On Thu, 31 Oct 1996, Scott Jamison wrote:

	Something I wrote to Zen that may deserve a wider dispersal...

	A thought I had.  I think *a* reason a lot of us are so fixated 
on Akane getting Ranma is because it's a consolation prize for having so 
little else going for her.  The two talents she has are attracting men 
and martial arts.  The first she never wanted and the second is 
overshadowed by pretty much every other fighter in the series.  
Everything else she tries she's either a miserable failure at (cooking, 
swimming) or gets ignored for the rest of the series (acting)...

Hmmm... It's an interesting idea, but I can't say I agree with it.  Akane 
has a great deal going for her besides attractiveness and martial arts.  
Like the fact that she is herself.  I have never thought -- nor do I 
think now -- that somebody has to be "the best" in order to be worthy.  
The fact that many people are better at martial arts than her does not 
mean that she is not good at martial arts.  The fact that she cannot cook 
does not cancel out the fact that she can skate.  Like any human being, 
she is a mixture of skills and weaknesses, and it is the way those skills 
and weaknesses, and her own personality, blend to form *Akane* that make 
her the "choice" for Ranma.  I can't speak for everyone else, but I like 
the Ranma-Akane match because I like Ranma and Akane, weaknesses and 
all.  I like the way their path to love is charted out in the manga, I 
like watching them grow closer together, and I even like watching them 
fight.  (Fight scenes are my fave to write)  There are other characters 
that I like as well, but somehow I can't see any of them intruding on 
that central relationship.  Partly because that relationship has been 
central to 38 volumes of manga which are hard to refute, and partly 
because it is a relationship I enjoy watching.  Maybe some of this is 
wish-fulfillment -- there is a certain wistfulness in watching love grow 
when one hasn't found it for oneself.  But I like to think that's not all 
to my motivations in this.  The entire Ranma series ahs been written with 
their eventual getting together as the core; it is hard to go against 
that core, no matter how much one might want to.  If they end up apart, 
what were those 38 volumes for?

mata ne,
bengman