I'm just sort of representing a small group of people, here... So far,
we've got Andrew Norris, Robert Haynie, Myself, Ammadeau, and Neko-Ruri in
on the project (though only 3 of us have accepted any writing assignments,
so far). We came up with perhaps the most insane project in the history of
fanfiction, and we're going to need a lot of help to pull it off. We'll
try and do everything we can ourselves, but, as you'll see, we're going to
need more than just us if we want to get everything done... (thankfully,
though, we DON'T need to get everything done, just a majority of it... but
you'll understand what I mean as I explain further).
The project co-ordinator is Andrew Norris (e-mail
setsuna@setsuna.anifics.com ), and I guess I'm sort of the assistant
co-ordinator since I'm sending this out. Still, I ask that you try to send
replies to him rather than me... if you send it to me, I'll most likely
just have to forward it to him, and I really don't want to have to do that.
(then again, I'm nosy and want to know what everyone's doing... instead,
why don't you send it to both of us? But if you want to send it to just
one, send it to him and not me, 'kay?)
To explain this, I guess we need to go back to how this little project came
into existance. (As I'm writing this, I'm starting to realize that just
this request for more authors is going to be as long as a short fanfic
itself... why am I getting myself into this mess? Why? Somebody kill me
before I kill myself with too many fanfic projects).
It started off with an FFIRC discussion of the history class MageOhki
(Norris's handle in the FFIRC, a military historian who teaches at a
college... hmm, I really should have asked him what college, but it slips
my mind at the moment. Oh, well), and how horrific they did on the final
exam (getting multiple choice questions like 'Who was the LAST president to
be Impeached? A. Clinton. B. Reagan. C. Bush. D. Carter.' WRONG!),
which sort of evolved into a discussion of military history (questions were
raised like 'Is a war that ends in a stalemate a defeat or just not a
victory?'), which sort of became something else when Kenko (Kenjiko\Robert
Haynie, author of "Girl Days suggested to mage "Say, you should write a
text outlining the military history of the wars that brought about the
Silver Millenium" (or words to that effect- It's 3am, and my memory is
slightly foggy at the moment). And then someone (Kenko, again, I believe.
He got us into SO much trouble with this thing) suggested we use quotes
from 'fictional anime-related sources', and then proceded to make a quote
from "A Martial Artists View of the Second Conflict and the Advancement to
the Sailor Wars" by R. Saotome.
I suspect you can guess how it evolved from there. We suggested more and
more texts, and started thinking 'Hey, lets write (at least some of) these
texts as well.'
The results became what I honestly believe is the most insane idea in
fanfic history- The Codex Otaku: Military (and Other) Textbooks from the
Anime Universe.
So far, we have a LOT of ideas for textbooks to write, and only four of
those spoken four... maybe, if someone twists my arm to do the Patlabor
one, five. (You'd have to twist my arm pretty far, too- I'm already doing
2 of these). Andrew Norris described this idea this way: To write these
texts as the Anime Characters themselves, on thier own series if "minor
characters" OR a series that they could have missed, while it was
happening, and learned about it later... and wrote about it. (I think he
was about as tired as I was when he wrote that, but you can probably guess
the idea: As the character, write the textbook). We don't need the ENTIRE
texts written- one of the ideas would be for a Math Textbook by the
Gambling King from Ranma, for example, and you shouldn't need to actually
teach us math for the purpose of writing the text. Just show the Gambling
King's style, if you will... (a good way to increase the probability of
success is to use trick dice)
Norris is planning to write the linking book, entitled "Codex: A Breif
overview of the Age of Strangeness" By, Dr. Maskai Tenchi II, Crown Prince
Of Jurai., but there are many other textbooks that we decided we wanted to
write OR have written for this series, most (if not all) of which will be
quoted from or referenced to in this book. Here are the ideas we've had so
far. First, the ones which we've already had claimed (the brief summaries
are almost entirely my own- in some cases, I might not understand what the
idea was myself, but I can point you in the right direction if the title
catches your eye):
(The Codex itself, claimed by Norris)
By Kenjiko\Kenko\Robert Haynie: A Martial Artists View of the Second
Conflict and the Advancement to the Sailor Wars by R. Saotome (Ranma
writing a military text based on the Sailor Moon history\series)
By Myself\Desaix\David A. Tatum: Magical Warfare: Tactics and Training by
Yakumo Fuji (general reference Magical Warfare tactics text, written by one
of the main characters of 3X3 Eyes\Sazan Eyes)
By Myself\Desaix\David A. Tatum: The Intergalactic Fool's Guide to
Interstellar Warfare by Capt. J. U. Tylor, with forward by Cmdr. Yuriko
Tylor (another general reference military tactics text)
(Now, the one I MIGHT allow my arm to be twisted into doing is)
"The First Mecha Conflicts" By Dr. Macike Stingray. (A Historical Text
based on the history of the Patlabor Units).
