Jamie Wilde wrote:

In the end, Ranma being simply cruel, manipulative, and evil actually
winnowed the depth of his character and left him two-dimensional. What
made the Ranma of IMBS so fascinating was the ambiguity of his
character. You really didn't know if he was pure evil or just sick and
trying to cope. The wonderful ambiguity of his character as portrayed 

by

Mike and Susan was lost in that final confrontation with Akane, and 

left

me feeling cheated. "Oh, I guess he really was pure evil. Yawn." His
desperate plea for help -found in his allowing Akane the opening to
subdue him- had no drama, and really felt like a cheap cop-out. 

I beg to differ in opinion here myself.  I think there really _was_ no 
way to reasonably end the series without answering the question of 
Ranma's ambiguity.  Mike and Susan handled it as well as they could 
under the circumstances; up to the end, I received the impression that 
Ranma, though an incredibly disturbed and dangerous person, was still 
struggling, even if just a little, with himself and his own darkness... 
this two lines here from right before the end of the Akane/Ranma fight 
sums up his conflict nicely:

After telling Akane he killed Nabiki, and her asking him about why he 
jumped after Nabiki, even he does not seem sure:

:        His smile slipped slightly, and then reappeared. "Alibi.
:Had to look above suspicion, you know?"

And after Akane, near collapse, tells him he needs help:

:        "I CAN'T!" he screamed at her. "DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? I
:CAN'T! I CAN'T! I'VE TRIED, AND I CAN'T! GET OUT OF THE WAY!
:DAMN YOU, DON'T MAKE ME DO THIS!"

Perhaps the point that was being made here was that Ranma has realized 
that he can no longer hope to escape his own evil, that after what he 
has done to Ryoga and Nabiki and Shan, all of that, there is no going 
back for him.  I think Ranma was always an ambiguous character in IMBS, 
until the end, when he slips, and finally falls completely into the 
darkness, and becomes, as you say, 'pure evil'.

In my opinion, of course.

Don't even get me started on Mariko, that's a hysterical rant for
another time.

I try to limit myself to one of these a day.  Bad for the heart, you 
know.

Jamie, 
who is reserving futher opinion on IMBS until the epilogue.

-Alan Harnum (who liked the ending of IMBS very much, even if it made 
him a bit depressed).

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