Don Wang Wrote:

       And what do you mean by that?  I'm guy, okay!  (sounds like of
Ranma, don't I)

heh... means you can't win debate with *piku piku* like Kun-chan try.

       Well, he's not doing a very good job, isn't he?  The only person
he probably has
the most success on discouraging is Akane, which does not make any sense.
Why would he
want to discourage his true love?

Ranma, make sense?  You *are* dreaming! ^_^  Yah, Zen knows that Ranma is
discouraging Akane, but she ain't exactly leading him on either.  Seems to
Zen like the pair of them could use counseling, but hey, where would the
story be?  And if you told him it was his true love, he'd deny it!

       He could have at least tried, even though I figure that it is
pretty impossible
to get Shampoo to give up.

He DID try - Just not as hard as you might like.  Let's see you think
coherently with some supermodel type carbonating *your* hormones.

       What did Ranma do to make Akane want to tolerate him?  Personally
I think the
fact that their engagement still holds is a sign of Akane's tolerance and
love for him.
Other fiancees only tolerate Ranma when it appears that Ranma likes them.
You don't
see Ranma going up to Ukyou or Shampoo and say, "Hi, my kawaikunee
tomboy," or something
like that.  Ranma's fiancees turn on Ranma fast though if they think
Ranma's going to
betray them, such as the Hinako story or the onsen race story (there must
be more, but
that's all I can think of right now.)

They take steps to keep him, Yes.  As for what Ranma has done to make Akane
tolerate him?  He has never once failed to fight for her, or pull her butt
out of the fire.  That's good enough for Zen.  If what you say is so, how
come both Ranma AND Akane deny VOCALLY that any valid engagement exists
betwen them.  (At least until someone tries to take her away from Ranma -
then HE remembers it, but Zen has never seen Akane make any similar
concession)  And yes - the other fiancees will turn on Ranma if they think
he is going to betray them - who wouldn't?  Zen's point was, they do NOT
assume that he IS going to betray them until he DOES.  Akane, on the other
hand, ALWAYS assumes that he will betray her, when he never has.  Kinda
backwards, ne?

nope.  An awful lot of 'em wanna marry her.

       Who?  Besides Kirin and Toma, no one else want to marry her
through kidnapping.
Mousse abducted her to lure Ranma.  Tarou kidnapped her to lure Ranma
also.  Let's take
a look at the people who do want to marry Akane from the regular series:
Ranma, Ryouga,
Shinnosuke, Kunou, and just about every single Furiken High School
student.  Obviously
Ranma wouldn't kidnap Akane.  Ryouga wouldn't, Shinnosuke wouldn't,
Kunou's too
pathetic, and no ordinary person can kidnap Akane easily.  See?

What Zen sees is two kidnappers want to marry her, two do not.  50% -
significant fraction!

       No, the water from the tap was plain water.  He hit the tiger with
the hose
which contained the real SOD duck.  Mousse even said that the water is for
Ranma, not
Akane.

Seems to Zen that he came awfully close to tagging her with it.  Alleged
intentions be damned.

       Strange how Akane can be even remotely close to reasonable having
to live with
someone like Ranma.  She is being unreasonable due to Ranma's effect.  You
don't see her
being unreasonable to other people except for the real crazy ones, such as
Kodachi and
Kunou.

Gomen - please tell that to all the Fuurinkan High students she beat the
stuffing out of before Ranma ever aarrived.  Ranma certainly exacerbates
the situation, but Akane was never miss manners protege.  Just cause may,
indeed, exist, but it was NOT Ranma's doing!

       Okay, so Akane doesn't always wait for Ranma for explain his
reasons.  However,
if Ranma had something important to say he will always have his chance
later.  Akane has
a very flashfire temper.  She may punt you one moment and next moment
it'll be all right
again.  She is reasonable, just that her actions are faster than her
words.  This held
true for Ranma, too.  When you put these two together it is kind of
inevitable that some
misunderstanding will come about.

Of course it is inevitable!  That was Zen's entire basis for contention
that Ranma would in long term be happier with Ukyou!  Chance to explain
later does little to mend sore head NOW - and why should Ranma be
reasonable later, when he keeps getting punted on those occasions when he
*is* innocent?

       Point is this.  Akane always have a good reason to hit Ranma, and
that's that.
At any rate, half of the time these hits don't even contribute anything to
the story.
If Akane is at fault, she will apologize.  In the Shinnosuke story she hit
Ranma and
then tried to make it up to Ranma by telling him that he should hit her back.
Obviously not a very good idea, but it shows she cared and was reasonable.

Why does Akane always have a good reason to hit Ranma?  That makes little
sense to Zen.  From time to time, Ranma deserves to be smacked, but
certainly not all the time!  If that's what love is about, you are welcome
to it.  Zen will take Okonomiyaki and a kind heart any day of the week.

As for the Shinnosuke story, how do you think Akane would have reacted had
Ranma accepted her offer?  A sacrifice made, knowing the person will not
accept, is no sacrifice.  Ranma could no more have hit Akane than he could
have sprouted wings and flown (Jyusenkyou curses notwithstanding), and
Akane KNEW it!

Zen know, Ranma loves akane, Akane loves Ranma... etc etc ad nauseam, but
it seems to Zen that if Akane keeps pounding him and screaming that she
hates him, He is just as likely to believe it as she is.  That would be
bad.

       Accident there.  Nothing implied, inferred, suggested, etc.

Gomen - Zen thought maybe veiled Freudian slip in re tomboys.

Ranma *always* defends her honour.  *Always*

       And how often does that happen?  If he always defend her honor,
Ranma should get
rid of all the fiancees by now!

Every third episode - Zen asks again - what honour is there in crushing
their spirits?

       If Akane is really at fault, she will apologize or try to act a
little nicer.
If she doesn't, then Ranma deserved it.

That's backwards - if he didn't deserve it, she should apologize - his
deserving it or not should not be determined by whether or not she
apologizes!

^_^

Zen-  Champion of the poor Downtrodden Martial Artists

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[[                  James Bateman (Otaku@nashville.com)                  ]]
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