(And now the ones which NEED people to claim them)
"The Saffron Matter" by A. Saotome (not really decided what kind of text it
is... Kenko came up with some good quotes for it, however, so talk to him
and see if you can grab the things he had and use them to figure out what
the text is about).
"A History of the Nerima Conflict" by Kasumi Tendo (probably could get away
with saying the original Ranma series is this, I think, but if someone else
can come up with something for this...)
"You All Lose" by the Gambling King (a math text in Probability Functions)
"The Art of Crossdressing" by Tsubasa Kuranai (Er, should be
self-explanatory)
"A Case Study: The Beryl Conflicts, Phase One, Phase Two, and the
Succeeding Senshi Conflicts" by A-ko Kent. (No idea... I think that was
Kenko's idea, again. Sailor Moon as seen through the eyes of A-ko, I
guess)
"From Sword to Shinai" by Yahiko Muhojin (This one was my idea: Yahiko
describing the transition from the era where the sword was the primary
weapon to the era in which sword practice was something done only for
sport, from the perspective of one who lived through it. Like hell am I
writing it, though)
(Considering how much there is, and considering I'm sending this to the
Kenshin fanfic mailing list as well, I might as well ask that if you can
come up with your own Kenshin-based texts for this series, they'd be
greatly appreciated)
Utena: "A Case Study: The Othari Academy Affair" by Anthy (No clue on
this one- I don't get the reference. I think Mageohki (A. Norris) came up
with it as a way to bring Alan Harnum into this... even though Alan
isn't\wasn't there at the time.)
Sakura Wars: "Cherry Blossoms in Battle" by various. (Er... no clue.
Given the title, my guess is women in combat or something would be the best
bet)
Nuku Nuku: "How to Capture an Annoying Cat Android" by Arisa and Kyoko
(Think 'How to build the better mousetrap' using Nuku Nuku as the mouse,
and then come up with a bunch of examples where Nuku Nuku escapes all the
time)
BGC Classic: "The Knights of Mega Tokyo, A Study of the Knight Sabers." By
D. Wong. (Psychological Study of who the people might be who are the knight
sabers)
BGC Classic: "Knight Sabers: Heros or Menace" By Lisa Venetta. (Political
Propoganda text on the Knight Sabers)
BGC Classic: "The Second Pretty Soldiers: A Study of the Knight Sabers" by
Ami Mizuno, Phd. (Comparison and Contrast between the Knight Sabers and
the Sailor Senshi)
UY: "First Contact: The Tomobiki Incident." By Various. (Reactions of
various people to finding out that we aren't alone in the universe)
Burn Up W: "Boing!" (Er, you got me. I think this was Neko-Ruri's idea)
Armitage: "Rebuilding the Millenial Nation -- the Terraforming of Mars" By
Hino Rei. (A history of the colonization of Mars in the Amitage universe,
by, well, Mars, it seems. I don't know Armitage, though, so I could be
mistaken)
GunSmith Cats: "Sex and Guns: The story of the Gunsmith Cats" By Bean
Bandit... or Makoto Kino... or both (preferably not both) (Examples of the
tactics used by the Gunsmith Cats in their capture of various criminals)
Nadesico: "Baka: The Life Of Ruri Hinshino" By Rei Ayanami. (Well, what
do you think?)
DHY: "Battles in the Dark, A Study of the 108th Devil Hunter." By Hino
Rei. (A discussion of Vampires and Vampire Hunters)
CCS: "Hoee: The Daily Life of the World's Only Card Captor" By Sasami
Masaki. (No clue, again. I don't even know who came up with this one)
To Heart (Or Nuku-Nuku) "The First Boomers." By. Dr. Nene Romanova.
(Talking about how the androids of To Heart... or of Nuku Nuku... led to
the development of the 'modern' boomers by the time of the BGC universe)
Various Series: "Culinary Failures -- Three examples" By Ukyo Kuonji
(Covering Akane, C-ko, Usagi.) (Well, that wasn't my summary, but I think
it fits...)
AND anything else you could think of that would sound 'text-bookish.'
As you can see, this is a pretty insane idea. Not everything above is
needed (hell, we could probably do it between real texts like Art of War
and the texts we've already picked), but the more the merrier. So give us
a ring, and let us know if you'll help, 'kay?
Whee... it's now 4am. I think I've been working on this enough. 'Night,
all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
desaix@sysnet.net
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm
David A. Tatum's Used Anime Trading Post
http://www2.sysnet.net/~desaix/shop.htm