Jengou the ever ? said:

<Hello, hello.
Now this is weird. After so many who said Hearts of Ice is a good
fanfic, I 
have to disagree. Is it I who is the rebel or is it that those who likes 
Heart of Ice haven't read anything better?>

Well, I think the author takes time to develop the plot. So many fics out
there in the Ranma genre speed through their plots like a hot knife
through butter. Having been an editor of fanfiction for over two years
now, I've come to appreciate the value of a slowly developing plot. So
while HoI may develop very slowly, I think it's very well written. ^_^ My
own Ranma crossover fic, Persona Ranma, also develops very slowly,
but from the feedfback I've gotten, both on and off the ML, people like it
that way. With the end of Chapter 6, though, things get more
Ranma-related, whcih I will get done with after finals..^_^

You talked about Ranma 1/2 fics being believeable. Well, I do believe in
continuity and all, but there really has to be more tolerance, IMO, to
accept fanfics like the one you described. The fact of the matter is, no
one can make a 100% believeable fic, that is, set in the Ranma-verse -
only Takahashi-sensei can do that. With this in mind sometimes it's easier
to accept those alterative situations (like all those Ryouga/Ukyou fics - ick
^_^). Even the anime is guilty of being unbelieveable sometimes (see the
pairing up of couples in Ranma movie 2).

Me? I'm more of a content and plot person, as well as syntax and correct
grammar. If the situation is totally unfit for the Ranma verse, but yet is
well written and with justification (very good justification) of characters
in Ranma 1/2 moving away from their set personalities in the series itself,
then I can appreciate it instead of reject it. The "Elseworlds" series, for
example, focuses on placing the characters of Ranma in different
situations you would never find them in in the manga.

Of course, it all depends on what your tastes are. Justicar and I formed
Super Deformed Gaijin Productions just for the fact that there are some
fics out there that are either badly written or made, and we exist to make
light of that, as well as poke fun at the better written Ranma fics (none of
the popular ones). We're still in our early stages, but don't worry, world
domina- I mean, notoriety will soon be ours! ^_^

--Tashibiko, aka Frank
1/2 of Super Deformed Gaijin Productions
Ranma 1/2 Library Maintainer
http://ranmainfo.simplenet.com
Ranma: "What'd I do _this_ time?" (M)