Ranma 1/2

Ranma is the series I've read the most fanfics about, if that tells you anything about what I like about the setting. Second and third are Bt VS and The Slayers, I believe.

I remember asking a similar question about Classical Greek elements - but now, a different variant. What element do you think fits the Ranma cast best out of these five:

• Fire

• Water

• Earth

• Wind

• Lightning

Ranma is wind, Akane is fire, Ryouga is earth, and Kasumi is water. Lightning... I have no idea. Happosai? Cologne?

edited 12th Jul '12 9:27:02 AM by MarqFJA

Lightning is Kuno, of course. "Blue Lightning of Furinkan High", remember?

"Blue Thunder". And no, he only wishes that he's of the lightning element. However, if he did not fall victim to Overshadowed by Awesome and instead regularly improved more or less as fast as Ryouga did...

I would identify the main cast as Ranma, Akane, Ryouga, Shampoo, and Ukyo.

Ryouga is clearly Earth

Ukyo is Wind

Ranma is Water

Shampoo is Fire

Akane is Lightning

I was thinking of this chart in particular.

Ryoga is Earth. That is as certain as it can get. Secondary could be fire, because of his Hadoken Shishi Hokodan and emotional temper.

Ranma is Wind. Fast, flexible, and sharp. You can't deny that Ranma is sharp. Also, Hiryu Shoten Ha. Secondary could be water - it's flexible too, also temperamental, but more collected then fire.

Mousse... I would say Lightning. Aerial, quite fast, straightforward and narrowly focused, won't stop until he reaches his goal. His Hawk's Talon move and a tendency to go off complete the image.

Akane has her trademark temper. Tsundere always draws parallels to fire in my mind. But then, she seems more level-headed and sane compared to the other two. This is a strong Water point. Sackett said she's Lightning, and I can see where he's getting it from... I'd still put her closer to Fire, though.

Shampoo is "all heart" - expressing her feelings openly, with no shame, and acting on them. Without the inhibitions of the "civilized society", much like a mountain river cannot be tamed by bridges and dams. Thinking about her, I remember those stories by Rudyard Kipling, about floods in India. So yeah, Water.

Ukyo... Oh yeah, definitely Fire. Of the "tame" variet. The passion doesn't need to always be destructive, plus she gives off that feeling of domestic warmth.

Tatewaki is Lightning, just very under-developed. Kodachi is Wind - say, "Airhead". Happosai and Cologne are beyond mere mortal rankings, putting them closer to Jinchuriki. For some reason, I think that Soun and Genma could be Ying and Yang release.

Classical Elements?

Happosai is the element of Panties, definitely.

Ranma is the Avatar.

Being a Water bender would save him some trouble. I'd love to see how effective the Hiryū Shoten Ha was against Fire users. I can only imagine the sort of tricks Ranma would pull off if he was an Air bender. Sadly Earth probably isn't the most effective element to use against... Well, anyone in this show.

If this show were on at the same time as Avatar I'm sure it'd become the new Fuku Fic.

edited 21st Jul '12 11:04:29 PM by UltimatelySubjective

You know, I've always wondered what Ryoga's Bakusai Tenketsu would do to Toph's seismic sense.

I can't imagine a technique that destroys rocks would disrupt her senses any more than levitating and throwing rocks does, but you never know.

Ranma doesn't need to be the Avatar, he could probably beat the avatar in a fight (assuming he doesn't have to fight Aang in Avatar State. Of course, if Ranmaverse logic kicks in, the Avatar State will probably have some incredibly silly drawback or weakness he could exploit).

Well we have been shown that even "normals" can beat benders, including the avatar. If Ranma learns Moxibustion, there's not really a competition. That said it seems to be something he is vulnerable to as well.

I think Ranma tends to exploit the weaknesses of people first, then techniques.

edited 27th Jul '12 11:57:35 PM by UltimatelySubjective

I though of something about the Jusenkyo springs that I was wondering. What happens if you fall into a spring that is what you already are, and you have never been cursed? Like if Nabiki (for example) fell into the Spring of Drowned Girl, would it just be a normal spring to her?

We have Word of God that the Spring Of Drowned Man would cure Ranma. So that would mean jumping into the spring equivalent to what you are just makes you normal.

I think the bigger question is what's the difference between Spring of Drowned Girl and Spring of Drowned Akane.

My theory is that the pools decay and become more generic over time. So eventually there will be two springs of drowned girl.

That or its going to wind up a personality pool. Less Spring of Drowned Akane more, Spring of Drowned Uncute Tsundere Tomboy.

This is probably because I haven't read much of the manga, but does anyone know if the Spring of Drowned Girl turns you into a human girl specifically, or just a female member of your own species? Because I heard that there was a manga story about a group of people who put male animals in the Drowned Girl spring on purpse to turn them into females so that they could breed, or something along those lines. If that's the case, then does the Spring of Drowned Man work the opposite way? And is there a spring that could turn a dog into a human when splashed by cold water, for example?

Yup

Whatever falls into the spring turns into a human female or human male equivalent of itself (depending on the spring).

Some of those brides would look nasty.

The animal springs don't appear to come with male or female specifications.

edited 28th Jul '12 8:22:18 PM by UltimatelySubjective

Say, how come Saeko Shimazu and Hiromi Tsuru, the voice actresses for Kodachi and Ukyo, aren't members of DoCo? And why were those two characters excluded from the "Fukuzatsu na Ryouomoi" official animated music video?

edited 25th Aug '12 6:46:21 AM by MarqFJA

Ah those videos. I have to admit I haven't invested much effort into looking for all of them - they're harder to find than the episodes.

Well, I'm sure there's only five members of Do Co because there's only five members of Co Co, but I couldn't say whether they picked them based on popularity, matching the characters of Do Co to the actual members of Co Co or for some other reason. If I had to guess I might say purely because of the aesthetics (i.e. hair colours, styles and heights outfits).

Wait, DoCo is a real-life expy of an actual band? (quick-searches) Nah, couldn't be this one; the Ranma anime's makers being familiar with an 80s British band is not likely. (continues search) Ah, here we go. And what do you know, they did several theme songs for the Ranma anime to boot!

... And I still say that excluding Kodachi and Ukyo('s voice actresses) may have caused a Missed Moment of Awesome.

edited 25th Aug '12 7:45:21 AM by MarqFJA

I've started reading the manga, but my attempts to watch the anime failed as I found the audio grating in both languages.

Do you think we should add a Big Bra to Fill entry to Ranma's character sheet profile to note the obvious disparity between his female form's canonical visible bustiness (in comparison to most other female characters) and his live-action actress?

Sounds mean, but if the bra fits....

Come to think of it, there's probably a lot more examples than the ones listed.

OK, whoever edited in the quote at the end of Manga.Ranma One Half deserves a salute, because that line is Made Of Win. "Spring of Drowned Troper" is indeed tragic.