On Mon, 15 Jun 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:

Oldest friend, yes.  Best friend?  I am uncertain if there is anyone in
the Ranmaverse that can qualify as a best friend for him...

In terms of what's meant here -- someone to whom he confides in and
pours out his troubles -- I'd say there probably isn't. OTOH, if by
"best friend" one just means someone to hang around with and do things
together, then from the evidence in the series one could conclude that
Ranma's best friend is Akane. Flipping through my manga volumes, it
looks to me like pretty much every time you see him eating at Ucchan's,
Akane's there with him.

Maybe someone should post a list of the things that seem to be taken for
granted as true and debunk them as either fanfic convention, anime vs
manga conflict, fanfic writer has too much testosterone at the moment...

Eamples:

Point:  Ranma sleeps late and Akane must wake him every morning.
Argument:  While Ranma has slept late before, if Akane had to wake him
every morning for a fast breakfast before school, then he would not have
time to practice with his dad.  It is, in all liklihood, that Ranma gets
up before Akane does so that he can train.

Point:  The Masubetsu Kakuto Ryu is a completely unarmed style.
Argument:  Ranma has been shown to use weapons before.  In one of the
early episodes, we see Ranma and Genma fight on top of one of the roofs
with bos.  And very well, too.

Point:  Several of the girls have large breasts (Ranma-chan, Shampoo,
Nabiki...)
Argument:  In the TV series, all the girls already had nice figures.  It
wasn't until the second movie and the OAVs that the several of the girls 
(if not all of them) suddenly seemed to get breats implants (a point down
IMHO).

Point:  The name of Soun Tendo's wife is Kimi or Kimiko.
Argument:  Fan convention.  There wasn't ever a mention of her name.  Only
what she looks like.


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