I would not like to see this patent falsehood become a default part
of the Ranma fanfic "canon", in the same way that for a time (and to
some extent, even to this day) the notion that Nodoka was a fearsomely
skilled fighter with her sword became "fanfic canon".
To this I *do* have to object. While it isn't easily recognized, you
have to agree that Mrs. Saotome *is* skilled with the katana. Perhaps
she's not adept at organized swordfighting styles such as Kenjitsu, but
from the way one sees her handle the sword it's clear that she *can*
hold her own with it.
First of all, there's the whole "seppuku" thing. As the description
Genma made of the oath would indicate, Nodoka is to become his and
Ranma's "second" (I forget the actual Japanese term.) This means that,
once Genma and Ranma cut themselves open with the tanto blade, Nodoka
would have to step forward and cleave their heads off *as painlessly and
swiftly as possible* with the katana. Now, I don't know about you but
from my POV that alone is quite a feat. I own two Chinese swords and one
katana, all three of which I *regularly* train with, and from my
experience I can tell that swinging a sword in that manner is *not*
easy, by any means. In fact, several books I've read point out that the
"second" during seppuku *must* be skilled with the sword.
Then there's the volume 34 you pointed out as well. Please refer to
parts 6 through 8. There you see Nodoka fighting with the katana. Now,
in page 122 of the book you see her grasping Ranma's braid through a
narrow slit between the door and the doorframe while she uses her other
hand to stab *several times* towards the place where she thinks the
"pervert" is standing. Look at the way she thrusts, back and forth, even
before Ranma can come down from his leap. Given that the katana is a
sword meant to be held with both hands (the long handle makes this
obvious, but also the techniques *need* both hands most of the time, as
opposed to the Chien which is almost always held with one hand,) then to
see her use it needing just one is a sign that she's indeed skilled
enough to fight one-handed.
Also, both in vol. 33 and 34 you see Nodoka quickly taking her sword
whenever she thinks there's a threat. In vol. 33, at the onsen, when
Ranma fell in the hot water and Nodoka realized there was a man in the
women's bath, she immediately reached for her sword. Likewise, in vol.
34, she used the blade against the youth she believed had molested
"Ranko-chan." This attitude shows that she's at least confident enough
in her abilities with the sword that she can take on other people,
possibly even dangerous people.
Ah, but there's the way she let the sword fly towards Ranma-chan in vol.
22, her first appearance. There are several reasonable explanations for
this happening: a) She's handy with the sword, but at that time it
simply slid off her hand (possibly because she unsheathed it too
suddenly. It has happened even to my shifu, who has mastered nearly
every Chinese weapon there is, so it's not unlikely. Heck, once he was
performing a two-sword form and all of a sudden one of the weapons went
flying ^_^;; fortunately, training Chien bend when they hit something,
but they have pretty sharp edges, though.) b) The tension of meeting/not
meeting Ranma at the Tendou home made her feel nervous of the blade
itself, as it reminded her of the seppuku oath. Thus, she unconsciously
wanted to let go of the sword so she didn't have to have any unnecessary
contact with it. And c) she simply gained her skill during the 11
volumes that were between 22 and 33.
Just my two cents. ^_^
(BTW, if you have sent me any e-mail during this weekend, please re-send
it to my Hotmail account. Since school starts tomorrow, the admins are
running around like crazy and thus my campus' account is having one of
*those* days...)
The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx
terbril@hotmail.com
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com