(Note:  The following review has been censored for content
by supporters of the Criminal Justice Act.  Your new reviewer
is Jack Lint.  We apologize for those who may have admired
Mr. Gaffney's style.  Rest assured you'll see him again.)


Hello.  I'm here to tell you about a fanfic, that, frankly, 
is more famous than it deserves to be.  I am, of course, 
talking about that paragon of subversion, Ministry of Confusion,
by Stefan Gagne, if indeed that is his real name.

The author apparently finds it amusing to mock our forms of
government, even under the guise of an anime series.  Oh, the
characters are supposed to be true to the heart of the series.
But you'll notice how all the "good guys" seem to support the
kind of anarchy that results from a lack of popular support
for the government.

Perhaps if Ranma had simply *told* Miss Kodachi (godresthersoul)
what she needed to know, then none of the problems that followed
needed to have happened.  Ranma would be happy at his home with
Akane Tendo, and secure in his ignorance, rather than living 
as he does now with the pain and unrest that his knowledge brings.

Indeed, the fanfic, though it purports to be "dark" (indeed, the
author, somehow hacking into an unlicensed terminal, said as much),
seems to have all of its revolutionaries living happily ever after.
Yet the fanfic does not show nearly as much dark, disturbing 
qualities as such other works by the author as "Wicked Garden" 
and "Juysa's Lyric".  Selective memory?  Or is that what he *wants*
you to think.

What Mr. Gagne is really doing with Ministry of Confusion is 
showing the so-called benefits of working against the system 
while blissfully ignoring any major consequences.  Of course, we
all know that real life isn't like that.  But what if a young
person, just out of high school, were to get a hold of this work
of rebellion?  The work succeeds, much like the traitorous work
Common Sense, because of the excellence of the rhetoric that it
preaches.  Mr. Gagne can undoubtedly write.  Indeed, were it
not for the themes he sets out, I would go so far as to call
this a "classic" Ranma fanfic, as the late^H^H^H^H^H^Hvacationing
Mister Gaffney would undoubtedly do.

Mr. Gagne undoubtedly thinks enough time has passed that he can
safely show his face again.  Rest assured, we will find him.

Do you support his views?  If so, e-mail me at Jack@brazil.com.
All of your views are guaranteed confidential.

Be seeing you.

--Jack Lint
--a reviewer for the government (but not an agent thereof)