THEN SUDDENLY: Now you are the Akane-bashers.

[Jon]

I think it's just flanderization; very similar to the people who misconstrue Dumbledore into being an amoral chessmaster out to mold the entire wizarding world in his own image or reduce all of Haruhi into "Haruhi does something wacky. Kyon sighs."

[Arakawa]

I dunno, I haven't had the pleasure of reading through the manga yet... and somehow I didn't have any problems with anime-Akane. (Or, on another level, practically all of the characters in the anime had moments when they were just bloody annoying, and Akane didn't stand out in particular.)

Random and possibly ignorant opinion: I can see even a competent writer being tempted towards the subtle art of Akane bashing if I wanted to combine Ranma 1/2 with an element of wish fulfilment in the form of definitive shipping. Since the original setup of Ranma is explicitly designed to prevent anyone from having their wishes fulfilled... basically unless you're doing Ranma/Akane shipping (which seems like a complicated thing to do interestingly), she either has to be treated horribly by the author (which detracts from the wish fulfilment), or act horribly so she deserves Ranma going off with someone else (hence Akane bashing). Or even both.

I have no idea whether that applies to the fic you linked where you say Ridiculously Evil Akane came out of nowhere.

EDIT:

I think it's just flanderization; very similar to the people who misconstrue Dumbledore into being an amoral chessmaster out to mold the entire wizarding world in his own image

Which says something interesting about the way they view real life, in my opinion.

or reduce all of Haruhi into "Haruhi does something wacky. Kyon sighs."

I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading a flanderized-Haruhi fic which was quite so straightforward.

[Anastasia]

Edit: Nevermind, didn't see page 2.

[thepanda]

I dunno, I haven't had the pleasure of reading through the manga yet... and somehow I didn't have any problems with anime-Akane. (Or, on another level, practically all of the characters in the anime had moments when they were just bloody annoying, and Akane didn't stand out in particular.)

It's the 'first-view' rule. People tend to fall back on the version they saw first, as it's the one that establishes everything. Even if you do end up liking a later version better you still end up comparing it to the first one all the time. So I'm always comparing the stuff in the anime to what I know from the manga instead of comparing it with
itself so I know my opinion of the anime is heavily biased.

It's even worse when your first-view is someone's fanfiction. The Gundam Wing fandom was a prime example of that *shivers*.

Add to that Akane appears in way more stories than all the other girls and you end up getting a lot more examples of her bad side. And then people ignore the MULTITUDE of examples of her good side. . .

I have no idea whether that applies to the fic you linked where you say Ridiculously Evil Akane came out of nowhere.

Not really. If he doesn't like Akane he didn't need to put her in the fic. It isn't a Ranma crossover. Nor, I assume, was the Sailor Moon fic.

[Brian]

I dunno, I haven't had the pleasure of reading through the manga yet... and somehow I didn't have any problems with anime-Akane. (Or, on another level, practically all of the characters in the anime had moments when they were just bloody annoying, and Akane didn't stand out in particular.)

Well, Ranma 1/2 is a pretty old fandom at this point....  Most contemporary Ranma fics are crossovers, and typically feature a Ranma-Shaped-Entity.  Ie., he looks and behaves _somewhat_ like Ranma, but way more moral and generally given a lot more 'heroic' attributes than he really has in the manga.  (I like him as much as the next fan, but let's be honest, Ranma can really be a jerk, too!)

I like the manga just because it tends to have more interesting storylines and focus on combat (at least, occasionally).  Actually, the manga tends to just have more storylines....

Let me suggest Big Human on Campus as a pretty good current Ranma-fic that has Ranma largely be true to Ranma.  Of course, that story's basically Rosario ++ with Ranma added in, and a bunch of OCs....

Actually, the best part about that fic is that I can suggest it for anyone -- even if you're not familiar with Rosario ++ at all.  It requires passing familiarity with Ranma's curse, but really, that's about it.  Hal doesn't know Ranma, and AFAIK, only Drac of anyone here knew Rosario ++ before reading it.

or reduce all of Haruhi into "Haruhi does something wacky. Kyon sighs."

I haven't yet had the pleasure of reading a flanderized-Haruhi fic which was quite so straightforward.

I've suffered through all of You Got HaruhiTrolled!, searching for any proof that the work had a sign of redemption in it (it did not, in any way, shape or form).  Some of it qualified as being that straightforward.

I really, really don't suggest reading it -- it's pure Canon Defilement.  Watching what that guy

For better examples, we could go to the Haruhi-shaped-engine-of-hate/Kyon:Victim-Prime combo of Henry J Cobb.  Would you like to read some of his stuff?  This is the guy who wrote that Kyonko fic that made me throw up.  (He's also the reason I don't post Haruhi fics to the FFML anymore -- I get this impression he only got into the fandom because he saw me posting stories in it D:)

[Anastasia]

Well, Ranma 1/2 is a pretty old fandom at this point....  Most contemporary Ranma fics are crossovers, and typically feature a Ranma-Shaped-Entity.  Ie., he looks and behaves _somewhat_ like Ranma, but way more moral and generally given a lot more 'heroic' attributes than he really has in the manga.  (I like him as much as the next fan, but let's be honest, Ranma can really be a jerk, too!)

He can, but I also think he's one of the more heroic characters in the manga. He's not a Nabiki, a Kuno, a bad mood Ryouga, a Herb or anyone else. It's a natural casting for him, since the manga makes it easy to see Ranma as a big hero.

[Brian]

Fair enough, it's just kind of a O_o? moment when they play up the heroism, and downplay the pettiness.

Admittedly, done wrong that could be a huge detractant, but that's one of Ranma's major flaws that's actually active instead of reactive....  Or, no wait.  Come to think of it, I guess you could argue it was a response to provocation?

