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I'd like to take a moment to adress a comment made earlier. Somebody noted
that Eqaul Halves was like a SI. A stranger shows up, and tries to solve
all
of Ranma's problems.
I disagree. Eqaul Halves is not a SI. Ranko is not super powerful, she
doesn't have a lot of advantages, and she has her faults. But, she also
likes
to help people and if anyone needs help, it's Ranma and Company.
I liked the story quite a bit as well, because Deborah is a gifted writer.
But I do agree that things go relatively easy for her protagonist. It
reminds me of a book I liked very much, "The Thread that Binds the Bones",
by Nina Kiriki Hoffman... the book was very well written, with interesting
characters, and yet I read a review that kind of savaged it because the main
character never really faces any challenges that he doesn't easily handle.
In the same way, Ranko has a relatively smooth ride here.
This is something I tend to struggle with as well... I often identify with
my protagonist and fail to make things as hard for them as I ought. But
(generally speaking) making things difficult -- even seemingly impossible --
for your protagonist usually makes for a better story. Everyone wants to be
able to solve things easily, to always have an answer for every situation
(thus the typical SI fic) but everyone loves a story where the underdog
succeeds against phenomenal odds.
Anyway, I'm not really saying anything new, I'm just babbling. ^_^ I
really liked Deborah's attention to detail and her ability to explore the
character's emotions... nice prose descriptions, nice dialogue... but I do
agree that plot-wise, there were few real challenges for Ranko and most of
them were easily overcome. But then, one of my favorite manga is Oh My
Goddess, and that's a comic that had about the same level of plotting most
of the time... but it works for me. ^_^ Deborah's story works on that
level for me too.
IMO, I think that had Ms Takahashi (who, for all we know, could be on the
FFML as a lurker) wished to provide a solution for Ranma's problems, she
might have done something similar.
Ms Takahashi would have thrown many more obstacles in the way, methinks.
^_^
Mark / Miko