On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, WebDragon wrote:

Sorry, I just have to get this off my chest. No hard feelings, ok? :)

Okay, I know your position...

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Why does this happen to Ucchan in every 
single fanfic where her relationship with Ranma is resolved??? Do authors 
like tormenting her by never letting her get Ranma? 

        Not particularly.  I love Ucchan but I wanted to show how good a
person she really is, compared to Shampoo or Kodachi.  She is, for all
purposes, the perfect girl for Ranma, but Ranma just doesn't see her that
way because he really loves Akane.  That is the tragedy of Ucchan ;_;  BTW,
I love Akane too.

   For Ranma to respond to any advances by Ukyo would possess much of 
the damning quality "being out of character," not least because, out 
of habit if nothing else, he still views her to a greater or lesser 
extent as a boy. Any advances she makes alarm and embarrass him, as they 
would if (say) Ryoga tried something on him.
   My apologies for invoking that mental image. :)
   Just how good a person Ukyo really is is debatable, at any rate, and has 
been very much debated, on the Fanfic ML and in other fora. Suffice to 
say it's not at all obvious Ukyo would be that nice in the situation. 
Some less charitable interpretations would have her rub Akane's face in 
the fact that Ranma was there (and half-undressed to boot!). It would 
have been clinching proof to Ukyo (and to Akane besides!) that Ranma 
didn't want Akane after all.
   Neither is it obvious that Ukyo's perfect for Ranma. On the contrary. 
Ukyo's been raised to play the role of a man, the dominant role. What we 
have seen of her daydreams of married life put him in the submissive 
role, the one of the wife; one in particular had her running the shop while 
Ranma was seen as a househusband, playing with the children. I find the 
idea that Ranma "Wild Stallion" Saotome would willingly play what is 
generally a woman's role perfectly absurd.

        Ukyo almost got Ranma, and Ranma was willing too, but I had to throw
in Akane at that point.

   To remind Ranma of his responsibility. Sense of duty towards someone 
is not love, you know. If he loved Akane, as you believe he does, he 
would have at the very least told her to stop the moment she did 
something untoward ("Aw, come on, Ucchan...I hate it when you act all 
weird like this!"). I can quite easily see him giving her a good hard 
slap and leaving for greener pastures forthwith.
   Love is not doing one's duty and doing what one likes after that; it 
is complete selflessness, the complete purging from oneself of all desire 
contrary to the interest of the beloved and the relationship with the 
beloved. Your Ranma does not love Akane at all.
   It was Ranma's even considering cheating on Akane that ruined the 
story for me completely. He really does come off as a complete bastard.
   The reason Ukyo never gets Ranma is simple--he doesn't want her in 
that way, at all. Just how he does feel about her is uncertain. I 
believe that he doesn't know what to think or feel about her. This will 
become a real problem after the end of the manga. But he desires her not 
at all.
   I wish I could say I liked your story, sir--it was quite well written-- 
but I fear that after weighing in the scales of Right Characterization 
it has been found too light. Please reconsider it before the real 
anti-Ukyo forces start moving in on you. Miss Seawright can be quite a 
punisher, far more than I am.

Paul Corrigan
budgie@insomnia3.dorms.utoledo.edu

PS I should add I can't help sympathizing with Ukyo either; but her 
tragedy, so to speak, is not the one you've described. But that is 
another story.