Originally Posted by mybirdshit

That of course has a really long body. Personally I like longer body fish, but these are just the most balanced fries out of the 70 plus.

Btw, the winners I mentioned with short bodies were all under tosai class, not oya. I can see a clear difference between a thick, muscular oya and a short bodied fish. Hope this clears up this part. I'll need to see if I can find those pictures and which year and competition. Been a while since I saw those pics.

One note, I do not see short body ranchu as good ranchu just because it is short. Plus not all the fries I have shown here are short body, just a few.

The tail part I do know that a ranchu needs a big tail. However I also read that the tail must not be too big for the fish itself. Size must be balanced. The tail can also be 3 pivot or 4 pivot with no penalty. The tail should also not be too stiff nor too soft or weak, and that the tail should shut in some when swimming. These 11 fries come closest to the standard(some with stronger tail and some weaker) but of course they are not the best examples.