"This time I've gone a little different path than the usual
ones, though.  I've taken certain liberties with the Ranma cast,
liberties which I hope will make the story a little more
interesting than the usual Ranma-standard these days."

The following words were written in the afterword notes of tonight's
reviewed work, and they will be the focus of much of what I have to
say tonight.

Tonight's work was, quite literally, revolutionary when it came out. 
It took Ranma fanfiction in a direction nobody had thought to... and
left dozens of heirs in its wake.  Forever emulated, never copied, it
still reads as fresh today as it did when it was first released.

The fanfic that I will review tonight is "Stepping Stones: Ukyou's
Tale" by Jason Wages, aka Benares.  The work can be found on in the
Ranma 1/2 fanfiction archive, at

ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/ranma.stepping-stones

or, for those using direct ftp:

ftp://ftp.cs.ubc.ca/pub/archive/anime-fan-works/Ranma/ranma.stepping-stones.gz

Archive date is June 1995; not sure how accurate this is compared to
the release date.

Anyway...

Plot: This is not an action fanfic.  Ukyou tells her life story,
focusing on a few days in her 22nd year.  The plot is largely
secondary in works like this; it is there to provide reaction for the
character or characters.  It does its job, nothing more. 

Characterization:  

<RANT WARNING>

Where did Benares get the idea that Ukyou was a borderline suicidal? 
There was no major indication of such mental instability in the anime
or manga.  Benares took the character, added circumstances and some
of his own views on human nature, and made a different Ukyou than the
one we are familiar with.  

In other words, he crossed over existing characterization lines.  

And I thank him for it.  

Any 'serious' Ranma story requires that the writer take out a part of
what was and replace it with something more realistic.  Ranma 1/2 is
a comedy after all, with some grotesquely comic elements in it. 
Replace that comedy with realism, and you have something that is no
less valuable, but is different.  

The problem lies in the fact that, for everyone, their personal
reality is different.  What some people will see as prudence in a
character would be seen as cowardice in another.  Some see virtue,
others vice.  In other words, each person sees the characters in a
different way.  

I have seen and heard of several instances recently, times when
people said 'My reality is right, and yours is wrong.'  This is a
danger to serious Ranma fanfiction.  Intolerance to others' ideas on
characterization is a severe curtailment to those ideas.  To be
honest, I've written works that at one time I would have dismissed as
out-of-character; in the ensuing time, I learned how to see things
from different viewpoints, allowing me to look at the characters in
different ways.  Neither viewpoint is totally right; at the same
time, neither viewpoint is totally wrong.  In a case like this, where
the author has taken the characters from the safety of Ranma comedy
and instilled real, painful breath into them, the only true 'out-of-
character' label would come from an inconsistent portrayal.  Benares 
could have gone over acceptable lines if he'd decided to hold back 
from the character's progression over the course of the story or if 
he'd simply ignored Ukyou's core anime and manga personality entirely; 
however, he didn't, and kept 'his' Ukyou on course.  Ukyou is still 
recognizable as Ukyou; she has simply become something different, more 
than what she was... as we all strive to become more than what we are.

And what would have been the cost, if people had rallied against it
saying it was 'out of character'?

The answer:

Hearts of Ice.
Bitter End.
Thy Inward Love.
The recent DnR episodes.
Nightshadow.
Any work where the writer decided to try to show some realism in the
work.

If it hadn't been accepted, any future work would have had to justify
itself to existing characterization.  Instead, 'Stepping Stones',
because it *was* accepted, opened its doors to other 'serious'
portrayals.

Final thoughts on characterization: Tonight was not a good evening for 
me.  I had a small trust betrayed.  I didn't expect for this work to 
move me like it did; as I read it, I found that I could cry along with 
Ukyou as she went through her trial.  I felt for her; I grieved with 
her.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is more important than any 
technical bull that myself or any other critic on this ML will shovel 
at you.  This is at the core of why we write; so that we can touch the 
hearts of others, and make the stories we have inside felt.

Ah, well.  Enough ranting about characterization.

Style: Benares' style is not perfect.  There were occasionally bits
where more description was desperately needed; the destruction of
Ucchan's was one place where more description would have served
beautifully.  Overall, however, Benares has an excellent way with
words.  His grasp of the language gives the work a vitality and
beauty not found in most other works.  

Overall: The work gets four bweees.  Benares earned them many times
over for this.  Even after all this time, this work still moves me, 
something very few works can claim.  Benares had mentioned possibly 
writing a sequel; however, such things seem impossible now.

Next week: In honor of an upcoming release, I will review the first
major 'solve-everything' work, "Putting Your Heart in the Right
Place" by John Biles.  Until then, take care, everyone, and happy
reading.

-- Nick