[Originally a post to Rec.Arts.Anime.Fandom and to the Fanfic Mailing
List in July 1996.]
This work is the latest in a series of posts I have written in appreciation of my favorite Ranma 1/2 fan fiction posted to rec.arts.anime.creative and its predecessor. My first post, in October 1995, comprised reviews of my favorite seven Ranma fanfics posted since the fanfic archive moved to ftp.std.com in September 1994. Since then, I have posted quarterly, so this is the third quarter post for Fanfic Year 1996 (my Fanfic Year ends on September 30).
The best part of this exercise, apart from being able to broadcast my opinions to the whole world, has been the quality of correspondence that has resulted from my posts. I have had very enjoyable and often enlightening exchanges with fanfic authors and fellow readers. I invite anyone to reply by private e-mail; I will respond to all missives. I will also try to monitor r.a.a.f. and the FFML for responses to my post, and will reply publicly as appropriate.
The Ranma 1/2 fan fiction stories that I have identified as my "favorites" are alike in that they have made sufficient impact on me to encourage me to read them over again. My favorite Ranma fanfics are so well crafted or so interesting that they draw me back for a second, a third reading, so much there is to appreciate. The things that tend to bring me back are expertly styled prose, natural dialogue, deep characterization, and original plot elements. And while there are certainly long fanfics among my favorites, I very much admire brevity, having found that eminently skilled authors accomplish the most with the least.
There are probably stories which have most or all of those good points, yet are unable to elicit a re-read from me. All my judgements are naturally subjective and some are inexplicable or arbitrary. And of course, I occasionally change my mind (see the Addenda section below).
The response to my April 1st post was enormous; I received dozens of e-mails. Unfortunately, most of them were simple inquiries as to where one could find a copy of If Only by Sam Marco. Oh well, I suppose that any successful April Fool's joke requires some cleaning up. Of course, If Only exists only in my imagination, and there it is likely to stay. A handful of correspondents requested that I at least provide an outline or summary. But every time I begin to work on it, I think: if I'm going to take the trouble to develop a skeleton, I might as well write the whole story. After that conclusion is reached, procrastination becomes easy.
This is becoming a routine part of my quarterly exercise: revising my list
of favorites either because I missed the story when it was first posted or
because I've changed my mind. The two new listings below are examples of
the latter effect. It is coincidental that both new additions to my FY 96
favorites list are from the same author.
I always liked this fanfic and even gave it something of an "honorable mention" in my previous post. I did not originally list it among my favorites because it didn't have much of an impact on me. But my deliberations on the issues involving new characters and author-based characters prompted me to take a second look.
After further review, the charm of Normal became more clear to me. Saicho's minor obsession with Ranma is realistic and its definition and consequences are well developed through the story. The understated tone of the story is compelling in its subtlety; a first-person narration might have overdramatized Saicho's feelings about what he sees and what happens to him. The dialogue, particularly Saicho's conversation with Yoshi, while sounding authentically simple, resonates with undertones of self-examination and the promise of self-improvement.
The fight and its aftermath are handled nicely. Most satisfying is not the realistic outcome of the brawl, but its evolutionary, even redemptive effect on Saicho. Clearly, there was much that I'd missed the first time around; I'm glad I looked again.
Read more of my thoughts about Normal in the 1996 Taleswapper Awards.
Click
here to download Normal from the anime fanfic
archive.
In the case of this extended work, I must confess that I simply did not want to admit how much I like SP. The cause of my embarrassment is obvious: the lemon portions of the story are forced, often clumsy, and sometimes quite ugly. There were sufficient flaws in the work apart from the lemon content that I have been able to dismiss SP for more than half a year. But no longer. After a recent re-read, I realized that there is so much refreshingly original and clever material in the story, I feel obligated to comment on it and to recommend its appreciation. Unsavory lemon content notwithstading, the writing in SP is well above the average for Ranma fanfics.
