At 01:21 AM 7/19/97 -0400, Angel wrote:

Another reason I hear from people alot:

"She's supposed to be a great wise woman, yet doesn't care that what she's
doing is wrong.  She HAS to realize it's wrong for both Ranma and Shampoo,
yet she doesn't care.  "Good of the tribe" yeah, right."

I could come up with TONS of reasons that AKANE is no better (maybe even
worse) for Ranma than Shampoo, but *nobody* seemed to care about the fathers
pushing the two together for selfish reasons.  

Yes, Ranma is most ATTRACTED to Akane among all the girls, but she is a far
cry from the best choice that he could have made had he want a lasting
marriage. 

Aside from manga22, in which Ranma went fanatic over trying to win back
Shampoo's love, has Cologne ever REALLY do anything to MANIPULATE Ranma to
marry Shampoo?  

No, she is simply defending Shampoo's right to chase Ranma, which is VERY
mild when compared to the REAL MANIPULATIONS (however unskillful it is)
coming from old men Tendo and Saotome ALL THEOUGH THE MANGA.  With those two
old geezers around, she has got to stand up for Shampoo to ensure a fair
race on her part.

Besides, Shampoo is her great granddaughter.  Being a hiba-chan, it was HARD
for her to see WHY any man would not fall down at the beautiful, strong
Shampoo's feet like Mousse do.  But if Ranma had chose Akane, I don't think
Cologne will interfere.  Even in the final episode of the manga, It was
Shampoo and Ukyou who threw the bombs, not Cologne.  In fact, almost all the
schemeing to get Ranma was from Shampoo herself.  Cologne just never stop
her, that's all.

After all, Shampoo has yet to learn that love given out is seldom reciprocaled.

                                                        Adrian Wong