Most of them were the kind of authors I wouldn’t read if you paid me (people who, as far as I can tell, spend their time writing tired, cliché, fix-it or shipper plots that were done to death years ago) and, of the 10 who have actually written at least one story I recognize as something I’d consider worth reading in retrospect, almost none of them are the authors I’d really recommend for their skill, talent, wit, cleverness, and/or ability to keep it up over the course of several fics.

Given that I had a little free time and a decent collection of records on what I’ve read and liked, I decided to compose my own list, complete with the fics that earned them their place. I really didn’t want to sort all 50 from best to worst, so it’s in alphabetical order instead.

Not everything they write is good, but each of them wrote something good at least once and all of them demonstrated that skill and/or luck in Naruto fanfic. (I’m not sure I’d have been able to find 30 authors, let alone 50, if I limited myself to people who wrote more good stuff than bad over the course of their interest in fanfiction)

Enjoy and, if you think I missed someone, please leave a comment so I can check them out.

1. Aleh (Appreciation)
2. Andoriol (Naruto: Lord of Konoha)
3. Angel of Snapdragons (A Drop of Poison)
4. anothvortex (all four stories)
5. Asha’man of Fire (Kitsune on Campus)
6. atom-of-ice (Naruto’s Advice)
7. Average Naruto (Tomato)
8. Bloodreaver Alpha (Diary of a Madman: Memoirs of a Nukenin)
9. brown phantom (Students of the Snake, Naruto’s Kit)
10. Case13 (Reload, The Art of the Deal… and I’m told his other Naruto stuff is amazing too but it’s still on my to-read list)
11. Chibi-Reaper (Overlord, Uzumaki Naruto, Sorceror for hire, and various clever ideas that haven’t been written far enough yet to list)
12. Chilord (Bondage Style!)
13. ChoppedHige (Nicknames and Shadows)
14. Crimson Skies (This Time Around)
15. Denim88 (Cracked Mask)
16. DisobedienceWriter (Naruto’s Compensation)
17. dogbertcarrol (Glaring Problems, Play it again, Naruto!)
18. Dragon Man 180 (Feel Like A Woman)
19. drakensis (The Night The House of Cards Was Built, Cheaters Prosper)
20. EdStargazer (Naruto: Captured)
21. froznfox72 (Geniuses of Hard Work)
22. gsteemso (The Disorderly Princess and the Fiery Steed)
23. HitokiriOTD (The Book of Naruto)
24. Innortal (Shinobi OneHalf, The Naruto Omake Files: Innortal Style)
25. Jade R. Raven (The Rival)
26. Jonakhensu (Kyuubi no Cabbit)
27. Jonque (The Missing Hokage)
28. Kenchi618 (Better Left Unsaid)
29. Kraken’s Ghost (Foxhound)
30. leafygirl (Loophole)
31. Lord Archive (Between Deception and Truth)
32. Lucillia (Time MixUp, History Exam, Little Uzumaki, The Consequences of Drunken Experiments, Chickenzilla, 5 Hokages, Underwear the Cat, Pet Names, Yukiko, and various others)
33. Majin Hentai X (Naruto: Game of the Year Edition)
34. Minnionette (Switched!)
35. MockV (A Twist of Chance)
36. MogTheGnome (The Great Romantic, Naruto, the Spanking Nin, The Imprint, The REAL Sound Nin, and less memorable others)
37. Nes Mikel (Garden of Sanctuary, Medusa Javelin, Empyreal Paradox)
38. nobody102 (Scorpion’s Disciple)
39. notgonnasay09 (Guardian’s Wings)
40. Nugar (Ask Me No Questions, Anything and Everything)
41. Orrunan (Uprooted)
42. Ozzallos (Tales of the FoxCat)
43. Sarah1281 (It’s For a Good Cause, I Swear!)
44. Shadow Crystal Mage (Death and the Uchiha)
45. ShaperV (Time Braid)
46. Smylingsnake (Oops!)
47. S’TarKan (Out of Darkness: A Jinchuuriki’s Tale, Team 8)
48. The Red Dragons Order (Flip Flop and Fly)
49. TwinEnigma (Secretive, Transcendental Idealism, House of Dogs, Replica, Ad Oculos, Side Effects May Occur, Alternate Hosting, and less memorable others)
50. yasuhei (Ganbatte ne, Oirokechan)

Runners-up:

Entries in this section didn’t make the top 50 list, not necessarily because they weren’t as good, but because I don’t remember them very well, so I have to take my records’ word for it that they’re good… and I don’t trust my younger self’s judgement without nostalgia to back it up.

