You wrote: 

After all this, the question still comes to me:  Why did you say what 
you said earlier?  What's wrong with adding a little more depth to a 
character, especially when such depth is hinted at in the anime & 
manga?

I don't have a problem with it.  I just don't believe that true depth 
*is* hinted at in the RANMA 1/2 anime or manga, at least from what I've 
seen of it.  Remember, depth does not equal emotions.  Characters can 
scream with emotion and still be as shallow as a puddle.  "Depth" 
refers to a character having secondary motivations that lie beneath the 
superficial ones.

Using that definition, the only characters in RANMA 1/2 with any depth 
at all are Ranma and Akane.  Both have the superficial motivation of 
wanting their lives back as they were before they met, but below the 
surface both love each other and are motivated to keep rivals away.  
Still, this isn't much depth, because it's simply one simple motivation 
under another simple motivation.  I'll bet you given enough time, I 
could program an A.I. to produce Ranma fanfic outlines.  The characters 
are that easy to describe.

There's clearly a depth of emotion to these characters, all too often 
sacrificed in the name of humor.

Well, I hate to break it to you, but RANMA 1/2 is a slapstick comedy.  
It's supposed to be funny.  :-)  Again, emotions are not what I'm 
referring to when I say "depth".

I can understand if you are angered with the flood of Ranma 'fics, but 
if you are going to argue against it, use arguments that actually show 
how it detracts from the fanfic art, rather than some excuse such as 
the idea that the depth given the characters we invent and should not 
be invented.    

First, I'm not angry.  I could care less, actually, since I'm not a big 
enough fan of RANMA to bother reading those 'fics.  I don't mean to 
upset anyone; after all, if you didn't like DIRTY PAIR, I wouldn't 
expect to read my DP stories.

Second, if you want an argument about how the RANMA flood might detract 
from the fanfic art, all I can say is that too much of anything 
detracts.  My number one goal is to get people to read my work, and to 
accomplish that, I need people reading fanfic.  If potential readers 
who aren't RANMA fans log onto r.a.a.c and for days see nothing but 
RANMA 1/2 stories, some of them are going to quit.  It helps everyone 
to have a wide variety of universes for the reader to choose from.

BTW, is the Flight 005 Conspiracy the one with Kei thinking Yuri dead, 
her getting totally plastered, and this guy with her taking her drink 

>from her...and dying as a result?  It's been awhile.

That's the one.  It's the best example I could come up with for DIRTY 
PAIR "depth" on short notice.  It's a sub-optimal example, but it did 
show that devil-may-care Kei was capable of being deeply touched by the 
deaths of those around her.  (And I'm not talking about Yuri; that's 
was all an act.)

------RM