Nick Leifker <nightelf@thekeep.org> wrote:

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.

Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. The question is whether it
would work for Ranma and Akane.

 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.

Yes, but do the people demanding divorces *understand* how involuntary
it is? Akane does.

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.

Yes, it is.

 It's a very
different thing entirely to deal with the stigma of a homosexual
relationship,

Akane's already lived with the stigma of a relationship to an
aquatranssexual, and as far as I remember it's never bothered her --
even when it looked like Ranma might be stuck in his cursed form
permanently.

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.  ^_^

It's your interpretation, yes, but I for one find it somewhat
unconvincing. Just MHO.

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.

Now this I don't get *at all.* Why does Ranma have to learn *anything,*
apart from basic biological necessities like how to handle menstruation?
Why should he need to change his taste in friends or what he does for
fun? He's still the same person underneath his feminine body that he
always was. He is still going to have the same likes and dislikes.

And it's well-accepted.  However, your problem with the work can be summed
up with one sentence: 

You wanted more backstory clarification.  

Not quite.

My problem was that I had trouble accepting that the situation you've
put Ranma into could believably follow from what we know about the
character. I suggested more backstory as something that might help. The
explanations you've given here do help -- to some extent -- but I still
have reservations about it.

That said, it's your story, so I'll shut up now. ^_^


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics