Ranma ½/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

** [[Tropers/Freezer|This Troper]] has seen quite a few fanfics get around this by having the curse [[Mode Lock]] Ranma in female form at the moment of conception.

** Since Magic does not have to obey scientific logic, there is no reason to expect clearly defined temperature ranges that always trigger the change, irrespective of the circumstances. Magic, being a creation of human fancy, is more likely to adhere to instictiveinstinctive human judgements of what constitutes "cold" and "warm" than to actually measurable temperatures. It could very well be that water of a certain temeraturetemperature would change Ranma into a girl on a hot summer day, while water of exactly the same temperature would change him into a boy in mid-winter.

** This was actually touched upon in an episode of ''[[Ranma ½: The Abridged Chronicles|Ranma 1/2: The Abridged Chronicles]]''. When Soun asked why Genma and Ranma didn't go into the spring that would turn them back, there was a pause and crickets chirping, followed by Akane saying, "You guys are idiots."

**** On the other hand, Ozzallos' fine ''[[Heir to the Empire]]'' has him showing up ''on the Moon''.

** [[JET 73 L|This troper]] has the personal theory that the springs are only as specific as their name. Spring of Drowned Piglet specifies piglet and not pig-of-no-age-given, Spring-of-Drowned-Girl curse ages along with Ranma, but it might stop at some point that any further age would not be considered "girl" by anyone and has details based on what a human, female version of the cursed would be like, and Spring of Drowned Akane might stay at the same age as Akane, or it might stay at the age Akane was when she was dunked in the spring, and the name may in fact be the only reason the Spring of Drowned Akane works ''at all''.

**** That can no longer be applied to her situation anymore, though. While Nerima may not be used to everything that happens, Genma (who I blame for most of the conflicts of the series anyway, especially the conflicts between Ranma and Akane) brought all this trouble straight onto the heads of the Tendos. All sorts of insanity followed in their wake-accidentally in Ranma's case, intentional by Genma-and the fact that she is now part of this world slowly causes her to be majorly outclassed.

***** That's true. When people start arriving, she's outclassed pretty quickly. ''But we're digressing from the original point something awful here''. The point isn't that the ''other'', outsider characters outclass her, but that she was able to fight against ''Kuno'', a local that has lived in Nerima all his life same as she has. Who cares if any of the insanely powerful Ranma MADMs outclass her? The above point tries to diminish Akane against Kuno by stating that she's a [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] or whatever. And that Kuno improved through the Watermelon Training. But that's false. If we analyze Kuno's abilities and call him "superhuman" for them, then the same applies to Akane. Whenever she's involved in real combat, where Takahashi puts aside her clumsiness or rashness because this is a serious event, Akane has consistently proven to be super-strong, she's superhumanly acrobatic, extremely fast, and outrageously accurate. Kuno may slice trees in half with a wooden sword, but he's never lifted stone lanterns over his head like they were pillows. He may cause concrete walls to ''crumble'' (NOT break) with the air pressure, but Akane can kick holes into the walls of a swimming pool despite the water resistance and having no anchoring whatsoever. And while Kuno has the Watermelon Training, ''it only applied in the presence of watermelons'', and even then ''only while he was amnesiac'' and fell into a berserker rage because of them. Now? He doesn't have any reaction to watermelons, let alone a negative one, and he thinks of it as a parlor trick. So the training didn't actually give him ANY edge in combat, not even in speed. On the other hand, Akane had been constantly exposed to danger since Ranma's arrival and up to Mariko's encounter (which is the point of this argument.) Plus, she crushed the entire opposing team ''by herself'', and ''using kendo exclusively''. Thus, when she goes up against Kuno, it ''makes sense'' that she can present a good challenge to him, even if he thinks she's a male competitor and is going all-out against her. Could she have won? Maybe. Maybe not. The match was interrupted and neither had the upper hand until Mariko intervened. But pointing out how everyone else outclasses her, or how she's sometimes handed the [[Distress Ball]], has no bearing on this encounter, because ''Kuno is every bit as outclassed'' by everyone else as she is --maybe worse, because there is no indication that he ''ever'' improved, and the one chance he had was completely reset by the end of that chapter.

