On Fri, 7 Jun 1996, Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:

Well, you should try to change it so that Ranma himself commits seppuku,
not that his mum just kills him. Go look up how it's done or something,
if you don't know... But basically, the person killing himself cuts open
his stomach, and then the second chops off his head (not chops his head
in half)...

Well, I'm gonna change it so that she doesn't split his head open, but 
the sword strike will be ambiguous. I don't want to write about Ranma 
having thoughts about his past while his head is on the ground, frankly, 
so her sword will flash down, and that'll be the end of it.
On seppuku, however, I'm not going to change it. My point was not to have 
Ranma just die. If I wanted that, I could have just killed him off in any 
number of ways, twice as quickly. His handing the knife over to Nodoka 
was supposed to convey his overwhelming weariness. Tired of life, tired 
of living. Personally, I think seppuku would be as mundane as a building 
falling on him. I had Nodoka act understanding, and out of a mother's 
love, carry out her son's last wishes.

I'm not tossing away your advice just because I'm stubborn and don't 
wanna do any research (though that may be it just a little :D) but 
because, truthfully, I don't think it fits with the story. I know I'm 
breaking from convention and 'reality', but I'd rather like to think that 
this whole story is a break from the norm.

A question, though. If a person wanted to commit seppuku, and was wounded 
in battle...say, paralyzed, how would it be done? Would he fall on his 
knife, as it were, or would he have a friend do it?

Jyaa. :)

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