I'm reading a fic, enjoying it even, when out of nowhere chapter 12 is suddenly devoted to extreme Akane bashing.
Note the fic is question is a Yu Yu Hakusho/Negima crossover.
The Akane Tendo bashing literally came out of nowhere, for no purpose, FOR A WHOLE CHAPTER! What the hell?!
Link me? I'm curious now.
"Introducing: Hate, stage right"
Quote from: Anastasia on October 06, 2011, 02:47:36 PM
Link me? I'm curious now.
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4136905/1/Reikai_Sensei_Kuwabara
Wow, that Akane went extra apeshit.
Not just that, but the tone of the chapter was completely at odds with the rest of the fic. Just, weird. (Also annoyed the author doesn't seem to recall all the training Kuwabara did with Kurama)
Must not be an Akane fan at all.
From another story of his, totally out of the blue.
QuoteAt the same time, a certain imortal senshi of time suppresed a shudder, feeling a sudden urge to stock up on aspirin and booze. She hadn't had a premonition THIS bad since she'd ensured Saotome Ranma wasn't a threat to Crystal Tokyo. Who knew hitching him off to the youngest daughter would ensure he died before the great freeze?
Yep, rabid Akane hater.
In his defense, it IS Akane.
Defense accepted, but furthermore!
QuoteThough Luna always wondered just where the strangely adaptable Youma had come from.
In a cell of the JSDF, a certain uncute Tomboy was rolled in on a stretcher, wrapped in a straightjacket with a muzzle firmly in place to keep her from biting her way out...again.
"Court is now in session." A stern looking judge called out, several snipers aiming their weapons at the girl, lest she, or any of her would be suitors, got any funny ideas. They'd already been assured that a certain Lost Boy was currently trying to find his way to the great wall in Antarctica, but better safe than sorry.
"Tendo Akane," the judge growled out, glaring down at the captive with a scowl "you are hereby charged with creating an enviromental hazard that almost wiped out the minato ward of Tokyo," he pointed to a picture of the creatue that had battled the scouts the week before "As well as the attempted poisoning of your entire familly, and several guests" here he turned his attention to a row of witnesses, including the girls father, who was upright but not all there because of the drugs needed to purge his system "how do you plead?"
"This is all Ranma's Fault!"
Classic. Move discussion to Harbinger?
Motion granted. Do the honors.
Done. Share more precious gems~!
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 08:10:51 PM
Done. Share more precious gems~!
I would, but I don't save the links to any of the fics that I can't stand.
I do wonder, though; do you think people who watched the anime have a much worse opinion of Akane (and most of the characters) than those who read the manga? I own the whole manga run but couldn't get through the second season of the anime (I like the movies/OAVs, though.) I just don't see how you read her character like this.
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 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."
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:
Quote from: Jon on October 06, 2011, 08:46:46 PM
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.
Quote from: Jon on October 06, 2011, 08:46:46 PM
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.
Edit: Nevermind, didn't see page 2.
Quote from: Arakawa Seijio on October 06, 2011, 08:49:22 PM
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. . .
Quote
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.
Quote from: Arakawa Seijio on October 06, 2011, 08:49:22 PMI 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 (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5382984/1/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.
Quote from: Arakawa Seijio on October 06, 2011, 08:49:22 PMQuote from: Jon on October 06, 2011, 08:46:46 PM
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:)
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 09:22:01 PMWell, 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.
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.
Quote
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? ;_;
Quote from: Anastasia on October 06, 2011, 09:31:14 PM
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 09:22:01 PMWell, 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.
Quote from: thepanda
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.
Quote from: Brian
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. :)
Quote from: Brian
Fair enough, it's just kind of a O_o? moment when they play up the heroism, and downplay the pettiness.
Quote from: thepanda
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.
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 09:35:02 PM
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.
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 08:45:47 PM
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?
Quote from: thepanda on October 06, 2011, 09:36:41 PMWhy do you keep pointing people to that? Is it hate? Do you hate us? ;_;
Bile fascination.
Quote from: Muphrid on October 07, 2011, 02:07:48 AMIt'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?
QuoteIt'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.
Quote from: thepanda on October 07, 2011, 07:29:33 AM
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.
But... but... Ataru Moroboshi!?
I dunno. I think Ranma is a far easier lead to fantasize stories around than Ataru. I guess I might not have consumed much Urusei Yatsura, but it seemed like Ataru was hardly in the top 3 interesting cast chars. He's like a significantly less awesome Captain Tylor.
Quote from: Jason_Miao on October 07, 2011, 08:40:10 AMTHEN SUDDENLY: Now you are a Shinobu-basher.
Bah-- Spoken like a Lum fanboy. She should be paired up with Mendou and moved offscreen so we can focus on the far more interesting Ataru/Lum/Yuki dynamic!
...yeah, okay, I can't keep it up. I think I gotta agree, Ataru doesn't quite get enough 'could easily be interpreted as very heroic' moments.
