terajk

"I think that perfect people are not very interesting." --Rumiko Takahashi.

The most glaring message of my childhood was: We've never seen anyone like you before. My neurologist wrote as much in his report; my mother still thinks my brain is a fascinating artefact for science. The school system thought that if I had to be disabled, I should at least be disabled in a way they'd actually heard of. The teachers on recess duty thought that I was too old to be asking them to tell me where my friends were on the playground; one day when school got out early, the lady in the school office thought that "You only live three blocks away--you shouldn't bother your mother with calling her to pick you up." (My mother thought she was a jackass). And a few weeks ago I found someone who thought: "You are because you are, and that's all right."

Rumiko Takahashi's manga Ranma 1/2 is...intimidating to explain. There are martial arts tea ceremonies, abusive parents, monsters, and people who show their love by calling each other jerks and beating the crap out of each other. Protagonist Ranma Saotome is a teenage boy cursed to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water. Many, many characters turn into something when splashed with cold water: pigs, ducks, pandas, kittens, a giant flying ox-monster with tentacles. As a martial artist, Ranma believes in honor and protecting people; he also believes in manipulating them for fun and profit. The cast is full of heroes who are loveable even when you don't like them, of villains who are nice and helpful now and then. Enemies will team up if it's expedient; damsels in distress will be saved by their not-boyfriends and then return the favor a few pages later. The crew might even try to help a rare genuine Big Bad with a problem (immediately after fighting him, even), and he'll repay them by throwing the panty-stealing old man they all hate into the ocean. Then the Big Bad will come back and attack them all again. There's no overarching good or evil, not really. And, most importantly, there's no clear divide between "strong" and "weak" characters.

Enter Ryoga Hibiki...from the wrong way and a week late.

Ryoga is a not-friend, not-enemy of Ranma's who's his foil in almost every way: he's morose and vengeful where Ranma's overconfident and carefree, strong where Ranma is fast, gullible where Ranma comes up with elaborate Batman Gambits ~~against Ryoga~~ just for fun. Obviously, they're drawn to fight by almost magnetic force. When Ryoga first appears, he has been chasing Ranma down for, among other things, "running out on" a duel they had. That duel? It was in the vacant lot behind Ryoga's house, and it took him four days to find the place. (Ranma only waited for three, the jerk).

Much of the cast knows that Ryoga has no sense of direction, in the same way they know that Ranma is a girl sometimes, that his father is a panda, or that Ryoga himself is a piglet. Still, that doesn't mean they know what to do about it. Ranma is always snarking about how he's waiting on "that jerk Ryoga" for a week again, but only once or twice realizes that he could, you know, stop showing up for their duels on time. "No sense of direction" is what everyone calls it, and it's a perfectly clear and helpful description. It's also just a part of Ryoga, like his fangs or his shyness around girls he likes or his fighting skill or the way he shouts: "Prepare to die!" at Ranma on a regular basis. Basically, he's as capable of amazing feats of lostness as he is of amazing feats of martial art. The man can shatter rocks with a finger-poke, okay? He can also win a three-legged race by busting through the goal from the opposite way and asking: "Where am I now?"

In other words, Ryoga is allowed to be just Like That, even without remotely passing as a non-disabled person. In a general sense, the same is true for anyone else in the cast: the horribly abusive fathers, lethal chefs, and all the people who spend half their time in the form of animals or other people won't be mistaken as typical by anyone; yet they all live together in a tense but tolerant way. What this means for Ryoga is that Takahashi doesn't medicalize his lostness at all. When asked specifically why he has no sense of direction (a question which frankly baffles me; why does he have a leopard bandanna? prominent canine teeth?) her answer was:

The Hibiki family all have a really horrible sense of direction. It's been passed on from generation to generation. But in Ryoga's case, since he's wandering all over the place around Japan, he has various encounters with vicious beasts and lives alone in desolate areas. The result of it is, it's his training and allows him to have the strength that he does.

I can only speak for myself, but Ryoga's sense of direction is the most accurate representation of mine that I've ever seen. Sure, I don't have his endurance and he doesn't have my support system, but we think the same. I think it's because Takahashi doesn't medicalize it that she's able to get it so right. Ryoga is perpetually lost, yes, but she also understands why. And instead of telling you why, she has Ryoga show it to you in subtle, brilliant, hilarious fashion: he'll draw a map. The one he made for Akane had a lake, Mount Fuji and a house--and, bonus lolz, it was his own house. Oh, and "There's a mailbox nearby." (When a college friend asked me where something was, I was overjoyed that I knew the answer for once, which was obviously: "There's a Wal-Mart somehow involved!") I, uh...thought Ryoga's map was pretty good until I saw the expression on Akane's face and went: "Wait." When I navigate, I experience the world exactly like this: as various visual things that aren't connected together. The web between them all is gone.

Takahashi somehow got inside what my experience of having no sense of direction is like; it's kind of scary to have someone inside your head like that. She's built a fabulous world out of Ryoga's worldlessness: one with rules and laws and balances that make perfect sense. Even the anime adds to it: someone tells Ryoga to "go straight down that road." When the road turns, he keeps going straight--by jumping off of it and running into the woods. Little touches like this let you see what (or even that) he's thinking; he actually is making decisions, even if they're wrong.

