Mahoranma discussion thread

[Necratoid]

-Jinx999:

Ranma is genuinely and seriously mentally ill, even by anime character standards. We're far beyond quirky, to the point where (s)he's a genuine danger
to herself and others.

-Shay Guy:

And I'm starting to doubt whether even getting the curse unlocked would help at this point.

-yesilmavi:

getting the curse unlocked could be even worse for his mental instability. Depending on whether or not his Dad accepts it. Total cure sounds like something
he'd accept. But just unlocked, especcially since this is years afterwards. Too much chance of the suicide thingie...

-ESCNorway:

I think she may be better off staying a girl at this point. She's used to it, she doesn't have any fiancee's after her, and she's gotten over
the whole question of, er, feminine hygiene.

-Epsilon:

Perhaps some author is finally treating what is, essentially, forced gender dysmoprhia disorder the way it actually effects the victims in the real world.

-Shay Guy:

It makes them psychotically violent and prone to making threats on the lives of ten-year-olds?

and now Necratoid:

10 year olds who fly and throw lightning bolts... in other words a mage. This isn't a matter of spontanious issues with a new and previously unknown
thing... this isn't the red herring (I'll explain in a future post if people care for an explination) of certain version of gender dismorphia... This
is a person raped by magic and events, maybe some long dead lazy Muask ruler, and then disowned and tormented by the one who got Ranma into that situation in
the first place... then balim Ranma, declared him presumed dead... cut her off cold turkey from the central focus in her life and gutted her life goal with no
further training.

So we have a disowned ex-boy who is now offically a girl. Told to figure out martial arts on her own and be a scholar... add in the your useless, but if you
ever fix this look me up and we'll see if its worth working on this relationship. I'm fully expecting Genma to have two or three new replacement
offspring by now.

So the random street rat Genma picked up on a lark is named after her MIA sparring parteneer Ranma is focusing all that rage her male self would have at this
situation, if he was alive, and focused it into a rage based counter to her magic phobia and all the mental fun that happens to rape victuims... along with
abandonment issues and no real outlet for this. Now make her repeatedly get KOed by any magic encounter she ends up in... now make her best friend a psychotic
Lawful Evil puppet.

Eva is a mentor figure in this mess, not that Ranma really knows it... or at least the extent of it.. SPOILERS: I mean Eva's back story is one random
night some loony vampire decide it would apparently be utterly hilarious to turn some nobel's 10 year old daughter into a lolli vampire and ditch her. So
Eva wakes up one day inexplicable undead and then spends the next couple hundred years running away and killing off a constant series of vampire hunting
mages... who never listen to her. She is one of the most feared entities in the world for defending herself. So both were victims of forced, major,
physiological changes and then stuck figuring it out herself.

Granted Genma had to go deal with his wife... the one with the sword and the suicide contract... and he is proving for Ranma financially. To be fair this IS
Japan and Ranma is going to a school that parent ditch their daughters at. Also to be fair, if Genma did bring the street rat apparent home to Nodoka
she'd be worse off mentally... all this and forced training in being man amongst men bait? Ranma would be guilty of matricide or have multiple
personalities by now.

[classicdrogn]

yeah, I think covering what you mean by red herring might help. As for the rest, the only argument I have is with the repeated shutdown vs. mages, but given
the reduced trainig time in this version it's not inexplicable unless she doesn't find ways to counter it.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Epsilon]

Gender identity disorder often leads to near-suicidal depression and uncontrollable bouts of aggression.

-------------

Epsilon

[katreus]

Really doesn't help that Ranma's first real exposure to magic again after the Jusenkyo debacle is her gender identification being screwed around with
no consent (the disastrous love potion incident)... It doesn't excuse her actions, of course, but it does help explain it.

Speaking of staying a girl, remember that Ranma doesn't know about any of the other fiancee engagements other than the Tendo one, which given Genma's
reaction is probably going to be ignored anyway. For Ranma, breaking the curse means everything to her: respect, family, honor, and martial arts.

