>        General Questions:
>
>            1. Could this story work in the actual Ranmaverse?


Perhaps.  I think this counts as an alternate reality story, and quite
frankly, the only alt-univ. story I enjoyed reading is IMBS.  Ranma
making the wish is pretty acceptable though.

>            2. Was anyone OOC?


I thought Nabiki and Kasumi.  why would they be so smitten over Ranma?
I mean, Ranma isn't too different from the real Ranma.  Just a bit more
cultured, but still raw around the edges, and still has that Jyusenkyo
curse.

>            3. Any noticeable author biases?


Nabiki was a lot less mercenary than usual.  Kasumi a lot less
oblivious.  Ryouga a lot less violent.

Akane, though, seemed too unreasonable and stubborn.

>            4. Did you enjoy the fic?


Good enough.  Too "less in content" for me.  The problem with these
kinds of stories is just the author almost rewriting everything with
very minor changes.  Personally, if I were going to write an alternate
universe fic, I'd go for something like IMBS.  Drastically different
from the original, but underneath the layers of "darkness", if you look
hard enough, it's still the same Ranma, the same Akane, the same love
story.



>        Story Questions:
>
>            1. If Ranma were raised solely by Nodoka, do you think he
would
>act like he did in the fanfic? Persume for sake of arguement that
Nodoka can
>train him in the martial arts or was able to get people to train him in
the
>martial arts?


He would definitely be more "cultured", like he is in the story.  I
mean, he's not focused only on martial arts, but also on his studies and
other arts like music.

>            2. Which of Ranma's first encounters were too similar to
the
>manga? Which were too different?


Everything looked pretty much the same to me.  With teeny-weeny little
twists, but still pretty much the same.   The only difference I noticed
is that Nabiki kept cutting in on Ranma and Akane's scenes in the manga,
like the first encounter with Kunou, when they took Ranma to Tofou's
clinic, etc.

>            3. Speculation Question #1: Which female character do you
think
>Ranma has the strongest chance of devealoping romantic feelings towards
in
>the fic? Please do not incorporate any personal biases in your answer.
If you
>have evidence from the fic you can use to stregthen your arguement
please
>supply it.


Ranma does seem to like Nabiki and Kasumi very much.  I think it might
be Nabiki.  Besides, Nabiki's a lot nicer to Ranma here than the real
Nabiki is to the real Ranma in the original manga.

I hope the author would make him and Akane a couple, though.  To tell
the truth, I never enjoyed reading stories where Ranma or Akane end up
with other people, no matter how well written or convincing the stories
may be...

>            4. Speculation Question #2: How do you think the author
will
>include Ukyou into the fic? Will Ukyou have romantic feelings towards
Ranma?
>Will Nodoka allow Ukyou to pursue those Romantic feelings?
>


Well, Ukyou probably won't be coming to settle the score with Ranma,
since Nodoka wouldn't have something as dishonorable as stealing her
family's okonomiyaki cart.  If Ukyou were to have romantic feelings for
Ranma, I imagine Nodoka would be perfectly happy to know that she'd
raised such a manly son.

That's it for me.

IMPORTANT : IMPORTANT :  IMPORTANT :  IMPORTANT :

The next fanfic discussion is "Casts a Long Shadow" from "The Shadow
Chronicles", written by Mark MacKinnon.  Since it's pretty long, it's
given two weeks, and I'll be posting the questions next Tuesday, October
12.

Stiffanie Flores