Stephan Sokolow's Blog

Title: newRanma
Author: Space Pirate Hamster
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 6/6
Type: Canon continuation with extra realism
Length: 20 Chapters + Fanart, Author’s Notes, Original Script, and Derivative Lemon.

In my time reading fanfiction, I’ve seen various explorations of Ranma’s reluctance to declare his love for Akane. However, most of them use the same core ideas. newRanma by Space Pirate Hamster definitely breaks that mold. It asks the question, “what if Ranma had actually been partially trapped in a pre-pubescent mind state due to a training accident? Well, what if that situation was corrected?”

Grammar: 5.5/6 or 6/6(Does everything but evoke a strong emotional response in me and that may be an error on my part.)
Re-readability: 6/6 (If I re-read it within a year or less, it’s probably worth a 6. Half a year or less, definite 6)
Originality: 6/6 (Still takes place in the canon storyline but is one of the most original works I’ve ever seen regardless of setting.)
Quality: 6/6 (Well thought out, good facts, good characterizations, and extreme display of well applied creativity)
Overall: 6/6

Well written. Does a good job of combining Ranma 1/2 characters and settings with original ones while making it feel natural. A natural, believable story as far as Ranma 1/2 goes, deftly mixing humor and seriousness. One of only two stories I’ve ever read with an in-character example of prolonged peace between Tatewaki Kuno and Ranma that could take place as a continuation of the Canon storyline. I don’t want to give away too much of the story but it’s very original.

It does insert a younger sister for Ryoga named Yoiko Hibiki which is technically an Alternate Universe trait (Yoiko was the name Ranma chose as a disguise while pretending to be Ryoga’s younger sister and it lasted until one of Ryoga’s parents phoned home and told Ryoga that he didn’t have a younger sister. It was a manga-only event.) but I’ll overlook it in my ranking since it’s the only noticeable infraction and could be possible if the story is based, in part, on the anime.

This is the first time I ever had so much trouble deciding between a final score of 5.5 and 6.0. It’s extremely well written and does everything a score of 6 should do except for the evoking strong emotions part. However, because I stayed up late to read it (gotta stop doing that) I think I might have been emotionally limited. In the end, I decided to give it a 6/6 because it’s good enough to get a perfect score whether or not it manipulates my emotions.

*Notice:* Some chapters have lemon content.

Title: Ranma’s Apartment
Author: Space Pirate Hamster
Source: Ranma ½ & Oh! My Goddess
Rating: 4.5/6
Type: Crossover
Length: 4 episodes so far (Incomplete)
One idea that has been explored many times by fanfics is “What if
Ranma reached his limit and left?”. “Ranma’s
Apartment” by Space Pirate Hamster is one such fic. It’s hosted
on Furinkan.net along with such fanfics as “newRanma” and “The
Virus” and I definitely enjoy it. It takes place when Ranma is 19
and in post-secondary education. After a big fight, he leaves to
get away from it all and takes up residence in the apartment next
door to Megumi Morisato. Her response to the discovery of Ranma’s
curse is realistic and detailed. (She faints and, after recovering
and accepting it, devotes herself to finding a scientific
explanation) It’s unfinished but the four episodes that have been
written so far don’t feel incomplete. I felt like giving it a 5 at
the beginning but after reading the whole thing, I’ve decided that
it’s worth 4.5 out of 6. Enjoy. Warning: The third episode is a
lemon.

Title: City of Dreams
Author: John Tannius
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4.5/6
Type: Alternate Universe
Length: 16 Chapters

City of Dreams by John Tannius is a Ranma 1/2 Alternate Universe fic with an interesting twist. Namely, it follows Akane from before the start of the series and you don’t know what’s really going on until about half way through. I can’t really say anything more without giving something away but I will say that it’s a nice story and I really like the quote at the end of chapter 9.

