Chris Nichols wrote:

fiancees.  Konatsu is in love with Ukyou, certainly.  True, he needs to
deal with his gender-identity problem, but no one in the Ranma cast is
without a major problem equally problematic.  But still, perhaps, in
time Ukyou can love Konatsu in return.  Certainly not now, perhaps not
even soon, but some day.

I'm not clear that Konatsu need to deal with this problem.  Ukyou is
plenty headstrong enough to make decisions for both of them, and their
dress does complement each other rather well.

However, this is not happening.

Agreed.  I am also somewhat puzzled as to the extent of this.

In fact, the best treatment Konatsu has gotten in fanfic appears to be
in 'Waters Under Earth,' and there he's been kidnapped and abused by
psychotic kunoichi and had an ancient evil grafted onto his soul.  At
least his relationship with Ukyou is improving.

I haven't read "Waters Under Earth" myself (I tend to avoid long epics
with a reputation for seriousness).  However, I could point to
several other treatments:  Lord Archive's "The Insanity Continues", in
which Ukyou and Konatsu show up as a couple at Ranma's and Akane's
wedding, and at the prom dance; another comic continuation, by Carolyn
Brickhouse, especially "Masquerade Ball Battle" (which is hilarious, BTW,
even if it does resurrect Tsubasa), which also appears to be developing
Ukyou and Konatsu as a couple, and my own stories, especially "Much Ado",
"As You Like It", and "Measure for Measure" (I have not got Ukyou and
Konatsu together, so far, but Konatsu is in the running to be her husband.)

Jim Lazar features Konatsu in CMD, but, IMO, Konatsu is considerably
OOC here.

So, the point this rambling leads to is...
Why?

Some of it is dates:  many of the older fanfics you read on the net
precede the introduction of Konatsu.  This is presumably why DNR
completely ignores Konatsu.  I'm not sure if this accounts for TIL
or not, which otherwise is completely canonical w.r.t couples.

As far as current stories, I really don't know why this is so, given
my point at the bottom.  It's not that hard to get up to speed on Konatsu.

Why can't Konatsu catch a break?  Is it simply that no one save myself
likes him?  Since I freely admit to having no taste, am I missing
certain aesthetic reasons for avoiding budding Ukyou-Konatsu romance?
Is it just that Ukyou is easier to write about as someone stuck to
perpetual misery, rather than a vital Ukyou who rediscovers her heart?
Or do examples of this type of story exist, and I've simply been to
foolish to locate them, though not for lack of trying.

I think the fundamental problem is fanfic writers' perceptions of Ukyou,
rather than Konatsu.  In Japan, it appears that Ukyou is not very popular,
and Shampoo is immensely so.  In the English-language fanfic community,
there are very few people who like Shampoo, whereas there is a large
minority who prefers Ranma-Ukyou to Ranma-Akane.  There is a second large
minority who likes to leave Ukyou free, as if even Ranma isn't good enough.
Most of these fans detest Konatsu for his cross-dressing.  I've even
seen Konatsu directly compared to Tsubasa, which shows an ignorance of
both characters.



Dark Alpha wrote:

as of this time, #35, 37 and 38 still haven't been delivered despite being
ordered four months ago)

I usually get excellent turnaround with phone orders to Nikaku Animart
in San Jose, CA (www.nikaku.com), about 1 week turnaround.  I see little
reason for people not to have complete, or near-complete, collections
of the Japanese manga, unless they're on school budgets.  They're only
$6 apiece, far less expensive than the Viz graphic novels.  If you
can't read Japanese, so what:  there are translations of 35, 36, and 38
available on the web.