Introduction: I’ve been an anime fan ever since I was a little girl, and I’ve been a fanfic writer for almost as long, though I never knew that the stuff I wrote had a name until I got onto the Internet a number of years ago. One of the first things I learned was how much stuff there is on any interest one may have so long as you looked for it, and since I was at the time very much into Sailor Moon, that’s where I first turned my online efforts. Of course, the one drawback of such a huge fandom is you get a lot of coal out there for the few diamonds you find, and many of those are simply diamonds in the rough.

For quite a while now, the Utena fandom’s been relatively small. Once I was done watching the entire series all the way through, the first thing I thought was that this series would be rife for fans creating lemon fics. However, for the most part, the number of Utena fanfics has been small, and even smaller has been the number of bad ones. Sure, I’ve run across a few where the authors have made fics intentionally bad as either satire or spoof, but the ones that are trying to be serious and stink had been few and far between.

Until now. First I started finding stupid ones. Then others somewhat well written but unintentionally humorous. Knowing Chris Rain as a personal friend, I passed along to Chris the ones that made me automatically start riffing. Becoming more and more interested in writing Utena fics myself, I started first on alt.fan.utena, then moved onto Fanfiction.net and joined a couple of SKU fanfic mailing lists. For the most part, what I found was not that bad, not enough to make me really comment one way or another--though if something did strike my fancy, I would review or critique.

Lately, however, the fandom’s been growing. I see more people out there expressing an interest in SKU (which isn’t bad), and more fanfics. With the Utena movie soon to be released in America on DVD, I expect the fandom to grow more. And I’m starting to see the first signs of the same fanfiction things I found when I discovered the Sailor Moon fandom on the Web. And the most frustrating thing so far is when I, as a fellow author, try to give the type of review I’d like to hear as an example of a good critique, there’s always ten others in the fandom that are giving to the author these empty "attaboys" (or "attagirls" as the case may be), even to fanfics that are obviously crap.

In my opinion--and I’m the first to admit, all of this is opinion-driven; it’s not based on fact say perhaps the use of written English and even that’s open to interpretation--the fandom’s getting big enough that it’s time someone stepped in and gave some sort of a guidepost for new members to discover good fanfics and perhaps steer clear of the bad ones. If there’s someone out there suddenly inspired to write because they just found out about the intriguingly mysterious world of SKU, let’s have someone show them what makes a good story--and what is a bomb. Even the greatest fic idea in the world is going to fall flat if it’s not written in a decent way.

Thus this section of the Rose Garden came into being.

CATEGORY ONE: Proper use of written English, including grammar and spelling.

Let’s be realistic. American English is my native language. Though I have studied etymology and I know the roots of a number of English words; I know Heraldic French as it applies to English heraldry, and the lingering traces of Norman French used in the Arthurian romances; I took four years of Spanish through all of high school; and I’ve taken medical terminology in my last couple of years of community college, which helps reinforce my knowledge about the Latin and Greek roots of English’s more formal level of words, I do not have the expertise it would take to review a fanfic written in any language other than English. I know my limitations, and I shall stick to what I know I am able to achieve.

Also, I’m not a poet. I’ve not had any classes in what makes good poetry. Reviewed stories will only be Shoujo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena fanfiction written in prose. I won’t touch a piece of verse, sorry; I don’t have the knowledge base necessary to give a piece of poetry justice.

The fic will have a total possible score in this category of ten (10) points. The closer it is to being technically well written, the higher the score, with 10 being close to perfect (maybe one thing not quite right, but otherwise just fine) for properly written English prose and 1 being abysmally terrible. I will begin a fic with a score of 5 (meant to be an average) and grade up or down depending on my opinion of how technically well the author wrote the fic.

Questions taken into consideration will be:

• Is the author using correct, standardized spelling?
• Is the author using "Netspeak", emoticons, "leet speak" or other conventions more suitable to an online chatroom instead of English prose?
• Is the author using proper punctuation, or at least to a lay person what appears to be proper punctuation?
• Are the verb tenses consistent throughout?
• Are numerals spelled out or are the numbers themselves used? Explanation: In prose, it’s more correct to actually write out the number, i.e. "nineteen" instead of "19".
• Does the author use "fanboy Japanese" excessively? Explanation: Yes, this is SKU, but if you’re going to write in English, then do so. If I can’t tell what half your fic says because I know very little Japanese, I’m going to mark you down a couple of points. I’ll only mark down one point for sparing use of Japanese, such as "Hai", "Iie", "Gomen/Gomen nasai", "Domo", the suffixes of address and other occasional uses of words here and there.
• Does the author use proper subject-verb agreement?
• Does the author use proper sentence structure?

This list is not a comprehensive one. I hope instead to give authors an idea the sorts of things I’m looking for when I assign my grades to this section. If I have any questions as to what is proper English prose style, the reference book I will be using will be the Handbook of Current English Style published by Oxford University Press.

