Damien Hailey wrote:
Since I gav him the idea, I may as well make the first response as to why I
came up with it.
Hmm. Rather unconvincing plotline, I must admit.
Akane, better than Ranma, training at home? Very, very
hard to swallow. Even if she went on a same training
trip as he did, I doubt she would be as good as him;
she doesn't seem as talented.
Well, it's not as much just her as it is her father as well. Soun's been
pushing Akane just as hard, if not harder, than Genma's been pushing Ranma.
That was the major premise of the Idea I had.
The point here seems that if Akane was as good as
Ranma, they would get along very well. I must
disagree; if Ranma was beaten by a girl who lived a
relatively normal life (at least, compared to his
upbringing), then he probably would get frantic to
surpass her (skipping school, training day and night,
or even attempting to master Neko-ken); I can't see
him being friendly to her. If anything, fear or
hostility is much more likely.
Ranma came back and defeated her the next day, after spending the night
planning, and the early morning practicing. It's more of a rivalry between
the two. It's basicaly from the belief I developed that Ranma really needs
a girl who can kick his ass. As she is in the original series, Akane can do
that occasionally, but only when she's mad. Yes, every time Akane Beats
Ranma, He's gonna push himself harder, come back, and beat her. Then
Akane's gonna come back and beat him again. Then Ranma's gonna beat her...
it's a vicious cycle. And since Ranma doesn't like hitting girls, he's
either gonna have to change that, or come up with some imaginative ways of
stopping Akane without hurting her.
And Ranma does fear her, a little bit, anyway. But this Akane has learned a
lot of self-control, something the original Akane lacks. Akane is actually
trying to be civil here, eliminating a lot of their earlier problems, which,
as much as I like Akane, I realize are mostly her own fault. The biggest
problems Ranma and Akane had in their relationship centered on their first
two encounters: Ranma beat Akane in the sparring match, and then Akane
walks in on him before the curse had been explained. Now, Akane still sees
him as a bit of a pervert, but no longer resents him for always being better
than her. Akane was the undisputed best martial artist in Nerima until
Ranma came along, making her look like an ametuer, then drawing others after
him and quickly dropping her far from the top. This Akane doesn't have that
problem, so that removes a big part of the animostity the original felt for
Ranma, and gives her respect for him as a Martial artist of equal, greater,
or lesser level(depending on who last beat who). They're only really
friendly to each other when it evens out between them, and when one of them
upsets the balance, they get more like their original selves. But there's
still that measure of respect for each other.
Interesting. So does that mean that because Ranma is in a "friendly
rivalry" relationship with Akane, he'll be much less prone to have
romantic feelings for her?
And since Ryouga is also Ranma's equal (I say he's superior, personally)
does this mean a three-way rivalry between them, with all competing on
equal ground?
Because if this is just going to lead into them developing a romantic
relationship with less problems than before, I don't see the point. But
it could be an interesting exploration of what R&A would be like as
friends instead of lovers.
--
Matthew Campbell
E-mail:
mgcampb@clemson.edu
"The gods do not protect fools. Fools are protected by more capable
fools."
- From RINGWORLD by Larry Niven