James Bateman wrote:

Uh oh...  Zen warns you, Kun-chan is *cuter* than you are!  ^_^

	And what do you mean by that?  I'm guy, okay!  (sounds like of Ranma, don't I)

No it isn't - if you are basically a nice guy, are you gonna crush the
women throwing themselves at you?  And Ranma *does* try to discourage them
(well, *most* of the time, anyway)

	Well, he's not doing a very good job, isn't he?  The only person he probably has 
the most success on discouraging is Akane, which does not make any sense.  Why would he 
want to discourage his true love?

Zen thinks this is flawed - Shampoo is not gonna give up on Ranma until
she's dead, or until someone else beats both her and Ranma.  A quick, flat
rejection would only result in Shapmpoo trying to kill Ranma, Akane or
both.  (Not that she doesn't do the latter anyway) 

	He could have at least tried, even though I figure that it is pretty impossible 
to get Shampoo to give up.  

Apples and oranges, mate. Apples and Oraanges.
The other fiancees do not tolerate AKANE.  They DO Tolerate RANMA.
Akane, however, tolerates NEITHER. 

	What did Ranma do to make Akane want to tolerate him?  Personally I think the 
fact that their engagement still holds is a sign of Akane's tolerance and love for him. 
 Other fiancees only tolerate Ranma when it appears that Ranma likes them.  You don't 
see Ranma going up to Ukyou or Shampoo and say, "Hi, my kawaikunee tomboy," or something 
like that.  Ranma's fiancees turn on Ranma fast though if they think Ranma's going to 
betray them, such as the Hinako story or the onsen race story (there must be more, but 
that's all I can think of right now.)

nope.  An awful lot of 'em wanna marry her. 

	Who?  Besides Kirin and Toma, no one else want to marry her through kidnapping. 
Mousse abducted her to lure Ranma.  Tarou kidnapped her to lure Ranma also.  Let's take 
a look at the people who do want to marry Akane from the regular series:  Ranma, Ryouga, 
Shinnosuke, Kunou, and just about every single Furiken High School student.  Obviously 
Ranma wouldn't kidnap Akane.  Ryouga wouldn't, Shinnosuke wouldn't, Kunou's too 
pathetic, and no ordinary person can kidnap Akane easily.  See?

Again, Nope - that first tankful did a number on the tiger...   and it's
what would have hit Akane.  It was only after he started running low that
he began to horde it. 

	No, the water from the tap was plain water.  He hit the tiger with the hose 
which contained the real SOD duck.  Mousse even said that the water is for Ranma, not 
Akane.  

on some occaisions, but not regularly.  Reasonable is to Akane as Navigator
is to Ryouga. 

	Strange how Akane can be even remotely close to reasonable having to live with 
someone like Ranma.  She is being unreasonable due to Ranma's effect.  You don't see her 
being unreasonable to other people except for the real crazy ones, such as Kodachi and 
Kunou.  

Nani?  Again, Zen wonders how you arrive at this conclusion.  Granted,
Ranma often sticks his foot in his mouth, but all too often, she never even
gives him the chance to get that far.  She flys off the handle before he
can even say a word in his own defence! 

	Okay, so Akane doesn't always wait for Ranma for explain his reasons.  However, 
if Ranma had something important to say he will always have his chance later.  Akane has 
a very flashfire temper.  She may punt you one moment and next moment it'll be all right 
again.  She is reasonable, just that her actions are faster than her words.  This held 
true for Ranma, too.  When you put these two together it is kind of inevitable that some 
misunderstanding will come about.

A lot of abusers use this argument - Zen fails to see how it is any more
valid here...

	Point is this.  Akane always have a good reason to hit Ranma, and that's that.  
At any rate, half of the time these hits don't even contribute anything to the story.  
If Akane is at fault, she will apologize.  In the Shinnosuke story she hit Ranma and 
then tried to make it up to Ranma by telling him that he should hit her back.  
Obviously not a very good idea, but it shows she cared and was reasonable.

Yes, Zen has already conceded that Ranma can be a complete idiot -
particularly where there *seems* to be a chance of getting his curse
lifted.  Is there any particular reason you refer to Akane as a Him? 

	Accident there.  Nothing implied, inferred, suggested, etc.

He *always* defends her honour.  *always* 

	And how often does that happen?  If he always defend her honor, Ranma should get 
rid of all the fiancees by now!

Again with the him...  Yes, Ranma deserves the occaisional clout, but Zen
thinks he also deserves a little common courtesy - eg, Akane should at
least listen to the whoe of his excuse before she sends him into LEO.
Would that not be the behaviour of a *reasonable* woman?

	If Akane is really at fault, she will apologize or try to act a little nicer.  
If she doesn't, then Ranma deserved it.

********************************************************************************
"RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane Tendo, Ranma 1/2

"Power only breeds war ... I wish I'd never been born." Celes Chere, Final Fantasy 3

Don Wang <dwang@sprynet.com>
RPG, strategy game, and Ranma 1/2 fan.