Ranma 1/2: One Page Per Volume, Part Ten
Dec. 11th, 2018 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesContinuing the repost of this series from Tumblr, now sped up a bit and put behind a cut.
Art reads left to right as it's a flipped translation
From volume 10, I'm picking this page from the second Mousse vs Ranma story. This is after Mousse has acquired a duck-transforming curse in Jusenkyo and reacted rather unusually: instead of getting despondent, he immediately practically emptied the cursed spring in question* of its water and took it with him back to Japan, intending to use it on Ranma so he’ll turn into a duck instead of a woman. (By threatening to use it on Akane, but that's just to lure Ranma out and then ambush him. "There is no profit in turning Akane Tendo into a duck", he later admits.) As usual he hopes this will end up with Shampoo spurning Ranma and turning to Mousse instead, even though he has little reason to believe that will happen.
This page happens a little later in the follow-up fight after Mousse has run out of transformed water. Prodded by Akane, Ranma had actually intended to throw the fight to Mousse hoping this will help Mousse’s chances with Shampoo, but he has a hard time deliberately losing to anyone. Right before this moment, he asks Mousse how he would feel if Ranma lost to him on purpose: Mousse surprisingly answers, "I'd be overjoyed", followed by above explanation.
I remember being startled by this, and not just because of the humour in it. Ranma's other regular opponents are not like this: both Tatewaki Kuno and Ryoga use dirty tricks now and then and would like to impress girls they like by winning. However, they both have a kind of "warrior's pride" all the same. In Kuno's case it's negated in practice by his rock-solid sense of (self-)righteousness and refusal to let reality clash with his delusions of being the perfect hero, where he constantly adjusts his view of the world to make his choices seem justified regardless of what they are. Ryoga can't hide behind that quality of delusion, so his honour is tarnished in more regular-people fashion, by opportunism and sudden impulses, supported by rationalisations and emotional bias. But both characters are certainly concerned with their pride as warriors. Mousse on the other hand is so obsessed with Shampoo that he cares nothing for that, at this point. This makes him different, and perhaps in a way more dangerous than the others even though Ryoga is stronger than him. It seems he really will stop at nothing...
*Yeah, "Spring of Drowned Duck" sounds odd since you wouldn’t expect waterfowl to drown easily. From what I've heard, the Japanese original uses a word that can mean either 'submerged' or 'drowned': when it comes to this spring (as with some more we will encounter later), it sounds plausible that its curse was created deliberately by someone. Perhaps by holding a duck under water till it died, or tying weights to it and throwing it in... It's never really made clear in the comic, though, so fanfic writers and other fans are free to speculate on their own!
Art reads left to right as it's a flipped translation
From volume 10, I'm picking this page from the second Mousse vs Ranma story. This is after Mousse has acquired a duck-transforming curse in Jusenkyo and reacted rather unusually: instead of getting despondent, he immediately practically emptied the cursed spring in question* of its water and took it with him back to Japan, intending to use it on Ranma so he’ll turn into a duck instead of a woman. (By threatening to use it on Akane, but that's just to lure Ranma out and then ambush him. "There is no profit in turning Akane Tendo into a duck", he later admits.) As usual he hopes this will end up with Shampoo spurning Ranma and turning to Mousse instead, even though he has little reason to believe that will happen.
This page happens a little later in the follow-up fight after Mousse has run out of transformed water. Prodded by Akane, Ranma had actually intended to throw the fight to Mousse hoping this will help Mousse’s chances with Shampoo, but he has a hard time deliberately losing to anyone. Right before this moment, he asks Mousse how he would feel if Ranma lost to him on purpose: Mousse surprisingly answers, "I'd be overjoyed", followed by above explanation.
I remember being startled by this, and not just because of the humour in it. Ranma's other regular opponents are not like this: both Tatewaki Kuno and Ryoga use dirty tricks now and then and would like to impress girls they like by winning. However, they both have a kind of "warrior's pride" all the same. In Kuno's case it's negated in practice by his rock-solid sense of (self-)righteousness and refusal to let reality clash with his delusions of being the perfect hero, where he constantly adjusts his view of the world to make his choices seem justified regardless of what they are. Ryoga can't hide behind that quality of delusion, so his honour is tarnished in more regular-people fashion, by opportunism and sudden impulses, supported by rationalisations and emotional bias. But both characters are certainly concerned with their pride as warriors. Mousse on the other hand is so obsessed with Shampoo that he cares nothing for that, at this point. This makes him different, and perhaps in a way more dangerous than the others even though Ryoga is stronger than him. It seems he really will stop at nothing...
*Yeah, "Spring of Drowned Duck" sounds odd since you wouldn’t expect waterfowl to drown easily. From what I've heard, the Japanese original uses a word that can mean either 'submerged' or 'drowned': when it comes to this spring (as with some more we will encounter later), it sounds plausible that its curse was created deliberately by someone. Perhaps by holding a duck under water till it died, or tying weights to it and throwing it in... It's never really made clear in the comic, though, so fanfic writers and other fans are free to speculate on their own!