Takahashi may have created the ideal crossover character as a memetic badass that crawled out of her contiguity and achieved a life of its own -- BEHOLD! THE RSEs!
Well, and Takashi's writing style leaves a lot of room for that stuff. She's often willing to bend a character design for a story, so it's natural there's a lot of 'well if we look at Ranma here and extrapolate...' options that make RSEs pretty reasonable.
Quote from: Dracos on October 07, 2011, 02:42:24 PM
Well, and Takashi's writing style leaves a lot of room for that stuff. She's often willing to bend a character design for a story, so it's natural there's a lot of 'well if we look at Ranma here and extrapolate...' options that make RSEs pretty reasonable.
She practices the Rodney Dangerfield school of comedy. Throw out five jokes a page; if people only laugh at 1/5th of them that means they're still getting at least one laugh a page. One of the sad things about fanfiction is that the visual comedy doesn't always translate well to text.
Well, yes, and also a lot of the comedic elements when taken out of context also can be things that are quite serious.
"Here's a promise to be manly...OR DIE." *Friendly smile*
Quote from: Brian on October 07, 2011, 01:58:54 PM
Bah-- Spoken like a Lum fanboy. She should be paired up with Mendou and moved offscreen so we can focus on the far more interesting Ataru/Lum/Yuki dynamic!
:)
Lum makes terrible food. We all know that making terrible food makes you a bad person, or something like that.
Also, there's at least one heroic character in UY, able to defeat the strongest martial art (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyHlnar448M)
I god, I'd forgotten all about that. UY is so damn random.
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 09:35:02 PMAlright. Heroic Ranma isn't problematic, per se, except when he goes into Boring Invincible Hero territory.
About the only thing worse is Boring Invincible Not-Hero where Ranma trains in invincible new powers that he will never use and never helps anyone.
Quote from: Dracos on October 07, 2011, 01:36:21 PMI think Ranma is a far easier lead to fantasize stories around than Ataru.
Ataru tends to be the hapless recipient of bad luck and most of the named cast are more powerful than he is. He's the prototypical lecher with the heart of gold, but he doesn't get that many chances to show his good side.
Ranma's got a lot more going for him in the cool abilities area. He's also a hero; Ranma even saved Herb after Herb had (repeatedly) tried to kill him.
The Ranma setting also has some serious story lines, which open things up for a lot more fic possibilities.
Also, it's a guy who turns into a girl when splashed with cold water. How many fic ideas can you spin around that?!
Quote from: Brian on October 07, 2011, 10:09:16 PM
Also, it's a guy who turns into a girl when splashed with cold water. How many fic ideas can you spin around that?!
Ranma gets split.
Ranma becomes a girl.
Ranma finds cure.
Ranma becomes ambivalent to it.
Girl-form has super powers.
Girl-form is own person.
Girl-form takes over Ranma.
Ranma gets locked, searches for cure.
Ranma has sex as girl.
Ranma is bi.
Ranma is gay. Uses girl-form to sleep with men.
Ranma is raped.
Ranma gives birth.
Ranma deals with female issues.
Ranma was a girl who turned into a man.
Ranma is a sailor senshi.
And the most rare of them all. . .
Ranma uses girl-form for comedic hi-jinks. We'll call this the Takahashi option.
Hahaha, wow. I've read all of those fics -- some of them many times.
Quote from: Brian on October 07, 2011, 10:21:55 PM
Hahaha, wow. I've read all of those fics -- some of them many times.
Challenge: How many of those can be done simultaneously?
All of them (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitle3zaap0y7ym6o).
Quote from: thepanda on October 07, 2011, 10:19:19 PM
Ranma is gay. Uses girl-form to sleep with men.
Gah, tangentially related, that brings back this one time I ran into a guy who said Ranma being locked in girl-form and liking girls made him a lesbian. That made me want to hammer my head into a wall.
I'd like to think what I've written for
Ranma doesn't fit a neat category like those...but it probably does. And I guess that's not bad because any of those can still be a good story, despite how much the territory's been explored.
Well, you know what they say (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TropesAreNotBad).
Muphrid, didn't we have a conversation about this a while back, though? It's really all about presentation. :p
For example, compare this (http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp), to this (http://blog.fantasyheartbreaker.com/2010/04/21/whatever-happened-to-elfstar/). ;)
Edit: Included the original, since we're getting non-gamers here. >.>;;
Quote from: thepanda on October 07, 2011, 10:19:19 PMRanma uses girl-form for comedic hi-jinks. We'll call this the Takahashi option.
I could believe you until that point.
...snap. Ko, did NOT see that in the list.
You're right. That one I don't think I've ever seen done.
Quote from: Brian on October 07, 2011, 11:47:48 PM
All of them (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ptitle3zaap0y7ym6o).
I win!
Quote from: Brian on October 08, 2011, 01:00:37 AM
...snap. Ko, did NOT see that in the list.
You're right. That one I don't think I've ever seen done.
I don't think I've seen the 'Ranma is gay, uses form to sleep with men' one done. I've read one or two Ranma-chan/man fics, but that's not really the same thing as her being more aware of it and actively using it. Maybe I just don't read the right fics for that.
