I've got a problem with this chapter. Now, don't get me wrong, I'd like to
give a big, hearty "Me too!" in agreement with all the other praise heaped
onto this chapter, but there is one nigling little detail that occured to
me at work today. Sorta popped into my head, so to speak.
The problem I have is with Ranma's reaction to Riana's mental torture. I
don't think he would react the way he did. Ranma has been systematically
tortured before and already has developed a defence against it. I'm
referring to the Neko-ken. While the triggering mechanism is different this
time, shouldn't the reaction be the same? Isn't that what his cat
personality is for, to protect him against this sort of thing? If not the
cat personality, perhaps a new one should pop up. Riana's torture does
share some common aspects with the Neko-ken training, like repeated
betrayal by a loved one (Genma in Neko-ken's case, Shadow-Akane in Riana's
case), and large doses of primal fear. I'd really like to see some of the
reasoning for Ranma's reaction.
Other than that, the chapter was great, though it did lack any sense of
closure. And Mousse's disappearance seemed kinda abrupt.
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Scott Pollert [pollerts@hsonline.net]