On Thu, 2 May 1996, Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:

   (Ukyo, in the "Ukyo's sauce" story, actually did try to sleep in 
Ranma's bed when the Tendos let her stay over--Ranma spent the night on 
the roof. But then she wasn't quite in her right mind at the time...)

She was in the futon next to him, where Genma would normally sleep... And
she never once tried to move into Ranma's futon... and she said that they
did this when they were kids, anyway... I somehow don't see Ukyou as the
type to jump over into Ranma's futon in the middle of the night... even
after she started getting desperate...

   Thanks for clearing that up (I haven't seen the story). However, though
putting two six-year-olds of different sexes in the same room to sleep 
(temporarily) may not be objectionable, one should think the sleeping 
arrangements of two six-year-olds of different sexes is a slightly different 
matter from those of two sixteen-year-olds of different sexes. To put the 
sixteen year old boy and girl together in the same room is to invite all 
sorts of trouble. It just isn't done, not in the West and I doubt in Japan 
either. I'm sure Ukyo knew that very well. Certainly Ranma did; presumably 
that's why he was on the roof.
   But then again, as I said, she wasn't quite in her right mind at the 
time. Would she have done that normally? Probably not, you're right there, 
I think. 
   (Does that mean Ukyo had to sleep with _Genma_? Poor girl...)

   Anyway, when did Shampoo actively try to seduce (as opposed to simply 
glomp upon) Ranma?

Well, I'd say that getting him, while his arms are tied, and putting a ball
and chain on his legs so he can't run away, then dumping him on a bed and
leaping on top of him is close enough to Shampoo's version of 'seduction'.
More like trying to rape the poor guy, if you ask me...

   Yipe! Where was _that_? (The final story again?)

   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...)

So... All Shampoo lovers are into pedophilia?

   Ah-hah. No. That is precisely what I do not mean.
   (It is true, by the way, that in my part of the United States, at 
least, and most likely in your part of Australia as well, most of the 
principal characters in _Ranma 1/2_ would be in RL below the age of consent. 
Even Ryoga...but anyway...)

Yeah, they're all 16.

   Good. Just so you know that...
   (For the information of others, I mentioned Mr. Hibiki in particular 
because of his prominent place on Ms. Seawright's home page. I'm sorry, 
but Ryoga just doesn't turn me on at all. I'm not that sort...)

But I still see Shampoo as a muderous bimbo who doesn't wear underwear under
those dresses... and I don't see anything to like in her apart from how she
looks, physically. *shrug*

   Fine. One can, however, "like" a character in that they find them 
interesting to read about, even though one finds very little to admire in 
the character himself. I don't think many of Kuno's fans, for instance, 
could put up with him in real life for more than a few seconds. 

   Long and the short of all this: Please, tone down the Shampoo bashing- 
and more important, the Shampoo fan bashing. One's liking Shampoo's character 
does not imply that one is dense, perverse, or in denial. One is permitted 
to not like Akane (I dare say I don't) and to find her unpleasant and 
Shampoo pleasant, and in many ways they'd be justified. Please keep that in 
mind.

Ah, well. Did I say 'Shampoo fans' or 'Shampoo fanboys'? There's a big
difference between the two... and I was talking about the fanboys.

   Mind comparing and contrasting the fans and the fanboys? It would 
probably clear up much confusion.
   (Do fanboys actually exist? Not in the numbers you'd think if "fanboy" 
means what I think it means.)  

Paul Corrigan
budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu