Bert Miller wrote:

Quoting Thunderstruck <thunderstruck_comic@comcast.net>:

 

I would submit as a suggestion to you that you
rethink this basic assumption that Nerima is somehow
crazier than the rest of the world in the Ranmaverse.
While this is a pretty common fanfic notion, it does
not really bear out from the source material,
   

The source material does, however, bear out the notion
that there is a concept of "normal" physical abilities
not totally divorced from our own in the Ranmaverse.
Many, many panels show (Tokyo-area, at least) bystanders
surprised, awed, and/or stupified when our cast does
their thing.  And it's usually ALL bystanders.
 

I get the feeling it was like Harry Potter, the "Super powered Martial 
Artist" community lives alongside the "normal" world.  There's just some 
reason no one ever talks about it.   Probably some old and powerful 
anime magic.   But it could just as easily be the Emperor's own 
sorcerers or the MIB keeping a lid on things.

Also, many fanfic authors make the mistake of talking about "Nerima" as 
a whole.  Nerima is Tokyo's largest ward.  It has a population of about 
675,000 and is 50km square.   It would make a pretty big city in 
itself.  Many authors write as if Nerima is some little village in the 
mountains, where everybody knows your name...

Ranma and company travel to many places outside
Nerima in the course of the series. Every one of them
has curses, enchantments, monsters, weird martial
artists, and so forth and so on. There is every
indication that the entire world works that way in the
series, not that it's localized to Nerima.
   

There's two different things going on here.  Yes, when
the Ranma cast ventures to the beach, they'll find a
cursed bathing suit, a friendly giant octopus, or a
watermelon curse; if Ranma trains in the mountains,
he'll find a haunted mirror mansion; if the group goes 
to a hot-springs town, they'll find a cursed doll.
And, more to the point, that episode's one-shot
characters seem to treat these events as normal; nobody
ever says "You probably won't believe me, but..."
 

Also, you've got a LOT of magical kingdoms, mystic vales, haunted 
forests and the like.  They're probably like Shangra-la in that you 
can't get there unless the magic of the place wants you to.

So CURSES are fairly normal in the Ranmaverse.  That's
not the same think as saying that monsters and high-
level martial artists shattering Olympic records are
encountered by the average person with the same
frequency.

 

You notice that of all the NWC, only Kuno has ever entered a recognized 
competition, and that's only alluded to in the past.  I think the 
martial artist communities are pretty separate.  After all, even Akane 
could probably splat your average world class kempo master.  And who 
cares if you block one of Ryoga's punchs, you're still paste on the wall.

To the best of my recollection, when our cast finds 
monsters, it's because they went looking for them.
 

Or, more likely, the monsters came looking for them.

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