Jusenkyo: Cure or not?

[Tovath]

yes I know that effect is the same but that doesn't mean that the underlying magic is the same. In fact it would have to be a little different because Instant Jusenkyo water is a powder that is added to normal water

[Pale Wolf]

And he seems to think it is a cure, given that he sends Ranma some as a thank-you gift.

To be the devil's advocate, maybe he thought Ranma wanted a girlfriend that could change gender with him

yes I know that effect is the same but that doesn't mean that the underlying magic is the same. In fact it would have to be a little different because Instant Jusenkyo water is a powder that is added to normal water

It's possible to get a powder form from the water. If you dehydrate it enough, the liquid will be gone for a concentrated sediment - the powder.
Though, since we don't have a clue what dehydration and rehydration do to magical effects (in fact, the instant stuff would probably be a lot more concentrated than the original water, if we presume it's the water that's special and not the place it sits)... Well, it leaves rather a free reign to decide for yourself how things work.

[Metroidvania]

It's possible to get a powder form from the water. If you dehydrate it enough, the liquid will be gone for a concentrated sediment - the powder.
Though, since we don't have a clue what dehydration and rehydration do to magical effects (in fact, the instant stuff would probably be a lot more concentrated than the original water, if we presume it's the water that's special and not the place it sits)... Well, it leaves rather a free reign to decide for yourself how things work.

But whatever the sediment is, doesn't that imply it's not the water itself, but some magic "dust/sand"?
And I know of dehydration synthesis, but how does one dehydrate water without vast scientific equipment, if it is indeed possible?

[Tovath]

I don't think it is possable so there must be some other way to make Instant Jusenkyo which means the magic in it would work differently and you therefore can't tell if Jusenkyo boy water is a cure for Ranma's curse

[Pale Wolf]

But whatever the sediment is, doesn't that imply it's not the water itself, but some magic "dust/sand"?

That's only if it's actually pure water.
Even drinking water isn't 'pure', just low in impurities. Magical water, I'm making no bets on.
Frankly, if it can be reduced to a powdered form, the magic obviously is in the elements forming the sedimentary powder, rather than the water itself.

And I know of dehydration synthesis, but how does one dehydrate water without vast scientific equipment, if it is indeed possible?

Since 'dehydration' is the removal of water from a substance, dehydrating pure water will probably be like dividing by zero. However, they're dehydrating Jusenkyo water, which is of entirely unknown chemical composition, so it's presumably possible.
And, well, they run a mail order catalogue for magical items. They have the necessary equipment to make their products.

which means the magic in it would work differently

The fact is, regardless of how it's made, trying to freeze-dry magic like a packet of Kool-Aid is going to have unpredictable effects.

[mondu_the_fat]

True, more than likely she forgot about adding tentacles to Taro. I wouldn't be surprised. I am much more inclined to go with the theory that they mix, there is no real evidence that they do anything other. And granted, Takahashi is lazy and forgetful at times, Shampoo never once tried to go after Drowned Girl water. One would think, given Ranma's reaction to her curse, being cured would be a major goal in her pursuit of him. This would seem to suggest that she knows it wouldn't work.

One theory I have on why Shampoo does not seek a cure lies in the laws of their village.
Shampoo was punished by cologne -- by "retraining" her at Jusenkyo. Part of the punishment is to accept whatever curse she gets. She does not seek a cure for the same reasons that she let herself be trained there.

[ShiroK]

I'm going to question this one since shampoo actually sided with Ranma against her her great grandmother, the leader of her people after they returned. Even allowing herself to be used to triger the Neko-Ken, I am pretty sure that cologne specifically states something along the lines of, you would side with him against your own people? I am pretty sure siding with a male against a matriarch is a worse crime than failing to kill and possibly falling in love with an outsider "girl". At the time shampoo believed girl type ranma to be the original.

[Suikie]

Ok, my thoughts on this...

-Instant Nannichuan-

NOT THE SAME AS JUSENKYO. First off, you can't dehydrate water. Dehydration is removing hydrogen. H2O minus the H2 = O. O = Oxygen. At normal temperatures it would instantly turn into O2, Oxygen gas. You CAN deoxidize water and make H2, which turns into water with exposure to air but it's not a powder. The theory on instant nannichuan is a powder that has the effect of changing the form with water. As for them using the packet and then changing when it rained. Take a look, they used the packet in the koi pond, its floating in the water, book 8 page 68 it's right next to male Ranma. Now what I want to know is... why didn't the koi turn into young boys? XD

-Tarou-

I highly doubt splashing yourself would have effect on only the area it touches, otherwise if you splashed Ranma with a cup of water the only parts of the curse to activate would be the areas hit by water. Would be a rather disgusting thing to see! Not to mention, the tiger that was turned into a duck was sprayed in the stomach by the water. It clearly shows the tiger only taking it in the stomach, in order for the tiger to have been covered completely both Shampoo and Ranma would have been partially affected. So curses must combine in very unpredictable ways.

-Nannichuan Water Casket-

I believe it was given to Ranma as a way of keeping his manhood while cursed... I mean even if they do combine he'd have his manhood! Just not in the way he wanted... Or he gave it to Ranma to curse Akane, who knows. I myself am 100% convinced jusenkyo has no cure and especially from itself.

