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Literature Text

I have noticed an increasing amount of original stories, webcomics, and just about anything and everything that anime and manga fans create for their own series in which the main character is Japanese, or runs off to Japan for no reason. So, why?

I personally have no problem when someone writes a fanfic, even with all-new characters, if the original series is Japanese (example: a second-generation story of the Sailor Soldiers, or a story where Ryou from Tokyo Mew Mew goes to America to create a new Mew team), but when you look at original stories, it seems the majority are set in Japan, where in reality they could’ve been set anywhere from India to Wisconsin without changing anything other than the character’s nationalities.

What is it about Japan that makes it such a magnet? I have picked out a few things I think may be it.

#1: Names. Japanese names are Japanese, not English. Being American and therefore used to English names, as a fan writing a new story, I can see that Japanese names sound “pretty” and don’t have any ties to people we know. (Victoria is a perfect name for your character, right? But wait! Your Aunt Victoria is horrid! Bad name! Bad name! Let’s name your character Hana instead!) And using online name sites, you can find the meanings of names – according to one, Hana is flower. Just flower. If you so desperately want a flower name, call your girl Violet or Heather, or Rose. Or go for an unusual name, like Primrose or Daffodil. There, problem solved.

#2: School uniforms. When drawing a webcomic, the sailor schoolgirl uniform seems to be irresistible. It’s a phenomenon I have not yet figured out. Maybe it’s fun to draw because you don’t have to worry about finding regular T-shirts and jeans for people to wear. But there is still a solution: go to Hawaii. I lived on O’ahu for two years, and I saw, on more than one occasion, a few girls obviously walking home from school, wearing a black-and-white sailor schoolgirl uniform. I can’t tell you what school it was, but it did, apparently, exist. So you don’t have to go to Japan for get your ultra-cute uniform. Problem #2 solved.

#3: Honorifics and Japanese words in general. There is nothing cuter than a bubbly, green-haired sailor schoolgirl uniform-wearing female squealing “You’re so kawaii, Onee-chan/Onii-kun/Arisa-rin/Koneko-chi!” right?

For reasons unknown to half all anime fans, the other half find the greatest joy is inserting random Japanese words into their stories. Kawaii is a favorite, as is baka, hentai, and chibi. I have two theories. The first that I came to, after reading many stories, is that these words are the first ones that anyone learns by hanging around in forums or just reading the first fanfics you find, so they stay in your mind until they have actually brainwashed you so that you cannot help but use these words. The second and more likely theory is that the author of the story or comic wants to show off his or her knowledge of a foreign language. Well, that’s great. Actually, it’s not. Anyone could tell, from the context of your story, what is being said, but it’s increasingly annoying to see a few words here-and-there in an otherwise full-English story. So keep your story in a language that you actually know.

And the honorifics? It seems their only purpose in original fiction is to add to the cuteness. So forgo the “Hana-chan” (or even “Daisy-chan”, as sometimes you have a story set in Japan with a Japanese girl with an English name) and give her a nickname, which is what you would usually do if you wanted to express endearment for your best friend. Problem #3 is no more.

#4: Samurai. It seems odd to me that one of the more interesting aspects of Japan – its history – seems to be virtually ignored, unless you count American-made magical girls running around and fighting evil with a samurai sword. When you can find a story set in Japan’s past, more often than not it’s either a girl who’s either out to avenge her samurai [insert male relation here] who was killed by a foe, or a girl who is sick and tired of her life as a worthless female object and is disguising herself as a boy to learn to be a samurai. Worthless female object? So run on over to Europe and disguise your gender and go become a knight. There can’t be any more historical inaccuracies in Europe that you could have caused in Japan. So, there you go. #4 is dead.

As I have pointed out, four of the most common original story problem can be easily changed so that you, as a writer, now have an engaging story, made even more unique because you have decided to show your sanity and stick with a culture you know. And besides, there is a severe lack of medieval magical girls. Or time-traveling teddy bears. Whatever floats your boat.
Full-view picture? Yeah, script coming later, if you can't read my handwriting.

I wasn't sure where to put this, but ended up in etditorials, since this is solely my view.

WARNING: If you have your own ORIGINAL (not new TMM, Sailormoon, or the like stories) stories, whether they be writing, manga, or whatever, be warned of reading this if your story is set in Japan.

Now, before you jump on me, I'm not saying that a story set in Japan is bad. Megatokyo pulls off the "Americans in Japan" thing perfectly. I've got close friends who have stories set in Japan. So I'm not saying that ROYGBIV YOU HAVE NO ORIGINALITY! What I am saying is that too many stories are set in Japan for no good reason.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions, and they may change at any given moment, depending on my mood. Not anyone elses.
© 2006 - 2024 Celestial-Selene
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Wide-Awake-Nightmare's avatar
This is so true. I've stumbled across many an original story that is simply set in Japan because it's the author's "favorite country". While I have absolutely nothing against that, I just wish that these young writers can do at least a little research on Japan, and I mean research through actual material, not just manga and such, so they can see that Japan isn't just a place of cherry blossoms, ramen munching and, well, anime, and see that it actually has a rich culture, a wonderful (and wonderfully complex) language and a fascinating, albeit very dark, history.