[ECSNorway]

Also, remember, it's been a few years between Jusenkyou and Negi's arrival at Mahora. Ranma's had /time/ to settle into her new role, may well even
have been home to visit 'family' (and had to put up the mask Genma forced on her), which could well have been very very traumatic... she may at this
point be seeing school as a refuge from having to think about it. She's not changing back and forth, so nobody questions the identity she's building
for herself as a girl, and she doesn't have any reminders around her of what she lost along with the boy form. Go home, and it all comes crashing back down
and wipes away any chance she has of dealing with the situation. (Remember how much fanon there is around Ranma /hating/ to have to pretend to be 'Ranko
Tendo' whenever Nodoka turns up? Now imagine having her around /all the time/.)

AS for magic... Negi is a) a boy (who thus may have romantic interests in girls, which now includes Ranma), b) hiding his magic (why would you hide it unless
you're plotting something?), c) again the first real encounter with it is with the love-potion-gone-wrong (see a above), d) clearly too young to actually
be able to help break the curse.

Evangeline is a) a girl (not a threat to Ranma's sexuality beyond her loligoth obsession), b) has a good non-evil-plot reason to have hidden her magic
(she's a freakin' VAMPIRE) (okay, so it's just a not-evil-plotting-against-Ranma reason...), c) doesn't threaten Ranma with the discovery of
this, and d) actively shows interest in helping her get over the curse and is centuries old, thus has the experience to actually have a chance of success.

She shares (to a degree) Ranma's interest in martial arts (aikido grandmaster and all that), she understands the whole deal with being ostracized and
losing everything that mattered to you, and she's not only not a threat but actively willing to help. For a price. Is it any wonder that Ranma's
willing to pay that price?

The whole "Battle Scientist" rant is just the frosting on the cake.

Have I mentioned that I /love/ buttercream frosting?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Necratoid]

forced gender dysmoprhia disorder

Lets go over than... the forced is because it alters things. Its forced simply because this is a result a legitimate issue with a female body forced on a guy.
Its also a matter of the response her one true companion and father had to the forced change. Ranma's biggest psychosis is actually a control issue and
the rest is only a matter of symptoms and niggling details. That Ranma was going to to get //4l> l337 //4r714l ar7s s|

[classicdrogn]

Still not seeing what you meant at first by 'red herring' but much of the rest of what you write makes sense - I myself am a poster child for the
'any world but the real one' sack o mental issues, as the half-attentive reader probably already knows from my own stuff (Wave Convoy anyone?) though I
do at least avoid the sociopathic violent urges and more extreme forms of depression.

As to future plot points in this fic, I decline to speculate except in that I doubt it'll wrap up anything like that neatly.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Epsilon]

Necratoid wrote:

---

Even when they get the full surgery, it only makes them temporarily happy in the first place. There is always that little voice pointing out sure they act
like a girl/guy, have the look-a-like body of a girl/guy... but they still can have kids... in fact are less able then when they started this change. Even
when they figure out how fully grow fully functional dangly bits in jars and graft them in... they still aren't going to be happy. I predict they
aren't in fact going to be happy and end up spamming offspring trying to prove to themselves they are actually a guy/girl.

This is incorrect. As in, this opinion is not supported either by sceintific evidence or the personal anecdotes fo those (pre and post-op)
transgender individuals I know.

Really, it IS just as simple matter of "wrong plumbing and wrong hormones lead to immense psychological stress and disorder" and "fixing that
makes them better 99% of the time". It's something that isn't often brought up in anime fandom (because forcing a guy to act like a cute girl is
funny, see) but in the real world its a very serious medical problem. Now, people refusing to acknowledge your gender can also be stress-inducing, but really
no different than any other form of discrimination.

Having now read through the story I don't actually suspect the author is aware of these issues and dealing with them realistically, however. It's more
a "wouldn't it be funny if ranma was a psychopath?" kind of fanfic. I highly doubt the author has seriously thought about the issues involved.

