Fan Fiction

Reality Bending

If there is one term that can sum up everything that can be called bad writing, that would be reality bending. It’s basically the world around a character changing not because of his actions, but rather to support his actions. What can we call an asspull, if not something that came out of nowhere for the sake of plot? Something that has no foreshadowing, brought into existence so things can happen in any way the writer wants them to?

What do call a self insert, if not a character with no specific personality, so the audience can easily identify with, who gets into situations that make him look amazing, despite being boring and unoriginal? What do we call fantasy empowerment, if not a situation where the most unlikely protagonist gets to be a hero when normally he would be treated as a nobody? Circumstances would work in his favor in a way that do not for anyone else, therefore becoming a special snowflake for the audience to cheer.

What do we call fan fiction, if not stories made by fans who are writing themselves in other peoples’ stories and present themselves as gods on earth who can do anything, not by actually being the strongest or brightest, but rather by warping the personalities and powers of everyone else in the story in a way that validates whatever they are doing. And also, because this way they can write about their deviant fetishes of being transgender ponies or some shit.

In a serious story, there is no reality warping. There is a specific set of rules everyone abides to with no exceptions, no asspulls, and no special treatment. Something which not many care about because fiction for most came to mean escapism. Some sociopolitical topics may be addressed in any such story but they come second to hot waifus and big explosions with random powers and constant plot twists. Also, self inserting as a transgender pony.

I mean, is anyone going to lose his sleep over the existential ramifications of the god hierarchy in Dragonball? Of course not; everyone is having dreams about the upcoming tournament arc. Even though as I pointed out in a previous video, it has none of the appeal of tournament arcs. But who cares about that when we get more fighting right after the other tournament arc ended in My Hero Academia. Even though it wasn’t a tournament arc but rather a sports festival.

Reality bending is a very fascinating concept, which is why anything that has to do with time resets, granting wishes, being trapped in videogames, or getting transported to magical worlds is instantly becoming the center of attraction. Most don’t care about the bad writing, they just want to see some damn bankais goddammit, jerk off to beta males fucking their little sisters, get hype for tournament arcs, even though they are not really tournament arcs, and then overthink everything in a shallow attempt to make the crappy writing of the bullshit they are watching to appear better than what it is. But don’t tell them that, or they might lose their shit.

Good Fan Fiction improves the Source

Fan fiction is non canon stories, using characters and locations from series without the appropriate copyrights. Unfortunately, it is also a synonym to what happens when you let good ideas to people with no experience or talent. Your average fanfic is erotic fantasies, characters behaving out of character, and plots with absolutely no consistency or logic. And yet it can also be a retelling, an attempt to fix whatever problems the original source had, thus trying to be better than it.

I will never take seriously someone who wants to show his love for a book or a series by writing bottom tier porn flicks out of it. How do you people assume that you pay tribute to what you like by ridiculing it like that? And why is the only thing you want more of out of a book or a series, is just more sex? Are you really so sex deprived that you think this is what can do something better?

If you follow my videos for awhile, you know I consider fan service to be an element that makes a series worse. It doesn’t add something substantial, and it takes away its dignity and any respect you might have shown for it. On the other hand better justification of motives, actions, and outcomes can truly improve the experience. For example, you know how Death Note becomes shit after the time skip, right? Yagami acts like an idiot and the whole plan to expose him was convoluted. Well guess how simple it would be to fix this. All it had to be clarified is that Near and Mello both wanted to expose Kira but also do it in a completely separate way. Yagami didn’t know there were two different teams against him, he focused on tricking one team and did not expect the second team to hit him from behind. This became clear when Near changed the death note in order to trap Yagami. Yagami found out about his plan, but didn’t know there was also Mello who did his own change, which was something not even Near knew of. There, problem fixed. Yagami is still able to outsmart any individual, yet loses because he didn’t know there was a pincer attack, thus proving Near true when he said individually neither him or Mello are better to L. It would be the best finale ever if they had fixed that stupid detail.

