OK.  This list is getting really uptight lately, and for
a lot of reasons.  There's been a bunch of off-topic rants,
a lot of writers are on vacation or summer break, and raac
is still down after a month and a half.  Even White Wolf's
been AWOL lately.  Things are tense.

What we need are to talk about fanfics.  Unfortunately,
there aren't enough being posted, and most of the comments
on those are private e-mail.  Thus, the pertinent C&C never
hits the list, and we get Shampoo wars instead.

So, I thought I'd start up a little something.  I got on
this list with a bunch of reviews of all the Ah! My Goddess
fanfiction out there.  These seemed to get dialogue going on 
the Megami list.  So, I thought I'd look at a bunch of fics,
most a year old or more, and see why they are mentioned as
the tops of the genre.

Warning:  there's gonna be lots of Ranma in here.  There's
just twice as many Ranma fanfics as anything else.  Plus,
it's what I read.  I read Ranma, AMG, UY, and that's about
it.  If somebody wants to examine the classic BGC fics, I've
barely started them, so you can post reviews/analyses of
your own.

Spoilers are, of course, in here.

We'll start with perhaps one of the most famous Ranma
continuations:


Putting Your Heart in the Right Place 1-15
by John Biles


Ah, Monsieur Biles.  The man who most people point to when 
they ask, "Who writes the best Ranma fanfiction?".  And this
was, I believe, his first big series.  Now, why is it so
popular with the masses?

Well, it was one of the first of the Ranma "wrap-ups", the
typw of story that tries to connect the dangling plot lines
that Rumiko Takahashi leaves around.  Not all of the
relationships are resolved, but the key one is.  Ranma and
Akane profess their love for each other.  Not that all of
their problems are immediately resolved, but at least it 
happens.

A lot of the other things are wrapped up, too.  Ranma meets
his mother (this was pre-Vol. 36), and gets a temporary
cure for his curse.  Mousse beats Shampoo.  That sort of
thing.

Yet there are also a few things that nobody in their right
mind would think of.  Gosunkugi is given a realistic
character (John mentions this idea was what keyed off the
whole series), and gets a magical girlfriend (!).  Ryouga
and Nabiki get hit by a potion, and fall in love (starting
a trend of Ryouga/Nabiki relationships in fics).

And, of course, there are a lot of plotlines that just scream 
"Ranma".  The dating sequences.  The running around as mice.  
The love cookies.  These wouldn't be happening in any other 
series (except maybe UY).

Perhaps I picked the wrong one to start with, because the 
basic answer to why this is read is that it's very well
written.  All of the characters are in Takahashi-style, with
the notable exception of Gosunkugi, and since the point was 
to develop him, that's understandable.  Everyone lives 
semi-happily ever after, except for Ukyou (another trend in
Ranma fics (one that I'm guilty of myself)).

Basically, what John does is take the two-dimensionalish
characters in Ranma and give them substance, so that we do 
cheer when Ranma chooses Akane, or when, at the end, Nabiki
seduces Ryouga.  Plus, this fanfic brought on the deluge of
others of the same type.

Overall, not a bad way to start your Ranma fanfiction life.

If anyone wants to talk about this, please do!  That is the
point of this whole exercise!


Next up (tomorrow), the "Seasons" tetralogy by Joseph Palmer.

--Sean Gaffney
--"You git!  I thought you were dead!  Git git git!" - Benny, No Future