Freemage . wrote:

Date:  Mon, 04 May 1998 22:12:18 -0600
From:  David Johnston <rgorman@telusplanet.net>
To:    "Freemage ." <freemage@hotmail.com>
CC:    ffml@fanfic.com
Subject: Re: [FFML][ff][Ranma 1/2][Lime]What Price Love chap. 3 pt. 1

Freemage . wrote:

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
What Price Love
Chapter 3: Secrets Revealed
By: Jon Osborne

You know, while for the most part, I've enjoyed reading this fic,

there

is one thing that really bothers me about it.  Whether or not Akane
realizes it, she fell in love with Ranma's _personality_, not Ranma's
body.  While I am willing to accept the whole "Please be a woman full
time for me" premise, I don't think Akane realizes the long-term

effects

of some of the other things she's having Ranma do--wearing a bra,
showing "feminine modesty", etc.  What Akane fell in love with was
_Ranma_, in a female body.  The person she fell in love with had a
number of decidedly unfeminine traits, and eliminating those traits
will, *must*, change the person herself.

Nope.  Ranma loves Akane.  Akane loves Ranma's (other) body.  She
obviously doesn't care about anything except his physical form.  That
gives Akane the upper hand, which explains why Ranma is making all the
concessions.

Of course in realistic terms, Akane is being terminally stupid.  She

has

a sterling opportunity to live closeted in perfect respectibility
avoiding all the hassles of a lesbian marriage while reaping all the
benefits.  Instead she is deliberately choosing the course of action
that brings the maximum of social censure and family turmoil.

But then, she's a version of a Ranma character, so stupidity is to be
expected.

Hmmm...In that case, there is a fall coming up, but it's going to be
very bad.  If she truly cares about nothing but Ranma's body, then, by
that reasoning, anyone who could make a Spring of Drowned Onna-Ranma
(along the lines of the Spring of Drowned Akane) would be able to
satisfy her.  Not good.  Eventually, even Ranma is going to get tired of
being treated/viewed as nothing but a hunk of meat.

Well, that's not quite true now that I think about it.  Akane also
"loves" Ranma as a fixer-upper in the fic. She doesn't love Ranma, she 
loves the person she wants Ranma to be, and she loves being in control. 
After all, why else would she insist on Ranma abandoning his identity 
entirely except that she enjoys exercising that kind of power over him?
Presumably as long as Ranma does what she is told, Akane will love her 
for it.  

And that's when it's going to hit the fan.

I don't know what your take on the "Does Onna-Ranma age?" debate is, but
it doesn't really matter.  Watch:

1)O-R is immortal:  As Akane ages, Ranma is going to become less
interested in sex, as Akane will simply be less attractive.  At the same
time, though, as the sex in their relationship fades, there will be
nothing to replace it (from Akane's POV), because she has no interest in
Ranma the Person.

2)O-R ages normally:  This one is even worse.  While option one might
hold off the inevitable for a few years (as Ranma continues to make love
to the aging Akane despite the fading interest, out of "his" love for
her), this case will result in a break-up by forty, max, as O-R slowly
grows further away from Akane's ideal.

That is of course a 24 year long marriage.  Respectable by most people's
standards.  And judging by her mother, Ranma's looks will hold up well.
In any case, this is Ranma's problem.  Akane will just move on to a
younger, cuter, woman if the opportunity presents itself.  Or perhaps
add one.  

Homosexual relationships share this factor in common with heterosexual
ones:  If it's based only on sex (at least for one partner), then the
whole thing will collapse with age.

I see no long-term hope for these two, "as is".  Akane's more than
stupid here, she's _shallow_.