As for Rumiko Takahashi having stated the jusenkyo water will work as a cure, show me the interview or whatever. There are lots of rumors that circulate for different questions we may have and I'm sure there are many people who pass out speculation as truths.

Lastly, as for pregnancy locking the curse. Each person is open to their own opinion on this and I won't say either way. I myself would prefer to say it would lock it as abortions are unsavory imo. As to it locking it permanently, again thats open for interpretation. Personally, I have ideas for fics where the mere act of sex in the female form would lock it. It's called magic for a reason, it's unexplainable and completely unpredictable. If it were explainable it would be science.

[Uldihaa]

I'd have to agree with those saying that using the 'correct' cursed water isn't a cure. While the Instant stuff seems to work, it's both highly concentrated and temporary; it's also unclear how much water is needed to create a single package of instant. It could take dozens of gallons to create one packet, and is thus much stronger than the 'regular' curse water straight from the springs.

I also have to point out that we are talking about cursed water, and the last time I checked, a negative plus a negative does not equal a positive; thus a curse plus a curse doesn't equal a cure. I honestly don't think Takahashi ever really thought about how to cure her characters since she never intended them to be cured. So when she had Taru enhance his curse with more cursed water, she never realized what that meant for her other cursed characters; at least not until it was too late to take it back.

[three headed dog]

It's called magic for a reason, it's unexplainable and completely unpredictable. If it were explainable it would be science.

Not true magic can be predictable the reason it's called magic Rather than science is because it's not understood. Many of the things that exist now would be counted as magic in less technologically advanced societies and some of the cutting edge and theoretical sciences may as well be magic (nanotechnology, gene-splicing, teleportation, pigs genetically altered to have human hearts for transplant, rejuvenation via gene resequencing and lengthing the telomeres in cells, tissue engineering, molecular assemblers, artificial intelligence,etc..

There probably are in universe cures and people who know more about how the magic works after all the amazons are capable of creating "magic" items and the pheonix people have been using the waters of Junsenkyo for at the minimum 4000 years and the Musk could have been using them even longer than that since Herb claimed that the Musk are over 14000 years old. Because modern society and the majority of the Ranma cast don't know about it doesn't mean much since some of the races in the Ranmaverse predate civilization.

[Suikie]

It's called magic for a reason, it's unexplainable and completely unpredictable. If it were explainable it would be science.

Not true magic can be predictable the reason it's called magic Rather than science is because it's not understood. Many of the things that exist now would be counted as magic in less technologically advanced societies and some of the cutting edge and theoretical sciences may as well be magic (nanotechnology, gene-splicing, teleportation, pigs genetically altered to have human hearts for transplant, rejuvenation via gene resequencing and lengthing the telomeres in cells, tissue engineering, molecular assemblers, artificial intelligence,etc..

My point, however, was that if it could be explained it would be a science. To a less advanced civilization our technology may seem as magic but to a more advanced civilization it could be mere child's play... a grade school science project.

[three headed dog]

My point, however, was that if it could be explained it would be a science. To a less advanced civilization our technology may seem as magic but to a more advanced civilization it could be mere child's play... a grade school science project.

But in this case modern civilization is less technologically advanced. There is evidence that can be used to argue that Junsenkyo as being artificially created i.e. the dragon and phoenix taps made of some type of super alloy that Ryoga couldn't scratch.

[Suikie]

Yes thats exactly what I was saying before. It's called magic because we can't explain it. If you can't explain something how can you accurately predict it? Sure we may know what one spring does by itself but we don't know how it works or what happens under certain circumstances! Magic! Just like when your computer suddenly stops working and you can't seem to get it to work... then one day it just starts working again! MAGIC! hehe

[Atlan]

rather disgusting thing to see! Not to mention, the tiger that was turned into a duck was sprayed in the stomach by the water. It clearly shows the tiger only taking it in the stomach, in order for the tiger to have been covered completely both Shampoo and Ranma would have been partially affected. So curses must combine in very unpredictable ways.

First of all, that was the instant stuff. Every other instance we see of someone getting cursed has them get fully submerged. And in all honsty, if you were getting sprayed by a hose, would only the area getting sprayed get wet? As anyone who has been sprayed by a hose can tell you, it doesnt work that way!!!

But also for the case that only the area that gets toutched changes, Tarou was allreaddy cursed once! It could be that since his boddy alreaddy held a curse, only the area that got toutched by the new water changed.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

There is a form of Western magic that might tie in with Instant Jusenkyo. In homeopathy, diluting the medicine makes it stronger. Instant Jusenkyo, rather than dehydrated, might be micro-encapsulated Jusenkyo water. There wouldn't be much of it in the packet - but diluting it with ordinary water would strengthen the magic to the point that it'd be effective, even from that small an amount.

Why, then, would the effect be temporary? They've found just the perfect material for the micro-encapsulation! And acting as an impurity, this material destroys the magical effect in a day or so.

The cure might not be in the Instant Jusenkyo water, but in the materials they use to micro-encapsulate it? And Jusenkyo Products is keeping that a secret, for the same reason we don't know the Coca-Cola formula or Colonel Sander's exact recipe for Kentucky-fried chicken?