I know it may seem tedious to have to drag on this point for so long, but
then again, what is the FFML for?  :)

At 05:52 PM 7/1/97 -0600, David Johnston wrote:

Is that your purpose though?  Or is to show what the situation
would actually be with the sexual polarities reversed?  At the
least Kaneda should be taking more heat from his environment
over his habit of hitting girls when they irritate him because,
like it or not, it is more acceptable for a girl to hit a boy
than vice versa.  

You're absolutely right.  

That is EXACTLY why my Mousse had this intense hatre of Kaneda, why he
associated him with Shampoo, and why he would see himself as being more
suited to Ranko.

But then again, the Tendos in my story are bias toward Kaneda just as they
are bias toward Akane in the anime (maybe even more so since Kaneda is the
only SON that Soun has).  Being the Tendos are, you know, the Tendos, I
can't see them taking harsh actions in correcting this particular aspect of
Kaneda, especially not when GENMA was on their side just as he is in the anime.

As for his classmates, well, given how MY Kodachi(her gang as well) had
destroyed the fragile image of girls at MY Furinkan High with her
high-profile attempted conquest/attacks of Kaneda, combined with the fact
that Kaneda was always holding out when fighting girls (Kodachi included,
but that was kinda a neutral thing) in Part 2, I can't see them thinking
that Kaneda's reactions as TOO outrageous.

Also, since Kaneda hadn't hammered Ranko in front of them yet, none of them
really know the extend of the problem other that they quarreled a lot.

Believe me, when a girl actually feels something for a guy, she should have
trouble hitting him.  Besides,  girls have a tendency to only hit

Well that's a minor mystery in itself.  I understand how Ranma
comes to feel something for Akane.  He doesn't really resent 
being hit since that's the only form of love he's known for
the last ten years.  It's easy to for Akane to feel something
for Ranma, since he keeps rescuing her.  Reverse the polarity,
and it becomes harder to believe that Kaneda would come to love
Ranko because she keeps rescuing him, and Akane's jealousy of
Ranma's superior martial arts skills would surely only be a 
shadow of Kaneda's jealousy over a girl's superior skill.

I don't think that the *beatings* that Akane gave him IS the reason for
Ranma's love of her.  I think it's mainly because of her kindness toward him
DURING THE VERY BEGINNING, before she knew of his true sex.  The "FIRST
IMPRESSION" is a VERY strong element in love:  it overshadows what comes
later.  Besides, Akane does VERY OCCASIONALLY allow herself to be tender
toward Ranma, and THOSE are the moments that Akane captivated him.

Besides, from what I can see of Genma, he is a man who had hurt Ranma Nodoka
and MOST OF ALL Ukyou without *EVER* feeling sorry(read the manga episodes).
I can't conceive of the idea that Ranma actually thinked he was being loved
in those ten years.  That is why he could never leave the Tendos, for they
give the appearance of stability and warm that he desperately crave for. 

At the same time, not handicapped by a sparring partner who
won't strike back Kaneda would have a better chance of attaining
higher levels of skill than Akane will.

If Ranko did strike back full strength in their sparring, I think Kaneda
would have been dead . . .

I didn't say full strength.  One of Ranma's greatest failings
is that he refuses to even spar with Akane lightly.  As a result
Akane's worst habit as a martial artist, attacking all out
without even considering the possibility that she's leaving
herself open, is only reinforced every time she attacks Ranma.
Ranma has done a huge amount to hamper Akane's growth as a 
martial artist in a number of ways.  

Actually, isn't SOUN responsible for Akane's training?  Why blame it on
Ranma, who is just a 16 year-old with no experiences with girls before, much
less training them?

The way I see it is this: just because Ranma loves Akane, doesn't mean that
Akane is a better choice for him than the others.  Love IS a irrational
thing controlled by fateful timing.  Akane IS a nice girl . . . that is when
she doesn't let that anger of hers control her. She likes Ranma, but tend to
be inconsiderate, distrustful, and takes what he did for granted (unlike
Ukyou or Shampoo).    Kaneda just happened to made a side of Akane that
people chose to ignore due to her sex more apparent.  But still, fate (err.
. . actually, me) had given Ranko a very good first impression of Kaneda,
and I'm now trying to somewhat redeem his bad characteristics in future
parts to make this relationship work. 

After all, this series is entitled RANKO AND KANEDA(not UKYOU OR MOUSSE),
isn't it?