In response to the latest of Ms. Seawright's anti-Shampoo tirades (the 
writing of which, with all due respect to Ms. Seawright, seems to have 
become her pastime; Shampoo's annoying, yes, but there's no need to belabor 
the point) a few thoughts:
   First, if Shampoo _is_ dense, I really don't think it runs in the 
family. Cologne's plans misfire, but so do the plans of all who try to 
separate Ranma and Akane (for obvious reasons of drama; if they were 
separated we'd have very little in the way of plot left). It's not 
through lack of effort. (Give the old one some credit, anyway. She does 
help Ranma out now and again, and without pressuring him to marry Shampoo 
either.) Leave her out of it.
   Second, we have clues Ranma _does_ enjoy Shampoo's attention, despite 
his protests. (I refer you to the Contrary Jewel story. Besides, I 
frankly don't believe, even if I hadn't read that story, that he'd find 
the attentions of a girl even Akane [and certainly Ranma] has admitted is 
very pretty indeed completely upsetting. I'd find far more upsetting the 
advances of Kodachi, who really is shamelessly sexually aggressive, to put it 
mildly [Shampoo, for her part, seems to be content to cuddle], or Ukyo, whose 
positive obsession with getting Ranma, whether to satisfy her honor or 
whatever her reason, I find more than a little disturbing.)
   Third, someone on r.a.a. made an observation about her behavior I think is 
relevant here, namely, that at base Shampoo's behavior is that of a child. 
The more I thought about it the more sense it made.
   To wit: Shampoo (if you haven't done anything to make her mad, like 
glomp onto a tree stump and call her name--face it, Mousse needs a kick 
in the pants) is generally cheerful and carefree, not to mention full of 
energy and--dare I say it?--playful. ("No go to school! Take Shampoo on 
date!" Does she really want to get in his pants, or just go play?)
   Physically affectionate? Definitely. Small children are. That means 
little if one has sex in mind. Trust me, if she'd wanted to molest him after 
the fashion of Kodachi, she's had plenty of chances and probably would have 
met with less resistance than Kodachi has. The question of whether Shampoo 
even makes the connection between cuddling (even in the nude!) and babies 
is an open one to me. It is also true that children are much less modest 
about their--umm--physiques than adults. In short, all that cuddling may 
be completely innocent.
   I might add here that she's very trusting indeed of her elders 
(Cologne, that is), almost too much; to think of her as a child would 
help explain that a great deal. (What child doesn't trust her parents?) 
   All that may explain why Shampoo holds quite a bit of fascination for 
fans of Ranma 1/2. She's cute, because small children are cute. (It of 
course helps that she's attractive, but so is Hinako, and last I heard 
Ms. Ninomiya hadn't her own ML...)
   But this has nothing to do with fan fiction. I move that this discussion 
be moved to the Ranma ML.

Paul Corrigan
budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu