Ranma's relationship with the phone

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Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Sat Aug 20, 2011 8:56 pm

The thing about Ranma 1/2 crossovers with Aa! Megami-sama! is that Ranma gets a wish in them often enough, which tends to (but hardly always) come in the form of making a phone call. I realized that I can't recall Ranma ever dialing out. Answering (at least in the anime), maybe, but not actually making a phone call. This is a rather small detail in the whole scheme of a story that I'm writing (or any story like it, for that matter), but I sweat these kind of details whenever they occur to me. Because, y'know, if a lot of big things have been done before, you can make it up with the little things that other authors look over.

So, yeah. Does anyone recall Ranma using the phone (especially placing one, rather than answering, but I'd like to know the latter as well)? I tend to base my stories on the manga, so differentiating between which it happens in -- if indeed it does -- would be appreciated. Because there's no guarantee that I won't use the anime as a resource, if it suits my needs.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Sat Aug 20, 2011 10:02 pm

mightykk wrote:I don't think Ranma has ever been shown to use the phone, at least in the manga. The dojo does have one though, and Akane is shown using it at the start of the Ryugenzawa arc. Volume 25, chapter 10, page 7 & 8

Hardly the only such occurance of phone use... For example Nabiki was shown about to use it to order take out before being stopped by Soun.

EDIT: At least two crossovers I'm aware of makes note of the fact he is never shown using the phone... in fustration, the Goddes in question is forced to show up in person. In one the granter is Skuld, in the other Urd.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby TerraEpon » Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:40 am

Of course, using the phone was probably just never nessesary for the story. I don't really think it's a matter of him specifically not doing it.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Sun Aug 21, 2011 12:53 am

TerraEpon wrote:Of course, using the phone was probably just never nessesary for the story. I don't really think it's a matter of him specifically not doing it.

Entirely true... I myself almost never use a phone, even at work it is minimal... most is email and IM. As a kid, I used it even less... which is one of a few reasons I find cell phones a pointless waste of money for me and why I never bothered getting one.

Considering when Ranma took place...I can easily see him simply not needing it on screen for any story plot...
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby three headed dog » Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:49 am

I'm not sure but I don't think we are shown Ranma to make phone calls in the manga though it is sort of implied for example it is implied that he called for delivery off screen on occasion such as at the begining of the Orachi arc (to avoid Akane's cooking) and when he ordered sushi for Nabiki (to make up for destroying her ticket). Akane does complain about him not calling in the manga though (right before she is kidnapped by the crows in the second to last volume for example but if I recall correctly that is not the only time she has had that complaint).
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:04 am

Bloody off-screen things! Though the one where he ate the delivery food to escape from having to eat Akane's curry must have been done with telepathy, not telephone. @_@

TerraEpon wrote:Of course, using the phone was probably just never nessesary for the story. I don't really think it's a matter of him specifically not doing it.

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.

PCHeintz72 wrote:I myself almost never use a phone, even at work it is minimal... most is email and IM. As a kid, I used it even less... which is one of a few reasons I find cell phones a pointless waste of money for me and why I never bothered getting one.

Oh, hey, you're like me. I rarely use the landline and I never plan on getting a cell phone.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Spokavriel » Sun Aug 21, 2011 9:24 am

A few things to consider. Genma and Ranma were on the road often going weeks if not months without actually stopping somewhere for shelter much less bothering to see if they could use the electricity at a place as would be needed for rechargeable gear like Cell Phones. Even keeping one turned on to receive calls makes it so one needs charging at least every few days if you want to reasonably expect to be able to talk on it when it starts ringing.

Also there are few companies that sell cell phone plans to people without getting an address. If Genma gave Ranma a Home Address he might want to take off from training to check it out.

So really before getting to the Tendo Dojo the cells are more of a hassle than they are worth and would have really only been useable just as often as they could ask to make a call on a land line at wherever they happened to be anyway.

Add all that up and I can't really see Ranma seeing any benefit to them making it worth the bother to get one even after being at Furinken and the Tendo Dojo a while.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby PCHeintz72 » Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:39 am

Spokavriel wrote: A few things to consider. Genma and Ranma were on the road often going weeks if not months without actually stopping somewhere for shelter much less bothering to see if they could use the electricity at a place as would be needed for rechargeable gear like Cell Phones. Even keeping one turned on to receive calls makes it so one needs charging at least every few days if you want to reasonably expect to be able to talk on it when it starts ringing.

Also there are few companies that sell cell phone plans to people without getting an address. If Genma gave Ranma a Home Address he might want to take off from training to check it out.

So really before getting to the Tendo Dojo the cells are more of a hassle than they are worth and would have really only been useable just as often as they could ask to make a call on a land line at wherever they happened to be anyway.

Add all that up and I can't really see Ranma seeing any benefit to them making it worth the bother to get one even after being at Furinken and the Tendo Dojo a while.

Power is easy, at least in the US... There are public outlets in parks, and many resturants have them, even some mcDonalds, and I'm not even talking as recent additions.

For a more modern solution, I've heard of cellular solar chargers...

For a illegal solution, Genma or Ranma I could easily see opening a car and charging their phone that way.


Of course, this does not solve the other issues brought up... the times were different, and from a plot standpoint it simply makes little sense on several fronts, address and Genma's secrecy.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Spokavriel » Sun Aug 21, 2011 10:52 am

Don't forget its Fannon that they ever traveled in the United States. We really only have proof of Japan and China. And of China we have allot of proof that they traveled in obscure and isolated regions looking for obscure training. I wouldn't be surprised if they went a whole year at some point without encountering places with electricity.

The type of traveling they did could actually be done today and still find enough places to string together on the trip in the far reaches of China to avoid places with electricity for at least 3 months by usual foot travel speed.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Té Rowan » Sun Aug 21, 2011 2:07 pm

According to the Wikipedia, Ranma canon was written when NMT was king, GSM beginning to rise and Iridium still a pipedream. Somehow I can't see the Saotomes going anywhere with a Mobira Talkman 450.

Nowadays I carry an old Nokia 3510 mobile phone with a freedom (pre-paid) card, suitable for firing off an occasional SMS to family.

A bit of Euro-superiority phone braggadocio I found somewhere: "Why be tied to a cell when you can be mobile?"
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby mondu_the_fat » Sun Aug 21, 2011 3:33 pm

Crescent Pulsar R wrote:Bloody off-screen things! Though the one where he ate the delivery food to escape from having to eat Akane's curry must have been done with telepathy, not telephone. @_@


Quiet, you! Next thing you know, Zwzn will be using this as proof that Ranma has telepathy.
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:33 pm

I can totally see that. XD;;

Anyway, I imagine that cell phones in the late eighties would have been rather expensive (a couple thousand dollars), anyway. And considering their size and what they were made of, probably not the easiest thing to protect from getting damaged if taken with someone like Genma and Ranma on their training trip. (And weren't car phones more prevalent at the time? I can't remember.)
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Re: Ranma's relationship with the phone

Postby Spokavriel » Sun Aug 21, 2011 4:53 pm

Car phones. Satellite phones. But few phones that could last that long without the energy generating capacity of a car. Portable phones were pure luxury items until the mid 90's Although you do see the A-Team using Face's car phone from time to time even they probably couldn't have found one that would work cut off from a power source for more than an hour.
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