The Bitter End/YMMV

These things about The Bitter End are subjective - not everyone will agree with all of them.

This is probably the YMMV story from the Ranma fandom. Some find it overwrought and melodramatic, with stilted, unrealistic dialogue. Others see it as an intense and dramatic deconstruction of Comedic Sociopathy.

Alternative Character Interpretation: Very alternative, for Akane: this fic proposes that her violent outbursts, instead of comedy slapstick, were the result of deep-seated psychoses and possessiveness stemming from a massive inferiority complex.
Holy Shit Quotient: The ending of this story had an incredibly high HSQ at the time it was first released, as no fan author had ever taken Akane's (Flanderized) behavior to its logical, if horrifying, extreme before, and indeed, became subject to Recursive Fanfiction because of it.
It Was His Sled: Akane's murder of Ranma and Ukyo in a rage-fueled fugue state at the climax was a stunning and almost unbelievable Twist Ending that shocked readers when it was released in 1997. However, in the decades since, it's become common knowledge in what remains of the Ranma fandom.
Out-of-Character Moment: Some readers accused Bateman of softening Ukyo's characterization to cast her as a far better alternative to Akane than her canon counterpart.

Back to The Bitter End