I'd quote and respond, but but thing prologue and first canto are so
dang long.

Get it out of the way.  RPM was right.  I feel no shame though, because
I too thought the challenge was for Akane.  C'mon, her picture was right
beside it in the poster!

Another evil Tofu.  (Which by the way, I figured out just as Ranma
crossed in front of the sunlit porch.  I also figured out the Cologne
was the dangerous mortal from her description.  Bwee.)

I agree, that "hundred years" line is intriguing, but how come nobody
ever makes Tofu out to be a benevolent immortal?  Or even a
not-so-benevolent but still not diabolically evil immortal.  To show
there's a point here, let me make the first of my wacky predictions.

Wacky Prediction #1: Tofu really _does_ like Kasumi in a non-evil way. 
None of this "acting crazy because he's intimidated by her pure heart"
stuff.  I think he actually does have some human feelings for our
favorite airhead.  For one thing, it would give him that needed extra
dimension.  How can you relate to a villain who's so bad because he
loves it baby, and human souls taste like candy to him?

Nah, I'm predicting that Tofu won't be _quite_ as diabolically evil as
Mike would have us believe.

On to the next topic....  Ukyou's utter inferiority as a fighter!  Mike
makes the point not once, but several times that (in this story) Ukyou
is in between Shampoo and Akane in skill.  It's stated about twice that
maybe Akane could hope to beat Ukyou on a good day.  Then there's the
bit where Ukyou is held up as an example of an "inferior" weapon user.

So what's the point of this?  Well it could be so that Mike can spend
hours on private e-mail arguing the case with those of us who know that
Ukyou is pretty much Shampoo's equal and mirror image as regards
fighting... but I doubt it!  Which leads us to....

Wacky Prediction #2: At some point in this story, Akane is going to
thrash Ukyou in a fair fight!  That's right, with some helpful training
from Dr. Evil (I mean, Tofu), Akane is going to kick Ukyou around like
somebody's red-headed sister!  (whatever that means.)

	Sub-wacky Prediction #2: Mike isn't going to let Ukyou improve enough
to come back and win the rematch.  In fact, I predict Ukyou won't be
allowed to improve at all, no matter how good Akane, Tetsuko, or Shampoo
get.  Mike likes the character fine, but from previous fics doesn't
appear to think too highly of her prospects as a fighter.

Did I mention Tetsuko?  A great new character!  I've been thinking for a
while we needed a story where someone came and challenged Akane for
once, and Mike was just the guy to do it.  Yet even though Tetsuko was
introduced as the antagonist and has many unpleasant qualities, she's
hooked up with the "good" trainer Cologne, as opposed to Akane's "evil"
trainer, Dr. Evil (I mean Tofu).  Which leads to.....

Wacky Prediction #3: Tetsuko will end up playing a heroic role in this
fic.  She may not lose her hard edge (I hope she doesn't), but at some
point we readers are going to be rooting for her.  Whether she'll
survive is another matter entirely.

	Sub-wacky Prediciton: Did I say good and evil trainers?  What about the
third really powerful person roaming around Nerima?  What of Happosai? 
I predict he plays no significant role in this story.  As I recall ( I
might be wrong), Mike doesn't like him.  And anyway, he would upset the
balance of power too much.  (Evidence: He didn't have a dream in the
prologue.)

		Sub-sub-WP: Kodachi, on the other hand, will play a part.  And that
part will be helpless victim of dark forces and general madwoman.  I
don't see her being allowed to display a decisive role in the
conclusion.

The fact that Akane will join/be-tempted-by the Dark side is so obvious,
I don't consider it worthy of a wacky prediction.  Furthermore, it is
far too early to attempt to discern whether Akane will break free on her
own or be redeemed by love of Ranma or be fully corrupted and die like a
stuck pig on the end of Tetsuko's righteous boathook.

However, I'll be bringing some wacky predictions on this front as the
story develops.

Mike continues to go with his more realistic style of martial arts
combat.  People get bruised and cut and there is blood.  Serious
injuries are a possiblity.  Different flavor from the way Ranmaesque
martial arts are treated in a lot of stories we see on the list.  Not
better or worse but different.  I doubt we'll see any catching of
bullets from this one.

No wacky prediction from that one.  I was just rambling.  Though I would
like to say for the record, I think Mike would go crazy trying to write
a Dragonball Z (or even plain Dragonball) fight scene.

"What do you mean, the #$%^# bullets bounce off him?"

Ranma's comments on the weaknesses of using weapons struck me as a gun
on the mantelpiece type thing.  To be sure, it was partially setup for
the asswhupping that Ukyou is about to recieve.  And it might also be
setup for something about Tetsuko.  Still.....

Wacky Prediction #4: Ranma is yearnin' for a hurtin' at the hands of a
Weaponsmaster.  I don't know who, but I suspect that someone who
specializes in a weapon will teach him some respect for that style.

No wacky predictions on who will live and who will die and who will be
crippled. There's not enough story.  Though I expect that Mike "I love
foreshadowing" Loader will give me some hints to base wacky speculation
on in chapters to come.  Aw heck, one more....

Wacky Prediction #5: Doc Tofu Ono (or the being curently using that
alias) will be redeemed by the end of the story rather than destroyed or
driven off in a climatic final battle.  Evidence?  Cause I want him to
be.  (Well it would be different from how these things usually go,
wouldn't it?)

Now for some nits....  Oh what's that?  Really, I liked all of the
above.  Fun stuff to speculate and play with.

Ummmm, Nabiki seemed almost too chatty with Akane.  Are they really on
that good of terms?  I don't know, I guess I expected Nabs to be a
little crueler and Akane a bit more defensive.  (Forget Kodachi.  If
anyone around is up for some corruption, I'd think the forces of
darkness would head straight for the middle Tendo.)

Not really a right or wrong thing, but I don't know what I think of
Akane realizing that she loves Ranma.  To be fair, you had to put into
complete sentences thoughts that more realistically exist only as
fragments not even internally verbalized.

Was there any point to Nabiki suddenly letting on that she knows that
Ryouga is P-chan?  She'd kept quiet about the fact that she knew before
suddenly blurting it out to Ranma.  Ah well, maybe she just couldn't
stand having him think he was fooling her.

Well, nothing else for right now I don't think.

It was strangely satisfying to seem Ranma kill Akane in that dream
sequence at the beginning after all these fics where everybody _except_
her dies horribly.  Keep the Tendo blood pouring!

I caught the scene from "Bitter End" in Ukyou's dream.  Was that in
reference to anything in particular or just decoration?  I couldn't
puzzle out _what_ Ryouga's dream might mean, except that he better not
ever slip up and refer to Akari as Akane to her face.

So when is Canto 2?

-- 
Matthew Campbell
E-mail: mgcampb@clemson.edu

"Margaret's explanation, which I liked better, was that you 
had to learn a culture until you knew whether the person on 
the other side of the table was following a cultural norm 
different from yours, or just an asshole."

- EARTH MADE OF GLASS by John Barnes