It took me a few minutes into reading DnR 25 that I realized I was 
reading in prose, not script.

It troubles me.  And even worse, the prose format made me switch out 
of "College Mode" and I thought of Ranma as the default Ranma, the 
sixteen year old freshman, the one still coping with the curse and 
with Akane.  Then I forced myself to think of Ranma as a college 
student, hardened with a year's knowledge, the ups and downs of the 
curse, and the love of Akane.  This is not good.

It's not the substance of the prose itself.  Prose conveys more 
meaning than script does, simply because it allows for description, 
depth and easier handling of a third person omniscience or stream of 
consciousness.  But for some reason I feel that DnR is meant to be 
script.  Maybe it's because there aren't enough good Ranma 1/2 scripts 
out there (Well, there's SineRanma (Pure parody), Sailor Ranma, Ranma 
2096, Ranko 1/2, possibly Fuurinkan Summer but I haven't read enough 
of it).

The radical change in tone also troubles me.  It could be for the 
better, but the sudden "darker twist" allows no time for adjustment 
(I guess you could argue DnR 24 was similar with Nabiki and Ranma 
finally ending their tense feud)  It could be that it's still summer
and there's really no "dramatic relief", in Shakespearean terms :)
(Okay, well you could say the whole of DnU 5 was dramatic relief)

All in all, DnR 25 was good, and Richard Lawson's style definitely 
shows in there.  But can you convey Nabiki and Tatewaki's feelings in 
script form?  Probably.  Effectively?  Hard, but probably too.

Honestly I still don't know why I'm pro-script for DnR.  Can anybody 
help me?



Jonathan Ng
jonathan@worldy.com