Subject: [FFML] Re: [RANMA] [ALTERNATE] [IDEA] [FREE] ? (Here Comes Kitsune)
From: "nuki_mouse" <Nuki_mouse@hotmail.com>
Date: 1/5/2001, 12:34 PM
To: <ffml@fanfic.com>, "allyn yonge" <ayonge@yahoo.com>

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@@Hmmmm . . .it depends on how it's handled.



Why should they even believe in a curse? My first

thought on seeing a man turn into a panda would

be to look for Alan Funt or David Coperfield. ^_*



They, and the reader, "believe" in the curse because

Takahashi-sama is a storyteller who is talented

enough to pull off a "willing-suspension-of-disbelief"



I'll admit that, as written, it seems a bit abrupt.

One of the problems with fanfiction is finding

a balance between telling too-much or not-enough.

Most readers already know the "origin" story for

Ranma and a repeat gets tedious. This might be

too abrupt for some readers but others might prefer

to get to the real meat of the story immediately and

skip the introduction.







Genma appear sad. Finally she says that her name

is Kitsune and she's not

cursed. She's Ranma's twin sister. Soun ask where

Ranma is. She says that

Ranma will never be showing up. That they will

never see him again.



They have never seen him in the first place, but if

Soun really was Genma's

best friend, how would you explain why he didn't

know Ranma was an only

child?



@@In the anime/manga he'd never _seen_ Ranma

(and by extension hadn't seen Genma for at least

that length of time) so, IMO, it's not improbable

that he wouldn't know Ranma was an only child.

Souun didn't know Ranma had another fianc� until

Ukyou showed up. (Neither did Ranma, for that matter)



It happen after the start of their training trip, so how would Soun know

about it?



And, how does Souun know that _Ranma_ (in canon)

is Genma's son? I don't recall a birth certificate

being produced.  For that matter----how do the

Tendou's know that this stranger isn't a _Panda_

who turns into a man?



Perhaps because Genma TOLD him he was Genma Saotome. He and Soun WERE best

friends and train together for years, even if Genma was on a 12 year trip,

Soun should still know/recognise his friend.



It Souun & co. can accept a "Panda-curse",

having Ranma's "sister" show up isn't even a

blip on the radar.





Takahashi-sama quite often (IMO) pulled something

out of her hat w/o benefit of much explanation or even

much "realism".



Again, In MY opinion ONLY----anything goes IF

the author can pull it off.  The further the author

goes from canon, the harder this is, but with work

almost anything can be done.



<SNIP>

it was one year ago when they were all three

training and came accross a

bandit gang. They defeated most of the bandits.

When they were leaving ,

bandit leader jumped out hiding and opened fire

with a machine gun.



NO #%*$ WAY, when have you EVER seen a fire-arm, let

alone a machine gun, in

any Ranma Anime or Manga!,



@@They Kuno's blast away at each other in the

Anime in one episode.  The fact that something

is or isn't done in Anime/Manga isn't relevant.



Isn't relevant? The basic idea of a good fanfic is to come up with a new

"take" or idea based on the existing characters personalities or story

plotline. This does not mean Don't change anything, but it also means don't

throw out every basic convention ether.  The best stories, like "Genma's

Daughter", introduce new storylines, plot eliments, and characters, while

keeping the Flavor and background of the story "in canon". If you don't,

then all you have is a story that just happens to use names from a manga and

nothing more. If it is Basic to YOUR story that Ranma is Killed by a gun or

guns are used, then ok, but if it is not, then why do it?  It just makes the

story read false. Too many of these "fasehoods" (IMO) make a story

un-interesting and boring, after all I came looking for a story based in the

RANMA 1/2 universe.



How the fanfiction author writes a particular

scene IS. Firearms are reasonably common

in criminal hands around the world. (Singapore

being a major exception. Then again Singapore

is run like a prison camp. A very wealthy prison camp

with happy well adjusted prisoners.)



I've got several hundred slides showing

people from China to India carrying

everything from muzzle-loaders to

AK-47's. (My sister is an historian

and spends a lot of time in that part

of the world.) If this scene is set in China

it's quite possible. There are a LOT of

dispossessed people who have turned to banditry.

And fire-arms are available in Japan. They're

expensive (ammunition is about $30/round]

on the black-market)but they're out there.

(About 3% of the population

legally own long-guns for hunting.)

It's difficult to tell since Japanese

record keeping is rather "creative" ^_^

(For instance, rape is often re-classified

as simple-assault or a lesser crime IF

it ever makes it on the books at all. The

Pen is mightier than the Arrest when it

comes to reducing crime. )





So what? in the real world you can't throw Ki blasts, run through walls, or

turn into a pig, but that didn't stop Takahashi Rumiko from having them in

her world, likewise just because it does exist in the real world doesn't

mean it is in, or has to be that way in the Ranma-verse.



