On Fri, 20 Feb 1998, Nightman wrote:

Charles K. Hurst wrote:

Does anyone besides me get the feeling that whatever Genma did to Ranma is
similar to the Nekoken, in that Ranma may not really be in control?  

I was thinking about that, during the knife scene. My guess is, one of
the ways the nekoken training has caused his mind to break him is to
develop animalistic traits, i.e., he plays with his prey like a cat. I
do think there might be a tiny spark of sanity. I suspect his fearful
look at Nabiki wasn't so much that he was horrified he wanted to kill
her messily -- it was fear that he was so out of control. (Kind of like
a shark frenzying at the smell of blood.) I also figured that he'd get
rid of her as quickly as possible after that--and as simply. The car
being a quick way to remove the temptation to revel in 'playing' with
her.

An interesting theory. Might or might not be the case. ;)
 

And then Brendan wrote:

think you guys are making unwarranted assumptions here.  Yeah, she's
very severely injured, almost unto death, but timely action *might* save
her.

        Hell, if Ranma provided that timely action he'd benefit immensely.
Nabiki would be in the hospital for weeks, and Akane would see him as the
person who saved her life.  And if he did need to kill her later there
wouldn't be any of the doubts about him that would filter through everyone's
mind now.  Of course if Ranma rushed her to the hospital, she might
"accidentally" end up partially or fully paralysed.

That's true; and that kind of cruelty would be in line with what we've
seen of Ranma so far. It wouldn't really lessen the dramatic impact of
her sudden death too much; however, I think he wouldn't do this
particular manipulation because of what I said above. He needs her
cleanly killed and away from him, because she's too much of a temptation
to him.

Assuming, of course, that Ranma was even there. After all, she was in a
hurry, distracted, and people in huge bustling crowds have a tendancy to
push and shove... Admittedly she _did_ see him, but dying people see all
sorts of interesting things.

I'm looking forward to going back and re-reading the previous parts.
Didn't Kasumi have a thought where she pegged him as a psycho? Will she
figure him as Nabiki's killer? Will she do anything? Or was that a
throwaway line? What _IS_ Kasumi's problem?

Kasumi's problem is that she's being cowritten by two people with exact
opposite views of her. That's one reason why she has almost no role in
IMBS, especially in the later chapters. Early attempts at a suitable
compromise Kasumi got us notes that she was just as psycho as Ranma, which
wasn't what we had been aiming for. ;)

Ukyo has been great. I love her characterization in this. 

Ukyou's kinda gotten short shrift; she shows up late in the series, and
the chapter after her appearance was dominated by Nabiki scenes for
obvious reasons. Chapter 10 will probably focus mainly on her and Akane,
with Shamps and the Hibikis as supporting cast.

I'm just grateful Happosai isn't involved. The last thing we need is
_this_ Ranma with more techniques; its bad enough he's figured some
advanced things out on his own. 

Happosai don't appear in this thing at all. This is because A) Neither
Susan or I like him or find him interesting, B) His letcherous-comical
tone doesn't really fit IMBS, and C) There's no room for him in the
current plot. IMBS only has about five more chapters to run, and there's
only one character who has yet to make his/her appearance.

Combatwise, Ranma is slightly more advanced in skill that he is at the
beginning of the manga. More importantly, he doesn't have the "this isn't
a serious fight" attitude that his manga version has. Not as careless,
more focused, less holds barred.

Koji is roughly equal to beginning manga Ryouga in ability. Mariko is
roughly at the level of Ukyou.

Ukyou is about the same as in her entry in the manga.

Akane, as of the end of chapter 9, is not quite a match for Mariko or
Ukyou. On the other hand, she'd make mincemeat out of a non-restrained
Kuno, and has a marked improvement over her skill level in the manga.
(note: for those who think this to be too rapid an improvement, I note
that it's R1/2 canon that extended, serious fights against a vastly
superior opponent will dramatically increase your skill and speed.)

Shan/Tsen is somewhat higher than her manga incarnation, mostly due to the
special technique crash training course Cologne gave her before she left.
The Bakusai-Ten-Ketsu does wonders for your staying power...

Kasumi is secretly the Grand High Enlightened Poobah of Martial Arts, and
can defeat entire armies with only her left pinkie. (her right pinkie is
far too powerful). Honest. ;)

Nightman >