On Thu, 3 Apr 1997 urbanm@enigma.rider.edu wrote:

Wow, that very impressive.  No one has ever written about what would 
happen if the Ranma/Akane marraige went sour.  I like the way you had the 
marraige go bad; it is an all too common occurance in today's society, 
and Ifeel that there should be more people like Ukyo who are willing to 
do something about it, even if she does have an alterior motive.  Please 
look at the social issues post that I will make shortly to this list for 
further comments; I want to make sure the entire list sees it
							-M

	I have wondered for some time whether addressing social issues 
wasn't part of what Takahashi-sama had in mind in the first place.  There 
is a play in the U.S. called, as I recollect, "Watermelon Man".  It is 
about a white, southern, male bigot who awakens one morning to discover 
he has become a black man.  This has crossed my mind on several occations 
as I read the Ranma stories about a young man, very full of macho 
self-image, who suddenly finds himself a girl.  Remember Takahashi-sama 
is a woman, and one of Japan's great social problems is sexism.  
	Our Canon is drawn with consumate talent, full of unforgetable 
characters, and written with great humor. Just perhaps it is plotted with 
a hidden agenda as well?  For most of us, unexposed as we are to sexism 
on the scale of Japan's, we tend to overlook this factor.

S h a z o r n				No, I'm not an otaku!
<rayburn@cc.umanitoba.ca>		But I'm working on it... ^_^;