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If it wasn't for the blatantly female POV in the previous post, I'd say that a hilarious possibility was that Happosai had swapped body washes with him on the grounds that Ranma didn't deserve a gift from a pretty girl, especially not one that wasn't stalking him already.
NOW the comment decides to go through.
Ignoring that last post was supposedly female, doesn't the body wash also affect men? Why hasn't his male form been affected? IS his female form sucking up all the transformation like a sponge or something? Actually, it would be pretty funny if he was "normal" in his male form and his female form ended up as a bustier blonde version with a mind of her own. I may have to write that actually in one of these options.
Rant
Where do you get the idea that Ranma and Genma are mooching off of Soun? Genma has a job, and both Ranma and Genma do all the work with Soun's monster hunting business in the series. Ranma is well aware of this.
Rant over
Why would Ranma use a body wash at all? All we ever see ranma use is simple soap and water. If we are to believe Ranma is a notable drain on the Tendo finances then why isn't he just using a bar of soap?
Are we suppose to think Kasumi has been using the bimbo-body wash? The first episode of this thread had the soap telling the user to give it to others once it had transformed that person.
- Genma avoids work.
- Ranma's fights cause property damage all over Nerima.
- Only one episode featured an actual student in the training hall.
- Nabiki once guilted Ranma into wearing Akanes old clothes just because everything else was in the laundary.
Are we even watching the same anime?
Besides the idea King had which is interesting, I kinda of wanted to have an actual female character from Ranma to you know use it.
Since the seed episode showed it from a blatantly female perspective and aside from one head trauma induced instance Ranma had never thought of himself as female, it's kinda of obvious he wasn't the user.
Well, it doesn't really matter, as such, that Ranna never thinks of himself as a girl, since Lumitiel's episode never had the character thinking of herself as a girl either.
But the character is presented as being female, which is a problem if Ranma never used the wash while female. Wouldn't the easiest solution just be to say, "Ranma never used it as female *after that first time*"? Or would that still be problematic?
@Wanko
The manga of Ranma 1/2 is pretty different from the anime. The anime makes all the characters pretty one dimensional, whereas the manga gives them a bit of depth.
In the manga, Ranma is very frugal, reads when he wants to learn something and Genma does work. In the manga the biggest drains of the Tendo finances are Nabiki, Happousai and Akane in about that order.
Manga Ranma has experience dealing with spirits and magic items, plus he can actually make sealing wards, so there is that difference in reaction too.
Wanko
Genma avoids work.
Training Ranma the way Genma did was years of hard work, and one of the first things Genma did when reaching the Tendos was get a job. Soun is the guy who doesn't seem to work.Nabiki once guilted Ranma into wearing Akanes old clothes just because everything else was in the laundry.
There is no guilt trip shown in the manga. Stop making stuff up. Nabiki just says he can't walk around naked. Odds are Kasumi set the entire thing up for fun.Are we even watching the same anime?
I refuse to acknowledge the second rate anime. It disregards important character traits! >_<
Crazy Diamond
Besides the idea King had which is interesting, I kinda of wanted to have an actual female character from Ranma to you know use it.
Since the seed episode showed it from a blatantly female perspective and aside from one head trauma induced instance Ranma had never thought of himself as female, it's kinda of obvious he wasn't the user.
It is an interesting idea, but the execution is flawed. Steps were skipped. One of Ranma's defining traits is that he sees himself as a guy even when in girl form. It would be like using a male character from Sailor Moon, or Rosaria+Vampire.
tuatara
But the character is presented as being female, which is a problem if Ranma never used the wash while female. Wouldn't the easiest solution just be to say, "Ranma never used it as female *after that first time*"? Or would that still be problematic?
Ranma turns into a guy when he takes a bath or uses a shower because warm water turns him into a guy again, and Ranma does not like to bathe in cold water.
I know Ranna doesn't normally wash in cold water, and obviously the soak afterwards would normally be hot, but that's also easily retconned by just saying they didn't have hot water once again.
I have to agree with the Anonymous writer.
Wanko the manga is always the best source for a series, Anime's tend to screw up the subtler things or generate character decaying filler.
Wait until the character has been altered, traumatized, or exposed to a significant X-factor to change their behaviors especially the core ones like gender identity, ethics, or motivations.
Edited the earlier comment to make it clearer that the poster was quoting previous comments (and that it was one message, not three)
It may be my preference, but I don't see what's wrong with basing one's interpretations on the anime if that's what one has watched. I haven't read the manga of every anime I've watched or vice versa. (And let's not even get into games or light novels.)
And besides, I think y'all are really making too much of what was just a relatively minor case of a square peg in a round hole. You just have to file down the corners to make it fit *reasonably* well, as I've noted in previous comments. That's all that's really necessary to continue the thread, if one wished to do so. I'm not saying it *must* be continued, but it could be without a ton of difficulty.
Why have so many people made the conclusion that I've only seen the anime. I've read the manga and watched the anime and I still stand by what I said.
- Genma is lazy. Yes in the manga he is shown to have gotten a job, then never or hardly ever shown working. I see this as an inconsistency because his character wasn't fully developed yet.
- Nabiki is manipulative often using guilt or debt to get Ranma to do what she wants.
- There was an instance where she had Ranma dress in Akane's clothes. Maybe it was more for fun, but laundry day was the given excuse. I did not make that up!
- Ranma is a guest in the Tendo's house, he can be guilted if you accuse him of mooching.
- Monster hunting is never explained from an economics perspective. If it is providing steady income it still can't compare to the constant property damage.
Much of what everyone seems to have decided I got wrong is very open to interpretation in both the anime and the manga. Even the short blurb of a chapter I wrote is being misinterpreted. I wrote "Nabiki was quick to remind him of how he and his father were mooching off the Tendo family and should be grateful for whatever handouts they receive." that seems to be the line that sparked all these negative comments. Whether you see it as true or think Ranma's monster hunting is single handedly keeping the dojo afloat, it's something Nabiki would say and it would make Ranma feel guilty.
Well said, well said.
I'm sorry if it sounded like I was concurring with the assumption that you've only watched the anime. I was just saying that that shouldn't matter. Use one, the other, or both. It's all good. And most authors draw at least a little from both, no? I know I do.