Grayson Towler <grayson@rigroup.net> wrote:

Hey Gary,

Nihao!

I enjoyed this first round, though I fear I don't have time
to go over it word by word as I'd like.  A very entertaining
concept (and not just because I think Ranma-chan 
would look pretty cute in that outfit... er, forget I said
that).

Heh. I did draw a picture that'll go on my website... still need to get
it scanned and color it.

 Definitely built for humor, not moody drama... I
think you could have a really good time with this one.

Heh heh heh.

It will be interesting to see who does and doesn't find
out about Ranma's wish power.  The Kuno pair have
shown a great immunity to understanding, so I expect
they'll remain in the dark.  But everyone else...

We'll see. To what extent characters figure out the curse will depend
highly on circumstances.

And Ranma is oddly helpless in the midst of all this.
This aspect of the story is perhaps the most intriguing -
Ranma has to deal with being buffeted around and 
used against his will by anybody who knows of his
curse.  A rough situation for the pig-tailed lad.

Yep. Ranma is NOT going to have a fun time in this series. Lucky for me
nobody seems to be doing revengefics anymore. :)

One thing you might have already considered to 
empower Ranma a little bit is that he may begin to
discover he has a choice about HOW a wish gets
answered.  If he realizes that he can affect the
outcome of the wish based on the wording, even
to the point of "Monkey's Paw" style fulfillment, it
gives him some leverage.

True, this is possible, but he'll need to practice before he can get the
hang of it, and he doesn't really have any safe way to do so -- at the
moment.

 After all, he's dealing
with some pretty careless speakers on the whole...
and assuredly there will be no end to the people
who casually mutter "I wish (x) would happen!" in
his presence.

Yep. ^_^

I do have one complaint though.  Perhaps I'm the
only one who feels this way.  But I consider it to 
be a cruel, terrible thing to pick a story title which
deliberately invokes the memory of an old TV 
sitcom theme song, which then LODGES itself
in the forefront of your BRAIN and plays over and
over and OVER and OVER all day until you just
want to SCREAM!  AAAAARRGGHHH!!!

But... but... I'm a closet sadist. Didn't I mention that? :)

Anyway, thanks for the insightful commentary!


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html