Of course, I wondered about 5 thugs taking on Ranma, too, but people can be very resourceful, and even Ranma has human weaknesses... So I'll except that yes, Ranma could be caught off guard, no matter how powerful he is.
I thought Akane's power development seemed sort of tacked on, as you two did, but when I thought about it some more, I found that it is plausible. It could perhaps be written in a little more carefully, but it is believable. [See bottom.]
Like Akane's powers. Immune to heat, can lock something in mid-air, and
can generate a punch more powerful than enough Cologne can.
Given the level of power some of the characters toss around, Akane
developing these powers doesn't bother me, except that it is all coming
without training or conscious effort, which is contrary to all the other
"power-ups" the characters have gained...to the extent that any aspect of
martial arts is seriously represented in Ranma 1/2, it's that you have to
train and fight to get better and learn new things, not just be alive.
Powers don't just come to people. (If this was Sailor Moon, it would be
different. It's times of need and emotional stress that bring out new
powers in Sailor Moon. But Ranma operates by a different set of genre
rules.)
Of course, I don't KNOW the real reason Akane develops powers, but I think I have a
good idea... or perhaps a bad idea. We'll not know until the story's posted, will we?
Ranma is so vulnerable that s/he can't stand being turned back into a male... she
destroys the hot water heater, blah, blah, blah... Akane's new powers seem to be
based on the absorption of heat... perhaps a subconcious move designed to stop hot
water from touching Ranma? Doesn't Ranma's shoten ha drain heat energy? What
if Ranma's ki is being channelled to Akane, subconsciously? Perhaps these newly
developed powers could be short term protection methods that Ranma himself is
projecting?
Just a thought or two or three...
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Neill Walker
walkersp@oanet.com
http://www.oanet.com/homepage/walkersp/index.htm
OAA, UAM
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