The Mantis Saga,
Appendix and Notes
Actually just a way for me to shoot of my big mouth.
With Beer-monster.
Okay. So I want to share my ideas, this may seem awfully arrogant to presume that you care what I think. But here we go anyway.
Acknowledgements:
Okay credit where credits due. Obviously thanks to Rumiko Takahashi for the obvious. I owe a lot to evil Nabiki and Shade cause without the New Ranmascan project I wouldn't have gotten to enjoy this bizarre world. Thanks to Wandering Oni for agreeing to be my pre-reader and letting me pester him endlessly. Thanks to my favourite authors for teaching me how to write and such. And finally thanks to for writing Ranma Vs the World, which inspired this fic.
I'm not gonna blow sand up your arses and say that the above was the greatest or best written fic, but it did display martial arts, and did it well.
Theme: You see the real reason I like the Ranma series it the way it displays the martial arts, the fighting. I am obsessed with martial arts and the series has duels and challenges, things in martial arts history I've always been fascinated in. You may all say, who cares there are other martial, arts series but Ranma is one of the few that got the balance right. Take Dragonball, nice series but when the characters have the power to destroy planets you've gone too far. Fist of the North Star? Too many exploding heads. Ranma had the mix of duel and techniques with enough fantasy Ki techniques for interest but no universal damage. My favourite episodes are the one were he fights tough opponents, Herb, Ryu Kumon, Ryoga and the Shishi Hokodan.
Ranma Vs the World blended Ranma with the only other series that got the balance, Street Fighter. It had Ranma chasing Ryu to learn a new technique and improve his skills. The training, fighting and improving fascinates me personally, maybe cause as a real person in the real world I can't do that. Also all the great historical masters felt the same way and took trips and fought duels, Wong Fei Hung, Yip Man etc.
So I decided to write a martial arts Ranma fic. I wanted to use Ranma ½ to explore the martial arts, in a way I haven't seen in fics before. So I came up with the premise of Ranma and Ryoga travelling the world searching out challenges and learning techniques. I wanted to show Ranma get stronger and better instead of having him disappear and then return super-powerful as many have done.
I also felt that that sort of things is what Ranma would want to do after all he loves challenges and can't just wait for people to come to Nerima. But he was tied to Nerima, by fiancés and school so I had to do something dramatic to make him feel the need to leave and to improve. Enter Loaf and Nodoka.
Anyway, as I wrote this fic I began to think about the virtues important to the master martial artist in Chinese but especially Japanese and the ideals of the Samurai. I thought of the past masters Funakoshi, Ueshiba, Choki Motobu, Bruce Lee and Chan Heung. All very different people but all said to be obsessed with learning and improving as well as being very honourable people. Honour, that concept particularly fascinated me, what is it to a Warrior and what is its place in the modern world. So I really wanted to explore that theme. Honour and Pride, or two conflicting but essential virtue of the true martial artist, but I felt that although he means well and is true to his code Ranma's sense of honour is Miss Guided so by having Nodoka question his beliefs, the narrative could show how his ideals change as we explore what honour is.
So basically there is a point to all this drama, and there are things I'm trying to do with this fic. One of the main things is originality, something that with so many Ranma fics out there is running thin. And there is so many traditionalists out there that they shun all attempts to play with the characters in new ways or to portray anyone but Akane as other than scenery.
Characters: Well obviously you're a fan of Ranma otherwise you wouldn't be reading this. In fact why are you anyway, I'm babbling! The fact is Ranma ½ is a comedy manga; which is quite a shallow genre. Everything the characters do is geared to slapstick comedy, that's why hitting your fiancé with a mallet is not considered abuse, why thinking you're a samurai does not get you locked up, and why Genma has not been arrested for child cruelty. However this does not create developed characters (yes I said it, I'm going to get stoned aren't I, and not in the funky, hallucinating way), except for Ranma and Akane the other figures are cardboard cut outs with swords. However, if you want to write a well-rounded story you need 3-dimensional characters, especially if you're a writer like me who likes to get in peoples heads. So you have to fill in the blanks while still being true to the character.
