Given all that, Akane has frequently shown in the manga that, while
judgemental of Ranma, she is very much a person given to and capable of
sympathy for others (unless they are trying to date her by beating her
up).
Therefore I state that she would have noticed his physical reaction to
the
distress caused by the letter since she was looking right at him at the
time. (Again, note her comments dirrected right at him, it's clear that
she
has noticed that he was staring off into space for some time, so hence
she
MUST have been looking at him) Plus, by this point in the manga (after
the
S.S.H and before Ranma's mother shows up) she has had to endure her
father's
and Genma's antics regarding her and Ranma already, so in my opinion,
saying
that the threat of impending marriage preoccupied her is not a valid
arguement.
Any show of concern right then and there would mean instant marriage - the
priest is on the way.
Hmm. Don't think so. As Ranma is a comedy, the "show a little feeling and
BOOM instant wedding" thing was used as a gag. The use of it and many other
techniques such as the mallet or shinai requires scalpel like precision.
Few if any fanfics accomplish this. The best of fics are not comedies and
thus do not rely on the use of Takahashi's gags. The obvious reason why few
fanfics accomplish it is because none of the authors are Takahashi and most
importantly none of them are Japanese or at least long experienced in Japan.
THUS, attempting to use these elements which are really gags/techniques as
serious story elements not only falls flat, but quite easily leads the
author down the road of problems like "Akane: ubber bitch" or "Shampoo:
Chinese plotting bimbo." Even everyone's favorite punching bag... Genma...
deserves to be more than a caricature. While his many many faults can be
shown, they don't have to be taken to a ridiculous extreme. For example...
Genma's Daughter.
To bring this directly back to the issue of tha validity of "instant
marriage" if Genma and Soun were actually 100% serious about it happening
right away, I doubt that it wouldn't happen. Filial Piety. Like it or not,
Ranma is the heir to both schools. He has been trained for 10 years and the
arranged marriage is part of the deal. That is his life, pre-decided for
him. He has no choice in this. Rebel against it? While it isn't unheard
of, it's pretty rare for Japanese Japanese people to do so (I did mean to
write Japanese 2x). Returnees and mixed blood Japanese may prove to be
different, but even among them it is not unusual to find kids who go to what
school their parents tell them and get what kind of job they've been told
they should aspire to their whole life. A former work associate is now a
Shrine priest. The shrine is run by his family which he will inherit. He
came to work in Tokyo as a break from the prep, etc. for the life of a
shrine priest... he came with his parents permission. And when the agreed
upon time ended he went back home with the new bride he found in Tokyo.
What if he liked his job in sales? There was no issue there in his mind...
he made an agreement with his parents that they would let him out for x
number of years to experience Tokyo life. And now it's over, so he must go
back. Plain and simple. In Ranma... if Genma and Soun put their foot down
and became serious for more than 5min, and demanded the wedding, it would
take place as dictated.
So... bringing this all together, Akane could have shown Ranma concern. She
did and doesn't have to show him hate 24/7 in order to prevent having a
wedding. we see it again and again in the manga... she get Ranma a kettle
and distracts Kuno while he changes in the beginning of the series. Scenes
like that take place over and over throughout the series, but when it
happens no one is ranting about holding a wedding. Like I said... a
precision gag.
Now, as to the presupposition of Ranma being used to fill Keitaro's
role,
well... lets examine the facts here as well. The other residents of the
Hinatasou are all there... except Kei.... Somehow I don't think Ranma is
there to fill Motoko's, or Shinobu's place in the Hina universe. It
stands
to reason therefore that with Kei not in evidence, that Ranma is playing
"stand in" for the what would otherwise be occupied by Keitaro. Whether
this
role is handled how Keitaro would handle it or not is not really
relevant,
the fact that Kei is not there and Ranma is says that it's a 'Ranma is
taking Keitaro's place in the LH fic'. Now, as a LH fan I find this
tremendously disrespectful of the character and story of Love Hina to
simply edit him out. His role in the manga or anime was key. He provided
the
element of growth and maturity that IMO Ranma simply cannot fill because
Ranma is not about growth, but about trying to remain childlike in
nature.
(IMO this was precisely why Rumiko Takahashi ended Ranma like she did,
to
do
otherwise, and continue the story, would have required that Ranma start
thinking about the future, start making choices, and growing up. As it
was
she ended it on a note where the characters live forever in a sort of
eternal spring, even though that spring is obviously giving way to
summer
following the events of Pheonix mountain.
How is this different form a bazillion other fics where someone else gets
replaced wholesale by Ranma? Just because it's not always a good idea,
doesn't mean there aren't any good fics of that type.
Steve Avery <--- You know he's got a point there. While the average fic
where Ranma is dropped in in place of another character tends to suck, it
doesn't automatically mean he shouldn't write it... And fics where Ranma is
placed in a situation that forces him and maybe other characters to grow up
(eg newRanma) are some of the best Ranma fanfics out there. Taking Ranma
and the crew fully into summer is what makes these fics interesting.
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