---------------

Epsilon

[Valles]

As a question from a layman to a relative expert, what's your opinion on the idea that the degree of 'investment' a person has in their physical
sex might be a sliding scale rather than an absolute? That is, that some transsexuals are more bothered by their pre-operation state than others, and that
still others might not ever recognize the issue because it was mild enough to blend in with other sources of disquiet?
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Epsilon]

Valles wrote:

---

As a question from a layman to a relative expert, what's your opinion on the idea that the degree of 'investment' a person has in their physical
sex might be a sliding scale rather than an absolute? That is, that some transsexuals are more bothered by their pre-operation state than others, and that
still others might not ever recognize the issue because it was mild enough to blend in with other sources of disquiet?

I can't speak with expertise but from my talks with such people its pretty much universal. Imagine having a cut on your thumb that never quite
healed right, so that everytime you touch somethign with that thumb you feel a sudden disquiting sensation. Not quite pain (because you get used to it
eventually) but you remain constantly aware of it, all the time. Now imagine that over your entire body. Every waking minute. For the rest of your life.

The degree to which surgery helps has a lot to do with how successful the surgery is. MTF transgender surgery is a lot more advanced and complete than FTM
(which is pathetically inadequate) and can have a number of unfortunate side effects in both cases (such as loss of sensitivity and so on). Not to mention
constant hormone treatments, which can have adverse effects on behaviour.

You've heard of 'roid rage, right? The tendancy of people on steroids to go nuts and start killing people (frex, Chris Benoit) for no good reason? Well
replacement hormones are basically steroids. It's especially common in MTF transgenders who self-meidcate with testosterone for them to experience
uncontrolled aggression and psychotic breaks (tragically the stigma against transgenderism is high enough even in the US that this is not uncommon).

So really, to answer somoene's question form the other thread: Can gender dysmorphia cause aggression to the point of being able to threaten to kill 10
year olds? The answer is yes, though not directly. If Ranma, for instance, was artifically stimulating testosterone production.with her ki, it coudl very well
explain her behaviour (in a medical sense).

But like I said, I highly doubt this is where the author is coming form. i think he has ranma acting this way to the Lulz.

CAVEAT: Gender dysmoprhia is actually a rather extreme case, and is relatively rare. There is a whole spectrum of gender identity which occurs outside of it,
ranging from transvestitism to pure cisgendered (ie, heteronormative) bhaviour and into even stranger places. People with actual gender dysmorphia suffer
pretty much universal symptoms because it is a physical difference in the construction of the person's brain. Those with gender identities that merely
exist outside the norm do not have such issues. As always sexuality and gender identity is a complex beast and making any definitive statements about it as a
whole is hard. However the sceince behind gender dysmorphia is well-documented.

---------------

Epsilon

[Epsilon]

Epsilon wrote:

---

Valles wrote:

---

As a question from a layman to a relative expert, what's your opinion on the idea that the degree of 'investment' a person has in their
physical sex might be a sliding scale rather than an absolute? That is, that some transsexuals are more bothered by their pre-operation state than others,
and that still others might not ever recognize the issue because it was mild enough to blend in with other sources of disquiet?

I can't speak with expertise but from my talks with such people its pretty much universal. Imagine having a cut on your thumb that never
quite healed right, so that everytime you touch somethign with that thumb you feel a sudden disquiting sensation. Not quite pain (because you get used to it
eventually) but you remain constantly aware of it, all the time. Now imagine that over your entire body. Every waking minute. For the rest of your life.




The degree to which surgery helps has a lot to do with how successful the surgery is. MTF transgender surgery is a lot more advanced and complete than FTM
(which is pathetically inadequate) and can have a number of unfortunate side effects in both cases (such as loss of sensitivity and so on). Not to mention
constant hormone treatments, which can have adverse effects on behaviour.




