I instantly liked Pink and Link when I first read their story, and in the years since my affection for them has deepened alarmingly, to the point where I spent an amount of money too large to repeat without wincing on an original sketch of them by Atsuko Nakajima; making me, as far as I know, the only owner of official Pink-and-Link-specific merchandise in the world.

Why do I like them so much? I think it partially has to do with both their vast untapped potential as characters, and the niftyness of the characters they are. Their super-plant-powers are very different from anything else in Ranma and can be used creatively in almost infinite ways, their sadistic-poisoning-twin/grumpy-healer-twin dynamic is very original and could be taken a lot of different directions, and I simply love the artistic potential of their one-always-smiling-one-always-frowning theatre mask faces. As well, I find their stunning incompetence at anything to do with fighting hilarious; despite the fact they wield a vast arsenal of deadly and exotic plants and concoctions, they were still easily trashed by someone who was asleep at the time.

I do feel it unfortunate that the only author I know besides me who extensively used the twins dropped the "over"s from the end of their sentences... while granting that it irritates some readers, it's still an important part of their characters (they can't even write a message without ending it in "over"!), and dropping it without explanation is like dropping Ryouga's bad sense of direction. But hey, any Pink and Link love at all is good in my book; scarily, they may have grown to be my absolute favourite Ranma characters.

Pink and Link Pictures

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