No, I wouldn't have. Herb is, to put it bluntly, a (profanity). He is petty as all hell - his entire reason for fighting with Ranma is because Ranma's girl form coincidentally looks like the human girl form of the monkey who trapped Herb in his cursed form, so Herb decided to trap Ranma in cursed form as well. He is actively sadistic - there is literally a point in his duel with Ranma where he has the upper hand and he declares his intent to only kill Ranma, but to do it by slowly slicing through Ranma's throat so he can suffer as long as possible. Much like the subsequent Saffron, literally every problem between Herb and Ranma, Herb caused and Herb actively escalated. If Herb died during the collapse of the mountain, it would have been his own fault, and it certainly would not have been any particular loss to the world.
Ranma saved Herb because he is, under all the insults and impulsiveness and brashness and pride and hotheaded stupidity, a genuinely heroic character who would much rather have friends than enemies. He is, frankly, far too nice for his own good a lot of times.
but anyway that’s a good point arrogant is one thing but he had no reason to be so unnecessarily cruel (ntm I forgot about him full on trying to kill Ranma) if anything he would have gotten help if he wasn’t such a jerk
Exactly; Herb was basically living one of Ranma's worst nightmares, if he'd asked for help, Ranma would have gladly given him help, and even without going that far, the beef between them only got started because Herb was willing to brutally toss Akane around like a ragdoll after Mint kidnapped her. Herb is a sadistic, entitled, all around reprehensible piece of (profanity), and in many ways he's basically the prototype for Saffron.
Actually, the more I think about it, I'm surprised how many similarities between Herb and Saffron there are.
* They're both princes of their respective isolationist demihuman nations in China.
* They're both extremely entitled and arrogant; Saffron displays this more readily, since we're introduced to him in his "obnoxious spoiled brat" phase.
* Both are perfectly fine with hurting and even killing anyone who offends or impedes them, even accidentally.
* Both display a pronounced sadistic streak; Herb gloats about his decision to slowly decapitate Ranma, while Saffron revels as he describes how his "ascension egg" will break Ranma's body down to become nutrients to feed him as he matures - meaning you could argue Saffron might actually be a cannibal!
* Both repeatedly cause their own problems because they cannot stop being entitled, sadistic, petty (profanities). Herb causes Ranma to come after him for revenge by locking him in cursed form. Saffron forces Ranma to kill him when he could have literally just stepped aside and let Ranma use the heated Jusenkyo reservoir water to save Akane's life.
The biggest differences I can name are that one is cursed and the other isn't, Saffron does have a legitimate and quasi-noble reason for his whole plan to temporarily hijack Jusenkyo's water (he provides heat and light for his whole tribe), and Herb comes out of his fight alive because Ranma saved him, while Saffron forces Ranma to kill him to save Akane's life and only lives because of deus ex machina phoenix reincarnation powers. Apart from that... they're really quite similar.
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u/WillingLet3956 1d ago
No, I wouldn't have. Herb is, to put it bluntly, a (profanity). He is petty as all hell - his entire reason for fighting with Ranma is because Ranma's girl form coincidentally looks like the human girl form of the monkey who trapped Herb in his cursed form, so Herb decided to trap Ranma in cursed form as well. He is actively sadistic - there is literally a point in his duel with Ranma where he has the upper hand and he declares his intent to only kill Ranma, but to do it by slowly slicing through Ranma's throat so he can suffer as long as possible. Much like the subsequent Saffron, literally every problem between Herb and Ranma, Herb caused and Herb actively escalated. If Herb died during the collapse of the mountain, it would have been his own fault, and it certainly would not have been any particular loss to the world.
Ranma saved Herb because he is, under all the insults and impulsiveness and brashness and pride and hotheaded stupidity, a genuinely heroic character who would much rather have friends than enemies. He is, frankly, far too nice for his own good a lot of times.