At 01:52 AM 4/28/97 -0400, Thomas R Jefferys wrote:

On Mon, 14 Apr 1997, Redneck Gaijin wrote:

Which brings to mind the question: If this is so, why is Mousse the only
male Amazon we know about?

He's the only one after Shampoo. And there were only three Amazons in
Nerima ever. You can't expect statistical significance on three people, or
even, what, seven people. Also, although the Amazons are not totally
oppressive, the females are still dominant, so there _are_ going to be more
of them.

Wrong Shampoo's father

Oh, yeah. Him.

appeared in the manga for a very brief time. He was
also in the flashback where Shampoo received her curse. He was a scrawny
middle aged or older man

So? Mousse was a well-built young man. There's no statistical justification
to say that even most Amazon men are scrawny.

Besides, even in warrior tribes, there are bound to be a few nonwarriors.
In fact, if the warriors were only warriors and nothing else, there would
be far more nonwarriors than warriors. Reason? A village is
self-sustaining; it's gotta produce enough food to feed itself, or produce
something else so that the villagers can trade for food. Agriculture takes
a large investment, but has a high return. To make the job easier, groups
of people work together, and pretty much live together, forming villages.
That's why villages happen.

Joketsuzoku probably started out as a farming village; a group of families
got together to make agriculture easier. They could only build an army when
they got a support base wide enough to support one. ("A soldier marches on
his stomach.") If the warriors don't produce the food themselves, others
do.

Considering the dedication to the Martial Arts that the Amazon women have
and the skill that comes with it, there is probably little time to spend in
the fields to grow crops. It's very likely, almost certain, that most of
the villagers are NOT fighters, but farmers.

Fighting isn't everyone's bag, you know.

The very fact that he was so much in the background as to be invisible and
had no say in how Shampoo was raised says a lot about Amazon culture. If
Shampoo's mother is dead then he should have been the one deciding what was
best for her. He was given no input at all.

Shampoo's great-grandmother has three things over Shampoo's dad. Four
things, actually. First, Cologne is an Amazon mistress. She has more say,
period. And this IS her great-granddaughter. Second, she's OLD! The elderly
are respected in China. The "chain of command" as it were has its major
divisions across the generations, _then_ it's by sex. Third, Shampoo's dad
isn't a warrior. This should not particularly unusual even in a warrior
tribe. See previous argument. Most likely, he's a cook or artisan. Forth,
Cologne is a much more interesting character than Shampoo's dad. Some
people are just plain boring. Shampoo's dad didn't add anything to the
story, so he was dropped.

And since when has ANY character ever told more than a smattering of
his/her past?

Ranma would be expected to train his kids, and maybe other kids as well, but
he would have zero say in how his life was led.

If that were true, than Shampoo would have already nabbed him and went, and
treating him like the dog he is. Remember, if someone has all the power,
they're going to be wield it and be corrupted by it.

But you have to consider the context. In japan Shampoo is restricted in how
she treats
Ranma back home in the village she would have the support and help of the
villagers.

You're talking about a culture that applies it's own laws to outsiders. She
was quite prepared to kill a female Ranma. Killing is worse than
kidnapping, and she wasn't particuarly afraid of killing.

Just remember that story in the news a little while ago where a father
arranged a marriage for his two 14 year old daughters to two middle aged
men from his home country. He and the men were arrested and the girls
placed in child care custody. Back in their own country no one would have
blinked at the arraignment and if a progressive government had tried to
interfere the neighbors and relatives would have lied through their teeth
to protect the men.

True, but, I said that Shampoo could nab, ie. kidnap, Ranma (considering
his inability to not consume food, it's childsplay to drug him). Japan
isn't going to allow this kind of marriage and Shampoo knows it. However,
once they're back in the village, she's home free.

In order to get arrested for kidnapping, she has to get CAUGHT. Considering
the obliviousness of Nerima's citizens, do you honestly think that Shampoo
would be questioned until she's past the border? If she's careful and
covers her tracks, no one might even know Ranma was kidnapped at all. In
fact, it might be interpreted as a rebellious youth trying to escape an
arranged marriage.

Once Shampoo got Ranma back to her village she would be the one in control
with the backing of all the other villagers if Ranma had married her his
honor would compel him to stay especially if you consider that by the time
Shampoo got them to the village she would most likely be pregnant if at all
possible placing one more chain around Ranma's neck. Of course Shampoo
would not necessarily treat Ranma that way I'm just saying if she chose to
she would have the backing of her culture while Ranma would be separated

>from his.

Right.

Why would she have to be an ambassador, could Ranma not just talk her into
being his wife and staying in Japan. She has shown a willingness on several
occasions to side with
Ranma against Colougne.

That would work, provided that Ranma was really willing to be Shampoo's husband.

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