 Warwolf 2009-05-16 . chapter 31Well, it's been one hell of a fun ride. This thing has been on my favorites list for who knows how long. I'm sad to see it end, there's no question of that. So my first comment would be quite simply:
This story needs- no, DEMANDS- a sequel!
Honestly this fic has been pretty damned fun from one end of it to the other, and I would love to see more about Ranma and Grave following this. After all, having encountered Peachbody at the end, only whetted my appetite for more characters to pop up. Steamhein's appearance was fun, I gotta admit, but the real fun was seeing how well you managed to combine characters from Ranma and Gold Digger together. Even better, you did NOT make it a Ranma/Akane (for which you deserve massive kudos as I can't stand that pairing. ...Hell I can't stand Akane herself at all.), and actually made the Ranma/Grave pairing not only work, but makes me want to see more. There's a whole world- indeed an entire pair of universes- of characters from both series you can play with that haven't been seen in this fic. I for one would enjoy seeing appearances by others like Herb or Talon or Gothwrain and the were-rats, or Copycat Ken, or the Dojo Destroyer, or even all new characters from your own fairly impressive imagination set loose on them. Using characters in Jade was pretty damned awesome, but there's tons more you could do. Maybe send them back to Jade for a vacation or something?
I don't impress very easily...and sadly enough I rarely get around to finishing any of my own fics largely because I'm either writing another novel or I'm reading stuff on , but this fic jumped out at me from the first day I ran into it, and while I knew it would have to end sometime, I also knew that the only real downside to it I could think of was that you only used a smattering of character from early in the Ranma 1/2 series, and so far only the introduction of a few characters from the GD universe (as well as Steamhein, aka Professor Steamhead from the Ninja High School universe), when there's so much you could make use of, especially considering all the stuff they did in teh march towards color ish 100.
Although I normally disapprove of the idea that Genma should be used solely as an antagonistic component of Ranma's life and that Nodoka should somehow be considered some kind of saint (these ideas have always annoyed the hell out of me since Genma DIES have his good qualities even if they are at times overshadowed by his negative ones and Nodoka not only agreed to the stupid seppuku contract, she was apparently willing to hold a child too young to understand what the hell he was finger-painting on to it when it was so vague it could have been used to make him do anything she thought was 'manly' or be forced to comit hara kiri. Definitely not a saint.), you didn't overdo these cliches and made them so minor a point in the fic that even these negative tropes worked fairly seemlessly with the fic.
All in all, I have very little to say in the way of anything negative beyond what I've already pointed out, which again, you did very well in downplaying. Instead of playing to the cliches in an overabundantly ludicrous fashion, you downplayed that angle to play more to the idea of Ranma and Grave growing beyond their supposedly preconcieved destinies. I'll admit I was actually worried about what you were going to do with Grave when you brought her into contact with Gina, Britanny, Brianna and Stryyp, thinking you were going to re-merge Bri and Grave and I was pleasantly surprised when you did not. The fact that the two remain a couple (and without any interference from the amazons as a plus!) was great.
The references to other series, which I've noticed as the fic went along (but hadn't caught initially because I hadn't seen many of them when you used them) were fun and once I actually understood some of the references, like Ranma doing the Naruto tree-climbing exercise were hilarious. Perhaps there's something there you can make use of if a sequel is indeed in the future, as I very much ardently hope. (I'm also both a fan of wrestling and have performed on a number of wrestling shows, so Grave using one of Kurt Angle's catch phrases from his WWE days made me laugh so hard it hurt, and I gotta congratulate you on that one again.)
All in all, loved the fic, and would LOVE to see a sequel, there's so much more that you could do with these characters and this overall fanfiction setting.
If I think of anything else to add, I'll wing you a PM or something, since one can only review a chapter once (an annoying facet that I hope will someday address), but in general, thought it was a good ending, and I DID notice you never said definitively that Peachbody and Ryoga were definitively gone. They might be dead, but there's always a chance that someone who can work the spirits of the dead could bring them back even if they were, necromancers can be an entertaining bunch when the need arises after all.
Again, loved the fic, want to see a sequel (or maybe a whole series!) with these two. Thanks for finishing it- although again, it was sad to see it finally end, but we all knew it would have to end at some point, but maybe that ending leads to a new adventure for them, (I hope!) which would mean seeing more of this particular world, and I for one, gotta say I am anxiously awaiting that day if indeed it ever comes.
Take care! |