On Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:52:14 +1000 (GMT+1000), Mark Doherty
<mdoherty@mailbox.uq.edu.au> wrote:

Ok, I have to admit, I'm not feeling _any_ sympathy at all for Ranma
in the story arc so far. It's more from the Ukyou story(He doesn't
bother trying to break up with Ukyou, instead he goes straight to
'be my best man', and then from the story I surmise that he doesn't
try to contact her again in the intervening five years. Now there's
the actions of a best friend...) In the first story, he sends Kunou on a 
Hopeless Quest(tm), not that nice either. In the Kodachi part, Ranma's 
interference feels more unnecessary to me than dishonourable. It didn't
seem to add anything to the scene whatsoever, in fact I felt it detracted. 

It is a good series Gary. Honestly. But right now, personally, I haven't 
got an iota of sympathy for Ranma. If sympathy for him is totally 
unnecessary for the story, fine and good. But if it is, then I, at least,
can't see myself developing any if he continues the way he has for the first
three stories. Since my dislike comes more from the <Ukyou Supporter> 
Ukyou story</Ukyou Supporter>, and Richard's is from Kodachi(he's working 
on a Kodachi story, he's stated he likes her potential a fair bit), and 
since Ranma has done something at least slightly bastardish to every 
character so far, I don't know how many non-Ranma/Akane supporters are going 
to be liking him by the end of the Preludes.

Mark, thanks for letting me know your reaction. It tells me something
really important.

The Ranma I'm trying to portray here is someone who makes a lot of
mistakes and is frequently clueless about his actions, but who does
ultimately want to learn from his mistakes and does try to do the right
thing.

That's pretty much how I see all of these characters, except a couple
who are just there for comic relief. Characters who just don't do
anything wrong are boring; I have a real problem with fics where the
author's favorite character is portrayed that way. The characters I like
and respect are the ones who sometimes do bad things because of their
nature, but try to make up for them and grow from the experience.

Your response, and Richard's, tells me that I need to work harder on the
last part for Ranma. I need to do a better job of showing that he's
trying to learn.

Much of our sympathy for Ranma in the original series, I think, comes
from his complete lack of control over his own fate. That's what he's
coming out of in this story. He's not used to his actions having real
consequences, and now that they do he's bumbling around a bit.

Personally I don't blame him for letting Tatewaki go off on his Spring
of Drowned Wild Goose chase. Ranma was still recovering from the
after-effects of the love pill, and we all know how hard it is to
dissuade Tatchi from *anything*.

I would definitely say Ranma handled the Ukyo thing very badly, with
total insensitivity to her feelings (though she isn't blameless here
either). She *did* essentially tell him to get out of her life in that
scene, but I think you are right that not contacting her for five years
is too extreme. I think I will establish that they did exchange letters
over this time and made some attempt to patch things up.


Any comments/opinions, anyone?

Mark and Richard, thanks much for your responses on this.


Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics