Hmm. Well, that was certainly an impassioned plea, and I can understand
where it comes from.
Yes, there is a lot of Ranma fanfiction. This is probably due to two
factors: Ranma was the first "mega-popular" anime in the US, and Ranma
leaves a lot of potential for fanfiction.
You could say the same thing about Sailor Moon as well. It, too, was an
early "mega-popular" anime series. It, too, leads itself to lots of
fanfiction. In fact, there are quite a few Sailor Moon stories that come
across the FFML.
Would you have us ban those as well?
I'd have to say that the comment about wasting time deleting Ranma fanfics
is supercilious. It takes but a few seconds a day, perhaps adding up to a
minute. We're not exactly talking about lost youth. I believe Jeanne Hedge
uses a filter to auto-file all Ranma fanfics into her "Deleted Items"
folder; that, I think, would be a very good suggestion for those who are
tired of Ranma - or Sailor Moon or Dragonball Z or whatever - fanfics.
The argument about "Why make something inherently silly into something
serious" has been done to death. We'll break no new ground in that debate.
Suffice to say that the Ranma manga has moments where it is quite serious,
and that psychological dramas are not necessarily automatically against
type.
The arguments in this Proposal about examining what you want to write and
why you want to write it are good. I think it would be good for an author
to think along such lines before beginning to write a work. However, I
don't see how that would preclude one from writing a Ranma fanfic or a
self-insert; both of those are acceptable mediums for self-exploration, in
my opinion.
Basically, Ranma is a good and comfortable environment for writing in. We
know the characters and situations intimately, and thus it's easy to use.
Sure, I'd suggest that eventually an aspiring author move away from Ranma.
Actually, I'd suggest that eventually an aspiring author move away from
fanfics in general and start creating his or her own characters. Because,
ultimately, using another author's characters and situations is a crutch.
We don't need to create because the creation has been done. If you truly
want to grow as an author, then stop writing fanfics and start creating your
own world.
Until then, however, feel free to use what you feel like using. Be it
Sailor Moon, Power Rangers, Utena, or even Ping Pong Club. (However, do
*not* send me your Ping Pong Club fanfics to pre-read. <shudder>)
That's my view. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
-Richard