Nekoken: Useful or Useless?

[three headed dog]

I did not vote on the poll because I'm unsure which option would be best.

It really does depend on a number of factors. If other people where put in the situations they might not develop the personality of a cat at all. It also does depend on the persons abilities.

Ranma while in the neko ken can be distracted and does not really hurt people simply because Ranma has not used it on a person he really dislikes so he becomes playful instead of vicious. Since he is generally in a playful mood he can be easily distracted. Ranma does not hate Genma, he does not really respect his father but he does care for him. Ranma does not really dislike Tatewaki Kuno, he finds him to be an annoyance and a pest but that's it (the memorial book says he views Tatewaki as primarily a sparring partner). When he fought Cologne he was not so easily distracted but while somewhat angry with her Ranma did not and does not really dislike her so still wasn't vicious (She did give him an out, as well as a sporting chance, and gave him training).

Where he to fight someone he really disliked/hated like Saffron, he would have been much more viscous, trying to kill him, and would not be distracted. A cat fighting another cat or a cat that feels cornered is not easily distracted. The thing is Neko Ranma would probably have sliced Saffron to pieces with his claws (Ranma always tries to avoid hurting his opponents, even Saffron, it was awhile into the fight before Ranma got to the point in which he tried to maim him - cut off Saffrons wing. I do not think that Neko-Ranma would have the same hesitation to hurting him.) Though I wonder how Ranma's ki claws (I'm just going to call them ki claws though it could be something else) would have done against Saffron's blasts since Ranma was able to cut apart Colognes blasts of water. If things became too bad or Neko Ranma got hurt though he would simply run away since Neko Ranma would not know what is at stake and would more so care about preserving himself.