Alright.  Heroic Ranma isn't problematic, per se, except when he goes into Boring Invincible Hero territory.

[thepanda]

For better examples, we could go to the Haruhi-shaped-engine-of-hate/Kyon:Victim-Prime combo of Henry J Cobb.

Why do you keep pointing people to that? Is it hate? Do you hate us? ;_;

[thepanda]

Well, Ranma 1/2 is a pretty old fandom at this point....  Most contemporary Ranma fics are crossovers, and typically feature a Ranma-Shaped-Entity.  Ie., he looks and behaves _somewhat_ like Ranma, but way more moral and generally given a lot more 'heroic' attributes than he really has in the manga.  (I like him as much as the next fan, but let's be honest, Ranma can really be a jerk, too!)

He can, but I also think he's one of the more heroic characters in the manga. He's not a Nabiki, a Kuno, a bad mood Ryouga, a Herb or anyone else. It's a natural casting for him, since the manga makes it easy to see Ranma as a big hero.

A number of the cast have that going for them. Akane is, without a doubt, a heroic character. She's the kind of person people come to when they need help because she really will try to help. But she's also someone who jumps to conclusions, has a temper (not nearly as bad as the fanon), and doesn't know her own limits. The battle dougi arc, the super soba arc, and  some others show she can be as petty as anyone else in the cast. But the WHOLE cast is like that. Hell, Kasumi was a eager as Nabiki to push the marriage off on someone else. There's that time she armed Akane when they left Ranma and Akane home alone. And this is the person people think of as the saint. 

[Jason_Miao]

It's the 'first-view' rule. People tend to fall back on the version they saw first, as it's the one that establishes everything.

heh!  I remember talking with someone who hated Shampoo for being an idiot, noting that she always refers to herself in the third person.  I pointed out that this might be just a crappy Viz translation, since self-reference in the third person seems to be a Japanese trait (Chinese people use Wo to refer to themselves, and plenty of subbed anime has characters that talk about themselves by name).

The discussion rapidly devolved from that point.

Actually, the best part about that fic is that I can suggest it for anyone -- even if you're not familiar with Rosario ++ at all.  It requires passing familiarity with Ranma's curse, but really, that's about it.  Hal doesn't know Ranma, and AFAIK, only Drac of anyone here knew Rosario ++ before reading it.

The danger is that if you go and read the Rosario manga after the fic, the manga is boring as hell. :)

Fair enough, it's just kind of a O_o? moment when they play up the heroism, and downplay the pettiness.

The battle dougi arc, the super soba arc, and  some others show she can be as petty as anyone else in the cast. But the WHOLE cast is like that.

This is what makes viewpoint switching in a Ranma fic a hell of a lot of fun to write.

Besides first-view, I think a fairly large portion is that people fall into cliques, and since most people are ambivilent about most things, if the clique adopts a view, it's easier to adopt the same view than fight it.

[Dracos]

Fair enough, it's just kind of a O_o? moment when they play up the heroism, and downplay the pettiness.

Admittedly, done wrong that could be a huge detractant, but that's one of Ranma's major flaws that's actually active instead of reactive....  Or, no wait.  Come to think of it, I guess you could argue it was a response to provocation?

Alright.  Heroic Ranma isn't problematic, per se, except when he goes into Boring Invincible Hero territory.

Well, I certainly won't say no to stuff like Big Human on Campus, and certainly many takes including Lazy or Semi-Trolling Hero Ranma work nicely, You've definitely shown before that sacrificing/noble hero Ranma can be a fun ride. =)  Ranma-shaped entities do abide, but it's also possible to speak a lot into that background and get to many different interesting points.

[Muphrid]

That's pretty much a fact.

Most of the worst Akane bashing comes from the anime, not the manga.  Akane's worst character arc in the manga is proooobably the Battle Dougi arc.  Yeah.

In the anime, she's just a psychotic tsundere locked in tsuntsun mode -- with the switch broken off and thrown away for good measure.

I like Akane a good bit, but man that arc is painful to read.  The double standard was probably meant to be funny, but eugh.


It's interesting how many Ranma crossovers have reached memetic levels of popularity, though.  It seems like the crossovers have eclipsed Ranma-only fiction.  I guess that's to be expected, though, with the age of the series, while on the other hand, anything new that comes out can be crossed with Ranma and still feel new?

[Brian]

Why do you keep pointing people to that? Is it hate? Do you hate us? ;_;

Bile fascination.

It's interesting how many Ranma crossovers have reached memetic levels of popularity, though.  It seems like the crossovers have eclipsed Ranma-only fiction.  I guess that's to be expected, though, with the age of the series, while on the other hand, anything new that comes out can be crossed with Ranma and still feel new?

Hmm.  That's a good point.

I want to say I suspect there's probably a lot more pure Ranma fics than Ranma crossovers, just thanks to how much there is ... but I wonder if there's some inevitable tipping point, where pure fics finally taper completely off (or near enough) and there's just crossovers?

[thepanda]

It's interesting how many Ranma crossovers have reached memetic levels of popularity, though.  It seems like the crossovers have eclipsed Ranma-only fiction.  I guess that's to be expected, though, with the age of the series, while on the other hand, anything new that comes out can be crossed with Ranma and still feel new?

Rumiko Takahashi's style is perfect for crossovers. I suspect that if Urusei Yatsura had come out when Ranma did we'd be following that fandom instead.

[Jason_Miao]

Rumiko Takahashi's style is perfect for crossovers. I suspect that if Urusei Yatsura had come out when Ranma did we'd be following that fandom instead.

THEN SUDDENLY: Now you are a Shinobu-basher.