Yesyesyesyes, you should read IMBS first before you take a look
at this....


Previous Chapters, thoughts on:

Ranma's ambiguousness-- yes, I saw it, I believe it was there.
The thing I liked about this version of Ranma was that he was
still recognisable as Ranma, just more ruthless.
	Up until now, one could argue quite easily that he wasn't
evil. Up until now, it really did look like if left alone, he
wouldn't kill. It was Ryoga who escalated their fights, using 
deadly force, after all. While Mariko argued that it wasn't
deadly to someone like Ranma, who presumably had the skill to
avoid it, why then did Ryoga decide to use it? Why did  Ranma get
hit, get injured quite badly? 
	It would seem that Ryoga was the one to bring the combat
to a new, and deadly level. How is it Ranma's fault if he
responds in kind?
	If anything, I saw the Hibikis as being the ones who were
evil-- they were the ones who kept attacking, they were the ones
who hunted Ranma down, they were the ones wanting to kill. This
Ranma, like the original version is not proactive, but reactive.
If you attack him, he'll attack you. If you try to kill him, he'll
kill you. He doesn't start things, but he sure as hell will
finish them. 
	The Hibikis, in their obsession, did not see that; did not see
that Ranma did not start anything, he just reacted to the situation.
Given, these situations kept coming up, but how big a part did they
play in causing these situations? How much of it is their fault? If 
you push someone, you should expect them to push back. Newton's Third
Law as it applies to social interaction, I suppose.
	That these situations keep coming up for Ranma, is that his
fault as well? He really has not created situations, just reacting
to them. Yes, he reacted in a ruthless, often brutal way, but if
you're going to do certain things, you should be aware of the 
consequences of your actions, yes? Try to injure someone, and you
shouldn't expect them to forgive you, or turn the other cheek, yes?


Final Chapter, thought on:

	So now we get to this last part. The Hibikis are acting with their
usual obsession, rationalising their actions and acting pretty much as
bad and nasty as they perceive Ranma to be. I think many of us were
hoping to see Ranma's salvation, his vindication, but it was not to be.
>From the start of the series, when everyone else was predicting it would
end in a blood-bath with Ranma flipping out and killing everyone, I wasn't
so sure. Not so sure it would end in a large body count, and even less sure
that it would be Ranma doing the killing. As the story progressed, I became
more convinced that even if such a blood bath occurred, Ranma wouldn't be
the one who started it, that he might finish it, yes, but that he wouldn't
start killing.
	Technically, I was right. Shampoo had the first actual kill. Ranma didn't
kill Koji, although one could assume that if Ranma had his way, Koji would
have been left there to die in the bankvault. Even so, Koji had tried to kill
Ranma (yet again), and, though Ranma might not know it, could inadvertently
be responsible for Ukyo's death (starting up the machinery which crushed her).
	Personally, I was kinda hoping the Hibikis would bite it, it seemed
to me that they deserved it more than Ranma. Don't get me wrong, Akane was
right in that Ranma needed help, but one has to wonder whether or not they
might have worked it out themselves.

	As for Nabiki's accident? Did Ranma kill her? Well, he says he did, but
can we trust him? This could very well be a tactic to unsettle Akane so that
he can escape easier. By this time, he already knows what's going to happen,
that they are over, so why not? At the very least it might off-balance her
enough so that he can take her out quicker, and time is of the essence for
him at this point, yes?

	Butbutbut so far I haven't really said if I liked it or not. True, I was
hoping for a bit of a different ending, some other kind of resolution, and
yet that's okay. I don't expect others to have the same vision or outlook I
do, and I don't expect their vision to conform to mine. It is to Mike and
Susan's credit that they have led us on a path where we were not
absolutely sure, where some doubt existed, even if it was only an iota.
	I do not think a story has to have the ending I want/hope/have been
waiting for to enjoy it, and enjoy it I did.

	So, what's next? ^_^



Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
That guy with "Maybe" and/or "Definitely" in his name on IRC
See him on FFIRC! [bachman.newberry.edu fanfic]
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
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"The world, however, is not for Fun," Khattam-Shud replied. "The
world is for Controlling."
	"Which world?" Haroun made himself ask.
	"Your world, my world, all worlds," came the reply. "They
are meant to be Ruled. And inside every single story, inside 
every Stream of the Ocean, there lies a world, a storyworld, that
I cannot Rule at all. And that is the reason why."
		--from Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman
		  Rushdie (p.161)
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