After reading LOS, I was both pleased and extemely disappointed with it.
I suppose one reason for my disappointment was because I had been building up
my expectations for what was about to come, then it all simply crashed on me
when I finished reading prologue and canto one. But I can't really point out
why I felt so disappointed, other than failed expectations.
I first came across Last One Standing on Transpacific page, and was
interested by the preamble on the page for LOS at
http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/los.html. Then the poster teaser came, and
I became excited, almost with a fervor. BTW, that preamble at Transpacific
was where I made assumption that it would be RANMA who would be challenged in
a way, just as I had adamantly stated in my past posts regarding the poster.
I just had neglected to mention the source for my assumption, which made
itself apparent when I recieved a delgue of posts asking where I made the
statement about Ranma. (Admittedly, after reading canto one, I was partly
wrong in my assumptions, but I know that it will eventually lead back to
Ranma, probably with the confrontation between Akane and Ranma.) Regardless,
I was both excited and disquietened by the implications of the poster, and
gave me a feeling that I might not like how things might turn out. Taking
into account that Mike Loader (author of Ill Met By Starlight fanfic) was the
author of this fanfic didn't help matters much (he certainly got my respect
for him after IMBS- my reaction to LOS only confirms that).
Then the fanfic came. Faced with the sense of forebrooding and unwilling to
face the implications of the poster, I refrained from reading the fanfic
until now. I learned my lesson with Bitter End- I choose wrong time to read
it, on Sunday night, and I ended up glued to screen until I finished it, and
couldn't sleep for hours. When I did finally sleep, I ended up missing two of
my classes and was left mentally and emotionally messed up for nearly a
week), and decided to wait until today so I would be able to handle if the
worst happened.
After reading LOS, I don't think I have a positive view on the fic itself, if
it's going where I think it's heading. Matthew Campbell seem to share my
thoughts on the possible conclusion of the fanfic, which makes me
disappointed in other way as well. To be honest, I had expected more out of
Mike.
Why is it that is seems to me that everyone I come across in fanficdom seem
to have a sort of bias against Akane? I can rattle off fanfics that portray
Akane in bad light, as violent homidical maniac (I happen to be a friend with
one who agrees on this topic), or write her off as a person who isn't worth
much, pertaining to the story of Ranma 1/2 much at all. All WAFFy fics of
Akane doesn't help her much at all either. It's always either one side or
other of Akane.
What I really want to see is a fanfic that tries to portray _both_ sides of
Akane, which is finally being done at last with Last One Standing. She's
beginning to realize her weakness, and is trying to fix that problem. For far
too long she's been on sidelines or a non-combatant or a bait. I've always
wanted to see her try to do her part actively, which has been sorely lacking
in both fanfics and manga. There's a particular type of fanfic I want to read
about her and Ranma, but it was never written (at least, to my knowledge).
That's why I'm so excited about LOS. But at the same time, when I noticed the
way things are going towards the end of canto one, my feelings quickly turned
to disappointment. Particularly because in my view, that sort of resolution
has been done repeatedly. Of course I may be assuming too much, but I just
can't help my disappointment. For now, I'll try and wait for future issues,
to see how things turn out.
Now for the fic itself:
Prologue-
Judging from it's reaction at the beginning, there's no doubt that Akane will
play vital role throughout the fic, and implied at her potential at...
something? It wasn't specificed, but it's reaction was more than enough for
me to note that Akane would be the one who would have the decisive position-
whatever happens in the fic will be directly affected by Akane's actions.
I'm certain that Kodachi will play at least a minor role in LOS, especially
with her reaction and the fact that her dream was presented to us first,
signifying something that I'm not so sure about. Kuno, it figures.
Also, Shampoo's dream seemed odd to me, but I know it's related to Tetsuko
somehow. Maybe it might spell some unfortunate events for Amazons ahead by
befriending Tetsuko?
Ryoga's dream sequence seemed to me that he was about to be forced to make a
choice between Akane and Akari, as shown by his indecision over perciving his
girlfriend as- there might be apossibility that Akari would be involved as
well. It may not take much to put Ryoga over the edge, send him after Ranma.
After all, the it has his sights set on him.
In a forest, his head pillowed on a bear's pelt, Mika the
Raven slept. He had a nightmare.