Some of them are here due to a lack of quality though. They’re still good… just not quite good enough to match one or more similar authors in the list above.

• Arthur Hansen (Infinite Sharingan)
• BukkakeNoJutsu (Coping Mechanisms)
• Danfiction (Naruto Reborn:Sasuke Uchiha)
• daniel-gudman (Spying no Jutsu)
• DigiFruit (Kakashi Junior)
• Eleature (Fuinjutsu)
• esama (End of one world)
• Iced Blood (No Longer Alone)
• KyuubiMan (Prove the Pervert Wrong)
• lord of the land of fire (That Look, Why Kakashi Should Never Read Out Loud)
• Perfect Lionheart (Chunin Exam Day)
• recodan (No More Underwear)
• Saiyan Angie (The Benefits of Omnipotence)
• sambomaster (Cloud Age Symphony)
• TheGreatHibiki (Memories)
• Thundereaper (The Dichotomy of Namikaze Naruto)

Note: Before I get any flames about Chunin Exam Day being down here, please keep in mind that I’m perfectly willing to admit that Perfect Lionheart does have a knack for writing catchy stories with strong starts… he just draws them out and gradually changes them until they’re not what I wanted anymore. (I’ve often wondered whether he’s a troll or just arrogant and too full of hubris)

Late-Comers:

This is where I put authors who wrote really good stuff… but I only found it after I’d written the first version of this post.

• obsidian dreamer (The Mouse of Konoha)
• Shawny Wong (One Small Step)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

Length: 24 Chapters (as FanFiction.net counts them. Some contain multiple declared chapters)
Sources: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gargoyles
Rating: 4.5/5

Well, I was feeling too sick to do something that required deep thought, so here’s a review of “Willow Destine” as mentioned in my review of Willow the Gargoyle. Please excuse any reduction in quality. I don’t think well when I’m sick.

Anyway, when I compare these two stories, the main differences I see are that this one takes a more serious tone and has many more grammatical errors. The two stories share quite a few plot points in the beginning, but given the knowledge I have as a beta, I can say that they will diverge soon.

They both feature Willow getting part of her costume from Ethan’s shop, turning into Demona/Dominique, and then keeping the form (with a few changes) when the spell is broken and they also both feature Dominique arranging to adopt Willow. However, the approach to this differs with this story taking a more realistic but less pleasant route.

However, I feel that, in spite of the unpleasant nature of Dominique’s actions in this fic, I have to admit that, both in those actions and in her general character, she feels more realistic in this story. I suppose part of the problem is that you can’t really capture Demona without showing off a few of the skeletons in her closet.

Anyway, the story is a very enjoyable read. Aside from the grammatical errors, my only real complaint is the use of baddies from Stargate: SG-1 (beginning in the most recent chapter) when ones from a more compatible series could have been used just as easily. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to imply a secondary “gimmick” for the story. (In this case, that BtVS magic and Gargoyles exist in the same verse as Stargate)

Of course, the rarest pleasure to this story is probably that “Willow the Gargoyle” exists. It’s rare for me to find two plots which start from the same basic stuff but then use different presentational tones.

Length: Oneshot
Sources: Neon Genesis Evangelion
Rating: 4/5

Just a nice little Evangelion oneshot which doesn’t let you know what’s really going on until the end. I always love it when I find such stories because so few people try them.

Length: 1 Chapter, Ongoing
Sources: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gargoyles
Rating: 4/5

As a beta reader, it’s not that difficult to find yourself wishing people could write faster. Today’s example is “Willow the Gargoyle” by Jonakhensu. Inspired by Wispr’s Willow Destine (which I have yet to read), this story explores what might happen if Willow chose a costume from Ethan Rayne’s store which had an element even he didn’t know about or intend. Result? One gargoyle-by-night Willow… after the costume shop spell gets broken and Demona returns to her own body, of course.

The fun part is that, instead of the various potential boring plots where Willow gets a secret identity and little else, this plot is driven by, among other things, the interactions between Demona and Willow and Demona’s plan to adopt Willow. (Note: Some of my knowledge comes from betaing the unfinished second chapter) There is another twist I’m looking forward to, but I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise, so you’ll just have to wait on that part. Patience is key.

Enjoy.