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This fic is decent, I guess, but it's WAFFy, it's a continuation, and it doesn't have the same comic feel as the original series, so it's not to my taste, and it wears on me after a while of reading. (The part count is misleading, however: each of the chapters is quite short, so the whole is probably less in length thatn any of the Wheel of Time novels. I'm going to see is I can't get a new measure of length.) Another fic that I just don't care for, but someone else might.

This was a fic I wanted very much to either love or hate, but I couldn't manage to bring myself to do either. The problems were many: I feel that the author skipped a more promising subject for a story (the budding Ranma-Hikaru romance) to instead focus on what seems to be your basic action movie plot. The villians seem like rejects from a bad horror movie, and ruin any atmosphere the fic might have. The fight scenes come to dominate what plot there is, to the extent where the fight basically becomes the fic. Everybody and their mother seems to reappear for one reason or another, even those previously declared dead, and most of them are changed well beyond recognition. But... if you don't think of it as a "serious" Ranma or MKR fic, it isn't all that bad. The writing is quite good, even if the subject isn't to my taste, and the author obviously has a story to tell. Even if it isn't one I necessarily want to read.

It's not that I didn't like this story, so much as that it didn't particularly strike me. It also grants Ranma more emotional maturity than he typically possesses, although that's partially to be expected. Probably worth reading, but it's not something that I expect to reread multiple times (unlike, say, Sailor Moon 4200).

This fic tries to be a crossover between Sailor Moon and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, incorporating the Takeuchi's characters and Adams' style and humor but... it fails. Rather miserably. There are moments when it looks like it's going to succeed, but for the most part, the humor comes out seeming forced, and you just feel sorry for the author. We miss you, Douglas Adams.

This chapter, though fairly long, is almost entirely setup, with very little in the way of action, interaction, or plot development. As such, I need more info before I can make an adequate informed judgement on this piece. What I've read so far is fairly good, though.

Too short to really cause me to feel for Akane, and not enough of an experience for me to rate it higher. This fic might strike a chord with some people, but not with me.

This has the same WAFF factor as Taming of the Horse, but also two additional things which I dislike. First, it lacks the quality of being a completed work, which for me is a minus. As somewhat of a corollary, it is structured as an episodic story, with consecutive chapters having continuity of characters and situations but not truly of plot: there is no true ending point being aimed at, and thus less inherent connection between the stories. Still, the writing is very good, and keeps this story as something worth reading.

Not bad, but not spectacular. Ranma does what he's good at, martial arts, and learns a bit about himself in the process. He seems somewhat more powerful here, but that may just be due to his better teachers.

A general comment first: while some Ranma fics are about Ranma, the MARTIAL ARTIST, others, like this one, are much more about RANMA, the martial artist. This dichotomy is even present in the original manga, although there it evident that Ranma's martial arts are integral (perhaps too much so) to his self-image. This was a very good fic, with only (as I see it) two problems. First, I don't expect to see the end of it before winter 2003, given the rate at which parts have been coming out. (The entire fic is only slated to be 6 parts, but don't let that fool you. Each of the parts is of considerable size. On the other hand, this means chapter releases are more-or-less an annual occurence. Second, I found portions of the fic almost painful to read. Not because they were horrible; quite the opposite, in fact. The problem is that they did the author did a very good job of portraying what Ranma was thinking and feeling when the rumors started flying, that I began seriously empathizing with his character. While getting a reader to identify with a character certainly says volumes about the author's skill, when that character is in emotional pain, the process (for the reader) isn't a pleasant one. For reasons I don't intend to detail here, Ranma's situation struck me especially forcefully, and this tended to produce chunks of the fic which I had to basically force myself to read. On the whole, then, I would definitely recommend this fic, but with a warning attached: if you're looking for sweetness and light, you won't find them here.

