-----Original Message-----
From:	Donny Cheng [SMTP:chengd@ucalgary.ca]
Sent:	Tuesday, November 24, 1998 8:10 AM
To:	Grayson Towler
Cc:	RIGNET - Grayson Towler; 'FFML'
Subject:	RE: [FFML] [Ranma] [Fanfic] Relentless - Chapter 5(first half)

Not very subjective at all from her scenes in the manga.  She might not be
as good as Ranma but she did put up more of a fight than many of the
female chars the first time.  She holds her own when in 'wolf pack' mode
(ie. with Shampoo and Kodachi).  She's also had a story devoted to her
fighting skills.  

I don't disagree with any of what you said there, but nonetheless, I still
maintain it's subjective.  To me, Takahashi-san really didn't CARE very much
about the relative skill levels of her characters.  They were as good or as bad
as they needed to be for a given story.  I mean, one story you'll find Ranma
kicking butt, and then in another he lets Tsubasa pound on him and dump
him in a fountain.  Takahashi-san was a lot more interested in gags, fun, and
character relationships than she was in a serious portrayal of martial arts.  I
think Ukyou's a very skilled fighter (she did win her first fight with the Reikoku,
after all), but doesn't have the same sort of protege-level learning abilities that
Ranma does.  

I still don't get why she is fighting with her hands
when she doesn't.  Like I mentioned if she lost with her spatulas, why
would she have a better chance unarmed?  Also, Ranma understands the
weakness of an armed opponent since he often takes advantage of some (Kuno
and Mousse to name a couple).  He should know that Ukyo would be worse off
when learning with her hands.  He would _not_ expect her to be able to do
it with her hands.

Okay, this is my fault for not explaining this very well, and I probably want to
go over the chapter and put something in to clear this up.  Ranma does know
the weaknesses of weapons-based fighting styles, all too well.  As a consequence,
he assumes that the Reikoku will adapt in such a way that it exploits those 
weaknesses when/if it next faces Ukyou.  He doesn't know what it will do 
specifically, but he predicts (reasonably enough) that if Ukyou relies upon her
weapons a second time, she'll be in serious trouble.  He doesn't expect her
to abandon her weapons entirely, but he wants to shore up her weaknesses in
other areas so she isn't crippled without them.  He feels that gives her the best
chance of surviving another fight.

Ranma has his flaws, but he can analyze fights like nobody's business.  I think
I need to put something more in the chapter about this line of reasoning, so it
isn't so confusing.  I appreciate the commentary.


Grayson Towler
grayson@rigroup.net
 
http://www.rigroup.com/~grayson/relentless