[Ranma 1/2/Sailor Moon] ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER.

[kpjam]

A review/shameless advertisement for one of my favorite stories.

It's unfinished, it's wonderful, and if you haven't read it, you should. http://www.shadowchronicles.net/

"On a Clear Day You Can See Forever"
By Mark MacKinnon

It's a Ranma/Sailor Moon cross taking place in an alternate world.  There is a prequel to the Ranma side, Shadow Chronicles.  Read it, or not, it's not as engrossing and in some cases, may detract.  I'll elaborate on that later.

The setting is an alternate world. Mark has provided a history and setting that while fantastic, is believable within his own premise.  Magic is more common.  Monsters exist. The world history is different, as is the road to their modernization and current society.  A Pantheon has been created and adhered to. Technology is current, cars, guns, etc. Society, by those facts and a different core belief system from the history provided, reflects these changes. The characters' actions inside this world are consistent and well meshed.

Mark has done a champion job of characterization for the senshi and Mamoru.  They have a strong core that resonates with my SM knowledge; meaning, I recognize them.  If he had changed their names for this story, they would be identifiable.  I do find the character of Ranma to be a bit predictable.  He lost everyone he knew two years prior to this story, around the end of the manga.  It's not that the author hasn't extrapolated a very credible and consistent character, it's that the premise is a bit predictable, and in relation to the job that was done with the other characters, it makes this Ranma feel a bit sterile.   The friction, love, insecurity, history, playfulness, anger, and jealously of the characters is given a good work through the story.  The setting is used to, or allows, the author to examine the relationship between the senshi, Mamoru, and Ranma and let's each have a little bit of time to shine.

The story is far-reaching with Ranma in the center.  It starts out a bit predictable.  Rei has a vision.  She and Usagi bump into Ranma, in girl form.  Ranma, the center of the dubious and catastrophic vision, is accosted, and proceeds to help them fight off some monsters.

Luckily, the story is more complex and engrossing than that. The Senshi aren't together.  There was a big to-do and the inner-senshi had all gone their own way. Ranma is an alternate universe hopper.  Minako works as an exotic dancer type person. Hotaru is part Vampire and the leader of the outer-senshi, and until she attempted to suck Usagi's blood, was the leader of the inner-senshi as well.  Explosion.  Fire-breathing salamanders.  Shape-shifting were-beasts.  A religious sect that Rei was a former member of out to reincarnate their dead god.  Hotaru's 'mother' vampire, out to steal her daughters soul and rule the city.  Hotaru has an old wives tale that an 'outsider' is a harbinger of the end of the world and possible the catalyst of that destruction.  The inner-senshi think Ranma is manifestation of that story.  He's kept around because the tool he used to hop between worlds and the vision by Rei make him the key to a lot of odd happenings and maybe the salvation of their world.  And... as Makoto put it, Minako has the hots for Ranma.

He does a solid job of incorporating all this together, as long with the struggles for maturity, growth, and trust among the senshi.  

Summary.

I like the storyline.  I love the characterization and interplay between the characters.  While, you can poke problems at each individually, for me, it all fits together to create an experience in reading that is greater than the sum of its parts, like any great story does.  

Ranma isn't overpowered and the savior.  In fact, it looks like he might be the unwitting catalyst or enabler of destruction.  Mark's has shown in his other stories, that he isn't married to a happy ending -- so you shouldn't be shocked if the world fails to exist when the story ends.

I've been told by those that have read, 'shadow chronicles,' that reading it first hurt this story, because of the in it, the Ranma of this story meets an alternate Ranma.  The first story is about the Ranma who led a peaceful life, which means switching who you 'identify' as 'Ranma'.

If you're put of by alternate stories, or changes to characterization from source material, steer clear.  If you enjoy a great alt, where great care was taken, and is shown in the make up of a universe with characters adjust for circumstance and history.  Go read now.

[Jason_Miao]

I've been told by those that have read, 'shadow chronicles,' that reading it first hurt this story, because of the in it, the Ranma of this story meets an alternate Ranma. The first story is about the Ranma who led a peaceful life, which means switching who you 'identify' as 'Ranma'.

I disagree with whoever has told you that the main continuity weakens it.  I've followed the SC series from close to its beginning posts on the FFML, and I've never felt the problems with the "switch".  I will note, though, that SC has many "arcs" to it regarding the altered normal continuity, and that Clear Day is the sidestory.  I could see that a person reading them off the webpage who just jumps straight from the normal arcs to Clear Day might have difficulty readjusting.  But if you wait for half a day before starting Clear Day, I doubt that there are problems.

I think the issue is that some people are in love with characters that have "mysterious pasts", and since the other SC stories lay some of the groundwork of Ranma's background, reading this removes the "mysterious past" and therefore they are no longer satisfied.

Were I writing a review for SC in general (and since you've already reviewed Clear Day, I guess I won't bother), my recommendation would be to read Clear Day first.  Think about it for half a day.  Then go read through the other SC stories from the beginning.  Then wait for a bit, and read Clear Day again.  This way, you can get both the experience of Clear Day as a stand alone piece, and how it fits into the greater continuity.

[kpjam]

I disagree with whoever has told you that the main continuity weakens it.  I've followed the SC series from close to its beginning posts on the FFML, and I've never felt the problems with the "switch".  I will note, though, that SC has many "arcs" to it regarding the altered normal continuity, and that Clear Day is the sidestory.  I could see that a person reading them off the webpage who just jumps straight from the normal arcs to Clear Day might have difficulty readjusting.  But if you wait for half a day before starting Clear Day, I doubt that there are problems.

Good!  I'm glad that my friends perception are isolted.  Though, I though I should mention it anyways.

Were I writing a review for SC in general (and since you've already reviewed Clear Day, I guess I won't bother), my recommendation would be to read Clear Day first.  Think about it for half a day.  Then go read through the other SC stories from the beginning.  Then wait for a bit, and read Clear Day again.  This way, you can get both the experience of Clear Day as a stand alone piece, and how it fits into the greater continuity.

While Clear Day is the sidestory or offshoot of SC, I think you really can view it as its own independent story that just ran through SC(which is my general view for shows or stories where the sidestory really is more than just a liitle apendage hanging off os something larger).

I've follwed SC since its beggining as well, and I decided to focus on Clear Day because... well, I like it better^_^, I'm currently rereading it again, and I haven't read SC since he finished the first arc.   After the original arc of SC, it fell out of favor with me.

But the point I was trying to make, is that I don't think this should impede you from writing something on the rest of SC.  While similar, someone reading this review may steer clear of the story, when they might *love* the rest of SC.  Especially since the original SC is more closely tied to the original series.

[Caliban]

I read Clear Day first, and then went back to the others to try and work out some of the background ( it does seem to change the view of that Outsider business )... but I didn't enjoy the other stories anything like so much. Actually I don't remember any details at all, which generally means I wasn't interested. It should be noted that apparently Mark hasn't ever seen Sailor Moon, which in this case seems to be working in his favour :)

I have a big gripe though: the last 3 chapters or so have fragmented badly. Originally the story was tightly wound round five or six characters, and dealt with Ranma trying to be accepted & settling into this new world and the rather complicated relationships of the rest of the little group. The last few chapters have been pulling in characters all over the place and spawning new plot threads without giving much time to develop the last additional thread, and it's just getting out of control. If some of them aren't closed off fairly shortly I'm going to give up, which would be a pity as this was somewhere near the top of my "entertaining fic" list.

Occasionally the author's libido seems to take control a bit *too* much, but it's not so intrusive that you can't shove the details to one side.

I did like some of the massive fight scenes; there is a sense of absolute chaos without getting too bogged down in details.