From: "Richard Lawson" <sterman@sprynet.com>
I'm sorry, but I have a MAJOR problem with this story.
"Ranma. Ranma." Tears began to well in her eyes. "I'm=20
sorry. I'm sorry. I... I *knew* that you were good and=20
nice and honorable but... but I couldn't get past the=20
anger, the anger lived inside me and made me think bad=20
things about you and made me hit you, harder and harder=20
and..."
"Akane appears to be describing a mental illness of some
sort." Tofu's gentle voice came from the foot of the=20
bed. "Something fairly severe, I'd say."
Ranma called out gently to him. "Like what?"
"Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Also known as rage=20
disorder. It is often indicated by several discrete=20
episodes of failure to resist aggressive impulses that=20
result in serious acts of assault or destruction of=20
property. The degree of aggressiveness expressed during=20
the episodes is grossly out of proportion to any of the=20
precipitating psycho-social stressors."
Ranma blinked at the clinical tone in Akane's voice. "Is=20
that what you have?"
"I don't know. Words, just words that they say=20
sometimes. All I know is I killed you, you're dead, and=20
it's all my fault, I wouldn't listen I wouldn't believe=20
you, you were trying to help and all I saw were reasons=20
to be angry and then I saw your blood..."
"Akane." Ranma had at least figured out when to cut her=20
off. "If... if you were suffering from this... this rage=20
thing, then... then it's not your fault."
Akane shoved him away. She looked up into his face,=20
anger coloring her features. "If it's not my fault, then=20
whose fault is it! It has to be somebody's fault!"
"No, it doesn't." Tofu spoke a little more insistently. =20
"You could just as easily blame yourself for having the=20
flu. It's a mental disease, and they can be the most=20
difficult to diagnose and treat. And it's not your fault=20
that you developed one."
"Yeah." Ranma felt good about Tofu's words. "That's=20
right. No one came blame you."
Akane studied him closely, her face fearful but with a=20
kind of hope in it. "You don't blame me? For killing=20
you?"
Ranma suppressed a twinge and instead smiled gently. "Of=20
course not."
"Or Ukyo?"
"Didn't you hear Tofu-sensei? It wasn't you that did it,=20
it was your disease. I would never blame you. I love=20
you."
If I understand the above correctly, they're absolving Akane of all
responsibility and that's just not right. Sure, the rage disorder
caused her to beat Ranma, but what about between episodes? It was
Akane's decision not to seek help, though her friends and family begged
her. It was Akane's decision to pretend that everything was fine, even
when it obviously wasn't.
Once or twice she could be excused for, but Akane *knew* that there was
something wrong, that she'd lost control, and still she refused to act.
To absolve her of all responsibility is ridiculous. She was criminally
negligent. Some would say she is paying sufficiently for her crimes,
but where does that give TiL Ranma the right to pardon her? She
murdered two people, and it happened because of her own indifference to
the suffering her rage disorder was causing.
In conclusion, I'd have to say that the deaths of Ranma and Ukyou *ARE*
Akane's fault. How can she ever get better until she accepts her own
culpability?
~*~
AUTHOR'S NOTES
This didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. In fact, it's quite
stilted. =
Had some fun with a few of the parts, though. :)
Richard, this was a good story (anything you turn out invaribly is).
However, it really wasn't what I was expecting out of this crossover.
Richard, why must you always take these things so seriously? I was
expecting a fun story where TiL Akane wandered around town, clueless as
to why everyone is screaming in terror. I was expecting BE Akane to try
to kill everyone, only to be thwarted in many amusing and coincidental
fashions. That would have been fun, that would have made me say COOL!
Instead I got this, which while good, isn't really great.
Sure it could be argued that both TiL and BE are intensely serious
stories, but does that mean that anything connected with them
automatically has to be serious as well? I'm not trashing your work and
I'm sorry if I offended, it's just that I was expecting more than yet
another story where everyone walks away having learned the "Lesson of
the Day". Why can't everyone walk away having learned nothing, or
better yet, having learned the wrong lesson? I was just hoping to see a
little of the wackiness that drew me to Ranma 1/2 in the first place.
------
Matthew Campbell
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