At 08:18 PM 6/15/97 +1000, Andrew Dynon wrote:
SECONDARY RANT:
Okay, this is something I've been meaning to bring up for some time, but
never gotten around to: The excessive amount of Ranma stuff on the FFML.
When I first joined I read it, then I started thinking "Oh, another Ranma
fic. Delete." Now I have started to think "Oh, no, here we go again."
People, I know that Ranma is incredibly popular with you, but surely there
are some other shows that you like. I mean, the Two thirds of the total
stories in the synopsis list this week were Ranma stories for god's sake! Do
something else before I start actually hating Ranma fanfics, and then hating
the real thing as well! Please, I don't wanna hate Ranma but you guys and
girls are forcing me to!
What you describe reflects the popularity and availability of the Ranma
series. It also indicates that the series serves as a good basis for the
two standard types of fanfics, the what-if story and the continuity story.
Here is a relevant passage adapted from an article I wrote on anime fanfiction
---
Many, if not most, anime series end without a definitive wrap-up of the
basic plot and character relationships. The continuity fanfic attempts to
provide follow-on to the existing anime. It may follow Kyouske and Madoka
(Kimagure Orange Road) to college, or Keiichi and Belldandy (Oh My Goddess)
after college. It may not even focus on the main characters of the anime.
It might examine a possible future for Nabiki (Ranma ½) or Leon MacNichol
(Bubblegum Crisis). A different impulse lies behind the what-if story. The
what-if story is an exploration of characters and emotions by putting them
into situations often drastically different from the anime or manga. What
if Ranma was trapped in his female form by some event? What if Akane and
Ranma discovered what each truly thought of the other? What if Kyoko had
married Shun (Maison Ikkoku)? What if Skuld (Oh My Goddess) discovered she
had a lactose intolerance?
The nature of the anime influences the type of fanfic story that tends to
be written. An anime like Ranma ½ or Sailor Moon, with little continuity of
plot across episodes, allows greater scope to the what-if author, while
providing less obvious direction for a continuity story. Likewise, series
such as Kimagure Orange Road (including TV episodes) are too tightly
structured in their overall plot lines to allow easy play with the
characters and situations, while providing greater direction for
after-the-curtain falls stories. Furthermore, comedies appear to be
favored over dramatic series. This popularity may derive from the greater
availability of series such as Ranma ½. It may also reflect the greater
latitude that a comic series allows. It is difficult to adapt tragedy as
anything else. A fanfic author can write a story based on a comedy as
comedy, tragedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral,
tragical-histor<At this point the editor whacks the writer with the
nearest heavy object> ...
The particular anime also has to allow some scope for imagination. Kyouske
and Madoka going to college permits many types of situations, because of
the potential for growth and change in the characters. Yusaku and Kyoko
(Maison Ikkoku) settling down to married life and children has fewer
possibilities for a fanfic author to explore.
---
As anime spreads and becomes more available, I expect that you will see an
increasing percentage of stories based on series other than Ranma and
Sailor Moon, the two current fanfic favorites. Also, I don't know how long
you have been on, but I have seen good fics based on BGC, Tenchi Muyo,
Patlabor, Yuu Yuu Hakusho, VPM, Nuku Nuku, Project A-ko, to name just some
of the other anime used by fanfic authors. Indeed, Richard Lawson's story
"Transitions", a Nuku Nuku fic, was probably the single most admired story
to appear on the FFML within the last half-year. Unfortunately for you,
Iczer is not a well known series. However, that is not a reason to stop
writing Iczer fics if that is what you want to write.
dml