----------------------------------------
              Overanalysis

                  ~or~

           Ranma's Book Report
----------------------------------------

	"And so through careful use of exit..." Ranma paused to consider his notes
for several seconds, before continuing to address the rest of the class.
"Ex-is-ten-tialism. Existentialism, the author uses Godai's neighbors to
symbolize his feelings."

	He paused for a second to look out over the class. 

	"So, Yotsuya and Akemi are Godai's fears and insecurities and Ichinose is
his guilty conscience. Oh and Kyoko is his happiness. That's it... I think."

	There was absolutely no sound in the classroom. Ranma glanced around
nervously.

	"So... In conclusion, I'd like to restate some things I already said. Um..."

	"Ran-chan..." a voice called from the back of the classroom. Ranma looked
over to see Ukyou, shaking her head sadly.

	"Ummm..."

	"I slogged through eight *hundred* pages of Hemmingway, Ran-chan..."

	"Urr... yeah. I kinda wondered why the shop wasn't open last night." Ranma
shrugged insecurely. A glance over at Akane reavealed that the girl was
gripping the desk hard enough to crack the wood. 
	
	"Ranmaaa...." she growled, her eyes flashing fire.

	"You did your book report on a *manga*, Ranma," Ukyou explained coldly.

	"Yeah? So?"

	Ukyou shook her head again.

	"I dunno," Hiroshi said. "I kinda get his point."
	
	Daisuke nodded, and opened a copy of the book in question. "The characters
are kinda symbolic if you get right down to it. I mean, who lets Godai know
it when he's screwed up?"

	"That has less merit than Ranma's argument," Mio commented. "And it
doesn't change the fact that I was reading Poe while Ranma was scribbling
notes out of his at lunch today."

	Akane continued to growl quietly. 

	"HALT!"
	
	Kunou burst into the room, his bokken drawn. "The scoundrel's arguments do
indeed have merit! So sayeth I, Blue Thunder."

	"What's he spoutin' about now?" Ranma complained.

	Akane let go her crushing grasp on the desk bowed her head in greif.

	"Kunou did *his* book report on 'The Seven Magical Samurai' manga last
year," she explained.

	"While I am loath to give good comment to any piece of work that the
heathen Saotome doth put his pen to, his arguments so closely match mine
that I have no choice but to speak up on his behalf," Kunou pontificated.
"Even though his evil nature doth rival the villan Lancelot's in scope, my
role as Arthur would be tarnished should I allow any injustice to pass! Is
it not true that Saotome is not the mirror of myself, twisted by madness,
lust, and O'rweening pride?"

	"Arthur and Lancelot," Ukyou sniggered. "More like Laurel and Hardy."

	Hiroshi chuckled, and pointed across the room. "And that would make Akane
Gweniv--"

	"BAKA! Don't say it!" Akane shouted, banking her literature book off the
youth's head. 

	"Oh, my Gwenivere! Fall into my arms!" Kuno cried, leaping at Akane. 

	She shifted her position, and caught Kunou's rush on her shoulder. She
rocked back as he hit, using his momentum to cleanly toss him through an
open window and into the pool, three stories below.

	"Nice Control!" Daisuke complemented.

	"Akane - 324, Kunou - 0," Ukyou counted.

	"So, Teach," Ranma asked nervously. "What's the score?"

	The literature teacher, from his stool by the door, glared darkly at Ranma.

	"D-minus."

	Ranma's mouth dropped open in shock and anger.

	"That's more than you deserve. Meet me after class, Mister Saotome."

	"Aww man..."

----------

	My favorite episode of Maison Ikkoku is 'Yakitori Memories'. Not relevant,
but I thought I'd say it anyway.
	
	Progress Report:

	Oh Lordy, it's been a while since I posted anything. It was January when
I posted the third part of Ranma's Apartment. I've been working on part
four, but there's only about 25k or so done. I'm not even sure I'm not
going to just scrap it entirely and rewrite the story from scratch yet.
What there is of it is up on my fanfiction page, even tho I haven't sent it
to my pre-readers yet. I'm just not happy with it yet. Fanfiction is for
the *fan* and not the world however. 

	Chaos and Destiny is under similiar construction. It's not been abandoned
by any means, but it is definitely on hold for a while.

	Sailor Moon Reversal. Ahh... I'm having fun with that one, but it's slow
going as well.

	These are the three projects that I feel that I'm "In The Middle Of" right
now. I'm still having fun with 'Ballad' and 'Thirteenth Day', but they are
definitely 'When I get around to it' projects. I won't make excuses for my
slow writing. It's *my* writing. Well kinda... The stories are someone
else's... you get the point.

	I'm also thinking of posting a little story I've been working on 'when
I've gotten around to it'. It's got a few vampires, a few demons and
assorted sex-changing curses. Anyone interested?

Until later...

Chris (Who just got his copy of the Ranma 1/2 Memorial Book and is going to
go look for page translations. Nyaa!)

* * *
Chris Jones - hamster@arn.net 

The Ranma 1/2 Gallery: http://cyberwheel.simplenet.com/ranma