Schools United

Michael Fetter

OVERALL: 8.5

Plot: 9.0

Grammar/Spelling: 9.0

In a Nutshell: Ranma wakes up one day to find that everything has changed. Everything. And she can’t even remember why. As time goes on, Ranma has tried everything to escape her new situation and must finally adopt a new personality to stay sane.

Critique: Perhaps one of the best pieces of fanfiction ever, in my humble opinion. Certainly top ten, but perhaps this is simply the sort of tale I enjoy. The mystery is involving, and the ending is a surprise bigger than that of any other fanfic. Hmm, the beginning is, too.

Sum and Substance: This fanfic disturbed me beyond belief. From the very first scene, Fetter grabs ahold of the reader’s throat and won’t let go. I remember the first time I read this tale, I was as nervous as Ranma by the time the horrible surmise about what had happened to Ranma gripped me. As I recall, I actually stopped reading and closed my eyes for a moment, and said “my God.”

Not only does Fetter take a practically unbelievable plot and make it believable, he makes it good. Amazing. And extraordinarily dark. Immediately, he goes to the action, not wasting any time, explaining things when they needed to be explained. The creation of Okaasan from Ranma’s existing self and Akane’s need to reclaim him from that new self followed seemingly naturally. Actually, the use of ‘natural’ is quite literal, as a birth is Ranma’s catalyst. And then there’s the matter of who in God’s name did this horrible thing to Okaasan...

It doesn’t help the reader that every character believes him/herself to be the guilty party. Yet, as the circumstances change, it becomes clear that somebody is working to disrupt Okaasan’s life again.

I must say the story kept me considerably on my toes, though others certainly may guess who the guilty party is. (Read quickly! Don’t give yourself time to contemplate! You don’t want to guess, do you? This is my approach to stories...) I won’t say who it is even here, because I wouldn’t want anybody to glimpse it by mistake... but I will say that it fits in a sick and twisted sort of way, fans of the character be damned.