On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Matthew Campbell wrote: 

Here's chapter 8. ^_^ Hopefully 9 will be out in the next two months.

<groan>  Why must the good things always take so long?  After the furor 
over the lack of comment on this last time, I thought I'd better say 
something.

In this particular case, things are taking long because I'm at work and at
uni, and Mike's winter holiday is almost over. So our writing time is cut.

*Nice* introduction of Ukyou.  I was certainly glad to see Genma getting 
the beating he so richly deserves.  I shudder to think at the results 
if she'd come in swinging like in the regular series.

It... wouldn't have been pretty.

Of course, since she only first appears in Vol 8, it also would have been
long after the series ending. ^_-

You know, I think there has to have been something more to Ranma's 
accident than the ordinary Neko-ken training.  You've been building up 
the mystery way too much.  If it turns out to be essenntially the same 
(or with only minor differences) I for one will be disappointed.

You'll just have to see. ^_-

After all the enemies Ranma's made, it makes sense for him to gain 
another ally.  Good as he is, there's no way he could have survived much 
longer with only Akane's help.

The enemy/friend ratio was a pretty strong reson to bring in Ukyou, yes.

 Speaking of which, I'm sort of 
ambivalent about Akane's training.  It sort of makes sense, but it falls 
back onto the cliche of 'Ranma the super-trainer' (which I was ranting 
about only a few days ago.)  This is a series that usually avoids 
cliche.  On the other hand, Ranma's training through pain method is 
certainly new.

I'm of two minds on the "Super-Trainer" thing. On the one hand, Ranma does
possess vast amounts of knowlege. And it's canon that, given a reasonably
competent sensei/opponent, martial arts skills improve dramatically in
short periods of time. (This may not be realistic, but it's canon. Tossing
around bolts of chi isn't realistic either. ^_^)

On the other hand, Ranma's personality in the "normal" Ranmaverse is just
horrible for a teacher. He's impatient, he has poor communication skills,
and will demean an inferior martial artist with no compunctions. Also, a
lot of the rapid-training methods _hurt_.

IMBS Ranma, on the other hand, is methodically patient.

I wonder, will he also offer to train Ukyou?  From a purely cold-blooded 
perspective, it makes sense to try and make your allies as strong as 
possible.  If she's as blindly loyal to him as she is in the regular 
series, psycho-Ranma will be quick to pick up on it and take *full* 
advantage.  I hope she doesn't attempt to conceal her true gender, as 
there's no reason for her to.  I just shudder to think at the beating 
Ranma will inflict on Genma once he finds out what his father did in 
regards to Ukyou.

Ukyou... isn't as likely to be trained. She's already very good - better
than Akane, worse than Shampoo - and Ranma would only train someone he
knew wouldn't use it against him.

Time is running out for Nabiki.  She's made an open attempt on Ranma's 
life and he's got to at least suspect.  It has her fingerprints all 
over it.  How long before he decides it's her or him?

Well, there are lots of suspects. And Tsen, for instance, did something
very similar to this in the last fight.

My prediction:  Ukyou will be the "secret weapon" that allows Ranma to 
survive the soon-to-be-coming triple attack on his life.  Whether Ukyou 
herself survives......  that's another question.

You never know. ^_^

Matthew Campbell 
E-mail me at mgcampb@clemson.edu

- Susan Doenime
Brisbane, U of Q
"I hit the streets / They watched me in the monitor..."