by Nekomata-sensei » Sun Nov 11, 2007 8:31 pm
Ryoga: He is often portrayed as a semi-honorable victim of his lost curse and bad luck, who sees dislikes Ranma's disrespectful treatment of him, and has taken that dislike a little in the extreme, but ultimately considers Ranma a friend, and is such a prude he faints with a gigantic nosebleed whenever he sees a naked girl, so he hasn't really taken advantage of his curse against Akane, and wouldn't really hurt Ranma when he is down, and would protect innocents if thrust into a situation where they are being victimized.
This is just not true, and in many cases patently ridiculous to anyone who had read the manga. When Ryoga believed the breaking point could kill people, he used it freely against Ranma. He has ignored pleas for help by endangered people many times and ignored and endangered bystanders with his destructive and violent behavior, only helping if his attention is properly caught and there is something in it for him in most cases. Even when he threw Ranma the kaiisfuu he was in a position where he probably felt he owed Ranma, and Ryoga isn't the type to want to owe Ranma anything. Even when Ranma was weakened by the ultimate-strength moxibition, the most likely reasons he didn't want to kill Ranma that way was because it wouldn't prove he was better than Ranma, and it would probably make Akane dislike him if/when she found out, and he still wasn't opposed to beating Ranma up a bit in his weakened state. While Kasumi, a character who is usually completely uncaring about the feelings of others and oblivious in social situations played cruel pranks while possessed by the oni, Ryoga went about trying to rape Akane. When Ranma pretended to be Ryoga's long-lost fiancee around the time of Ukyo's into, Ryoga tried to rape her as soon as they were out of sight, despite her protests and resistance once he started grabbing at her clothes and pushing her down. Perhaps the most well known point when Ryoga ignores bystanders is when he throws his bandannas about and nearly kills a bunch of Furikan students and chops of Akane's hair in his intro fight. The only reason Ryoga wanted to be rid of the mark of the gods was because of how embarrassing it looked, otherwise he had no problems beating up, even perhaps killing Ranma with it. As much as he has great loneliness from his lost curse, it still doesn't excuse the fact that one of the first persons to show him kindness and respect as a martial artist, Ranma, who Ryoga seemed to somehow know had waited three days for him, probably told by others in the area, still blamed Ranma for running away, rather than his lost curse for not getting there on time, and later, before he even knew that Ranma was the girl who had stepped on his head, already blamed Ranma for his Jyuusenkyo curse, when he probably could have ended up at Jyuusenkyo weather he was chasing Ranma or not with his sense of direction. Ryoga _has_ purposefully changed into P-chan to be held up to Akane's breasts, and not just out of spite of Ranma, and is a coward about admitting his curse, and stays aware more than often enough to abuse it. While it is true Ranma has abused his girl form, Ranma at least doesn't purposefully use it to peep on girls, even though he's in a better position than Ryoga to do so, and the only situations where he has done stuff like enter girls' locker rooms is for a different purpose, such as catching Happosai or finding the Japanese Nanniichuuan. Ryoga _knows_ Akane is Ranma's fiancee and is _still_ after her.
The list can just go on and on, at best, Ryoga only tries to appear honorable when paying close attention and it can be used to impress Akane or manipulate someone who follows a similar code of claimed honor, and he doesn't seem to really have much in the way of morals in the first place, seemingly just doing what will satisfy him most at the time if he thinks he can get away with it. He really is like a demon.
In my opinion, it is similar to the way people treat Severus Snape in Harry Potter, everybody romantices about him being a spy and pretending to hate the Gryffindors, and being remorseful about killing Dumbledore and harassing Harry which he has to do in order to convince the dark students that he is still a DE so they don't give away things to their parents.
No, just no, he would still be a DE if Voldemort hadn't killed Lily Potter or gone after her, even as much as he loved her he _still_ called her a 'mudblood' at least that once, he _really did_ hate Harry and show him that hate every time they interacted in the way he singled him out for harassment and unfair treatment. If Voldemort really wanted a spy, he would have excused Snape putting up an act for Dumbledore to pretend to really be remorseful about the dark and on Dumbledore's side by being a good teacher and treating students from all houses fairly, and convincing Voldemort this act was all that was needed to convince Dumbledore, and Voldemort would have noticed this if it weren't for his insane ego clouding his judgment, and Dumbledore should never have let him teach, join the order and protect him from the law, maybe, but send him to harass children most of the day and make a mockery of the house system and raise the next few generations of DE's and dark wizards, while reducing the number of future aurors with his prejudices, encouraging Slytherins to break the rules while punishing even the Gryffindors who do follow them? Doing the bare minimum to 'teach' Potions, but mostly just harassing the people who mess up and praising even unworthy Slytherins? Still acting like a greasy bastard even in Order Headquarters and alone with people?
Yes, we know he ultimately fought for the light in the end, and since the first book started, but Snape does not really lie morally on the side of the light, he is a dark wizard through and through, who loves the dark arts, and likes to cause pain and suffering, and only helped Harry because he was Lily's child, he was smart enough to know that Voldemort winning would suck even for the DE's once he found out how crazy the man really was, and even his love for Lily was more of an obsession related to the fact that she was one of the first people to be kind to him and one of the first magical friends he made, combined with her beauty. If the Evans' had been purebloods, and Lily was never a target of Voldemort, you can bet Snape would have never switched over to the light side and would have enjoyed all his time as a DE outside of being tortured and harassed and made to be Voldemort's toady himself. If Harry hadn't been Lily's son, no matter if he was the chosen one or not, Snape never would have helped him again as soon as he considered the life-debt from James repaid when he 'saved' Harry from the cursed broomstick, nor would he have switched sides in the first place, at least not until he was sufficiently unafraid of Voldemort, or his fears of Voldemort winning became greater than those of him losing.
"Health, Learning & Virtue will ensure your happiness; they will give you a quiet conscience, private esteem & public honor." Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826)