Are they human?

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Are they human?

Postby Zwzn » Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:24 pm

Which characters in Ranma 1/2 may not be human anymore, or may never have been to begin with?

The concept of someone transforming into something not human anymore through one means or another, or having non-human parents is a rather common concept throughout the world, and such a thing seems like it may appear in Ranma 1/2 and certainly does appear in other works by Rumiko Takahashi.

Both have an unnatural vitality, and are in no way hampered by the effects of aging in spite of being in the hundreds of years old range.

Happosai and Cologne seem to be a prime candidates to me to no longer be human as neither appears to be human in form anymore among other things.
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Re: Are they human?

Postby LawOhki » Tue May 10, 2011 12:17 pm

Define human.
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Re: Are they human?

Postby Knight of L-sama » Tue May 10, 2011 5:55 pm

LawOhki wrote:Define human.


I'll second that question. While much of the cast, Ranma and Ryoga especially, display abilities that are well and truly superhuman but they're more in the nature of a Charles Atlas Superpower rather than a fundamental change to their human nature.
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Re: Are they human?

Postby Crescent Pulsar R » Tue May 10, 2011 7:47 pm

There's the universe's mechanics, too. Humans in Ranma 1/2 are capable of doing a lot more than humans in the real world. What seems more than human to us is acceptable -- perhaps even commonplace -- to them.

Midgets like Happosai, Cologne and Rakkyousai are cases of artistic license, as they are still treated as humans.

I'm not saying that it's impossible for one of the characters to have a parent or ancestor that had been among the youkai, yousei, or something of that sort: there's simply no direct evidence to draw such a conclusion as a fact, rather than as a theory. (This is with the exception, of course, of the Musk and Phoenix people, where it's evident enough that they're not completely human.)
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Re: Are they human?

Postby Zwzn » Sat Oct 22, 2011 12:59 am

Crescent Pulsar R wrote:There's the universe's mechanics, too. Humans in Ranma 1/2 are capable of doing a lot more than humans in the real world. What seems more than human to us is acceptable -- perhaps even commonplace -- to them.

Midgets like Happosai, Cologne and Rakkyousai are cases of artistic license, as they are still treated as humans.

I'm not saying that it's impossible for one of the characters to have a parent or ancestor that had been among the youkai, yousei, or something of that sort: there's simply no direct evidence to draw such a conclusion as a fact, rather than as a theory. (This is with the exception, of course, of the Musk and Phoenix people, where it's evident enough that they're not completely human.)

It's not that simple as to say

Cologne is described as a mummy as I recall.

Happosai was trapped in a cave with no food, water, and possibly breathable air by a paper ward for about 16 years(Akane had just been born, but he had heard nothing of Ranma)(Not eating canonly kills human Ranmaverse martial artists) Humans can't be sealed in caves by paper wards.
He heals at an abnormally fast rate.

Nodoka exhibits abnormal strength and speed being able to keep up with Genma in spite of no training. She also looks like the monkey Herb through into the spring of drowned girl, and talks about being from a long line of warriors/martial artists.

Ranma has had his head smashed in with weapons(as in the weapons are stuck in his skull), and recovered in moments when he wanted to. He heals so fast it amazes even superhuman martial artists.
He looks like the monkey Herb threw in the spring of drowned girl when in girl form.
Ranma has gone without eating for a prolonged period of time without losing mass.
He survived being sealed in concrete and buried alive, and found it annoying much to the surprise of Happossai who had intended to kill Ranma that way.
Ranma survived someone reaching into his chest, and grabbing/crushing his heart in an attempt to rip it out, and fully recovered in about a week at most.

Ryoga has his fangs that are a blood line trait. While fangs like Ryoga's can be found in the general population they are very rare.
Ryoga's family curse shows a more mystical background.
Do to Ryoga's curse we can assume he was often on his own from a very early age, and had to fend for himself. As soon as he would be able to crawl he would start getting lost. This means he would have to be abnormally tuff in order to survive.
The curse is not simply getting lost, but either warping reality, or a teleport since Ryoga crosses large boding of water without realizing it.
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Re: Are they human?

Postby mondu_the_fat » Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:34 pm

Are the three stooges human? You can poke their eyes out and they're fine!
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Re: Are they human?

Postby Zwzn » Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:10 pm

mondu_the_fat wrote:Are the three stooges human? You can poke their eyes out and they're fine!

Your reply could be trying to say a number of things. Could you please flesh it out a bit more?

Ranma1/2 honestly has superhumans and a host of supernatural horrors who shock, amaze, scare, and kill people with their abilities in-universe.
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