One of the work's strong points is dialogue. The cadence and tone of conversations vary appropriately with whoever is conversing. Many dialogues between Ranma and Ranko have a terse, clipped quality that makes sense because they are essentially of one mind. There is a sweetness that flows like background music from the conversations between Ukyou and Ranko.
Another admirable element of SP is Rim's strong knowledge of the entire manga continuity and his skillful application of that knowledge, especially the imaginative use of underused characters like Pansuto Tarou and Herb. That they are essential to the story's plot, and not merely interesting supporting players, is an impressive achievement in plotting. Rim's background story linking Pansuto and Herb is interesting and folds nicely into the main storyline. The characterization of Lime and Mint as a breast-fixated comedic duo is as funny as Takahashi's.
The extended fight scenes in SP are mostly well done, with prose that is just descriptive enough and an added level of violence that brings realism and tension. Ranko's duel with Herb is particularly compelling, and the unfinished Tournament scene is one of the most exciting and well choreographed fights in all Ranma fanfic. The free-for-all in Chapter 8 is also impressive, though in places a little too hard to follow. The conclusion to the battle imposed by Nodoka is an ingenious touch.
Rim works the standard slapstick comedy of Ranma 1/2 very well and with noteworthy consistency. The trick, as far as I can figure, is to let the comic images speak for themselves, staging slapstick moments as they appear in the manga/anime. Too often, authors embellish with extra details that were funny once but no longer are ("Akane pulled mallet Number 9 from hyperspace . . .") or with overreaching prose ("Ranma turned to reply, but found that he couldn't, as Ryouga's fist was now imbedded in his face."). Though not slapstick, the Musk Dynasty story in the Chapter 9 prologue may be the most uproariously funny passage in all of Ranma fanfic.
Click here to view the Split Personalities subdirectory of the anime fanfic archive.
Because no new Ranma fanfics have been processed by the rec.arts.anime.creative
moderator since mid-May, the Third Quarter was more like an eighth. That
doesn't mean, however, that there were no gems to be found.
Hosmer is a Ranma fanfic author of rare accomplishment: he has demonstrated excellence in stories composed in both full-featured prose (Lies and Girls' Night Out) and script format (Elseworlds: Akane 1/2 and the current work). John Biles' Still Waters has long been one of the few crossover fanfics I've truly enjoyed (the others are Biles' RanmaPunk 2033 and Benares' A Leap and A Half and Predator and Prey.) The first four parts provided a seamless, complementary blend of the Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura universes, as well as plenty of good Takahashi-style humor. Hosmer succeeds in maintaining the high standards.
Though Courting Chaos is a little low on plot, there is much in the chapter to be appreciated. Hosmer's handling of the huge cast provides an excellent model for other authors who want to try writing all or most of the Ranma 1/2 characters into their stories. Too many Ranma fanfic authors, in an attempt to give every character something noteworthy to say or do, descend into cliches or unnatural dialogue patterns, e.g., the writer has every single character react to everything Ranma says or does. Hosmer avoids these traps, visiting each small grouping of characters only when he has a specific story-advancing point to make or a decent joke to stage. The only disappointing exception is when Shampoo and Mousse show up at the festival.
Along similar lines, the dialogue is competent and appropriate to the characters as originally styled, although Ranma seems a little too surly and Ryoko too conventionally nasty. I would have liked to see some advancement in the Ranma-Akane plotline; there really was nothing new there. The Lum-Ataru story is nicely supplemented by the introduction of Shampoo into the mix; I'm eager to see that particular showdown. There's some development in Ryouga-Shinobu, though something more definitive (what were they doing under that table?) would have been preferable. The Nabiki-Mendou story that dominates part 4 was interesting up until papa-san Mendou showed up; that ending was not particularly funny or necessary, though it was good to see the possibilities left open for the couple.
Oh, and "Martial Arts Snobbery" was a clever idea well executed.
Click
here to download Still Waters Run Deep from the anime fanfic
archive.