You've heard of 'roid rage, right? The tendancy of people on steroids to go nuts and start killing people (frex, Chris Benoit) for no good reason?
Well replacement hormones are basically steroids. It's especially common in FTM transgenders who self-meidcate with testosterone for them to experience
uncontrolled aggression and psychotic breaks (tragically the stigma against transgenderism is high enough even in the US that this is not uncommon).




So really, to answer somoene's question form the other thread: Can gender dysmorphia cause aggression to the point of being able to threaten to kill 10
year olds? The answer is yes, though not directly. If Ranma, for instance, was artifically stimulating testosterone production.with her ki, it coudl very
well explain her behaviour (in a medical sense).




But like I said, I highly doubt this is where the author is coming form. i think he has ranma acting this way to the Lulz.




CAVEAT: Gender dysmoprhia is actually a rather extreme case, and is relatively rare. There is a whole spectrum of gender identity which occurs outside of it,
ranging from transvestitism to pure cisgendered (ie, heteronormative) bhaviour and into even stranger places. People with actual gender dysmorphia suffer
pretty much universal symptoms because it is a physical difference in the construction of the person's brain. Those with gender identities that merely
exist outside the norm do not have such issues. As always sexuality and gender identity is a complex beast and making any definitive statements about it as a
whole is hard. However the sceince behind gender dysmorphia is well-documented.




---------------


Epsilon

[Valles]

Hm. I hadn't known that the problem had a physical/neurological basis beyond, er, the obvious - though I'd never doubted its seriousness or the
sincerity of those afflicted. It does raise the thought, though, that most of the 'magic reassignment' sources I've seen in fiction, both fan and
pro, were of a sort - either literally magic or sufficiently ultratech to realign at the cellular level - that'd be at least capable of altering brain
chemistry on the fly. That is, that someone like Ranma would be more likely to have the brain wiring go from 'Situation: Male, check' to
'Situation: Female, check' rather than 'Situation: Female, ERROR!'
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Glidergun]

Oh yeah, it's fascinating stuff. Actually it happens that people have a really well-defined physical self image. Phantom limb syndrome is the most obvious
case - if someone loses an arm, they'll still "feel" like they have an arm.More intriguing, I've read about a case where someone had no arms
from at leastr a very young age if not birth, later received prosthetics, and then complained that the prosthetics were not
the same length as their arms.

Then there's people who have a limb but feel like it isn't theirs and want it removed. Brain scans on some of these people have shown that the limb
doesn't trip certain self-recognition areas of the brain. (Or something like that; I forget exactly what failed to activate.)

[Necratoid]

Look back at the actual line using 'red herring' it was specific to Ranma's case. That is why I went into what that specific mental issue is in
the first place. I hate having a major term left undefined, Gloobleflargs as I dubbed them. Ranma doesn't have that here. I though it prudent to
establish that early on. Ranma just doesn't spend enough time fixated on her female body... and the lack of self mutilation tendancies make me think
differently/ To her, its just a symtome, a symbol of the hell that is her life. I've stated above what I think the realy issues are. I think Epsilon is
just sure that the issue he mentioned should be the focus of the story.

---

Epsilon took offense at one bit... and pulled the nonsense percentage (Its over 90% and climbing!!! ) like my brother when he declares himself king of the
argument and moves on. I'm kind of insulted that this comes down to him believing I'm basing everything on things I saw in anime. Great your
defending your friends... lovely. Your conclusion that all there mental issues go away like someone cast a white magic, status effect removal spell on them is
odd. In point of fact, the only time that I've seen major issues just go away like that was when my mom hit 'mental pause'... and most of those
issues actually came up because of that. Those randomly came back and went away multiple times. I have actually watched a few dozen programs on the
subject... and the thing always struck me was the person was always very, very focused on the surgical 'after'... then they either ended it immediately
after the surgery... or went into the uncanny valley scripted mode and/or smile for the camera scripted mode. Then mention in a blurb about the hormone
therapy and counselling for life thing.