Grammar: 4.5 (Well written but feels like a 4.5)
Originality: 5 (Still uses standard Ranma setting but so far, doesn’t follow Canon.)
Overall: 4.5 (What can I say? It feels better than 4 but not quite a 5.)

Title: Quixote
Author: Susan Doenime
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 4/6
Length: Short one-shot

“Quixote” by Susan Doenime is a short one-shot Ranma 1/2 fanfic which exploits Ranma’s usual gullibility when exposed to a certain fanfiction cliche. To say any more would give away the surprise but I can give a scoring breakdown.

Grammar: 3.5/6 – There are several mistakes which I can not only notice, but correct. In fact, if I have some free time, I may submit an improved version to the author and bump the score up to 4.
Originality: 5/6 – The story manages to take a fanfiction cliche and follow a path which nobody else seems to have thought of. Great job but didn’t do enough work for a full 6.
Overall: 4/6 – Overall, it feels like a 4 out of 6. It didn’t go on too long, had an interesting idea, but didn’t do enough for a 5. I’m still considering a 4.5 score.

If you’ve got five minutes to spare, read this. I know I never would have thought of it.

I know, the average of 3.5 and 5 isn’t 4 but the overall score is based on how I perceive it as a whole, not the average of the other scores. To do it otherwise would break from the method I used for previous reviews and, in my opinion, reduce the usefulness of having an overall score. Anyone can calculate an average.

Title: Ill Met by Starlight
Author: Susan Doenime and Mike L.
Source: Ranma 1/2
Rating: 5/6
Type: Dark Psychological Thriller
Length: 13 episodes, 3 epilogues, and an outtakes reel

Any Ranma 1/2 fan will tell you that Ranma Saotome doesn’t lose. Oh sure, he may have some setbacks but he always wins in the end, right? But what if Ranma Saotome weren’t such a good guy? What if he was the villain? “Ill Met by Starlight” by Susan Doenime and Mike L is a psychological thriller which puts a new, darker twist on the tale of martial arts idiocy which we all love.

Upon opening up the first page of this story, I was greeted with three pieces of quoted poetry. One for the fickleness of causality, one for the darkness and light in all of our souls, and one in german. I have always enjoyed fiction which begins the story or chapter with a quote. It’s a nice way to set the mood and to give the story depth. Then, a short speech by the author which could easily be quoted verbatim should hell ever freeze over and fanfics become movies.

Following that is an interesting story detailing a Ranma who is very different from the one we know. A story that follows characters’ thoughts much more thoroughly than any other story I’ve read thus far and does a fairly nice job of throwing monkey wrenches into the reader’s expectations. Nabiki does deviate from canon by being a mercenary who helps to keep the family afloat instead of just being greedy but that’s pretty much standard for fanfiction and the rest of the story definitely makes up for it.

As for the storyline, I definitely liked it. Every change has a reason, though you won’t see the full picture until the end. The developments flow so smoothly that you don’t really know when a fact has finally solidified from the intricate web of confusion and doubt. In fact, throughout the story, my rating has wavered up and down as I misunderstood, realized, and misunderstood again. There are bits of humor scattered around but, except for the outtakes reel, they serve only to further develop the mood.

Most of the chapters begin with relevant quotes, I do enjoy that. I also like references which further my knowledge and this is the first time I’d heard of Gunkanjima. (Hashima island) I’ll probably write a blog entry about it later. Be sure to check out the outtakes reel. It’s HILARIOUS. If you don’t get any of the references, feel free to ask in the comments. I’d be happy to name them.

Finally, you’ll probably never guess what simple change cause this much divergence from the original story. True, in the original story, Ryoga didn’t have a sister and Nabiki wasn’t as beneficial to the household finances but those are easy mistakes to make unless you read the right issues of the Ranma 1/2 Manga. I have yet to read the authors’ notes but I get the feeling that this story draws exclusively from the anime.

My final rating is 5 out of 6 and I think I’ll add psychological thrillers to my fanfiction “find some” list.