Project Status Update: January 2025

Project Status Updates (PSU) inform our patrons what work has been completed, what's currently being worked on, and what has to wait for a time in the queue. It's our way of assuring the community that, come what may, we're never idle and plowing forward on our never-ending mission to keep Ranma going. With all that said, let's get to the Project Status Update! (NOTE: Some relevant information may be repeated in PSUs for ongoing projects.)

My Teacher is My Princess Comic:

• Art status: MTP Page 29 line art is completed. Coloring process is a few short days away from being finalized. MTP Page 30 is sketched. Storyboards for the final pages of the comic are completed, along with a bonus (Omake) to bid a fond farewell to Black Beak's tale of love and loss.

• Jobs pending: MTP-29: Final Coloring Details, Background, Special FX, Editing. MTP-30: Inking, Coloring, Background, Special FX, Editing. Remaining Pages: Planned and in Queue for Production.

• Estimated completion time: MTP-29 Shall be released early next week. MTP-30 may be released at the end of next week (around January 18th). Two more MTP pages should be released by the end of January if production goes smoothly.

• Impressions: MTP art was temporarily placed on hold in favor of working on the Patreon Poll voted crossover project which brings the Ranmas and Akanes from different generations together. These comic projects will now continue in tandem, with the main story of MTP likely finished in early February and the bonus pages completed by the end of February.

Ranma Generations Art:

Generations: "Dirty Pair Part 3".

• Art status: Art is planned and in the sketching phase.

• Jobs pending: Inking, Coloring, Background, and Editing.

• Estimated completion time: The art set is on track for completion at the end of January.

• Impressions: Our "Generations" comic series will wrap up the Tale of Two Akanes and then shift focus to other Ranma characters eager to mess with each other! Next up: Nabiki.

Fan Request Art:

• Art status: Due to scheduling issues with available artists, Ranmabooks will focus on comic production for the month of January.

• Estimated Completion: Fan Requests are in various states of production. It is expected that at least 3 pinup sets will be completed in February, with twice that on the way for March.

• Impressions: Commission slots may be opened for Valentine's Day content, but only if MTP comic production continues smoothly. Please contact the team if interested. Comic Lords are also eligible for this should slots remain open.

Patreon Exclusives:

• As voted by the community in the previous poll, art focus will remain on the comic series "Generations" and the team will only produce comic art for the month of January. A new Patreon Exclusive pinup set will appear in February.

Unplanned Ranmabooks Site Maintenance:

The holiday break is not the only reason for the quiet month of January to this point. We were informed by CCBill, our credit card processing partner at Ranmabooks, that content restrictions have tightened and more content needs to be removed from the Ranmabooks galleries.

This content removal process is intensive and of vital priority as we wish to avoid service interruptions which could delay Ranmabooks projects.

Thus far, CCBill has generously not suspended Ranmabooks and is giving us a grace period to continue payment processing during this compliance review process. Supporters can continue membership at Ranmabooks with confidence.

Communication with CCBill compliance has been constant and we are moving closer and closer to the finish line of this process. Once that is completed, we'll resume our remastering efforts. Until that time though, remastering is temporarily on hold until the content policies are satisfied and crystal clear for our team.

We ask the community to please understand that we can't be adding art back to the galleries until we are sure that art doesn't violate the tighter regulations. Once this compliance process is done, we'll know where we stand and offer a period of boosted remastered releases to make up for what is lost in January.

We're sure that the community wants an exact idea of what is restricted, as this affects Fan Requests, but it's premature to discuss that while the team is still learning and implementing those content guidelines.

Long term goal: Alternative payment processing solutions are still being considered, but pursuing these could delay Ranma projects, which is unacceptable given how close "My Teacher is My Princess" is to the finish line. The need for payment processing redundancy is clear, but the list of providers is very small for adult content creation and most have the same- or even worse- content restrictions. When a suitable processing partner is found, we'll add it as an option for Ranmabooks. For now, our Patreon partnership will continue and be the focus of our team until the CCBill compliance review is satisfied.

Summary: Censorship sucks. Losing content from the galleries is painful, as each art removal also removes the effort of DAYS of our lives spent in its creation. And when you add up all the content removed to date, this amounts to many MONTHS of work missing from the galleries. This is upsetting for our team and community, but we endure it because Ranma continues and with it our mission continues. We've been with this community for 20 years. We'll be with this community in 2025. And with the community's continued support, for many years still to come.

More art is always being planned and will be reported in the next project status update.

On behalf of the team, thank you for being a patron.

-Deep Star, SHADE & The Ranmabooks Team