Benzaiten with:

> I've seen it both ways. But it's in Webster's as 
> "samisen", and all the sources that seem to be in 
> the know as far as Japanese culture also say 
> "samisen". "Shamisen" just happens to be slightly 
> easier for English-speakers to pronounce.

Well, since I was sitting here reading the Shadow Chronicles (damn good, 
that) and watching the sun rise through the window, I figured I didn't have 
anything else to do, so I looked it up in my Japanese dictionary.  It lists 
it pronounced as "shamisen," though the english translation is written both 
ways.


Pierre replies with:

> I think you don't remember correctly ^_^;

[snip rest of DD post]

Oh.  Ooops.  I'll have to recheck that.  S'been a long time since I read it, 
and I haven't gotten around to getting the Japanese volumes of what Viz has 
released.  Guess I should take care of that, huh?


Don replies to me:

> Most people are not ambidextrous, martial artist or no martial artist.

True.  But any martial artist worth the name simply isn't completely 
dependent on only one hand to the point of incompetency.  Naturally, one 
will always be favored, but even so, the lag hand is trained, and should 
have comparable power, assuming one trains well.  Again, naturally, the lead 
hand will be stronger, but the lag hand shouldn't be that far behind.

And, given Akane's brute strength already, and since we've already 
established that she is actually a good martial artist, then her other hand 
should be of a comparable strength level.  I simply don't buy the argument 
that the loss of one hand took her out of the running.  The DD was simply 
better.  Out of her league, according to me.

Of course, as Pierre has pointed out, and I must grudgingly agree, my memory 
of the DD encounter could be flawed.

> Only if Amazons are a Sovereign Nation in China, which I doubt.

While this is a good point, I feel it is moot in Ranma 1/2.  Takahashi 
simply isn't going to give us that much information on her world view.  I 
think we should simply proceed from faith that since Shampoo's claim is not 
dismissed out of hand that it is legally valid.

> High levels of theoractical martial arts focus a lot on countering
> weapon.  E.g., the Blade Grasp and that kind of stuff.  The coolest
> thing is the Tai Chi Sword Technique.  You can use a bokken against a
> legendary sword like the Masamune and still win.  Very cool stuff.

Yes, this may be true, but it's all theoretical.  Hence the name.  It's not 
likely that you'll ever find a martial artist who can actually _do_ the 
blade grasp, if you get my meaning.

Granted, this doesn't matter for Ranma 1/2, but since I was comparing the 
group using RL martial arts physics, I don't think that the theoretical 
stuff really applies.  


+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Colin Keefe  |    Worshippers of Shampoo, Equal Opportunity Ecchi   |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  keefe@ccn.yamanashi.ac.jp  |   www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/9605   |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Dedicated Blood Bowl-er, Space Wolf Commander, Epic and 40K, Anime  |
|  freak, ElfQuest fanatic, Robotech junkie, and Samurai Shodown nut.  |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+