Why is the Harry Potter fandom starting to turn against JK Rowling?
Because she is becoming the George Lucas of the writing world.She created a popular book series which, while not perfect, attracted a large and loyal fanbase.And then the fame went to her head, and she started making changes. She started telling people that they had misunderstood, or that she had never specified, or that she had meant, something completely contrary to the contents of the books which they loved.She tried to fix some of her mistakes. The very first time I noticed this was when the audiobook of the Goblet of Fire had Lily Potter coming out of the connected wands before James. It was based on more correct internal logic - she had died after him, so she was a more recent death - but it wasn’t how it was written in the first edition of the book. Books are not works in progress. Mistakes should be fixed in writing or editing. After that, they’re out there. People have read them, and they are part of the story.Then she started not just correcting obvious mistakes but making changes to her established canon. It seemed like she was making these changes in an attempt to stay relevant - making Dumbledore gay, when there was no real evidence for it, seemed as though it was just pandering to a newer, more LGBT-friendly generation. Making Hermione black, when there was no indication of it in the series (and in fact fairly solid evidence against it), appeared to be further pandering to the social issue of the day.Pottermore and the ‘official’ fanfictions it publishes are the literary equivalent of the Special Editions of Star Wars. The faction insisting on a white Hermione are not racist - they are simply the ‘Han Shot First’-ers of the HP fandom.Rejecting JK Rowling’s edited extended universe is the same as rejecting George Lucas’ ridiculous CG ‘improvements’.
What cliches should I avoid when writing a fan fiction novel?
My least favorite cliche is a subset of the Mary Sue self-insert. I dearly, dearly loathe the “girl falls into [insert fantasy world] here.” I read Tolkien-based fan fiction almost exclusively, and at least on Fanfiction, I’d guess that maybe a third of the LotR fics are of this type. There’s usually a teenage girl who falls into Middle earth, generally as a result of a tragic event such as a car wreck. Very often, she has additional baggage: a history of abuse, abandonment, depression, etc. She conveniently wakes up in Middle-earth just in time to join the Fellowship and attract the attentions of Legolas, or “a certain Elf prince” as he is often called.These stories are almost never handled with even a semblance of realism. Language barrier? Nope. Lack of survival skills a problem? Nope. Age differential a problem? Nope. Chosen for some great destiny? Of course.Here are a few example summaries:“Thrown into Arda at the moment of her death, Eleanor Rose will struggle to keep herself and others alive in a world full of war and hatred. Where once was darkness, there will be light. Where once was weakness, there will be might. A new nation will be raised, and the traitor shall be praised. (Recognizable characters will not make an appearance until later on in the story.)”“Running in a thunderstorm was CLEARLY not her brightest idea. She then appears out of nowhere in the fields of Rohan as the Three Hunters run to retrieve the Hobbits. She bears strange markings, like a leaf-less tree, imprinted on her left side and limbs, running with the Hunters, right into Eomer. Uses books, movies, and my twists. Features Eomer/OC as main couple & canon couples.”“LEGOMANCE Elle is a senior in high school who struggles to connect with other people. Everyone important to her have always abandoned her so she just gets on with her life, throwing herself into her schoolwork to have a better future. That is, until she is thrown into Middle Earth and into the life of a very handsome elf.”See what I mean?I have seen a very few successful “girl falls into Middle-earth” stories. One was a hilarious parody. In another, the “girl” was an adult woman, and she had realistic struggles just to survive. Most of the, however, are pretty ridiculous and unoriginal to boot.Oh, and stop it with the half-breeds.
What would be your biggest criticism of the manga and anime Death Note?
Death Note was really fun the whole way through, but it did kind of lost steam after L’s death. If Mello was given more screentime and we get to watch Near and Mello properly band together, maybe I would have been more supportive of their side.I personally liked Light, but after L’s death as well he seemed like his ego inflated by thousands and he seemed way too cocky and full of himself, which was unlike when he was against L, where he was careful and calculating with each step.And of course, the anime probably cut out a hell lot of Near’s thoughts (I haven’t read the manga), because Near seemed like he was pulling deductions out of his ass by looking at the author’s notes offscreen. Like take the moment when he discovers it’s Mikami. He literally sat there, the camera spun around him, he looks at the hundreds of tv screens and he somehow arrows in on the one screen with Mikami as if he’s the only one out the hundreds heralding Kira when Kira supposedly has millions of supporters. No proper explanation given. Wow.So with an unlikable Light, and a ridiculously genius Near who’s not making much sense, I kind of found it hard to take a side in the battle following L’s death. Personally, L’s death was great, it ended off a character on a high note instead of possibly squeezing him dry and turning him unlikable. But what followed just couldn’t hold up as well. It was good enough on its own, but unfortunately it had to be compared to the previous episodes with L.Basically, the story was kinda rushing or something after L’s death, which in the process didn’t flesh out characters enough to them likable.Oh. And the anime ending sucks. The manga ending should have been used instead: it was more humiliating to Light, pathetically dying in front of everyone instead of alone in some stairway peacefully.
