-----Original Message-----
From: ffml-bounce@anifics.com [mailto:ffml-bounce@anifics.com] On Behalf
Of Thermopyle
Sent: den 12 november 2003 11:10
To: Draqensis@aol.com; ffml@anifics.com; gaijin@sfcmd.com
Subject: [FFML] Re: [Fanfic][Ranma/SM] Relatively Absent: Chapter 5 (part
1 of 2) ...
----- Original Message -----
From: <Draqensis@aol.com>
To: <ffml@anifics.com>; <gaijin@sfcmd.com>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 3:35 AM
Subject: [FFML] Re: [Fanfic][Ranma/SM] Relatively Absent: Chapter 5
(part 1 of 2) ...
Just my two cents.
And mine are: You (Thermopyle) should go reread the whole thing, before
spewing up such a massive amount of invective. It's unbecoming.
Okay, while it's fine to make out like Ranma is such a poor
pathetic
little creature who is so put upon that it would make even the
darkest
gods weep, it really doesn't work here. The story makes out like
Ranma
is experiencing extreme trauma, yet tries to make out like this is
the
exact same Ranma we all know and love from the first 24 volumes of
the
manga--the Ranma who would blow all this new 'trauma' off as
nothing.
Well, which is it? He's a pathetic, emotional wreck, or he's the
character from the manga? You can't use both. If he's a pathetic,
emotional wreck, well, why the hell is the backstory the same as
for
the original Ranma?
The most time Ranma has ever been stuck in girl form before was during the
Phoenix pill incident - which we have only guesses as to how long it was.
The metaphysics of the situation are also under debate - I could interpret
the effects of the pressure point as being that Ranma would change back to a
boy - then revert immediately (such as when he fell into the hot bath after
getting the lemon drop, in which case he wasn't stuck at all). If so, then
Ranma never spent more than a day or two as a girl at a time.
Going with this assumption, we come to the situation with Herb - Ranma gets
locked, and chases after Herb towards Horaizan. Suppose this takes a few
days - we have no official word, IIRC. Then the day of the fight, plus a day
under the mountain, and another two or three at the house - at least a week
total since he changed, and by now there's been plenty of time for the
changed hormones which never showed before to become apparent. Good enough?
I disagree. My interpretation only of course, but IIRC Ranma's
ability to
deal with failure has never been developed beyond going after an
obvious
solution. (admittedly I ahven't read all the manga so there may be
an example I am
unaware of) Here he doesn't have a clear target to chase to solve
the problem so
there reaction might be lesss positive. Granted it's a bit cliche in
fanfiction for this sort of thing to hit Ranma hard but that's not
to say it can't be
used again.
Hm. I'm not really sure what the failure you're referring to is. He
won the fight against Herb, didn't he? The fic cites physical and
emotional trauma as being Ranma's problem, but he's been close to
dying a number of times before. For emotional trauma, he's been stuck
as a girl before, and Eiko has a cure coming right up, so that's not
really an issue, either.
Eiko said that he'd always be a girl for real - that the male form would be
a disguise. That, while it might look like a cure, isn't really one, and for
some people there's a difference.
*The situation was quickly becoming intolerable, yet there was
almost
nothing more Eiko could do at the moment. It was really quite
irritating.*
Yeah, it is. if Eiko was so pissy about the stuff Pluto was doing,
why
didn't she tell Pluto that? But no, Eiko sits in silence for a few
THOUSAND YEARS and then gets pissed and goes to talk to somebody
completely different. Yeah, that's the way to go. Eiko doesn't
have a
single reason to bitch.
Why Eiko couldn't get Pluto to acknowledge her - by shouting into
her ear for
a month or so non-stop perhaps? - needs to be explained. I can think
of a
couple of possibilities but it is a plot hole that needs to be
addressed.
Hell, Eiko probably could have been able to make big letters appear in
the surface of the Gates, or something. Regardless, Eiko has no right
to bitch about Pluto not doing what Eiko wanted her to do if Eiko just
sat around and did nothing for so long. At the very least, Eiko could
have searched for a new guardian any time after her old guardian died.
Pluto turned Eiko's I/O off - Eiko says so when it talks to Ranma in chapter
one. Only Pluto being "dead" allowed Eiko to circumvent the lockout -
referred to as "emergency command override" in the next half of the chapter.
[many words and sentences and paragraphs of Ranma's modified
family
history.]
Umm...does this stuff matter? It's not interesting. I don't CARE.
Unless the family history and great samurai lineage nonsense is
going
to make a difference in the fic (so far there are no indications
of
this being the case) there is no reason for it to be here.
I rather liked that part. It explains a certain amount about the
family
relationships and does so in character voice rather than author
voice.
Hm. While that may be true, it doesn't contribue anything to the
plot. Actually, all those ANCs don't really contribute anything,
either. Unless the girls are going to end up as Ranma's knights or
something after Eiko decides to give him some, there's no need for so
many of them running around.
It gives us setup for a resolution for the fianc�e mess, and Ranma's
parents. I've got a pet theory, which I'm not sharing...
*--- Juuban ---*
This should read as:
MEANWHILE, somewhere in JUUBAN, in an UNSPECIFIED PLACE without
WALLS
or FLOORS or a CEILING or ANY OTHER SETTING CLUES... THINGS ARE
HAPPENING to UNSPECIFIED PEOPLE.
Maybe which part of Juuban it is doesn't matter. It's the bit with
Usagi, Ami
and Makoto in it.
Um. You didn't get the point. They could have been in school. They
could have been outside. They could have been on the moon eating
green eggs and ham. There's no way for the reader to know where they
are, what they're doing, or who all is there. It's the fictional
equivalent of putting the reader in a dark room and then having
speakers' faces light up as they announce their presence by talking.
It's very bad writing.
Considering how much you were harping about unnecessary filler - do we
really need to know anything else than that Ami got questioned on her
findings, and didn't have any (or whatever)?
[scene with lots of personality-less ANCs fighting each other for
no
apparent plot or character-related reason. Ranma becomes Sensei
God of
the Cliche Alignment.]
...Why?
Um, they're being assessed? By their teachers? And Ranma's opinion
is asked
because he's quite a good martial artist?
They're ninja girls, not martial arts girls. They should go bug
Konatsu for lessons, wherever he is. Anyway, the problem isn't so
much that as that it adds nothing to the story to have Ranma teaching
them. It's just an extremly overused, and in this case quite
gratiutous bit of nonsense.
The problem here is the definition of ninja - I've yet to read a story in
which ninja are portrayed historically. Ninja weren't combat masters - they
were a combination of actor, parlor magician, and chemist. If the enemy is
blinded by smoke or a flash of light, they won't be able to defend against
even a novice with an appropriate weapon. Ukyo and Konatsu are close to
being ninja, but not quite there.
*Incorrect. Sailor Pluto was attempting to bring about a certain
sequence of events which would have killed nearly the entire
population, but a select few would have been protected and
preserved.*
Oooh! I've never seen THAT before! I mean, wow, Pluto as being the
creator of Crystal Tokyo! I never knew that was in the manga or
anime!
I never knew it was her fault! Let's all blame Pluto!
That notion is indeed non-canon. OTOH, so is pretty much all
fanfiction. It's
cliche but so are a lot of otherwise very good fics.
It's easy to see where the whole thing comes from, though. Pluto can see
timelines through the gates. Pluto can change timelines based on
foreknowledge. Pluto is charged by Serenity to find a way to bring either
the Senshi or the Moon Kingdom back, OR Pluto, in despair after the Moon
Kingdom falls, looks for a replacement. She finds the "Crystal Tokyo"
timeline, and decides to work towards it. Then Chii-Usa comes along, and it
becomes a matter of priority to prevent a paradox - since there have been
travellers from a certain future, that future needs to happen, or else.
Oh, I have no problem with cliches. I don't really consider something
cliche unless it's tossed into a fic without any attempt to back it
up. He doesn't even try to characterize Pluto or make her drive to
create CT real. All the fic has is tons of Pluto bashing because
she's so obviously wrong obsessed and evil etc. It's just a ripoff of
every other fic out there that uses the idea. Hell, the whole fight
scene (Key's effects included) feels ripped straight out of Destiny's
Child.
I really need to reread that one...
*"My HUSBAND would not have engaged my son and daughter to a
violent
maniac from an honorless family of eta."*
Hm. This part has been done before, though not as often as with
having
Ranma be eta. The idea itself is as cliche as it gets, but at
least
it's used in a not-quite-overused way. It's an interesting thing
to
throw in the fic at this point, though, when the story is clearly
not
about the Tendous or Ranma's relationship with them. So,
basically,
the Tendous are being bashed for no reason except to bash them.
The
story does not revolve around the conflict introduced with this
comment. It's a waste of electric ink.
I think Nodoka's being insulting here (very insulting IIRC) rather
than
actualy saying something about the Tendo's actual family status.
Yeah. Somebody else told me that's how they read it, too. It could
be either one--I don't have any trouble believing that he decided to
make them burakumin just for the hell of it.
My take is that she calls them Eta for their treatment of Ranma, as relayed
by the anonymous video cassette. Remember, she's acting not on the whole
truth.
*The continual failures were wearing her down as well; she
required
more and more time between each attempt to recover even a small
part
of her strength. Unfortunately, there was little else she could do
except to keep trying - without control of the gates she could
neither
communicate nor leave the space-time warp the Gates currently
occupied.*
Hah! So Eiko was not only being a bitch about Pluto trying to
regain
control, she was being a bitch AND locking Pluto out beyond time
for
millinea, and complaining that Pluto wanted out?
Millennia? Where'd you get that? What's happened is this: You need a key,
and the user privileges to get to or from the time gates - either the minor
or major key. Pluto and Chibi-moon's user privileges have been revoked,
pending a replacement for Pluto. Thus, Pluto is stuck until Ranma can get
the minor and major key. I saw nothing regardin how long Pluto had been
stuck, or perceived she was - only that she'd tried everything she could
think of.
Good point, which does need to be addressed. Again, plenty of ways
to deal
with it but having Pluto trapped at the Gate doesn't make sense in
the context
of her losing her powers. And I agree that her assumption that only
a member
of Serenity's court could be the guardian doesn't make a great deal
of sense.
This was probably Serenity's idea - "Gee, here we have a bunch of seriously
powerful artifacts, all in need of guardians. If I choose the guardian's
from among my court, I'll have more or less personal control of the
artefacts. Heck, I'll take the most powerful one for myself." Besides, who
says it wasn't Serenity, or one of her ancestors, who created the gates and
decided the rules? What if Ranma is the only viable candidate because he's
the only currently female member of Genma's line - which turns out to have
been major nobility in the Silver Millennium?
SP
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