On Fri, 2003-02-28 at 13:25, Angus MacSpon wrote:
<snip>
"You win?" Shampoo asked as she entered the door. Her
> cousin was still sick, too sick to go outside, but that didn't
dampen her enthusiasm. Shampoo had been the odds on
> favorite; if Mifa won, Shampoo would still be considered the
best of the young fighters, considering the general opinion
towards Mifa.
"I won," Mifa said, smiling. "But an outsider girl ate my prize. I
let her kick me off the challenge log to settle the score."
Shampoo's eyes widened and she cooed. "My cousin is a
sneaky one! You did that just so you could give her the kiss of
death?"
Mifa smiled as she walked past Shampoo. "Yes, something like
that."
** * * * * * * * * * * * * **
This scene is /entirely/ unnecessary. Why is it even included? Were
this a movie and I a producer, this would be the first thing on the
cutting room floor.
Definitely disagree here. If for no other reason than that Mifa is one
of the two central characters of this story, and her sending-off is
important enough to be included. But I think that the scene stands on its
own well enough in any case. It doesn't contribute a lot, story-wise.
But it is important, character-wise.
Er...why? Here's how I look at this scene: Mifa is a rebel, she's
related to Shampoo, she's (for whatever reason) decided to follow up on
the Kiss of Death ritual, which came about as a result of the village
contest. All this has been shown in other scenes before hand, and
further, this scene only slows down the advancement of the plot.