Normally, I'm a lurker, but, this time, I felt impelled to respond.
"Kaoru L. Shimitsu" <kaoru@mosquitonet.com> 03/17 6:16 AM >>>
Characterization: There are so many things wrong I cannot
begin to name them. Despite the premise of Ranma being heavily
emotionally scarred due to this revelation, I sincerely cannot
believe he would break down in this short amount of time. Ranma
would not start off with heady crying and instant feminine feelings
due to residual femininity from Childhood.
I dunno if this is true or not. I admit I found the characterization a little unconvincing myself, but not totally out of all bounds of believability. After all, if, as the story presumes, the whole "macho" act was an attempt to suppress a true inner nature, I would think a revelation like this would be just the thing to shatter the defenses put up against that true nature. Is this canon? No, but it doesn't pretend to be. You sort of have to go with the premise of the story. If you can't do that, you probably won't like the story.
Akane is prone to emotional and compassionate behavior.
Granted. However, the strangeness that just rubs me the wrong way
has to do with how lovey dovey she acts with Ranma halfway through
the story. I am not so sure people, in real life, work this way,
considering there are a thousand and one things Akane can hold
against Ranma.
I mostly agree that Akane is the most OOC of the bunch here. But here's what rubsme the wrong way about your comment: while its true that people can and do hold things against others in real life, its also true that people can be extremely forgiving in real life. And certainly, in the canon, Akane can be nice enough when she wants to be. I do think the author could have done more to prepare us for this change in how Akane treats and reacts to Ranma, but, again, it doesn't strike me as wholly implausible, given the assumptions for this story.
*HOWEVER*, I
do not see Nodoka as being so instantly accepting that Ranma is a
guy. Yes, the author did mention that she wasn't REALLY prepared
for it, but even pretending to tolerate it takes a great deal of
time and emotional soul searching on a parents behalf.
Categorically wrong. A) she doesn't "intantly accept" it. She has had a week to think about it. Moreover, she is manifestly happy when Ranma decides to attempt life as Ranko for several weeks. B) do you know your supposition that "even pretending to tolerate it takes a great deal of time and emotional soul searching on a parents behalf" to be universally true? I don't. Different people react in different ways. And, canonically speaking, Nodoka has shown herself to be a little more flexible than fics commonly portray her. After all, in the canon, Nodoka accepts Ranmas curse after about 5 minutes of "soul searching" when she finds out about it. I had no problems "believing" in Nodoka.
Genma: I should shoot the author for developing an
unhealthy bias against Genma. The only person who seems to harbor
any emotional liking of Genma is his son, which is debateable,
considering she doesn't know whether to kill him or hug him and not
let go (As quoted from the story). Bad form, *BAD FORM!* I say. A
writer should be neutral and caring of each character on a somewhat
level measurement, creating bias's and dislikes tend to cause bad
portrayal not JUST of the character being disliked, but in the
others as well (One relationship effects all).
How can you be neutral and caring? Also, you evidently have never seen Richard III. The play is essentially a character assassination of a historical figure, but is a very enjoyable play nonetheless. Any cursory review of literature would reveal that not every character has to be sympathetic. Your problem here is you obviously have your own preferences and assume they must be universally true.
Why is it
everything is so damn convenient in this story??? Forgive my
language, but I get to twitching when everything just seems to work
in the authors best interest. Why I bring this up in the Kasumi
section is the doll... that was basically the driving point for this
minor annoyance of convenient happenstances.
Why shouldn't it be? What is it about the doll that, when given the rest of the assumptions this fic makes, makes the episode so unbelievable. Here's a tip: don't ever watch a play by Moliere. The contrived "conveniences" are at times outlandish. But that doesn't make them any less enjoyable.
Conveniences: I find it convenient that Genma happened to
disappear,
I find this understandable, when he knows damn well that the truth of what he has done will come to light. Not "convenient" at all.
that the Amazons were not upset (Instead directing their
anger at Genma),
I partially agree with you here. Actually, the "convenience" I found hardest to swallow was the method the author used to sidestep the whole "Kiss of Death" law. But I don't find their overall reaction so hard to believe. Who wouldn't believe Mousse would be happy that Ranma is no longer a "competitor" for Shampoo? And Cologne is nothing if not pragmatic (except where the law is concerned). I found her admitting defeat believable, though the instant helpfulness was a little much. I didn't find Shampoo or Ukyou to be all that convincing, though...
That Nabiki hates Genma for what he did (Ooooh..
she's done worse),
Oh? Such as?
That Happosai is the excuse for Ranma being Male
(Who didn't see that coming?), that...
