YMMV / Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse

• Broken Base:
  • The way Nabiki gets treated in Chapter 7. Most readers see it as a cathartic Karma Houdini Warranty, but some argue that the rest of the crew are just as much to blame for what happened as she is, and are just using her as The Scapegoat. This may be intentional, as ducking responsibility for their actions is a trait that every character in Ranma ½ possesses, as is not thinking things through.
  • The story's use of original characters, particularly to expand the crew, is somewhat contentious. Supporters approve of the idea as emphasizing that Ranma and company are on their own adventure across the Grand Line and not simply following blindly in the wake of the Straw Hat Pirates. Detractors point out that it undermines the "crossover" element of the story, and in particular, wish the author would use minor characters from One Piece canon to flesh out the crew. It's gotten to the point where the author decided to let the readers decide if Penelope and Lilith, the latest OCs, should stay with the crew once the Sky-Sea arc is finished.
• Complete Monster: Commodore Nelson Royale is a corrupt Marine who thinks only of monetary gain. Royale fills his coffers through slave trafficking, with his victims being condemned to a Fate Worse than Death at the hands of the World Nobles. Among his victims are subordinates who "earned" his ire for one petty offense or another: a waiter on his ship who accidentally spilled a dish meant for him; a hired musician whose music he simply disliked; a seaman's apprentice who tried to point out to him that slavery is supposed to be illegal; and random people whom he kidnapped off the street just for potential profit they could net him. When the protagonists show up, he captures them and fully intends to subject them to the same fate; when they break out, release the prisoners, and overwhelm his forces, he tries to call in his personal fleet to quell the uprising, intending to have them strip the entire island of life and enslave everyone on it, including his own men for failing to defeat the crew if they don't surrender.
• Depending on the Artist: The author has noted that they take a very "hands-off" approach to commissioned art, so the actual result is largely an artist's interpretation of the basic description they are given to work with.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Shampoo's (claimed) taste for rat actually has a basis in reality. Rat meat is commonly eaten in China, especially in its more rural areas, and even has a place in traditional Chinese medicine, which advocates consuming rat meat to purify the blood and treat ailments of the spleen and stomach.
  • In chapter 21, Miriam claims she earned the wrath of a squinja clan's prince by biting off his "special tentacle". Whilst the obvious implications are obvious, it's actually less of a euphemism than it seems: male octopuses and squids really don't have a penis in the conventional sense, but instead use a specially modified tentacle to guide semen from their body into the female's body.
• What Could Have Been: The author planned to give Nabiki Tendo a Mythic Zoan Devil Fruit almost from the beginning, but found himself caught between two choices; the "Bat-Bat Fruit, Model Type: Vampire", inspired by a mixture of a Mythic Zoan of the same name that appeared in one of the One Piece videogames, and the "Lizard-Lizard Fruit, Model Type: Fafnir", intended as a "Western Dragon" counterpart to Kaido's canonical Fish-Fish Fruit, Model Type: Azure Dragon. In the end, he put it up for a public vote, which came to an end on December 10th, 2022. The Bat-Bat Fruit, Model Type: Vampire won.

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