[FFML] Review: WildHorses and Pokegirls

Time for another Review... Since I just read the story, no matter how many others of you have already done so.

To be honest, I approached this story on the advice of MasterYumi571 (as he appears on my MSN messenger) and I will admit, I expected it to be just another cheap lemon.

I could not have been more wrong.

Instead, I found a fully realized world, with a history, a scope, a depth that is rare to find in any story, let alone fanfiction. From the post apocalyptic setting of a world where genetically engineered animorphs and humans had fought till civilization was nearly destroyed, to the multilayered society struggling to reach a new future despite the prejudices of the extreme factions who still think genocide is the only solution, I found a world that took some of the worst darkness of the human psyche and male/female domination, and then turned you towards a world of hope. One that still had it's shadows and horrors, but one where the future stood a chance of being brighter than the past.

Yes, Wildhorses and Pokegirls has sex, it has fanservice, and it has it's moments of pure hentai, but beneath the in your face sexism of Starboobs and Titmice, there's a subtle current of mockery for that very same sexism. The names get so ridiculous that you can't take them seriously, because they begin to reflect the 8-year old childish mentality that seeks to make the Pokegirls nothing more than combat sextoys.

And yet, as becomes apparent... the Pokegirls are far more human, and humane, than many of the so-called Purebloods. Yes, their independence had been stolen, and they needed someone to be their support, their "master", but as the story continues, it becomes harder and harder to see this as a "curse." The independence of "I don't need nothing from no-one" vs. the dependence of "I can only become my best self with your support." For both the Pokegirls, and for Ranma, this dichotomy forms the crux of their journeys of self-discovery, as that need is the key to survival, not only for Ranma, but for the entire Pokegirl world.

My only disappointment with the story is that it ends so suddenly, leaving so many loose threads, and the impression that much of the build up to the conclusion took place while I wasn't watching. I feel like I'm not part of the "in" group, and got excluded from being allowed to know what really went on. I know I'm fairly new to the fanfic scene, but this story had way too good of a plot until the last chapter, and it's a shame to see it end this way.

In other words, MetroAnime, I'd love to see a revised ending, where nothing really has to change plotwise, but where the real story of what happened in Viridian city is told. It's too good a story to leave with such a... unfinished feel.

And for everyone else... in my opinion, this is what Lemon should be... so integral to the plot that it's removal leaves the story as something less... instead of something more.

Bravo.