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Rumiko
Takahashi Interview, End of Series |
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Rumiko Takahashi Interview
(from
several months after the end of the series in January
of 1996 and taken from Esashi's Ranma Megasite)
In Japan, the mourning period for Ranma 1/2 still continues.
The week after the last episode of Ranma in Shonen Sunday,
a Ranma Memorial Section started, and has continued for
several months. (Rumors of a shrine with candles in the
Shogakukan offices are unsubstantiated.) Rumiko Takahashi
herself, while working on a new manga feature for this
Fall, has even come forward to console her fans with unrevealed
secrets of the series.
Want to know what would happen if Mousse got contact lenses?
If Ranma had fallen half-in, half-out of a Jusenkyo pool?
So do thousands of Japanese fans, whose letters to Takahashi
have been answered in the Ranma Memorials. Reprinted here
are some answers to those stay-awake-at-night questions.
QUESTION: Before they came to the Tendo house, how did
Ranma have any money to go to school? You never see Genma
working. In the early days, when he went to school with
Ryoga, he must have at least had money to buy bread...
TAKAHASHI: Actually, you get to see a panel where Genma's
working at a job (see Vol. 1). But their lifestyle is
basically to find something to eat and something to wear,
so they live like hunters. (laughs) When they need money,
they get something and
trade it in for money.
QUESTION: Ryoga's mind seems to wander heavily from time
to time, but I think in Ranma 1/2 he's the most normal
character. But what's really abnormal about him is his
really bad sense of direction. Why is he like this?
TAKAHASHI: In the comics, I mentioned Ryoga and his family
once, but the Hibiki family all have a really horrible
sense of direction. It's been passed on from generation
to generation. But in Ryoga's case, since he's wandering
all over the place around
Japan, he has various encounters with vicious beasts and
lives alone in desolate areas. The result of it is, it's
his training and allows him to have the strength that
he does.
QUESTION: Those sticks with balls on the ends of them
that Shampoo uses when she fights...what are they?
TAKAHASHI: When you see Shampoo carrying it, it looks
like some sort of accessory, but actually it's a real
Chinese weapon. Don't you think it'll hurt if she spins
it around and hits you upside the head with the metal
sphere part?
QUESTION: Just how many pieces of underwear or items of
clothing does Happosai carry in his bag when he's stealing?
TAKAHASHI: There are approximately 100 pieces of undergarments
usually packed away in his bag each time. You get to see
him carrying off roughly 12 bundles of underwear, one
bundle of panty stocking, two bundles of swimwear, and
one bundle
of girls' gym shorts, so over the course of Ranma 1/2
he's stolen approximately 1600 pieces of underwear.
QUESTION: Tell me the secret of the Saotome family. If
Genma Saotome had a lot of hair in the past, why did he
go bald?
TAKAHASHI: Probably all the stress. Or, possibly it's
one of those hereditary things.
QUESTION: Why did Nodoka (Ranma's mother) marry Genma?
They just don't seem to be a very good match.
TAKAHASHI: He was probably cool in the past, with all
his hair and all (laughs).
In Japan there were 407 weekly (1987-1996) installments
of Ranma 1/2, including a double-sized last episode...at
16 pages per installment, that's 2448 pages of Ranma.
Over time, keen-eyed fans have spotted some patterns (no,
not hidden stereograms if you blur your eyes together,
not Satanic messages spelled out backwards...). In thousands
of pages, Ranma's done a lot, enough to count out just
what he's done and get the exact figures.
Number of Times Panda Uses Signs: 264
RANMA'S BATTLE RECORDS
Qualifications: When the opponent is defeated and doesn't
come back, or admits defeat, it is considered a win even
when the other opponent can't continue to fight. If Ranma
himself says "I lost," ends up passed out, or
ends up in a condition where he
can't continue to fight, it's considered a loss. A fight
where either character runs away, or an outside character
comes in and wrecks the fight, is considered a draw. Note:
This counts MAJOR fights only!
Ranma's Number of Wins: 44
Ranma's Number of Draws: 22
Ranma's Number of Losses: 24
HAND SYMBOLS
In Ranma, you've probably seen the three-fingers-up hand
symbol that Ranma and other characters make when they
get...bonked. But who's got the busiest hands in the series?
(No, not Happosai.) A diehard fan found out how often
the gesture is made in all 38 volumes.
Male Ranma: 250 times
Female Ranma: 105
Tatewaki Kuno: 48
Ryoga Hibiki: 47
Akane: 40
Genma: 30
Soun Tendo: 16
Happosai: 14
Shampoo: 11
Furinkan High School Principal: 9
Ranma 1/2 ©1996 Rumiko Takahashi/Shogakukan Inc./Kitty/Fuji
TV
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to Ranma 1/2? What's That?
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