Ranma is gay, uses form to sleep with men -- check Rak's for Ranma/Kuno, at least one of them. It was pretty angsty and disgusting, with onna-Ranma hating that he had to pretend to be a girl to--
Yeah, thanks for reminding me. -_-
Quote from: Brian on October 08, 2011, 01:05:57 AM
Ranma is gay, uses form to sleep with men -- check Rak's for Ranma/Kuno, at least one of them. It was pretty angsty and disgusting, with onna-Ranma hating that he had to pretend to be a girl to--
Yeah, thanks for reminding me. -_-
Sorry! I'll at least read it for the sake of your sacrifice. Wish me luck.
You'll endure. You're a noble soul.
Or at least a very survivable one. ;)
I am a bit drunk, so I may be shuffling several old fics together.
Quote from: Brian on October 08, 2011, 01:08:18 AM
You'll endure. You're a noble soul.
Or at least a very survivable one. ;)
I am a bit drunk, so I may be shuffling several old fics together.
You are, it's not there. At the risk of bad memories, do you remember anything else about it?
LEt's see ... Ranma is kicked out of the Tendo dojo for some reason. Goes to the kunos, gets rejected by Kodachi, turns into a girl to try and seduce Kuno, transforms in the middle of a 'lo---
Don't remember the rest.
If it makes you feel any better, I read a bunch of horrible Ranma/Kuno fics looking for that one. >_<
Well, at least we've established there's a wealth of 'em.
Aren't we just fucking lucky?
Mmm ... it's amazing how far one happy idea can take you ... but once again, I seem to be late to the party. -_- If everything has already been said many times over, it discourages from even trying to get into the fandom ... and because martial arts just isn't for me I'll be content knowing that there's something awesome in the past, as there clearly must be based on the amount of enthusiasm. ^_^
Quote from: Brian on October 08, 2011, 02:45:48 AM
LEt's see ... Ranma is kicked out of the Tendo dojo for some reason. Goes to the kunos, gets rejected by Kodachi, turns into a girl to try and seduce Kuno, transforms in the middle of a 'lo---
Don't remember the rest.
The one I vaguely recall was a Ranma/Ryoga ship, with Ranma doing his disguise thing and banging Ryoga. For some reason I'm thinking it was really short; spamish even. Might have been a ficlet from one of those timed writing challenges back in the day.
Quote from: Brian on October 08, 2011, 01:00:37 AM
...snap. Ko, did NOT see that in the list.
You're right. That one I don't think I've ever seen done.
Wait, wait. I know I've read part of this one before. Something something Nodoka takes Ranma for a training trip after finding out about the curse something something Ranma's Girl? No, that's not it. Was supposed to be original flavor. Not Ranko 1/2. Gah! On the tip of my tongue. . .
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 08, 2011, 05:21:24 AM
Mmm ... it's amazing how far one happy idea can take you ... but once again, I seem to be late to the party. -_- If everything has already been said many times over, it discourages from even trying to get into the fandom
Not everything that could be written has been written. People have been saying that about Ranma fics when I started writing over ten years ago, but people are still writing good stories.
Quote
... and because martial arts just isn't for me I'll be content knowing that there's something awesome in the past, as there clearly must be based on the amount of enthusiasm. ^_^
Oddly enough, most Ranma fics aren't about martial arts. I have a Ranma story written with wuxia influences that I've been slowly developing for the last couple of years (buried somewhere in the writing section), inspired because there is a distinct lack of Ranma stories that actually fit the genre.
Quote from: Muphrid on October 08, 2011, 12:18:58 AM
Gah, tangentially related, that brings back this one time I ran into a guy who said Ranma being locked in girl-form and liking girls made him a lesbian. That made me want to hammer my head into a wall.
Depends on whether you consider someone being female as a matter physicality or self-identity.
I tend to pick whichever one is funnier, or otherwise works better for whatever story I'm planning.
Quote
I'd like to think what I've written for Ranma doesn't fit a neat category like those...but it probably does.
Breaking categories is fun. :)
So, despite my reservations I decided to give it a try and read about halfway through the manga, only to have my initial understanding of the series proven wrong. It's not a martial arts work after all, but instead a combination of romantic and slapstick comedy disguised as a (very goofy) martial arts story. Well, sociopathic comedy is not among my favorites either, but concerning the topic of this thread I was genuinely baffled as to what there even is to hate in Akane, as she seemed to be one of the few sympathetic characters in the whole series, showing genuine affection only to get her chain yanked at every possible occasion (well, cannot really blame Ranma that much if a childhood of abuse has left his mental maturity at maybe half of his physical age). If anything, I felt pity for her (and Ryoga, another character who doesn't really deserve what he gets, or fails to get).
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 08:45:47 PMIn the anime, she's just a psychotic tsundere locked in tsuntsun mode -- with the switch broken off and thrown away for good measure.
I see. Sounds like I'll better stay clear of the anime, then. I wonder whether I can even endure through the manga because the constant physical confrontation is very tiresome.
