On Thu, 23 Jul 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:
While the writing here is extremely good,
Thank you.
I'm afraid I have some serious
problems with believability. It's possible I'm misinterpreting things,
and please correct me if that's the case.
Okay. Evidence and examples collected. ^_^
First of all, Ranma gets locked in cursed form, and as far as I can tell
everyone just seemed to accept that the curse would be permanent from
then on. Why? There's no indication that he or anyone else spent any
time at all looking for a way to reverse it.
Gary, you should know by now that I never tell the whole story. However,
I do give hints. To quote:
Kunou sighed. "My family cares not for my fate. The last I heard
before coming here was that my sister was in China seeking you out,
and my father was unchanged."
Now... what in the world would possess Kodachi of all people to seek out
her love in a foreign country? Given what else has gone on in the story,
only one thing: that Ranma went on a trip there in search of a cure.
Akane gives up on Ranma as a lover, and gets interested in Ryoga
instead. Why? Yes, it's true that if there's no way to restore Ranma's
manhood then they won't be able to have M-F sex; but the basis for their
relationship was never physical anyway (at least not in THAT sense of
the word). Now, if you want to argue that Akane picked Ryoga for some
other reason, I might buy it. Maybe. But why should Ranma's physical
condition make the difference? Akane fell in love with him, not his
body.
Well... Gary, that's one interpretation of it. I have a whole slew of
divorces and breakups due to one person in the marriage wanting SRS to
tell me that the world just doesn't work that way. And, though many may
disagree with me on this, I assure you that the decision to undergo a
sex-change is so traumatic and the urges behind it so powerful that it can
very easily be considered an 'involuntary' change.
If the person you loved all-of-a-sudden changed, would you be able to stay
with them? It's a very easy thing to say 'yes'. For Akane, it's easy to
say 'yes', as she deals with his female form part-time. It's a very
different thing entirely to deal with the stigma of a homosexual
relationship, as well as the concept of not being at all physically
attracted to your partner. To do so requires a love and spiritual
awareness that goes above and beyond what most are capable of. In this
case, I do not believe Akane capable of it. This is my interpretation, of
course, and only one valid one out of many possible for Akane. ^_^
Akane starts treating onna-Ranma like "one of the girls." (The
impression I got from the story was that this transition happened fairly
quickly.) Why? She knows how much he hates being stuck as a female.
Wouldn't taking him on "Girls' nights out" be like rubbing salt in his
wounds? Don't you think she has more sense than that?
Clarification here: Do you mean 'fairly quickly' as in soon after Ranma
gets stuck, or as in taking a short time from start to completion?
To quote how long it took:
"I'm sorry. I tried to... tried to go on.... but... I rushed things.
I'm sorry." She started crying - tears which stopped as Ranma broke
the embrace. Ranma just *looked* back at her, her blue eyes piercing
to the core.
She *rushed* things. It's difficult to rush anything that supposedly
takes fifteen months (the time from Ranma getting stuck to the suicide
attempt; this time clue can be determined from the work). In other words,
Akane didn't start the transitioning until a fairly short time before the
suicide attempt.
As for Akane trying to get Ranma acclimated to her female form... she felt
it necessary. Ranma is stuck, after all, and has a lot to learn.
Ranma makes a suicide attempt. This, too, strikes me as highly
questionable. One of the central facets of Ranma's character (as *I* see
him, anyway) is that he hates to lose. The man simply does not accept
defeat. So wouldn't killing himself be the ultimate defeat?
Ranma already lost just about everything of value. She lost her manhood,
and she lost Akane. Most of her friends have left. There's nothing left
to defeat.
Just my $0.02 here. As I said, it was a very well-written tale, but to
me it felt very much like you were forcing Ranma into a situation that
fit the story you were trying to tell. Maybe if we knew more details on
how the whole thing happened, it might help.
And it's well-accepted. However, your problem with the work can be summed
up with one sentence:
You wanted more backstory clarification.
My reply?
I never play all my cards at once. I tell the story I want to, and give
just enough hints for the reader to carry along. The story I want to tell
is Ranma meeting up with Kunou. I don't wish to tell the backstory all at
once; that would give far too much away, and lead to a much more boring
story, as the reader would have no room to fill in his or her own
details. That's why the clues are there: to give enough to fuel the
reader's imagination, and let him or her write their own tales of the
past. There will be other stories along with this where there will be
some more backstory given; again, just enough for the reader to carry
along.
Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics
-- Nick