Christopher D. Nichols wrote:

Hey.  Been lurking for a bit, and had a question.  If this is not
something that should be posted here, tell me and I'll shut up and go
away.

Anyhow, as you all know, Takahashi left a huge mess over in the
Ranmaverse when she left.  Nothing really resolved, big chunks of
unrequited love flopping about like dying carp.  Not pretty.

However, she did leave tools laying about to fix the mess, given time
and care.  Tools in the form of new characters who serve to begin the
drift away from Ranma and Akane.  Akari.  Konatsu.

Who?  Just kidding, but still...  Who?

A new factor in the Ranma-Ukyou portion of the fiancee tangle, Konatsu
appears to be something to soften the blow when Ranma eventually finds
the guts for his eventual admission to Akane and rejection of his other
fiancees.  Konatsu is in love with Ukyou, certainly.  True, he needs to
deal with his gender-identity problem, but no one in the Ranma cast is
without a major problem equally problematic.  But still, perhaps, in
time Ukyou can love Konatsu in return.  Certainly not now, perhaps not
even soon, but some day.

...but soon, and for the rest of her life.  

Sorry had a Casablanca flashback there for a moment.

However, this is not happening.

Of course it isn't happening.  You think I'm going to write Konatsu
based on third hand reports of his origin, personality and fighting 
style?  Not likely.  

I have spent a good amount of time reading Ranma fanfics, many of these
continuations of the manga.  A suprising number of these make no mention
of Konatsu at all.  

If you think about it, that isn't surprising at all.  See the above comment
for why.  Did he even appear in the anime?  

These either leave Ukyou with only sorrow and death

as her life's companions or place her with Ryouga, a questionable choice
(although it certainly can be done well).  Others, those where Konatsu
is taken into consideration, follow similar paths.  Ukyou is consumed
with sorrow and Konatsu marries some nameless woman.  Ukyou crushes
Konatsu with a vehement rejection and he disappears.  Konatsu dies and
Ukyou realizes what she had too late.  Ukyou's grief pushes Konatsu to
become someone else, either Ranma or Ukyou herself.

Well...part of the problem with Konatsu and Akari is that as consolation
prizes they are a little on the premeditated side.  Konatsu is a cross-dresser,
and Akari is a fanatical pig lover.  They are pat answers to tough questions.  

In fact, the best treatment Konatsu has gotten in fanfic appears to be
in 'Waters Under Earth,' and there he's been kidnapped and abused by
psychotic kunoichi and had an ancient evil grafted onto his soul.  At
least his relationship with Ukyou is improving.

So, the point this rambling leads to is...

Why?

Why can't Konatsu catch a break?  Is it simply that no one save myself
likes him?  

In order to like him, first I would have to know him.  Who is this Konatsu
guy?  I only know him from one small frame in the final story where he's looking
mournfully at Ukyo as she goes mental.  However there is
another problem with Konatsu; his subservience.  Many people feel that
being a total slave to your spouse is not a sound basis for a relationship.  
And then again, the people with the most interest in Ukyo's lovelife are 
inclined to feel that nobody except the man she wants is good enough for her.
By contrast, the people with the most interest in Ryoga's lovelife tend
to think that he has enough misery without marrying him to Akane.  
Lastly, Ryoga was at least interested in Akari at the end, rather more than 
that really.  Ukyo apparently had no interest at all in Konatsu and no
way for a doormat like Konatsu to win her over seems obvious.  

Since I freely admit to having no taste, am I missing

certain aesthetic reasons for avoiding budding Ukyou-Konatsu romance?
Is it just that Ukyou is easier to write about as someone stuck to
perpetual misery, rather than a vital Ukyou who rediscovers her heart?
Or do examples of this type of story exist, and I've simply been to
foolish to locate them, though not for lack of trying.

Answers?

Is this a valid and interesting point, or am I just being a fool
(again)?

Chris Nichols

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