On Sun, 31 May 1998 00:01:23 -0600, you wrote:
David Lerman wrote:
Some cursory first impressions -
At 07:45 PM 5/30/98 GMT, David Yellope wrote:
Akane threw Ranma on his bed and slammed the door behind her.
She then turned to Ranma, "And what the heck was THAT about Ranma?"
She turned her force four glare on Ranma, who was too busy trying to
stay conscious to answer. "This isn't the polite fights you've been in
before Ranma, the Lightning Fists believe that rules as well as bones
are made to be broken! You expect them to fight clean, they're going
to clean up on you. And you'll let your team down."
Since when have Ranma's fights been polite? Did any of the major
opponents (Tarou, Saffron, Herb) fight clean? Tarou does fight dirty (as
he would put it, he fights to win) and Saffron and Herb have attacks that
are so powerful that they don't need to fight dirty even if it occurred to
them. Do you think that Ryouga learned the 'Bakusai Tenketsu' to fight a
nice fight? And I don't think that Ukyou's use of a giant grill and flour
bombs would be considered polite.
I was referring to his fights on the Street Fighter circuit so far,
mostly, but I can understand where you're coming from. I'm probably
going to be doing a rewrite of Chapter 5. So far, it's the first
chapter I've read that I wasn't 100% enthusiastic about, I thought it
was just writing so quickly getting to me. So it's both good and bad
to find out from others that I had a reason to be edgy.
For that matter, Akane's habit of decking him with improvised weapons
whenever he irritates her isn't exactly on a high level of politeness.
True, although due to their growing level of friendship, she's been
nice lately (welllll, at least as nice as she gets) <G>
Akane had prepared for this. She spoke quietly, but her voice
had great emphasis. "You know, your dad would be cursing you out right
now. He taught you to be a warrior. Not a whiner. Not someone going
out and looking to hurt somebody. And right now, you don't have focus.
If you headed out there to fight the Lightning Fists, you'd be wild.
You'd take chances. And you'd lose. You're a martial artist. Time to
act like one."
Akane is too rational and analytical in this fic. Are you sure that Nabiki
didn't come along? And if Ranma went out to hurt someone then the greatest
worry is that Ranma would hurt someone. There are three things Ranma takes
very seriously in life - honor, food, and the Art. I confess to not having
read every available Ranma volume, but from what I have read, part of what
makes Ranma so good is that he is able to think effectively in combat and
he always seems to have focus.
Akane's nature is somewhat changing. Being forced from the Tendo home
has made her rely on herself, so she can't go flying off the handle.
And Ranma always seemed to me to be a little too quick to get angry.
Plus, for a while, he had a very large ego about his skills. It's more
his ego speaking when he does such things, he assumes he can do
whatever he wants.
This is kind of weird. Ranma has always operated by getting his
opponents to lose their tempers. While he's easily distracted and has
some odd scruples, women have been cold-cocking him forever without
really getting him that upset. In fact Brown kicking him in the crotch
would probably make him a better fighter by curing his reluctance to hit
a female in her case. Ranma's one of those people who doesn't get mad,
he gets even. The exception however, which might explain his reaction
in this case, are threats to his masculinity.
Nore then the physical pain, it's a Macho "She showed me up in front
of everybody. And not only that, Akane had to stand up and get revenge
for me" hatred.
Mustafa, as he usually did, took the information without
blinking. Brown shivered slightly. For all people knew, The Thai
Kickboxer wasn't born, he was chisled out of ice. For the longest
time, he was only happy when he was breaking somebody's bones. Now he
smiled more, because he now got paid to figure out how best to cause
pain and agony.
I am not familiar with Street Fighter, but since when was Mustafa a Thai
name?
It isn't. But Thai Kick Boxing is a specific martial art. (Mind you
the Mustafa I remember _wasn't_ a kick boxer but some kind of wrestler,
but that's the author's business.)
The character Mustafa, was taken from a source book for the Street
FIghter RPG (which I'm taking a lot of background, such as the
Lightning Fists), and he definitely was a Thai Kickboxer (and also
very skilled in poisons, but I'm not sure his would work on Ranma, he
has eaten Akane's cooking rihgt? <G>)
What I found difficult to believe about the fight was that Akane takes
out two fighters just by normal fighting while Ranma only takes out one and
only by using one of his two most powerful attacks. Ranma is a much better
fighter than Akane. And he would use the Amaguriken or (forget name, the
confidence based attack) before using the Hiryu Shoten Ha because it is so
powerful. So I need to ask: Where are the real Ranma and Akane and what
did you with them?
Actually the HSH shouldn't be used in a routine fight like this. It's
dangerously random, excessively powerful, slow as all get out. The
Tenshin Amaguriken is fine. It's just Ranma's version of Chun-Li's
Lightning Kick or the Hyperfist. The Mouko Takabisha also works, since
basicly it's a routine fireball attack. But the HSH is an ultimate
technique that shouldn't be revealed to his opponents except in the most
dire of circumstances.
Hmm.. you may be right. I did want a flashy ending, I might work on
that. And the reason Akane won her fights is that Bonnie Brown is
easiest the best fighter of the Lightning Fists for one. Also, never
underestimate people's ability to underestimate others. (For example,
Mustafa's Ax Kick. He figured she couldn't counter it. And she caught
Santo by suprise.)
I know in the manga, Akane couldn't defeat Ranma if she had
the gi of ultimate talent on, and Ranma had his arms tied behind his
back. But I've always viewed Akane as lacking one thing, confidence.
Ranma was her first real test of her martial arts, and he
condescendingly refused to even spar with her. Akane is very
adjustable, I think she's dealing with the Street Fighter circuit
better then Ranma is.
Till Ryouga wins a Orienteering competition, make Mine Manga!
D.M.Y