Dead Horses In Ranma & Sailor Moon Fanficion

Compiled by Scott K. Jamison
Edition 1.1

Introduction

"There is nothing new under the sun." --attributed to King Solomon

While it's certainly not true that every possible plot twist or character twitch has already been used up, some have been more heavily mined than others in fanfiction. Some of them have been done so often that the experienced reader, upon seeing someone attempting to "reinvent the wheel", can only sigh and think "here we go again."

Thus this list, which hopes to cover the most commonly overused themes and scenes, not to forbid their reuse, but to let the beginning writer know what has already been done, and done well.

Each person contributing to this list, therefore, was asked to provide examples of "dead horses", and more importantly, an example of a story in which that scene, theme, or characterization was done best. If nothing else, it should allow the reader to look up the more interesting specimens.

Further suggestions for this list should be sent to me by private e-mail at majks@cyberx.com. On-topic discussions of the stories themselves need not be sent privately, of course.

I've restricted this to Ranma 1/2 (Created by Rumiko Takahashi) and Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon (Created by Naoko Takeuchi) because those are the two series with the most fanfic traffic right now.

RANMA/SAILOR MOON CROSSOVERS

Ranma Becomes A Sailor Senshi: Getting Ranma into a fuku one way or another is a staple whenever these two series cross. Indeed, it's actually a surprise when he doesn't get co-opted.

Best Treatment:

Lines of Destiny by Louis-Phillipe Giroux (http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~dragon/)
"Just the overall treatment." --Luigi Mattera
"Instead of Ranma just blindly jumping in and accepting, with only a minor complaint about skirt length, we get to see Ranma really worrying about a potential to lose his masculinity, since his female side has become so much stronger than his male one." --Christian A. Rogers

RANMA 1/2 STORIES

Nabiki/Kunou matchup: This is Nabiki's default coupling in "continuation" or "wrapup" stories. Usually, it has no more justification than "Nabiki likes money, and Kunou has it."

Best Treatment:

Long, Hard Road by George Mori
"Featured scenes where Nabz gets herself in big trouble and Kunou is there to help her." --Gary Kleppe

Reunions: Kunou/Nabiki Chapter by J. Austin Wilde
"Nabbie marries Kunou to gain access to his money." --Gary Kleppe

Thy Inward Love by Richard Lawson
[No quote provided.]

New Relative: A quick way to introduce a new character, but often suffers from a lack of imagination, making the sister/brother/cousin just like the original, only quirkier.

Best Treatment:

Saotome Squared by Eternal Lost Lurker (aka Robert Morrison) (http://www.geocities.com/~etlostlurker)
"Ranma accidentally gets cured of the curse, then his daughter comes from the future, and she does not act totally like Ranma or Akane; she has a bit of Happosai in her, and given time, she could become quite the character that neither of her parents weren't." --Andrew

Akane's Hammer: If you look carefully, almost every continuing character in the Ranma 1/2 series uses a hammer at one point or another; even Kasumi advocates hammering. But in fanfics, it's usually treated as something unique to and stereotypical of Akane.

Best Treatment:

The Art by Gregg Sharp
"Made good use of the hammer by connecting it up with Akane's relationship to Thor." --David Johnston

Overuse of Character Catchphrases ["Aiyah", "Oh my", etc.]: Yes, it's a quick way to remind the reader who's saying what. But too many writers use catchphrases as a crutch instead of writing new but still appropriate dialogue.

Best Treatment:

Hearts and Minds Prelude 3 by Gary Kleppe
"The pun on Nodoka's name, "Saotome Nobaka", is probably the best use of this cliche that I can think of." --David Johnston

Ranma Is Split Into Separate Male and Female Halves: One of the most obvious Ranma plotlines, and one with a lot of potential. Actually, it's not so much the number of stories with the plot, it's the number of unsatisfying or unfinished stories with this plot.

Best Treatment:

Two Sides of the Coin by Benares
"I liked [it] enough to try to write an ending for it. It was funny at points but captured the torment of being left out of Ranma's life for his female half." --David Johnston

Nodoka Finds Out About the Curse: The early stories about this made sense, since it hadn't happened yet, but we still have people reinventing the wheel long afterward. (Which isn't to say that it isn't appropriate in "alternate universe" tales, but even in these, there seems to be a fatal sameness creeping in.

