Ranma ½ Character Ranking
- Thread starter NuitTombee
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Well, this isn't meant to produce a definitive rank. I was browsing the Ranma rec thread on SB and one poster stated that Shampoo was below even Kuno. I've not read the source material but it seems to goes against most Ranma fanfics I've read. So I was curious to see what others thought.
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The arc ending fights were always amazing, but everything else is just there for comedic slapstick purposes.
If you want good fights, read the arcs that have a martial arts based (rather then a goofy 'we're tea ceremony martial arts!') opponent, like Herb or Ryu Kumon.
The only things the series establishes is that in the end, Ranma will win the fight.
If you want good fights, read the arcs that have a martial arts based (rather then a goofy 'we're tea ceremony martial arts!') opponent, like Herb or Ryu Kumon.
The only things the series establishes is that in the end, Ranma will win the fight.
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About the only clearly defined rules to the Ranmaverse in regards to "power/skill levels/rankings are these:
1 - Herb, Happosai and Saffron are stronger than Ranma.
2 - Ranma will find a way to defeat them anyway.
3 - Ryu, Pantyhose, Ryoga, Genma and Mousse and Konatsu are the only other fighters who can give Ranma a decent challenge.
4 - Everyone else is so far below Ranma that fighting them would be a joke, and is usually played as one.
5 - Cologne is a wild card, who knows what she's actually capable of.
1 - Herb, Happosai and Saffron are stronger than Ranma.
2 - Ranma will find a way to defeat them anyway.
3 - Ryu, Pantyhose, Ryoga, Genma and Mousse and Konatsu are the only other fighters who can give Ranma a decent challenge.
4 - Everyone else is so far below Ranma that fighting them would be a joke, and is usually played as one.
5 - Cologne is a wild card, who knows what she's actually capable of.
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Mitigating the first two of those a little bit is that Ranma needed significant help to beat Saffron; he was armed with the Gekkaja the whole time and probably would not have even survived the fight without it. He also wasn't alone: Ryouga hit Saffron with a well-aimed boulder at one point, and Akane in doll form blocked two of Saffron's massive fireballs for Ranma. The finishing techniques were Ranma's ideas though, in his defense. And they were awesome.
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Ranma's insane adaptations of other moves are what stand out the most to me for why he's an impressive fighter.
Seriously, read the Herb fight scenes, because Herb had him so thoroughly fucked that Ranma shouldn't have stood a chance. Every move Ranma did Herb not only immediately saw through, but countered- He flipped the Hiryu Shoten Ha back on Ranma, causing him to be thrown up even.
And then Ranma used that against him. He goaded Herb into throwing out a ton of angry (read: hot ki) ki blasts, then set up a Hiryu Shoten Ha again. Herb predictably flipped it back on him, and Ranma used that, letting himself be blasted up to the top of the tornado. Then, he shot a corkscrewing cold ki blast directly down the center of the tornado, to where Herb was standing. All the ambient hot ki followed the same principle that the HSH works on, and the entire tornado inverted back onto Herb in one giant blast that he couldn't dodge because he was trapped in the center of the tornado already.
It was pretty awesome.
The Ryu Kumon fight is equally ridiculous in how Ranma beats him, too.
Seriously, read the Herb fight scenes, because Herb had him so thoroughly fucked that Ranma shouldn't have stood a chance. Every move Ranma did Herb not only immediately saw through, but countered- He flipped the Hiryu Shoten Ha back on Ranma, causing him to be thrown up even.
And then Ranma used that against him. He goaded Herb into throwing out a ton of angry (read: hot ki) ki blasts, then set up a Hiryu Shoten Ha again. Herb predictably flipped it back on him, and Ranma used that, letting himself be blasted up to the top of the tornado. Then, he shot a corkscrewing cold ki blast directly down the center of the tornado, to where Herb was standing. All the ambient hot ki followed the same principle that the HSH works on, and the entire tornado inverted back onto Herb in one giant blast that he couldn't dodge because he was trapped in the center of the tornado already.
It was pretty awesome.
The Ryu Kumon fight is equally ridiculous in how Ranma beats him, too.
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There's kind of a Rock Paper Scissors aspect to it, too.
Ranma probably couldn't beat Cologne, as he doesn't really have any sort of counter for her Shiatsu techniques, and even if he could beat her with the Neko-ken, Cologne would most likely be able to prevent Ranma from entering it. However, Cologne was frankly terrified of pissing Herb off, but Ranma did beat him. I'll admit he got lucky, but if the manga had continued and Ranma had continued to improve and pick up new techniques, I''d imagine Herb's threat level slowly decreasing. Part of the reason that Ranma is such a good fighter is that he's great at analysing an opponent's fighting style. It's probably fairly easy to beat a guy with a Black Belt in Karate if you've also got a Black Belt in Karate and a 10th dan Red Belt in Judo on top of that.
Ranma probably couldn't beat Cologne, as he doesn't really have any sort of counter for her Shiatsu techniques, and even if he could beat her with the Neko-ken, Cologne would most likely be able to prevent Ranma from entering it. However, Cologne was frankly terrified of pissing Herb off, but Ranma did beat him. I'll admit he got lucky, but if the manga had continued and Ranma had continued to improve and pick up new techniques, I''d imagine Herb's threat level slowly decreasing. Part of the reason that Ranma is such a good fighter is that he's great at analysing an opponent's fighting style. It's probably fairly easy to beat a guy with a Black Belt in Karate if you've also got a Black Belt in Karate and a 10th dan Red Belt in Judo on top of that.