Even something full of plot holes like Dragonball Z can be improved by simply making things more consistent through the very rules established in the show. For example, the reason Goku managed to defeat Frieza was because he got a power up by seeing one of his friends dying. That felt cheap and convenient, especially since he had seen many of his friends dying in the past and he never got a power up. So why do such a stupid thing when you had Guru? The guy was unlocking the untapped potential of anyone he was touching, a thing which he did for many secondary characters who had zero effect in the story. So why not simply excuse the super saiyan power up by having Guru unlocking Goku’s potential? It would make everything so much better.

By expanding the same concept in any story you can think of, you can pay tribute by it by improving it, while at the same time becoming a better writer yourself if you ever want to make your own story. Oh, and needless to say, keep stupid fetishes out of it.

Defending Imaginary Relations amongst Unrelated Titles

Most anime fans love to create relations amongst titles that are not related. Here are a few examples, from the shows that are airing on this season, at the time of saying this:

• Danmachi to Sword Art Online
• Plastic Memories to Blade Runner
• Hibike Euphonium to K-On
• Seraph of the end to Attack on Titan.
  There are some superficial similarities between most titles, such as being made by the same studio, having the same voice actor, or having the same premises. They are otherwise completely unrelated to each other.

There are those who are annoyed when this happens, and they have good reasons for it.

• They believe every title should be a stand-alone experience that shouldn’t waver in enjoyment or quality just because we have other titles in mind. Meaning, a series should be judged based on how well it stands on its own and not how good it is compared to other series that remind us of it, in some way or another. Why would we allow a few superficial elements that are shared amongst different titles to change our perception of what a show is?
• More importantly, why would we willingly break our immersion to a series by constantly bringing up irrelevant stuff from different works?
• And above all, why would we tarnish the credibility of a title by comparing it to a much bigger and much more famous title? It’s like we are mocking a rookie, by constantly mentioning what the champion has done that the rookie didn’t found the chance to attempt so far.

Those who like creating relations, have good reasons for it as well.

• They believe relations create a bond that connects their admiration to everything that is similar to it. Liking only one title of a certain genre is too narrow minded and doesn’t leave much room to talk about it with those who are not into it. That is why most like genres instead of specific titles; it is far more open minded and easier to talk about with others who have seen similar things. If they like science fiction in general, a simple way to prove it, is by mentioning as many science fiction titles as they can, and in order to make it sound like they are not jumping from one irrelevant title to another, they find some sort of similarities that can move a dialogue from series A to series B. Meaning, for the sake of discussion and admiration, a sense of thematic continuity is needed, and for that reason relations are made.
• Relations are also a great source of creativity. Fan fiction and versus battles with characters of different franchises are sort of the first stage any new aspiring writers or directors can work with, before they eventually create their own characters and stories. They are also a cheap way to attract the attention of anyone who is a fan or a hater of those titles, thus creating a fanbase from pre-existing fanbases. It is much harder to do that by starting right away with completely stand-alone stories and characters.
• Relations are also working as a way to give importance to titles that are not exactly good on their own. I mean, who would care about Danmachi as an anime? It’s just a run of the mill, generic light novel. But by comparing it to a much more famous title like Sword Art Online, you are creating traction that will make it more famous than it deserves to be. Sure, it won’t last much and it’s not like SAO is that good either, but the buzz is all that matters while a series is still airing.
• Finally, relations are a form of comparative evaluation. Sure, every series should be judged individually, but how can you tell what counts as good or bad, if you don’t have in mind other titles that are considered well executed or badly presented? If you don’t compare a title to something else, then you have no idea how good it is. Everything will feel perfect as a stand-alone experience, regardless of execution.

That is why I am in favor of relating unrelated titles. It makes everything feel more open-minded, more fun, more creative, and helps to improve one’s critical thinking.