THEN SUDDENLY: Now you are the Akane-bashers.

[sarsaparilla]

(Incidentally, Ukyou's my favorite among the cast. ;)  I don't dislike Akane, I just like Ukyou better. ^_^)

Mmm ... yes, Ukyou is a character who's not at all difficult to like. She's independent, hard-working, generally upbeat and considering the cast as a whole relatively 'normal'. In addition to that, she's gotten a really raw deal in life so far but it only makes her try harder instead of getting all angsty. I think that the only thing that she missed to become a serious contender was enough screen time.

For some reason that I don't even know myself, I have a much harder time trying to like Shampoo. I don't certainly hate her, but out of the three main alternatives for Ranma's fiancee she's the one I'd be the least inclined to trust.

And ... I'm not familiar with those other series, either. I have seen the names before but they are all unknown, ancient history to me. My anime/manga knowledge is really shallow....

[Brian]

Well ... it doesn't help that I'm casting back pretty far in the past to dredge up those references. >_>;;

Most of us in the thread do have the dubious benefit of being in the fandom for over a decade. :p

Actually, my favorite part about Ukyou is that when she tried to 'eliminate the competition' her first plan was to non-violently try and get Ryouga and Akane to date.  She has less flattering moments (Nabiki as Ranma's fiancee arc, secret sauce arc >_<), but I appreciate that first constructive attempt to sidestep the normal violence and actually look for something peacable.  Hmm, I think Mr. Simons points out that the ghost cave was another example of her trying a (somewhat) more cooperative solution.

I find the bigger issue with Shampoo isn't her, but the influence Cologne could ostensibly pull.  On her own, it wouldn't be so bad, but no one else has such a powerful backer.  Then again, Cologne doesn't actually to do anything much in that direction after her initial attempt, so....  I'm honestly largely neutral over her canon representation, but find that fanfiction can often make her more sympathetic (as with almost the entire cast, parents/backgrounds can be made up as-needed).

[thepanda]

I like Shampoo a lot. Her first attempt to be rid of her romantic competition was the memory erasing shampoo.

You know, instead of killing Akane like so many fics portray her.

[Arakawa]

You know, instead of killing Akane like so many fics portray her.

I wouldn't be surprised if the "obstacles are for killing" one-liner is the main thing at fault for this. But in practice canon tends to be more like:

"Stupid fanfiction writer! Amazon no can kill annoying person just like that! Shampoo only kill when honour bound! _{If not, would have kill Mousse ages ago.}"

[thepanda]

Even then, when Ranma 'revealed' he was in fact a she, Shampoo was so heartbroken that she just left.

One of the earlier moments when Takahashi played a story beat seriously and it's genuine heartbreak.

[Jason_Miao]

But ... I guess that this is such a blindingly obvious idea that it's already done to death in the fandom, right? And drawing requires a lot of work compared to writing, anyway. But ... but ... I can already see all the hilarious expressions in my mind ... ugh, I feel conflicted @.@

So?  Do it anyway.  There is still a lack of stories with skill and care put into them.  There is always a lack of those, unfortunately.

[Dracos]

This indeed goes for any fanficdom.

And even when there are relatively skilled stories in an area, only a fraction of them are ever completed.