On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, Richard Lawson wrote:
: So Nodoka was pretty much reduced to a plot device, the catalyst for all
: the major events in Ranma and Akane's lives. Again, I never considered
: how bad a person this made her out to be. I'll have to think about
: that. I fear there's not much I can do, for to change her would be to
: replot much of the story. Maybe I can add a bit that makes Nodoka more
: likeable. <sigh> I had sworn that "Life's Ingredients" was my last TIL
: story, but maybe I need one more side story about Nodoka and Genma. I
: mention that she and Genma go shopping together; perhaps that would be a
: good setting for the story.
Sounds fun. :)
To console you a bit, I didn't think that Nodoka came across as
*that* evil in _TIL_. She had her faults, like her eagerness to
"resolve" Ranma and Akane's relationship, but that's what humans
are about, isn't it?
: So I wrote an aftermath story called "The Dying of the Rose". This
: deals with Kodachi's release from the hospital eight years after she was
: committed. She's more or less sane, and has to find a place for herself
: in the Ranmaverse. The story was a bit of a catharsis for me;
: afterwards, I found myself *liking* Kodachi, even in her manga, maniacal
: form. Once you get inside someone's head, you tend to understand them a
: bit better. :) "The Dying of the Rose" happens to be one of my
: favorite works, because of that.
It's one of mine, too. I love it.
: Well, the point to the spatula was that she no longer uses violence to
: solve her problems, like she did occasionally in the manga. It is also
: symbolic of how she's given up on Ranma. Her obsession with him, in one
: form or the other, was the central theme of her life for so long. Those
: are the things I tried to resolve with Ukyo, and I thought I'd done
: that. What "Life's Ingredients" is supposed to be about if Ukyo trying
: to fill the void left by the departure of her obsession over Ranma. She
: thought she could do it by throwing herself into her business (which is
: why she felt so good at the end of TIL), but it isn't working out the
: way she expected.
Which is exactly the way I read it, so it can't have been *that*
unclear. (On the other hand, that might be the mindlink playing up
again :)
: Again, I happen to agree with you. Part of what "Life's Ingredients"
: was supposed to show was why it was a mistake for them to marry so young
: - they both still need a bit of maturing. Still, like I said,
: resolution to Ranma 1/2 meant, to me, Ranma and Akane married. I was
: certainly disappointed that RT brought us to the brink of marriage and
: then backed away. TIL was my answer to that, fulfilling some fan's
: needs (including my own) to see the ultimate consummation of Ranma's and
: Akane's relationship.
Well, ptoo on you! I happen to *love* Takahashi-sama's ending -
it's the *only* ending it could have had. Ranma and Akane really
couldn't marry (and their age is only one of many factors, why),
but she needed to show that *sometime* it was going to happen -
only not right now.
The story ended openly, telling us as the readers that these kids
are going to continue having adventures and crazyness filling their
life. I'm *glad* it ended that way, and not with a cheesy, forced
"conclusion".
:P
Sebastian