[Snip Mousse's skills.]

  People seem to be making a fundimental mistake when dealing with fighting
in Ranma-land.

  When you talk about real life, heavy blunt weaponry like maces and staves
are at times worse than bladed weapons.  No, they never cut the person they
strike.

They DO:
a.  Shatter bone
b.  Destroy organs
c.  Cause internal bleeding.  (Very NASTY!)

  However, in Ranma-land, the above effects are ignored.  You don't
actually see any injuries, so they get shuffled off into never never land
like they don't happen.

  How does this apply to Mousse?  Simple.  Mousse will NEVER hit with a
bladed weapon because to do so requires that DAMAGE be shown.  Someone has
to get injured in this scenario, or it looks like total B.S. even for
Ranma-land.
This is why you rarely see a sword used, and why Kunou uses a bokken.

  Mousse USUALLY swings BLADES, and Ranma ALWAYS dodges.  He dodges because
ONE hit from Mousse will kill him.

  Mousse can't beat Ranma because he isn't capable of hitting him.  Do you
see the look on Ranma's face when he fights Mousse?  He's always at a near
panic.  He KNOWS what will happen when Mousse hits him, so he runs like the
dickens.

  Shampoo isn't as fast as Ranma.  She isn't as nimble.  She isn't that
good of a fighter.  Better than Akane and Ukyou, but they are the weakest
of the regulars.  Akane flat out gives up training, and Ukyou spends more
time cooking than training.  Mousse is FAR more dangerous when it becomes
apparent that he can hit the opponent.
  The only character faster than Ranma (and not a "master") is Pantyhose Tarou.

  The idea of Mousse not fighting Shampoo because he doesn't want to hurt
her is  wrong.  Mousse has plenty of blunt weapons and cables to tie her up
with.  I believe that there is another reason why he doesn't out and out
attack her, and I think it has to do with Cologne.

  Mousse in the first half of the manga is a crazed lunatic, almost as bad
as Kunou if not worse.  At least Kunou can't injure innocent bystanders the
way Mousse can.

--
mattera@tiac.net
http://www.tiac.net/users/mattera