At 04:08 PM 8/7/1997 -0500, ROBERT MORRISON wrote:

In Ranma 1/2 terminology, the "-chan" suffix gains one additional 
meaning: it refers to the cursed form of Saotome Ranma. The reason 
for this is that Ranma becomes a teenage *girl* in his cursed form, 
and thus the -chan suffix is acceptable. Note that in the series, 
nobody, with the exception of Nabiki when she's getting sly and 
crafty, is likely to call Ranma "Ranma-chan" to his/her face, not 
even Kasumi. The only exception to this is Ukyou, and the "old 
friends" rule of using the suffix applies here.

So Ranma's stuck with the kun/chan suffixes while everyone else gets to 
switch to san as they grow up?

For other characters' curses, this suffix is most definitely 
INappropriate, with three exceptions. (Not counting Herb, who has the 
same curse as Ranma)

Ryouga: His cursed form already has a name, P-chan, thanks to Akane. 
It's okay to give a pet a name with the -chan suffix as a display of 
affection, especially a cute pet. However, notice Ryouga does not 
take kindly to the name P-chan when it's not Akane using it.

Hmm...pets...does Kodachi call hers Midorigame-chan?  Just wondering.

Genma: When Nodoka comes around, before she learns of the curses, 
Ranma and Genma hide out in their cursed forms. When this occurs, 
Genma pretends to be "Ranko"s pet panda, "Panda-chan".

Mousse: His duck form has, somehow, gained the name "MuuMuuChan". I 
assume this happened while he was traveling with that Chinese circus.



Note that, at any time besides when he is posing as Ranko's pet, 
Genma would likely smack the living shit out of anyone who even 
thought of calling him "Panda-chan", and Mousse probably doesn't care 

Actually, isn't Mr. Panda best translated as Panda-san?

much one way or another, as long as a female is calling him by his 
pet-name. If, say, Ranma or Ryouga called him MuuMuuChan though, 
there'd be some razor-sharp knives flying.

Now, for the OTHERS...

Shampoo: The most appropriate name for her cursed form would be 
"Shampoo-neko". "Shampoo-koneko" could also be used, and would be a 
remarkable pun ("koneko" means "kitten", and it's often used as a 
somewhat derogatory but not terribly offensive way to address a young 
girl.)

But in general suffixes that have more syllables than the root are a bad 
idea.

Tarou: As Blade said, his cursed form is best referred to as "Tarou-
minotaur" or "The monster". 

For abbreviation, how about Tarou-cow?  His cursed form sort of looks like 
one.  Or maybe MooMooChan?

Rouge: I wouldn't begin to know what to call her cursed form except 
the name of what she turns into.

This one's easy.  I heard that Ashura is a goddess in the Hindu pantheon, so 
Rouge-sama?

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