Thomas Schmidt wrote:
At least this chapter should settle for everyone that Ranma was definitely
the villain of IMBS, rather than a sort of anti-hero; any other contention
is almost as silly as the idea that this Ranma ever had any real control
over himself at all.
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.
Don't even get me started on Mariko, that's a hysterical rant for
another time.
Jamie,
who is reserving futher opinion on IMBS until the epilogue.