>
>FIRST STORY:
>   Rouge, a Chinese girl is introduced.  "Rouge", as in, "makeup".  I
>noticed that Takahashi like to name all Chinese people, with maybe the
>exception of Tarou, with an interesting English sounding name.  Too bad
>she didn't use this pun on the Pink and Link story.  Would've been funnier
>to have "Rouge" and "Blush" as the twins, IMSO.  [S = stupid]. 
>   This story is pretty weird, as it concentrates more on fighting than 
>story.  I didn't like it, but Rouge, in her normal form, is sexy, IMSO.  
>   Rouge and Tarou apparently met in China somewhere, in a bad way.  Tarou 
>was off practicing with dumbells, when they suddenly developed cracks.
>
>--Is this because of heat?  I'm assuming that it is.

Must be.

>
>Anyway, when Tarou went to investigate, he found a naked Rouge bathing. 
>Naturally, Rogue proceeded in hurling every object she could grab at him. 
>For some reason or another, Tarou has a deep resentment for Rogue, and I
>think it goes beyond the fact that she beat him silly during the bath
>scene. 
>
>--Why does Tarou want to beat up Rouge so badly?

saa..

>--And what's that name that she keeps calling Tarou?  Something with the
>katakana words "gasu" in front of it. 

it's actually gesu yarou (i couldn't find gesu in my dict., so it must be
something bastard)

>
>   Anyway, Rouge is Jusenkyou cursed, and she turns into a six-armed,
>three-faced (NOT three heads), fire-breathing entity.
>   Stupid culture note: This is similar to the Buddhist god, Atavakah.  I
>think Atavakah may be the same as Shiva.  If you play the games Pocky and
>Rocky 2 (Kiki Kaikai 2) or Samurai Shodown 2 (Shin Samurai Spirits), then
>I'll show you where you can find him. 
>   This is, by far, the nastiest Jusenkyou curse that Takahashi has made
>yet.  In this form, she can fly, surround herself in flames, and project
>fire REALLY far from either her hands or her mouth(s). 
>   Surprisingly enough, Tarou doesn't use his ink-shooting power in this
>story.  That's actually a pretty annoying power of his, so I dunno why
>he didn't.
>   Well, this story had a lame ending, but it looks like the main point of
>the story is that Rouge wants some medicine patches which Tarou has. 
>Tarou calls them "Sakura no minamoto" which apparently allows the user to
>resist heat. 

Did Tarou take them from her in the first place? Because she kept saying, "
Return them, return them", so i assume he must have taken it from her.  Also,
another interesting point - i think Rumiko is making Rogue Pantyhose's love
match (like she's doing with  everyone else.) AFter all, it follows the
format - new character introduced who is similar to their love match in some
way.
Also, look at the one time pantyhose saved her and she got all big-eyed. 
And when he wouldn't give her what she wanted, she went dramatic and said, I
understand.I will have to date with you.
Of course, Pantyhose says, "Who said anything about dating!"  Oh, and both
are from China too.
So, it's the perfect match.

>
>--Can somebody tell me what the hell they are?  I didn't understand the 
>whole bit at all.

Actually, i thought they were medicine patches for your back, but i could be
wrong.

>--And just why are they attracted to a frying pan?

don't know.

>
>
>SECOND STORY:   
>   Asuka, the White Lily.  Kodachi, the Black Rose, had a rival with this
>person (how appropriate).  Anyway, they are both pretty vain, and they had
>a challenge 10 years ago on who could get the better-looking date.

Actually, the term was kareshi - boyfriend, so who had the better boyfriend.

  Both
>of them got their "boyfriends" via force, of course.  So the two of them
>proceed to trash each other's dates using exploding flowers in order to
>win.  I can only assume that it ends in a draw (or Kodachi won), and they
>agree to a rematch 10 years from now (present). 

ended in a draw.

>   Well, naturally, Kodachi asks Ranma to be her date, and you can guess
>how he feels about it.  Akane obviously goes along with Ranma's feelings. 
>Asuka arrives, hearing about Ranma being her suitor, and proceeds to trash
>him via dirty tricks.  Asuka says to Akane to the effect: "Well, I thought
>that I was at least going to be CHALLENGED by Kodachi!  This guy is a
>loser!"  Naturally, Akane doesn't like to hear how her future husband is
>plain looking, so she virtually ORDERS Ranma to date Kodachi. 

The funny thing is, she see's asuka's challenge as a challenge to herself. 
Shows you how possesive Akane is of Ranma ;->. She even makes him up, and
when he appears, starts a kodachi-like laughter saying, "So, Asuka, let's
see your boyfriend now."


>   Ranma gets beat up in this story so many times, that it's not even
>funny.  It's about as bad as the Rouge story.  Remember, the best-looking
>date wins, so Asuka sends everything she has at Ranma, including exploding
>white lilies, bear claw-traps, and a stampede of cattle.

The more beat-up ranma is, the uglier he gets (bugged out eyes, and so forth)

>   Anyway, when the time for Asuka's date to reveal himself, both Akane
>and Kodachi quite literally fall to their knees before him, because he is
>so studly.  Ranma: "Oi!" (Hey!).  It turns out that Kameo-san is actually
>dating somebody else, Tsuroko-san, so Asuka technically doesn't have a
>date.  

Tsuroko-san was like "Where did you go in the middle of our date"
Kameo-san was like "Some pervert(hen) girl kidnapped? me.

>Theoretically, Ranma wins by default, but both Asuka and Kodachi
>agree for a rematch 5 years from now.  Later, Ranma yells at Akane for
>selling him out like that.  Akane is obviously amused. 

The funniest line at the end:
Ranma: I didn't lose!
Akane: Man is not face alone, you know.

>
>
>FINAL STORY:
>   The dougi story.  It's an outfit which grants the wearer unbelievable
>power.  Of course, the dougi is a sentinent creature, and won't allow just
>anybody to wear it.  Akane turns out to be the one the dougi likes, and
>she can wail on Ranma pretty bad when she wears it. 
>   The suit is obviously masculine, as it likes to watch female idol
>singers on TV, cut out picutes(tm) from Happousai's "Girls" magazine, and
>peep in on Akane when she's bathing.  Akane isn't aware of this, but Ranma
>burns in jealousy when she appears to favor the suit more than him.  (Not 
>to mention the damage to his ego when she wails his butt).
>   This story's ending has been discussed on this M.L., but I noticed 
>that a few details are left out.
>   Again, Ranma gets trounced on this one REALLY bad repeatedly, like in
>all the stories in this volume.  Perhaps this explains why Ranma is in
>bandages for the manga cover. 
>   You'll see this story translated soon, I think.  (Shameless plug  ^_^)

One of the stories where you can actually see the progress in the Ranma/
Akane relationship.
After all, instead of smacking him for holding her, she asks him to hold her
a little bit longer. hmmmm. the end is near...



leonchen@leland.stanford.edu
Leon Chen

lkl