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crack_van2004-08-08 03:47 am
elke-tanzer.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-08-08 03:47 am
Entry tags:
The Bitter End by Zen (R)
Fandom: RANMA 1/2
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Akari Unryu/Ryoga Hibiki
Warning: Character death(s), domestic abuse
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Zen's Fanfiction Page has achieved a state of nonbeing -- to find Zen's stories, your best bet is The Penultimate Ranma Fanfic Index which links to archived USENET posts and webpages both.
Why this must be read:
OK, I changed my mind. I haven't gone to sleep yet. Instead, I'm recommending another story which rocked Ranma fandom to its foundations, another must-know-about story. This story created such furor, discussion, and flamewars on the USENET groups pertinent to Ranma fandom at the time that this story became more or less an infamous discussion topic.
Because there are almost no canon relationship resolutions in Ranma, fans can and do imagine any future they like for these well-loved characters. In any fandom, there are character-specific fans who place their favorite character on a pedestal. There are also pairing-specific fans who want their chosen pairing to live happily ever after. 'Shipper wars are common in every fandom, I suspect, whether the pairings of choice are het, slash, mixed threesomes or whatever.
The Bitter End not only triggered fan-confrontations based on those usual reasons, but also all sorts of discussion about Zen's characterization of Ranma, the ostensible hero of most other stories, as well as meta-discussion about what stories should or should not be written for fandoms with canon of varying themes... Rumiko Takahashi would never have taken on such themes in a manga and anime which is basically a slapstick romantic martial arts comedy, and fans disagreed about what themes were appropriate in fan-work reaching beyond the canon's original genre.
Fan discussions also spun into a storm of gender issues related to domestic violence. Domestic abuse is a serious topic, and a sensitive one.
The aftershocks of this story's appearance were still going strong in the newsgroups at least three years after it was posted, perhaps longer. You can go to http://groups.google.com/ and search for "ranma bitter end fanfic" for a sampling if you like.
For me personally, this is a believable, heartbreaking story. It may or may not work for you, but it is a significant piece of Ranma fandom.
Reader discretion advised.
The Bitter End
Pairing: Ranma Saotome/Akane Tendo, Ryoga Hibiki/Akane Tendo, Ukyo Kuonji/Ranma Saotome, Akari Unryu/Ryoga Hibiki
Warning: Character death(s), domestic abuse
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Zen's Fanfiction Page has achieved a state of nonbeing -- to find Zen's stories, your best bet is The Penultimate Ranma Fanfic Index which links to archived USENET posts and webpages both.
Why this must be read:
OK, I changed my mind. I haven't gone to sleep yet. Instead, I'm recommending another story which rocked Ranma fandom to its foundations, another must-know-about story. This story created such furor, discussion, and flamewars on the USENET groups pertinent to Ranma fandom at the time that this story became more or less an infamous discussion topic.
Because there are almost no canon relationship resolutions in Ranma, fans can and do imagine any future they like for these well-loved characters. In any fandom, there are character-specific fans who place their favorite character on a pedestal. There are also pairing-specific fans who want their chosen pairing to live happily ever after. 'Shipper wars are common in every fandom, I suspect, whether the pairings of choice are het, slash, mixed threesomes or whatever.
The Bitter End not only triggered fan-confrontations based on those usual reasons, but also all sorts of discussion about Zen's characterization of Ranma, the ostensible hero of most other stories, as well as meta-discussion about what stories should or should not be written for fandoms with canon of varying themes... Rumiko Takahashi would never have taken on such themes in a manga and anime which is basically a slapstick romantic martial arts comedy, and fans disagreed about what themes were appropriate in fan-work reaching beyond the canon's original genre.
Fan discussions also spun into a storm of gender issues related to domestic violence. Domestic abuse is a serious topic, and a sensitive one.
The aftershocks of this story's appearance were still going strong in the newsgroups at least three years after it was posted, perhaps longer. You can go to http://groups.google.com/ and search for "ranma bitter end fanfic" for a sampling if you like.
For me personally, this is a believable, heartbreaking story. It may or may not work for you, but it is a significant piece of Ranma fandom.
Reader discretion advised.
The Bitter End