[Ranma 1/2] Hold On

[Brian]

Hold On is written by McKinley Morganfield, and can be found on the RAAC mirror.

McKinley Morganfield doesn't have a working e-mail address, and no ACTIVE website was listed.  (Aside: I wish people wouldn't put fanfic websites on .edu domains.  Combing through the Index, they've got the least likely chance of still being alive. :/)  He is presumed to be retired from writing fanfiction.

Hold On is a character study, so the events in it aren't really that important.  Or are they?  A quick word of warning ... this isn't a WAFF fic.

Anyway.  Mr. Morganfield paints a curiously compelling picture of Kasumi and Tofu, and to a lesser degree, Soun and his wife.  It's a first person piece, which is used to great effect when showing the couple on their anniversary.

The insight to Kasumi's character in particular (since it's from her PoV), is especially profound and thought provoking, and moves Kasumi beyond the popular vapid characterization she had in many fics about the time.  Hold On seems set to take on those traits and follow them through to a logical conclusion.  It paints a picture very well.

It may not be a pretty picture, though.

Again, a well-written work, if not a happy one.  I'd recomend this one to anyone who was in the mood for it, but be warned that it's not the typical fare as far as Ranma 1/2 goes....

[Bjorn]

You know, Brian, at this rate, there's not going to be any fanfiction left for other people to review.

When people stop writing Ranma as a comedy, characterizations very often go to hell.  Their actions in the original series very often only make sense in the context of humour, and so authors tend to end up with stereotyped, one-dimensional versions of the cast in a lazy attempt to fit round pegs in square holes.

One of the characters that suffers the most from this, in my opinion, is Kasumi.  She doesn't get a lot of canon time, and when she does, it's almost  always a oblivious sweetness that's almost pure Gracie Allen.  Very hard to build somethig serious out of.

Having just read this for the first time, I have to say this is perhaps the best serious treatment of Kasumi's character I've ever read.  It's very poignant, and builds a lot of empathy while at the same time not portraying Kasumi as a saint.  As Brian said, you might not like what the fic has to say, but at the same time, you can't help but be impressed at how well it says it.

[Brian]

You know, Brian, at this rate, there's not going to be any fanfiction left for other people to review.

I'd rather be reading reviews than posting them.... </subtle hint> ;)