Benjamin Goldberg wrote:
Brian Randall wrote:
DB Sommer wrote:
[snip]
These paragraphs are designed to show how thorougly Nabiki was
duped, thus underscoring Kachiko's sneakyness.
I think I'm starting to actually hate this character.
She's too perfect. She beats everyone in their home court.
With the exception of her victories over Nabiki, who is as smart as she
is, I consider everything else she's done to be bullying, though through
sneaky tricks/smarts, rather than brawn.
Ranma's an honerable idjit. The Mecha was also an idjit, because she
it's builders are... what's more, she's faced them and their machines
previously.
That's all well and good, provided that a reader manages to enjoy the
story up to that point. I stopped right where I noted I cut off, because
I wasn't enjoying the story. My issues are probably limited enough that
the only person who doesn't want to read it anymore is me, and there's
absolutely no reason why Mr. Sommer should go out of his way to change
the story just to suit me.
That being said, a lot of what I'm being told, both from the author's
notes and your commentary, is that I should be willing to look past this
to enjoy the story.
Unfortunately, Kachiko is written and used in a way that doesn't work
very well for me. The entire chi/ki attack thing where she kicked Ranma
in the groin didn't work well for me, because he's not blind, but she
manages to shift her weight well enough to launch a kick when she
claimed it was going to be a punch? Let's face it, Ryu Kumon couldn't
pull that off in the manga, and from what Kachiko's said, Ranma's better
than her.
I would personally put Kumon above Ranma until Ranma learns the
Umisen-ken, but Kachiko is obviously better than that if she can pull a
fast one on Ranma like that.
Or more to the point, Kachiko yells out the name of her attack, and Ranma
falls for it. I would probably have found that funny if yelling attack
names weren't common for many anime and manga. Unfortunately, in this
specific anime/manga series, they DO use attacks where they say, "Look
over there!" or the like and then kick someone from behind -- heck,
Ranma and Genma are the two who know and use those attacks the most! But
here it seems like Kachiko is somehow above and better than the laws
that define how other characters interact with one-another and the world
about them.
Again, a minor detail and one that just doesn't sit well with me.
To make my point:
There's nothing wrong with the story.
I just didn't enjoy it. Sorry.