As I am posting this publically, I'd like to say that while this is
long and grim, it is definitely worth reading.  Rain Man pulls
together the gossamer strands of past, present, and perception
to tell a story that is simply incredible.  Regardless of how you
feel about Gosunkugi or Shampoo, who are the major players,
I think it's the worth the time to read this.  (And set aside a lot
of time--it's a very powerful story.)  The streams of consciousness 
narration works exceedingly well.


At 08:44 PM 1/18/99 +0800, Nikholas F. Toledo Zu scrawled:
 
 >> In its way, this fic is the most in-depth story I have worked on in a 
 >> very long time (it certainly required more thought and care than 
 >> "Winner").  It feels presumptuous to do so and yet, I feel that I must 
 >> dedicate this one.  To Liza, who will never read it.
 >> 
 >> The sequel to Winner is in the planning stage.
 >> 
 >> Thank you, hope you enjoyed it (or was at least disturbed by it),
 >> Rain Man
 

Yeah, I enjoyed and was disturbed.  The stream of consciousness
narration worked very well, and I could see where the title comes from.
And you go into so much detail about Gosunkugi.  He's more than
the creepy guy wearing candles on his head.  There is so much going
on inside him--he sounds crazy, but yet, don't we all when we have
that much to contend with.  And when you get really fragmented,
the formatting kept it from getting too confused.  It's as if we were
really in Gos's head, and we discovered so much hidden inside him
and some things that are not too stable.  The constant interruption
of the narration by random thoughts, sometimes the digressions of
memory--that makes this very real to me...and you connect it to the
main story well.  You really are weaving the gossamer strands of Gos's
past and his perceptions.  We learn so much about him--it's as if we're
discovering his hidden life.

It's not just his Gift and his frustration with his mother...or about
the tragedy of his sister...he also seems to see the Ranmaverse a
bit more clearly than the others.  Spying on the others, he sees the
growing warmth between Ranma and Akane.  He realizes that his
attraction to Akane comes from the memory of Atsuko.  I liked the 
part where he's observing Ranma at Ucchan's and noticing how 
Ukyou isn't really listening to what Ranma is saying--that there is 
a desperate quality about her not-listening.  The part that hit me the 
most was when Gos goes to Kohei bar and we get a new view on 
Shampoo--but also on Gos and his introvert nature.  I really like that 
part.

If I had to summarize this, I'd say that Gos is finally facing his demons
and they are scary.  Life will never be the same for him or for the Chinese 
contingent.

Venkarel
(who hasn't been this depressed or this moved since Zen's "Bitter End")