Ryu *looks* for fights. Ranma just waits for them ^_^

     As to stronger, yes Ranma is. Ranma is shown to lift stuff which is
close to 15 tons in the manga. He is faster (with a mach 3 chestnut fist).

I dunno about exact speed, but if he can pluck chestnuts from a fire
without being singed, it's safe to assume he's faster that Honda.


The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx