Kevin Barth wrote:

> Good point...I had forgotten about this particular superstition.  Still, I
> wouldn't count it as a conscious wish - Ataru had...other things on his mind :-)

> We are talking about the intention of the male character, after all, and not
> someone else's interpretation of their behavior...

But the parallel remains even then. K1 didn't believe Belldandy would be able to
grant such a wish and, if you go with the purists who get all upset with the fact

that the dub of OMG has Keiichi saying "I want YOU to be my girlfriend forever",
then Bell did, indeed, misinterpret his wish as he had wished for a "goddess like

you" or words to that effect. Aturu didn't expect Lum to grant his wish either, he

was just expressing his glee at the prospect. Which seems out of character for him

to want to get married considering his attitude throughout the rest of the series.

Still, Lum heard misinterpreted as a wish to marry her just as Belldandy
misinterpreted K1's wish (which would imply that the two of them can never get
married if you go by the letter of the wish).

> I am limping my way through the originals.  The operative word here, I
> think, is "used to."  Bell never had to use any Lum-style fireworks on K1
> because he's bright enough to know when he has a good thing.  Ataru, on the
> other hand, never learned the old saw about "A bird in the hand..."
> (atrocious pun fully intended).

I think Aturu has shown on several occasions that he knows he has a good thing
going, he's just greedy. He wants it all and he's pretty much certain that he can
do
these things without too much risk of losing Lum, which is true. Despite K1's
devotion to Belldandy, he still doesn't fail to notice pretty women when they're
around either. One an ass and one isn't, that's the only real difference. Of course,

to draw a parallel we don't need to establish that the primary characters are
exactly the same. It's not a parallel anymore at that point,  but a simple
derivative.

> Really?  I must confess that I never saw K1 as being that mercenary.  Ataru
> won't acknowledge his love because it would mean an end to his girl-chasing
> days.  K1 has no girl-chasing days to speak of; by the time the manga
> opened, he was already resigned to the "fact" that no woman wants a short man.

But again, a parallel doesn't require the characters to be absolutely the same.

> <chuckle>  Perhaps I misunderstood your original poinr here...I thought you
> were comparing Lum's infamous lack of cooking ability to Bell-san's cordon
> bleu technique.  Seemed a little odd..

Actually, I've seen little that implies Lum is a bad cook. She's just a weird cook

who tries to replicate her alien dishes using equipment not really intended for the

purpose so they go a little haywire. When she cooks more traditional Japanese fare

she seems to do all right. Lum's cooking is also often used as a plot device where

Bell's isn't, but from a character motivation point of view the intent behind both

ladies' efforts is the same.

Les

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Les Jenkins is The Casual Otaku       (http://casualotaku.dreamhost.com/)
To email me remove the words NOSPAM from my address.        Atheist #1085