Mark:
<snip>
> Flame a character, eh? About the only one I'd consider
> worth it would be Kodachi, seeing as she's not really
> a character; she's a plot device. Let's see if that
> does it, although I couldn't imagine there being many> Kodachi defenders...
Come on, you can do better than that, right? :)
<snip>

Yeah, I can. Here goes....

Kodachi seems to be only a way to get ranma and akane
together, and this makes her a plot device.  Now, this
is not nessecarily a bad thing, but not only is she a
plot device, but she's a badly written plot device.  I
arrived at this conclusion from her constant self
delusion, psychotic ranmblings, borderline
schizophrenic paranoia, and the fact that she looks
bad in a leotard.  Well, the last is more personal
opinion, but so what.  She also seems to have nothing
in the way of honor, which in my mind is a major
failing, if not a total mark of condemnation.

<snip>
Reply to Shinobu> Having just watched 'Smells like evil spirit', It
> kinda makes me ask my own questions. > 
> What IS the curse?? You fall into a spring where an
> Animal/Person has drowned. then, you assume thier
> form.  Is it Vampiric?? Does it affect the molecular
> structure of the victim? Does a demon take over the
> form of the host?? Help me out Ml'ers. Opinions> welcome.  
I always assumed that when you fell into the spring,  you took the body of
whoever or whatever had drowned in the spring. But after reading the
Nodoka storyline arc last night, I gues it's not true. If you notice,
Nabiki points out that female Ranma looks just like his mother, so it's
probably more of a genetic switch - like still genetically Ranma only
female. It must be the same with all the characters. I mean, if you think
about it, why wouldn't Ranma come out of the Spring as a Chinese girl
instead of Japanese, since they wer in China?
<snip>

I have asked by (former) biology teacher about this,
and the change may very well be genetic. It would be
quite possible for a curse to transmit (in Ranma's
case) the info in the 4rth sector of the X chromasome
to the background residual DNA, and back again, so it
is quite likely (or at least possible) that the
Jusenkyo curse is genetic. Of course, after this shift
it would be nessesary to accelerate the metabolism of
the subject so the change would happen quickly, and
the rate of acceleration needed would incinerate the
subject in real life.  But hey, this isn't real life,
it's fiction, and with a healthy dose of magic,
anythings possible.

---
M. Miller.
He of quiet action.
Unaffiliated (but looking at different factions.)