Why is Gintama (Hideaki Sorachi) so underrated in the anime/manga world?
It’s very popular in Japan; it consistently scores among top 15 anime/shonen and Gintoki himself is one of the few Shonen protagonists who consistently rank 1st in all popularity polls besides Luffy and both Gin and Hijikata rank in anime-wide polls consistently.It does have amazing character development, throws away gender hierarchies, and have the unique ability to switch from comedy to action to horror to back again. But it throws off Westerners; very few will get into it first time. Personally it took me 3 tries to get used to it, and that’s primarily for a few reasons:First episodes are slow. First 20 episodes are a little expository. They have humor but it’s very subtle. Following that, it gets significantly more hilarious.This isn’t geared towards Western people, and shouldn’t be. Most of the pop culture references are directed towards the main audience of the show: Japan. As a result there’s a lot of Japanese culture that someone from the West might not get.Humor is off the deep end. No lie; this show/manga is extremely hilarious, even if you don’t get the references. There is a lot of slapstick, puns, and the most outlandish things you can imagine. But sometimes it might be a bit much, which tends to initially make viewers uncertain.Initially no plot/coherent plot. There is actually a plot to Gintama, but it takes 17 episodes exactly for that plot to be clear. That too, serious arcs start out as comedy, but Sorachi has a unique ability to turn that comedy into something deep, and serious.It uses Flashback no Jutsu often on villains. As much as I love Gintama, one gripe that I have with it is that it ALWAYS uses flashbacks on villains right before they die/get redeemed. This makes the series too predictable, and some villains(not gonna reveal their names) are sometimes too despicable to be redeemed.Other than that it’s absolutely hilarious. Watch it because it’s an amazing show with a deep meaning.
Who else agrees that ForneverWorld is a piece of sh*t?
okay for those of u who dont know him, forneverworld is an anime/manga youtube reviewer. He's been reviewing anime and manga since 2009 i think, but back then he was just a fat guy everyone laughed at. only since last year (or so) that he gained more popularity and more people started to watch his youtube reviews and subscribed to his facebook channel. so why am i typing this question here? well, i was always one of his few supporters. but ever since he gained popularity, he stopped giving a sh*t about his fans, and all he cares about now is to be more popular. this is evident in his reviews. Back when he wasnt popular, he was a really good critic, as he critisized anime and manga critically, and his critisism made a lot of sense. but ever since he became more popular, he no longer does 'reviews', he now just worships anime and manga, literally. every new manga or anime that comes out, he checks if its popular, and if it is, then he basically says crap like " ahhh best thing ever man!!!". all because he's afraid to lose his popularity if he critisized them. Go to his yputube channel and watch his first video, form when he was not popular. In the video, he talked about how muh he hated naruto, and said that its the most awful crappy anime ever. Now? well now he literally worships it, and will deny any of those claims of how he hated it. i adressed this and commented on one of his videos, being as respectful and friendly as possible, and the next day, bam, he blocked me. what a piece of crap. seriously.
I feel embarrassed that I like anime?
I'm really into anime and Japanese culture and stuff like that, but at my school, everybody looks down on the anime fans. They are the lowest of the low. I'm not really into labels, but it gets hard being avoided like I have the plague or something. Anyway, I quit the anime club, not just for that reason. I quit because I didn't even like those people. They were obnoxious, nerdy, and unkempt. I know not every anime fan is like that, but that was the majority of these people. Also, whenever I walk into an anime store or whatever, I just feel so embarrassed. My little brother is really supportive of me and watches anime with me all the time and says my drawings are really good, but my older brother always gives me crap for liking anime. He HATES it and says it's weird and annoying and it makes people weird and annoying. I love him, but he should have a little restraint on his criticisms. My friends (who don't watch anime) they don't really talk about it, but they've been teasing me since I told them I like yaoi. They always say "Mary watches gay porn" and stuff like that. Soo, I guess my question here is... how not to give a crap what people think? And your input. (please go easy)