Gary Kleppe wrote:
As you can see, we took very different approaches. Though I
enjoyed reading your stories of Kodachi being reformed, I
don't think I'd want to do something like that myself. To
me she's cool as is. :)
Heh. Me, I found Kodachi to be annoying, cloying, and downright
irritating. She was second to Happosai on my hate list. Then I
reformed her in "The Dying of the Rose", and suddenly I found her
intriguing. Even if I still find her interesting in her manga maniacal
form, it's her potential for improvement that's always intrigued me.
I don't like multiple punctuation marks. It's fine
for informal communication, but grammatically it's
indefensible.
I didn't know this bothered people; if it does I can
change it.
It doesn't "bother" me; it's just not technically sound writing.
Feel free to leave it in for stylistic reasons. My personal opinion
is... well, it strikes me as a little juvenille. Then again, Ranma 1/2
is juvenille, so maybe it's okay. :)
I have nothing against resolution per se; in fact, that's
why I wrote "Thy Inward Love". But resolution without
reason... that annoys me.
Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong.
In the abstract, I'd say you're right. In this case, besides
Kodachi having always been a bit... impulsive..., she had
definite reasons to force a confrontation at that point.
Perhaps. I think you need to spell it out a little more, show more of
the internal monologue that leads to this impulsive act. Then it would
be okay.
Dang, I don't like this. It's very... dishonorable. And
didn't he just say that no one could interfere with the
contest?
For the record, what he said was that no one could "interfere
with the other's food, ingredients, or person".
Sounds to me like he's interfering with her person. Not in a physical
way, but in a psychological way. In any event, it certainly is against
the spirit of the rules.
He's cheating, pure and simple, and in an extremely
underhanded way. Never mind that Kodachi would do the same
thing; he's supposed to be better than that. Instead,
he's stooping to her level.
I don't quite see it that way. He's not sabotaging Kodachi's
food or assaulting her. To me this is more like an attempt
(albeit a rather poor one) to "psych out the opposition".
<shrug> It's still interfering with her person, IMO. Psyching out the
opposition is generally frowned upon in professional sports - the
various "Unsportsmanlike Conduct", the rule changes that disallow
excessive celebration, etc. As you note, it is extremely poor
sportsmanship.
Now, admittedly, there is precedent in the manga for Ranma to act this
way. However, I don't like that side of Ranma, and he doesn't do it
very often. If you want to paint a sympathetic picture of Ranma, avoid
having him do petty, childish, dishonorable acts like this.
Again, just my opinion.
Now I have no doubt Ranma wouldn't have done such a thing if
HE had been the one competing.
I understand your point, but find it to be somewhat irrelevant. It just
doesn't excuse his behavior. No matter *why* he did it, it's still not
a nice thing to do.
I'll need to hear some more opinions on this, since at least
one other reader said they liked this bit. What do the rest
of you think?
Yeah! C'mon folks, prove me wrong!
It's been done before. After Sean Gaffney sent me Part 1 of "Made of
Stone", he asked me if he should continue writing it. I told him,
"No." Part of that came from my extreme dislike for self-insertion
fics. Fortunately, he ignored me and continued writing. :)
I do feel a little more strongly about this, however. I just don't like
Ranma behaving that way, and it makes me dislike him intensely. My
sympathies swing towards Kodachi, which may not be what you want.
Many thanks for your comments!!
No prob. Hope they're useful.
Gary Kleppe