Stephan Sokolow's Blog

Title: Rendezvous With Fate
Author: iCe
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 5.5/6
Type: Alternate Universe
Length: 12 Chapters so far (Incomplete)

What if Akane was happily married to Ryoga. Sounds boring right? Well, what if she died in a car accident and reincarnated into the body of a 17th century Kodachi married to a 17th century Ranma? Starting to sound interesting now? That’s what Rendezvous With Fate (alt.) by iCe asks.

This was definitely written by someone with lots of knowledge about 17th century Japan. In fact I’d recommend this to my younger brother. My younger brother hates fanfiction… but he loves Japanese history and the historical footnotes in this are amazing. It’s also well written with a lot of good plot twists although, there are still things which have yet to be caught by future waves of proofreading. I’m not really sure what to say without giving away part of the story. I guess I’ll just have to give rankings again.

Originality: 6/6
Overall: 5.5/6

Title: Ranko, Abandoned No More
Author: Fred Herriot
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 2/6
Type: Continuation
Length: 4 Episodes

I normally don’t quote the intro provided by the site on which I found a fanfic but in this case, I just couldn’t think of a better way to put it. Besides, the intro is really the only good part. The rest is junk that I’m giving a 2/6. The intro as a potential concept gets a 6/6 though. So, in the author’s own words…

I know, I know. You’ve seen your fill of fics where Ranma is split into Ranma and Ranko. There’s also been several stories done in the main series concerning the cast dealing with a feminine Ranma created by various means (the Copy Ranma in manga Volume 35 for example). This story’s been preying on my mind for some time, so, since I’m trying to get over a writer’s block concerning my final two “Urusei Yatsura – The Senior Year” stories, I decided to put this down.

Having lived in Korea for seven months during 1996-7, I’ve come to appreciate the good and bad aspects of Confucian society. A terrible problem plaguing Korea right now is selective abortion. With the drive to bear healthy male children, mothers usually abort unborn daughters to prevent themselves from confronting the shame of not preserving the husband’s family line. Technically, this is illegal, but the Confucian-inspired drive to have sons over daughters can be overpowering; I was reading about cases like this throughout my stay. In fact, this belief has actually led to suicide on several occasions!

Thus, I asked myself this: what if there was a place where unwanted girls were “disposed” of, a place which turns out to be as magical as Jusenkyou? And what would happen if Ranma came to this place? Well, read on to learn the answer…

The story has a bad case of Self-Insert Syndrome (Fixing all of the problems in a flash) although, since it’s not a self-insert, it’s done by ALWAYS choosing the possibility (no matter how slight) of a rational, understanding solution. It also employs many fanon mistakes about Shampoo, Mousse, Nabiki, and Jusenkyo not to mention completely mis-characterizing Kodachi and Tatewaki Kuno. In addtion, it’s stored on the Ranma 1/2 Lemon Archive but the lemon portion didn’t seem very well done either. Therefore…

Concept: 6/6
Everything Else: 2/2
Overall Score: 2/6

As far as I know, this is the same Fred Herriot who wrote “Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year”. I have only read the first episode or two of UY:TSY so far but it has apparently received very mixed reactions. Some love it, some hate it. I think it’s interesting and well written so far. This fic on the other hand, gets 2/6 from me mainly because it feels like one of the first fics he ever wrote. (Good idea, bad implementation) If you still want to read it, it’s here.

Title: Easy Prey
Author: Space Pirate Hamster
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4/6
Type: Potentially-dark what-if
Length: One-shot

Well, if you’ve been reading my recent posts, you probably guessed that I’m working my way through Furinkan.net right now. Correct.

While browsing, I saw Easy Prey and, if you’ve been to Furinkan.net, you’ve probably seen the synopsis. Essentially, “What if a criminal thought the Tendo Dojo would be easy prey?” Can you say, “Canon Fodder”?

This was an interesting fic. Considering what happened to who, I don’t consider this a dark fic but some people might. I did like the fact that it was written as a story being told by the criminal. It’s nice to get the occasional break from stories written in 3rd-person omniscient viewpoint.

Anyway, I’d say it’s pretty much 4 of 6 for whatever category you rate it on. Maybe 4.5 or 5 under originality for doing something that everybody probably considered but never tried. I give it a 4 overall. A fun way to pass five minutes.

Title: Meow
Author: Space Pirate Hamster
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 3.5/6
Type: Continuation
Length: One-shot

What if Ranma had to choose between his honor and his greatest fear? That’s the possibility that Space Pirate Hamster’s Meow tries to explore.

When I read it, I noticed several things. First, it’s OK grammar-wise but it there are a few places which were missed in proofreading. Second, it uses the anime chronology for the Neko-ken which means that Ranma underwent training at age 6. Third, it exaggerates Akane’s lack of skill in the kitchen for comedic effect (Common in fanfiction) and run dangerously close to portraying Akane as the anger maniac so common in bad fanfiction.

It feels like a 3.5. To clarify, it would be a 4 if it didn’t employ so many cliches. If you’ve got the spare time and you’ve got nothing better to do, read it. It’s not terrible, it’s just not as good as it could be.

Title: The Tomboy Solution
Author: Space Pirate Hamster
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4/6
Type: Canon continuation
Length: One-shot

Every fanfic I’ve seen seems to end with a much calmer Akane or an Akane who is raging because Ranma left. Either way, Ranma never dodges that mallet which fanfiction authors love to add (Akane is supposed to just use whatever blunt object happens to be nearby).

What if Ranma did learn to dodge? What if Ranma decided to turn Akane’s anger into a carefully managed self-defense mechanism? If you don’t mind a slightly silly twist to the idea, read The Tomboy Solution by Space Pirate Hamster.

I’m giving it a score of 4. It’s a fun little time waster.

Title: Curse of Silence (and approved 3rd-party continuations)
Author: Space Pirate Hamster, Mad Hamlet, and SabreBabe
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 5.5/6, 5/6, and 4/6
Type: Alternate Universe
Length: One-shot with three third-party continuation episodes and an attempt to redo it from scratch. (all with approval from the original author)

“What if Akane were a mute?” may not be the most original plot idea and neither is “Akane and Ranma get along better” but all things considered, it’s nice to see one that’s believable and well written for a change. If nothing else, “Curse of Silence” by Space Pirate Hamster is proof of how a good writer can make even the more remote possibilities comfortably believable.

I think that Curse of Silence deserves a 5.5 and the Curse of Slience 1.# continuation by Mad Hamlet gets a 5.0. I was having trouble finding a score for “When You’re a Stranger” by SabreBabe but I decided to give it a 4.0. Although it does replay some of the “done to death” pieces, it also provides more detailed exploration of aspects which the others only mentioned in passing.