This is my first "Daria" fanfic that I read, and I must say that this whole piece is PHENOMENAL!

I couldn't stop thinking about this fic, and I'm writing this review to give an opinion you deserve to hear/read. Your writing for the characters and dialogue made everyone and everything come to life. I was absolutely captured, and my attention never broke. I had only picked up a few errors, but so much of this is flawless. You certainly have an excellent grasp of the "Daria" universe, and you have a terrific ingenuity for these characters for a pre-canon tale. Your husband's poems really added an extra flavor for this work.

Your style for bringing out an angry man was great. Mr. DeMartino was a highly amusing character in the show (and is one of my favorites). His descent into the hard teacher he became was bitter yet believable. Perhaps though his gambling addiction could've been mentioned a bit more to keep him from being a total hero. But all and all you wrote him so well! I'm glad that he told Tommy Sherman off and got that small victory over Ms. Li in the end.

I'm also intrigued with your portrayal of the other characters-Ms. Barch and her ex-husband, Mr. O'Neil dominating a more hostile attitude, Tommy being the jerk who never grew out of it, and Trent as a student finding his reasons to better himself. It's good to have kept Ms. Li as the typical tyrant she was in the cartoon; changing her is an idea but would've been an overkill as she needed to be a dictator to keep pushing Mr. DeMartino to his edge. Everyone's connections to Mr. DeMartino, to each other, and this story worked out so well.

Wonderful fanfic overall! Thanks for the great read!

Oh, this 'origin story' just made my night. Thank you so much for this great read! J

This was really well done! I have to admit that I had reservations about reading this because I think Mr. DeMartino is one of those characters where just a little bit of him goes a very long way. But you gave him an interesting backstory that made him sympathetic and compelling, and I look forward to checking out your other stories :)

Thanks for the story.
The transformation of DeMartino is very believable, just like everything about Trent.

This was absolutely amazing! I adored it.

Interesting. I did like the story, and it was an interesting portrayal of how the characters came to be as they are. The shifts and time skips were a little confusing to follow though, if only because there was nothing there to indicate a change. Other than that, not too bad.

This story is one of the best I've ever read and I'm not just being generous. I thought it all just flowed very well together and made a lot of sense. I share the opinion of those who reviewed long before me and couldn't have said it better myself. I really hope you won that award. Excellent job!

This is a excellent fanfic. You did a excellent job writting the characters here.

What to say about this? I finally forced myself to simply sit here and not become distracted and I was rewarded with genius. Poor Mr. DeMartino...and poor Trent and Nick, screwed over time and time again.

Jane in middle school. Something about that image is strangely adorable. I love that Trent loves her so much and shows it by sticking by her even though it's a sacrifice on his part because their parents should be doing the parenting instead of Trent.

Either way, we still know Jane turned out just fine and she has her brother to thank for it (and possibly Mr. DeMartino) if no one else.

This was beautiful, even if I, too, had to put up with Tommy Sherman.

Of course...here comes Kevin and Brittany...holy crap...

This story does a great job of showing us how the teachers at Lawndale High became what they were on the show.

I am surprised to see so few reviews for this piece. Your nominations are well-deserved. I loved this story. One of the best Daria fanfics I've read... and I've read a ton of them!

Congratulations, this story has been nominated for the 2007 Daria Fanworks Awards in the Favorite Drama, Favorite School Centered, Favorite Pre-Esteemsters, and Favorite Character Development Written Works categories.

The full list of nominations can be found at:

Links to all eligible stories for 2007 can be found at:

Rules for voting can be found at:

Thank you.

Well, I'm shocked no one else has reviewed this yet.

I NEVER review a Daria fanfic, but after a day and a half of pondering over this marvelous piece, I simply COULDN'T leave you without a word of postive affirmation!

AND BOY HOWDY!

This was a brilliant piece of work! I can't believe how canonical it is. Everyone is in character, even though they are out of character.

I'm immensly impressed with your little twists.

However, the part that really made the biggest impact on me was the first instance of emphasized speech for Anthony Demartino.

PERFECT! It slotted in so smoothly, I almost didn't recognise it, I had to look back and make sure you'd done it, and sure enough. PERFEJICO! MASTER-PIECE!

Fantastic piece of art. Loved how you let Trent be Trent, and didn't let it get mushy.

I have favorited you as an author, and I look forward to seeing what else you have to offer in the way of Fanfiction.