Who would win?

[Dragonboy]

I've asked this question in other places and have gotten mixed responses to it, so I figure I should ask it here as well.
I'm working on a Ranma fic now that will eventually lead up to a big fight between Ranma and Taro. So tell me, in your opinion, who would win in a one-on-one fight? Ranma or Taro. My personal thoughts on it are with Taro because:
1. In the past, the only people to ever beat Taro by themselves were Happosai and Rogue (which means Cologne could do it, too, so that's three people). Otherwise it took Ranma, Happosai, Ryoga, Shampoo, Mousse and Akane (Vol. 16) or Ranma, Happosai, Soun and Genma (Vol. 21) to beat him.
2. Human-wise, Taro is probably more equal to Ranma than Ryoga is. They're both fast, smart, agile, and know how to use their surroundings to their advantage (as seen in the water caves). Even though they've fought several times, it's never been strictly one-on-one with a decisive victory over the other.
3. Downside for Taro is that he's never demonstrated any ki abilites, while Ranma has at least two. But on the other hand, with his cursed form, Taro is nearly invinsible and probably doesn't really need any ki attacks.
I'll stop here for now, but what are your opinions on this?

[antimatterenergy]

Tough question. I'm unsure it depends on many factors.
First where are they fighting i.e. did Taro choose the spot and set up traps or did Ranma choose the spot and has some plan to use the terrain to his advantage such as causing an avalanche or fighting on or near a volcano to have a large heat source for Hiryu Shoten Ha's. or is it a nuetral spot.
Second what form's are they in is it Male Ranma versus normal Tarou? Monster Taro vs normal Ranma? Female form Ranma vs monster Taro? etc...
Is there a large supply of cold water near but that Ranma has to keep Taro from getting to?
Do either of them get a weapon and if so what?
I'm going to assume that environment is neutral and they have no preplanned traps or weapons. Also assuming that there is no water in the area that they could use to their advantages (ex. river, lake, hot spring)
-Male Ranma versus human Tarou. I'd give this to Ranma 8/10. Ranma appears to be faster, more adaptive, I also believe Ranma to have more raw skill than Tarou who when ever skill didn't suffice can always switch forms and Ranma has ki techniques that Taro doesn't.
-Monster Tarou vs male Ranma. I'd give this to Ranma 6/10. I'd give Taro the win more but Ranma would probably win if he makes use of the environment and makes good use of his ki techniques. Taro is a large target that Ranma should be able to hit with many ki blast.
-Normal Taro vs female Ranma 7/10 in Ranma's favor because even though Ranma is slower, weaker, etc... Ranma should still be able to win because of his ki blasts, skill, and use of the environment.
-Monster Taro vs female Ranma even 5/10. Ranma while female is always at a disadvantage. Ranma could still win if he makes good use of ki techniques and the environment but it will be much harder for Ranma to win. Ranma though would have to be fighting at his best and not allow himself to be distracted or allow himself to become overconfident. But Taro is larger and makes more of a target and Ranma is smaller and should be able to stay clear of Tarous attacks
edited. revised fight's after putting more thought into the battle.

[Cheb]

Hmmm... As I remember, it was Ranma-girl who beat Tarou-minotaur. In one on one duel, while others were incapacitated via their curses.
Ranma is too damn inventive.
I'd say that against Ranma-class adversaries Tarou's monster form is a *disadvantage*. Didn't Ranma say, I quote by memory, "He hits as hard as Akane! It's good thing that he is as slow as she is".

