In a message dated 97-06-13 20:28:20 EDT, Zen wrote:

<< At 14:23 6/13/97, Anthony Woo wrote:
 >On 6 xxx -1, Richard Robinson wrote:
 >
 >> 4. if a cursed person drowned in a Jhusenkyo pool would the
 >> person who fell in get the original body or the curse of
 >> the drowned person  or a two stage curse. E.G. Ranma
 >> drowns. Ryoga falls in does he become Ranma or Ranma-chan
 >> or Ranma and if hit with cold water again then Ranma-chan.
 >>
 >No.  Someone who falls into a Jusenkyo pool changes shape as if he/she
 >were born in that body.  For example:  When Ranma fell into Nyannichuan
 >his new body was the body he would have if he was born a girl.  This is
 >less obvious with animal than it is with people.  The evidence from this
 >comes from the Herb seris where Herb falls into the Nyannichuan and his
 >new body is _totally_ different from Ranma's (besides being female of
 >course).  I think if someone cursed were to drown in a Jusenkyo pool the
 >curse would bestow what ever body they were in at the time to the next
 >victim.  (if Ryoga were to fall into the Spring of Drowned Ranma he would
 >be cursed with turning into a female when splashed with cold water (I'm
 >assuming Ranma drowned in cold water).  The question whether the Jusenkyo
 >pools can counteract each other hasn't been answered yet (ie could the
 >Nannichuan really cure Ranma?).
 >
 The Herb story also suggests that the pools ARE specific... the monkey that
 Herb tossed into the damned spring came out looking exactly like Ranma's
 female side.  You can make a pretty good case for it either way, really.
 
 After all, it'd be hard to say that P-chan is what Ryouga would look like
 if he had been born a pig.
 
 The bottom line is that there is NO consistent data upon which one can base
 any firm predictions about Jyusenkyou curses... Tarou "proves" that the
 curses are additive - in that exposure to the waters of another pool gave
 him BOTH curses...
 
 If Zen were in Ranma's shoes, and Zen knew about Tarou what Ranma knows,
 Zen sure as hell would never go *near* Jyusenkyou again.
 
 
 >Hope that helps.
 >
 >thanx for listening to me rant and rave
 >
 >AJ
 >
 Zen no Itan-sha >>

Zen, I've heard people argue that Tarou "proves" that the new curse overrides
the old one because only his back got wet and he only grew the tenticles from
there.  Sounds fishy to me, but I've always gotten stuck on the part about
drowning an octopus.  Or a statue.  Or a...  Takahashi-sama didn't leave us
clear rules on it so it falls to authors' choice.  The rules seem to differ
from pool to pool, sometimes from dunking to dunking.  All I can say is that
someone is going to disagree with you, so write what you like and don't try
to please everyone.

SlayerNext@aol.com

What ever happened to good old phase-of-the-moon curses anyway?