CATEGORY TWO: The overall presentation of the story idea.

As before, a fanfic will have a total possible score in this category of ten (10) points, with the higher the score, the better the overall presentation was. As before, I will begin a fic with a score of 5 and then adjust accordingly to my impressions and opinion. In this category and the next, the judging here will be purely based on my opinion. What I’m searching for is weighed against my idea of what to expect in a story that fits its genre and works. Unlike Category One, Categories Two and Three cannot be resolved by looking in a handbook of proper English style.

Questions taken into consideration will be:

• Given the assumed or stated genre of the fanfic, does the story meet the expectations of that genre? Explanation: As in "Is that romance really romantic?" "Is that tragedy actually a comedy?"
• Given the assumed or stated censor rating, does the story meet the expectations of that rating?
• Is the story idea something new and fresh, or is it just another cliché? Explanation: In general, if I enjoy a story, I won’t get the sense that it’s "just the same old thing". If I don’t sit there and think "Geez, yet another one of these?", then you won’t get marked down for being something cliché. Even the most overused theme can still have angles not yet explored.
• Though technically written well, does the story’s style lend itself to confusion, unintended mental images or unintended humor?
• On just the idea alone, does the story stand out or is it a rehash of typical fanfics for the fandom? Explanation: Again, this is the "Did I enjoy the story being told?" factor. I won’t mark down a story whose premise I like.
• Does the author use fanfic mechanisms such as self-insertions, "Mary Sues"/"Marty Stus", and so on?
• If a fanfic is set in a time period and location with which I have knowledge, does the author portray such a time and place consistent with what I know about that setting? Explanation: I’m a history buff, particularly of anything older than the Renaissance and in western Europe, but I also have knowledge of ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt. I have spent years learning about these times and places. If you set a fic in such a time and place, I will comment on whether you have your facts straight (to the best of my knowledge).

As before, this list is not a comprehensive one, but is given to allow the authors and readers an idea of what I’m judging in this category.

CATEGORY THREE: The overall presentation of the characters.

Again, this category will have a maximum point score of ten (10), with a given fanfic starting with a 5 and then being raised or lowered according to my personal impression and opinion, with 10 meaning the characters were well portrayed and kept in character and 1 indicating that the characters were horribly out of character. *This scoring will be applied only to canon cast members of SKU.* An alternate universe fanfic featuring nothing but a cast of author-created characters set in the world of SKU will be assumed to have a score of 10 here, since an author is accepted as being the final judge on what is in character for their creation. The only thing that would change this assumed score is that descriptions of the SKU world are not consistent to what is expected (such as Ohtori Academy inexplicably not having a rose garden on campus). Once more, this is solely my own opinion and is based on subjective thought and my own expectations.

Questions taken into consideration will be:

• Given the stated genre of the fanfic and the apparent canon influence of a character (manga version, anime version, movie version, movie manga version, combination of versions), are the characters portrayed in a manner expected of that character?
• If the genre is parody or satire (or something else dependent upon caricature and exaggeration), is the exaggeration a reasonable one for that character?
• Is the physical description consistent with a canon version of the character?
• If not, is the difference reasonably documented in the story? Explanation: Something along the lines of like Saionji being portrayed as being paraplegic and in a wheelchair, and the author states in the story that he got that way due to falling out of Touga’s motorcycle’s sidecar when he stood up in it while they were driving down the road. If the change makes sense given what we are told in the story, then it won’t be marked down.
• In alternate universe fanfics, are the portrayals of the characters still what is expected from some canon version of the character?
• If not, is the difference reasonably explained in the story by the author? Explanation: As above, if the change makes sense given what we are told in the story, it won’t be marked down.
• Does the author overuse use "signature" gestures of the character? Explanation: I mean things such as Miki’s stopwatch clicking. Such signatures are usually symbols of the characters’ personality, and overuse in all but a parody or satire becomes annoying over time. Don’t have Miki timing things every three paragraphs, or have Juri snarl about there being no miracles every time someone says something to her.
• In the case of fanfics with author-created characters, do the canon castmembers react to the newcomers in an expected manner, or do they inexplicably defer to the new characters or otherwise are illogically outshined by the author-created characters?

Like the other two, this list is not comprehensive and is shown to give authors and readers an idea what it is I’m looking for.

An average, run-of-the-mill fic will have a score of fifteen (15) out of thirty (30) possible. Fifteen is the default scoring a fic will get, and most will be within a couple of points higher or lower. Poor fics will be lower, while good fics will be higher, naturally.

Three levels of awards will be maintained for SKU fanfiction that is scored either very high or very low on this ratings scale. For stories with a final score of 28-30, they will be given the "Rose Seal Award of Excellence". Stories with a final score of 25-27 will be given the "Crimson Rose Award". Lastly, stories with a final score of 3-9 will be given the "Poison Thorn Award". Each category will have a page listing past winners of each award maintained on this website.