Author has written 8 stories for Tenchi Muyo, Card Captor Sakura, Anime X-overs, Sailor Moon, and Ranma. As one prominent fanfiction author once said, 'people write fanfiction because they are inherently unsatisfied with Canon events.' That's the gist of it, at least. Well, that may be the way it is for some people, but what motivates me is my inherent distaste for Fanon. What is Fanon, you ask? Unlike Canon, which is basically the actual events in the original story, Fanon is stuff that gets written into fanfiction, that some people take for Canon, but isn't.
A Prime examples of this is the myth that Genma Saotome is fat. Yeah, when he's a panda, sure. In human form, he's just built like a fire-plug, much like Wolverine in his early years, before they tagged on ridiculous amounts of muscle. This one is an example of Fanon developed by blind hatred.
One of the myths that really gets me is the idea that Ranma, while in his Neko-ken mindset, has what is commonly called 'ki-claws.' That is, of course, bunk. You may say to yourself, 'How does Ranma shred wood without touching it otherwise?' Well, let me just say that if Kuno can shatter a stone statue just from the air presseure fo his strikes, Ranma sure as heck can do the same. This is an example of Fanon developed through sheer ignorance of source material.
Perhaps the most prevalent example is the 'ultra-violent uber-bitch called Akane Tendo.' Part of this is to blame on the voice actress who performed for the North-American dub of the anime. She really mangled the character, turning once pleasent inflections into the screeching of an emasculating harpy. But that's only a small part of it. The majority of the force behind this Fanon is a concentrated effort of character assassination built on every flimsy excuse the authors could use as ammunition.
The list goes on... |