David Bateson wrote:
On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Andrael wrote:
YAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!! Why is everyone being so mean to
Mousse?! I've put up with it up to now, but I just can't take it
anymore! Mousse is no more a homicidal nut than Ryoga, Shampoo, or
Kodachi. When has he ever really, seriously, tried to kill someone?!
Sure, he's attacked Ranma on numerous occasions, brandishing pointy
objects; which one of Ranma's rivals hasn't done that? And Ranma is
more than capable of defending himself. Sure, he kidnapped Akane and
tried to turn Ranma into a duck; what's so bad about that? ^^;; Okay,
it is pretty creepy; but others have done similar if not worse things,
and besides it's not the same as trying to kill someone.
Actually Mousse kidnapped Akane to try and blackmail Ranma and tried to
turn *Akane* into a duck as part of the plot. This gives Mousse the
unique distinction of being the only Ranma 1/2 character who is shown to
be willing to cause harm to an innocent unconnected with their fight.
? I think you kind of missed the point in that episode. Mousse
never intended to turn Akane into a duck. His kidnapping of Akane was a
ruse to lure Ranma in so that he could turn *Ranma* into a duck. He
even said, "The yahzu-ni-chuan water is too precious to be wasted on
Akane Tendo. It's only for Ranma..." The water he was spraying all
over the place with the giant hose, the water that Akane got hit with,
was plain water. (Then why did the tiger turn into a duck? Takahashi
plot inconsistency.)
The *only* Ranma 1/2 character willing to harm innocent
bystanders? Are you sure about that? Below are a couple of examples
(maybe not the best ones, but here they are anyway):
1) Ryoga, during his first major fight with Ranma, repeatedly
sending volleys of razor-sharp bandannas into the crowd. Hey, that belt
of his could have cut a lot more than Akane's hair!
2) Ms. Hinako, in the OAV series, chasing after Ranma trying to
drain his aura; instead only succeeded in draining the hell out of all
the students who were watching the fight.
This is not meant to justify the stupid things Mousse has done.
But come on, he's not all bad. In vol. 18 of the manga, he went with
Ranma, Ryoga, and Shampoo against Pantyhose Taro. "But," you protest,
"he only came along because it was an ideal opportunity to kill Ranma."
Granted, he was thinking along those lines at the beginning; but a
great king once said, "Intent and Outcome are so rarely coincident," or
as my Mom would say, actions speak louder than intentions. Regardless
of what Mousse was thinking of, he did give Ranma a save, and fought
Pantyhose Taro along with the others.
Then there was the Herb storyline, where Mousse went, along with
Ryoga, to help Ranma regain his male form. What's that you say? "He
only did it because he was conspiring with Ryoga; once they found the
Chisuiton, they would dump Ranma, and use it to become permanently
male,"? Well, they did so, and it backfired on them. But after they
got the Kaisuifu kettle thingy and changed back into their human forms,
they ran all the way back to give it to Ranma. And as Ranma was diving
for the Kaisuifu and Herb was getting ready to chi-blast him, Mousse
could easily have let Ranma get blown away; but instead he diverted
Herb's attack. See? He's not all that bad. See?
Oo-kay, I seem to be rambling here. I have no illusions; my
arguments are unlikely to change the minds of any die-hard
Mousse-o-phobes out there. I should know; I'm at least as stubborn if
not more so. I don't want to contribute any more Spam. I know when I'm
outnumbered. It would just be nice to know that I'm not the only one
here that doesn't hate Mousse's guts.
peace,
Andrael
"Nobody's creepy from the inside, Hazel. Some of them are sad, and some
of them hurt, and some of them think they're the only real thing in the
whole world... But they're not creepy."
--- Death, "Death: The Time of your Life"
Shinji: "Treat me well! BE KIND TO ME!!!"
[Evil]Ayanami: I am kind to you. Now get down on all fours and bark
like a dog.