The way I see it the characters have a general behaviour and a inner behaviour, eg the general behaviour is the way most people see and portray character, but sometimes in certain situations in the manga an inner self shows. For example Ranma's usual attitude to Genma is of anger, but in the Hell's cradle issue we see he does care for the old git. So for the guy who said I don't read the manga, I do, and use them to delve deeper into characters. Unfortunately you can't see all the pieces in the anime and manga, so you have to use your judgement and try not to let wishful thinking lead you away. Just my little philosophy on the portrayal of Ranma characters and below is my thoughts and why I wrote them as I did.
Ranma: I freely admit Ranma is quite OOC in this fic, but Ranma is a optimistic, happy-go-lucky, confident, character but the plot of the fic did not really call for that yet. First he was depressed at the lack of challenge, the at his loss to Loaf, then bitter at Ryoga's comments, then unsure of himself after the talk with Nodoka, then guilty at hurting the girls. So not really the Ranma we're used to, but we did see him return towards the end, and as hopefully the fic will be more light-hearted and we'll see him some more.
As I said Honour and Pride are the two great parts of a martial artists personality. And for those people who I count as such, these are the two main drives I wrote for them. Ranma especially. His pride gives him the desire to challenge himself, to become stronger and better, which also makes him a little arrogant, but hey he's learning. Honour is really vital to him, it defines his way of life as a martial artist and always makes him want to do the right thing, but he doesn't want to hurt anyone thus complicating matters especially where his fiancés are concerned. But the problem is he's no longer sure what honour is, and its not really a cast-iron concept so he's a little baffled. He wants to do the right thing but is not sure what that is. And that's the dilemma.
Ryoga: Well I haven't had much opportunity to really get into Ryoga's head, but I will write what I think of him. Ryoga is a nice guy, and he wants to whats right by his own sense of honour. But his problem is his passion, it run away from him. He always takes things to extremes, swearing vengeance for a stepped on foot etc, professing love for a little kindness. But deep down he's just a shy, sensitive guy. I think he is as proud about his skills as Ranma is but insecure about all else, he wants challenges and improvement to but thinks such things a petty, so makes big deals of everything to justify himself. He's also a complete fool where girls are concerned. His relationship with Ranma is kind of brotherly, they do have moments when they seem to be good friends but the rivalry between them often clouds all that and each will always consider the other the benchmark to measure their skill. A friendlier Goku/Vegeta thing.
Nodoka: Well what's to say. Tradition and austerity sums it all up. I think of her as a mix of Samurai and eighteenth century, upper class English gentlewoman. Old fashioned to fault and obsessed with duty. Duty is the essence of honour but to her it leaves room for nothing else. She feels that as his mother she knows Ranma's duty better than he, and will not rest until he fulfils it. She cannot see more outside what she feels Ranma's obligation to be (ie marry Akane) and thinks that things like love and free will are just obstacles to what is ultimately for the best: A shame really because she obviously loves her son very, very much, but happiness is second to honour. The biggest criticism of my work came at Chapter 8 with the whole seppuku debacle. Most people seemed to think that Ranma should have told her where to go and that he was too strong to be cowed by her. Unfortunately this is where wishful thinking come in to play, and it had often been the cause of OOCness. We all want Ranma to do that, but the manga shows that Ranma is quite weak where his mother is concerned. He loves her deeply and wants nothing more than her approval, he yearns for it. To have her act so ashamed as she did in that scene is bound to make him react strongly. Or at least I think so.
Well then we come to the fiancés. It gonna get bumpy.
Unfortunately since Akane is recognised as the true fiancé most of the other girls are depicted as lifeless cut outs, only to hassle Ranma until he finally tells them to sod off and marries Akane, which they do and are soon matched with anyone who comes to pass. It would take a very good writer a lot of time to write a convincing reason why Mousse and Shampoo would end up together. But these characters are people with feelings, so I wanted to get inside them and rumble about.
Shampoo: Okay first, she's not a bimbo. There have been several indications, which show she has a brain not least her imaginative schemes. But like Ryoga she is very passionate and lets her heart rule her head most of the time. And her heart wants Ranma.
