Ranma’s psyche

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Ranma’s psyche

Postby toushin » Sun Jul 03, 2011 7:52 pm

Ranma has two weaknesses we all know about the neko-ken so I wont go into that, but is other weakness seems to be low self-esteem. They both seem to effect him the same way. They need finesse to be properly utilized. Take the neko-ken for example though ranma is terrified of cats seeing one doesn’t automatically send him into the neko-ken. He can even fight off the effects with enough concentration. He only goes into the neko-ken when he can’t escape either by running or simply going into shock. As I said captivating on ranma’s weakness takes more finesse then just bombarding him with cat. Kuno actually had a good idea surprisingly, even though ranma fought off the effects he was so out of it that kuno could have easily beat him if he didn’t add the tiger.

Not ranma’s taking advantage of ranma’s low-self esteem takes just as much finesse as he reacts differently depending on how you attack him.

Let’s start off with ranma’s competiveness he seems to have a compulsive need to win at all cost. When ranma loses he seems to go through a limited form of post traumatic stress disorder. While ranma might not be the most tactful person he’s generally not mean and most (not all) of his insults are generally retaliation for something. For the most part he seems to just go with the flow most of the time, even when it makes him look bad. Such as taking responsibility for ryoga’s curse even though he’s the one that usually because of it; and the fact that it was just as much ryoga’s fault. His dealings with nabiki are another good example even though she constantly blackmails and sells pictures of his girl-he never does anything to stop her. in fact he seems more annoyed then angry. Even when she pretended to love him, she herself though he was going to beat the crap out of her but his only response was to try to give her a taste of her own medicine. Yet when ranma loses his personality seems to completely change he becomes petty, mean, and just totally irresponsible. Even when losing had nothing to do with martial arts. Such as the okonomiyaki selling contest against Tsubasa to see who is the cutest girl. Even though ranma knows for a fact that she’s not ugly the fact that Tsubasa was winning made her question her looks (even though everyone knew he was a boy). So in an effort to prove that wasn’t the case she put of a playboy bunny costume.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/010/010/010/

Another good example is how ranma developed the Moko Takabisha. The first time he was able to perform the Shishi Hokodan was because he was so depressed about the thought of losing to Ryoga. He performed it the second time when Ryoga came back to taunt him. Ranma finally figures out how the Shishi Hokodan works and then develops his own variation.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/020/002/014/
http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/020/002/014/

Then you have mouse with his invincible glasses. When mouse tried to embarrass ranma in front of his school ranma didn’t take the bait refusing to beat up a defenseless man, only relenting when mouse started attacking him. Yet the fact that mouse kept using those glasses infuriated ranma so much that he snapped at anyone who mentioned it. This finally cultivated in him deciding to fight fire with fire. In the end ranma totally changed when at first he wouldn’t fight a defenseless man when he has mouse in front of him crying and begging he was going to beat the crap out of him.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/027/005/015/

finally there was Akane and the martial arts uniform ranma reacts to this pretty much the same way he reacted to mouse and his invincible glasses. When Soun and Genma and told Ranma that the way to defeat the suit was to make it jealous by seducing akane ranma was insulted at the idea. Though when he realized he couldn’t defeat the suit he relented. Even though in the end ranma decided not to do it (ranma was just about to give the suit back when Soun and Genma intervined showing they wanted it gone more then ranma did) the simple fact that that he even tried shows how much he was effected by the experience.

The thing is ranma only reacts this way to loosing when people taunt him usually he just gets more determined to beat the individual (something genma, happosai, and cologne repeatedly exploit) all of the before examples so this. when he was first beat though angry he just focused more on how he would defeat them next time. It was only after they decided to gloat that ranma reacted poorly.

you see it when akane at the super soba needles. At first ranma arm wrestling akane was just to show that something like that couldn’t exist but the moment she beat him he kept doing it totally forgetting that she now had super powers and totally getting lost in the fact that she beat him. Though end the end he was acting petty all he really did was repeatedly challenge her to show he was better.

The chestnut roasting over an open fire training, herb, ryu, the moxibustion are all examples of ranma focusing on winning and nothing else. However Hinako, Pink and link show us that ranma does have a breaking point even though he did defeat each of them in the end, the things he had to go through to defeat him made him never want to fight them again, even when pink and link publically ridiculed him.

Next let’s focus on ranma’s curse and his manhood. As the series goes on ranma gets more and more comfortable with his curse in the beginning of the series when kuno said he loved him ranma freaked out yet when Yohyo did the same thing she was fine with it as long as he didn’t grope her. Yet when someone directly attacks his curse ranma seems to go into a sort of berserker rage. Howver it seems to be a little different then the usual 'I'll kill you no matter what' routine of Ryoga. ranma doesn’t seem to attack recklessly he also fights more straight up dodging a lot less focusing all of his attention of destroying what made him angry.

The first time we see this is when ryoga was introduced. At first ranma didn’t even want to fight going so far as to buy every bread that he beat ryoga to as reconciliation. Even when ryoga attacked all ranma did was doge and block his strikes in an effort to calm him down. It was only when ryoga said ranma was acting like a girl that ranma attacked him which was strong enough to drive ryoga back.


You see it again during the love rod incident when ryoga accidently told ranma he loved him.

