General Questions mk 2

[Crescent Pulsar]

Viz is the only official English version, right? But, yeah; there's even a name below Shampoo's picture. I'm just accustomed to seeing Ranma's last name with the character for female/woman in it (or whatever), along with two other characters. But there's only two here, and they're both different-looking characters entirely.

[Makoto]

Haven't seen the Viz version, and I don't know the link to the unofficial English scanlation, anyway, so... :/

I backtracked to the newspaper picture at the beginning of the story arc, on page 41 (the one with Ranma's picture on the left and Shampoo's on the right - was that the one you meant? I thought it was the one at the end of the story. Darn, it HAS been a long time since I've read the manga. ) ...and yes, that's Ranma's first name and Shampoo's in Chinese kanji, but not Ranma's family name. I don't know Chinese, so I can't translate the labels before either name, though.

[LawOhki]

Which version of the manga is this? I just took a look at my original Japanese volume 29, page 116, and I don't see Ranma's name below his picture - just the article text. (I've seen Ranma's name in Chinese (kanji) a few times, from some Chinese Ranma videos and manga around Japantown, and even played the Chinese DOS game a couple of times, so I'd like to think I'd recognize it... but it's been a while.)

The original
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/2371/ranma29042.jpg

Under Ranma - Groom Ranma
I can't find the character after 'shin' under Shampoo, but I'm reasonably sure it's Wife/Bride Shampoo

[Makoto]

Well, I've always been reluctant to do Japanese interpretations of Chinese kanji - mainly because my Japanese isn't the best, but also because I'm not sure how often that method works for guessing Chinese text. Does anyone have a rough percentage? ^_^;

I approximate 'shinjoushi' as Shampoo's label (because none of my dictionaries, including a kanji dictionary, list all three characters together), which could possibly be translated as 'newly married woman' or, of course, 'bride.'

[Crescent Pulsar]

Makes enough sense. And it would explain why his last name wouldn't look like his last name, if it wasn't a last name at all. XD

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

I was just wondering if people could help me with two questions? Firstly, I think I've seen it mentioned here that, in Japan, the age of consent for males to be married was 16 until 1995, whereupon it became 18. Is this true? If yes, then that might explain why Soun and Genma are willing to consider things like knocking Ranma out cold and holding a wedding while he's out: because, in the timeline of Ranma 1/2 (which is 1994 at its latest, somewhere in the late 1980's at its earliest) Ranma is actually of legal age to wed.

Secondly, if Ranma had won the hot-springs obstacle course race, or if Ryoga's sense of direction hadn't wrecked it, exactly how would the "free trip to any hot springs in the world" have helped them get to Jusenkyo? I'm presuming that the hot springs would have paid for a plane ticket to and from China, and that they would have landed at the closest city, walked to Jusenkyo, gotten cured, then walked back and taken the plane back to Japan, but is this how it would have happened?

If yes, then what would be the closest city to Jusenkyo for their plans?

[three headed dog]

That is what I have heard, the marriage age for guys was 16 and 13 for girls prior to 1995 so Ranma was of marriage age (with parental consent).

Jusenkyo is a spring so per the prize they would have gotten a trip to the springs so a plane ride than car/bus/train or something to get to them there. There are several airports in the area now but the most common means of getting their around 20 years ago would have probably been the Lanqing Railway.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

That makes sense, but two things; Jusenkyo is technically a martial arts training ground, not a hot spring, and it's also a fairly isolated place, being deep in the Byankala Mountains, so are there any forms of public transportation that could take them all the way, or would they have to settle for a plane ride to China, a bus/train/whatever ride to the town closest to the mountains, and then about a week or so of hiking to and from Jusenkyo?

[three headed dog]

If I remember the prize was to any spring, so even though they are also a training ground, they should have to pay all transportation costs. As for transportation, I'm not sure what means they would use, but it definitely does not have overly easy access being a remote area.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

This question isn't entirely based on Ranma, but I was wondering if people could tell me the name of a certain Japanese/Chinese polearm? It consists of a crescent-shaped blade positioned in a "smiling moon" shape (crescent with the points facing straight up) on the end of a staff, and one of the Nikumen uses such a weapon. I know that a similar blade forms one of the two blades on the Shaolin Shovel, and in Inuyasha, the Band of Seven's leader Bankotsu uses a zambato with one of these crescent-blades positioned on the bottom of its hilt.

[three headed dog]

tsuki nari yari "moon-shaped spear"

[Crescent Pulsar]

I've forgotten by now, but... Does Shampoo really speak in broken Japanese, which comes out as broken English; or, is the broken English unique to the English-speaking audience?

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

From what I understand, Shampoo uses an archaric form of Japanese in the original Japanese manga, alongside stereotypical 'accents' associated with Japanese-Speaking Chinese, which the English translators tried to 'carry over' as broken speech. I think that the more accurate rendition would actually be the Ye Olde English some fanfic writers attribute to Tatewaki Kuno, but I'm not a hundred percent sure of that.

[Crescent Pulsar]

I do say, my good man. Imagining Shampoo speaking in Old English is an amusing thought.

[SpaceKnight of Chaos]

More along the lines of "thee, thou, etc", but yeah, I figure you get my point.