General Questions mk 2

[toushin]

This was a quote from yagami ½ that actually sounds like a logical reason for ranma’s aversion to his curse.

"The curse comes along. A lot of people like to try and tell me it's not a big deal, to try and make me feel better, but they don't know. It IS. Not because I'm weaker, or because I'm less of a man, or even because guys hit on... well, that last one is kind of a big deal, I guess. But changing genders... it's weird. You start to think differently. You react differently. I feel different. They're not good feelings, either. I keep thinking that maybe the curse is turning me into a different person."

It’s an excepted fact both canon and fanon that jusenkyo gives its victims an instinctive understanding of their cursed forms which is how mouse is able to fly so easily. Could it be that instinct is the real reason ranma is so desperate to get rid of his curse yet at the same time seems so comfortable with it at time. Because unlike the various animal curses having a human curse causes a greater sense of losing yourself.

[BonusPoints]

I think that's certainly possible. It's my own opinion that the curse gives its victim all the tools they will need in order to adapt to the circumstances of their cursed form, because not only is there 'instinct' to contend with, but certain instinctive behaviours are learned. In the case of social animals, and for a human victim human curses in specific, this invariably results in a weird sort of acculturation. The subtle cues on how to be relative to the social environment can be adopted easily and quickly - it just works. In the case of Ranma, or anyone else with a human curse, a huge hate-on for the curse should be expected. It's one thing to change forms, it's another thing entirely when one's social identity changes.

One thing that gets touched on often in fanfiction, but rarely sees a particularly in-depth treatment, is how Ranma's curse would warp his interactions with men/women "in the know" at all times. How much weight would first impressions carry in those interactions, that is, whether he was first encountered in male or female form? More importantly, how much weight would the first impressions of each individual form carry, in one form or the other? Ranma's closest relationships get a lot of screen-time in that regard, but I think the greatest impact would be on more casual friendships and acquaintances.

How much does knowing that that girl is a boy impact interactions? Wouldn't knowing that the boy could be a girl change things, too, even if only a little?

So yeah, I think one of the major reasons Ranma wants to get rid of his curse as badly as he does is because of how utterly screwed up it would make him feel (about things) when he changed. Just as much so, I expect he is being driven up the wall by how weird it's bound to make other people towards him, and the way that weirdness certainly pushes him to behave.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

I won't say that Ranma 1/2 doesn't leave it open enough for that to be made as a valid explanation in fan-fiction, but I personally think that that's not the case. There are just one too many occasions in canon where Ranma uses/takes advantage of his curse in ways that someone who would want to avoid feeling like that would not do. To be certain, I'd say that the inconvenience of having no control of the change is one of the problems, and how it may affect someone's opinion about him (he is sensitive to negative scrutiny, after all, because he wants to look good in more than just his own eyes). But I'd say that what it ultimately comes down to is something very simple: he was born as a guy, raised as a guy, people expect him to be a guy, and he has obligations as a guy -- thus, he has all of the logical, rational and irrational reasons to be a guy and not a girl. Even if he had preferred being a girl, he'd come to the conclusion that it would be better for him to act like he prefers being a guy.

[toushin]

While we’re on the subject fanfics the author of tenchi and ranma together forever theorized that ryoga’s hatred of ranma stems from poor social skills. That ranma had approached ryoga the same way he had approached ukyo expecting the same results yet while ryoga just saw it as an insult. I think it has merits.

Another theory of that fic was that though he hates it the curse allows ranma come out of the shell that genma forced him to build. And you do see it in cannon such as ranma’s love for ice cream, yet he will only eat it as a girl.

[Southern Cross]

That's canon. "Cannon" refers to a large weapon that fires projectiles.