The reason that it took me so long to finish this work (and thus, to write the review) is that for a while, in parts six and seven, it appeared that the only thing really going on was that Ranma was losing what made him an interesting character; namely, his weaknesses, insecurities, and foibles. This caused me to lose the motivation to read it, and thus I went on to other things. On the other hand, the later parts get better, maybe because the author is finished now is actually dealing with the new, improved?, Ranma as a real character, rather than as something approaching an avatar. It could also be that in the interlude, I've read something that's much worse. I still have some problems with the author choice of names for one of his introduced characters, though: bad puns make bad names (unless I can't speak the language, of course).

I liked this fic by the main, but it had a few problems. To start, the first half of the fic seemed a bit rushed. Also, the end left some issues that hadn't been fully resolved, as if anticipating a sequel (which has at least been started, but since it was by a different author, I haven't read it -- yet). Still, an enjoyable read, and it caused me to lose track of time and miss dinner.

My rating of this fic is more-or-less a matter of taste: I just happen to dislike the premise. I just don't see Ranko as being a completely new personality (as in the fic), rather than as a projection of what Ranma thinks girls are like (as in my memories of canon). Beyond that, although Ryouga is certainly love-starved and would fall for the first girl who shows him even a semblance of affection (a fact which Ranma uses to his [her?] advantage multiple times), his devotion/infatuation to Akane would certainly carry through. Plus the fishing rod episode seemes to show that his disgust at seeing Ranma in such an altered state would override his other feelings when he realized that the person in love with him was Ranma. That's just my opinion, though; I could be wrong.

It was this work which made me decide to obtain all the El Hazard manga that I could (previously, I had seen exactly one episode of the dub). Suffice it to say, I liked it very much. Hopefully, you will too.

This fic is either going to be very good, or a huge disappointment. A post-volume 38 Ranma who in his last life loved the princess of Mars is being set up for the choice between Akane and Rei, and right now it appears ambiguous who he will finally choose. It's nice not being able to predict the course of a fic from its first part :). On the other hand, all this promise could all-too-easily dissolve into cliches and stale situations if not done correctly. We shall see; we shall see.

3 parts, but really only an introduction of setting, basic plot, and characters. More fleshing out will be necessary before this becomes a true story. A relatively promising beginning, though.

This story could have been much better if it wasn't for a few things. First, everybody female and her mother (more or less literally) becomes a Senshi. At this point, much of the glamour and mystique of being a magical warrior of love and justice is lost (which, truth be told, also seems to happen during the last season of the Sailor Moon anime). It also has subtler effects, such as insuring that Sailor introductions take up much of the volume of the fic, leaving little for actual plot development. Also, it gets rather predictable, since its a fairly decent bet that at some point, any given female will become a Senshi: the only question is which one. If the author starts working on the male members of the cast, though, I really want to know what Principal Kuno becomes. Second, in all this new Senshi creation, the orignals seem to get lost in the background. In effect, it changes the fic from a SM/Ranma? crossover to a SM/Ranma? fusion, since the Sailor Moon characters are only really there to provide atmosphere. On the other hand, all this might be worth it if we can get a Sailor 1986U10...

To begin, two notes: first, this isn't a fanfic proper. Rather, it's an anime-inspired original fic, which basically means it's like reading a fanfic for a series you've never watched, except that less background material is assumed. Second, this is very much a lime fic. This is actually one of the few problems I have with the fic: the author is taking what is basically a lemon idea, and then scrupulously avoiding turning the fic into an actual lemon. Either make it a lemon or avoid the subject, but don't try to straddle the two! This problem does appear to have improved in the later parts, though, with the lime elements gradually disappearing (although there are still warning signs present. The second problem I have is that certain appear to be extraneous, but it appears that this problem is being dealt with by gradually drawing them closer to the center of the plot. Still, if you don't mind the lime elements, a recommended read.

For a different viewpoint, however, see CurtisVinson. Our tastes are not the same. :)

A very good fic, which I liked very much. Unfortunately, not long enough to get the bonus point for being an epic, but apparently the author is working on a sequel. I don't want to talk too much about for fear of spoilers, but suffice it to say that you should read it, now!

A classic short, darkfic. I especially liked the last line. Read it, but beware: not a fun romp-in-the-park.

