Matthew Lewis writes:

This is true. I'm going to have to agree with Anand though on this one. While
we may not have seen Ranma do the disappearing trick (hrm, and even then, only
possible. Ryu Kumon story arc, perhaps, amongst others?), we also have not
seen
Batman produce the necessary arm/hand speed of the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken
speed training technique. We have not seen Batman utilise the Breaking
Point, nor
seem to have the benefits of that training as well. We have not seen Batman
use
the Hiryu Shoten Ha, nor any other ki based attacks. Even then, Ranma might
potentially not want to use such techniques against Bruce, for roughly the
same
reason he stated in X-change Students, against Wolverine.

     In the fight against Wolverine, it was clear (hell, it was directly
stated) that Ranma was not using his full strength, or his ki attacks.
Under the circumstances, his loss to Wolverine was believable (and that
was definitely canonical Ranma in terms of ability).

     Similarly, I can buy Batman outdoing Ranma, under the right
circumstances.  Again, though, remember canonical Ranma is at least as
strong, fast, and tough as Spiderman. One full strength blow from him could
rip Batman's head off, or go right through his ribcage and out the other
side.  Since this is an alternate universe, you can either cut Ranma back
to more human levels (which means no rooftop leaping, no hundreds of
punches in a second, and probably no Bakusai Tenketsu, since no normal
human could survive the training) or bring Batman up to closer to Ranma's
level, especially if he trained under Cologne.

     Frankly, I'm less troubled by the fight than by the bit where Ranma
pours out his heart to Barbara. Excuse me? In 38 volumes, I think the only
time Ranma was anywhere close to this level of depression was during the
"Ranma gets weak" story. Perhaps he worries about the curse and about not
having friends a lot more than we see in the manga, but really, this sounds
a lot more like Ryoga than Ranma, especially as, even if Ranma felt this
way, I find it hard to see him expressing it this way. Ranma has a hard
time expressing himself in any case. And speaking of expressing....  In
38 volumes of manga, how many occasions can you name where Ranma expressed
his innermost thoughts and feelings to anyone, except Akane, and then only
in extreme circumstances? Right off hand, I can't name any. And I'm
supposed to believe he's telling all this to someone he just met, and a
girl to boot?

	Many contacts from the manga? I suppose there is that one bit where
she temporarily becomes Ranma's fiancee-- it had that international mail
order business, if I recall --yet I've seen nothing from eith anime or
manga which states that any money she's been making goes into the dojo.

     This is a common dispute - by the way, the bit with the mail order
business was in the story about Nabiki's revenge on Ranma. I agree with
your points about it seeming unlikely that Nabiki is a master businesswoman
who supports the family, especially given the penny-ante amounts she's
usually involved with. What bothers me more, is the notion that she
secretly admires and even loves Ranma. I don't see how you can read the
first Shampoo story, the "Nabiki is Ranma's fiancee" story, and the
revenge story I referred to and come to any other conclusion than that
Nabiki regards Ranma with disdain, and perhaps even contempt. To her,
he is a source of income (direct and indirect) first, and a source
of amusement second. The first appearance of Nodoka is the only case I
can recall where she actually helped Ranma out without having an ulterior
motive, and even then she had to torture him some with the cross-dressing
reference. In this story, I can see her going after Ranma, but it would
be solely because he's now rich, and she doesn't think he's very bright.
I also can't see Ranma, after his experiences with her, ever believing her
to be sincerely interested in him.

     Finally, the bit with Ukyo and Shampoo teaming up struck a false note
with me also. I could buy it later in the manga, after they've teamed up
a couple of times, but at this point in the story they hadn't even met
each other - they didn't meet until the onsen race, and we all saw how
well they got on there. I simply cannot see any reason for Ukyo to suggest
a partnership to Shampoo.

Reid Carson
rcarson@mnsinc.com