Any time, I see a major mental issue just go piffle I think 1) that one is a time bomb or 2) details summarized due to time constraints. Your suggesting that
a sex change operation is the physical, mental, and chemical is the single most successful medical procedure of all time. That is before you calculate in the
impossible odds and success percentage your giving us. Considering a percentage of the very small of the population gets this in the first place... What a
tenth of a percent? A quarter of a percent?... end up strippers or in the sex trade... and those people are as a rule screwed in the head, I simply believe
your warping the issue to support your friends. Noble, but not really helping here.

[classicdrogn]

(takes three steps back and goes into GMCA turtle mode)
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[WengFook]

Necratoid wrote:

---

Epsilon took offense at one bit... and pulled the nonsense percentage (Its over 90% and climbing!!! ) like my brother when he declares himself king of the
argument and moves on. I'm kind of insulted that this comes down to him believing I'm basing everything on things I saw in anime. Great your
defending your friends... lovely. Your conclusion that all there mental issues go away like someone cast a white magic, status effect removal spell on them
is odd. In point of fact, the only time that I've seen major issues just go away like that was when my mom hit 'mental pause'... and most of
those issues actually came up because of that. Those randomly came back and went away multiple times. I have actually watched a few dozen programs on the
subject... and the thing always struck me was the person was always very, very focused on the surgical 'after'... then they either ended it
immediately after the surgery... or went into the uncanny valley scripted mode and/or smile for the camera scripted mode. Then mention in a blurb about the
hormone therapy and counselling for life thing.

Okay Necratoid dude. Take a break and chill off.



Firstly all Epsilon is trying to do is filling in some gaps in information you had in your pet hypothesis.

Secondly it seems to me that personal experience with people who have been diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder trumps what you've seen on TV or the
internet.

Thirdly. Please stop think and rewrite what you're trying to convey to the reader. Your current posts are a little too stream-of-conciousness to make sense
beyond what I've managed to glance through. All I've managed to understand is that you're trying to say that Ranma is suffering from abandonment
issues coupled with Gender Identity Disorder.
_________________________________
Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World.

[ECSNorway]

New Chapter up

And, wow. Genma is just as broken as Ranma is. He just hasn't had the opportunity to show it yet.

Part of me wants Akane to stick around... part of me is terrified of what might become of her. I'm having flashbacks to 'Ill Met by Starlight' here.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Morganite]

Hm. I hadn't known that the problem had a physical/neurological basis beyond, er, the obvious - though I'd never doubted its seriousness or the sincerity of those afflicted. It does raise the thought, though, that most of the 'magic reassignment' sources I've seen in fiction, both fan and pro, were of a sort - either literally magic or sufficiently ultratech to realign at the cellular level - that'd be at least capable of altering brain chemistry on the fly. That is, that someone like Ranma would be more likely to have the brain wiring go from 'Situation: Male, check' to 'Situation: Female, check' rather than 'Situation: Female, ERROR!'

That sounds like sort of the idea I was playing around with for my AJ4R character where her new body is so comfortable that she not only isn't having any gender identity issues, but she hasn't really thought about the fact that yes, she used to be male, and the whole situation is kind of odd isn't it?

As for Ranma (in general, not necessarily for this particular story), it could depend a lot on just how the author is defining curses. If they're something that came about due to wild magic and whoknowswhat, it wouldn't be surprising if they ... didn't quite work right. Created by the gods for some holy purpose... probably going to work well. Brought about by a malicious entity... might not work right just to screw with people.

In most of the stories I can think of, whatever magic or technology is involved is designed by people with a vested interest in not causing physiological/psychological for the users (which may include themselves), so it's not too startling when it does work well.

(I was also reminded of some things in the "Proteus" novels by Charles Sheffield. While I don't remember anyone actually changing gender in the stories, I'm pretty sure it's established as possible. And that's really a *minor* change compared to other things that form-change can do. I think there was one scene where a character was perfectly comfortable with the way they felt, but was thrown off balance when they saw themselves... Felt the same way they always did, so expected to look the same.)