I liked a lot of things about this fic, most notably the fact that it is driven by the interactions between the characters, rather than by seemingly irrelevant events, but I found a lot to dislike as well. Mainly, it's because I felt somewhat mislead: I was expecting a Ranma-and-Akane fic, but this is really more of a Ranma, his sensei, and his feelings-and-Akane and her feelings fic. At times I felt that new characters felt too much like excees baggage rather than integral parts of the story. They just don't seem to mesh well with the world yet. Also, the fact that it's listed as completed is also not quite correct: although Living Life Anew is indeed complete, it leaves a good number of issues unresolved. A sequel is in the process of being written, which is a good thing, because the story is at all complete without it.

Thrythlind is not the only author to use the 'Ranma is raped' premise for fic, but he doesn't do a bad job of following through. Unfortunately, his work still (in my mind) suffers in comparison to Choices (which I will review in the near future), especially in terms of smoothness of writing. I also feel that the story somewhat suffers because of the intrusion of things and people from outside the Nerima "bubble"--although a certain amount of contact is unavoidable, given the way the author has chosen to frame the backstory, Ranma just doesn't mesh all that well with the outside world. On the other hand, despite a 3-year lag time, this fic will probably also be completed earlier, given the speed at which Choices is being written, and that is a definite plus.

An odd fic (not little, though: 200K), but decently entertaining. The fact that its told in a series of vignettes has an interesting effect, but it also means that no real plot develops. The author is telling a story, but no one ever has time to change (or do they have too much time?). Interestingly enough, I couldn't find this fic on the author's web page, only in the Sailor Moon Romance archives. I wonder what that says about it? One note: this fic got about a half to three-quarters of a point extra just because of its ending, which I especially liked. It makes up for a lot of the repetitiveness I noticed earlier in the story.

My verdict: decent, but not great. I get thet feeling while reading this that I'm missing a good deal due to my inadequate Macross knowledge, since the events from that series appear to be used as much of what occurs offscreen, and things happen that would probably make sense to anyone who has seen Macross, but leave me wondering what just happened and why. Still, not bad, just not exceptional.

Not a bad fic, certainly, but still rather conventional in its handling of the events after the doubled Ranma reaches Nerima. While I don't mind some reliance upon the events of the manga (after all, that's what really makes this fanfiction, rather than original fiction with familiar names plastered onto the characters), I like to be surprised once in a while. Maybe when (if?) it's finished we'll see more changes.

A good read, and very well-written. My only issues were with the characterization -- some of the supporting characters seemed a bit off from what I would expect of them, and Ranma doesn't seem a strong enough character at times. Quite funny in places, though.

A good story, even if a bit WAFFy for my tastes. Just long enough to do a good job of conveying the action without being so extended as to induce boredom. Definitely a recommended read.

Decent writing, an involving plot, and depression-fueled ki blasts that could require the building of Tokyo-4. Plus Asuka and Ryouga living in the same household. What more could you want? Well, better explanations of some things, for one. (On the other hand, this is an Evangelion series, so I guess you can't expect too much in the way of clarity.) And some times the sideline stories seem to overwhelm what appears to be the main plot. In addition, somehow seeing Gendo as a Hibiki takes away some of the mystique that he had as an Ikari -- I mean, how can you generate a good aura of power and fear when you can't find your way out of a paper bag? Still, not a bad piece of work.

I liked this fic, what there is of it, but right now I want to read more of it before I give it a higher (or lower) score. It's refreshing to see that not every magical girl, even in a Sailor Moon crossover, is a Silver Millenium refugee. If you can accept an unfinished work, then, read this.

Yes, it's well written. Yes, I'll probably read the chapters as they come out. However, this fic, for me had some serious problems. 1) Hideous aliens attacking with no (yet-)discernable motivation (although there are hints that maybe, maybe, we'll get more backstory later). 2) Characters from other series who cavort around seemingly for the sole purpose of showing that yes, the author has seen this series too. 3) Not enough characterization yet. There are enough characters that none of them has received a full treatment, not even Ranma, even though his changes mean that he probably needs it the most. Part of the problem is that the fights keep getting in the way (althogh at least it's no Sailor Moon AX).

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