Ok, it's a good series overall but I'm still not going to start writing Ranma fanfic, as sociopathy makes me wince instead of laughing (I know, I'm a bore -_-).
Akane's often given some harsh judgements specifically because the fan community likes to forget that this is a slapstick comedy when they write fanfics. I'm not immune to that myself....
Anyway, you haven't gotten to the Battle Dougi arc. :x
I don't disike Akane, myself ... I just like Shampoo and Ukyou better. :p
If you don't like the martial arts angle, I think ... you will probably feel like quitting (or at least skipping) the Ryu Kumon arc. Probably, the Herb arc will be a bit more bearable.
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 14, 2011, 04:56:09 PMOk, it's a good series overall but I'm still not going to start writing Ranma fanfic, as sociopathy makes me wince instead of laughing (I know, I'm a bore -_-).
That's
exactly the reason that
Meet the Suzumiyas leftme shivering and horrified, not amused.
But then, I evidently take everything too seriously. >_>
The popularity of Ranma fanfic stems in part from the way you can impose almost any narrative construct you like. Want a coming-of-age/romance story (http://www.csus.edu/indiv/s/seifertv/toth/)? Easily done. How about a rollicking space-opera adventure (http://news.eyrie.org/anime/Ranma/Saotome-Gambit/)? Works! Perhaps you'd like a Sailor Moon crossover that either keeps the gender-based comedy (http://slacker.inklesspen.com/small.html) or milks it for angst (http://rakhal.com/FFIndex/ranlstH3.htm#tag1100)? Been done to death. Maybe you'd like a story that explores what it means to be superhuman in a mundane world (http://florestica.com/brandall/cp/index.htm)? Seen more than a few of those. It's almost like Tezuka's Star System (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StarSystem); they are actors in whichever role you like. Even (http://pixelscapes.com/twoflower/fanfic/HiroshiAndDaisukeAreDead.txt) the metafiction roles (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RosencrantzAndGuildensternAreDead).
Honor and Love? That takes me back!
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 14, 2011, 04:56:09 PM
So, despite my reservations I decided to give it a try and read about halfway through the manga, only to have my initial understanding of the series proven wrong. It's not a martial arts work after all, but instead a combination of romantic and slapstick comedy disguised as a (very goofy) martial arts story. Well, sociopathic comedy is not among my favorites either, but concerning the topic of this thread I was genuinely baffled as to what there even is to hate in Akane, as she seemed to be one of the few sympathetic characters in the whole series, showing genuine affection only to get her chain yanked at every possible occasion (well, cannot really blame Ranma that much if a childhood of abuse has left his mental maturity at maybe half of his physical age). If anything, I felt pity for her (and Ryoga, another character who doesn't really deserve what he gets, or fails to get).
Quote from: Brian on October 06, 2011, 08:45:47 PMIn the anime, she's just a psychotic tsundere locked in tsuntsun mode -- with the switch broken off and thrown away for good measure.
I see. Sounds like I'll better stay clear of the anime, then. I wonder whether I can even endure through the manga because the constant physical confrontation is very tiresome.
Ok, it's a good series overall but I'm still not going to start writing Ranma fanfic, as sociopathy makes me wince instead of laughing (I know, I'm a bore -_-).
The sociopathy and double-standards definitely gnaw at the back of the mind. As far as the anime, I've only ever paid attention to the episodes that were adaptations of manga stories and not really to the filler in between. They're not the strictest, panel-for-panel recreations of the manga, but they tend to be all right. And as Jon points out, there are lots of ways people have taken
Ranma in directions that aren't like canon because there's a lot of possibility there (though I admit, I'm not sure what makes
Ranma so versatile this way compared to other series). I know Takahashi's style of comedy is something I'd need to learn in order to imitate, which is why I haven't even tried when I've dabbled in
Ranma.
Quote from: Muphrid on October 14, 2011, 06:03:21 PMAnd as Jon points out, there are lots of ways people have taken Ranma in directions that aren't like canon because there's a lot of possibility there (though I admit, I'm not sure what makes Ranma so versatile this way compared to other series). I know Takahashi's style of comedy is something I'd need to learn in order to imitate, which is why I haven't even tried when I've dabbled in Ranma.
A lot of this, I expect, has to do with the historical timing of when the anime was released. It wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but in fanfiction circles, at least, it was very widespread.
I suspect what makes Ranma so versatile is the fact that Takahashi herself wasn't consistent enough to lock a lot of story elements down, and the fandom's drive to push those borders established a lot of successful crossovers early. Then again, compare that to the RSE issue. ;)
Takahashi's works generally are very accessible in this regard. Her regular reset of "Status Quo+MoreCharacters" that she pulls off in many series provide significant numbers of reasonable entry points where things are in a neutral position with reasonable approaching to tell a story with (or neutral to tell your own with). There's lots of 'breath' points and they often end in unsatisifying and/or inconclusive ways ("Wedding that Isn't, Oh huh, bad guy dies, etc") and generally provide very eccentric characters to work with. I think that's why her series tend to have healthier fanfiction communities.
