At 07:12 PM 3/23/02 -0500, you wrote:

       Recall that these techniques never surfaced again in the series, no
matter
how desperate things became for Ranma.

If I remember correctly, in the manga Ranma almost never re-uses ANY
attacks specifically.  Some things get folded into his basic abilities like
the Chestnut fist, but the rest seem to get forgotten and he moves on to
the next technique.  (I attribute this to the 'serialized' story technique
used for manga in Japan.)

       I don't think I'm getting your point here either.  Not everybody can
do what
Ranma does, although as David pointed out earlier he is in a world full of
people with powerful abilities, senshi and sorceresses and wild bounty

hunters

alike.  The attacks that the senshi use are magical in nature, most of them
elemental magic.  It stands to reason that there are sorcerers and magic

users

in this world who are also powerful in elemental magics, so this is not
unique.  The powers that would be unique to the White Moon Court would be
Usagi's, Hotaru's, and probably Setsuna's.  Other than that, this world, and
particularly this city, is a place where outrageous modes of combat are quite
accepted.

Argh! Tried responding to this and ended up writing/re-writing some
half-mangled thoughts only to delete them all.  I'll try and make this more
clear in my revised C&C I'm working on.

       That doesn't have ooomph?  Ranma engages in close-quarters attacks
that take
her through the heart of the enemy while Mars and Venus attack from a
distance.  It may be martial arts, but it takes a fighter of rare talent to
attack in that manner.

Ah, but then why does Rei only refer to it as merely 'reckless'?  That
would seem to indicate that the senshi have a far better understanding of
Ranma's limits than they have had opportunity to learn at this point.  

This passage wasn't what I was referring to however...I'll make sure to
point out the problem passage in my revised C&C a little later. (cuz' I
seem to be dropping the ball the first time around. o_o; )

       I don't understand.  Ranma's fighting ability has been seen as
something
special from his first meeting with Usagi and Rei.  His speed and grace, his
death-defying aerial attacks, have been noted at EVERY SINGLE INSTANCE where
he engages the enemy.  I don't understand why you feel he is being
shortchanged.

ACK! I REALLY seem to be dropping the ball here in my explanations.  More
on this later...

       They have discussed Ranma's chi earlier on, with regards to how it
powers the
key.  And Makoto made reference to witnessing master level martial artists;
chi talents are not unknown to these people, and certainly not likely to

cause

suspicion in folks who can use combat magic.

Ah-HAH something I can answer!  

Here I am mainly referring to how after the explanation about chi, the
senshi seem to just accept that without hesitation or questions.  This
despite Ranma's casual use of something described as master level.  I'd
expect someone like Rei to instead try to analyze/pay attention to when
Ranma uses his talents, as part of her paranoia in relation to possible
threats to Usagi or just to determine how much power Ranma has for
attack/self-defense.  Too much power=possible threat, too little and he
becomes a hindrance since they would need to protect him as well as Usagi.
If a sword swallower showed up for your local party wouldn't you be
curious/impressed despite knowing that people can swallow swords?  

You have the story moving at a pretty good clip event-wise, so I don't
expect Ranma to stop and put on an exhibition for the senshi.  But the
occasional wistful wish for something along those lines  by the senshi
would be nice.  Heck, just a thought or two by the senshi about finding out
what Ranma's limits are would probably suffice.  The morning scene with
Ami/Makoto peeking through the hedge is the first glimmer of this I've seen
so far.  

       I think there was plenty of literary flavour there.  Maybe you
disagree.

There are times I regret the fact that I've never cared much about
English/Writing in school and this is one of them.  I'm passing on this one
until I can find a suitable response that doesn't sound like I'm trying to
troll you.  (Seen that happen far to often, even without intent to do so...)

       Ranma is an outsider here, and doen not feel comfortable.  He
certainly isn't
going around doing handstands and breaking walls with his fists, but I do not
agree that he becomes a nobody when he isn't fighting.  A great deal of the
introspection, and all of the first person introspection, has been his.

He is

only one character in this story, but I certainly do not agree that he has
been in any way shortchanged.  I just don't see it.

       Well, thanks for your comments, and I hope this addresses some of

your

concerns about the story.

I feel honored that you actually took the time to respond to my
embarassingly worded post.  I'm going to try and re-do my C&C and hopefully
I won't step all over my tongue again.


PS. Even if nothing I write is of use to you...know this.  I consider your
writing good enough that after 4+ years of just lurking in this list, I was
motivated enough to finally offer up something remotely resembling C&C.
(My thanks to you for that opportunity.)

 

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