Fanfiction Reviews, Interesting Links, and General Geekery
For those who haven’t heard, it seems that Wikipedia has decided that webcomics aren’t an important enough part of culture to be in their encyclopedia.
As I strongly disagree, I have saved one article that hasn’t been deleted yet and I ask you to do the same. I’ve saved El Goonish Shive. (Gzip-compressed Konqueror WAR bundle)
UPDATE: Here are some posts on the Schlock Mercenary blog about the problem:
If you’re a Konqueror user and a power user or geekier, then you’ve probably noticed, as have I, that bookmarklets (javascript bookmarks, for the buzzword-deficient) don’t work. You’ve probably also wondered “What the heck is that Minitools thing from konqueror-addons?”
The answer? Minitools is Konqueror’s term for bookmarklets. It’s a separate bookmarks tree where you put javascript bookmarks so that they can force-disable Javascript in the regular tree for improved security. Now the only problem is accessing them in a comfortable fashion. Here’s my solution:
Settings --> Toolbars --> Extra Toolbar (Konqueror)Settings --> Configure Toolbar... and select which items you want to be in it. (Note: The toolbar will be listed in the dropdown once for each plugin that contributes to it. Don’t let that confuse you.)Main Toolbarand add it to bottom of the list in the top entry for
Extra Toolbar.
Now that you have easy access to them, here are some of the bookmarklets I favor: (Links are to their home sites so you can get more info before you decide whether you want them)
Enjoy!
First, for those who got here through the category system, some people consider Gold Digger to be “American Manga” and I tend to agree. Now, on with the post.
It’s an epic. It’s a comedy. It’s silly. It’s awe-inspiring. It’s sad. It’s sweet…. It’s Gold Digger by Fred Perry.
Gold Digger is an amazing North American comic. It has a manga-like art style, it’s been full-color since it’s 51st issue, it’s still going strong, and it’s the most amazing epic you’ll ever read. I dare not elaborate, for it will spoil some of the surprise, but I can tell you that Fred Perry is either the world’s best plotter, or a master of retconning.
The story starts out as a fairly ordinary story about a female Indiana Jones-style adventurer who doubles as a mad scientist of sorts and has a were-cheetah for an adopted sister, an archmage for a father, and a master warrior for a mother.
In the beginning (the black-and-white series, and the first few issues of the color series), the story makes for a fun series of events involving amazingly addictive characters. However, once the color series revs up, the dominoes begin to fall. Dozens of threads (some you didn’t even realize were flowing until now) begin to weave together, and yet, through it all, the inherent humor never diminishes, nor does it feel out of place.
You can only stand in awe of the genius it takes to weave such a story. Forget Lord of the Rings. Forget Dune. Forget anime like Last Exile. Gold Digger is the ultimate epic, no… the ultimate story. I only wish I could say more without spoiling something.
Well, I can say one more thing. The battle scenes are like Dragonball Z done right. Instead of having the combatants constantly power up to ridiculous levels while driving many types of readers to boredom, the combatants in Gold Digger simply reveal new skills they’ve always had, a feature which Fred Perry uses to build in extra character development. Truly the work of a master storyteller, more like a game of chess than a tale.
…not to mention, the “Peebo Manga” sidestory collection is hilarious. (A Peebo is essentially a cute sentient bomb)
Relevant Links:
For those who are unaware, I originally gained an interest in anime, manga, and fanfiction because Ranma ½ was a gender-bending story. At the time, I was obsessed with the inherent possibilities for character interaction, character development, and humor. (I still am to some extent)
However, shortly after discovering Ranma ½, I discovered another anime that had just began to be fansubbed. (You may be wondering why it took me so long to write about it. The answer is that I only just found time to watch the last four episodes today) Since then, the manga has been licensed for North American distribution under the name “Cheeky Angel” (in fact, I own the first 6 volumes), but the anime remains unlicensed, which is a real shame since some of the jokes in the anime cannot translate to a non-animated medium. (As a side-note, the manga is apparently longer, but I have yet to buy the whole thing, so I wouldn’t know)
For those who have never read the manga, it’s about a boy named Amatsuka Megumi (Yes, I know it’s a girl’s name) who got turned into a girl 6 years before the story starts when a little demon offered a wish and then purposefully misheard the “man” in “manliest man in the world”, resulting in a change so vast that only Megumi’s best friend Miki remembers what used to be. Naturally, Megumi isn’t too pleased.
