Chan Wei Lik wrote:

From: David Johnston

Ranma-refugee needs a rationalisation for his course of action

I agree, but he can't possibly know about the consequences of his action
yet. He never jumped before, he doesn't know what happens to the host when
he jumps into their bodies. For all he knows, he just 'killed' the Ranma
native to his new universe. That's my problem with the section, he's talking
about something he can't possibly have known about.

His father had used the device, so he could have made mention of the effect
in his notebook.  That may be why he was willing to run the risk.  From the
way that the Security Directorate was treating him, it looked like his only
escape other than suicide.  As I said in another comment, he was desperate
and possibly not entirely rational from torture and chemical attitude
adjustments.

The other thing is that in that universe, the Security Directorate was
holding him.  The government may not even have been aware of him or his
parents.  Soun Tendo and his daughters were the only ones that had much
contact with him.

To the author: When are you going to tell us how did the Imperial universe
diverged from ours? It's been 12 chapters already and we still don't know
about that one. It's quite interesting given that most asian empires were
not very expansionist. Maybe because they had China as a neighbour? One
which didn't expand much either.

Well, the initial divergence began with the fifth Shogun of the Tokugawa
era.  I don't have my notes in front of me to tell you his name, but he
took power in 1680.  His rule in our history was not very significant.  He
continued the policy of Western exclusion, and occupied his time with
stealing land from nobles that he didn't like and fancying himself as a
scholar.  He was also noted in the history book that I read to be very much
under the influence of his mother.

My divergence point was this, in 1678 the future Shogun's mother became
interested in Western culture despite the ban that had been going on for
decades.  Due to her influence on her son, she had him re-open Japan to the
West.  She was the driving force behind the changes that Scholar-Ranma's
history knows him for.  Add in a little greed when the Shogun learns how
much wealth there is in imperialism, and Japan is on the march.  Poor
samurai are sent out to places such as Korea and Australia to seek out new
lands for their own, and they continue to swear fealty to the Empire.  Let
this spiral for a few centuries and the Empire came to be.

The second major change that took place was in 1777 when the American
Revolution failed due to the South deciding to cut a deal rather than run
the risk of a revolution.  Democracy never came to be.