At 08:03 PM 4/6/98 -0600, you wrote:

He's saying that if Ryoga's fingers are strong enough to puncture rock
(they are; he carved Akane's name into the boulder with just a finger), he
should also be able to thrust his fingers into a person (people aren't as
hard as rocks).  He's not saying that the victim would explode, just that
they'd be Swiss cheese. ;)

By that definition, Ranma should be just little itty bitty pieces of
flesh.  

Well, I personally don't care for him a lot, but isn't that a little harsh? ;)

Everyone in Ranma 1/2 have attacks that can break rocks, albeit
smaller than boulders but still rocks.  He's been hit by nearly everyone
in the series that have that power like Akane, Ryoga, Ukyo, etc.  

There is a big difference in being able to split a rock with your fist and
being able to puncture it with your finger.

Also,
on the sharp cloth techiniques.  Haven't any of you watched ancient
Chinese martial arts movies?  Nearly every one of them had chi attacks,
shiatsu techniques, and other various arts that Ranma 1/2 uses.  In
fact, a lot of the girls in the movies use cloth instead of swords.  The
can make it longer, sharp enough to kill, and move according to their
will.  It's all explained as chi.  I wouldn't be surprised to find out
that Takahashi drew many of her ideas from these sorts of movies.

Neither would I.  I was just proposing another explanation is all.

Hunter Kid
http://www.serve.com/guilds/ranma/
guilds@mail.serve.com

open hk.sig

    "'We'?"  Ranma asked, confused.
    "Oh," Tarou said, pulling up a gasping human Ryoga from under the
water, who sucked in air gratefully and wrung the water out of his bandanna
in irritation.  "It's just Ranma, Ryoga.  Nothing to worry about."
    Ryoga punched him.  "You could have told me sooner, you idiot!  I had
to hold my breath that whole time!"
					 	-from Mirror Images, chapter 1
[hk.sig; errors-0; file terminating]