Best Treatment:

Ranma 1/2 Volume 36 by Rumiko Takahashi
"Just the right blend of suspense, silliness and plot twists." --Scott K. Jamison

Akane's Cooking: All too often used as a quick way of creating hostility between Ranma and Akane in a story, even when it's taking place past the point when Akane's cooking became acceptable in the manga.

Best Treatment:

Variyah Cycle by Mike Loader
"Uses it in a way that's genuinely funny and not just a rehash of the same old supposedly `original flavor' stuff." --Gary Kleppe

Gaijin Visitors in Nerima: AKA "Self-inserts", nine times out of ten.

Best Treatment:

An American Gaijin in Nerima, Tokyo by Karl Rim
"The genre has been parodied by many, but Rim did it first and in a way that was quick and to the point." --Gary Kleppe

BISHOUJO SENSHI SAILOR MOON

New Senshi: Perhaps the most obvious plot device available, with even Takeuchi-sensei herself succumbing to some of the sillier examples.

Best Treatment:

Lines of Destiny by Louis-Phillipe Giroux (http://www.anime.sobhrach.com/~dragon/)
"Oh sure, Sailor Dirt is inherently lame, but the conflict of Ranma having to accept his previous female incarnation is worth looking at." --David Johnston

Jadeite Returns: Note that this one is anime only, since in the manga Jadeite is pretty definitely dead.

Best Treatment:

Sailor Moon Expanded/Dark Kingdom Renegades by Mark Latus
"Gave a reason why he survived, and it's one of the few times that Jadeite comes up with a scheme worth the effort." --David Johnston

Lesbianism in Crystal Tokyo (Non-Lemon): "Why should Usagi be the only Senshi in a heterosexual relationship?" --David Johnston

Best Treatment:

Sailor Moon Expanded by Mark Latus
"Makoto's relationship with Chrysolite. It's the only time I've seen poor Makoto hooked up with anyone, and you know what Woody Allen said about bisexuality....[*1]" --David Johnston

Rei and Usagi Discovering They're In Love and, After Admitting it to Each Other, Go at it Like Rabbits in Heat [*2]: Ahem.

Best Treatment:

Curiousities by Siranime (siranime@xnet.com)
"It builds well, although the group orgy scene at the end is a bit excessive, but the moments where Usagi and Rei discuss how to handle their new-found feelings are pretty darn touching at points." --Christian A. Rogers

Self-Insert Lemons: All too often, merely an ego-stroking fantasy for the author, and less than thrilling to those who fail to share the author's kinks.

Best Treatment:

Coming of Munihausen by the Great Red Serpent
"Not chosen because it's a good story (it's f***ing disgusting) but because it has not one ... not two ... but THREE people inserted to rut with their favorite Senshi ... and respectively involving a cucumber, a bloody corpse, and racial slurs." --Christian A. Rogers

Naru Confronts Usagi About Their Distancing Relationship: Strange how she never seems to do this in the anime or manga ...

Best Treatment:

Suiseki by Eternal Lost Lurker (aka Robert Morrison) (http://www.geocities.com/~etlostlurker)
"The moment they confront each other is powerful and, while the problems are over for the moment, the feeling that there's still a rift between them is expertly left behind." --Christian A. Rogers

Setsuna is Manipulative and Will Do *Anything* to Advance the Path: Another of those stereotypes that is perhaps more fan canon than reality.

Best Treatment:

Secrets by Ken Wolfe
"While Setsuna's manipulations are horrifying in their results, she is not depicted as omnipotent or omniscient; the author manages to make her seem very human, despite everything." --Chris Davies

Universal B by Jendra (http://members.aol.com/Jendra)
[No quote provided.]

* * *

Closing

I'd like to thank everyone who contributed. In addition to those quoted above, assistance came from Brian M., Bob W. and Benson Yee. Congratulations to those authors whose works were chosen as examples!
Scott Jamison

Comments?
SKJAM!
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/5990

Notes

*1: "It doubles your chance of a date on Saturday night."

*2: As one of my correspondents put it, "Usagi and Rei? Only a straight boy would believe that one!"

v1.0 (081398) First version.
v1.1 (081498) Added Gary Kleppe's nominations, put in a couple of pointers, minor corrections.

If you know where any of the unlinked stories on this page can be found on the WWW, please mail the URL to Tonbo. Thanks!
Editing and HTML by Tonbo