It's also pretty clear that Ryoga has a really, really hard time living in a world not built for him. He frequently grabs people by the shirt and demands to know where he is (it is funny--oh, who am I kidding? He's a huge, scruffy martial artist with muscles and fangs! It is HILARIOUS) because he's panicked and tired. He has been exhausted and starving; since his entire family gets as lost as he does, he hasn't seen them in who knows how long. And he curses his direction-sense regularly.

The fact that his disability clearly affects him doesn't mean he is weak or helpless, and Ranma knows that better than anyone. While he makes fun of Ryoga's lostness on a regular basis, he also considers him his only true rival. Once, Ryoga single-handedly kicked the asses of all of Ranma's other rivals when Ranma was made weak and defenseless by a magical power-down. And then there was that time Ryoga gave him the training from hell in martial arts gymnastics. (The last thing Ranma said to Ryoga before this? "Poor widdle piggy gets lost all the time!" I'm sure his mouth influenced how much "hell" is in this training.)

Like most of the cast, Ryoga is loveable without always being nice, or even likeable. (That gymnstics training from hell? It was so that Ranma would lose, as part of a scheme to have Akane all to himself.) He makes me laugh--and, okay, point--cheer for him, marvel at acts of badass, want to hug him...and punch him in the face, throw up in my mouth, and once, tell Akane to get the hell away from that stalker. He isn't above trying to actually kill Ranma now and then, and ~~doesn't always~~ almost never takes responsibility for his actions. While in human form he is always ready to defend women from being "forced on," he enjoys being snuggled by Akane and sleeping in her bed as a pig while she doesn't know it's him--and he sees no hypocrisy in this at all. It's sweet and sad, yes, but also, holy non-consent, Batman! This escalates into an Epic Morality Failure, and the only thing he sees wrong with it is that he'll have to explain it to Akane "without sounding like a moron." (Protip: If you try to brainwash a girl into liking you, brainwash your rival instead and then try to fix everything by attempting to bury him in the woods, stupidity is the least of your problems. Especially if the only reason you want to explain it to the girl at all is so she won't think you're gay.) The only thing that's even remotely out-of-character is that Ryoga suddenly has the navigational skills to stalk Akane properly.

In my very favorite story, Ryoga invites Akane to his house to see his dog's new puppies. lt demonstrates many things about Ryoga's relationship with his disability, his relationship with Ranma, and Ranma's relationship with both. It also involves the most badass use of someone as an assistive device since Ranma turned P-Chan-on-a-chain into a gymnastics ribbon. (Ryoga was getting him back, surely). After Akane leaves without him, in a panic he asks Ranma to take him home...and by "asks," I mean "kicks his stupid, sleeping face and lies through his teeth." On the way, Ranma's still competing with him--jumping over rooftops and across pegs over a body of water--because Ryoga may need his help, but he's still an accomplished martial artist and his rival. And Ryoga's planning to ditch him as soon as he stops being useful. ("Heh. Fool.") In other words, Ryoga can separate Ranma-the-person (whom he's competing with) from Ranma-the-tool. Considering all the weird power imbalances that happen when disabled people need to use a person for an unusual form of assistance (say, for example, people who always take you where you need to go in a store only after they do their shopping first), this is as hard to do as turning your own angst into a chi-blast that leaves huge craters. *g*

Later Ryoga and Mousse (a Chinese master of hidden weapons who has "the worst eyesight in the world") team up for some Kickass PWD Interdependence Fu: they work together to get back from a hot spring, because Ryoga totally knows the way by heart and Mousse has seen all the landmarks. (It might've worked out better if they hadn't done it backwards). The plan goes as hilariously as can be expected, but it also goes right. Sure, it was probably just so they wouldn't break the plot, but they do somehow make it to Akane, who calls to them. While Takahashi definitely intended the whole adventure as a joke, it's also the first time we see any cast member attempt to provide even a makeshift support system for either Mousse or Ryoga...you know, without being beaten into it. And there's no power imbalance involved--they both want to achieve the same thing. And I love that the first person to actively try to accomodate them is another PWD.

The Jusenkyo curses themselves say a lot of things about having a non-standard body, and there are as many ways of relating to one's curse as there are cursed people. Ranma, Ryoga, Mousse and Shampoo often attempt to cure themselves. Still, Ranma is not above using his female form when it's expedient (he flirts with men to get free food and other things he wants); Shampoo says she wants a cure so that she won't be a cat (and, thus, cat-phobic Ranma won't run in terror from her--too bad doesn't like her for other reasons, too); Ranma's dad might have competed with Ranma for a cure once (they compete for so many things that I forget), but he certainly never joins the crew in their schemes. As a piglet, Ryoga is prey to all sorts of animals and humans who want to eat him; as Akane's pet, he gets lots of cuddles and attention. Pantyhose Taro may hate his name, but he likes his form so much he carries a bucket of cold water to fights. No one's feelings about their curse are portrayed as right or wrong. And, really, that's my favorite thing about Ranma 1/2: that its world is full of all kinds of people, and they all belong there.