Patrick McClanahan <patrick@tempest.jumpnetworks.com> wrote:

	Wow. It's not the most exciting new release of the year, that
being a certain movie coming this May, but it's pretty darn close.

Heh. Thanks.

	How many of these chapters can we expect? I would hope there would
be as much main story as there was prologue, but I can't see this thing
reaching any kind of size that would justify the use of the the use of the
term "prologue" for the earlier stories.
	

(Points to the header) There'll be a total of ten chapters. No idea how
long each one'll be, but if this one is any indication, the series'll be
somewhat longer than the preludes in total volume.

	The biggest question on my mind after reading the prologues was
what tone the core story would try to carry. The prologues seemed almost
designed to run the gamut of fanfiction's various modes.

Well, not intentionally... I just set out to tell whatever story I
thought was right for the character and fit into the overall storyline.
And I didn't end up hitting all fanfic genres... didn't put in any
crossovers, for one.

Some of the
stories carried their characters in interesting new directions (like those
of Kuno and Kasumi), while some were more conventional (Nabiki's and
Ryouga's). Some had the comedic tone of the series (Kodachi's), while some
were starkly realistic and depressing (Ukyou's). Some were a little
bizarre (Ranma's), some were even more bizarre (Gosunkugi's), and some
defied all sense (Mousse and Azusa?!?).

Aw, don't you think they make a cute couple? :)

	This first chapter, happily, reads more coherently than I
expected. The comedy has definitely taken a back seat, but what remains is
sufficient to keep this story suitably dramatic, rather than simply dark.
The relatively minimal amount of ominous foreshadowing also helps keep
this story from plodding.

I don't expect there to be a lot of comedy in this series... then again,
I never really plan the comic bits, they just seem to heppen. :)

	Characterization, though, is the central element of this story,
and represents the greatest vulnerability. With so many previously
peripheral characters now brought into already crowded central stage,
juggling each of their stories will become a chore. The best of luck to
you, Gary, in trying to keep them straight.

Thanks, I'll need it. :-) Believe me, trying to do justice to all the
characters is my foremost consideration here. Some of them got a lot of
play in the first chapter, like Mu Si, while others got the shaft, but
that'll change as the series goes on, and I'm gonna try to do something
interesting with each character by the time it's over.

	All in all, a promising start to an ambitious project! 

Thanks for your comments!


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics