The Eternal Lost Lurker wrote:
[...]
 > "Conan" removed his glasses and tossed them to her. She yelped and 
struggled
 > to catch them without dropping them. "Mou, Conan-kun..." She blinked.
 > "Matte...there's no lenses in these."

This was a cute little story.  I thought it was generally well-written,
though perhaps moved Ran/Shinichi's relationship along a little faster
than I would expect it could likely go.

I'm not the type to complain about "gratuitous Japanese."  But what's
"barou" mean?  Some contraction of bakayarou?

I wonder if Ran really would react like she did in the story.  Somehow I
think she'd be a little more violent about having been tricked, and a
little less likely to declare her love... but crises can bring out
behavior that is different from the norm so it is plausible at least.

I assume it's a one-shot, because (as someone else pointed out) it 
removes some of the dramatic tension and makes the story a little less 
interesting going forward.  It gives Ran more of an excuse to be 
involved in Conan's exploits, but she's involved almost all the time anyway.

===

I usually do all C&C in private.  Brian Randall would tell you that I've
sent him a bit of commentary on every one of his recent chapters of
Diamonds in the Rough.  I've pre-read for Brian in the distant past, for
Don Granberry, and volunteered to do so for several others.  If anyone
is looking for prereaders, and I've seen (or read) the relevant series,
I'll be glad to help.  I truly suck at creative writing -- and have ever
since early elementary school -- but I try to contribute to the
community in ways that I can.

On the general topic of FFML, I see the issues as:
(1) Obscurity (it's hard to find the list)
(2) Technology (mailing lists are a dying breed in general)
(3) Fractured community, due to the sheer number of titles available.  I
have roughly 1,000 anime DVDs in my collection, and I have
only a tiny fraction of what is now available.  Other than the "big"
series that everyone knows, how much of an audience is there for the
rest?  (I'm not holding my breath waiting for someone to post a
Divergence Eve, Godannar, Air Master, Genshiken, ... fic.)

Ranma came along at a good time, at the start of a big anime resurgence.
   It's a great manga and a decent anime, with interesting characters.
It was pretty popular, so most everyone is familiar with the characters
and the story.  And it seems "unfinished":  unlike, say, Maison Ikkoku,
tension in the main characters' relationship never goes anywhere...
which prompts fanfic authors to supply the missing ending.  I think it's
some combination of factors like that which has resulted in so much
Ranma fanfiction here.  I can't say that I mind, since it is one of my
favorite series.

FFML is not my list, and I'm not one of the truly important contributors
here (a writer)... so I don't expect my opinion to matter much.  My vote
would be to try to expand the membership (make the list easier to find),
maybe switch or augment technologies (an archived web-forum, at least
allow pull-technology as an alternative to a mailing list)... but not
lose the "anime fanfiction" focus.  We all have interests outside of
anime, but we have different ones -- if I get my additional interests
added to FFML, they might not be the same as yours (and vice versa).

-- Chris

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