----- Original Message -----
From: "Krista Perry" <kristaperry@comcast.net>

----- Original Message -----
From: "Arthur Hansen" <arthur@kindred.net>

*snippity snip*
 It really can be, but it's really complex. Something that can be merely
"cutely risque" with one person can be *taken* an entirely different way
with someone else.

But this isn't about what guys actually think when they look at a girl.
It's about what the girl -- in this case, Ranma -- is feeling.  A girl who
has bad experience with some sick pervert can see even the most innocent
look from a guy as threatening.  The bad experience has tainted

everything.

It doesn't matter if a guy's intentions are noble and pure or not, because
the girl will perceive *any* attention as a threat.  Period.  Is it a
healthy mindset to have?  Not really.  But that doesn't mean that a
victimized girl won't feel that way anyway.  And, as I said, I'm amazed

that

Richard had the insight to get this aspect of the female psyche.  The

anger,

and lashing out, sometimes physically, at anyone who looked at her
cross-eyed is very true to this kind of profile as well.

I couldn't get that far. Not because it wasn't technically a good story.

But because *Ranma* in my mind will never give up.

Ever.

Not on Akane. Not on a cure (someday) or his masculinity.

Ever.

He might become comfortable with his curse to a very select few people
(Akane, IMO) but even that would be something that would really have to

be

worked at. And I don't think it'll ever be really comfortable.

I agree.  To read this story, you definitely have to suspend disbelief on
that point.  As ELL pointed out, this is a hard story to read, because the
subject matter is truly awful to contemplate, for some more than others.
Thinking about Ranma giving up on finding a cure, or giving up on Akane
makes me cringe.  But then, I think one of the main points of this story

is

about stretching the limits of comfort levels, not only for Ranma, but for
the reader.  Personally, I appreciated the mental and emotional workout.

-Krista

Having read the whole series to date at least twice, in both the case of the
original manga and Thy Outward Part, I feel I should pipe in with my two
cents at this point.

One: Does Ranma ever give up?, Whether on a cure, on Akane, or on
himself? Many of you would say no to all three. I, on the otherhand,
remember
that Ranma has put off finding a cure on several occasions continuously,
unless a possible one happened to be nearby. After Shampoo stopped trying to
kill him he could have gone back to China at any point, either by himself or
with Genma to try the Spring of Drowned Man at Jusenkyo. Not that I think
that would really work the way they think it would (Takahashi dropped a ton
of hints as to what would really happen should a cursed individual try
another
spring), but as they assumed it would work, the only thing really keeping
the
Saotome's from going for it was moderate inconvenience at best.

Giving up on Akane is simple enough and quite believable in the context of
the
greater story. Ranma *didn't* give up on her. Not until well after she gave
up
on him. Ranma was quite willing to wait forever until after Akane not only
broke
the engagement, but flat out told him that she was currently seeing someone
else.
Akane had given up on Ranma in a way that Ranma could not help but feel
as a deep betrayal of their relationship. Ranma isn't like Mousse, willing
to pine
away forever for someone who only has eyes for another person. While he
didn't
close his heart to Akane completely, her rejection allowed him to let go and
eventually find other relationships to persue.

And as for giving up on himself? Ranma had done just that at the end of the
Weekness Moxibustion story arc. He had given up utterly and completely, and
had been attempting to run away when the problem was resolved not through
his own efforts, but instead by a Dues Ex Machina.

Sure, Ranma rarely gives up on anything, but he has indeed done so in the
past.

Two: This is a companion story to Thy Outward Part. Much of the relationship
between Ranma and (Richard, you should really put his name in this chapter
too)
Whatzisname was developed slowly over the course of *that* chapter. Still,
it
would have been nice to see more of the begining of that from Ranma's point
of
view as opposed to just those bits and snippets. Much of how Ranma percieved
himself and his relationships with his family, the Tendos, the students, and
Whatzisname has already been mostly defined already. This chapter merely
explores that aspect more closely, and from Ranma's point of view.

Three: Richard, flesh out the second part of the chapter a bit more, please.
You don't have to include a "Ranma's POV" of every little scene from TOP,
but it would be nice if you identified Ranma's boyfirend after she found out
his
name. And some extra scenes when she thought about him, and a gradual change
in the context of those thoughts might be nice. It would also work quite
well with
the physics metaphore you presented about negative infinites and halfway
points.

Four: It's a great story. A little rough in this chapter, but a great story.

Five: There is no five.

Six: While not part of this over all story, are you planning on putting up
Thy
Inward Love and the next generation continuation again? I'd like to reread
those
too.

^-^

Tangent



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