On 26 Nov 2003 at 9:39, Richard Lawson wrote:
Hi Arthur.
Never is a long long time. It's an easy thing to say in abstract -
"I'll
never give up!" - but the reality of living with pain for day after
day,
weeks stretching into months stretching into years, is quite
different.
Eventually there's only so much pain and suffering you can handle,
and it's
very human nature to eventually stop investing in something that's
causing
you pain.
I don't necessarily disagree that Ranma and Akane would never give
up. It
could very well be in their nature to live with pain for however
many years
it took, even if it meant living in pain and frustration the rest
of their
lives. Ranma has certainly shown the capacity for that kind of
stubborness
in the manga.
However, just like I chose the premise that Ranma got stuck as a
woman after
the Herb story, I also chose the premise that eventually the pain
would be
too much and that both Ranma and Akane would move on. I don't
think that's
an unrealistic approach.
Before commenting, I have to admit that I didn't read this story. I
tried reading the original story at one point ages ago and just
couldn't get into it--depression isn't my thing, and the story tone
was loaded with it. I'm just commenting on what has been said here.
^_^;
Having said that, I think that the manga does address the point
Arthur raised fairly well. During the Ryugenzawa arc, Ranma
mistakenly thought that Akane was in love with Shinnosuke. Despite
his own pain, he decided to leave and let Akane be happy. So I can
certainly see Ranma accepting it if Akane gave up on their
relationship. Any contact they had after that would of course be
quite painful. ^_^
With Ranma in a situation like this--stuck with no known way to ever
be cured--I think they would break up quite easily. Ranma is rather
touchy about other men being around Akane, and with him trapped, that
would become much more true. Even innocent relationships between
Akane and other men--Akane being polite to men she doesn't even like,
for example--would make Ranma worry. Moving on to Ranma deciding
that Akane is in love with said man and is just hiding it for Ranma's
sake wouldn't be that big a step, and it'd be a very believable one
with the context of their manga relationship, I think.
I will, however, admit that this is more likely to occur if the man
in question is not one of the usual Ranma characters. Ryouga, Kuno,
etc., they are people that Ranma has already developed a strong
rivalry with in this respect, and so he would have a more habitual
response to them than to a stranger. He'd be more likely to fight
against what he percieves is happening.
Akane has shown that she will go after Ranma if he leaves. The
Ultimate Weakness Moxibustion Point arc demonstrates that quite
clearly. I think those instances tend to be when she thinks that
Ranma needs help, though. I don't have the manga with me right now,
otherwise I'd check, but that seemed to be her motivation in that
arc. Akane also isn't the most sensitive person in the world, so if
Ranma were to start going off on some guy she has to spend time with,
unless the guy has actually done something to offend Akane, I can see
Akane just getting mad about it, which would prompt an
angry/hurt/defensive response from Ranma as well. That could easily
lead to Akane thinking that Ranma doesn't want her anymore, in which
case she wouldn't follow him if he left.
But again, this is only as long as Akane doesn't think that Ranma
left with one of his other fiancees or something of that nature. If
she's used to being competitive with whoever Ranma leaves, she will
respond competitively--she'll go after them. Otherwise, she probably
wouldn't.
Anyway I don't know how this was handled in the story, but yes, I can
definitely see them giving up due to mistaken impressions on both
sides.
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