My question is do you think that there is some sort of psychological trauma that caused this weakness like the neko-ken caused ranma’s fear of cats or is it just a from a life time of being tortured by genma.
toushin
Chibi Sailor Senshi
Posts: 244
 

Re: Ranma’s psyche

Postby Zwzn » Sat Oct 22, 2011 3:19 am

toushin wrote: Let’s start off with ranma’s competiveness he seems to have a compulsive need to win at all cost. When ranma loses he seems to go through a limited form of post traumatic stress disorder. While ranma might not be the most tactful person he’s generally not mean and most (not all) of his insults are generally retaliation for something. For the most part he seems to just go with the flow most of the time, even when it makes him look bad. Such as taking responsibility for ryoga’s curse even though he’s the one that usually because of it; and the fact that it was just as much ryoga’s fault. His dealings with nabiki are another good example even though she constantly blackmails and sells pictures of his girl-he never does anything to stop her. in fact he seems more annoyed then angry. Even when she pretended to love him, she herself though he was going to beat the crap out of her but his only response was to try to give her a taste of her own medicine. Yet when ranma loses his personality seems to completely change he becomes petty, mean, and just totally irresponsible. Even when losing had nothing to do with martial arts. Such as the okonomiyaki selling contest against Tsubasa to see who is the cutest girl. Even though ranma knows for a fact that she’s not ugly the fact that Tsubasa was winning made her question her looks (even though everyone knew he was a boy). So in an effort to prove that wasn’t the case she put of a playboy bunny costume.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/010/010/010/
The curse seems to effect him in that he views himself as a freak, or damaged goods. This likely would be so much of a problem if he wasn't surrounded by sadists like Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki all the time. He seems to get better as the series progresses.


toushin wrote: Another good example is how ranma developed the Moko Takabisha. The first time he was able to perform the Shishi Hokodan was because he was so depressed about the thought of losing to Ryoga. He performed it the second time when Ryoga came back to taunt him. Ranma finally figures out how the Shishi Hokodan works and then develops his own variation.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/020/002/014/
http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/020/002/014/

The problem here is that we see Ranma trying to defeat the technique rather then Ryoga, but in this case his life was possibly on the line.

toushin wrote: Then you have mouse with his invincible glasses. When mouse tried to embarrass ranma in front of his school ranma didn’t take the bait refusing to beat up a defenseless man, only relenting when mouse started attacking him. Yet the fact that mouse kept using those glasses infuriated ranma so much that he snapped at anyone who mentioned it. This finally cultivated in him deciding to fight fire with fire. In the end ranma totally changed when at first he wouldn’t fight a defenseless man when he has mouse in front of him crying and begging he was going to beat the crap out of him.

http://www.anymanga.com/ranma/027/005/015/

Again Ranma was trying to defeat the technique/weapon.

toushin wrote: finally there was Akane and the martial arts uniform ranma reacts to this pretty much the same way he reacted to mouse and his invincible glasses. When Soun and Genma and told Ranma that the way to defeat the suit was to make it jealous by seducing akane ranma was insulted at the idea. Though when he realized he couldn’t defeat the suit he relented. Even though in the end ranma decided not to do it (ranma was just about to give the suit back when Soun and Genma intervined showing they wanted it gone more then ranma did) the simple fact that that he even tried shows how much he was effected by the experience.

Ranma wasn't lying to Akane. He was honestly trying to save their friendship, and Akane was going to give up the suit until Soun and Genma completely misread things, and didn't keep their mouths shut like idiots.

toushin wrote: The thing is ranma only reacts this way to loosing when people taunt him usually he just gets more determined to beat the individual (something genma, happosai, and cologne repeatedly exploit) all of the before examples so this. when he was first beat though angry he just focused more on how he would defeat them next time. It was only after they decided to gloat that ranma reacted poorly.

you see it when akane at the super soba needles. At first ranma arm wrestling akane was just to show that something like that couldn’t exist but the moment she beat him he kept doing it totally forgetting that she now had super powers and totally getting lost in the fact that she beat him. Though end the end he was acting petty all he really did was repeatedly challenge her to show he was better.

The chestnut roasting over an open fire training, herb, ryu, the moxibustion are all examples of ranma focusing on winning and nothing else. However Hinako, Pink and link show us that ranma does have a breaking point even though he did defeat each of them in the end, the things he had to go through to defeat him made him never want to fight them again, even when pink and link publically ridiculed him.
You may have missed it, but Ranma doesn't like ass holes. It doesn't matter if it's directed at him or not. This is why he engaged Kodachi in combat when she was attacking people he thought at the time were strangers.


toushin wrote: Next let’s focus on ranma’s curse and his manhood. As the series goes on ranma gets more and more comfortable with his curse in the beginning of the series when kuno said he loved him ranma freaked out yet when Yohyo did the same thing she was fine with it as long as he didn’t grope her. Yet when someone directly attacks his curse ranma seems to go into a sort of berserker rage. Howver it seems to be a little different then the usual 'I'll kill you no matter what' routine of Ryoga. ranma doesn’t seem to attack recklessly he also fights more straight up dodging a lot less focusing all of his attention of destroying what made him angry.

The first time we see this is when ryoga was introduced. At first ranma didn’t even want to fight going so far as to buy every bread that he beat ryoga to as reconciliation. Even when ryoga attacked all ranma did was doge and block his strikes in an effort to calm him down. It was only when ryoga said ranma was acting like a girl that ranma attacked him which was strong enough to drive ryoga back.


You see it again during the love rod incident when ryoga accidently told ranma he loved him.
Ranma gets treated like a freak more at the start of the series so the curse bothers him more I think you assume needing to be manly is the reason, when that only really came up when his mother was around.


toushin wrote: My question is do you think that there is some sort of psychological trauma that caused this weakness like the neko-ken caused ranma’s fear of cats or is it just a from a life time of being tortured by genma.

Given I seem to recall Ranma getting over his fear of cats, I see many of your examples as Ranma trying to defeat the technique rather then the person, and is trying to remove weaknesses.

That said getting rid of the curse would help, and a little time with a competent shrink.
Zwzn
Moon Senshi
Posts: 1004
 


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