[Atlan]

I think that either of ranma's forms would beat tarou (for this post, Tarou=human form, Pantyhose=cursed form). After all, tarou changed in the first battle when he was feeling uncertain about victory. And ranma got a whole lot better since then.
Against the monster form, male ranma would be almost equal, but superior. The tentacles are a match for the cheastnut fist, the moko takabisia is a match for the sheer endurance of the cursed form, but with even a standered hiro shouen ha, pantyhose would be too slow to get out of it. It would take ages to pull it off, however, so I can see the hiro shouen ha being the finishing move. I also cant see much difference between male and female ranma here, like the yamoto serpent battle at ryugenzya- the trade off is equal due to the sheer size of the oponent.
Note that this is asuming there is a large space to fight in. A place like a cave however, with about a metere clearance over pantyhose's head, would have ranma as sushi.
I can see this battle starting indoors, ranma versus tarou. Ranma winning, till tarou gets both of them wet. Then pantyhose owning ranma chan, till they get outside, like on a roof. Then the battle becomes more even, till ranma pulls off a hiro shouen ha, mabey pouring water into it to make a hot water torando to change pantyhose back into tarou.
Just my 2 cents

[Hiryo]

-Male Ranma versus human Tarou. I'd give this to Ranma 8/10. Ranma appears to be faster, more adaptive, I also believe Ranma to have more raw skill than Tarou who when ever skill didn't suffice can always switch forms and Ranma has ki techniques that Taro doesn't.

Why only 8/10 Taro was nearly beaten by ranma and I tend more to
5/10 in Ranma's favour until Taro uses his monster-form.

-Monster Tarou vs male Ranma. I'd give this to Ranma 6/10. I'd give Taro the win more but Ranma would probably win if he makes use of the environment and makes good use of his ki techniques. Taro is a large target that Ranma should be able to hit with many ki blast.

That I don't agree since Taro had problems with the threeheaded Asura
whereby Ranma came out the better. So herby I give it a 7/10 in Taro's
favor.

-Normal Taro vs female Ranma 7/10 in Ranma's favor because even though Ranma is slower, weaker, etc... Ranma should still be able to win because of his ki blasts, skill, and use of the environment.

That I don't agree since when Ranma becomes female Ranma becomes
faster as well loose a bit of his strenght as well in his Ki-volume. Like as
Herb was faster however 'weaker' as a girl. Since 'her' ki-was also hard
to read.
I give it the same as before. 4/10 in Ranma's favour since Ranma
although weaker is faster and gets more hits in.

-Monster Taro vs female Ranma even 5/10. Ranma while female is always at a disadvantage. Ranma could still win if he makes good use of ki techniques and the environment but it will be much harder for Ranma to win. Ranma though would have to be fighting at his best and not allow himself to be distracted or allow himself to become overconfident. But Taro is larger and makes more of a target and Ranma is smaller and should be able to stay clear of Tarous attacks
edited. revised fight's after putting more thought into the battle.

I tend more to 6/10 in Taro's favour.

[antimatterenergy]

Actually there is no proof that Ranma is faster while female and it doesn't make sense for him to be faster while female. Now in the anime it appears that Ranma's is faster while female but not in the manga.
Ranma loses leg length which should slow him down some also males are given same age and exercising are generally faster than females just look at world records and Olympic events if you don't believe me. Ranma should be overall weaker in just about every way speed, strenght, ki, etc... while female.

[Cheb]

Dhe different kinds of speed. Performing the same maneuver (kick, punch, block) will be faster, and she also will work faster with her legs.
But despite that, the pure linear speed will be *slower*. I.e. Ranma-guy would outrun Ranma-girl.
I calculated it long ago, and got the following result: the fastness of the motions is reversely proportional to the square root of the linear size (i.e. if you make a human 10 times smaller you need to boost his reflexes/slow the time for him 3.16 times, or he'll be unable to stay straight, dropping constantly).
Considering the height of male Ranma 164 cm and female Ranma 150 cm, we get 1.093 ratio. Which means that onna-Ranma runs approx. 5% slower than otoko-Ranma but punches and kicks the same 5% more often. But that is probably overweighted by her shorter reach.

[Cheb]

...in short, +5% frequency of hits at the cost of very significant loss in strength... (I'd say, 30..50%) - not a fair trade at all.

