All right, let's start; open your notebooks.  Today's lecture
is entitled:

**Creep: The Truth About Gosunkugi**

Rather selective truth, though.

As with Ukyou, it is not hard to see the reasons why Hikaru
Gosunkugi's character might engender some sympathy among fanfic
readers.  He is an unattractive, unathletic loser with no
prospects: Gosunkugi is therefore easier for the average anime
fan to identify with than are the superhumans who surround him
in Ranma 1/2.  Moreover, some of the original manga/anime
characterization, particularly the paper doll story, paint his
character as more pathetic than despicable.

Unattractive?  Only in the anime.  In the manga he looks almost normal....
maybe even cute.  As for loser, well gee... not everyone can be a super
god-like martial artist.  It's kinda nice to see a character who's not.

Again like Ukyou, there has been established a new, canonical
characterization for Gosunkugi in Ranma fanfics.  Once more,
John Biles' "Putting Your Heart in the Righ Place" is the
grounding for this new basis of characterization: Biles'
Gosunkugi is rookie magician of some promise and a boy of
generally good nature.  Most, if not all, fanfics featuring
Gosunkugi also start from these two assumptions.

Of course, review of the manga and anime belies both
assumptions.  First of all, Gosunkugi is no more magical
than you or I, having actively dealt with or controlled mystic
forces _less_ than many other characters in Ranma 1/2.  While
he carries around those voodoo dolls and attempts to invoke
their alleged power, he has never been successful in cursing
anyone (pretty sad, considering how easy it is to get cursed in
Ranma 1/2).  His single, successful application of magic
involved the paper dolls, which he purchased, much as Akane and
Ryouga purchased the recipe for the enchanted sakura mochi and
fishing rod, respectively.

Gosunkugi's misfortune at the end of his anime introduction
(the Akane no bento story) may be possible sign of magical
potential; you can interpret the scene to believe that he
called down the lightning.  I prefer to think that the
lightning was evoked not by magic but by the unseen force of
humorously catastrophic coincidence that holds sway over all
slapstick scenes.   Actually, that scene may be a primary
driver for the fallacy, as Gosunkugi claims, "I'm a magician!"
a claim he never makes in the manga.  Plainly, magic is not a
significant element in Gosunkugi's makeup, it's just something
else for him to be a loser at.

Everyone has a hobby.  His is occult and photography.  So what if Fanfic
writers make him a potential wizard?  He didn't hardly get enough show to
say he had no potential at all as one.  He quite clearly was into the
mystics, there's even a picture of his rom in one manga where he has loads
of strange magics.  Who's to say if his character hadn't been more
developed, he might not have been a fine mage?  I know, speculation, but he
didn't get anywhere near as much airtime as the rest of the main
antagonists, it's unfair to think there's anything wrong with fanfiction
portraying him with potential. :P

The second fallacy, borne out of the sympathy I described
before, is that Gosunkugi is generally a nice guy, or at least
no worse than the more prominent characters in Ranma 1/2.  The
evidence to the contrary is strong.  Most despicable is
the underhanded and stealthy character of his offenses,
contrasted against the more open offensive acts of other
characters.  In both the manga and the anime, Gosunkugi
secretly observes and photographs Akane using extraordinary
methods.  Ask any woman who's been victimized by a stalker how
deserving of sympathy Gosunkugi is.  Among his other "crimes"
unique to the manga:

Oh yeah, photographing Akane is SOOOOO much worse than Kunou glomping on to
her or Ukyou trying to kill her.  :P  Oh well.  he does act humane
sometimes, not that you've bothered to mention even a single instance of
this.

- he uses camouflage to position himself where he can jump
Akane-Juliet; Kunou has done nothing worse to Akane

Jump?  Well, that's rather innaccurate.  It's not like he was going to do
anything to her, if you read what he said, he did it because he knew he
couldn't win a fight the others.  Just TALKING to Akane makes Gosunkugi
happy.

- also in Romeo and Juliet, he attempts to kidnap Akane by
attacking her with chloroform and goes so far as to hold off the
competition with a knife to Akane's throat; those actions nearly
equal Shampoo at her worst, even if motivated by a twisted parody
of love

Sorry, guy, that wasn't a knife he had in his hand. :P  It was a prop
crowbar.  harmless.  As for comparing to Shampoo?  Hardly.  Shampoo is a
deadly martial artist.  Gosunkugi is a kid who can't even lift Akane, much
less ride through a wall on a bicycle or toss around iron bonborri like
paperballs.  Not a fair comparison.

- he exposes and attempts to exploit Ranma's fear of cats,
putting Ranma in as threatening a situation as any plot cooked
up by Ranma's more conventional enemies

He told only Kunou, I'd hardly call 'exposing' as that would imply he told
everyone, which he did not.  And maybe you missed, Gosunkugi put himself in
the same trouble.  He was trying to scare Ranma, not kill him, like the
rest seem to want to do.

- he pretends to help Ranma when he is weakened by Happosai's
cautery, in reality exposing Ranma to attack; acting in concert
with Kunou, Mousse, and Kouchou at their worst, Gosunkugi works
up the "guts" to get in a cheap shot on Ranma

Which book is this in?

Unique to the anime:

- he tries to frame Ranma with the "toorima" hoax; after Ranma
forgives him, Gosunkugi attempts a sneak attack with his spike;
I can't recall any other Ranma enemy violating a "ceasefire"
like that

Granted, he was a real jerk in that one.  That's the only one where I've
seen him do nothing redeeming.  But in that, Ranma was no better.  He
didn't 'make up' with Gosunkugi... he theatened to tell the school unless
Gosunkugi waited on him hand and foot, thus treating him as a lacky.  I'd
be mad, too.

- when Kunou takes over the school as substitute principal,
Gosunkugi gladly works as Kunou's stoolie until Akane asks him
to stop

Which episode is this?  At least he stopped.  Does anyone else stop what
they're doing for Akane?  No, not even.  Even Ranma seldom stops whatever
he's doing at Akane's request.

As with many characters' less reputable acts in Ranma 1/2, it
would be ludicrous for us to overanalyze these offenses.
None of Takahashi's characters are irredeemably evil.  But the
wholly (by my recollection) positive spin on the Gosunkugi
character by fanfic authors is remarkable given that there are
multiple examples in fanfic of strongly negative portrayals
of Happosai, Shampoo, Cologne, Kodachi, Nabiki, and even Ryouga.

And I notice how you managed to leave out anything good he did do.  Yeah, I
guess when all you do is point out the flaws in a character, you can make
anyone look like a complete and total jerk.  You know, there ARE positive
examples, too.  Maybe that's what the fanfic writers look at.  He's the
easiest to sway to a good character.

In my opinion.

And this is mine.

Taleswapper

*********
* Mihoshi