Stephan Sokolow's Blog

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)

Title: Uncles
URL: Main Site
Author: Nighthawk (concept) & Cobalt (story)
Source: Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon
Rating: 6/6
Type: Semi-AU, Crossover
Length: 3 episodes so far

This is another one of those fanfics that’s written extremely well with humor sprinkled throughout. It does make use of fanon cliches about Nabiki but, given the overall quality, I’m going to assume that it was intentional. I should mention that “Uncles” is actually the name of several fanfics that share the same concept by Nighthawk. In this case, the fanfic I’m rating is the one by Cobalt.

Even if you don’t have some free time, you should read this. It’s very good and it’s nowhere near as long as the other really good fics that I’ve reviewed. Also, read the others too. I prefer to combine them all into one story in my mind since they all have very good ideas.

Title: Bitter Memories Rewrite
URL: FanFiction.net
Author: N. Reynolds
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4/6
Type: Alternate Universe
Length: 7 chapters so far

This is probably the first “Ranma with foreknowledge” fanfic I’ve read although I did see the beginning of an addventure thread based on the concept. I think that this Ranma has too many social skills to be explained away by having had a vision of everything up to and beyond the end of the manga. However, if you can excuse that, it’s really an interesting read. It does start with the boring old anime/manga start but ends up going off on it’s own original tangent with some interesting ideas. Rating, 4/6.

Modifiers:
+1 Has a lot of interesting, original ideas
-1 Starts out unoriginal and quickly solves all of the problems in ways which reduce the believability of the Ranma character.

Title: GodBorn
URL: FanFiction.net
Author: Mage Alia
Source: Ranma 1/2 – Zelda
Rating: 4/6
Type: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Dark
Length: 15 chapters so far

I don’t really feel like summarizing this but I will anyway. What if the Triforce was really an inheritance left for three mortal children of the gods, Link, Ranma, and one other? It may sound kind of corny but it’s not that bad. This feels more like a Zelda fic than a Ranma fic so don’t read it if you’re only a Ranma fan. I don’t really care so I enjoy it. When I give it a 4/6, it deserves it.

Modifiers:
+1 Really well done concept intro.
+1 Throws in a fair number of original ideas.
-1 Punctuation and minor spelling mistakes that escaped proofreading.
-1 Fanon Akane, misspelling names like Nodoka as Nadoka and moko takabisha as mako takabisha.

Title: Old Friends
URL: Fanfiction.net
Author: Kawii-chan
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4/6
Type: Alternate Universe
Length: 5 Chapters so far

Concept: What if Ryoga and Shampoo were old friends?
Characters: OK. Doesn’t fall blindly into tons of cliches and portrays the characters but their personalities don’t come through as clearly as they could.
Plotline: Original and entertaining.
Grammatical Quality: Meh, OK. Proofread and enjoyable but not what I’d call professional by any standard whatsoever.

Modifiers:
-1 There’s the occasional missed error and the author overused capitals to portray shouting. (There’s never a need for captials to portray shouting)

Note: I’d give this a 3.8/6 but my current rating system only lets me give 4/6 with a -1 modifier.