Whimsically off the top of my head from work, breath/opening points people can/do find leverage to write a tale of their own off of, comparing 2 shonen series with Ranma.
Bleach: 6?
First Encounter with Rukia
First Major Defeat
Soul Society Arc
Introduction of Vizard (Most common)
The War arc
Post War (And then there was peace...and what?)
Naruto: 7?
Pre-Series ("What if Titular Characters developed differently?")
First Encounter/Reveal ("You are really...")
Welcome to team... (<-Most common point)
Oh god, it's Wave Country/First Major Mission
Hey, Tourney Arc / New Trainer / And the world changed (Second most common start, most common end)
3 years later...
Post War (Almost nobody starts anywhere around the war as it's not really a breath point for the titular character, it's a training arc)
Ranma: 16? Got tired of thinking of them.
Pre-Series ("What if Titular Characters developed differently?")
You shall have a fiancee...
Introduction of Jusenkyou, results/events/causes/etc.
And your first fiancee is...
After Ryoga enters.
On Ukyou's arrival.
Shampoo's arrival
Cologne's arrival
Mouse's revenge
When Herb Arrives (And any 'And the horrible fate is permament')
Kuno has bought a magic artifact
Akane's Magic Gi ("And things are flipped over")
A prince arrives into the status quo (Pick one of 2-3 in canon, or make your own)
"I'll take him", Sister takes fiancee
Saffron fight (And the world was changed forever?)
Post series (And things are unresolved..)
Ranma's constant returns to 'status quo' give it a ton of spots to write from, with an overwhelming majority taking some vein of "Something happened and the world was forever changed". It also gives a number of points where 'Things can go wrong, World is changed forever, and the heroes can still be around to write about' (Something that there's just not much room with the major conflicts in the other two shonen series referenced as Death for the protagonist is usually part of the major conflict).
I suspect Haruhi actually has a lot of the same mini-arc/status quo continues+NewCharacters setup (indeed it seems written into its plot).
Haruhi is lacking in the 'quirky new character appears' regard. In fact, when Yasumi was introduced, it felt kind of jarring.
Also, Ranma has character development only if you squint, pretty much. Haruhi is all about character growth among the entire cast -- pretty much constantly.
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 14, 2011, 04:56:09 PM
I see. Sounds like I'll better stay clear of the anime, then. I wonder whether I can even endure through the manga because the constant physical confrontation is very tiresome.
If I might suggest, if "martial arts" (e.g, Martial Arts Tea Ceremony) isn't your thing, treat the martial arts chapters in Ranma like Ah! Megamisama K1's racing chapters. You don't have to be a racing fan to enjoy AMS, but racing is just what he does, so there's a lot that revolves around it. Likewise, Ranma is really a romantic comedy, but martial arts is just what everyone does.
-edit-
In fact, I'd laugh pretty hard if a Ranma writer tried to assert that martial arts was necessary, since 99% of the fics out there are fairly lacking in detail of actual martial arts or wuxia martial arts (Writers on the FFML would assert that chi should be treated exactly the same as magic, leaping up to a rooftop from the ground was called "roofhopping", etc).
Quote from: Murphid
Well, sociopathic comedy is not among my favorites either, but concerning the topic of this thread I was genuinely baffled as to what there even is to hate in Akane, as she seemed to be one of the few sympathetic characters in the whole series, showing genuine affection only to get her chain yanked at every possible occasion (well, cannot really blame Ranma that much if a childhood of abuse has left his mental maturity at maybe half of his physical age).
Fanon builds quite a few structures. I've read the english transcripts of the SM manga, and if I hadn't, I might believe that Crystal Tokyo is supposed to be a dystopia.
Quote
I know Takahashi's style of comedy is something I'd need to learn in order to imitate, which is why I haven't even tried when I've dabbled in Ranma.
You don't need to imitate the comedy style per se. In fact, unless you are strikingly good at puns in Japanese, you can't imitate her style per se. So, seeing as how it's not practical to do so anyway, forget that goal, take a general grasp of the characters, and tell a good story.
Brian has penned some Ranma fanfics, and if you'd like to skim through them, you'll note that they aren't like Takahashi's works at all. They are, nonetheless, enjoyable.
QuoteFanon builds quite a few structures. I've read the english transcripts of the SM manga, and if I hadn't, I might believe that Crystal Tokyo is supposed to be a dystopia.
Must. . . not. . . restart. . . that. . . thread. . . *eye twitches*
To me, Sailor Moon Expanded's version of Crystal Tokyo always felt like a reasonable middle ground between "happy bubblegum fairy land" and "awful Stepford Dystopia". To such an extent that I've been completely turned off from reading non-SME Crystal Tokyo fics. Because yes, experience shows that there's a good chance they will suck.
Which is a double bummer, since as far as I can tell SME went dead sometime in the 90s.
