On Wed, 23 Apr 1997 09:38:45 -0400 (EDT), Luigi Mattera wrote:

 If *you* think that being insulted is grounds for hitting someone, then
go right ahead.  I guarantee that you'll either be arrested for assault
or hit right back.  Akane hits Ranma *full* force all the time.  Akane is
lucky that Ranma won't hit her.  Even Kasumi admitted that Akane was a
violent maniac.

*sigh*.... What the Akane-bashers keep ignoring is that Ranma 1/2 exists
in a toon-ish world. What she does is no more than cartoon slapstick
violence. It generally has no ill effects other than funny-looking lumps
on Ranma's head for the next few panels. She no more deserves to be
institutionalized than Bugs and Elmer do.

Now, I'm one of the most non-violent people you'll meet in real life
(just ask the crew of Fred from Revenge's End). But if I lived in a toon
world, I too might start bashing people over the head with mallets to
get their attention. ;-)

Let's not forget either that Akane is not the only violent one. In the
stuff that Viz has translated so far, Ukyo is just as violent as Akane.
I don't know whether she mellowed out as the series went on, but in the
"Ryoga dates Akane" and the Tsubasa storylines she is not only every bit
as violent, but also less discriminating about her choice of target. She
hit Tsubasa, a noncombatant, and she swung at "Ryoga's fiance" who for
all she knew could have been just a normal girl. So how come people
aren't screaming for Ukyo to be locked up, huh? Because she's prettier?
Let's have a little consistency!

Remember a basic rule of logic: If you assume any (provably) false
statement to be true, you can prove any other statement whether true or
false. If you assume Akane's violence has serious consequences, you can
prove that she's a dangerous maniac who needs to be locked up. But that
don't make it so. The premise is flawed.

*sigh*.... Sorry to the rest of you for this rant.

Gary Kleppe
kleppe@execpc.com, Home page http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe
My fanfics and the FFML map are on my comics/manga page,
       http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics