General Questions mk 2

[Zwzn]

Okay, so a lot of fics bring up how Ranma's engagement to Akane is a matter of honor. But does either the manga or the anime ever explicitly say that at any point?

It's an arranged marriage of the old fashion kind, and as i recall in the Herb arc Soun says something along the lines of he will marry Ranma if Ranma fails to unlock the curse. Soun sees it as more then just engaging one of hos daughters to Ranma. It is at least strongly implied that all the engagements are a matter of honor.

The only character who does not feel bound to for filling the engagements is Ranma.

[Ezvir]

Here's a question I hope somebody can answer; when Happosai buries the scroll containing the secrets for the Happo Fire-Burst under a boulder (Viz Volume 9, anime episode Rub-a-dub-dub! There's a pervert in the tub!), that boulder has kanji engraven on it. Can anyone translate what those kanji say?

Hiragana, not kanji, actually: ひでんしょのはか hidensho no haka, which any even semi-educated would write with kanji as 秘伝書の墓 and means "grave of the secret scroll".

Souun definitely wasn't offering to marry Ranma himself in the Musk ark, he was offering to marry Ranma off as a member of the Tendou family, presumably to someone of her choice.

[Cheb]

AFAIR, he was offering to accept her into the family by the way of marriage. Which is the same as saying he'dl marry her, but in a more convoluted and ominous way.
In general, I believe this was only to creep Ranma out and frighten her into action.
But it wouldn't be a scare at all unless it held some truth in it.

To completely understand everything that goes unsaid between the lines, I think we need to read a lot of Japanese classics like that big book of the Tair clan (I bet it's one of Kunou's favorites) or watch historic live action shows like Fuurin Kazan.

I loaned the book once from my friend but I had to give it back before I had a chance to read even a fourth of it.

[Ezvir]

No, that's completely wrong.

He says:
天道家からお嫁に出してあげるからね

Literally: Because [I'll] help you out by sending you out from the Tendou famiily to be a bride.

お嫁に出す is what parents do with their daughters.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Didn't think these were worthy of their own topic, so, came here. I was just watching the final episode of Season 3; Ranma Goes Back To Jusenkyo At Last, which revolves around Ranma having a dream/nightmare in which he and Genma try to go back to the past with Happosai's magic mirror to prevent themselves from falling into Jusenkyo. And I began to wonder; what might have happened to the series if Ranma had actually taken the mirror, on his own, gone back in time to that fateful day, and chosen to confront the past versions of himself and his father to explain what going to Jusenkyo is A Bad Idea(TM)?

As this is set at the end of season 3, and as Ranma isn't specifically trying to guide them into the future, there's not many details Ranma can "give away", and mostly it would be an attempt to prove that he is who he says he is by revealing knowledge only Genma would have, but which he hasn't shared with Ranma at this point in time. After all, the future-Ranma can convince them Jusenkyo is real by displaying his curse, but he's still got to persuade them that he is Ranma of the future and so worth listening to, yes?

The specific things he can reveal are: Genma plans to engage Ranma to one of Soun Tendo's three daughters when they return to Japan, Genma trained under Happosai (perhaps absently mentioning the old pervert is alive and will dig himself out of his impromptu tomb fairly soon), Ryoga has followed Ranma and will soon reach Jusenkyo himself (may or may not mention Ranma was the one who pushed him into the Eiton'niichuan), and Ukyo is both a girl and engaged to Ranma by Genma.

So, if the time-travelling Ranma does reveal all this information, proves to them that Jusenkyo is a place they don't want to visit, how might this affect the future of these alternate Saotomes? I don't know if the future Ranma, if push comes to shove, would be stupid enough to make a boast like "learned that from a little old lady in Nyuchiehzu" after using his Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken to beat the past-Ranma, but that may not actually influence them to go there even if he doesn't mention it - it's possible that it too is in that book of Genma's, which is a travelogue of Chinese training grounds.

[Dumbledork]

I don't think it would change anything for the Ranma using the mirror. He'd probably create an alternative future.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I should have specified I meant "what might change for the futures of the Ranma and Genma who were warned off of Jusenkyo", not "what will change for the Ranma who travelled through time to warn them". My apologies.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I've met Genma-equivalents before. Future Ranma would make Past Genma all the more determined to go to Jusenkyo. The real question is then, "what would Past Ranma do?"

[Konsaki]

I've met Genma-equivalents before. Future Ranma would make Past Genma all the more determined to go to Jusenkyo. The real question is then, "what would Past Ranma do?"

Complain and fight Genma for a bit before eventually going along to Jusenkyo. It's pretty much the standard thing in the manga, IIRC, when everyone wants Ranma to do something.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Here's a bit of research I wanted to check up on. When have Ranma and Akane fought as a team throughout the series, and what were the outcomes? These are the times I recall; are they correct, and what are the ones that I missed?

Martial Arts Ice Skating Arc: Ranma and Akane are the initial team vs. the Golden Pair. Ranma uses Akane once or twice as a distraction, Akane then gets them caught up in the Couple Cleaver by being suckered into thinking Azusa is flirting with Ranma. Ranma takes the blow for Akane, then, after Akane partially agrees to trading Ranma for Ryoga due to his injuries, Ranma goes onto the rink with Ryoga, leaving Akane behind on the sidelines to watch as Ranma & Ryoga finish the Golden Pair off.

