To the list: 

  I regret to inform the list that my latest Karekano epic, "From the Diary 
of Amy Bellette," is still not finished and is unlikely to be by the next 
Anime Central in May. Those responsible have been sacked (or would have been 
if they'd been employed in the first place--but enough about my unsuccessful 
job search process). 

  However, I am still alive, and having watched the live action "Pretty 
Guardian Sailor Moon" series has revived my interest in Sailor Moon, and in 
decently written SM fanfic, and I've been rereading the classics (Ken Wolfe, 
Chris Davies, et al.) lately. 

  One thing I've been unable to find is a dystopian fic set in Crystal 
Tokyo. The idea that Crystal Tokyo is in fact a dystopia is itself 
respectable enough. Many authors have touched on the possibility of the 
Crystal Kingdom being a totalitarian state peopled by a "purified" 
mind-controlled populace, a magical version of North Korea (Mark Latus' "I'm 
Here to Help" is one). Other have suggested that Crystal Tokyo was founded 
by less than ethical means (Ken Wolfe's "Secrets," for example, where the 
end of our civilization and the rise of Crystal Tokyo is engineered by 
someone close to Sailor Moon herself). 

  None, however, have gone into much detail about what life would be like in 
a dystopian Crystal Tokyo. All the Crystal Tokyos we see fleshed out in 
detail are perfectly utopian, though the details of the utopia vary. (Chris 
Davies' Crystal Tokyo is essentially libertarian, with Serenity quoting 
Rober Heninlein on the non-existence of free lunches.) When people from the 
present are spirited to Crystal Tokyo, granted, they tend to be miserable 
there (e.g. Sean Gaffney's avatar in "Made of Stone," Chris Davies' Priss in 
"Best of All the Years"), but it's invariably the person from the present 
who's got the problem, not Crystal Tokyo, which, being a utopia, is 
"practically perfect in every way," as it were. 

  If the list could possibly supplement my literature review, and point out 
a fanfic of substantial merit that _has_ explored a dystopian Crystal Tokyo 
in some detail, I'd appreciate it. If not, it would be easy for an SI 
character to get to Crystal Pyongyang--send spies to the 21st century, 
posing as SM cosplayers, who seduce and kidnap luckless otaku with few 
friends outside fandom who'll be mostly unmissed (and won't affect the 
timeline much), pace kidnappings of Japanese by North Korea. 

  I'm not ready to write it myself because I'm not sure what, if anything, 
he'd do there, or if and how he'd be able to escape. Some feedback on the 
idea might inspire me some (and get some on-topic discussion going on this 
list). 

Paul Corrigan
corrig11@msu.edu
Studio Poutine: www.msu.edu/user/corrig11/poutine.htm 

PS The quote is from Chibi-Usa in the SMR movie, unintentionally a very 
creepy line, when you consider that Sailor Moon is omnipotent where Chibi 
comes from. It sounded like a propaganda slogan. I have an image in my head 
of Sean and Hotaru from "Made of Stone" taking shelter under a poster of 
Serenity reading "Sailor Moon is Everyone's Mother!" If I get to ACen, and I 
get Sean G.'s permission, I might commission a fan artist to draw it.


             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'