This is a callout post.
I recently wrote and published a Ranma ½ oneshot fic, I’m a Kittycat, on FFNet and AO3. I got two anonymous guest reviews on the FFNet version, both of which were just so off the mark I couldn’t bear to let them pass the moderation queue.
I would’ve sent a private message to explain why every single sentence in both of them were wrong, but you can’t do that on guest reviews as there’s no account to send them to. Public it is.
So yeah, I deleted them, but kept unaltered copies for later. It’s later now, so let’s see what’s wrong with the shorter of the two. Because of spoilers, I’ll put the actual thing and my reply under readmore.
(Sidenote: what I find particularly interesting is that the two non-anonymous reviews are both positive, and these anonymous reviews were both negative…)
If you are the anonymous guest who wrote this so-called review, please do both of us a favor and don’t reply. I don’t want to know who you are.
Remember, this is as-is.
You had me all the way until the incredibly tired fanfic cliche of engaging Ranma to all three sisters so that he can “decide.” As if his opinion is the only one that should matter. Nabiki and Kasumi already made their opinion clear by pushing the engagement on Akane. Why should they even be involved after that? And if you’re that determined to have them as part of it, you should have just changed their initial reaction like you did with Ranma’s.
Anonymous guest reviewer, if you had actually read the story well enough, you would have noticed that even your very first sentence is wrong. Starting from the canon event where Ranma is told to pick one of the sisters to be his fiancée and Akane is pushed onto him…
- Ranma declines to accept what just happened – it was supposed to be his choice, and he doesn’t want to make any while barely even knowing the girls. But does that mean his is the only opinion that matters? No, because…
- In fact, he outright states he’d rather not “pick the one he wants” at all, as if he’s picking out the best product on the market. His opinion on who to engage is thus made to matter less.
- Soun, called out on his bullshit, agrees that an informed choice is the better choice and there’s no hurry.
- From that point on, there is no engagement at all. Not to Akane, not to Kasumi or Nabiki, not to all three.
Should all three sisters get to know Ranma better with some time unengaged in any way, their opinions could conceivably change. Kasumi likes older men? Ranma may be younger than her, but just by the above he shows maturity to compensate. Keep that up, and Kasumi might well agree. Nabiki’s only stated criterion is that he has to be cute. Well, cat’s in the bag.
Given enough time, Ranma could make a decision that takes the sisters’ feelings and opinions in account, so after some unspecified time has passed the four of them could come together and agree that an engagement with so-and-so would be the best. Keeping up appearances to their fathers and making it look like it’s Ranma’s own decision optional.
Even with all that, Ranma would be in Akane’s class at school. For want of a nail and all that…
As much as I like shipping Ranma with the other two sisters (as per my other two fanfics, and I just realized I basically have one fic for each sister)… there is an implied harem by the end of the fic, but it involves only one Tendo sister. Not two, and certainly not all three.
So yeah, anon basically got the whole scene totally wrong. I might counter the other one later, I don’t know. That copy I made before deleting them isn’t going anywhere.