Throughout this comedy, Megumi builds a collection of allies comprising of:
In general, the story revolves around their interactions with Megumi, Miki, and various other characters. (Some of whom go to the same high school)
I won’t say more, because I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but I will say that the anime makes excellent use of the anime medium, it’s a good comedy, and the ending is excellent, matching all of the points in my checklist:
…as well as satisfying my personal preferences as to how characters should act.
Anyway, since it’s still unlicensed, you can’t buy translated DVDs, so grab a torrent from the Anime-Empire section of the ScaryWater tracker. (As of this writing, it’s the second item from the bottom)
Sexual Endeavours by Ichinohei Hitomi
Anyone who reads a lot of Ranma and Sailor Moon fanfiction will agree that there are very few Ranma “fukufics” where Ranma becomes a magical girl voluntarily. In fact, most people will point to only three really good ones:
Now, what would you say if I told you that I’ve found a fourth, where Ranma voluntarily uses his own skills and a sexplay costume to mimic magical girl transformations and powers “until she can get some real ones”, without it seeming stupid? Think I’m crazy yet? Maybe I am, but that doesn’t make the fic any less excellent.
It’s rare to find a fic good enough to seamlessly permute one thing into another. It’s even more rare to find a fic which uses such a funny concept.
First, the fic starts out fairly innocently with Ranma mistaking reality for a dream because the prior day’s events lead to Nerima’s first “normal” day in all the time Ranma was there. (no Shampoo, sedate Ukyo, sedate Akane, no Kunos) He immediately cuts loose, scaring everybody who was fooled by his “I’m only a genius when it comes to Martial Arts” act. It gets to the point where Akane and Nabiki are convinced he must be a clone with the real Ranma having been kidnapped.
After School, Nodoka drops by and decides to test Ranma’s aversion to his female form. Ranma, thinking it’s still a dream, partly because of how Nodoka decided to test him, ends up acting out the female lead’s part in an RPG he’s working on as a Juku school group project. During their shopping trip, Nodoka takes Ranma to a sex toy shop, and Ranma ends up deciding to also purchase an “outfit”.
Upon Ranma’s return, Ryoga (who arrived at the dojo in the meantime) decides that the effeminate Ranma must mean he wandered into an alternate dimension. He plays along in order to avoid arousing suspicion.
The next morning, Ranma realizes it isn’t a dream, but after thinking back over everyone’s behaviour the day before, comes to the conclusion that “she” is the only one left unaffected by some mass mind-control spell, and that trying to become a magical girl is the best bet for stopping it.
Meanwhile, the girls are conversing and decide that Ranma has snapped, possibly as a delayed reaction from having to kill Saffron, the wedding fiasco, the loss of the nannichuan cask, the constant martial arts challenges, and having the constant pressure of a lose-lose honor-agreement quagmire.
Of course, it’s at this point that a crime lord decides that, since “super powers” can’t possibly exist, Nerima is the perfect place to start expanding his empire. 
(As a side-note, I should point out that Nuku-Nuku’s existence was mentioned in passing by Cologne)
From that point on, things just keep slipping. The only other fic I can think of that employs a similar transformation is Otaku Three by Jared Ornstead where his well-written self-insert, Skysaber, coerces Evangelion into a sentai series.
Trust me when I say that this story is one big hilarious cascade of misunderstandings and assumptions. I rate it 5.5/6. (For those who aren’t familar with my rating system, 6/6 requires that I re-read the fic at least once)
Please Use Standards, Sanity, and Open Formats
I finally got around to starting my own (much more generalized) equivalent to various “MS Word is not a document interchange format” rants I’ve run across over the years. Give it a look. You may find a new favorite tool.
Bad Behavior has blocked 172 access attempts in the last 7 days.