Dojo Destroyer (Manga): Akane fights the destroyer on her own until Ranma returns in a last ditch save. They then proceed to bicker and argue after Ranma takes the destroyer down single-handed.

Dojo Destroyer (Anime): As above, but when Ranma returns, they immediately start arguing about whether Akane needed saving or not (she did, but not the point), which the destroyer uses as a chance to catch them in a swirling vortex of boards. They then use the "Dual Jet Stream Raging Waters" combination attack to escape and defeat him.

Martial Arts Shogi Episode: The two fight at each other's side, fending off the shogi-mooks until Akane gets a bright idea and uses Ranma as a human flail to scatter them all. Then, while Ranma is fending off their fathers (it involves the rules of MA Shogi and their own being overwhelmed by the shogi-mooks), Akane is trapped in a shogi-costume by the loony who called the challenge; he then magnetizes her to his own suit and uses her like a human shield. The fight ends when his real wife appears and he forgets all about his fight.

Ryugenzawa Arc: Ranma turns into a girl to distract the Orochi while a shibari-wearing Akane climbs up its body to get the Moss of Life. When it catches her, Ranma dives to the bottom of the lake, jams a boulder into the Orochi's mouth to keep it from eating Akane, then carries her to the surface before trying to lead the beast away. Akane snaps to her senses, grabs some hot water, and risks her own life to distract the Orochi at just the right moment and restore Ranma to his male form. While Ranma tries to fight it off, she discovers she has the mongoose horn whistle they need to send it back to sleep and proceeds to do so.

Saffron Arc: Akane tries to turn off the tap to prevent Saffron's ascension and is turned into a doll. She then spends the rest of the battle riding in Ranma's pocket until the end, when she falls out and carves the furrow through Saffron's blazing aura that Ranma needs to use a Hiryu Shoten Ha to kill him.

[TerraEpon]

Don't forget the Natsume/Kurumi OVA.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

Ah, yes, thank you, thank you. Any other comments, anyone? Others I've forgotten, details I have wrong? I'm much more familiar with the anime then the manga, so I may have missed some stories where she was actually involved in the fighting, as opposed to, say, sitting at home while Ranma wandered off into the wilderness in pursuit of his enemies (Musk Dynasty arc).

The One To Carry On (Round 1): Ranma focuses on protecting Akane, pushing her out of the way of Natsume's ice-wind blasts. Akane gets offended by the "babying" perceived in this and starts bickering with him. Natsume blasts them both with her and her sister's combination attack, the Ring of Dragon Fire, while they are distracted, with Ranma twisting so that s/he absorbs the blast and Akane is merely knocked over because it propelled Ranma into her. After the match is over, Ranma complains while cradling her frostbitten & burned limbs that s/he could have won easily if s/he hadn't had to look out for Akane. Akane slaps her across the face and runs off out of the house.

The One To Carry On (Round 2): Akane challenges the sisters on her own, and manages to overwhelm Kurumi, who doesn't particularly seem to enjoy the idea of fighting Akane, period. Natsume promptly joins in and Akane is on the defensive again. Ranma appears in the nick of time to save Akane and declares she will fight as Akane's partner. Ranma uses the Hiryu Shoten Ha Kaiteiban: Gedan Rasen (that's Hiryu Shoten Ha Revised: Horizontal Spiral) to simultaneously nullify the devastating Ring of Dragon Fire attack the sisters throw at them and to propel Akane at them as a human bullet, knocking them down and letting Ranma & Akane claim the victory.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

This is just something that came to mind and which I thought I'd ask. As we all know, the Nanniichuan at the failed wedding was lost because Happosai drank it, claiming he'd mistaken it for sake. This is a puzzler to a lot of people; after all, how do you mistake spring or mineral water (whichever Jusenkyo water is) for rice wine? Well, I was wondering: what if Happosai knew all along what the Nanniichuan was and drank it to deliberately ruin any chance Ranma may have had at getting cured, claiming he "mistook it for sake" as one of the ever-present feeble "cover my ass" lies?

I mean, Happosai is, after all, notoriously selfish and self-centered, particularly enjoys groping and otherwise molesting Ranma's female form, and makes it clear on a number of occasions he "likes Ranma better" as a girl. In the anime episode Ranma Goes Back to Jusenkyo at Last, Happosai is shown as being heartbroken when Ranma tells him that it looks like he's just erased Ranma's female form from existence, and when he "reappears" in the timeline, does so alongside a female Ranma, implying he may have forced the Saotomes to go back to Jusenkyo and take the plunge into "their" springs.

So, would it really be out of character for Happosai to have deliberately ruined a chance that Ranma might "kill off" his female side, the side of him that Happosai outright states he likes better in his first aappearance?

[Dumbledork]

That idea is nothing new, it's been used in fanfics before.

[Drawde2]

The cask the water was in was similar to the cask of sake that is traditionally broken open at some point during a Japanese wedding. Happosai simply saw the cask at the wedding and assumed it was sake. Not finding out until after he gulped it down that it was water.