Fanfiction – “To Tell A Hawk From A Handsaw”

Title: To Tell A Hawk From A Handsaw
URL: FanFiction.net
Author: N. Reynolds
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 6/6
Type: Continuation (Anime)
Length: 8 Chapters, Complete

What if, upon Nodoka’s departure after her first visit, Ranma realized how thoroughly everyone else knew him and how easily they controlled him? What if he decided to feign madness to escape their control? Inspired by Hamlet.

It begins with a mental narrative by Ranma detailing his plans and then switches to the more common third-person perspective. The writing style is a refreshing change although some people may dislike the choice of writing Ranma so eloquently during his deception. Personally, I love it as a departure from normality. It isn’t often that you find a well-written attempt at this and the author even apologized for being unable to dumb Ranma’s dialog down. Also, isn’t madness supposed to be a departure from normality? 😉

This is so witty and insightful! If you only ever read one OOC (Out Of Character) fanfic in your life, read this one. It does have a chapter or two where it’s momentarily lower quality but that passes. I also feel that it ended a bit abruptly but I know that it’s merely because I’m currently used to stories that take too long to end.

Modifiers:
+1 Outstandingly creative implementation of the “Ranma feigns madness concept”
+2 Great job duplicating Hamlet’s (the character) style of “witty madness” as well as the overall wittyness of the Hamlet play.
-1 Ranma is out of character (but it makes for a good story)
-0.5 Occasional missing punctuation and constant use of present-tense writing. (past-tense would work better)

Fanfiction – “To Tell A Hawk From A Handsaw” by Stephan Sokolow is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.