arromdee@inetnow.net wrote:

On Sun, 29 Mar 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:

Ukyou is _very_ conspicuously absent in this story.  Ranma didn't even _think_
about her, and he really should.

I'm not so sure. Ranma tends to live in the present moment, not often
thinking of things that aren't immediate problems.

When everything's not exaggerated for comedic effect, he may be a little
shortsighted, but he's not _that_ shortsighted.  Heck, the whole story is
filled with Ranma thinking of things ahead of time.

(Besides, engagements are being mentioned in the present moment.)

This is a darn good point.  I like to think that Ranma thinks of Ukyou
only when she forces herself (directly or indirectly) into his
attention, but that's mainly because that's the way I see her.  I am
not a fan of Ukyou.

Hmm.  I'm not utterly convinced, but I'll definitely think about it.
This story will need a revision at least for straightening out the
relative pronouns, which are more than usually mangled, so there's
definitely scope for more substantive alterations.

BTW, general consensus on male/female pronouns for Ranma
when he's in female form seem to be to use female pronouns
except when quoting someone who thinks of Ranma as male.
I think I'll change over to this policy and see how it works.

For what it's worth, by the way, Ukyou's revelation is comparatively
recent in Ranma's memory.  Ukyou lobs sometime around vol.9,
and this story branches at the start of vol.13 (the wishing story).
For "attack" nuts, Ranma has so far learned the kachuu tenshin
amaguriken and the hiryuu shouten ha, and knows of the bakusai
tensetsu, but neither the shi shi hokodan (which Ranma learned to
do but never does) nor the moukou takabisha, nor any of the more
advanced ki attacks, are yet on the horizon.

--
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