Ranma's relationship with the phone

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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Makoto » Sun Aug 21, 2011 11:37 pm

Crescent Pulsar R wrote:Oh, I agree with the first part. Though I think that could actually be used to explain the second part, anyway. I mean, his is a lifestyle that's a bit removed from telephone use. Even his father used letters to communicate with his wife during their training trip. In a way, I'd say that there's a bit of an old-fashioned aspect about it. I mean, if Ranma 1/2 took place when most kids his age had cell phones, I imagine he wouldn't have one or -- should someone give one to him -- he'd rarely use it. (That's just my opinion, though.) That, and while he doesn't have any problem interacting with others, he's not exactly the conversational type.


Sure, there's possibly a bit of traditionalism about it - it does seem more common for a Japanese person to traditionally prefer writing, though I can't be sure about that. Certainly, a number of characters can't seem to resist the opportunity to break out the paper and ink. I haven't watched enough real people to say that's true for everyone, though. :) (At least, the older generations.)

Everything else aside, though, you could also argue that Genma used letters when writing to Nodoka, because it's a form of conversation he has more control over - he can tell Nodoka only what he wants her to know, and he doesn't have to speak with her, answer questions, or risk an argument, or Nodoka accidentally learning something she shouldn't, in his opinion.
...of course, it also makes it easier to feed her lies, as well.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby mondu_the_fat » Mon Aug 22, 2011 1:30 am

Anyway, I imagine that cell phones in the late eighties would have been rather expensive (a couple thousand dollars), anyway.


I had a cellphone in 1986. It was expensive, but not THAT expensive (a few hundred dollars in today's money). It was a motorola the size of an arm with a battery that lasted 30 minutes if you charged it for 8 hours. The battery life alone would preclude it being used by someone on the go like Ranma and Genma. Also, cell phone towers were practically non-existent, and you couldn't use the phone outside a major city.

I had a classmate with a satellite phone which let him call anyone anytime without the need of a cell tower. It was the size of a backpack and was powered by car batteries. (it had to be hooked up to the car).
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Mon Aug 22, 2011 2:45 am

mondu_the_fat wrote:I had a cellphone in 1986. It was expensive, but not THAT expensive (a few hundred dollars in today's money).

Are you sure it was just a few hundred? Of the examples of cell phones from the eighties that I've seen (including a Motorola from 1988), they were all over two-thousand dollars new (even without taking today's inflation into consideration).
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby mondu_the_fat » Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:17 am

Yes, and I confirmed it with my mother. It was around 2000 to 3000HK$, or roughly 300US$ in 1986.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Mon Aug 22, 2011 4:37 am

Was it new, used or a model that was a few years old? Because I find it odd that I can't find any cell phones in the eighties for under two-thousand dollars as a starting price. At this rate between one and two-thousand is believable, but under one, and especially on the far side of it, well... I think I'll probably need to see an example before I believe it. XD
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Spokavriel » Mon Aug 22, 2011 7:49 am

Don't forget we had inflation and high interest rates to get it back under control in the 80's. We were recovering from Carter doing a weaker version of what Obama is doing now.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Mon Aug 22, 2011 3:41 pm

I took inflation into account. Some of the places where I looked showed their prices at the time versus what they'd cost now due to inflation. For others examples, the price is so high that, even if it were in today's dollars, it'd still cost more than two-thousand in yestertime's dollars.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:12 pm

Crescent Pulsar R wrote:Was it new, used or a model that was a few years old? Because I find it odd that I can't find any cell phones in the eighties for under two-thousand dollars as a starting price. At this rate between one and two-thousand is believable, but under one, and especially on the far side of it, well... I think I'll probably need to see an example before I believe it. XD

I remember them being 800-1200 dollars myself, with some car phones as much as 1500...

I did not bother looking them up, that is from memory.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Ellen Kuhfeld » Mon Aug 22, 2011 5:33 pm

mondu_the_fat wrote:Yes, and I confirmed it with my mother. It was around 2000 to 3000HK$, or roughly 300US$ in 1986.

I can see that. First, prices of electronics in Asia are different from prices in the US. And second, those were Hong Kong dollars. Hong Kong is densely populated, so the numbers of cells needed would be much fewer than the numbers of cells for a similar American population. The price of the phone wouldn't have to cover nearly as much infrastructure.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:59 pm

Here is a link to a youtube video about a ad for a cell phone in the late 1980's:

Old Cell Phone Ad 1980's
- [Direct] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v1M8GBLKlU

that particular one listed at $595, which is a bit cheaper than I remember...


here is another one:

Funny Old Cell Phone Ads.
- [Direct] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZE3OKrHlDM

30oz phone being considered a lightweight.

One of those phones is $397... even included the antenna, but required a service contract. heh... the antenna was optional on some models back then...

On the other hand... another model was $3000

EDIT:

Hilarious old cellphone ads
- [Direct] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCB6gUrm ... re=related

I liked the pager commercial in the above link
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Makoto » Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:11 am

Hmm... that reminds me. I need to take a look at our old brick, in the garage. :D

Just tried to picture Ranma with a pager. Not sure who'd be paging him, offhand, or for what reasons, but... :lol:
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Spokavriel » Tue Aug 23, 2011 1:37 am

It is easier to have batteries for pagers. But the service range for them was still limited almost as much as Cellular Service. Its part of why most people didn't use pagers until after the infrastructure for companies like Motorola was more complete. I still remember hearing the message even in the mid 90's "We're sorry the Pager customer must have either turned off their pager or are outside the coverage area."
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Makoto » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:53 pm

...and then, you start to wonder what would happen if Ryouga carried a pager. :D
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:54 pm

Makoto wrote:...and then, you start to wonder what would happen if Ryouga carried a pager. :D

Pagers in Ranma would be almost worthless... look how often they are not near a phone, even if they got a page, there wold be little that could be done about it.

And a pager in stuff space, or a phone in there or Ryoga with one, would likely never be able to recieve anything.

What I laugh at is when Ranma is shown being given a cell phone... no one ever explains in story if it is going to work while in stuff space... It seems most of the stories Ive read him receiving one, he immediately makes it go there.

personally, i would doubt a signal could get into one... but whatever.
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