David Johnston writes:

It's not just a fanfic confiction.  Kasumi is Belldandy without the hard
edges.  

     Have to disagree here. Belldandy is a fully realized character. We
know she loves Keiichi and her sisters. We know she is a good person
beyond what any normal human could hope to achieve. We know she goes
out of her way to help people - almost anyone at any time. We know she
has her flaws - she has a temper, though she's calming down, and she
does get jealous, although she's ashamed of that tendency.

     Kasumi is another matter. (These comments reflect the manga, as
I find the anime characterizations too muddled to bother with.) Does
she love anyone? Presumably she loves her family, though you can't
actually point to anything that demonstrates it. At the moment, I
don't recall her ever going out of her way to help anyone, even her
own sister. She never intervenes in any of the goings-on - is that
because she's too dense to notice, from a Zen-like belief that it will
all work out in the end, or because she really doesn't care about
anyone? Personally, the more I consder her character, the more
sinister I find it. Her whole family was terrified of her in the
"Kasumi Gets Angry" story - was that from past experience? She
never appears to help Akane in her efforts to cook - she instead
seems to give Akane free rein in the kitchen. As a parent who is
involved in helping to teach his children to cook, I find
that astonishing, even reprehensible. Is she trying to sabotage
Akane and Ranma, in her own passive-aggressive way? I may have to
modify one of my current stories to reflect this.

     Anyway, to tie this back to fanfiction and the story idea
being discussed, I think both the pairings mentioned - Ranms
and Belldandy, and Keiichi and Kasumi - require a good deal of
work, more than simply making a wish.

     This is getting away from the FFML's charter, even with
the token paragraph above, so feel free to respond privately
if you wish.

Reid Carson
rcarson@rcarson.com


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