Ok, I managed to get through the entire manga. It actually got better (from my point of view) towards the end as there was in general less fighting and more comedy, and I just quickly browsed through any multi-page confrontations that didn't really contribute anything to the plot.
I think that the aging mushroom story was my overall favorite. Besides that kid!Ranma and kid!Ryoga were simply adorable, for just
once their behavior was in perfect accordance with their apparent age! ^_^
Quote from: Brian on October 14, 2011, 05:07:45 PMyou haven't gotten to the Battle Dougi arc
Oh well, that was ... heartless. It's not hard to see how somebody could interpret that as "Akane is a psycho who lashes out as soon as she thinks that she can get away with it". But then again, pretty much every (supposedly) sympathetic character gets a story that shows them in a very unflattering light (from the top of my head, the reversal jewel for Ranma, the koi rod for Ryoga). It's a symptom of the requirements of the plot (Rule of Funny, Comedic Sociopathy and Status Quo is God) trumping character integrity and that doesn't really bother me as long as it's obvious enough.
Ok, I said earlier that I won't start writing Ranma fics, and that ... kind of ... still applies, the reason for the reservation being that I'm rather tempted to draw a Ranma
doujinshi, a manga story in original flavor and in the exactly same style (Takahashi's drawing technique is simple enough that I should be able to emulate it with perfect fidelity). A make-believe extra chapter to the manga, if you wish. >_> The idea that I got was as below:
Situated somewhere in the middle of the canon (exact location not important). First act: the magic MacGuffin of the week applies phlebotinum which causes Ranma and Akane to swap bodies. Hilarity ensues. Second act: attempts to reverse the situation cause a cascade of further swaps through the entire cast until even the characters themselves lose track on who is in whose body, causing utter chaos. The story can stop there, or make a cut to the restoration of status quo with an implied Aesop.
But ... I guess that this is such a blindingly obvious idea that it's already done to death in the fandom, right? And drawing requires a lot of work compared to writing, anyway. But ... but ... I can already see all the hilarious expressions in my mind ... ugh, I feel conflicted @.@
(right after the first swap)
ranma!Akane: But ... I'm a
man!
akane!Ranma: *unimpressed, pours a can of water on ranma!Akane's head* Better now?
girl!ranma!Akane: *pops a vein*
Akane (in Ranma's body) pours water on Ranma (in Akane's body), which, because he's in Akane's body, has no effect? Or Akane in Ranma's body is the one originally complaining?
Props for chewing through the manga so fast. You're quite right; basically every character has one story that really paints them badly. I've tried to write off, for example, the reversal jewel arc as Ranma's pride clouding his better judgment, but it still takes a lot of handwaving to do that in a sympathetic fashion. To me, the attitudes characters have toward each other are overriding compared to how people in the "real world" would classify their behaviors. Nobody in-story thinks of Ryoga as a scumbag for coercing Ranma with the fishing rod--in part because they don't know he was going for Akane, granted, but even Akane seems more compassionate and sympathetic toward Ryoga in that story than would be justified. But that's all over the place in the manga, so either it's accepted and you can keep going, or it isn't, I guess.
Quote from: Muphrid on October 20, 2011, 12:26:41 PM
Akane (in Ranma's body) pours water on Ranma (in Akane's body), which, because he's in Akane's body, has no effect? Or Akane in Ranma's body is the one originally complaining?
Akane in male!Ranma's body freaks out after the swap, avoids hot water after having been turned to female!Ranma, Ranma in Akane's body is overall not particularly bothered because being genderswapped is not a big deal for him, though now he cannot take a bath at all because Akane won't allow it (for obvious reasons). Add a couple of hilarious misunderstandings by other cast members and that's one (manga) chapter worth of comedy right there.
Depending on how you look at it, you can also play the card that the reversal jewel arc occurred immediately after Ranma discovered the truth of his mother. If (giving Takahashi too much credit, probably) you interpret that as Ranma being depressed over that, it becomes slightly more sympathetic.
And likewise, you can turn the dougi arc around and point out that in the Takahashi universe, not much value is given to damage done (across the board, pretty much), and outside of Ranma himself, most people don't actually care who wins or loses the smaller fights.
As far as Ranma and Akane switching bodies, I do recall a fic or two about it -- it's almost always played off as Ranma being able to handle it better than Akane (mostly). Sometimes Akane flips out a little over Ranma having ... access to her body. Hm, I recall one specific scene where Ranma complains that Akane's body wouldn't be much to look at, and then she (in his body) whallops him.
Oops.
Hmm. Trying to remember the titles.... Dune?
Rings a bell, let me see if I can remember it. Processing, processing, processing...
http://home.comcast.net/~kmresponse/ranma_fanfic_categories.html#Body%20Swapping
Check here, it's dated but has some examples.
Yeah, the other one I was thinking was that ... squicktacular PhysicalGod!Akane-hits-her-head,-thinks-she's-Ranma story from Allyn Yonge.
That was ... horrifying, the way the Tendos immediately forced Ranma to 'be Akane' for that 'Ranma'. Your link is a better take on it. :x
Got a link to that one? I sorta feel like reading a possible trainwreck today.
