mondu_the_fat wrote:Given equal skill, the larger, heavier fighter has the advantage. Male form is Ranma's natural form that he has trained in all his life. Males have higher pain threshold, and more aggressive.
Even if you're going to use "ki" as an excuse, unless you're arguing that Ranma's ki is greater in one form or another, the heavier, larger fighter STILL has an advantage.
Having an advantage for those reasons is a pile of brown smelly stuff, even in real life. And I'll tell you why: the brain. Muscle and size don't mean much if the person who isn't equal or greater in size and strength knows how to use what they have, unless the difference in size and strength is extreme. (And it'd also depend on intent and scruples. It's not that difficult to crush a windpipe, and all one needs is the ability to reach it.) An example right off the top of my head is weight lifting. Technique is just as important as the person's strength in determining how much weight they are able to lift, or lift at all. Another example is someone who can't fold a frying pan like their weaker opponent, because it's not that they have to be as strong or stronger, but strong
enough and know how to apply that strength. There are plenty examples in history where smaller, less-experienced and/or ill-equipped armies have performed well and beyond what anyone could have expected from them, if not actually come out victorious (both in battles and wars).
(Wait, aren't I basically saying: it's not the size that matters, but how you use it? And I get to say it outside of a penile context. Excellent! *Air guitar!*)
Double standard. You are ignoring physics (larger mass=greater strength) in one hand, but applying it to another (less mass=greater speed).
Um... no, I didn't? If you push two balls of differing sizes with the same amount of force, the lighter ball will travel faster (and thus further, which is irrelevant). I'm not arguing about strength at all. I was saying that speed (together with a smaller size) lends its own advantage, which I (in my opinion) consider to be better than being stronger by such a small margin that it doesn't really matter. Because I'm assuming that, even with the difference in size and musculature, the ki is the same both quantitatively and qualitatively (because there's no clear evidence that there is any change between genders and size in a human form), and thus the difference in the force delivered by a punch would remain the same: the male form would still pack more of a punch despite the increase in speed in the female form, but ki makes that difference almost negligible because (just for example) it's one thing to feel the difference between five-hundred and seven-hundred pounds of force, and it's quite another when both of those numbers range in the several tons (either way, both forms will hit like a wrecking ball at that point).
And I'm not even throwing technique into the mix. Some in the lighter weight classes have been known to punch with just as much force as those in the heavier weight classes, even from one extreme to the other. Also, because the female form doesn't have as much upper body mass and strength, there's nothing that says Ranma hasn't or wouldn't learn to put more of his body behind his blows to make up for it in female form, or even surpass it if he doesn't change how he uses his body when in male form. He probably wouldn't conserve as much energy in his female form as a result, and it may even decrease his options as far as mobility after-the-fact is concerned, but those things aren't at issue. In the end, Bruce Lee wasn't famous because he was big and strong, but because he knew how to use his body effectively. I think I'm being rather fair by treating his male and female forms as being (more or less) fundamentally equal with my
assumptions regarding ki (not simply with size and strength as if there weren't any ki involved), and that it's
only my opinion about speed and being a smaller target that I consider the female form better in spite of that. And Ranma does seem to favor speed and dodging to overpowering with force, and that's why I even bother with said opinion.
1) Except, canonically, size does make a difference. See Mousse vs Ranma.
I'd like to say that it's my opinion that that miscalculation in reach was completely and utterly contrived. Either way, it's "
can" make a difference, not "does." Happosai and Cologne are unarguably among the best of the best despite their extreme lack of reach. Like many obstacles, a difference in reach can be worked around, overcome or even used to one's advantage. For instance, if Happosai had wanted to win a fight against Hinako instead of simply canceling her ability to suck up someone's energy, he would have had other options by which to incapacitate her, even by using shiatsu (a simple poke at the back of the neck, for instance).
2) are you arguing that if Cologne or Happosai were twice the size they are they wouldn't be a better fighter?
I'm saying that, considering their abilities as fighters -- as they are -- that it wouldn't really matter if scaled. Could they be better if they were bigger? I'd say it's possible and that it would depend. It would all come down to how they use what they have, and if they change their technique and/or behavior along with the change in speed, power, larger size and longer reach. They could adapt new ways of using their changed bodies to complement their larger bodies, or stay the same or change to their detriment.
Basically, your entire argument that Ranma is better in his female form is a couple of throwaway lines in the anime about her being faster.
I find that very impossible since my default source is the manga and I intentionally withheld from making any comment about certain instances in the anime (both TV and OVA) because I haven't and won't use it, much less need it. I really don't care for the distinct pros and cons that the anime engendered in his two forms, at the very least because of the shallow reasoning behind them (which means that they don't make enough sense for me to sponsor).