Out of Character 1
Contents
Introduction
The Out of Character, Vol 1 (OOC1) project was a fan produced doujinshi released in June 2003. It is the first doujinshi produced by Ranma Hentai Books (formerly Ranma Hentai Gallery).
Storyline and Contents
The Story:
The “actors” from Ranma ½, some years after the series has finished, have lowered their standards a lot in the search for acting gigs, due to their declining popularity and character typecasting, resulting in mostly having to survive on cheesy sex romps in dojin and fanfiction. Jaded and bitter, they participate in this one with widely mixed degrees of reluctance and professionalism. The spend a fair amount of time between the all-lesbian sex arguing with the narrator, and occasionally each other, instead of just following the script. OOC1, and in fact the whole trilogy, broke as many standard Doujinshi conventions as possible, intentionally, and with hilarious results. This would include plot conventions. The storyline continues immediately in Out Of Character, Vol 2
Cast & Activities:
Featured Characters (those who have sex in this issue)
Akane
Ranma-chan
Nabiki
Kasumi
Other Characters (not sexually active in this issue)
Kodachi
Ranma-kun
Character combinations (in order of screen-time):
Ranma-chan + Akane,
Nabiki + Kasumi,
Akane +Nabiki
Sexual practices:
Lesbian sex (including sisters),
Toys.
Semi-forced sex (with zero resistance and only token reluctance)
Background
It was a volunteer project, begun with the hope of kick-re-starting the popularity of Ranma-based hentai in the western world. The series, Ranma ½, had completed its release in the west, and had finished in Japan many years before that. The related amount of interest in producing (and viewing) Ranma hentai was measurable by the steadily dropping number of monthly art submissions to the Ranma Hentai Gallery.
Conceived by SHADE, OOC1 was the biggest project anyone in the western hemisphere had attempted to do with Ranma hentai or doujinshi to the then-date. It showcased the art styles of several different artists, each of whom worked on different sections. The goal was to create something even better than the low-res, badly scanned, (poorly, or not at all) translated doujinshi fan-comics made in Japan, (which were themselves dwindling in number). By selling OOC1, SHADE hoped to gain funding for future projects, so that Ranma hentai art and manga would not fade away into undeserved obscurity.
Production
Written By:________
Line Artists:
___________ (pages X through Y)
___________ (pages X through Y)
___________ (pages X through Y)
___________ (pages X through Y)
Background art:
Colouring
Special Effects Art
OOC1 combined full-colour art, higher resolution graphical effects, an original story written in English for an English audience, that kept the same wacky, fast-paced comedy elements that played a large part in making Ranma ½ such a globally popular anime series to begin with. It boasted 1st generation 3d backgrounds and CG visual effects (which would eventually be much improved upon in later book releases).
Which is not to say it did not have its lesser problems and issues. There was no system or precedent in place for such production, and from conception to completion took SHADE a full 5 years. While having multiple artists showcase their styles in different sections was certainly interesting, it made the transition between one artist's section and another's quite jarring and distracting, and also practically forced the reader to make an unfair comparison as to which artistic style they preferred or regarded as “better” than the others, in their opinion. Many of the visual effects can come across as overdone, or an attempt to show off the graphic artist's photoshopping skills at the expense of making a scene actually look good as a whole. The counter-viewpoint to this would be that the book's own story was intentionally over-the-top to begin with, and the overdone graphics merely did their own part in adding to the comical melodrama.
In the end, OOC1 taught the team a lot about what they could accomplish, and what they could improve upon for their next project and sequel, Out Of Character 2. It may have been a leap ahead into the modern era of computer-assisted manga making, but for the RHB Team, it was merely a first, unsteady step compared to what they would accomplish in later years.
Release
OOC1 was completed and released for sale to the public in early summer, 2003. It began being sold using PayPal, until PayPal suspended their service for the RHG due to restrictions over adult digital media sales, forcing RHG to fall back upon sending money through the mail.
Distribution was also a difficult issue. RHG did not at the time have any system in place for purchasing Ebooks or similar. OOC1, (along with all its massive library of extra art and production-stage bonus features) was sent out to those who purchased it on a standard CD-ROM through the mail. The cumbersomeness and unreliability of this delivery method, ensured that SHADE would be seeking out a more efficient method for their next book.
Reception
The original forum where RHG kept its reviews and commentary no longer exists as such. However, SHADE collected a large number of the OOC1 reviews, which can be found on this book's entry of the Original Projects page of the RHB main site.
Trivia
(T.B.A.)