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The problem is that claim is itself absurd. Both Ranma and Genma either invented new techniques or developed new variations of existing one's. What, does Herb know the Saotome Sealed Techniques?
Isn't it more realistic to assume that Herb either knows a lot of techniques, including all of the most famous well-known one's, and was just bragging, or knows every type of Ki attack? He doesn't know the Moko Takabisha, but he knows a basic energy blast that requires focusing on a "heavy emotion," and so on.
Plus, an older Ranma could potentially have a significant advantage in actual hand-to-hand against an older Herb.
Isn't it more realistic to assume that Herb either knows a lot of techniques, including all of the most famous well-known one's, and was just bragging, or knows every type of Ki attack? He doesn't know the Moko Takabisha, but he knows a basic energy blast that requires focusing on a "heavy emotion," and so on.
Plus, an older Ranma could potentially have a significant advantage in actual hand-to-hand against an older Herb.
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I have the raws for the whole manga and from my understanding the scanlations at that point were fairly literal. A single participant in the Ranmascan project did the entire Herb storyline.
Personally I look at Herb as someone who isn't going to be easily defeated by anything he's seen, if at all; the way he read Ranma's intentions and instantly began countering them is proof enough of that. Ranma can fire counters right back though, so it would be a race of innovation: who can out-innovate each other first, over and over again.
Personally I look at Herb as someone who isn't going to be easily defeated by anything he's seen, if at all; the way he read Ranma's intentions and instantly began countering them is proof enough of that. Ranma can fire counters right back though, so it would be a race of innovation: who can out-innovate each other first, over and over again.
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Which is how Ranma won- he innovated on Herb's innovation, and used the exact same trick (forcing Herb to stay locked at the base of the Hiryu Shoten Ha generating the cold ki to not be launched up into the tornado, the same as Herb did to him) to then use an even more awesome innovation (inverting the tornado into a gigantic ki bomb ) that Herb just couldn't dodge.
Also, I take the 'knows every ki technique' to mean 'If I can see you use a ki technique, I know what it does without fail'
Also, I take the 'knows every ki technique' to mean 'If I can see you use a ki technique, I know what it does without fail'
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I'm assuming that by "knows every ki technique" Herb meant he knows at least one example of every known type of ki attack, but not necessarily each and every different unique permutations of them. He doesn't know Moko Takabishi or Shishi Hokodan specifically, but he knows how to use ki blasts. Likewise he might not know Ryouga's trick of turning a belt into sword with ki, but he can create energy blades from his hands. Heck he even had a rapid fire punch of his own that was very similar to the Amaguriken.
Basically any ki attack anyone in the manga has ever used, Herb probably understands the basic principles of how it works and can pull off something that is at least similar to it if pressed. He won't necessarily be better or even equally talented at using the ki technique though, for example his cloaking technique is probably inferior to Genma and Ranma's since he's so arrogant he would never practice using a technique like that. He's also probably not at expert at shiatsu since that doesn't fit his personality either.
Basically any ki attack anyone in the manga has ever used, Herb probably understands the basic principles of how it works and can pull off something that is at least similar to it if pressed. He won't necessarily be better or even equally talented at using the ki technique though, for example his cloaking technique is probably inferior to Genma and Ranma's since he's so arrogant he would never practice using a technique like that. He's also probably not at expert at shiatsu since that doesn't fit his personality either.
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I think you aren't taking it far enough- with the ryouga example, he could probably very easily do the belt sword trick.
It most likely means "if you can do it, I will understand it and be able to reproduce it, but probably won't bother unless its better then what I normally use."
Also, Herb is very clearly supposed to be a curbstomp opponent- when Cologne is like "no, seriously, DO NOT FUCK WITH THIS GUY, hell I don't even fuck with this guy", it's serious business. The fight is clearly highlighting that power level isn't as important as adaptability, and adaptability is basically the core of Anything Goes.
It's a fight highlighting why exactly Anything Goes is so darn good, not highlighting Ranma's personal strength.
The comedic/slapstick arcs skew physical strength all over the place, but the martial arts chapters all blatantly make clear that Ranma's strength lies in his incredible adaptations of other techniques to specifically counter his current opponent. Revising the Hiryu Shoten Ha wins most of his fights, really.
It most likely means "if you can do it, I will understand it and be able to reproduce it, but probably won't bother unless its better then what I normally use."
Also, Herb is very clearly supposed to be a curbstomp opponent- when Cologne is like "no, seriously, DO NOT FUCK WITH THIS GUY, hell I don't even fuck with this guy", it's serious business. The fight is clearly highlighting that power level isn't as important as adaptability, and adaptability is basically the core of Anything Goes.
It's a fight highlighting why exactly Anything Goes is so darn good, not highlighting Ranma's personal strength.
The comedic/slapstick arcs skew physical strength all over the place, but the martial arts chapters all blatantly make clear that Ranma's strength lies in his incredible adaptations of other techniques to specifically counter his current opponent. Revising the Hiryu Shoten Ha wins most of his fights, really.
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