The Characterizations Irk

[dreiser]

I get bored and read My Otome/My Hime fic. Most of which is about Shizuru and Natsuki. I think Shiznat sounds like defecation so I won't use that term but anyway... I'm sick of seeing the following things in fanfic focused on them.



1. Natsuki being called a puppy. Why? Duran is a wolf and wolves are close to dogs and baby dogs are puppies but Natsuki is a human being. She's a girl or a woman in some fics and she's bad ass leather and lingerie wearing motorcycle chick. She is not an infant canine. Stop calling her this. It's not a cute pet name from Shizuru, it's just vaguely creepy and reminds me of furries. I rather not deal with this.

2. Natsuki being addicted to mayonnaise. For gods sake, people, fucking stop this shit. She eats jars of mayo and acts like someone addicted to meth with the fucking condiment. It's gross and just overdone as a joke.

3. Shizuru being super over the top perverted. I don't want to read onions up the butt jokes. I know where it comes from, I know it makes people tee hee, but honestly, I don't think this is the best quality to emphasize in Shizuru and it's majorly disturbing to me. Stop making Shizuru such a creeper.

4. Shizuru starting everything she says with "ara." It's okay once in awhile but not for every sentence she says.

5. Shizuru and Natsuki are astronauts who are sworn enemies competing in training but end up together on a secret launch mission and they're stuck together in space for a year and end up falling in love. Or in other words, just insane AU plots. I know you feel like everything has been written in terms of doing a canon based story for them but trust me, most people don't care. I don't. I read tons of great fics with the same basic plot over and over again. Why? Because they were written well with great characterization. You don't have to make Shizuru and Natsuki something completely opposite from what they are in canon to do get props. Just write well.

I think that's about it. I'm done being an asshole now. lol. I just had to get that out because now I'm at the point when I see any of these things and I click the back button and leave the fic. I just can't deal. In fanfic related news I should have the new chapter of Fragile Things up this weekend.

Comments

[th0u-art-that.livejournal.com]

haha I know what you mean, which is why I fell out of love with reading/writing Mai-HiME fic. Shizuru is such a fascinating character, and I found her heinously over-simplified into a creepster in almost every fic I came across.
BUT there are some okay AUs out there: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4104340/1/Honor_and_Humanity

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rec!

[wolfie.livejournal.com]

Welcome to Shiznat fandumb. A bit late on the bus, as I've been complaining about all five of these since just a little after this series came stateside on DVD, but still completely agreed upon. I promise you, it wasn't this bad before then.

Might you already know of fanficrants? ;)

Regarding 2, I will never, ever forgive Sunrise for that special. Well, except maybe for Duran's scene...

For 3, thankfully you can usually spot these from the summaries. Usually.

Also, in response to #4, I've had to train myself to blot that word out from my mind when attempting to read anything at the Pit. I literally counted: Shizuru says it about twice in HiME, and IIRC only once or so in Otome. Not every other sentence.

(Also, as an offering, I leave this at your doorstep.)

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've been on fanficrants for a few years now. I didn't feel like this merited having a post there. It's not exactly saying anything new and I sort of dislike reading most fandom specific rants on there.

I honestly don't watch anime much anymore. I mostly read manga. Overall I could care less about watching anime as it comes out. I only watch stuff if it comes recommended and usually nowhere close to when it has come out in Japan or USA. Usually a few years after the fact.

So I'm well aware these problems aren't new. I've noticed them from the start after I started reading fanfic from the series. I just felt like ranting on it today and solely on my personal journal. As for Shizuru/Natsuki I don't particularly ship them or like them a lot as a couple. I just read them because that's all that is out there for the most part. After I finish my current fic I'm moving onto another fandom to write for or going back to AMC.

Thanks for the rec. I read that fic awhile ago. It's really quite good.

[shanejayell.livejournal.com]

*pats*

I think I've been guilty of a few of those. *LOL*

[allaine77.livejournal.com]

LOL, that's pretty much everything I dislike about most of their fanfic too.

Sincerely, Allaine

[jimu.livejournal.com]

natshi?

[dreiser.livejournal.com]

That's a slightly less offensive ship name. lol.

[jimu.livejournal.com]

or you could do "natsh" and pronouce it "Natch!" like short for "naturally!"