On Wed, 16 Apr 1997 MDump@aol.com wrote:

In a message dated 97-04-16 15:37:23 EDT, you write:

Ranma 1/2: An Auntie's Lust

Believe it or not this is probably the only one i can see happening.  No one
flame me for this but why the hell is Nadoka allways so happy?  She's been
seperated from her Husband and Son for god knows how many years.... makes a
person wonder about what she does to ocupy her time.

Who says she's happy? I, for one, pity Mrs. Saotome, and in all of my
'fics (yes, even in those in planning stages) I try to place her in happy
situations.
	Mrs. Saotome has been living alone for over ten years, using
nothing but her strong will and determination to cling to the few things
she considers of value: the ideal of her son, the little material property
(house, furniture, etc.) the Saotomes have left, and at least -some- shred
of respect towards her husband (who is totally unworthy of it.) She
probably lives a very sad, lonely life, even worse than Ryouga. However,
whenever she thinks "Maybe Ranma has come back from his training trip by
now" and goes to the Tendou-ke, you can practically see her face glowing
with hope and energy. In fact, when you look at her three reunions with
Ranma (ok, the first one doesn't count because it was Ryuu Kumon
pretending to be Ranma) you can see how she vents out all the years of
praying to someday meet her son. When she found Ryuu and he claimed to be
Ranma Saotome, she cried his name and hugged him for all she was worth. I
tend to think that that night was the first one she could sleep easy for a
long time --or, on the contrary, she cried herself to sleep since she
thought Genma was dead, but that's another matter.
	Later, on volume 34, she just sees Ranma from behind, wearing the
sailor fuku that Happosai attacked him with, but Nodoka still holds him
close to her as if her life depended on it. Two volumes later, when the
real reunion takes place, she felt so happy that she was with Ranma that
she let go of the seppuku oath and accepted him the way he was (although
acting macho while in female shape did wonders for Nodoka's image of him.)
	So what I'm saying is that Mrs. Saotome is a very admirable
person, even if some consider her a monster because of volume 34, since
she has lived over ten years clinging to hope, to faith, rather than to a
grudge or hatred as MANY of the Ranma 1/2 characters do.

	(Okay, sue me. Last night I read volume 23 and I felt awful when I
read the Ranma Vs. Akane Cooking story arc.)


The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx