>     Inuyasha has the same problem too.  There's no amount of suspension of
> belief to believe all the events in Ranma 1/2 or Inuyasha just took place
in
> matter of months.  That leaves you with unchanging characters beyond a
> superficial level (i.e. Kagome & Inuyasha becoming better friends or
> whatever is not a change, they should have started out that way).
>

I can see your point with Ranma, which I think occurs basically because
there isn't really an overall plot, but I think the Inuyasha time frame
works fine, there just aren't really any big breaks between each story-arc
and the each arc is normally pretty well defined over a basic time period of
a few days to a week or two (I can think of one example where I think things
may have gone on for closer to a month, but I haven't read those chapters
for well over a year and they are kind of fuzzy, so I'm not really sure on
that).  Anyway, I know that isn't really the focus of this email, but I just
needed to get that out.


>
>     Akane's problem has nothing to do with self-esteem.
>
>
>     Akane's world does not revolve around martial arts or drolling boys.
> She was the envy of her class at the start, and she still is at the end
> (e.g. when Akane fell asleep in class, people remarked that's very unusual
> for a good student like her).
>

I don't think it really has anything to do with Akane wanting boys to drool
over her, but I do think that Akane was pretty much used to being the number
one girl in many things before Ranma and the fiancs showed up.  There are
several times in the anime when Akane gets upset because none of the other
martial artists take her seriously.  And, for example the "One to Carry On"
two-parter in the OVA's, everyone seems to view her as the lowest of the
local martial artists.  Ranma insists that she holds him back, she is easily
defeated by Shampoo and Ukyou, as well as the two challenging girls, and I
also believe this is the time when Nabiki suggests that Akane doesn't really
take martial arts seriously but only tries to keep in shape.  Martial arts
may not be the only thing in her life, but it was her defining
characteristic in her family.  Kasumi is the domestic, Nabiki concerns
herself with business matters, and Akane trained in martial arts.  It's
really the only interest she was ever given that she stuck to (yes she had
her brief acting experience, but that only lasted long enough to serve the
needs of that arc).  I think it would be quite a blow to someone's
self-esteem to be the best at what they love to do and then to suddenly be
one of the worst (not including the non-martial artists) on top of the fact
that everyone knows it.  Then, when she looks towards something outside of
her main skill, cooking, she discovers that she really is the lowest there
as well.  Although everyone can see what Akane's problem with cooking was
and that it can be easily fixed, Akane doesn't see that and she really
doesn't understand why, when she works so hard to be good at something, she
keeps coming up as inadequate.  As for all of her class mates still envying
her, I haven't seen much in the serious other then "Oh, Akane, you are so
lucky to be engaged to Ranma!"  which doesn't really stem from anything
she's strived to achieve, and your recent comment on her academic qualities
(there really isn't even much said about that and I don't think she's ever
really seemed all that concerned with being number one in her class or
anything, so, even though I'm sure it means something, I just don't think
it's enough for her).  Plus, on top of all of the insults she receives from
Ranma, she also ends up with a good amount of criticism from her family.
Kasumi and Nabiki have often spoke unfavorably about her attitude and
temper, and her father keeps pushing her to just stop fighting and marry
Ranma.  It does not seem that her family was this critical of her behavior
before the addition of Ranma to the family; Kasumi and Nabiki because Akane
probably wasn't very prone to lose her temper at home with just them, and
Soun because he wasn't trying to get her to marry anyone.  So it would be
fair to consider the possibility that Akane might view herself a little less
positively now that Ranma and all the crazy people that come with him have
entered her life.  Plus, Ranma shows no interest in her, and when he says or
does something stupid she retaliates in the only way she knows how, anger.
But, when Ranma is nice to her, she is kind in return (although often very
shocked).

Anyway, this is my view on Akane, and you obviously have your own view.  A
lot of the difference in our views probably comes from our own lives.  I can
see why it would be hard for Akane to change her behavior based on her
character mostly because I always felt very sorry for Akane and maybe I
related to her on some level (not that I'm a martial artist or anything (I
wish!)).  But I just think we view the same situations in the anime very
differently.  I admit even I think the anime reaches a point where it is
just not very interesting because it's the same old song and dance we've
seen the whole time, but I don't think that the series major fault lies in
Akane's character faults but more in the fact that the latter episodes just
weren't very well written or very interesting.  I can't really think of a
single episode in the last 3 seasons (thinking of the OVA season as not
being a part of that) which really caught my attention and was really funny.
Of course, a big part of that may be that I don't like Richard Cox as Ranma,
it just doesn't work for me and it kind of throws everything off for me.  Or
the fact that I was cleaning the whole time I watched the last 3 box sets,
so I wasn't really paying as much attention as I normally do.  Anyway, I'm
babbling now, so I'll stop this.

>
>     Ranma and Akane have been 'better than friends but less than lovers'
for
> a very long time.  I'd argue you can say that by the Ryouga's entry,
though
> to be safe I'll use HSH as a reference point (v13).  There is no
indication
> if the two will ever progress beyond that, even if it appears to be the
> likely outcome.  There is no indication if the two will ever get out of
the
> 'falling in love' phase.
>

I don't know, the last season or two of the anime they actually seemed to be
opening themselves up the possibility that they were in love.  For example,
the one where Akane almost breaks her leg/ankle? and has to go in the
hospital and Ranma asks himself if he actually loves her and even goes out
of his way to do something really sweet for her.  That kind of consideration
for her is just not really there for the first few seasons and he certainly
won't admit to anyone, not even himself that he might love her (maybe that
he thinks she's cute but no real emotional attachments).  I think that was a
very big step for Ranma, and I think a good part of Akane's problem was that
she was waiting for some initiative from Ranma.

--kagome-hime

ridiculously long bobraucshenbergamerica (by Charles Mee) quote of the
evening:
"I'm a person who is looking for true love like anyone else.  Except the
difference is I am trying not to be afraid of my feelings and censor things
and lie and lie and lie all the time; pretending I feel like this or that,
going with some guy because I couldn't be sure any more how I felt about him
because he had some things I liked and other things I didn't and trying to
talk myself into not caring about the things I cared about and caring about
the things I didn't care about.  Because I've done that a lot in the past so
I am trying to let my feelings lead me through life.  And feelings are
feelings they come and go.  So probably I'm just as disoriented as you are
and left in the lurch, suddenly dropped or thrown down the stairs, and it's
not as though this is not a struggle for me too.  But the one thing you can
be sure of is if ever I am sure of how I feel, in a way that is the kind of
feeling that I know will last, then when that time comes if it so happens
that I do tell you I love you then you can be sure of it."
--again, Susan

> Don
> "You are going to invite ME to your house, big brother Shirou?  Even
though
> I wanted to kill you all this time?" Ilya
> "Shirou, inviting Illyasviel to this house is about as intelligent as a
pig
> asking a lion if it's hungry." Saber's response to the above decision
>
>
>