Pardon... I'm going to respond to things somewhat out of order,
since I'm short on time. Anyway...

Gary Kleppe wrote:

"The Eternal Lost Lurker" <lurkerdrome@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
 

 

Maybe I'm oversensitive to negative treatments of Genma
     

You are. Genma is so far beneath contempt, even child molestors spit on him.
   

Rubbish, but even if it were true, it would be beside the point.
Bullying a character is beneath a story as good as this one, even if
that chararacter happens to deserve it. In fact, ESPECIALLY if that
character deserves it. Undeserved bullying at least gives me a reason to
cheer for the character to fight back and win.

 

I didn't exactly mean to bully Genma here - the idea that he
might have an affair was kind of suggested in the Ukyou storyline
in the manga (even though it turned out not to be the case). I
was also pulling from the 1st season anime (which I think is of
high quality and thus reasonable to take as supplementary canon).
There's a cute scene where Genma recalls to Ranma a girl that he
dumped, presumably for Nodoka, and does so rather inexpertly. 
That's where the "His careless words broke my heart" reference
comes from (chapter 12 or 13).

But anyway... I actually like Genma as a character. I find him
funny because he's a stuffed shirt, and he has just enough real
skill/learning to sometimes be useful. He's also very flawed, and
I didn't think it too farfetched that he'd have an affair.

Especially considering his wife and the sword thing. I mean,
they have a REALLY crappy relationship, folks. It's indicated
in the manga that she'd barely bat an eye if he died. So it was
not intended as bullying to set up the Genma as the parent of
Natsume and Kurumi. 

That's all for now...
Grayson Towler
http://www.talesfromthevault.com/relentless

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