At 23:09 14/06/97 MDT, you wrote:

On Sat, 14 Jun 97 19:56:33 MDT, Ryan Anderson wrote:

I have to echo this statement,.. this is a wonderful story, and it would
really ruin it if rape became involved. please please please let that last
just have been a bad, hangover-induced, dream.

I disagree.

That is the thing about rape: It's the kind of thoughtless, violent act
that can transform someone's life into a living nightmare. It's not a
pleasant reality to face, but it happens. More in the US than in Japan I
would think, but it's reality for all too many people. That makes it a
story worth telling. The relatively carefree atmosphere of this story
could be there to show us what was lost.

I agree that rape can be a great, plot inducing, dram building development
in a story, it just doesn't seem to be.. wel.. nessisary in this one.
There are so many intresting things happening in this story, a rape would
take the focus off of all these other elements which are unique to this
story and make it mch darker... 

I agree that it seemed uncessary but it is important to realise that all
the factors were really there where a rape could effectively take place: a
party, lots of booze, lots of places where you can have privacy (the house
where the party was hosted was BIG), lots of....possible victims. All it
takes is somebody who is totally helpless and somebody who is thinking with
their desires and the event is set. Ranma, unfortunately, happened to be
the victim, again due to possible factors such as consuming lots of alcohol
because of Akane, his totally screwed resistance to alcohol (thus him being
helpless in the last bit), and someone who desires his female side (and
screwed in their mind as well, possibly 'cause they were drunk, and that
Ranma couldn't do anything about it in his state). It was all a
probability; it could happen to Ranma and it may not. I must assume that
Mike had already taken this into consideration and based his plans for
several chapters on what would happen in the 1st chapter. Pressuring him to
change the last part would really disrupt his plans and divert dramatically
from what he originally intended to write in the future chapters. Guys, you
must take the whole and wider view on why he needed to have Ranma raped -
it might just be the deciding factor in determining whether his story
really worked as a whole.
And guys, I am not saying any of you are wrong, just stating my opinion ^_^
Hope you don't take this to heart....
 

there are other stories out there, maybe not lots, but more than a few,
that explore what would happen if ranma got raped, but I've never read one
that explores the side of Ranma we see brought out by the party scene, and
I think that exploring that plot point more is what will make this story
really good.

Well, just my two cents.
Ryan

MT
martin.tie@virgin.net