Yeesh.
Atrocities within:
This is a reocities site, so:
http://reocities.com/ayongedarling/NoFrames.html
Specifically:
http://reocities.com/ayongedarling/ImaGuyChapter1.html
Dune, I forget what a glutton for punishment you are ... anyway. It's abandoned and incomplete.
Good luck -- you'll need it!
Yellow and black? Wow, the background was enough to scare me off.
Quote from: Brian on October 20, 2011, 12:54:36 PMAs far as Ranma and Akane switching bodies, I do recall a fic or two about it -- it's almost always played off as Ranma being able to handle it better than Akane (mostly). Sometimes Akane flips out a little over Ranma having ... access to her body. Hm, I recall one specific scene where Ranma complains that Akane's body wouldn't be much to look at, and then she (in his body) whallops him.
That is kind of unavoidable in such a scenario. However, I was thinking that once Ranma realizes that he can't use pretty much any of his skills in the swapped body (though he knows in principle how to do them he would have to retrain Akane's body), he's suddenly even more eager than Akane to get the situation reversed.
And of course, that was only supposed to be the warm-up round, with the major wackiness being derived from the attempts to cure the swap that turn into further swaps instead. Maybe first a few swaps by accident, then people swapping intentionally as a last ditch attempt to prevent the situation from escalating (which fails, of course) or to prevent certain secrets from getting revealed to certain persons (which narrowly succeeds) until it runs completely out of control. At some point Happosai gets swapped with one of the girls and gets mesmerized by his new body which disgusts and enrages everybody else to the extent that they gang up against him in order to save the situation but then it gets so tangled up that nobody knows who's who any more. Basically, a chaotic in-universe character shuffle.
For such a scenario to work the MacGuffin should be something that does the swapping in close physical proximity and through a mechanism that is easy to trigger accidentally.
Aw, now I'm really starting to want to do this. Must stick to Haruhi-verse....
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 20, 2011, 01:54:47 PM
For such a scenario to work the MacGuffin should be something that does the swapping in close physical proximity and through a mechanism that is easy to trigger accidentally.
A magical item with an ominous, impressive name that turns out to like like some second grader's attempt at pottery. Something like that urn/pot-thing in the Terrible Master Urd arc of A!MS?
I can understand the temptation; I've written quite a few fics of my own in the fandom, after all (frighteningly, jusenkyo.wikia tells me that it's nearly 50 ... at least most of them are chapters of Compass Points or spamfics ... I think). For what it's worth, it was actually dissatisfaction with the original series that led me to write fanfiction in the first place, not admiration.
A less than pure origin point, I suppose....
Anyway, I was frustrated by the manga's utter lack of progress and character growth -- the enslavement to the status quo, basically. It says something that everything I ever wrote was a marked counterpoint to that. Then again, it was over a decade ago when I discovered it, so my perspective has shifted somewhat. <_<;;
As has been paraphrased elsewhere in the fandom: "Takahashi wrote a 38 volume story about two people not getting together. Fanfiction aims to change that a little."
The anime/manga arguments usually crop up in here, since the anime has quite a few non-manga elements (and most of the characters are a bit more flanderized than the manga). Effectively, the anime is even more episodic and relies on status quo to undo pretty much every anime-only episode's content by the end. :\
Yes, there is a general lack of progress in the story but then again, I saw it more as a sitcom than a plot-driven series, so it didn't really bother me any more than Bart Simpson being in the same class after, what, 23 years of studying.
Quote from: Brian on October 20, 2011, 02:14:37 PMAs has been paraphrased elsewhere in the fandom: "Takahashi wrote a 38 volume story about two people not getting together. Fanfiction aims to change that a little."
Actually, my final take of the series was slightly more optimistic (if I wasn't misled by some fanslation quirks that weren't in the original material). Basically, I thought that by the end of the series Ranma and Akane had admitted to themselves and to each other that they will indeed get married at some point, but that right now they are still too young (and at school!) and thus they aren't in a hurry. Once they grow some more they'll be able to do it on their own initiative instead of being pushed into it by their families.
I know that the series didn't state so, I just felt that out of all plausible conclusions it was the one I liked the most.
To be fair, that's generally what Takahashi was aiming for ... but she isn't actually very good about concluding series -- look at Urusei Yatsura for that.
OTOH, contrast Ranma to Maison Ikoku, which I liked quite a bit more (because of the character development, and the fact that the slapstick elements get downplayed there). So it's not like she can't, as much as it seems she won't if she thinks it'll upset the fans.
That all hearkens back to what I dislike about the 'harem' aspect of these things in general: If one happy couple results, what about everyone who gets left behind (assuming they were genuine) -- and avoiding the eye-roll of a Pair the Spares scenario (done so very, very tiresomely often, and generally poorly...).
Lum (from UY) was originally supposed to be a one-shot character who appeared in Ataru's life as a symptom of the insanity in it. Over the course of the series, his intended love interest (Shinobu) gets reduced to a side-character, while Lum gets more and more screentime (more-or-less overtaking the 'main character' spot, really).