Other things missing in the Ranma-verse:

Aids, drugs (as in cocaine or herion, not medicine or amazon potions), drug

addicts, body piercing, winos, litter, the need to use a car, banks, being

arested for crimes (Like assault, vandelism, desturction of property,

ect...), Y2k, WWII, suitcase size Russian Nuclear weapons, ect...





I mean even Kuno only

uses a WOODEN sword.

@@ A bokken:

1)Is a lethal weapon in reality AND under the law



so is a baseball bat if you use it as a weapon, but the point is Takahashi

Rumiko did limit the use of more deadly weapons from her stories, otherwise

Kuno could have used a katana, or a gun, when his Bokken failed to harm

Ranma.



2)In Japan MUST be registered and can NOT be carried

openly in public. It must be carried in special

wrappings,

secured with special ties AND an openly displayed

certificate

from the police must be attached to the outside.



Under Japanese law (to the best of my limited

knowledge) there

is not much difference between a bokken, a katana or a



pistol.



Miyamoto Musashi killed several of his opponents with

a wooden sword. (there's actually an advantage of wood

over steel----the steel blade can "stick" in the wood,

allowing a dis-arm before the kill)



Again, so what?

Paul Tibbets and "little boy" killed 100,000, there's actually an advantage

of nukes over steel----the steel blade can "vaporise" in the fireball, BUT

that is in the real world, not the Ranma-verse



  Yes, there are a few Fanfics, like "Ranma goes to

war", but either they

are very alternate world or X-overs with series that

DO allow guns.

(Macross, Eva, ect)



@@Ummm . . .perhaps "series that _use_ guns"?

There is nothing in the Ranma-verse that precludes

firearms.



What volume(s) of the manga has the gun fights?, which season and what

episodes shows them?, why doesn't Mousse just pull a revolver from up his

sleeves and blast Ranma away?





 (Unlike the Slayers universe where it

might be argued that "magic" prevents guns

from working.)



<SNIP>



  A better "version" of this idea is that Ranma-chan

and Mr. Panda show up

at the Tendo's, Genma changes back and explains his

curse, but also

announces Ranma's death, say by fire, while rescuing

children from a burning

house, or maybe Genma could claim a gang of Bandits

overwhelmed Ranma by

sheer numbers, but Ranma managed to 1st kill enough

so that Genma and the

locals could finish the rest off. There are plenty

of ways that Genma might

think of to "kill" Ranma, and none of them with a

gun.



@@I rather like my idea of Ranma joining

a monastery due to Cat-Fist trauma. ^_^



Death by fire, by bandit or by gun. NONE is more

or less plausible in and of itself. It's all according

to the skills of the author. (and the preference

of the reader. ^_*)

1)Genma steals rice and two pickles

from the wrong person and a Yakuza

sniper takes Ranma out at 1300 meters

with a Griffin Model 89 .50 cal. rifle.



2)Genma and Ranma train at

the cursed "bombing range",

very sad story of Japanese boy

who can't read warning signs and

gets pureed by a cluster-bomb.



3)Ranma is bitten by a Mangrove snake.



4)Genma and Ranma run into a police

patrol moving a group of "wives" to

their new husbands. The police try

to recruit Ranko/ Kitusene, just don't like

the foreigners and Ranma is killed in the

shoot out.

{http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/catw/chinprop.htm

http://www.armory.com/~leavitt/women.html}





    Why would "Kitsune" have to be Ranma's Twin?

They don't really look

alike, plus they never saw the teen aged Ranma.

Genma is a Sensei, isn't

he?, What would be more natural than that Kitsune is

a student of his,

perhaps an orphan or abandon child, or maybe even a

"fianc�e" of Ranma's

that Genma couldn't lose, and then took in as a

student. These make better

cover stories than a Twin.



@@Good point. I'm not fond of the "sister"

option myself. However it ALL depends

on how the author handles things. Sister CAN

work, student can fail miserably.



<SNIP> some possible story ideas.

Good, but not the only way to go.



    I think I have given enough possible ways this

could go, but remember to

send time on how the characters feel or act. How

would Ranma pass himself

off as a girl? he would know nothing about it, how

would he feel about

dresses? or make up?  Would Akane be happy with

everyone thinking/knowing

she's gay or would she be mad and blame Kitsune?



@@Good points.  But,as always, it's not the idea, but

the execution that counts.









=====

"When I get a little money, I buy books;

 And, if any is left, I buy food and clothes."-Erasmus



"A man is a small thing, and the night is large

and full of wonders." -Lord Dunsany







"This is just my opinion, I maybe wrong"  D. Miller

"Defend free speech! Read a banned book today!" unknown.

"I may not like what you say, but I will defend your right to say it with

my Life"  Voltaire



Nuki_Mouse







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