On Sat, 14 Sep 1996, Philip Mak wrote:

On Sat, 14 Sep 1996, Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:

Also, I wish apon him marriage against his will to someone who he thought
was a guy for ten years, who he doesn't love, 

That is debatable. IMO, Ranma does love Ukyou (and this has been shown in 
many fics).

Well, she's going to ask you to cite manga chapter and verse soon, I 
suspect :)

We've seen that Ranma cares about Ukyou, but ultimately, he cares more 
about Akane.  (He told Akane he loved her.  He never said that to Ukyou 
that I know of.)

 > > and who is also sneaky and underhanded 

You sure you're talking about Ukyou here? I mean what has she done that's 
sneaky/underhanded? Drug Ranma's food? No, Shampoo did that. Drug Ranma's 
flowers? No, Kodachi did that.

The interpretation of Ukyou's character is a complex thing.  

A lot hinges on whether Ukyou actually knows that Ranma prefers Akane.  
My own thinking is that if we only saw what she sees of the two of them, 
we'd probably think they hated each other.  She doesn't see the private 
moments when their true feelings almost come out.  Ranma's efforts to 
save Akane from various kidnappers could be seen in terms of him being a 
basically decent person and being dutiful in his role as her fiancee.  
Ukyou has a lot of room to misunderstand the nature of Ranma and Akane's 
relationship.

It is my understanding that we never see Ukyou thinking that Ranma loves 
Akane, but she's going to take Ranma from Akane anyway.  Thus we cannot 
say that Ukyou DOES know that Ranma loves Akane or vice versa. (Unless 
she saw the scene where he does finally tell Akane he loves her...I'm not 
sure if anyone witnesses that.)

Maybe she should...but Takahashi does not ever explicitly state that.

Ranma never explicitly tells Ukyou she's wasting her time either.  I 
can't believe he's too stupid to have any idea she really does like him.  
By failing to tell her to stop, Ranma essentially encourages her to keep 
trying.  (Again, I might be wrong on this, but I don't know of any time 
in the manga where he explicitly says that he doesn't want her affections)

Furthermore, Ranma actively seeks out her company, calls her cute, etc.

Much of the behavior that Kunoichi cites as evidence of underhandedness 
is only underhanded if Ukyou is trying to break up a relationship of 
love, and not simply dealing with a relationship into which Ranma has 
been forced by his family.  

The whole Ryouga/Akane, Ukyou/Ranma date story becomes an effort to 
resolve the situation happily for all concerned seen in that light.

I have not read a translation of the secret sauce story, just seen subbed 
versions of the Anime.  IT was my impression that Ukyou is acting whacked 
out, not underhanded in that story.  She seems actively deranged in all 
her behavior.  PErhaps the manga is different (I don't know).

Much of her activity in that story falls in the category of being 
actively affectionate towards Ranma, who doesn't tell her to STOP.  If 
Ranma doesn't say no, how's she supposed to know he doesnt' really WANT 
her to do these things but is just nervous about it?

THe tunnel of anti-love story and the final manga story are another 
question.  I've seen several people argue that Ukyou seems to have been 
kidnapped and replaced by an evil clone after the secret sauce story.    
I can't comment on the tunnel of anti-love story (Haven't 
seen the manga version. )  Ukyou in the final manga story has clearly 
crossed the line into unjustifiable behavior.  Trying to actively kill 
Akane is just wrong.  On the other hand, I don't see it as her style, 
either.  If she is underhanded and sneaky, she ought to have the sense to 
know better than to try and blow Akane up at the wedding.  IF she isn't 
underhanded and sneaky, she's still not the do massive property damage 
and risk killing Ranma in the process type.  But it happened, so any post 
end of manga story has to take it into account.  


 

and the sex-changed 'wife's' only abilities in any other
area is to cook and not beat him. 