***** I don't get the point you're trying to make here. Before, you argued ''against'' Akane's prowess on the basis that Kuno had improved and she hadn't (using her [[Distressed Damsel in Distress]] status as proof that she hadn't,) but here you argue in her favor by saying Kuno should remain weak and "readjusted" in order to be fair to her. As for the other statements, again, you're digressing. If the question was about Kuno and Akane, every other circumstance is outside the point. And she ''did'' "beat everyone [at the kendo tournament] in minutes," '''we were ''shown'' this''', and the attending audience ''explicitly comments on it'' (even though we're ''never told'', beyond her classmates' reactions, whether she's equal to Kuno. Remember, their match was ''interrupted'' and ''inconclusive''.) But since you insist, and for the sake of argument, let's look at her [[Bound and Gagged]] moments and why she didn't "simply break free" with her strength:<br />'''Cologne''': Twice. Not only is Cologne orders of magnitude more skilled and powerful than anyone in Nerima, at least one of those two times she caught Akane via a surprise pressure point attack. The first time, she also hung Akane from a tree and bound her arms, giving her no leverage to escape until Ranma brought her down to the ground, and the next time we see her she's already free (either by herself or with Genma's help.) The second time, she ''refused'' to escape until Mousse intervened, and as soon as he did, she broke free by herself.<br />'''Mousse''': He sprang out of nowhere and popped sleeping powder in her face. Even Ranma has fallen to this exact ploy dozens of times. Once she was conscious, she was very clearly distracted and panicked by the threat of the Jusenkyo water; as soon as she had the chance (and everyone else was involved elsewhere) she broke free on her own.<br />'''Principal Kuno''': She's unconscious when we see her hanging from the ceiling, so it's likely she was also caught off guard (he later did the same to Ranma.) As soon as she woke up, she broke free and attacked the Principal.<br />'''Pantyhose Taro''': He's a Ranma-level fighter who can easily overpower her, he didn't even bother tying her up until the very end --at which point she ''did'' break free of the pantyhose (and Takahashi specifically pointed out the feat of strength that this was, since pantyhose is more flexible than rope and Akane still tore it to pieces.)<br />'''Lime''': Didn't even bother tying her up, he just grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder. The guy can keep a collapsing ravine from closing, Akane would need Ryoga-like strength to even make him ''notice''.<br />'''Sexy Tea Shop Kunoichi''': We never see her get caught, but judging by how they kidnapped Ukyo, it's likely they ambushed her in a similar fashion. And then she was hung from a tree again, and again, unlike the Principal Kuno example, the position gives no leverage to break the chains. Once she's on the ground, the action cuts away and we don't know whether Ranma or Akane herself broke the shackles.<br />'''Kiima''': Being carried off by a flock of ravens is such a bizarre situation we can't really tell how skill or strength could help. But afterwards, she ''drowned'' and fell unconscious on her own, and Kiima just fished her out and put her in a cell. Akane ''broke free on her own'' within moments after waking up simply by kicking the cell door loose.<br />Now, see the common threads in those examples? Either she's caught by a martial artist ''far more powerful than her'', or she's KO'd by surprise. And except for three instances, not only do we ''see her break free on her own'', but Takahashi ''draws attention to it''. And of the missing instances, two of them could go either way, and the third would've been impossible for anyone short of Ryoga (and that's being generous to him, seeing how he couldn't break free from Lime's grip either!)<br />Of course, what ''any'' this has to do with Akane "being a good match" for Kuno in a straight up kendo tournament (where Kuno was going all-out, but where both of them had to follow standardized rules and regulations, and use shinai instead of bokken) for a few panels is anyone's guess. OTOH, her reactions to the above "[[Distressed Damsel in Distress]]" situations, and her continuous involvement with supernatural/superhuman foes and creatures ''consistently'' show her various physical feats for the entire manga, whereas Kuno only gets a few chances to show off his ''permanent'', consistent skill level.

***** Oh, the reason I'm putting this up is simple. Didn't mean to confuse anyone: The original Headscratchers statement asked why Akane was able to beat someone like Kuno, where the question claimed that she didn't have the power or the skill to do so. Having a major disagreement with Takahashi's portrayal of relationship treatment and her main female leads as well (especially in [[Inuyasha]], less in [[Ranma ½]] due to the whole series being [[Played for Laughs]]), I felt the need to respond to that. At the time, Akane's perception of character-while showing major skill as a martial artist and superhuman as you described-seemed to be established as the damsel and the gentle girl, slowly ebbing away from her martial training. Something that doesn't make much sense to attribute to her considering the established skill we both know she has. To me, there was no question that she should have been more than able to beat Kuno because she's as good as she is as the [[Badass Normal/Badass Damsel|Badass Normal]] in a community of extremely strong opponents. The way Akane's character has been presented did not portray her in a good light when she should have been more than able to beat someone like him. Just trying to give her the credit I feel she deserves despite what feels like poor portrayal. And in terms of being tied up in a tree? I do get that the leverage was poor, but we had already established great physical strength. Her arms were held like a box and suspended. That would have worked on a normal girl, but not for Akane. so what she had to do was pull in opposite directions, and she falls to the floor.

{{quote| ''Come visit the lovely Jusenkyo Hot Springs!'' These magical springs not only relax and refresh, but are guaranteed to change your life forever! Unlucky in love? Take a dip in the spring of <s>Drowned</s> Lovely Girl to attract women! No energy at work? Then take a relaxing bath in the spring of <s>Drowned</s> Cheetah!<br />

[[Category:Useful Notes/Anime and Manga/Headscratchers]]