2009-10-19
Posted in Fanfiction
at 5:39
As most people who read this will probably have noticed, I haven’t had the time or will to post full-fledged fanfiction reviews in quite a while. However, I have been amassing simple out-of-five numerical ratings in a private collection for some time. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to share said collection, but I didn’t want to leave people without reviews of some kind.
As such, I have now created accounts on Identi.ca and Twitter and fanfiction reviews are tagged with the #fic_rating hashtag. (The above links point to the hashtag timelines rather than my profiles for added convenience)
Also, In the interest of making useful fic ratings a more common thing, I’ve laid out a suggested standard format for #fic_rating notices/tweets (which also gets embedded in the Identi.ca sidebar for the hashtag). Hopefully, if anyone who wants to use the hashtag listens, it’ll also make machine-parsing of ratings feasible.
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2008-03-08
Posted in Fanfiction
at 14:44
Spirit Walk and Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge by glainfach (Juliet Carnell)
Length: Oneshot and 13 chapters plus prologue, respectively.
Sources: Ranma ½
Rating: 5/5
There are many indicators of bad fanfiction and in Ranma ½ fandom, one of the most obvious is when authors arrange for Ranma Saotome to get pregnant. Of course, one of the biggest indicators of a true fanfiction jewel is when an author takes such a “mistake in the making” and turns it into a good story… and that’s what this review is all about.
First, in “Spirit Walk”, circumstance and Akane Tendo’s notoriously bad cooking result in Ranma meeting Coyote of Native American lore. What follows is a well-written view of how Ranma might experience a spirit walk, discovering various truths about himself, and having his eyes opened to how so many of his problems can be blamed on his deficient social skills and overabundance of ego. It’s an excellent little story.
However, the part most relevant to this review is that, in the process of seeking “that which he desires most” (a cure for his curse), he meets the spirit of an unborn child who chooses to be his daugter. He’s immediately captivated by her but unfortunately, it seems that she is doomed never to exist because, as Coyote says, “The spirits of children do not attach themselves to men”. The spirit walk continues, but Ranma is unable to forget the beautiful little girl with the flaming red hair.
Completing this proper characterization in this oneshot is that, following the spirit walk, Ranma decides to try being more polite, but still shudders at the thought of being a mother. It’s not until “Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge” (which takes place many years later) that we see Ranma begin to consider the prospect and not without much prodding from recurring nightmares.
More specifically, in “Martial Arts Motherhood Challenge”, Ranma and Akane have been maried for over five years and have twin sons. In the prologue, Ranma wakes from a nightmare built from memories of the spirit walk. Akane tells him that having that same nightmare five nights in a row has to mean something, but he won’t hear it. However, years of maturity do allow Akane to (eventually) get him to admit his fears. What follows is an excellent and, more importantly, believable account of an adult Ranma facing his fears with Akane’s help in order to finally welcome “her” only daughter into the world. I’d say more, but this is really one of those stories where any summary would be missing the essential qualities that make it so good.
As for complaints, I don’t see many. The writing quality is excellent, so my main complaint is related to the author’s interpretation of the Ranma future. At its core, Ranma ½ is light fantasy. While once can make a case for injecting economics and technology into a Ranma ½ future to justify certain plot elements, it still feels like a mild shock at first. Thankfully, you get used to it quickly, so the problem isn’t a big one.
All in all, this story definitely deserves a 5 out of 5 rating. It’s one of the few stories that I’ve re-read multiple times and, given that I’ve re-read less than a dozen stories, both original and fanfiction, that’s very high praise. I can’t count how much fanfiction I’ve read, but my combined estimate for both original and fanfiction would have to be at least a thousand novels worth of text and possibly over two thousand.
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2008-03-06
Posted in Fanfiction
at 3:01
The Last One by The Smiling Shadow
Length: 14 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Terminator
Rating: 5/5
I’ve always loved stories which explore alien mindsets (robots, aliens, and people like Rei Ayanami) and follow them as they learn about the aspects of the human mindset that were alien to them at the start of the story. (It’s excusable. I am human, after all.)
“The Last One” takes an interesting approach to this. Rather than focus directly on this, it fits it in as a subplot which grows in importance as the story progresses. At the beginning, SkyNet is melting down the T-1000s, fearing their uncontrollable nature. We see an orphan named Ellie searching through the remains, finally finding a damaged, but surviving T-1000 to whom she gives a name (Tyler) and a new mission: Protect me. Shortly afterwards, she and Tyler stumble across SkyNet’s newest plan to change the past through time travel and the story continues during the events of the Terminator war.
