In article <Pine.BSI.3.91.950228115656.16147A-100000@matrix.eden.com>,
Kevin Lew -- 'The Lai-Lai Boy' <ranma@usagi.jrd.dec-j.co.jp> wrote:
[nibble.. nibble]
>This is what I can interpret from Volume 31.  BIG spoilers ahead, you
>anti-spoiler, silly folks.  Please correct me or help me wherever.  I
>don't have any translators on-line at the moment, so I'm just looking at
>the pretty pictures and guessing. 

[munch parts 1-5]

>Part 6:  A stupid new magical item: an "ai" umbrella.  Any two people 
>that get caught underneath it fall in love.  Ranma, Akane, Kunou, and 
>Ukyou all compete to get the umbrella.  Naturally, there's a scene where 
>Ranma (male) and Kunou accidentally get under the umbrella, and gross out 
>the entire school.  In the end, Ranma and Akane get under the umbrella, 
>only to have it rain.  Apparently, the umbrella doesn't last very well in 
>water!

Oh no, that wasn't the problem, it was that it had stopped raining, and the
umbrella was broken before that anyway, so they were standing there looking
at each other for no good reason.

[munch part 7]

>Part 8:  The Neko Hanten gets a shipment of noodles.  They apparently
>taste worse than Akane's cooking.  How do you get rid of them?  By having
>an eating contest!  Winner gets the long-sought heavenly supreme power
>noodle.  Funny points:  Ranma after eating the toxic stuff has
>hallucinations with Ryouga and Kunou. 

They go the equivalent of the river Styx..

>   Proof that Mousse is a total idiot:  He yells, "I SHALL EAT THE
>HEAVENLY SUPREME POWER NOODLE MYSELF!!" and he gets immediately blasted. 
>Anyway, Ranma gets to eat it.  But, it doesn't make him stronger (of
>course).  There's an unfunny joke here, but I can't tell what it is. 

It did give him the power of a hundred men as promised, the "digestive power"
of a hundred men.  It means that for a while he has to eat 100 times as much
as one man, and the closest thing to eat are the noodles that taste bad enough
to kill.

>Part 9-10:  Ranma accidentally mangles a hakata-like doll.  The doll
>possesses Akane's body, and apparently tries desperately/hilariously to
>kill Ranma.  Akane is trapped in the doll's body.  The story is pretty
>easy to understand.  I didn't understand the ending, however.

Akane finds out that the entire incident was Ranma's fault, and proceeds
to trash him.  Ranma comments that the other one was better (the doll trying
to kill him).

[bite]

>Part 11:  Ranma and the rest of Fuurinkan High is trapped on an island. 
>Apparently, you can't eat certain things there, or you'll get the deadly
>Hawaii Honeymoon Virus.  The males of the Fuurinkan High eat some fruit
>unwittingly.  They instantly transform into camera-toting, lei-wearing,
>loudly-clothed honeymooners.  No girl is safe!  They capture Ranma and do
>their worst: rub suntan lotion on her, take stupid photos, etc.  I didn't
>understand what kouchou had, I guess it was a cure.  The story didn't seem so
>funny, unless the verbal jokes were really killer.
>   Interesting notes: Ranma introduces herself to Hinako, so she knows 
>about his secret, I think.  Kouchou throws real grenades, not pineapple 
>bombs in this story.

Hey, when in Hawaii, you don't need to throw pinapple grenades to evoke the
atmosphere.  Well, she already knows Ranma is the most skilled crossdresser
in school.. it didn't come as any surprise to her.. 

-- 
Anand Chelian | anandc@ugcs.caltech.edu
"History is made by the few, and wielded over the many."