David Bateson wrote:

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, KOUMA RYODACHI wrote:

The test will not change...and that is certainly *not* a better way
of handling it. I refuse to put them in a position where either could
actually be kicked out of the body.

Actually the tests in the original MKR all took place while there was an
ongoing fight involving the other Magic Knights, and in each case the
wrong choice would most likely have resulted in dead or seriously hurt
Magic Knights, not to mention what the Mashin do to those who fail.

Makes one wonder *how* the Knights would have even faced the Mashin's
tests if Zagato hadn't conveniently sent his minions to fight them...
 

All in all your test seems a walkover compared to the original.

O_o Uhm, not from my perspective. Emotional wounds are harder to heal
than just physical ones.

 In MKR
it was clearly shown that the wrong choice would have consequences,

In Selece's test: if Umi had run away, like the Mashin told her to, it's
very likely Hikaru and Fuu would have fled the Water Shrine as well,
given that they had already scared off Ascot somewhat (who also escaped
when the Atlante Summoned Monster turned against him.)

Windam's test: more serious. Innova (in the anime) or Caldina (manga)
would have probably killed Hikaru and Umi regardless of what Fuu chose.
It was *because* Windam showed up that Innova was blasted away, and,
knowing the strength of Hikaru's Heart, it's very likely she would have
overcome Caldina's hypnosis.

Rayearth's test: in the anime, Rayearth himself saved all three Knights.
Zagato would have destroyed Hikaru no matter what she chose. In the
manga, there's no "consequences," since Hikaru chose to fight Lafarga
only with swordsmanship (since he was a swordsman as well,) instead of
using magic. But apparently, if she had simply fried Lafarga with the
Blazing Arrow, the worst result would be that Rayearth would deem her
unworthy of wearing him.

Thus, the most "dreadful" set of consequences only appears in the anime
version of Windam's test, since Zagato's attack was unavoidable and the
other tests were more or less "easy" (relatively speaking, of course.)

in
yours...  we all know that Hikaru and Ranma are going to pass, but you
were rather blatant about it.  It felt like you were preaching to the
reader on correct behaviour, not that your characters were facing a
critical decision.

Actually, the "preacher" bit is *less* blatant than in the original
series. For critical decisions, let's take the battle against Emeraude;
in MKR2, there's the Hikaru/Eagle fight to become the Pillar, and
Mokona's final decision (manga), while the anime MKR2 has Hikaru's
acceptance of Nova and the "reawakening" of the people of Cephiro during
the battle against Debonair. If you notice, these are all *emotinal*
sequences, even the Hikaru/Eagle battle was hardly a "real" fight at
all.


The Zephyr
al709382@campus.ccm.itesm.mx