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Rob Heinbecker wrote:

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I like the concept Yoiko. Count me in.

Looking back, my feeling is that she hadn't completely decided where she wanted to go with the characters or series. That each week a new decision had been made. I wonder if she was under pressure to deliver a new series on the heels of Lum and Maison.

That's a really good observation. Takahashi actually said something similar to this when Animerica interviewed her at the beginning of Inuyasha...

Well, I didn't realize it myself when I started Ranma ½, but I must have been under pressure to match my previous two works, and I think I was rushing. I was thinking I had to create memorable scenes as soon as possible. In that sense, I think I feel like now I'm free to do what I can do.

So yeah, really good call on that Rob.

Looking through the Memorial Book Interview Takahashi discusses how Ranma was initially going to behave...

I originally intended for him to be a clean-cut, incredibly energetic kid who was into fighting. But, he became somewhat indecisive and picky. I think everyone has those kinds of sentiments. So I think my own feelings of that nature went right through my pen and were reflected in my drawings of Ranma. Originally, Ranma was a neater, tidier, and energetic young man. However, by the time I realized it, he became indecisive and stingy. Even so, I like the more normal Ranma too.

I think that's pretty evident in the first few chapters. Ranma seems like he wants to be friends with Akane, and plays along with her wanting to spar with him. I can't imagine the cocky Ranma of later volumes behaving this way. In fact he would probably just roll his eyes and mock his opponent. *laughs*

She also expressed some difficulty with Kuno, who some of you observed changed a bit...

In contrast, it was difficult to understand stronger characters such as Shampoo and Kuno. After drawing Kuno two or three times, I thought, "I can't really follow him." [laughs] However, in terms of creating the story, his was a convenient existence, lining up with Happosai. He was a beneficial character in that he would force the story to move, for instance causing trouble due to his feelings being too strong.

So perhaps Kuno would have played a more Mendoesque roll originally in the sense of being a little less over the top and sane, compared to being quiet as love blind and "simple" if that's the right word.

Takahashi talks a bit about Ryoga, but I'll save that for next month since he didn't appear in this volume.

Volume 2 Chapters 9 - 17
Originally Published: November - December 1987
Tankoubon Published: April 14, 1988
Color Chapters: Showdown & Kodachi the Black Rose

Re-reading this, it really makes me feel there was something of a missed opportunity in terms of the Akane, Kasumi, Dr. Tofu love triangle. When Akane told Kasumi that Dr. Tofu doesn't behave strangely when she's not around, it struck me how poinant and difficult it was for Akane. Especially when she went home to train and Ranma caught her crying. I thought that said a lot about her character, and was an interesting "first step" in their relationship, when Ranma complimented her and tried to make her feel better. It's easy to forget later on that Ranma can be somewhat decent to her at times. *lol* It just seemed that Akane got her hair cut and got over Dr. Tofu all in one chapter. But I do think her scene with Tofu when she cried was handled really well, and when small, emotional moments like that come up in the manga, I think they're always very welcome. Ryugenzawa, Ryoga's fight with Lime, etc, etc...

Also, I think this is when we first started to see what kind of character Kasumi was developing into. As many people said, in the first chapter came out as pretty haughty and snobbish. It's easy to understand her not realizing Akane had feelings for Dr. Tofu, but later that aloofness seems to become more and more pronounced. I've seen some fans try to say she was "stupid", but I certainly don't think that's the case.

We also get to see Ryoga for the first time. I remember reading this volume and thinking he was such a badass. He's character certainly develops in some interesting ways, at times (heck, most of the time) coming off much more sympathetically and relatable than Ranma, in my opinion (and Ranma's my favorite!) Reading this reminded me that they actually used to live near one another, which of course explains Ranma escorting Ryoga home in later volumes. I still wonder where it was they lived. Somewhere else in Tokyo I guess.

It was funny to see that Ranma barely remembered Ryoga, considering how involved with one another they eventually become. Other little things that I noticed was that they both wore proper uniforms at their old school (and Ryoga didn't wear his trademark bandanna, I think there is only one other time in the manga that he's seen without it if I rememember correctly).

I couldn't help but laugh when Ranma tried to give Ryoga the bread, and Ryoga complained about it being past the sell date. *lol* And when he used his bandanna's against Ranma, Ranma asked how many he was wearing. *lol* Seeing these gags introduced for the first time makes me nostalgic!

When Ryoga first saw Ranma's curse, Ranma's little speech about "taking it in stride and treating everyone with kindness" was inadvertently funny to me. I just can't help but think about how big of a jerk Ranma winds up being, that lines like that when Takahashi was still fleshing out his personality come off hilariously. It says a lot about Takahashi that Ranma's jerkiness is different from the jerkiness of Ataru or Mendo before him.

The other thing that impressed me was the fight between Ranma and Ryoga. I really wish the anime had handled the fights better. At times I thought they did a pretty weak job of coreographing them, leaving out a lot of cool "epic" stuff in order to simplify them. Though at the beginning of the anime, when they did this one, it was done very well. I always remember how impressed I was when Ryoga was able to lift himself and Ranma with one arm, upside down. But this was, afterall, the first manga I ever read, and seeing this sort of artwork and action was totally fresh and new to me then, so it made a very strong impression.

There weren't a lot of cultural or translation notes in this volume. In the English version on page 287 and Japanese version page 102 there's a conversation between Ranma and Ryoga, followed by a stunned reaction shot of the crowd. The joke (and reaction) makes more sense in Japanese.

English Version
Ryoga: Feh! She didn't get an injury, did she?
Ranma: No-- but she sure got a bad cut!

Japanese Version
Ryoga: Kega (injury) ga nakute yokatta jyanaika.
Ranma: Kega (injury) wa nakutemo ke ga (hair) nakunattan dazo.

So yeah, it a pun using "kega" (injury) and "ke" (hair) plus the article "ga". The pun obviously falls flat with the crowd. Oh, now that I re-read it again after checking the Japanese, I see what they were doing there with the English, "bad cut" is the pun for bad haircut/bad cut/slice, injury... huh. Yeah, that's sort of funny... heh.

The other cultural thing is when we first see Ryoga stop the wild board rampaging through the village, the townspeople are speaking in typical "hick" speak in the English version. The English translation says they are "500 miles from Tokyo" but the Japanese version actually says they are in Shikoku, so that's the dialect. Weirdly enough there is a blonde haired, blue eyed woman in one of the scenes, and in the Japanese version she speaks (in English no less) "Help me!" I have no idea why a foreigner is in this scene, or if there are a lot of foreigners in Shikoku.

Reading this made me wonder about Ryoga's life prior to this, such as how he became a martial artist on par with Ranma. With Ranma, we know he came from a martial arts family, but for some reason I've never gotten the feeling that Ryoga's parents were martial artists. Who knows. The other thing I was unsure about was whether or not Takahashi knew Ryoga was cursed at this point. I originally would have said "no", but rereading it reminded me that he consistantly seemed to say his hatred was about more than just the bread, so perhaps she did know he was curse at this point. I guess since I had always read these in English, and the chapters of the first English volume were divided between the Furinkan High fight and the late night battle, that it always felt like two different storylines, when in actuality, it was all one storyline. So yeah, I think Takahashi probably did know she was going to have Ryoga cursed from the beginning.

We also see the introduction of Kodachi at the very end. She mentions St. Hebereke, which eventually is referred to in English as "St. Hebereke aka St. Bacchus". I thought I discussed it one the website somewhere, but I can't find it at the moment. Hebereke means "drunk" in Japanese, so the English translation conveys this by saying it's "St. Bacchus" the Greek god of wine.

And of course, as a kid all the nudity and panty flashes were quite interesting to me! *laughs* Hard to believe I first read this when I was 12 and now I'm 27. Where have the years gone? My Japanese volume is actually a little ratty first edition from 1988. It even has that musty old smell!