First, let me say that I'm enjoying the story so far. That said....

    This part crystallized something that I've been uneasy about for
some time - Ranma's burgeoning "relationship" with Asuka. Frankly, I
just don't buy it.

    On the surface, it might seem like the Ranma-Akane relationship,
but that had one significant difference - Akane was actually nice to
Ranma sometimes.

    When they first met, Akane offered to be friends. The first day of
school, Akane took Ranma to Dr. Tofu's to get him some hot water, then
got Ranma the kettle to change back while she challenged Kuno. She tried
to help Ranma in his fight with Ryoga, and did help him against Kodachi.
On the whole, when no one is trying either to push them together or pull
them apart, Ranma and Akane can get on pretty well together.

    Asuka, on the other hand, treats Ranma like a communicable disease,
and if she has had a kind word for him so far I've certainly missed it.
I see no reason at all for Ranma to like her, or even find her mildly
tolerable.

    Basically, I don't think Ranma fell in love with Akane because she
treated him like crap, and I can't see him showing any interest in
Asuka given the way she's behaving.

    As for Ranma kissing Asuka, I can't see that either. Ranma couldn't
kiss Akane with a trip to China on the line. He couldn't kiss Shampoo
with the instant Nannichuan powder on the line. The only time he has
willingly kissed a girl was in the Nekoken. And he's going to kiss
Asuka, in girl form, just to get Toji and Hikari off his back and to
get a little revenge on Asuka? I find it hard to believe.

    Just my 2 cents worth.

Reid Carson
rcarson@mnsinc.com