"Nice try," he said, and shot it.
Am I supposed to recongize this guy?
As for Ranma and Akane's dream, they were obvioulsy shaken by their dreams,
but I was surprised to notice that they didn't give it much of a thought in
canto one. I know for sure that they would at least try to ponder over what
they meant. Unless I was mistaken and Canto didn't occur the next morning...
Akane and Tetsuko's duel: I was pleased with this duel, if only to help make
Akane recongize her weakness (NOT because of what happened). I've been always
frustruated by Akane's apparent lack of interest in pursing her martial
artist trainning, despite the fact that she hates being a third-rate martial
artist. If she wanted to have some respect from Ranma, she would have to
practice harder (and she does have the potential- the Battle Dogi arc proved
that). Yet she choose to loosen up on her trainning and accept insults from
Ranma, and I didn't like her decision.
Evil-Tofu: It sure seems to me that I have a mindset against evil-Tofu,
because it didn't register to me that this might be the case until someone
pointed out the possibilty. Looking back, it sure makes sense now, though
he's certainly less 'evil' than WUE Tofu.
Actually, a thought came to me: Tofu's not really as evil as he seems- recall
that there's some evil enitity who's after Ranma in prologue? I think it was
just implanting some shadow techniques into Tofu's mind without him realizing
it, so he would teach Akane them. THEN it would give Tetsuko the ability to
counter Akane's new attacks, thereby forcing Akane to learn more of Shadow
arts. Eventually, she either will be defeated by Tetsuko or will find out
that she's pretty in deep shit with no way out. Or with Akane's exposure to
Shadow moves, she would become extremely vulnerable to it, and might be
possed by it. That'd be Ranma's worse nightmare- being forced to fight Akane
who's more than willing to kill him.
The question is: what will Ranma do about it, and can he make it? Like the
preamble at transpacific, he may not...
Tetsuko: Despite the fact that she's after Akane, I find her to be a rather
interesting character to read about, especailly since she's not crazed or
maniac person like others we know about. She has an unique personality that
makes her almost engimatic, yet reasonable. There's a hard-edge around her
that makes her more fascinating (I loved Ranma's reaction when he tried to
challenge her).
But I have a feeling that Tetsuko will get her wish by the end of LOS- I'm
certain that Akane would have her share of scarring.
Also, my response to other review, to save bytes:
In a message dated 4/14/99 07:47:57 PM, mgcampb@clemson.edu writes:
Wacky Prediction #2: At some point in this story, Akane is going to
thrash Ukyou in a fair fight! That's right, with some helpful training
>from Dr. Evil (I mean, Tofu), Akane is going to kick Ukyou around like
somebody's red-headed sister! (whatever that means.)
I don't know about this, but I doubt it. Especailly not with Akane's attidue
towards her, which's been made evident early in canto one. If she's out to
look for someone to kick around, it's most likely Shampoo.
That, and Kuno as well, if he keeps on interferring on her honor-bound
battles. ^_-
Ranma's comments on the weaknesses of using weapons struck me as a gun
on the mantelpiece type thing. To be sure, it was partially setup for
the asswhupping that Ukyou is about to recieve. And it might also be
setup for something about Tetsuko. Still.....
Wouldn't that apply to Tetsuko as well? She's completly dependent on her
fishhook. If it wasn't for Kuno, Akane might've finished her off. Which leads
me to ponder that some event might occur to force Tetsuko to set aside her
vendetta and help others during some bad event, or have her wish fulfilled
and gut Akane (personally, I'm voching for the former).
It was strangely satisfying to seem Ranma kill Akane in that dream
sequence at the beginning after all these fics where everybody _except_
her dies horribly. Keep the Tendo blood pouring!
So you want Nabiki and Kasumi's blood to spill as well? I beg to differ. I'd
prefer things to turn out _differently_ than what you had so advocated
clearly.
I guess that's all I've got to say at this moment. I'm still not sure about
exactly why I'm disappointed, but I am nonethless. I'll be reading the rest
of LOS, though, if only other than to find out what happens in the end.
Perhaps I'll find out that my first opinion was made too hastily. Until then,
keep the cantos coming out, ML!
Dark Alpha <AlphSailor@aol.com> formerly Sailor Alpha
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