On Fri, 14 Feb 1997, Ben Kosse wrote:

not being an active otaku.  I just find it amusing that fans can argue
points of the series and TRY TO USE SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY TO BACK UP
THEIR ARGUEMENTS.  We're talking about a story where cold water causes a
character to spontaneously change gender in a matter of seconds.  And
causes other characters to change species.  (In blatant disregard for most
laws of physics, like conservation of mass.  Or else Genma's a REALLY
light panda, and P-chan's gotta be a HEAVY little pig.)  Doesn't seem just
a tad ridiculous to take the story this seriously?

     You ever read Dragonlance books? Ever play AD&D, Shadowrun, Gurps,
Whitewolf games, etc? They all have something in common: magic. As a 
friend of mine said while I was creating a Walker Boh (Heritage of 
Shannara series) type character for AD&D: "When magic and science collide,
magic wins." This meant that if my character couldn't ground out a
Lightning Bolt spell by creating a charge of positive ions somewhere else.
Why? Because the magic overruled it.

     Basically, the *MAGICAL* springs allow "science" to be turned aside.
This, as well as other techniques.

As a former Forgotten Realms player, an active Shadowrun game master, and
a participant in a weekly session of Ars Magica and another of GURPS, yes,
I would have to say I'm at least passably familiar with the concept of
magic.

Added to that the fact that I've read the entire Wheel of Time series, and
am a wizard on a MUSH based on that series, have read all of the Deverry
and the Westlands books (and actually maintained a conversation with Kit
Kerr, the author, asking when the next ones would be OUT), as well as
having written (and published in local 'zines) my own fantasy stories, I'd
say I might even have more than a vague concept of what 'magic' is.

My point was not that the Ranma stuff was scientifically impossible.  I
readily accept that fact and was in fact pointint it out.  yes, it's
obvious magic plays a large part in teh Ranma series.

My question was, and is still is: WHY ARE PEOPLE TAKING RANMA SO
SERIOUSLY, THEN?  To the point of analyzing the special moves for air
pressure, speed, temperature, energy behind a ki blast... if it's magic -
as you point out - why can't we just accept it as such instead of trying
to find scientific qualifications for things in the series when it's
OBVIOUS that science doesn't apply - as you yourself said!

Not to be meant as a flame here, but you DID misunderstand my point in the
original post. ^_-

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