[Forgive me Tybalt-sama, for I have spammed.]


A comment from a different perspective.  I know you in no way intended 
this to be the message, but as I read this fic, one thought kept 
intruding into my mind....

Ranma and Akane are the _villains_ in this fic.

[Now that's a perspective I never thought of.]

No, think about it.  For over a year they have lied to everyone, whether 
they be family or their supposed friends.  They have conspired to 
decieve and manipulate all those around them in a massive hoax 
perpetuated purely for their own benefit.

[And you think they're actually looking forward to it? It even said in 
the prologue that they were apprehensive about it all.]

Ok you ask, but why should they care about anyone else but themselves? 

[Simple, what if you wanted to live the way you wanted instead of the 
way other people wanted you to live? You'd take steps to make sure that 
would happen.]
 
Well, just because other people's feeling do matter, for one thing.  
Take Ryouga.  He has every reason to believe Akane is his friend.  She 
has been kind to him, defended him from Ranma, and called him her 
friend.

And it was all a lie.  

[And you have proof of this? I've read through all that's been written 
and I do NOT find anywhere saying that she lied to Ryouga about being a 
friend.]

This self-aware Akane must surely have known how much Ryouga loved her, 
worshipped her.  Even if she didn't figure it out for herself, Ranma 
would have told her in private.  Yet did she ever talk to Ryouga about 
it?  Try to let him down easy?  Nope, it didn't fit her self-assumed 
disguise, so she was perfectly willing to allow him to 
suffer in the unending torment of unrequitted love.

Villainous behavior?

Oh, and about P-chan.  It isn't the same thing.  Ryouga may have been 
lying to her about his identity, but she lied to him about her emotions. 
IMO a far worse crime.  Besides, self-aware Akane should have figured 
out P-chan a long time ago.  If she's still been letting him sleep with 
her, then apparently, she doesn't care.

[Well, maybe she does and maybe she doesn't. We aren't in the fic enough 
to be tottally sure if she wants to stuff out pig-boy and hang him out 
to dry for good. Personally, they're both at fault for lying. Intensity 
doesn't matter, a lie is a lie, no matter how big or small.]

What about Ukyou?  Ranma has been pretending to be her friend, but 
obviously he isn't.  Obviously he doesn't really give a damn about her.

[Like before. You have proof of this?]

To him, she's just one of the faceless "them" that have to be taken 
care of so that he and Akane can be together.  

[Wrong! I find it illogical that he would do that if the time table is 
where I think it is. Also, Ukyou did become one of those 'faceless 
thems' when they crashed the wedding.]

He's intentionally woven a deception for Ukyou that he does not love 
Akane.  That's what this whole "mask" idea was about in the first place, 
yes?  He knows full well that the longer he keeps up this deception, the 
more hurt and devasted Ukyou would eventually be.

[So, that's why this fic is happening, before it gets even worse than it 
already is. I don't like Ukyou, I just pity her.]

But he's perfectly willing to let her suffer.  Some friend.  He has 
deliberately and with full intentions created a false personality around 
Ukyou, apparently never letting her see the real him. 

[Because Ukyou would most likely try and take advantage of that so Ranma 
would marry her. That's why he created the 'friend' for her. Yet, she 
doesn't get the big picture that she is his friend and nothing more, and 
that is her fault alone.]

Friendship simply isn't possible when you're constantly lying to your 
"friend".  The phrase "letting people down easy" doesn't seem to have 
occured to Ranma or Akane.

[Like before, you think they're going to enjoy the end result?]

Now let us look at Shampoo.  Akane has the sheer, unmitigated _gall_ to 
be angry at Shampoo for interupting the wedding??!!  

[Well, if someone interrupted your wedding, wouldn't you be rather 
peeved?]

Let's lay this out piece by piece.  Akane and Ranma are putting up an 
illusion that they do not love or particularly like each other.  This is 
a choice on their part, done with conscious intent.  Shampoo falls for 
this charade, hook, line and sinker.

[Which is Shamps' fault alone.]

Now, Ranma and Akane are going to married.  Shampoo hears about it.  By 
all that she thinks she knows, these two do _not_ want to get married.  
Their parents must be forcing them.  Even if she didn't love Ranma, even 
if she didn't love him at all......  Ranma saved her from the ghost cat. 
She owes him a debt, and now it's time to repay that debt.  

[Yes, but not in a way that Ranma would find rather favorable.]

She'll stop the wedding, the wedding that Ranma has repeatedly told her 
that he _does_ not want.

Now he hasn't even so much as thanked her for her heroic efforts.  Now 
Akane has the nerve to come up and start threatening her.  Wait, Shampoo 
is confused.  Shampoo thought violent-girl no want wedding.

Face it, the whole wedding fiasco was Ranma and Akane's fault from 
beginning to end.  

[Oh really? ANd take the blame from the slimeballs that brought them 
together? You're making Genma look innocent and I don't like that.]

They hornswaggle everyone into believing they don't want to get married, 
and then they're surprised when those who care about them show up to 
stop the wedding?

