On Sat, 10 Jan 1998, Nicholas Stone <bnstone@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

Greetings all,

   Say, I have a question for all  Ranmaites out there.  Recently during a
group get together with some fellow writers of per said fanfic anime, I laid
out an outline for 'Dark Family: Unwanted Reunions'.  After some calm perusal,
of which the term 'calm before the storm' came to mind, we found ourselves in
quite a heated debate over who would be the best choice to knock off said major
bad guy from the prior stories.
   My take is I don't think Ranma is or will ever have the guts to kill a
person no matter what they've done, or who they've hurt (even Akane).  That
almost got me banished from the group :-).

	I'd say it's more a fact that Ranma has never killed anyone before, and 
isn't the sort to hold a prolonged grudge or such.  If anyone ever did something 
horible enough for him to want to kill them, he would not hesitate.  It would 
just take something severe since he has one of the least volitle temperes of any 
of the nerima martial artists.

 So, to make a long story short, I'm
back to pondering who'd have the right character for such an event, if that's
the way I go.  My favorite choices are:

                       1.  Nodaka Saotome.

	A will of iron hiden beneath the exterior of an older Onna-Ranma.  
There's some debate on how good with her Kitana she is, but the fact that she 
was meant to be Ranma and Genma's seconds meant she had to have a fair degree of 
skill since properly beheading someone requires skill.

                       2.  Shampoo

	She was ready to kill Ranma over a point of Amazon law.

                       3.  Akane

	Akane is like Ranma in that she is not one who holds a prolonged grudge, 
however she has one of the most volatile temperes in the series.

                       4.  Kasumi (I know, but I'm sure thinking about her
abuse would be enough to set her off).

	Well going by the evil Oni OAV storyline, she doesn't have much inside 
her to set off.  Still it's all in how you interprite her character.

                       5.  Doctor Tofu (see afore mentioned abuse)

	He is crazy about her in multiple senses.

                       6. Soun Tendo

	He tends to be more into threatening than acting, and he has a cowardly 
streak, but he really loves his family.

                       7. Genma (eh, not my favorite, but he has the
potential)

	He's a hypocritical scumbag, but he's a consistant and sincere 
hypocritical scumbag.

   Anyway, since I'm about to return to sea duty, and with a long deployment
in front of me, I've plenty of time to ponder, write and smooth this before I
get back (work load permitting).
   Please, any thoughts about this/inputs will help immensely.

                                   Thanks in Advance,

                                                       Nicholas Stone