Sunday, August 28, 2011

9th Best Fanfic Of All Time-Canary On A Landmine by kyouji kanji

9. Canary On A Landmine by kyouji-kanji

Section: In Plain Sight
Genre: Crime Adventure
Rating: Ten plus, for some language and action that isn't that explicit.
Type: Chapter Fics
Status: Complete, 25 Chapters and 50,000 words.
Finished On: April 8th, 2011

Starring Characters: Mary Shannon, Marshall Mann, OC Isabelle Manning

It's incredibly hard, as I've mentioned, to do a story with the characters in character when they're off a TV show. They're developed in, at times, more than fifty hours of TV episodes. It's even harder when it's from a show that focuses on developing the characters, like In Plain Sight does. It's extremely hard, in this case, to capture the overall feel that the TV show does.

Kyouji-kanji's Canary on a Landmine succeeds that, and that's what makes it such a triumph.

I'm astonished how in character everyone is, and how in character the story is to the show. It's absolutely remarkable. It's literally like reading an episode of the show. It's a shame that they're cancelling In Plain Sight because Kyouji could write for it very well.

"We're going away from the commercial flights because they're hard to secure. We have a Gulfstream 150 waiting for us at the far side of the airport and that will take us straight through to Denver. We're going to be with you all the way there and we aren't going to let anything happen to you. Okay?" [Marshall explained.]

She nodded, finally finding her voice. "Thank you."

"No worries, we aim to please…"

Mary gave a slightly derisive short. "We aim not to miss," she muttered under her breath, then added aloud, "There they are."

Mary sat up straight once again scanning the area.


The story itself is well done and original. The premise is that Mary and Marshall, being the grand Witness Protection agents that they are, are taking a witness across the nation to Denver, but as predicted, things go awry as people start hunting them down. What really cinches the story as original as it turns out is what is perhaps the greatest use of starring Original Character ever, the enigmatic Isabelle Manning, who is the cause of most of the plot twists. A few chapters in we find that

SPOILER ALERT
Isabelle Manning isn't really Isabelle Manning, special agent, she's a close friend, also a special agent, in cognito as her, and she does this kind of disguise work a lot. This allows her true character to show through, and it's a blessing. The fake Isabelle, nicknamed "Isn't", is one of the most entertaining characters I've seen in a long time, holding up to the wit and character of Mary and Marshall.
End Spoiler Alert.

All in all, this story is pulled off magnificently, and it's a great read. There are a few grammar and spelling errors (points to the title on Fanfiction) but this is one of the most engaging and entertaining works I've read in a long time, and I'm glad I followed it. Now if only Kyouji would work on the sequel some more...

BONUS- Psst, click me, Kyouji...