Shampoo was introduced in Ranma as an Expy/nod to Lum; she was likewise supposed to be a one-shot character who appears briefly in Ranma's life to showcase the insanity there (but the fans wanted her around; this is probably why Shampoo gets slightly more screen time in general than Ukyou). So, I do have to wonder what the story would have been if Shampoo hadn't stuck around, and then Cologne hadn't bumped Tofu out of the 'wise mentor' role -- but then, probably, that story would have had Ukyou leaving/backing off, too.
(Incidentally, Ukyou's my favorite among the cast. ;) I don't dislike Akane, I just like Ukyou better. ^_^)
So, your ending is the one the series (I believe) tries to project.
OTOH, most fanfiction writers take it more seriously, and thus you get most Ranma 1/2 fanfics (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CerebusSyndrome).
Well, as can be seen, there's a part of the actual canon that you can take for any character you want and use to justify both considerable positive and negative traits. The worship of the status quo means that authors that do this really aren't doing anything wrong.
It's the dissatisfaction with the original combined with the draw of the characters that is at least partially responsible for the healthy fanficdom that appeared around it.
Naruto heavily benefits from the same. The original author is often incoherent and slapstick, random, and spur of the moment, but introduces grand conflicts that often resolve in unsatisfying ways. Because of this, a large number of authors have a good foothold of "And what if this part went right?" "What if this character wasn't retarded?"
In comparison, One Piece gets 'draw of characters combined with satisfaction and few good hook points' for people that continue to read it (instead of simply waving it off) :P. The end result? The monumental mass of fanfiction in that area is SI driven, with basically the story 'as is' being something to continue (or replicate). The exception being that since there is a lack of romance, those unsatisfied with that have found plentiful ground to add such.
Quote from: Brian on October 20, 2011, 03:50:50 PM(Incidentally, Ukyou's my favorite among the cast. ;) I don't dislike Akane, I just like Ukyou better. ^_^)
Mmm ... yes, Ukyou is a character who's not at all difficult to like. She's independent, hard-working, generally upbeat and considering the cast as a whole relatively 'normal'. In addition to that, she's gotten a really raw deal in life so far but it only makes her try harder instead of getting all angsty. I think that the only thing that she missed to become a serious contender was enough screen time.
For some reason that I don't even know myself, I have a much harder time trying to like Shampoo. I don't certainly hate her, but out of the three main alternatives for Ranma's fiancee she's the one I'd be the least inclined to trust.
And ... I'm not familiar with those other series, either. I have seen the names before but they are all unknown, ancient history to me. My anime/manga knowledge is really shallow....
Well ... it doesn't help that I'm casting back pretty far in the past to dredge up those references. >_>;;
Most of us in the thread do have the dubious benefit of being in the fandom for over a decade. :p
Actually, my favorite part about Ukyou is that when she tried to 'eliminate the competition' her first plan was to non-violently try and get Ryouga and Akane to date. She has less flattering moments (Nabiki as Ranma's fiancee arc, secret sauce arc >_<), but I appreciate that first constructive attempt to sidestep the normal violence and actually look for something peacable. Hmm, I think Mr. Simons points out that the ghost cave was another example of her trying a (somewhat) more cooperative solution.
I find the bigger issue with Shampoo isn't her, but the influence Cologne could ostensibly pull. On her own, it wouldn't be so bad, but no one else has such a powerful backer. Then again, Cologne doesn't actually to do anything much in that direction after her initial attempt, so.... I'm honestly largely neutral over her canon representation, but find that fanfiction can often make her more sympathetic (as with almost the entire cast, parents/backgrounds can be made up as-needed).
I like Shampoo a lot. Her first attempt to be rid of her romantic competition was the memory erasing shampoo.
You know, instead of killing Akane like so many fics portray her.
Quote from: thepanda on October 20, 2011, 04:34:25 PM
You know, instead of killing Akane like so many fics portray her.
I wouldn't be surprised if the "obstacles are for killing" one-liner is the main thing at fault for this. But in practice canon tends to be more like:
"Stupid fanfiction writer! Amazon no can kill annoying person just like that! Shampoo only kill when honour bound!
If not, would have kill Mousse ages ago."
Even then, when Ranma 'revealed' he was in fact a she, Shampoo was so heartbroken that she just left.
One of the earlier moments when Takahashi played a story beat seriously and it's genuine heartbreak.
Quote from: sarsaparilla on October 20, 2011, 11:30:30 AM
But ... I guess that this is such a blindingly obvious idea that it's already done to death in the fandom, right? And drawing requires a lot of work compared to writing, anyway. But ... but ... I can already see all the hilarious expressions in my mind ... ugh, I feel conflicted @.@
So? Do it anyway. There is still a lack of stories with skill and care put into them. There is always a lack of those, unfortunately.
This indeed goes for any fanficdom.
And even when there are relatively skilled stories in an area, only a fraction of them are ever completed.