I think there's some reason for argument about the sailor senshi sexual orientation. (Though Ami can't be a lesbian, because she's obviously bisexual. *innocent innocent*) Still, there's a difference between having some lead-in for things and having an oh, suddenly we're lesbians now! (It's kind of nice to have that for heterosexual pairings too, really...)
I'm not sure I'd even consider it a quality issue. I've read enjoyable (in a non-sexual way) fics with relationships that come out of nowhere, and I'm read stuff with well developed relationships that was completely unreadable.
Changing a character's gender can make for some pretty interesting story if handled well. There's of course a variety of Ranma 1/2 fics that ask "What if Ranma had been born a girl?" (And also the "What if Ranma had a twin sister?" ones, which I am generally quite fond of.) I've also seen it done with Tenchi a few times, sometimes with mixed results. (Shanejayell's story with a female Tenchi I think is basically decent, but it seems like it'd read just about the same with a male Tenchi, which makes me doubt the value of doing the gender change in the first place.) Now, I'm admittedly partial to genderchange stuff in the first place, but it's still something that I think has been done well.
(Oh, and just for reference purposes: *I* am the pervert. ^_~ )
-Morgan, thinking, "Well, I guess my sig lines make that obvious..."
"Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)
I'm not sure I'd even consider it a quality issue. I've read enjoyable (in a non-sexual way) fics with relationships that come out of nowhere, and I'm read stuff with well developed relationships that was completely unreadable.
Changing a character's gender can make for some pretty interesting story if handled well. There's of course a variety of Ranma 1/2 fics that ask "What if Ranma had been born a girl?" (And also the "What if Ranma had a twin sister?" ones, which I am generally quite fond of.) I've also seen it done with Tenchi a few times, sometimes with mixed results. (Shanejayell's story with a female Tenchi I think is basically decent, but it seems like it'd read just about the same with a male Tenchi, which makes me doubt the value of doing the gender change in the first place.) Now, I'm admittedly partial to genderchange stuff in the first place, but it's still something that I think has been done well.
(Oh, and just for reference purposes: *I* am the pervert. ^_~ )
-Morgan, thinking, "Well, I guess my sig lines make that obvious..."
"Mikuru-chan molested me! I'm... so happy!"
-Haruhi, "The Ecchi of Haruhi Suzumiya"
---(Not really)