Has to happen somehow. You know, in spite of your protestations to the contrary, I think there is something about the premise of this fic that bothers you. I don't see how any of the characters are as out of whack as you make them out to be, nor that any of the "conveniences" you mention appreciably distract or lessen the story. I think the truth is you just don't like it. And you're entitled, but...
Now then. Speaking as someone who scores
a pretty damn high score on the tests for determining
transsexualism, I will say this much. This isn't as easy as the
author makes it out to be. This is a hard, tough decision that,
despite Ranma's curse (Which makes things easier) is NOT anywhere
easy to make. There is also no amount of *EASY* coping involved
with ANYONE who is involved in the situation.
No offense, but I can't help but wonder, after reading this, if this is your true problem with this story: that Ranma doesn't seem to be suffering enough. Unlike you, however, I didn't get the sense from the story that it WAS an easy decision to make. In fact, almost the whole darn story gave me the impression that Ranma was having difficulty coping with things.
Are we reading the same fic?
I find it demeaning and trivializing that Akane, Kasumi,
Nabiki, and everyone else just ACCEPTS Ranma as female and rally
against genma (Which I am beginning to *GAG* over by now), and
despite how everyone says "Oh, it's Ranko's choice, don't force it,"
in the story, they *ARE* Forcing it. ESPECIALLY AKANE.
This is absolutely right. As it should be. You must have had either a very happy or very sheltered life if no one in it has attempted to manipulate you in any way for their own ends, whether those ends be concious or subconcious. Given the assumptions of the fic and what Genma has done, I can completely understand why everyone is angry at Genma. I can't see how you find this unbelievable. As far as people accepting Ranma's "femaleness", Nodoka's attitude is understandable, Akane's reaction is more or less explained, though everyone else's acceptance could use more work, especially Shampoo and Ukyou.
Ranma being who Ranma is, I cannot believe in any sense of
the word BELIEVE that he would just drop everything he is in favor
of being a girl. Doesn't work.
I wasn't under the impression he was. The fic repeatedly goes out of its way to point out that Ranma is afraid of embracing the fact that he was born a girl. He only decides to give it a try when realizing that he's not happy being a male (again, not canon, but not attempting to be) and, even then, he hasn't made a firm decision to be a girl.
I ask again: are we reading the same fic?
A NOTE FOR ALL THOSE HOSERS WHO LIKE THIS FIC: All the >power to you.
Obviously you haven't read much fanfiction out there. Leifker, Zen,
Lawson, Perry all put this fic to shame in the general keep-ability
of most readers.
I can't speak for everyone else on the FFML, but I find this to be extremely offensive. You are an arrogant, obnoxious... well, I will show you more courtesy than you showed the rest of us and won't call you a name. But I will ask you this: who appointed you ultimate arbiter of what is good or bad in a fanfic? As a matter of fact, I have read works by all the writers you mentioned, and, while I agree that it isn't as good as HOI or other fics out there, I didn't realize there was some minimum standard that all fics posted to the FFML had to meet. In fact, I had been under the impression that the whole point of the FFML is for authors to receive constructive criticism of their work in order to be able to improve on them. Silly me. Evidently, this is a forum for people to bash fics they don't like and call the people who like those fics names. My mistake.
To clear this up, let me make a point that I am not the end
all and be all of opinions in the universe.
Funny, almost everything you wrote gave the exact opposite impression...
I simply have my own,
which should be accounted for by people with brains when making
decisions (I believe).
This directly contradicts your previous sentence. "People with brains"? How arrogant can you get?
We should listen to the opinions of others
and weigh them with our own opinions of things, hence why I go to
movies people tell me that SUCK, and I end up liking them.
However, THIS was BAD.
Your opinion. And you're entitled to it. However, that doesn't justify calling others who liked the fic names. And let me ask you something: why should I listen to the opinions of people I don't respect. And make no mistake: I certainly do not respect you. You had some valid points about the fic and the characterizations in the fic, but they got lost in your high-handed, self-serving attitude.
I base my opinion of a fic solely on how I perceive the fic. Was this fic the best fic ever written? Hardly. Were there flaws in this fic? Of course, and you pointed out some of them. But I and, evidently, other readers found this fic to be enjoyable and entertaining in spite of these flaws.
OK, now that that's over, I publicly apologize to the FFML for this rant. But it seems it needs to be said you can criticize a work without criticizing the individual writing the work or those who like the work. Different people have different tastes. Mr. Shimitsu didn't like this fic. Fine. But don't insinuate that I am an unsophisticated boob who hasn't read other fanfics just because I happened to enjoy the fic.
Back to lurker mode. If anyone has anything to say to me about this, please respond to me via private email.