[Care? PAH! The only thing that Shamps and Ukyou are concerned about are 
themselves. Ukyou with her Genma-approved lie to her dad and Shamps with 
her zealousness to continue the tribe. Kuno and Ryouga are no different. 
Kuno wants to maintain his 'superiority' by thinking that he can have 
whatever he wants, despite the promises that even his stinkin noble line 
can't override. Ryouga is just determined to take Akane away from Ranma 
because HE thinks that he's unworthy of her, and thinks he too can 
override the promises made by the panda and the human waterfall.]

In the real series, Shampoo is a lot more culpable.  There you can argue 
that she should have seen the signs that Ranma and Akane are in love.  
That or she has seen the signs and has been ignoring them.  Here she's 
the innocent victim of a very sick deception.

Needles to say, this all goes double for Ukyou.  Self-aware Ranma has 
been playing her emotions like a fiddle, and he shouldn't be surprised 
when it literally blew up in his face.

So in summary, the charges are these.  False friendship, hypocripsy, and 
the lie after lie after lie about their true identities to these people 
who have shared their lives.

[Well, maybe it's a little something called turnabout. You are 
completely ignoring the fact that everyone else was trying to run their 
lives for them with Genma promises, backward traditions, delusions of 
grandure, and just plain ignorance. If you think that the others are 
completely innocent, I wonder what the heck ramsey you're smoking.]

They're even acting in the behavior patterns of villains!  Plotting in 
secret, where they laugh at everyone else and celebrate their deception.

[Like it says in the Prologue, it doesn't look like they're enjoying 
this at all. They're scared of when the cycle will end. They know that 
it will not go peacefully, but if they want to live their lives the way 
they want to, drastic measures need to be taken.]

Also, notice that Ranma and Akane have taken the active role in this 
fic.  They're the ones with the plan.  Most often it is the _villains_ 
in a story who have the plan, the need to mold the world to suit their 
own desires.  It is the hero's role to stop the plan and keep everyone 
else from being manipulated to the villain's ends.

[Oh really? Ever heard of x/1999 by Clamp? The Dragons of Heaven are 
more than determined to save the human race from the Dragons of Earth 
because the DoE want to erase the human race. Yet, from the DoE's 
perspective, the human race is a bane to the planet Earth and life in 
general was chosen over mankind. So you see, the lines of Good and Evil 
are not so clearly cut as one would think. ]

Admittedly this isn't always the case.  I'm sure people can come up with 
numerous counter-examples.  However, it begs the question that if Ranma 
and Akane aren't the villains, who is?

[What if there are no villians? Or heroes? Just two people trying to 
secure their own future from having it being run by other people. And 
people with the common sense capacity of a bull thinking that they can 
just control the destiny of another.]

Right now, they have the plan and are so far ahead of everyone else, it 
isn't even funny. Traditionally, it's at this point that a hero would 
step forth to start untangling their web of lies and expose them for 
what they are.

[And make Ranma and Akane miserable? Then who'd be the villan then?]

I know it'll never happen because that isn't the way this fic is going. 
Personally, though, I'm rooting for Akane and Ranma to get the 
thrashing they so richly deserve.  Preferably administered by Ryouga. 
[It won't happen. 1. Ryouga's (hopefully) just go on with his life and 
go to Akari. But considering this is Ryouga, it's unlikely. 2. There's 
about a snowball's chance in a volcano that he'll believe the truth 
because he's been led around so many times he can't even believe the 
truth, only the lies that he percieves to be the truth and that is his 
fault alone. Whether we like it or not, the truth can hurt severely. The 
difference between a fool and a wiseman is how they accept it.]
 
Whose betrayal cuts deepest, but that of one we love?


Separate point!!!!!!

I ask that this point be considered in separation from the rest of this 
nonsense.

The original premise of this fic was that "martial artists aren't stupid 
people".  It's an interesting idea, but why is it only being applied to 
Ranma and Akane?

[We're only at the second chapter for crying out loud! Maybe we're not 
there yet.]

Shampoo's a martial artist.  Where is her hidden intelligence?  What 
about Soun?  Or Genma for that matter?  Or god help us all, could Kunou 
actually be smarter than he lets on?

[Now Shamps I can understand, even expect. Soun and Genma are pretty 
good at their deceptions to others, so we got that area covered. 
Concerning Kuno... I certainly hope not.]

The premise just doesn't make as much sense if Ranma and Akane are the 
only ones wearing "masks", and everyone else is the emotional and 
intellectual cripple they appear to be in the normal series.

[Because we are not that far into the story yet. Only the author can 
answer the endless amount of questions we readers have.]

As I said, a differing view.

[And an interesting view it is. Akane and Ranma as the baddies. Neat 
idea.]


Teknos Warhammer-
-Knight of the True Fiancee
-Offical Nodoka Saotome Guardian
-Self Proclaimed Guardian of Kiyone Makabi
-Fanfic hero for the Underdogs
-And so much more

View his fanfics at: 
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/4853/index.html

"It's the End of the World as we know it, and other than a slight 
headache, I feel fine."
-Crow T. Robot, MST3K, Invasion of the Neptunemen


______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com