Ken Arromdee wrote:

On Thu, 24 Jun 1999, Gary Kleppe wrote:

Genma and Soun set up an (initially) unwanted engagement between Ranma
and Akane. They *never* forced R&A to go through with the marriage in
the canon (obviously, since Ranma did not get married in the canon.)
They never put Ranma into a situation like the one in this fic where
he'd be debilitated unless he married Akane. All they did was insist.
(Okay, Soun did try to bribe Ranma with some nanniquan in the final
story, but that's prostituition, not rape. ^_^)

Not if you consider the curse to be debilitation.

Look back at the fanfic:

"Poor Ranchan's actually becoming quite ill.  I hope he doesn't end up
dying
before he decides to marry me."

That's on an entirely different level than the curse.

(Or if you consider social ostracism to be--i.e. they have to marry fo
'honor').

There's unlikely to be any social consequences for refusing to honor the
engagement.  Most people would find Soun and Genma's insistence to be
rather absurdly old-fashioned.

C'mon, people.  If Ranma's refusal to marry Akane was really that
horrible of a crime, do you think Ms. Takahashi could sell so many manga
based on the premise?

	Dear Takahashi-sensi.

	Your disgusting portrayal of children disobeying
their parents makes me ill.  How dare you encourage such
disrespect towards authorities?  Your are a traitor to 
our glorious country.

			Signed,
			A pathetic old fogey.

-- David