Rogue1 wrote:
On Sat, 10 Aug 1996, Richard Lawson wrote:
Yeah, but will you ever tell us why Ranma had to be Ukyo, and Ukyo had
to be Ranma?
I did. I guess you missed that one :)
I certainly did. :) Could you re-explain it to me?
The reason was very simple, but John did assume people would see
it. Look, Nerima is practically 90% cold water. If Ranma and Ukyou
tried to be themselves, they'd get splashed or dunked in front of Nodoka
sooner or later. HOT water, on the other hand, is a lot harder to get
splashed with (tho the Ranma crowd does manage to do this on occaision.)
It was decided that it was a lot easier for them to stay in cursed form.
Does that clear things up a little?
That was my theorey. An author as good as John should never "assume"
anything, especially when it comes to explaining an important plot point
like that one. All it would have taken was one line.
Even then it's hard to justify. When Ranma first met Nodoka in the
manga, hot water found plenty of ways to splash him. When it comes to
water-splashing, all bets are off in the Ranmaverse. :) John himself
proved the point by having Ranma and Ukyo nearly found out a couple of
times. It left me with the feeling that the reason John didn't explain
it was because he himself realized how weak the reasoning was.
That's what made it frustrating for me. I could only think of one
reason for the switch, and that reason didn't satisfy me. I read the
whole story waiting for it to be explained to me, and it never was. It
left me feeling unsatisfied, which is why I didn't like this 'fic as
much as everyone else evidently does.
So, there's my take on "Nail". Don't get me wrong; I'm looking forward
to the conclusion of this series as much as anyone else. It doesn't
mean, however, that there isn't room for improvement. :)