"Kevin Kelly" <hibiki_ryouga@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

Gary, hope you don't mind a little bit of C&C.

Not at all; I greatly appreciate it.

First off, I'll add my 
shlock about names.

Ryoga, Ukyo, and the like, I can live with.

But the chinese names of Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne are all pretty 
much agreed upon as Xian Pu, Mu Tsu, and Khu Lon.

Uh oh... don't get me started on *this* one.... :-)

For the record, the "agreed upon" names you list above are fanfic
conventions, introduced by Richard Lawson because he thought they
sounded more authentically Chinese than the canon versions. Why he
thought this, I'm still trying to figure out. I note that "Tsu" uses a
different romanization scheme than "Xian," and "Khu" and "Lon" are not
syllables in Mandarin at all, though I suppose they could be Cantonese
or Mongolian or somesuch.

The Chinese characters for Shamps' name are shown in the original
series; I found them in a newspaper article in the Pink and Link story
(vol. 29 part 3, I think). Ross TenEck (whose name I'm probably
mispelling; sorry about that) has looked through all of the manga and
found all of the characters for the names of the China crew. They are
Shan Pu, Mu Si, and Ke Lun.

I can't imagine 
pronouncing Mu Si as Mousse, and it would have probably come out 
"Mushi", which is Japanese for beetle.

Actually, it does sound quite a bit like "mousse." The Mandarin syllable
"si" is pronounced somewhere between "Szzz" and "Srrr." "Mu Tsu," on the
other hand, would sound like "mootsoo."

	Ti Pi repeated the mantra to herself as she trudged forward
along the dirt road. She didn't know whether anyone or anything would 

be

listening, but it couldn't hurt. If nothing else, maybe it would help
control her fear. So far, it didn't seem to be working.

I was just wondering... is Ti Pi supposed to be read as in "TeePee"?

Yep.

	"The elders put you as a sentry?" They had to be desperate to
use a male for such an important job.

If the elders were desperate enough to use a male for such an important 
job, why was Zhen Ben able to take Ti Pi down so easily? After all, she 
can fight off wild dogs with Amazonian strength.

He took her down because she was tired and panicked. Also, there's a bit
(okay, a lot) of reverse chauvenism here on Ti Pi's part, and her
assessment of Zhen may not be all that accurate.

	Ranma looked down. Wrapped tightly around the entire lower half
of his body, Kodachi's ribbon pinned his arms and legs. Except for his
head, he looked like a mummy. He exerted all his strength, but the
ribbon didn't budge at all. It was like pushing against solid steel; 

not

even Ryoga had ever gripped him so tightly.

This thought is so scary that I can't even comment on it. Unless you 
plan on having Kodachi as a super-villan, I sure hope this is only a 
clever trick. Ranma could have beat Kodachi so easily going all out in a 
fight that it is not even funny, and even in the Manga the only reason 
he had any problems beating her in less than a second with Rhythmic 
Gymnastics was because A) She cheated, B) She cheated, and C) She 
cheated. Frankly, I just about stopped reading at this point.

Can't tell you much about this right now; you should pick up some clues
in the following chapters that might help you guess it, but Kodachi's
little secret is going to have to remain a secret until part 7. Yes, I
do *have* an explanation, and if it doesn't make sense after you read
part 7, you can throw rotten vegetables; but stick around 'til then, OK?
:-)

	And as she looked up, she saw men dressed all in black, with
face masks that looked like the snouts of pigs. Hundreds, thousands of
them, swarming through the village like insects. And she could do
nothing to resist as they dragged her across the ground. And the world
faded, and the blackness swallowed everything.

Invasion of the P-Chan Wannabe's?

Bweee! :-) Nah, they're just gas masks.

Thanks for the comments!


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics