Title:  The Magical Mystery Hibiki Tour
Fandom:  Ranma 1/2, with some surprise crossovers
Pairings:  Ranma/Akane, Nabiki/Kuno, eventual Ryoga/Ukyou
Categories:  post-series, romance (of the comedic harlequin type), action, humor, crossover
Length:  Epic {83,000 words}
Warnings:  n/a


Authors on LJ:  sakurazuka_jae and ladyorla 
Website:  Insane Musings

Authors' Summary:  It's four years after Ranma 1/2's volume 38.  Ryoga has wandered back into Nerima after breaking up with Akari to discover that Ranma and Akane have set the date for their wedding. Teaming up (again) with everyone's favourite okonomiyaki chef, Ukyou, the duo decide that this is their last chance to split Akane and Ranma up. The setting: a Mystery Tour bus, which they will run. After borrowing money from Nabiki and lining up some paying customers (whom anime fans of other series' may recognise) they present their "engagement gift" and head off in search of love. Will they succeed?

Review:  Kicking off the new year with a classic fandom seemed oddly appropriate.  Ranma 1/2 was a huge fandom in its day, and luckily for us, some of the best fics survived the collapse of the old archives.  "The Magical Mystery Hibiki Tour" is one of those fics. 

I'll admit to being a big slash (and yaoi) fan, but there's no complaints from me about this epic, which contains entirely het pairings, and which completely sold me on the Ryoga/Ukyou matchup.  The slowly building romance between the two Mystery Tour schemers is both sweet and entirely believable, and for once there was a happy ending that I could really see happening in canon (despite the linchpin of canon being the characters' inability to resolve anything).  The key may be the humor: Jaelle and Orla keep the characters as funny as in canon, and add new ongoing jokes that really tickled my funny bone.  The adventures of the Tour group through Southwest Asia are hilarious, and every character, minor, main or crossover, gets their chance to take the spotlight.    

The Magical Mystery Hibiki Tour