David Homerick <dhomeric@jps.net> wrote:
Gary Kleppe wrote:
Well, not like sixteen-year old Ukyo, of course. A person who's seen her
body decay and most of her contemporaries pass away is of course going
to have a different perspective on the passage of time than a teenager.
"Life's a bitch and then you die" is actually a common sentiment among
teenagers.
It may be a common saying, but I doubt many of them truly appreciate the
'then you die' part of it.
In Ukyo's case, her attitude as a teenager could be described as varying
from "Life's a bitch, and it's Ran-chan's fault" to "Life's a bitch, and
Ran-chan is going to make it better." She had some bitterness, but it
wasn't the sit-around-and-mope kind.
Older people are more likely to keep a balanced view of
life's triumphs and disappointments. If Ukyo isn't this bitter now,
then why would she become so in the future? Has her life really been so
painful?
It's not that her future life's been painful. On the contrary, she's
discovered how good life could be. But she discovered it relatively
late, and now it's ending, and all the good things are slipping away.
I've always seen the village as being the equivalent of some tiny
settlement in the swamps of Louisiana where they do things their own way
and treat outsiders with suspicion. I've certainly never seen them as
having the status of an independent nation.
As things stand in the current series, I agree with you. However, a lot
can change in 50-60 years.
Not sure what your point here is. Complete isolation may well work, but
the 'complete' part is easier said than done.
They were already isolated, but you have the epidemic forcing them out
of isolation. They're much more likely to respond by shutting off the
village and shooting anyone who approaches. Fear of disease heightens
xenophobia, not reduces it.
True, but when your own attempts at a cure fail, and people around the
world *are* being cured, it's kind of a no-brainer. Shan Pu, at least,
is enough of a pragmatist to see this, and she's respected and
influential enough to overcome others in her village who *do* react the
way you describe.
I guess it's the tone that I'm objecting to rather than any specific
details, although the inscription on Ranma's tombstone did strike me as
rather midwestern. The scene doesn't have many details at all, but the
"cobblestone" path, the reference to gargoyles, the howling noise, and
the general spook-movie tone gave me a mental picture of a western-style
graveyard, and I had trouble reconciling it with Soichiro Otonashi's
gravesite in Maison Ikkoku, which is what I was using as a mental
reference. Ukyo's fear of walking dead rather than unhappy _kami_ also
seems out of place.
Perhaps including some specifically Japanese details would help.
Okay, I'll see what I can come up with.
Oh, yeah, and they're smuggling a corpse. Would it hurt to add a day or
two travel time?
Okay, I guess you're right.
Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics.html