-Morgan.

[Necratoid]

First, new business. Looks like Genma and Ranma haven't interacted at all over the years. Genma's 'clever plan' to 'find the long lost
Ranma' shows that. Assuming he isn't lying for back story credibility here and has actually run that 'stoic' drone past her... Nodoka appears
to be completely nuts. I mean extreme bad end of spectrum of parenting neglect. If so, that means she actually wanted to see 'Ranma's' //4|>
Skills here and needed to leach off the skills of the real thing... which is going to cause him isuues here. Alternately, Genma actually bothered to test the
drone, which fit all of her 'man amongst men' requirements before springing that thing on her he did actual set up and testing. Either way, I
can't blame this Genma for trying to avoid this incarnation of her. Several other things I can blame him for though.

I'm betting seeing what her idiot father is trying to pull here, combined with other events some of the nagging issues than are feeding her psychosis are
waning, just a bit. Add in the way it looks like Eva is continuing to easy Ranma into magic... which will help her mentally long term. Combined with the
early arrival of Herb into this mess, those predictios of mine seem to be on track. Ranma basically telling Chachamaru, 'you think therefore you are'
should spedd her along developemntally as wall.

New prediction, internet idol girl will be known to Ranma as a computer savvy person and be the one to show Ranma her mad scientist speech on YouTube or
something. Getting at all involved with Ranma will naturally freak her out... bascially for the same reason as getting involved with Negi did.

As for old business. What you saw between me and Epsilon is basically a matter of semantics. He argued against one single point of mine based largely of
phrasing and how that was more a matter of him picking a far more specific topic than I was. I felt he was putting a distorted spin on things, largely in
defense of people her actually knew. In the end the people who have his specific issue and at a level they need to do something about it (let alone something
so drastic) can literally be counted on one hand from a sample of one million people. I was responding to his responding post and by the time I finished
typing more posts had popped up. We were basically arguing a rather niggling detail in terms of the actual thread... Sir Suddenly-Appaearing-in-this-Thread,
WengFook, decided it was a cat fight on a topic he doesn't actually seem to have spent much time on previously. If I wanted to harass Epsilon on this...
I'd have posted in the Politics section and not the Fanfiction section.

The readers digest description of what happened : I moved this topic from Updates to here. Disagreed with Epsilon on what was happening in story and stated
why... doing a description of what it was we were discussing it being or not being. He basically declared my issue a matter of writer suffering from a bad
case of 'Did not do research'... I responded he was reading too much into that based on him having done the research because of people he knew. He
also admitted to reading the story after he first proposed his theory.

In response to Morganni, I think that you could get away a story were there are two 'springs of the drowned girl' one is the real one, Ranma fell in
this one, and the other is the one everyone else fell in... Grape was just too distracted by the suddeningly being weirded out by Genma failing to notice he
was a kung fu panda that came out of the spring to look it up at the time. The springs are different. One with the disorder and another less frequented one
Ranma used. Having Ranma being driven nuts as people won't believe his that he doesn't have the disorder could be half the point of it. Remember that
the springs change you physically into whatever fell into the spring... you'd have to have the drowned have the disorder to share it. The springs are
collecting people with subtle differences... for instance the 'spring of the almost drowned Akane, could end up the 'spring of the drowned
hammer'... which in turn is suddenly the spring of the drowned Kima as Akane crawls out and she doesn't.

Anyway, this thread is starting to get hijacked... could people at least post something relevant to Maharanma from here on?

[ECSNorway]

How about two other good Ranma/Negima crossovers?

Ranma's White Wings - Ranma is hired to go along with the group on the trip to the Magic World. Needless to say, things get Complicated.

