Red's Reviews: Where Are We Now? 

Altaverse Title: Where Are We Now
Author: Dr. Suekeichi Kaiton
Status: Ongoing
Rating: 5
Review Requested by: Anh Doan 

     This is the first Review requested by a reader, and as such is a little 
different than those I do because I just felt like it. I normally review only 
fanfics that are complete, or significantly lengthy. Since this was requested, 
I'll review what there is.
     This fic in still underway, and only has one chapter completed, so I went 
far easier on it than I normally would.
     As soon as I started reading this Altaverse, I saw something that made me a 
little hesitant. Even before the fanfic began, the author added a note that 
indicated a "Major Rewrite" of both the Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2 timelines. 
With that in mind, I started reading the story.
     Plot: At the end, the author states that the idea behind this was the 
result of a challenge to pair up Ranma and Sailor Moon's Queen Beryl. Being only 
the first chapter, there's not much plot to be seen. One section that I thought 
was *way* too big a change (see previous paragraph) in Ranma's history to be 
introduced in chapter one is references to Ranma being a well-established Moon 
Kingdomer.
     I've read a number of 'fics where Ranma is a Sailor Senshi or Moon Kingdom 
member, either becoming one in the course of the story or has been one all 
along, but none of them just assumed I knew all about it like this chapter did. 
I'll grant that this *is* just chapter one, and that it should become clearer 
with more chapters to come, I simply thought that the way that Ranma was 
indicated to be an M.K. like this was a little too much to digest in chapter 
one.
     Characters and characterization: Well, there really wasn't all that much. 
This Ranma seemed a bit off, but not unbearably so. A touch more outspoken than 
I thought was accurate, but that's just me.
     Story Mechanics: Parts of this chapter were kinda confusing. Ami's dream 
recollection was particularly odd. There are a few more than the usual grammar 
errors, and the paragraphs weren't broken up as best they could be.
     Dialogue: What little dialogue there was in this chapter wasn't the 
greatest. Especially that dialogue between Ranma and Nodoka. I thought it was a 
bit simplistic and straightforward. It read like a quick Q&A session.

     Summary: There's not a whole lot I have to say about this one. It needs a 
dialogue tune-up, and either a bit more of an explanation on Ranma's Moon 
Kingdom status or save it for a later chapter. So far this story's not bad, it's 
not good. It's just there. But as I noted before, it's still chapter one so 
there's still time and possibility.