On Tue, 2 Jan 1996, Isabel Arantes wrote:

      Someone pointed out that, in the series, Akane just doesn't bash
Ranma every three minutes.  Nevertheless, a convention of constant
superdimensional malletwork seems to be an everpresent facet of Ranma

	I know! For chrtistmas I got about 18 volumes of Ranma and I was...
well, surprised at how little of there was of it. Mousse barely appears
at all, neither does Shampoo, or Ukyou or anyone else. There are probably
more stories based on happosai than there are on Mousse and Ukyou put 
together.
	I was also surprised [and somewhat hurt] at how repetetive Ranma
and Akae's relation is. Doesn't ANYTHING get through their heads?

	That's the thing about both Ranma and UY.  Neither was 
particularly intended to _get_ anywhere ... fast, at least.  Apart from 
character introductions, you could take the 150th episode of UY and play 
it after the third or fourth, and realize no severe loss of continuity.  
Similarly, vast numbers of Ranma episodes could be dropped without really 
sacrificing coherence.  I think that's just a necessity of the market and 
medium these works were published in.  Each story has to stand on its own.
	Maybe this is what makes Ranma such a fertile ground for fanfics,
and also makes stylistic continuity so difficult.  People _want_ to see
these relationships get resolved.  Hell, people wanted to see Ataru and
Lum get it going.  218 episodes, six movies and a slew of OVA's didn't
make it happen ... and fans are still trying to resolve it (the FUYS
series is a perfect example that is happening right now). 
	I guess my point is that the developing fanfic canon seems to 
represent a dangerously narrow path.  It's interesting and novel when 
people write from differing/off-beat perspectives -- Rutsch's 
_Take_Off_Your_Clothes is a really top-notch example of this.  Maybe it's 
just a function of my own sick and twisted psyche, but I'd like to see a 
bit more about the possibilities of a darker side to the Ranma universe.

CONCEPT: Ranma on coke or steroids ... or perhaps he and Akane start 
speedballing.  A life of crime and prostitution (your choice of who does 
what) ... definitely leaves continuity, but goes somewhere very 
different.  

CHL