Gary Kleppe wrote:

Frankly, IMO, there's been an underlying message throughout this whole
series telling us that femininity is good. Ranma's comment about men
having fuzz in their minds is only the most blatant example. There's
been nothing that I can think of so far to balance things by suggesting
that masculinity might have advantages of its own.

I find that this agenda is detectable in all of Hitomi's stories (or rather,
the broader theme of change from male to female as a good and
desirable thing).  Another strong example is her "An Alternate
History of Ranma", which has a number of similar themes to "Clothes
Make The...".  This doesn't particularly bother me, since all authors
express their opinions through their stories, whether intentionally or
unintentionally, but it is something that I'm aware of when I read her stuff.

Of course, that doesn't make the stories in any way less enjoyable.
"Clothes" and Hitomi's "An Alternate History" are both very enjoyable
stories.

Actually, since "Clothes" is co-authored with two other authors, perhaps
I should say, "stories which are influenced by Hitomi", but that's too
broad.  Sorry if you feel wronged or given short shrift, Nick and
Katrina.  I don't mean to imply that "Clothes" is solely Hitomi's, but
from where I stand it is clearly very heavily influenced by her.

I should finish by saying that this message isn't meant to imply that
I find the "change from male to female" thing either good or bad.
I personally wouldn't do it, but we live in a big world, and whatever
floats your boat (but doesn't hurt others) is fine by me.

     D.E.


Hmm, re-reading this I see that it's likely to be controversial.  I don't
apologise for this, though I'm not deliberately trying to inflame things.
I'm just stating my opinion.

I apologise to Nick and Katrina if they feel slighted, though.  I don't
mean to belittle your work, which is *excellent*.

--
David Eddy - Senior Consultant, Progress Software Melbourne
dje@progress.com

Screening Coordinator and Subbing Bunny, Melbourne Anime Society
My fanfics are archived at http://nabiki.newberry.edu/DEddy