This is one of those stories where the events aren’t as important as their effects on the characters, so I’ll let you discover them for yourself. The true genius comes about in chapter 14 when, having been encouraged to explore his identity, Tyler finally meets up with “Mother” (SkyNet) for the first time. The exploration of what SkyNet is and why it acts the way it does is top-notch.
I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t share any more details. However, given the quality so far, I’m really looking forward to the final chapter’s release. On the whole, the story is excellent, writing quality is nice and high, and I sincerely wish there were more stories like this. I’d raise my hat to the author, but doing so with a tuque just looks silly.
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2008-02-18
Posted in Fanfiction
at 23:57
Wild Magic by Usagi Hasano
Length: 19 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Ranma ½, Harry Potter, Slayers, Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon
Rating: 5/5
Now for another one of those fics which works better than you’d expect it to. “Wild Magic” by Usagi-Hasano. In this case, the premise is “Voldemort Kills Ranma and he gets reincarnated as Draco Malfoy’s twin sister… reincarnation of Lina Inverse”.
Now that I’ve lost half my audience, let me say that, interestingly, that’s exactly why I like it. It manages to make what could easily be an insanely over-powered Ranma but it doesn’t succomb to DBZ syndrome and it continues to focus on the characters’ personalities rather than their powers.
Don’t believe me? Here are some of the reasons I like this fic: (Warning: Spoilers)
- It is the only story I can remember running into in which someone (in this case, Ranma) dies, comes back with their memory intact, and reestablishes contact with certain people from their previous life. This is one of those ideas I think needs to be used more… by people who can pull it off, of course.
- It has Xelloss in it. He’s always fun.
- After Ranma returns, It’s revealed that both Narcissa and Nodoka are descended from Lina Inverse… a fact which Ranma doesn’t appreciate in light of why he supposedly had to reincarnate in the first place.
- It has Washuu in it. She’s always fun.
- Washuu uses the cuppy-cake song to incapacitate Xelloss and later on, Ranma/Lina uses Barney in a similar fashion.
- In order to save Ranma’s life after the knowledge of the Dragon Slave resurfaces in just the wrong way and at just the wrong time, Washuu has to mix in some Masu. Ranma immediately knocks herself out by running full-tilt into a wall without knowing how to trigger her new phasing ability.
- Dumbledore meets Washuu
- Washuu decides to give Ranma a cabbit partner… a cheeky talking one.
- Fluffy ends up seeing Ranma as scarier than Hagrid and acting like an oversized version of Fang… and later on, a similar situation occurs with Norbert.
- It has a reasonably believable slow personality merge between Ranma and Lina Inverse.
- Ranma is unamused by the fact that each of her “Yeah. as if…” statements eventually come true.
- It’s interesting to see “Lina Inverse Malfoy” run into the occasional person from Nerima. A 29-year-old Ryoga, for example.
- Xellos clues Ranma/Lina into the fact that “sore wa himitsu desu” is fun and, with Masu teleportation abilities, she has everything she needs to do it properly.
- Showing the Malfoys as being more than one-dimensional nasties. Could have been done better, but I like it anyway.
- Lina/Ranma gets away with refusing to obey the underage magic restrictions because, as she tells Minister Fudge, she’s been doing it since she was two years old, she could easily reduce the ministry building to a smoking crater (not that she would, of course), her flight and teleportation abilities aren’t magic, she doesn’t need a wand to do magic, and the only reason she’s even attending Hogwarts is because Dumbledore talked her into it.
- Ranma and her Cabbit discover the Silver Millennium ruins on the moon… something which makes Washuu very happy once she gets over the surprise at having missed them.
- Laira (Ranma’s cabbit) gains a furry child form after eating an enchanted silver millennium sword. (and is very glad to finally have hands)
- Lina ends up getting Moaning Myrtle to laugh when she uses some astral magic to literally kick Peeves out… complete with “Stay out of the girls’ loo, ya freak!”
- During exams, Ranma/Lina accidentally triggers a school-wide pineapple chase culminating in a fruit Riverdance because her control slipped while making a pineapple tap dance.
