by Crescent Pulsar R » Thu May 19, 2011 2:58 am
Ranma's age, aging and growth is an aspect of Ranma's curse that has been explored often enough within stories and without. "Girl" can easily be seen as being different from "woman" (seeing as it's a comparatively younger state for someone who is female), but including "young" to "girl" has been known to be interpreted in several ways. Rather than get into a debate over the latter, what I'm interested in is the fact that Ranma's female body is still shown to be at an age to experience growth (at least in some respects). However, let's say that there isn't a birth record to go by, and thus we can't assume that Ranma is sixteen when he's a girl. Since people vary regarding exactly when and how much they grow and change during puberty, what's the best way to determine someone's age at that time of their development?
The reason why I ask this is because I'd like to see how young Ranma can realistically be portrayed as being when he's a girl. While the bust might suggest a more mature age, I don't think that's a good indicator because Ranma's breasts were already bigger than Akane's and they still grew more than hers did. (Seeing as Ranma had to ask whether Akane's breasts had gotten smaller, that suggests that he had learned the difference in their breast sizes at some point. Considering that his breasts had grown significantly enough to conclude that Akane's breasts might have actually shrunk, despite her own breast growth, it might be indicative of a younger age. The problem with that idea, however, concerns the breast size of Ranma's mother: I couldn't find a single instance that gives us a good idea of what her breast size is, and thus a good idea of what we could expect of Ranma's breast size. Not even the story where she's bathing in the hot springs reveals anything.) I figure that height is a better way to find out how young he might be as a girl. However, if my memory serves me right, the impression I got in other topics where this has come up, is that expecting much more growth at sixteen is unlikely.
Okay, my experience up to this point is telling me to clarify all of my blathering (for I'm sure that the last paragraph was exactly that, at the very least) into something that can be properly focused on, so people don't make issues of irrelevant things. Basically: I want Ranma's female body to be fourteen in a story, and I want it to be backed up clinically. I know that teeth can be used to determine age, but not how accurate it is. I also can't think of anything else that might give a good idea of someone's age, or if there are a number of different indicators that could be used to pinpoint someone's age to within a few months.