Marik said:

<Eeep! Frank said that Ukyou could be considered..a...minor..character..
<Hops behind blast shield>>

*lol* I think I'll be ok and will not get wasted  for saying Ukyou may have
been considered a minor character, and that's why she was hardly in
the first movie...at least I _think_ that's what's going to not happen...

*looking over his shoulder for Ted or Walski or the Ukyou-clone*

Nope! I think I'll be ok! ^_^

Seriously though...the whole thing just...well...bothers me a little. I like
Ukyou. Not as much as Akane, mind you, but fairly well. And to not
include her in the first major motion picture of Ranma sort of brings the
question up of Ukyou's character importance.

Many have said that Ukyou is the most "normal" character in the series,
with normal not really being in the sense that we think normal is, per se.
But I feel that that level of  "normalcy" is what makes her a major part of
the cast. Ok, sure, she pretended to be a boy. But after going through a
traumatic experience at such a young age, well...who can blame her?

Now, I'm not making Ukyou out to be this saint or paragon of normalcy.
I'm just saying that she contributes a lot to the story through her, well,
"normal" personality. Among a group of people that includes a Chinese
Amazon, a poetry-spouting samurai, a psychotic chemical meddler, a
failed voodoo mage, and others, she seems to sort of stand out. Other
characters in the cast stand out for their unique qualities; Ukyou stands
out because she seems to have next to none besides her okonomiyaki
skills, martial or otherwise.( Feel free to correct me on any of this BTW,
I'm just putting forth my thoughts.)

So the question is, shouldn't she have been a part of the first movie? I
think she could have had some kind of role, instead of being grouped
with all the other characters like Tsubasa, Kodachi, Mikado, Azusa, and
others who were knocked out of the way by the battle aura of
Jasmine...

The question I also want to bring up is what do you all think Ukyou's
mportance in Ranma 1/2 is? Is she of minor, or major importance? Does
she contribute a lot to the story, or only a little? I'm not sure..

^_^,
Frank

Frank Sanchez
27th member of the Knighthood of the True Fiancee
Keeper of the Church of Miyu
(We await Miyu-chan's return faithfully....)
Visit the Ranma 1/2 Library at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/3136
And the Church of Miyu at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/1200