- …and more…
My only real complaint about the plot is that, in the latter chapters, it’s starting to feel more like a Slayers – Harry Potter crossover when, in the earlier chapters, it felt like a Ranma – Tenchi Muyo – Harry Potter crossover… which I preferred more. Of course, from an objective point of view, that’s still a bad thing because people who prefer how it starts may dislike what it becomes and people who would like what it becomes might not be interested in how it starts.
Some of the characterizations could be tweaked in the early episodes (primarily Voldemort, the Malfoys, and some of the Nerima regulars) and I’m not too pleased with one of the jokes at Ranma’s expense later on (Sailor Pompoms), but nonetheless I enjoyed it very much. (On the plus side, I think the tweaks could be made without altering the overall plot) Keep in mind that I normally don’t accept characterization mistakes, but in this case, I enjoy it enough to make a small exception. Take that as you will when deciding whether you might like this fic. The grammar is excellent and I’ve noticed almost no spelling errors.
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2008-02-15
Posted in Fanfiction
at 7:46
Nodoka’s Daughter by James Lee
Length: 4 Chapters, Complete
Sources: Ranma ½, Sailor Moon
Rating: 4/5
Ever wonder what a little amnesia might do to Ranma and Nodoka’s meeting? Well “Nodoka’s Daughter” by James Lee can show you… and it’s complete! It’s also one of those things that you probably wouldn’t have found otherwise. It’s not on Fanfiction.net and the author’s site was/is on anifics.com. (For those who are unaware, the administrator still hasn’t had time to properly restore the hosted sites)
What I like most about this fic is it’s simple charm. It doesn’t try any fancy excuses to reinterpret Nodoka’s behaviour, it doesn’t delve into the less pleasant aspects of amnesia-related identity issues… and yet it doesn’t feel wrong either. In a way, I suppose you could say that it works because it’s a “1990s style” fanfic. Something with the flavor that seemed to characterize rec.arts.anime.creative and the FFML.
Anyway, it’s has the occasional typo, and the color scheme is a pain, but if you use Firefox’s View –> Page Style –> No Style option (or an appropriate bookmarklet), then it makes for a very nice read. Four nice long chapters… but not too long. I always love finding stories where the author hasn’t tried to drag things out forever.
Oh, I’d like to apologize for the poor quality of this review. I’m tired, I’m sick, and this fic isn’t easy to summarize… but I thought a poor review would be better than none… especially with how busy I am lately.
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2008-02-13
Posted in Fanfiction
at 21:54
The Other by JoeHundredaire
Length: 9 Chapters, Ongoing
Sources: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: 3.5/5
Ok, Xander gets a different costume at Ethan Rayne’s shop. That’s fairly cliché. Physical traits linger after the whole thing is done. Also common. Xander discovers that he’s now a girl because the costume was too androgynous for him to notice…? First time I’ve seen that. Admittedly, I don’t read much Buffy fanfiction, but I have it on good authority that this kind of combination is almost unheard of.
Anyway, in “The Other”, Xander accidentally picks up a Spider-Girl costume thinking that it’s a Spider-Man costume. When the spell is broken, he’s left with the body (more or less)… including both of the main differences from his original one. (spider-powers and femininity… wouldn’t want you to over-think that like I might) Let the fun ensue.
I also love the somewhat fresh twist on the resulting character interactions. For example:
“Are you doing stuff to yourself?” Xander looked into the mirror to glance back over his shoulder. Willow had cracked the door open while he was occupied and was poking her head through. “Because when I agreed to help you learn basic girl stuff, THAT wasn’t part of it.”
Using one arm to cover his chest, Xander turned to face Willow. “Don’t worry, we’re staying PG here. Guys who turn into girls and then get all nasty and naughty? That’s the kind of thing that only happens in those stories you have bookmarked on your computer.”
I also got quite a kick out of Xander ditching buffy during clothing shopping by pointing out a potential vampire in Hot Topic. I’m not going to spoil the surprise in chapter 7, but I will say that it’s interesting. I also like the new excuse for certain cases of Xander acting “girly”.
What was wrong with her? Was this a girl thing? Or just a repressed Xander thing that was coming out now because she actually had choices to make instead of being stuck with whatever scraps life handed her?
Unfortunately, while the originality merits a 4.5 in the context of the source series and, when it’s around, the humor gets a 4, the rest gets a 3.5 because, while the grammar is good, the writing feels monotonous. Sort of like writing an excellent script for a drama or love story, but then trying to compete with modern movies using a faded, sepia-tone film. I’m not entirely certain, but I think the problem is a variant of “show, don’t tell”.
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