Hmm... how to begin this? I haven't commented about this series up til now,
but I have enjoyed it. The writing's good and I've liked the idea of the
two old master's pushing their student to the next level. However, I have
more C&C on the basis of the fics, the foundation that you wrote them on,
than on the fics themselves.

At 04:02 AM 12/17/98 -0500, Matthew Lewis wrote:

Preface:

   I've talked about purity before, so now I think I'll talk about
limits. Are limits bad? We are told that they are. Break through,
don't limit yourself, fight the power, push yourself, no pain, no
gain: all various ways of rebelling against limits. In some ways we
live in a society which is antithetical to that of the Victorian
era, with the stiff-upper-lip clich� and all that. We have gone to
the exact opposite, and now have to express our feelings loudly and
volubly, in grief or joy, in order to not be labelled heartless
or unfeeling. 
   Why is that? Why can't I grieve in private? Must I rend my
clothes and cry and cover myself in ash? Why does everything have
to be bigger and louder to be better? Are we so shallow that the
surface is all that is real anymore, that there is nothing deeper
than these vulgar displays?
   Limits exist for reasons. Limits are used to define and to
control; they give meaning by saying what is and what is not. So
why do we always want to break limits? An integral part of who and
what we are is who and what we are not. Things are defined by not
only what they include, but what they exclude. Groups cannot exist
without people outside of the groups. Restrictions are made for
reasons; without them we would have total anarchy. Laws are what
keep society functioning and keeps civilisation working. 
   Laws are limits, guides for behaviour, so that we can operate
with others-- morals and ethics serve the same purpose. What
differentiates the written laws of a society from the unwritten,
moral and ethical ones? 

  You seem to be taking a very shallow view of things here. What about the
limits placed on different races and sexes? Should those not have been
removed as well? What about the limits life may place on someone through
physical injury, monetary troubles, or unfortunate circumstances? Should
they not strive to overcome them? You talked about purity being unjustly
praised in your last fic. But what about the purity of the food and water
you eat and drink, or the purity of the medicine you take? Aren't these
things too strive for? Life is far too complex for such generalities, even
this one. Sometimes purity IS good, sometimes limits ARE bad. All you've
shown is that extremes are bad... most of the time. 

   Well, enough of my pretensions, you probably just want to see:


               Soul of Ice: Antithesis

<SNIP!>

   "Where will you go?" Happousai shouted just as Ranma was about
to disappear from sight. 

   Ranma turned around. For a brief moment, he was clear and
defined again. "To have some fun, of course!" was the shouted
reply. A shudder, a shimmer and Ranma was gone-- into the wilds,
into the world.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

Encore! Encore!

More musings from the madman: 

   Hrm. The prefaces were actually written before the stories--
strange, but true. This one got away from me a bit, although the
ending conformed somewhat to my plan-- it was the stuff before it
that kind of went its own way and refused to be controlled by me.
Considering the story, it's probably symbolic or ironic or another
word that ends in -ic.
   You expected maybe something happy or endearing? Why? Just
because this should be opposite of SoI: Thesis? Whoever gave you
that idea? Sitting at either pole, wouldn't you think that they
would be somewhat similar in certain respects?

Yep, no surprises here. Which is really what bugs me about this fic and
Thesis as well. While they're well written, all you've shown is two of the
many possible ways things could go wrong. And there are always far more
ways for things to go wrong than right. Rather than write about one of the
easy paths, challenge yourself to explore one of the much rarer paths. One
where Ranma finds the thin line to walk between chaos and control. 

Anyway, Yay! Now I can get on with something else! Maybe even
something (heavens forfend) not Ranma! Back to my El Hazard roots,
even! Gosh, wouldn't that be swell?

While I don't want to be a bore about the subject, would it be possible to
see you find a satisfying ending to this series first? I would really hate
to see it end here.

Matthew "Maybeso" Lewis is:
InDefinitelyso on IRC
Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net

----------

Scott Pollert [pollerts@hsonline.net]