I also tried to translate the poem in the back of one of my Himawarigaoka doujinshi (Wanna Protect the Tomorrow of You I). Unfortunately Aisaki-sensei seems to have fallen prey to that pesky no translation goblin, because the poem itself says "Ashita no kimi or mamoritakute." (I'm assuming that means "Though I wanted to protect the you of tomorrow," based on the fact that I know about the -tai ending on a verb and the -kute ending on an adjective, but I'd really appreciate input from those who know more.) But I don't really mind having to grapple with verb forms -- although it does make me quite eager to start my Japanese course -- so much as searching for kanji that *aren't there.* I mean, you would think, since my kanji dictionary contains the Joyo kanji list -- which is the list of what is allowed to be used in print -- I would not have *two* mystery kanji in a single poem. But there they are. Clearly printed and unmistakeable ... yet missing from the list. >_<

I do have one more verb question, though. One line says "Yume o matasete arunda." The "matasete" comes from mataseru, which is "to keep someone waiting." So if "yume" is the direct object, would it be "The dream is kept waiting"? Though the presence of "arunda" would make it more like "Something is keeping the dream waiting." I think. But that's a weird way of phrasing it, isn't it? Someone tell me! XO

Anyhoo, onto the current Last Exit column. Lots of good points. I don't know, I'm probably more sensitive to arrogance than most people, because it seems I can get annoyed at what other people would just consider confidence. But really, writing is only a single field, and fanfic a very specific genre of it. Being famous as a fanfic writer is like being famous as a high school football player, or a student in the business school of a single university. It's a limited-range (not to mention transient) fame, and also pretty laughable if you have nothing else to back yourself up. (Tin said it best, but I forget when the entry was. ^_^;) Besides, a "popular" fic author does not necessarily equate with being a good writer. At the very least, it doesn't give you the authority to bash other fanfics' style or plot. (Actually, I don't think anything *ever* gives you the right to be self-righteous and assume inferiority of others, but again that's opinion.) In a field that's by definition egalitarian, as fanfic is, (as in, everyone is operating without official knowledge or permission), "*I* like this" or "*I* don't like that" is really just about as far as you can go in terms of authority.

Though I don't think this means fanfic writers don't deserve *any* respect as artists. Being the original creator of something is admirable, but arbitrary distinctions of "real world" and "commercially published" don't make Anne Rice or Anne McCaffrey automatically better than the fans or their derivative works. I'll respect their writing, but I'll still think their behavior absurdly contradictory to the spirit of art. (Must ... contain ... tangential rant ...)

Back to the column, though, of which the majority is about why Ryan Mathews, who posted that first Dirty Pair fanfic to Usenet, doesn't like fanfic. As he points out, it's all about personal preference, and individual tastes shouldn't be disputed. But one of his last comments really got me thinking: "Why do the same writers who insist that no characters be 'out of character' have no problem taking the entire series out of character?"

Because yes, I am an absolute characterization h0. And I could take the total cop-out route and say "But I'm not telling other people they *have* to keep the characters IC." But really, I do think it's justified to write in-character or want (but not demand) the same from other fanfic writers while still indulging in the crossovers or angstfic or even the type of romance that will lose the original flavor of the series. Because ... it's a girl thing. XD;;

Seriously. When I was doing my Senior Project on fanfic I came across a study that took college students and asked them to discuss certain works of literature. The males tended to project a strong sense of a narrator, speaking of the story as a distinctly fictional creation. The females, on the other hand, told the story as if they were observers and the characters were real people. Which is to say that women are more likely to see a story as "real" and therefore available to grow and change -- which is why you have such an overwhelming number of females reading and writing fic. To men (for example, Ryan Mathews), liking a series generally means liking it as is. To women, often the attachment is to the characters, and they can be altered or transplanted while the fics still retain (for these women) whatever it is they need to consider it derivative of the original work. If it's got the characters and they're recognizable, then that's all we need of the original series. (Of course, there are those who seem to disregard both context *and* character, and are satisfied with little more than generic lumps with the original characters' faces and names, but ... right. >.>) So yeah, I don't mind crossovers and non-canon slash and alternate universes (I'm currently addicted to AUs :D) even though I twitch at mischaracterization ... and I don't find that hypocritical in the least.

It took me a while to get that all out. You know when you get lost in your own train of thought, and can contribute that to the complexity of your ideas? In a few decades you know I'll be paranoid and take it as a sign I'm growing senile. XD;;