I could go into a long boring discussion about why people get married 
here but I won't. Let's compare Ukyou and Akane's talents shall we? I 
mean what can Akane do for Ranma that Ukyou can't? Ukyou is an expert 
cook, is prettier than Akane, is much nicer to Ranma than she is, loves 
him AND is willing to admit it, and is also a better martial artist 
(after all, Ranma and whomever he marries will be carrying on the Saotome 
School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts).

Well, we also have to add in:

Financial prospects:
If Ranma marries Akane, he's set for life if he can attract enough 
students as Akane's family seems to OWN their home as far as I can tell.  
Given Ranma's martial arts skills, if he can learn to teach them, he 
should easily attract enough students to support both of them (If Soun 
the incompetent whiner can do it, Ranma shouldn't have any trouble.)  Not 
to mention having Nabiki around, assuming she doesn't strike off and 
leave her family in the dust, also adds to the likelihood that Ranma 
would be financially secure.  


Ukyou is capable of supporting herself independently (as far as we can 
tell).  Ukyou could easily run her restaurant for the rest of her life.  
I hope Ranma likes Okonomiyaki as well as she does...Marrying Ukyou would 
also guarantee his livelihood, but probably restrict his freedom to 
practice martial arts (To support two people with the rest. plus Kids, 
would likely require Ranma to spend substantial time helping out)

What does everyone else think? Should Ranma marry Akane, Ukyou, or Shampoo?

>From a purely rational viewpoint, I would say Ranma would be better off 
marrying Ukyou.

However, marriages aren't based on rational choice, usually, for better 
and for worse.  From the evidence of the manga, we have to conclude that 
Ranma loves Akane.  He explictly says this in the final manga story, and 
never says that in a free, undrugged, etc manner about any of his other 
fiancees.

Why does Ranma love Akane?  Who knows.  Not for any rational reason.  He 
isn't coldblooded enough to be seeking to set himself up financially.  
While she is cute, desire alone is not enough to overcome the constant 
abuse she heaps on his head.  (Not that he doesn't bring a lot of it on 
himself.  He does.  But then most people don't consistently taunt someone 
they love, either.)  Nor does he love her for her accomplishments.  She 
doesn't have any that he seems able to respect.

If we want to play psychology games, the closest we can come to a 
justification is that Ranma wants someone who will treat him badly part 
of the time.  He was raised by a father who basically put him through 
hell.  Despite his frequent disrespect for his father and their constant 
fighting, in the end, he tends to submit to his father's will and clean 
up his father's messes.  Ranma's experience of love is tangled up with 
his experience of being abused in his training experiences.  It's no 
wonder he doesn't know how to express his feelings, or that he ultimately 
picks the fiancee who treats him like his father does...putting him down 
and physically pounding on him.  If Ranma wanted money, he could marry 
Kodachi.  If he wanted sex and beauty, he could marry Shampoo.  If he 
wanted someone who would treat him right, he could marry Ukyou.  But 
Ranma isn't used to people who don't mix love and abuse.  So he picked Akane.

(Also, he picked Akane because Takahashi wanted him to and clearly set it 
up from the very beginning.  But that's always another story...:))

Ultimately, though, we have to remember that everyone in Ranma 1/2 is 
exaggerrated for comic effect and just about all of them are nutso to a 
greater or lesser degree.  If we try to take it too realistically, we'll 
simply end up crying and feeling depressed.  Characterization isn't 
always consistent...but it's not supposed to be.  This is a comedy, not a 
character drama.

(So I worship Ukyou mindlessly anyway :)  Well, maybe not mindlessly :))



John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu      bailesu@komodo.hacks.arizona.edu  
http://www.hacks.arizona.edu/~bailesu/falcon.html 
http://www.dhp.com/~wraven/john/index.html
"It's good to kill the King."  "I still think the Saxons should have 
put a higher price on our heads.  I'm more valuable than 25 librum."
--Frequent quotes from our PENDRAGON sessions.