Well...
This was never the way intended to portray her, and certainly not the way I
view her. If I have to explain it here, then obviously I didn't do a good
enough job of conveying it in the story itself.
The idea was that she has had the entire basis for her self-confidence
ripped away. She is uncertain because she has had her life turned upside
down and inside out. She finds herself female, something she's been taught
to despise. That is an incredibly traumatic thing to go through. I actually
thought she was doing pretty well, considering. The poster scene was
intended to show that she's a capable person who's been holding herself
back.
I didn't mean her to come across as entirely wrapped up in finding her man,
either. She's pretty terrified about the idea, and I think she's much more
comfortable about her violin than about Ryouga. I thought she was going into
this relationship kicking and screaming. Yes, she likes the idea of being a
wife and mother in the abstract, but when faced with the real commitment,
she's very wary. I don't know why you think she's wrapped up in finding her
man.
I have to say I'm kind of shocked that Ranko came across the way you
describe. I don't see her as a wimp or squealing at all. I think her
self-confidence was badly undermined, and it's taken her most of the story
to find a new way to be self-confident. She's also actively rejecting who
she used to be, because she resents it, and in some cases is overreacting,
and has to backtrack, to incorporate the good parts of Ranma into her new
self.
I think the comparison to "Thy Outward Part" is illuminating (by the way, I
agree that it's a better story). That story is about a male Ranma who is
forced to be a girl, and finds a reason to stay that way. This story is
about a female Ranma who was forced to be a boy, and doesn't particularly
have a reason to stay that way. If you are expecting a story about a male
Ranma who is exploring what it's like to be a girl, this is not that story.
Ranko has never liked being a guy.
I guess I believe that a girl like Ranko could *behave* like the canon Ranma
-- a jerk, egotistical, obsessed with winning, dismissive of women -- while
having totally different motivations than the canon Ranma might have. I
agree that the canon Ranma would not do what Ranko does -- he would never
become a girl again in the first place, given the choice. He likes being a
guy. Their motivations are entirely different. If you don't believe a girl
could act like Ranma because she thought she was supposed to, then this
story clearly won't work.
The thing that is hardest for me to accept in what you say is your
characterization of Ranko as a wimp. She's shy, she's sensitive, but she
slowly gets her self-confidence back, and she's capable. I basically see her
as Ranma, but with very different emotional needs and very different
priorities than she had before.
She cares a lot more about other people's feelings than she did before, for
one thing. This is a *very* important point -- other people's emotions are
something Ranko has no experience dealing with, and is the reason she is so
tentative with others. She no longer feels the need to show off and prove
herself constantly. She lets other people -- like Ryouga -- fight their own
fights, rather than egotistically thinking she should jump in and save the
day. When I wrote that scene between Ryouga and Kunou, my view of her
thinking was "Ryouga can handle this easily -- Kunou's a moron. Wait a
minute -- why isn't Ryouga doing anything?!" It was definitely *not* "I'm a
girl, I should sit around and let the men handle everything." If it came
across this way, I didn't express it well. I certainly don't hold that view
myself. I have no doubt that if she had thought Ryouga was in serious danger
she would have reacted a lot sooner.
I am also a little amazed that you can see Ranko as such a worthless
individual. I think her family and friends see her as very worthwhile, and
so do I -- just in very different ways than Ranma was worthwhile. The story
was meant to be about Ranko letting go of being Ranma, but discovering she
was still a worthwhile person, just as worthwhile, but in a different way. I
guess you don't think she's worthwhile, and I am not sure I understand why.
What I'm hearing is that she doesn't act like Ranma, so she's not an
interesting person.
As for gender roles, she's planning to be a career woman, and have her
husband help take care of the kids -- in Japan. I guess I don't see that as
adhering to gender role stereotypes. If by gender roles you mean the way men
and women differ in their emotional makeup and priorities, then I don't
believe those are roles -- I think they're biological. Of course, that's
just averages -- there are women who have what would be considered "male"
personalities, and vice versa. Ranko has what I consider a typical
personality for a girl, maybe a little on the sensitive side, but she is
very unsure of how to act. I think that in five years you won't be able to
tell her apart from any other woman.
I think I'm starting to ramble (actually, I think I've been rambling for a
while -- I shouldn't have done this at 1:30 AM). Maybe it would be better if
you could give examples of how you *expected* Ranko to behave, as opposed to
what you saw in the story.
It may just be that you and I have different world views. Not everyone sees
the world the same way, and there's nothing wrong with that. I have to say
that I didn't see many of the issues you raise in the story as I wrote it,
and I *certainly* did not intend it to come across that way.
Deborah