Gary Kleppe writes:
Aaron Bergman wrote:
EIGHT MONTHS IN NERIMA
by Aaron Bergman
EPISODE ONE
I'm not sure what to suggest to you for this one. It's pretty obvious that you
think Ruben is a cool character and want us to be impressed by him, but it just
didn't work, at least not for me. In fact, I'd say that he qualifies as an
Annoying New Character, though to be fair I have seen far worse. I mean, he's
powerful enough to impress Cologne, he has Ukyo in love with him, he helps Ryoga
solve his problems, and on top of it all he doesn't seem to have much reason for
even *being* in the Ranmaverse.
Gary forgot one of the most noteworthy tendencies of the ANC - Ruben
has a curse, a quasi-Nyannichuan curse, to be precise, probably the most
common variant.
As far as the character of Ruben goes - frankly, when I read about
a mage who runs around casting compulsion spells and love spells and
brainwashing people, I tend to peg him as the villain. I mean, if there
were really mages running around, the very last thing I'd want one doing
is directly messing with my mind. Don't magic users from his time have
any ethical constraints about that sort of thing?
This ties in to one of the other big problems I have - Cologne as
a sorceress. I've seen it before, but it just doesn't make much sense. She
shows no signs of this in the manga - the magic we see resides in items
and artifacts which Cologne and Shampoo either acquire from salesmen
or already possess as Amazon relics and treasures. If she had magical
abilities, why on earth wouldn't she use them on Ranma, especially when
we see that sort of spell is apparently common, as in this story? You
can explain it in various ways, but those will in turn have effects on
the story. For instance, if it's against the Mages' Code to do that sort
of thing, what does that say about Ruben? Even if she doesn't use her
abilities against Ranma for some reason, why wouldn't she use them
against Happosai, for example during the Love Pill storyline?
Also on Cologne: she refers to her fear that some of her actions
may be judged extreme. Considering we're talking about a tribe that
expected Shampoo to kill Ranma to avenge her loss of face, it's hard to
imagine what the Amazons might think extreme. Perhaps Cologne fears she
may be judged to have gone too far in the direction of moderation, since
after all she only makes one serious attempt to coerce Ranma, with the
Full-Body Cat's Tongue, and after that seems mostly content to watch
what happens. True, she uses the Reversal Jewel, when the possibility
falls into her lap, but she passes up other chances to compel Ranma,
such as helping him with no pre-conditions during the Hiryu Shoten Ha
story. Looking at her actions in such later stories as the Invincibilty
Glasses, the Super-strength Noodles, the Two Shampoos, or the Smiling
Three-Year Death, her main interests seem to be running the restaurant
and keeping herself amused. What exactly does she have to fear?
Other characterizations that seem off to me: Ryoga. This is
supposed to take place after volume 38, right? After he's given up on
Akane and decided to choose Akari, remember? This is well after the
Shi Shi Hokodan and Herb stories, when his feelings toward Ranma began
to change. Ryoga's thoughts and actions at the beginning of the story
don't seem quite what I'd expect from a post-38 Ryoga. (And why does
Ruben seem to take everything Ryoga tells him as gospel? One thing that
most married people - men and women - learn is that just because someone
is telling you the truth is no guarantee that what they're saying bears
any resemblance to reality, at least as you yourself perceive it.)
Finally, Ukyo. Ruben refers to her having centered her life
around Ranma. The problem is, as the end of the Secret Sauce story
shows, that's simply not true. Ukyo has centered her life on okonomiyaki.
Ranma is a part of her dreamed-of future insofar as he either helps
her push their yatai around or takes care of the children while she's
working. This weepy, suicidal Ukyo simply isn't believable. If she
didn't have more backbone than that she wouldn't have been able to keep
up her quest for revenge for ten years. (And frankly I don't see
Konatsu leaving her that easily - he put up with his family's abuse
for his entire life, why would he leave a place where he's been happier
than he's ever been before, even if Ukyo doesn't return his affections?)
Reid Carson
rcarson@rcarson.com