Magic Within - In a world with magic this widespread, did you really think the Amazons wouldn't have any? They do. And they're definitely carrying the Villain Ball this week. Ranma has escaped from slavery at their hands, Genma is apparently dead rescuing him, and Ranko is now a member of Class 2-A at Mahora...
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[jpub]

I'd have stayed out of this, but I have to make one point of fact, because it pisses me off when people say this - Chris Benoit's situation was not a
'roid rage killing, it was dementia-based. Dude had the brain of an 80 year old with advanced Alzheimers', caused by a massive number of concussions.

Football players get the same thing. Benoit wasn't unusual in that he committed suicide, he was unusual in that he pulled a family destroyer when he did
it.

[ECSNorway]

So. New chapter up. Sayo decides to Befriend Ranma. As the author throws in a Bleach crossover, just for an excuse. Fun. And Ranma's taking an
exchange-student trip to date with Tatsuki-chan. Yum!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Shay Guy]

You know, even though it's being made quite clear that Ranma is nowhere near the upper-tier Negima fighters, it still feels like the author's focusing
a little too much on Ranma...I dunno, showing off? His/her characterization seems inconsistent, too. Not sure why.

---

Pronounced "shy guy."

[Necratoid]

(GAH! Yuku inexplicably forgot I was logged in (it did log me in when I clicked the response button), while I was writing , and my post an ate it... *growls
ineffectively at stupid Yuki*)

The reason Ranma's behavior seems so inconsistent is simply because it is. Part of the reasons for that have been discussed previously, but you have to
remember that Ranma is physically a 14 year old girl. If you've ever lived with a 14 year old girl you'll know they are crazy. The hormones are
changing things, the midteens identity crisis is kicking in, they get an obssessive need for socilization with peers (in person and on the phone) that rival
that of hardcore gambling addiction, and this is when rabid fangirlism takes hold. Which is a lot of the reason the girls in Negima treat Negi the way they
do. He is their own personal interactive boyband. He is the only male even close to their age that they see for most of the year. Later in the manga, when
they get the idea he is the perfect 'trainable' future boyfriend, its only a natural evolution of this. Same with dogboy, though he has less/different
qualifications.

I think the reason that the fic has such a Ranma heavy focus is that the story hasn't changed much at all, minus what is already been covered in the fic.
Besides making deranged dynamic entries into the plot and changing relatively minor details... the plot hasn't changed enough to really matter. Basically,
the writer isn't covering the stuff that hasn't really changed. I expect that dogboy will not enjoy having to deal with someone that feels he owes
them and arm. I also think another reason your noticing the Ranma heavy focus is because Negima has a crazy amount of content in each chapter. Its author is
really, really, really good at packing in the content successfully.

I'm expecting the Bleach arc to contain several details I'm not able to properly cover yet. As for what I can speculate on, I'm curious as to how
Ranma will take down the Hollows... Remember the reason the Quincies had a war going with Soul Society is that the Qincy method of offing Hollows destroys all
the souls in the hollow. Thus depleting the total available souls able to be reincarnated. Granted with all the political dickery going on in the Bleachverse
I can see that as nothing, but empty propaganda. I mean they do harvest souls and mind wipe them... then basically make them live in squaller. All in all,
Bleach makes me think Soul Society is not a global force and only a regional one. There simply isn't enough population accounted for.

Anyway, I'm expecting Ranma to end up getting up graded/leveled here... probably in order to dodge the festival arc. Though considering that Ichigo makes
a Kaiju run away after he counters its city nuking breath weapon... I'm guessing Ghost girl will also be upgraded by assosciation. Ichigo does do that
kind of thing and Sayo also appears to completely lack the standard Bleach hole with chain in her chest. I'm also expecting Ranma to end up recognizing
Sandal Hat from that mad scientist news letter... which will probablely mean they talk over most of the cast's heads for a while and Ranma gets trained in
exchange for going on the Soul Society raid. I'm also half expecting Ranma to go there in a good mood as the mages just got exposed and are in deep
trouble... the get back and the retcon happens when Ranma is in that afterlife.

[Jinx999]

I stand by my view that Ranma is seriously nuts.