[nuclear death frog]

...in short, +5% frequency of hits at the cost of very significant loss in strength... (I'd say, 30..50%) - not a fair trade at all.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ranma's strength loss when switching to his female form is greater than 50%. In the two-chapter story on Heron Island, girl-Ranma needed to manifest a fairly large battle aura to destroy a rock *MUCH* smaller than the Buddha statue that Ranma (while male) lifted with his aura completely suppressed during the Saotome Forbidden Techniques arc.
At any rate, yeah, it's not a fair trade in the least. Not only is Ranma's female form much *weaker* but she should be much less *durable* also -- because she's smaller.

[Greybara]

I've asked this question in other places and have gotten mixed responses to it, so I figure I should ask it here as well.
I'm working on a Ranma fic now that will eventually lead up to a big fight between Ranma and Taro. So tell me, in your opinion, who would win in a one-on-one fight? Ranma or Taro. My personal thoughts on it are with Taro because:
1. In the past, the only people to ever beat Taro by themselves were Happosai and Rogue (which means Cologne could do it, too, so that's three people). Otherwise it took Ranma, Happosai, Ryoga, Shampoo, Mousse and Akane (Vol. 16) or Ranma, Happosai, Soun and Genma (Vol. 21) to beat him.
2. Human-wise, Taro is probably more equal to Ranma than Ryoga is. They're both fast, smart, agile, and know how to use their surroundings to their advantage (as seen in the water caves). Even though they've fought several times, it's never been strictly one-on-one with a decisive victory over the other.
3. Downside for Taro is that he's never demonstrated any ki abilites, while Ranma has at least two. But on the other hand, with his cursed form, Taro is nearly invinsible and probably doesn't really need any ki attacks.
I'll stop here for now, but what are your opinions on this?

sorry but ranma demonstrates ki all the time, why do you think hes that fast and strong and can take that much abuse, all of his punches and blocks use ki, its damn near impossible to fight without ki
secondly, ranma beating taro depends entirely on the timeline, their current skill levels, and the situation, speed definatly helps though, and i think ranma would have a better chance in his girl form, who is also smaller,

[kuopiofi]

Plus Ranma can do Hiryu Shoten Ha instantly, this has been used twice: #29 against Happosai and Rakkyosai, in #33 mirror-Ranko (well, girl-type anyway) uses it against Soun and Genma.

[Frog]

To put it succintly: if you want to make it as close to canon as possible then, either through sheer genius or sheer luck, Ranma will come out on top after a long and arduous battle.
That's just the way it always works. Afterall, he's the title character.

[crystlshake]

I agree with frog. Regardless it would probably be a pretty close fight either way, with a few exchanges where one or the other would get the upper hand. While Taro seems pretty tough, he also seems to rely on his monster form a bit too much which may give him more skill with it but may have cost him some in his usual form. I think the biggest change for Taro combat wise is that when cursed he can absorb much more damage and dodge differently. It would probably create some odd holes in his defence. Hes also an inteligent fighter though so he could perpetuate that illusion to fool ranma into a false sence of security.

[Cyber_Skaarj]

-Normal Taro vs female Ranma 7/10 in Ranma's favor because even though Ranma is slower, weaker, etc... Ranma should still be able to win because of his ki blasts, skill, and use of the environment.

Why do people keep saying he's slower as a female? He's faster damnit! Like others have said, faster running speed does not neccesarily equate to being faster overall.
Plus the female form is far more flexible than the male form. Combine the increase in speed with the much greater fexibility and agility, and you have a Ranma than can more than make up for the lack of strength... if he ever bothered to try and train up his female form, which seems to be increadibly neglected by him.

[nuclear death frog]

-Normal Taro vs female Ranma 7/10 in Ranma's favor because even though Ranma is slower, weaker, etc... Ranma should still be able to win because of his ki blasts, skill, and use of the environment.

Why do people keep saying he's slower as a female? He's faster damnit!

In the anime, yes. However there are some people who think the anime's canonicity is questionable if it exists at all, because Takahashi had little to do with its creaton, if anything.
In the manga, I can't remember any conclusive evidence either way.