Rabbit wrote:

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V I L L A G E    T A L E

some things before I do them.  As for your brother I don't want him
dead, thats too good for him after what he did to me.  I want him to
suffer a long time indeed"

I was really disturbed by this "revenge against Kuno" sequence.  
Tatewaki didn't deserve this.  Akane and Kodachi are allowing their 
grief to turn them into psychopaths and exact a wholly inappropriate 
revenge.  The simple fact of the matter is.....

I agree that the girls may have gone too far, but....

Kuno did nothing wrong.

Absolutely incorrect.

He really didn't.  What did he actually do?  He came across some 
information and distributed it to people.  He didn't lie.  He didn't 

try 

to do anything beyond that.  Try the flood of flyers was over the top, 
but the same ends would probably have been met if he had simply walked 
up to the Tendos and handed them the file on Ranma.

Tatewaki did not create the prejudice and he was not responsible for 
instilling it in anyone else.  True it might have been nobler to 

No, but he did take advantage of the basest instincts of those around 
him, and did so for purely selfish motives.  Tatewaki violated every 
code of honor associated with the martial arts.  Speaking of which....

withhold the information, but isn't that really too much to ask of him, 
considering Ranma was the person he hated more than anyone else alive?

If the situations had somehow been reversed and Ranma had information 
incredibly damaging to Kuno, does anyone think Ranma would have done 

the 

"noble" thing?  I doubt it.

Considering how long Ranma held back on the wholde P-Chan thing, I don't 
have any doubt that Ranma would hold back info that he didn't consider 
to be truly important, anyway.  Note that he barely even understands the 
concept of Burakumin, let alone agrees with it.

All Kuno did was tell the truth.  For that Akane and Kodachi try their 
level best to take away every single thing he cares about.  They 
willingly torture him and try to warp his mind.

Which, in their view, is what he's done to them.

I ask you, who are the real villains here?

None.  All.  Take your pick.  These are people, each of whom is 
drastically underequipped, emotionally, to deal with the traumas they've 
been dealt.


I think what we're seeing here is a group of high-strung adolescents, 
all of whom have a history of overreacting, being pushed to the limits.  
None of the characters has been overly "moral", thus far, except 
Cologne, who arguably has the benefit of years of experience to blunt 
the pain the others are dealing with.

--Freemage,
     Mouthin' off again

-- 

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

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