So here is our first seasonal double header! Looks like I've arranged a rather busy week for myself. Well, never mind that for the time being and let's get on with this!
Cursed Joketsuzoku was here.
Rivals was here.
Cursed first, I suppose. In a sense I'm enjoying the deconstruction of the psychological effect the curse has been having on Shampoo, but I'm also wondering what would be the best direction to take the story in after that point. I can definitely see her trying to seduce the ever oblivious Ranma at this point, but how much longer should I put off having them arrive at the Tendos? I think that should happen kinda soon... It would also be rather fun seeing this version of Shampoo butting heads with Akane.
Rivals next. Obviously, the two groups need to meet up. I think a civilian meeting would definitely provide a little bit of additional comedy for this part, particularly if Sumiko tried flirting with Mamoru. Shortly after that, a youma attacks and all hell breaks loose. The main trouble I'm having is the nature of the hell that breaks loose. Any thoughts on your end?
Well I wrote my two episodes of Cursed trying to flesh out a few elements of Shampoo's perspective, and a little on Colougne's response. Still one thing I deliberately avoided was an examination of what the curse was doing to Ranma. Which in itself does seem to imply that it's effect may be purely physical in Ranma's case, though of course it could just be taking longer for the curse to build any mental foundations to have a real effect.
ReplyDeleteWell questions of Ranma aside, I agree that the group arriving at the Tendos would offer a lot more possibilities to explore. One thought that's occured to me is that Shampoo might take some warnings about how bad it would be to be seen as sleeping around to mean "Don't get caught" and make a point to just erase the memory of every guy she does it with. Could actually be interesting to have Akane keep spotting guy's with unusually clean hair and looking at Shampoo.
*finds self at a fairly different direction*
ReplyDeleteRanma not being around the village and it already being an overdone take on super sexy Ranma-chan that Ranma has to deal with seems plenty without mental effects. I mean, just taking physical, Ranma probably struggles to be a plausible Nerima martial artist at all in that girl form, probably is extra vulnerable to Nabiki manipulations, guys chasing her, etc. Having mental changes doesn't seem like it'd add that much to either comic or ecchi storytelling.
He also has Shampoo after him in both his forms, trying to prove her own dominance of the situation.
It seems like it'd be a shame to have Cologne working so hard to try and help Shampoo and it not only be irrelevant but also not openly even noticed by her. And anyway, won't most of them go Ga-Ga over her? So she'd feel like she has power over them and won't find them interesting? Not that it's all that bad if Shampoo is having sex, it just seems like Cologne would notice and probably be disappointed in her and it'd be an odd switch from her caring what Ranma thought of her. As cute as a concept of a secret Judging Akane might be, it seems like it really puts the main trio (Cologne, Shampoo, Ranma) for the story in a weird spot.
Personally, I'd totally vote for them getting to the Tendos because that sounds like a hillarious place to be. It does bring a bit of a timeskip, and sort of ask for what will happen as regards Ranma's attempts to be effective as a martial artist in girlform (Talks/competitions/training with Shampoo could be hillarious too, Martial philosophy meeting with seduction concepts that get couched in martial arts after a bit to try and convince him), but it definitely puts the cast in a stable area that provides lots of funny.
Genma would probably want to ditch them for it, but I can't see Ranma having any reason to go along with ditching them (They're the knowledgeable cure people who are cooking good food afterall) or Genma being successful at kidnapping Ranma under Cologne's nose (Since after all, he's an important subject for figuring out the curse). Perhaps after failing, he takes the straightforward route of saying they're going to drop by an old friend and training partner, leaving out the whole fianceeship. Ranma doesn't see through it (and doesn't have a reason to dodge with the amazons there), but Cologne probably would. Splashing Ranma right before they arrive would certainly leave an impression, instead of a panda and a girl, they get two extremely chesty girls, with Shampoo possibly trying to push in as being in charge (Perhaps even being initially successful with the other girls intimidated by her overt sexuality before Akane challenges her to a fight in embarrassment?)
Either way, I think it gives the Tendo girls a good bounce at the whole fianceeship. "He has a girlfriend like that and you really think we're going to waste our time fighting for that?" Perhaps leaving it unconnected and the old men are trying to set it up, while there's more of a 'troublesome guests' view by the three sisters?
I guess I'd be remiss not to comment on Rivals considering how often I voted for it. I think given that the previous episode revolved entirely around the Champions it would probably help if the next episode was done from the Scouts' perspective.
ReplyDeleteI think having them meet first as civilians is a great idea (I assume you meant Momo instead of Sumiko). My suggestion would be to have two members of each team meet up (Usagi and Minako meet Momo and Hikari perhaps). Meanwhile, each other threesome encounters one of the opposite group's enemies and finds their attacks to be completely ineffective. They both decide a retreat is in order to buy time and find their big guns, and hell breaks loose when both groups converge on the civilians with demons in tow.