At 11:04 AM 8/23/98 PDT, The Critic wrote:

I live in the US, and the Ranma stuff I've managed to acquire hasn't
introduced the charater of Miss Hinako yet.  So, can anyone e-mail me 

(I

realize I'm leting myself in for it here...) character info about this
person?  Basically, I'm working on a story, the main character of which
is trying to improve her Japanese, and learn to read some, not being a
native to the Land of the Rising Sun.

[Rubs eyes and brow] Look, don't take this the wrong way, but it would 
probably be best if you dropped the Foreign Exchange Student and all 
it's variants. This type of fic tends to be very poor. Are you excited 
about the new possibilities writing in such a character creates? If so, 
run with it--maybe you can break the mold and write a fic like this that 
isn't horrible. If not, drop it; you're writing for the wrong reasons.

The Foreign Exchange Student fics tended to be bad because the student
would be too perceptive, or an outstanding martial artist, or some other
munchkinish trait.  These traits can also spoil other new character fics.
They are not restricted to FES fics.  There is no inherent reason why a FES
fic can't be good.  For example, the FES may be be the outside observer or
may act as a mirror for the Ranma crew and allow them to see themselves as
the rest of the world sees them.  Alternatively, maybe the FES in an agent
of a secret organization bent on world domination.  Maybe the FES is an
undercover '60 Minutes' reporter.  

                                                dml