----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas Hood" <thood@cs.mun.ca>
1) I don't think they would be rivals I think that this would push them
further apart. Ranma's pride
I agree, but Ranma and Ryouga aren't really friends, either. They're
rivals, and Ranma doesn't HATE him, but neither one of them would
agree with the idea of them being 'friends.' Rivalry is not always
friendly.
That wasn't how Ranma saw Ryoga, at first. He was just an old buddy from
school. It was only after Ryoga started to be really nasty and petty that
Ranma started to not consider him friends.
2) Ranma would REALLY ate his father. If Akane could be as good, or
better,
Roast panda doesn't really taste that good.
Well, I don't think Ranma would 'hate' his father, but he'd be pretty upset
at him for not picking a different route to train him with.
as he is -being dojo trained- the training trip would be absolutely
worthless. Accept it ruined his life:
2a) he lost his mother for 10 years
2b) lost ten years of schooling (canon never shows Ranma hating school,
only mild protest)
Oh come ON. Ranma sleeps in class. He's got a jock mentality, and while he
doesn't HATE school, he doesn't care much for it either. The reason why he
didn't protest in the original was because the whole situation was new to
him and he hadn't had time to think it through. I don't think he sees much
value in school, as he's going to inherit the dojo and be a sensei, and
who needs an education for that?
Don't many sensei's in Japan need some sort of physical education
(collegiate level)?
2c) the trauma of cat fist would be magnified as being very unnecessary
I don't think you can get more unnecessary. Ranma already thinks the neko
ken was a big mistake.
Very true.
2d) the extra fianc�es (He would only have Akane if he trained at home.)
Don't count on it. Genma's flair for larceny knows no bounds.
<<laughs>>
2e) he would not have lost his precious manhood, being cursed, and many
other problems
I think this would then transfer to Akane. He suffered and was denied
so
much for the art. For him to see Akane best him and she did not have
any
of
the hardships would make him resent her for getting off easy
Now, where did you get that silly idea? Who said that Akane hasn't seen
hardships on *her* road to being a great martial artist? Not me.
3) I believe an important part to the story is that Akane is inferior in
her
skills. If she is equal to Ranma that would make her superior to
Shampoo
or
Ukyo. This right there cause a problem. Ranma loves Akane NOT for her
skills, but for who she is. Shampoo and Ukyo are better in feminine
skills
(cooking, sewing...) and in the martial arts. This allowed the reader
of
the manga to see that he fell in love with her, not with what she can
do.
Actually Rumiko Takahashi has said that Ranma fell in love with Akane at
first sight. It's in an interview, translated on the web somewhere. That
doesn't give you much time to get to know someone. I would have to say he
was attracted to her physically, and the attraction was extremely
powerful.
Also she was nice to him. It doesn't take much to get into Ranma's good
books.
But not something that we should really be arguing out in public. Private
E-mails only, as that treads pretty close to banning this thread.
4) What about Shampoo or Ukyo. They are no importance now. Akane can
beat them no problem, no fiance problem. If you now increase there
skills
to be that or better than Akane that will cause more problems:
Not necessarily. Shampoo may need to train in order to vanquish Akane, but
Ukyou has no such need. Their chasing Ranma has nothing to do with
martial-
arts skills; that's mostly used between the boys. The girls use various
magical items to sway him over, like the the red thread of fate, the
Surikomi eggs, or flat out bribery. It's Ranma's choice who he marries, so
even if Akane beats Shampoo, and Shampoo is required to kill Akane, that
has nothing to do with Ranma from Shampoo's perspective. She must still
chase him and drag him back to the amazon village.
Very much so. And how Akane reacts to Shampoo and handles that situation is
going to make a difference too.
4a) See point two. Even though they had hardship, for him to see that
his
training did not make him the best will strain all the relationships
4b) If Shampoo Sees that Akane can beat her (Kiss of Death for Akane)
and
that Akane can beat Ranma. She will leave. She needs the best not one
can
be defeated.
Duty to her village dictates that she kill the outsider female and marry
the outsider male. She has no choice. Any potential female rivals to the
amazon tribe must be eliminated, any powerful males must be married, to
strengthen the tribe through the offspring. It's the whole reason why she
was cursed to be a cat in the first place. When she went home the first
time after failing to kill Ranma-chan and Marry Ranma-kun, she was sent to
train at Jusenkyo as punishment for her failure. The next time she returns
without nabbing Ranma, the punishment will likely be more severe.
True.
I see Ukyou staying in the hopes that Ranma will choose the cute fiancee
despite the disparity of skills. Ranma likes Ukyou, she's the one person
who hasn't screwed him over yet(we're talking from the perspective of the
beginning of the series).
Hmm. I'll have ruminate about her.