Date:          Mon, 21 Apr 1997 18:58:12 -0700 (PDT)
From:          Anthony Woo <ajwoo@ucdavis.edu>
Subject:       Re: [FFML] Ranma and Nabiki
To:            Sean Connor <connor@MEENA.CC.UREGINA.CA>
Cc:            Anthony Woo <ajwoo@ucdavis.edu>, fanfic@fanfic.com

On Sun, 20 Apr 1997, Sean Connor wrote:

(I suppose, though, that anyone who manages to come up with any 
reason at all to believe that a Ranma/Akane marriage would actually 
work might just be able to believe Ryouga/Ukyou as well. :)

Uh, what's wrong with the Ranma/Akane pair?

You don't _really_ want me to get into this, now do you?

Well, anyways, here's a list of the problems:

- Akane is overly sensitive about a number of things, and Ranma is 
awfully good at insulting her about those things (both 
unintentionally and intentionally.)

Such as?  (asking for examples from the Manga _not_ the anime)

That's good - I've only ever seen two episodes of the anime!

Ahem... Her cooking (ref. the cookies episode (GN 7/Manga 9), the 
Valentine's day story (Manga 34), the Secret Sauce story (Manga 18))

Her looks, femininity, and nubility (This is the cause of a number of 
savage beatings in GN1, the Formula 911 story, the Dojo Yaburi story, 
the Romeo and Juliet story, the Secret Sauce story, etc, etc, etc)

Need I mention what happens when Kodachi, Shampoo, and Ukyou show up? 
:) 
  

- The reverse is also true, albeit to a lesser extent.

Again such as?

His curse (GN 1), his fear of cats (Dojo yaburi), his inability to stand
losing (Dojo Yaburi)
 

- Akane simply can't seem to trust Ranma.  Whenever anything happens, 
she automatically assumes the worst from Ranma, and then either won't 
give him a chance to explain himself, or if she does let him explain, 
she won't believe it.  This has happened _countless_ times in the 
manga, and Akane just can't seem to catch on.

_Countless_ times!  Surely you're exagerating.  It does happen but not
_that_ often.  In the anime, yes.  In the manga, no.

Yes, it happens _that_ often, even in the manga.  She sometimes even 
blames him for things that are _her_ fault  (for example, in the 
Valentines day story, she knocks him cold with her mallet, then a bit 
later, when he's still out, she yells at him for not listening to 
her!)  I will also note that Kodachi takes advantage of this lack of 
trust in the cookies story, both with the photograph plot, and by baiting
a trap for Akane with Ranma's pigtail.

And also, one would think that Akane would learn to _trust_ him enough
to hear him out eventually, but this is not the case. Even late in the
manga, she hits first and asks questions later (the Hinako/Fighting Fish 
story(manga 30), the Jellyfish King story (Manga 35, I think), the 
Love Fireworks story (Manga 34)
  

- Ranma is usually the guinea pig for Akane's cooking 'experiments', 
and she doesn't give him much choice in the matter.

Such as when (in the Manga the only times I've ever seen Akane cook and
Ranma eat it was in the Breaking Point set and the Kodachi Picture set and
both times Ranma ate her food willingly!  Even to the point of eating her
cooking after she left with Ryoga!)

She uses subterfuge to get him to eat her cooking in the Secret Sauce 
story.  Not to mention the fact that he reacts with fear whenever he 
finds out that she's been cooking.

- And, of course, Akane is _excessively_ violent towards Ranma.

Only in the Anime.  In the Manga she very rarely hits Ranma and it's
usually for a good reason (the table in the first volume,

I don't recall exactly, but it seems to me that she delivered 3 or 4 
savage beatings in the first GN

a slap for
insulting her in the Ryoga intro, a trip out the window for being in her
bedroom in  volume 2

Don't forget the savage beating she gives him first.

, hitting him for insulting p-chan in the rythmic
gymnastics practice.  And in few of these does she ever hit Ranma that
hard, mostly it's just a knock up side the head rather than a full blown
hammer strike.  In fact Akane's mallet is from the first move not the
Manga.)

It shows up in the manga as well - although I will admit that it's 
not as common as some fanfic authors portray it.  (It's more common 
in the late manga than the early manga.) It's not just hammers, though - 
it's fists, feet, bokkens, tables, chairs, desks, kettles, mops, tree
branches, fire extinguishers, pieces of Kodachi's traps, okonomiyaki 
sauce jugs; in other words, almost anything convenient that makes a good
blunt object can become one of her weapons. (All of the above _are_
taken from the manga!)

In any case, in the examples you cited above, I don't think that the 
transgressions warranted the level of violence that Akane exhibited.


- Sean Connor (connor@meena.cc.uregina.ca)

        "It jams." - Intel TV ad, referring to the Pentium chip.