Relatively Absent

OVERALL: 7.5

Plot: 7.9

Grammar/Spelling: 9.5

In a Nutshell: Ranma nearly dies and ends up making contact with a very powerful and essentially benificent being in the process. He also ends up meeting his mother’s side of the family, a group of people who hold a great deal of secrets. Meanwhile, things look worse and worse for the Tendo family.

Sum and Substance: Relatively Absent is a Ranma fic with serious Sailor Moon overtones. Yes, Ranma wears the sailor fuku – yes, Ranma does the embarrassing transformation-pose sequence. Yes, Ranma complains bitterly about said fuku, sequence, and the accompanying make-up. Yet a good deal separates ‘Relatively Absent’ from its vaguely annoying fellows.

For one, the background political intrigue is well-researched, from the functions and duties of a proper kunoichi, to the names of the current ruling family of Japan. Aside from that family, there is also a bevy of new and interesting characters, like Eiko and Ranma’s many cousins. Eiko’s technical patter, while sometimes distracting, is actually interesting if you pay attention rather than scanning his lines, and appreciate the attention to detail present in the thing; Ranma’s cousins are easily and immediately separable, despite all being introduced at the same time – a difficult feat without visual accompaniment.

Moreover, the plot twists keep coming at a decent clip, making the tale fast-paced and interesting. The grammar and ability to show nuance are also very, very good.

The Bad:

1) Eiko’s chatter does get boring after awhile; enough so that Ranma, if in character, would begin at least making hints that the Gate should be quiet. Instead, Ranma is always interested, rather than rashly attempting to do things him/herself, which is what would be in character.

2) Ranma hasn’t done much yet. Despite being in the ninth chapter, we’ve witnessed one fight plus the tail-end of another. Meeting interesting people is what keeps the story going; however, that is not plot. All that has happened to Ranma, the main character, is being saved from being buried under a mountain, getting his powers, and practicing with them. The first two events happen in the first two chapters. Fully utilizing/realizing these powers has taken the other seven.

3) Ranma is a strong, deadly martial artist with a biting wit, not a wimpy sort of person who needs constant emotional protection. I am just now beginning to become tired of stories that depict Ranma as ‘emotionally fragile’ (even if they’re my own, lol.) Yes, Akane insults him all the time. So does Ryoga and Kuno. However, he also has an unending supply of girlfriends, and in the case of Akane, Ryoga and Kuno, he’s always given as good as he got. I can see him getting tired of it, even a little depressed – but knowing Ranma’s character, that probably wouldn’t last very long. Ranma’s tongue gets him in trouble a lot – it’s one of his central character traits. Saying his complicated relationships are all the fault of others is not only simplistic, it’s ridiculous. There are plenty of times he’s dug his own grave.

The Ugly: (WARNING – Rant and Explicit Language ahead.)

These are minor, easily surmountable difficulties, and they’re all quite subjective. The biggest and most distressing problem in ‘Relatively Absent’ is, however less easy to ignore; and that is that the author very obviously has a serious vendetta against a handful of the characters within both the Ranma 1/2 and Sailor Moon universes.

The first notice of this is in regards to Sailor Pluto, whom Eiko describes as a ‘heartless bitch’ from the get-go. This is the first and only time Eiko curses within the story (explicitly, that is – ‘Eiko swore’ is stated at a later point.) In fact, I may be mistaken, but I believe it’s the first time cursing even appears in the text. It is so out of character for the already well-established personality of the Gate that it was jarring enough to make me puzzled.

Moreover, the depiction of Pluto is incredibly unfavorable, Ranma re-assigning the appellation “P-chan” at the first sight of her – not to mention that Pluto is characterized as shrill and hysterical, far from her rather majestic, mysterious presence in the manga and anime. Despite the fact that her situation is dire at that point, I still viewed her as incredibly out of character, so much so that I accepted the author’s personal vendetta against the Sailor Scout at that juncture in the story.

However, the vilification didn’t stop there. After the author had thoroughly trashed Sailor Pluto, he moved on to Genma – not a particularly fresh point of view, certainly. Nodoka, in an admittedly characteristic fit of pique, somehow acted to remove Genma from his own clan registers (how?), but not before she chased him around with her katana with deadly intention and banished him from the Tendo household. While panda baiting – and skewering – and roasting – is certainly not unheard of in the Ranma fanfiction community, the Genma bashing is particularly virulent in ‘Relatively Absent’. Somehow, without doing anything but chase her husband with a sword and threaten to kill herself, Nodoka earns redemption, while Genma only receives repudiation. Despite the slant towards Nodoka, I couldn’t help but remember that she had threatened to kill her son if he didn’t live up to her standards, or that it took Ranma’s ‘death’ to convince her to change her mind. Moreover, what she does in reaction to the supposed death of her son is worse than useless: she wanders around screwing up everything she touches, much like her overly-abused husband, in fact. However, she is right and he is wrong. Why is that?

By this time I was quite irritated with the author.

Finally, the Tendos were the veritable straw that broke the camel’s back. The author’s depiction of Nabiki was utterly unbelievable. Once again, Nabiki is not a character that I feel especially close to. I have tried to write stories from her point of view, but never finished one; I consider her a pretty difficult personality to ‘work with’. However, I was surprised and irritated at her treatment within ‘Relatively Absent’. The author literally makes her evil. Not obnoxious, or wily, or deceptive, or even cruel – evil, and evil without explanation or excuse. The author throws in some comment by Kasumi about how the middle Tendo daughter has been ‘getting worse’, and then proceeds to sling dung at the character with no further ado.

Not only does Nabiki not care that Ranma’s dead, she doesn’t skip a beat in considering how it will profit her. She then proceeds to actually sell Ukyo a copy of a tape depicting Ranma’s gruesome death. When Ukyo demands that Nabiki tell her what has occurred, Nabiki drastically raises the price of the item for Ukyo’s impudence in daring to question her. Say it with me: E – V – I – L. (I feel like that guy from Ally McBeal!)

Akane doesn’t exist at all except off-screen, where she is bashed by Ranma’s cousins, who have been observing the young martial artist for about a year, and thus know about his fiancée’s violent tendencies.

...And nobody finds this creepy? You’d think, with the way that girls have been following Ranma around with their tongues hanging out, that this would concern him far more than it does.

I was still reading up until this point, however. Mostly, I wanted to find out what was going to happen with Ranma, why the Emperor had called him over for tea, what had happened to Ryoga, etc. The plot itself is very compelling.

Then we find out the author’s opinion concerning the ‘price’ for being evil and female, which brought the plot-y goodness of the story crashing down around my ears. Akane and Nabiki are brutally raped, for no apparent reason.

See, the author seems to be saying. This is what happens to the bad girls. Somehow Kasumi is left out of the entire mess (again, without any more than a nod to credulity), and Ukyo receives a huge sum of money in compensation for her stolen yatai at about the same time. See, the story adds, this is what happens to the good girls, with a self-satisfied little nod.

It also seems to be covertly adding that Nabiki is being directly repaid for her attempts to swindle Ukyo out of her money for the videotape. She is raped and tortured, while Ukyo is given far more money than she ever gave the middle Tendo daughter. Thus, Nabiki is given far worse than she dealt out emotionally, while Ukyo is compensated monetarily far more than she could have imagined.

It’s wish fulfillment at its very sickest. Moreover, there’s the slimy impression that the rapists are somehow the good guys, and that they have suitably punished the violent Akane and the manipulative Nabiki. There are noises like we’ll soon be asked to feel sorry for Akane; she paid for her sins. But not Nabiki. She’s too bad, and she’ll probably have to be taught some other lessons, later on. That, or she’ll be killed or go insane. Or all three – in the logical order.

Akane has to put up with very little (she’s been shocked too much... did I mention the part with the tazer?). Her rape, while a rape, is mostly without response on her part because she’s injured. However, Nabiki is forced to attempt to respond enthusiastically to avoid being shocked further by her torturers.

In other words, the girl who’s depicted as ‘worse’, personality-wise, receives worse punishment.

I like Akane. Seeing her ignored throughout the entire tale, and then raped – not just raped, but raped with a general feeling of satisfaction permeating the scene – definitely upset me.

Call it personal bias.

I am not saying that a rape scene is never appropriate. Sometimes a tale requires one, or even is based around one. Such stories may help make the idea of rape more accessible to the reader, rather than the hazy, unreal, it-happens-but-it-happens-elsewhere sort of understanding most people have. It may help rape victims realize that they don’t have to go on in silence or that they’re not alone in what has happened to them. It can even be a fantasy play in which one person pretends to be unwilling, if you happen to like lemons.

However, a rape scene in which the victims are tortured, then finger-fucked with hands covered in rubber gloves (note – the attacker is not defiled, is still ‘good’ or ‘clean’), and where the tone remains... hn, what’s the word?... righteous... is not only undesirable in a story... or anyplace else... it’s stomach-churning.

Anticipating the arguments which may or may not come from those who enjoy the story, let me state that I know what Nabiki was punished for, and that it’s truly abysmal (haven’t figured it out about Akane, but I’m assuming she was involved) – it’s just that I don’t see the reason as good enough, and that I believe there is no reason ‘good enough’ for such a scene in such a tone. It is the tone I object to, not the fact that there was a rape scene in a fanfiction story. I also recognize that Genma is a lazy bastard, and that Ranma has had a difficult life. Finally, I also realize that the rape scenes constituted perhaps one-third of one chapter.

However – that, piled atop the other character bashing that was going on, was more than enough to not only dampen my interest in the story, but to make me disgusted enough to abandon it for good.