From: Matthew Campbell <mgcampb@clemson.edu>

And anyway, let's not get bogged down with specfic examples and
counter-examples.  I'm just saying Ranma and Akane's pattern of behavior
strikes me as suspiciously villainous in character. Doesn't mean
everyone else is behaving like saints.

(Hey Bob, at least I got people talking about the fic, eh?)
--

My thoughts in this area match the chorus from a song I heard recently:
"There ain't no good guys,
There ain't no bad guys.
There's only you and me and we just disagree."
_Nobody_ in this series is blameless.
Ukyo may be one of the least blameless, but she is not above a certain
amount of underhandedness. Now, I've no doubt that there are several places
where things could have been handled better (by the 'self-aware' Akane and
Ranma) but you do still need to remember that, no matter how intelligent,
they are both just sixteen, and lack experience. They are going to make
mistakes, and those mistakes will hurt people. Like *everyone else* in the
series, they are trying to look out for themselves, and trying to get what
they want. But, unlike anyone else, if they let on even *what* they are
fighting for, they'll be swarmed under and destroyed. From what it looks
like, they're *trying* to solve things in a way that will hurt everyone the
least.
As for Ryoga... well, I think that, Karmically speaking, he's got whatever
he gets coming to him. That might seem a little harsh, but, next to Genma
and Soun, he's one of the biggest problems. The two fathers will simply
*not* stop pushing. When things are going 'poorly' they push harder, and
when things are going well, they push harder. And when things aren't going
at all, they push harder. Ryoga, on the other hand, will stop at virtually
nothing to break the two of them up, and, moreover, will attack Ranma on
*any* excuse. Is Ranma treating Akane poorly? Ryoga attacks in 'revenge'. Is
he being nice? Ryoga attacks to drive Ranma away and keep them from getting
close. Ranma can't win. Ruoga isn't a human challenger, he's a natural
disaster.
This isn't to say that Ranma and Akane are blameless either, but they aren't
the 'villians' here. I don't really think that there are 'villians' in this
story. Just people.

Morpheus the Shaper