It would be easy for Shampoo to fall for someone like Ranma. Surrounded by men who cower around women ands think the best way to woo her is to try and beat her up, a man with Ranma's spirit and skill is very attractive to someone like Shampoo. Also Ranma's battle prowess probably arouses her quite a lot as I hinted at. However her culture is different and I tried to show that. First it is obvious in the manga and anime she has no qualms about sexuality, in ancient myths Amazons were quite highly sexed and such things were quite open. So her physical desire for Ranma is quite undeniable. However her culture has made her quite happy with showing this but her emotional desires are something different, It si quite easy to imagine in a society where women marry men for breeding quality and strength, sex would be quite open but romance would be next to non-existent. Real love is something their culture knows little of so when the depth of her feelings for Ranma become known to her, she is blown away and had no idea what to do with such feelings or how to express them, thus we fall back on the physical because she understands that. Honour and pride are important to her as an Amazon warrior, but not in the same way. Although I'm sure she would enjoy competition and rivalry as much Ranma, that's why she was the village's champion, her sense of honour is different. Her beliefs mostly focussed on strengthening the tribe, by any means, it is her first loyalty and the reason behind some quite reprehensible antics. But her love for Ranma could never be doubted. Shampoo is a great example of culture clashes, and makes her quite interesting.
Ukyo: The Joey to Ranma's Dawson, the classic best friend romance, which is one of my favourite plot lines. Anyway, Ukyo strikes me as opposite to Shampoo in a way: as she never hides how much she cares for Ranma, but more physical urges are embarrassing to her, as does having to say those three words that Shampoo says all the time. She is more quiet and slow with Ranma, knowing that she'll always be a good friend until he finally picks her. She is more a case of quiet yearning, a dreamer, she'll work in her restaurant serve the people and fantasise about her pigtailed knight. But in the real world she is his friend before fiancé and uses that position to gradually bring him around to her side with more subtle means.
Akane: The default Ranma girl. There are two main portrayals of who most consider the true fiancé, strangely these correspond to the two camps of Ranma fans. From the Akane lovers, the sweet, innocent but independent girl who is just misunderstood and a soon as Ranma admits his love they'll skip hand in hand to the sunset. What crap! The other ideal is that Akane is really a bitter, recriminating cruel bitch who hates Ranma and rejoices in making his life miserable. Okay so the female lead of Ranma 1/2 is in fact Atilla the Hun, not likely. Akane is by no means perfect, but she's not a monster. I see her as a mess of contradictions. On the outside she is strong and independent, stubborn who always tries to help but takes no crap. But on the inside she's a scared, little girl. Tough but vulnerable, brave but frightened, confident but insecure: that's Akane. Those who don't believe me, think of the movies, she acted all strong by slapping Kirin and dumping the pickles, but when he became interested she just sat and pined for Ranma. A contradiction.
As for Ranma I think at the start she did not like Ranma, but as she got to know him she fell for him. A classic Pride and Prejudice romance, a novel which instilled the idea that is two people act like they hate each other, they must love each other. Nope! Akane still treats Ranma with such anger, is that she's scared of her feelings and the distrusting and violent routine is a safe and familiar haven. It took Ranma's leaving to make her break the cycle, but will it stay broken? I'll just say that for a A/R relationship to work it would take a lot of work and a lot of time to develop trust and respect, cause sometimes love ain't enough. A challenge for any author, and I like challenges (is that a hint or am I trying to throw you off guard.)
Something I want in this story is to keep the reader guessing who Ranma will end up with, until I start the true romance and spring the answer.
Martial arts: For those of you who are familiar with the martial arts I thought I would just outline the one's to be used primarily. Ranma's style will mostly be a mix of Japanese arts, Karate and Jiu-jitsu, with some elements of Wing Chun and Tai Chi. A style that mostly focuses on speed and technique. Ryoga by contrast is more about power and strength. His style will be a huge mix of various international styles to reflect his wandering. These will include Southern style of Kung Fu, Hung Gar and Tiger Claw, also Choy Lay Fut, Muay That and various forms or wrestling such as Greco-Roman, Pancrase and Submission. The other characters I'm not sure of yet, but Shampoo will probably have White Crane Kung Fu mixed with Eagle Claw, and Ukyo a style based on the Japanese halberd art Naginata-jitsu with some Ninja style use of weapons.
Well that's it I babbled, shared my thought and mostly dissed and analysed the crap out of the Ranma fanfic genre. I probably offended a lot of people, but get used to it. Well I'm of to get a cup of tea, a beer and then hit the hay. Nighty-night.