Revolution is a nice little change-of-pace story. It evokes the sort of contemplative mood that Joseph Palmer's "Seasons" cycle created, though without Palmer's breathtaking imagery. Despite the talky content, the story is not overly verbose; its terse dialogue has a smooth and natural quality. The last line of the story is one of most charming I've seen in Ranma fanfic; it has a subtle but memorable beauty.
And then you read Revolution #9,the same story with a little added perspective. It is twisted and sick. And irresistible. "Morganfield" applies the same casual, slice-of-life style to the new scenes, which gives their shocking content all the more impact. The Nabiki scene startles, the Genma scene repulses. The author is to be congratulated (or executed) for inventing a brand new (to me, anyway) perversion for Kasumi's hobby. Revolution #9 produces cathartic horror with an intensity not achievable by graphically violent stories.
Click here
to go to "McKinley Morganfield's" home page.
I have little new to say about the latest installment in my favorite extended series of the year; see my previous posts for details on what I like about Tales. I commend Part 7 to readers for its refreshingly original take on Ukyou's personality and motivations.
Read more of my thoughts about Tales of Ranma & Nabiki in the First Quarter FY 96 Post, the and Second Quarter FY 96 Post, the 1996 Taleswapper Awards.
Click here
to go to "McKinley Morganfield's" home page.
I'm was a little bit disturbed about this one. Part of the charm of Part 1 of The Least stemmed from its stand-alone identity. The character development (i.e., Ranma and Shori) that occurred in so short a time demonstrated graceful, uncomplicated storytelling. The continuation of the story diminishes the simple charm of the original, transforming the short story into an installment in a longer story.
That is not to say that the longer story lacks charm. Indeed, many of the strong points of Part 1 continue to resonate throughout the later chapters. Shori remains a remarkably appealing character. The more sensitive Ranma, enlightened by the moments shared with Shori, is also a pleasure to read. Wong's economical yet expressive style imbues the fanfic with an ambience of understated loveliness that is rare in script-format stories.
Yet so many of the benefits of extending The Least come with a price. The development of Akane's role, while necessary and fascinating, sets up a contradiction: the "enlightened" Ranma reverts to old form around Akane. It seems more likely to me that, after his initial encounter with Shori, Ranma would be a more pleasant person for Akane to be around, even if he were less romantically interested in his fiancee. Encouragingly, Wong seems to be moving in that direction in Part 5.
Though Ranma's knightly rescues of the damsel in distress in Parts 2 and 3 are well scripted, the action scenes seem out of place in this talky romance. The dramatic displays of emotions from Akane are also inconsistent with the Part 1's subtle tone. But such perceived flaws are mere trifles; the big picture is that I very much enjoy this continuing fanfic. Though some lustre has been lost in the expansion, the story has become more interesting and I eagerly await further installments and the dramatic confrontations they likely contain. An interesting touch is the characterization of Nabiki, unique in that she plays the counseling role usually reserved for Kasumi.
I wrote about Part 2 of The Least One Can Do in the Second Quarter FY 96 Post.
Click
here to download The Least One Can Do from the anime fanfic
archive.
In my opinion.
Taleswapper
Shortly after my "Fanfic Year" ends on September 30, assuming rec.arts.anime.creative wakes up before then, I plan to post a review of my fourth-quarter favorites. After that, I'll be ready for the Second Annual Taleswapper Awards for Best Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction (remember, once is a fluke but twice is a tradition), wherein I will select and honor la creme de la creme from the favorite Ranma stories I have cited this year. Right now, I intend to numerically rank the top stories, choosing an overall favorite, which I didn't do last year. I may also make up some award categories like last year's "best writer," "best fight scene," etc. In addition to the stories reviewed above, my favorites for the year to date are:
In the original posting in July 1996, I included here an essay presenting
my views on an issue that had become widely discussed on the FFML and other
places. If you want to read it, go to the separate page featuring
the "Annoying
New Characters" essay.
Return to Taleswapper's Home Page.