From: Guy Under The Bridge .
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 1998 6:18 PM

In one manga story, she paralyzes Kuno, binds him, then feeds
him to her pet alligator.  Nothing very machiavellian in that;
she wanted Kuno out of the way and thought that would be the
best way to do it.

It's easy to reach into the manga and pull out whatever you need
to support every bizarre theory you could imagine.

Is the theory that Kodachi is mentally unbalanced "bizarre"?  As I said,
this is just *one* of many examples I could use to support that theory.
There are far fewer examples to support your theory that Kodachi is very
sane.  Thus, your theory is more "bizarre" than my theory.

And really, neither interpretation is "correct".  Takahashi's
characterizations are so inconsistent that it's really to label a portrayal
of them as "out of character".  As you say, there are examples in the manga
to support just about anything you want.

However, you can find trends in characterization that more consistently
support one interpretation over another.  I think Kodachi being mentally
unbalanced is one of those trends.

In fact, I'd like to see a convincing case - supported by examples from the
manga - that Kodachi is "very sane".  Then try to explain away the many
examples of her erratic and dangerous behavior.

-Richard