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ceruleanmorningsI was tempted to title this "Whazuuuuuuup?" since it's been a while since I've written but decided against it because, uh, yeah...
Anyway, I'm back now! It's a new year, and I've made like, minimal progress with my 00Q fanfic, and I've currently regressed into an ancient fandom that I've never written in and I want to write something in it now. It's like a spirit has taken over my brain or something. That fandom is Saint Seiya, something not at all popular in America (I really doubt anyone who's reading this heard of it) but very popular in China and apparently Brazil? A lot of South America? Don't know, but not English-speaking countries. I grew up on it in China (as did pretty much every kid in my generation because Chinese TV had ONE channel when we were kids, so we all watched the same things). By the way DO NOT WATCH THE NETFLIX REMAKE of it because they fucking CHANGED THE GENDER of one of the main characters so "girls can relate" or some bullshit, except they just HAD to change the one guy who's not stereotypically shonen male and we all loved him for that reason, cause obviously anyone who does not exhibit meathead violent tendencies needs to be a GIRL like WTF Netflix??? Ahem. So, if you want to actually experience Saint Seiya I recommend you read the manga or watch the original anime from the 80s/90s. I'm sure you can easily find them online somewhere. I can't speak for all the sequels and spin-offs or whatever, since I've only had experience with the original, however, I found them more than enough.
I've spent a lot of time in the Chinese forums for Saint Seiya fan content back when I was in college, like 20 years ago. Unfortunately all the forums are defunct now, and there are precious few fics on AO3, so I can't really go back to the source and revisit. (How I wish I could read Spanish or Portuguese! AO3 got more fics in those languages but I can't access them.) On the Chinese side most people did not give a lick about the main 5 characters, the Bronze Saints, and neither did I haha. I mean it's not our fault that all the interesting characters are the Gold Saints. Some of them are Gary Stus but dude, all the girls (and boys) loved them, which I found very interesting because how often do girls like Gary Stu characters? (There are very few Mary Sues in this manga, I think, because well, there's like literally 10 girls that's named in a gigantic sausage fest roster, and only 4 that mattered, really. A lot of them got fridged, too). There's one guy that's my fav but I hate the pairing people put him in, which unfortunately is like, the most popular pairing in the fandom. (I don't hate the other guy people pair him with, just the pairing itself.) So I've always visited a side bbs where people pair him with others and, boy, some of those fics are pretty damn amazing. Such a shame they're forever lost to the Internet.
Yes, I realize this entry has gotten ridiculously long but like I said it's like a spirit has taken over me or some such. I am NOT going to write about the Gold Saints and the people I just talked about, weirdly. Mostly because they're actually complex people and I don't trust myself to write characters that I haven't really visited for like a decade. Instead I'm going to write about those Bronze Saints that nobody gave a lick about because their motivations are a bit simpler so I can make them more complex and fun. And that's what writing fic is about, isn't it? Fun. To make things even simpler, I'm going to follow the manga's ending and stick to it. Which means that everyone's pretty much dead. All those interesting Gold Saints? Dead. The actual main character of the series, Seiya? Dead. All those opponents and Gods reincarnate and whatever? All dead. See, now I literally only have to worry about 3 or so people. That I can do okay. (Most post-manga fic would magically make everyone alive but then they have like 20+ characters to write so they do a terrible job haha. Should've selectively picked a few to focus on, or just make it take place during the plot, imo.)
My fic will have a single pairing told from a 3rd party POV most of the time. The funny thing is this particular 3rd party, well, I think people literally couldn't care less about him because I don't think I've read a single story from his POV on, anything really haha. (I mean I'm sure some exist but, again, nobody cares.) In the manga he definitely saw the least amount of screen time amongst the main group. I don't think even the mangaka cares - he's just there to occasionally make sure half of my pairing survives some harried situations without giving up his gentle nature or whatever. But from a writing point of view what a great blank canvas! He can basically be the reader reacting to all the changes that has happened since the end of the manga storyline. It's the story about the pairing, after all.
I will talk in a separate entry more about my fic. Because this has gone on for quite a while now. Look, I'm consumed by the idea right now so might as well hit while it's hot, yeah? Also unfortunate is that I won't have an icon dedicated to this, probably. I mean I don't like most of the official logos and art for this franchise. Maybe I'll find something symbolic but, that takes time, so it's just default icon for now.
Anyway, I'm back now! It's a new year, and I've made like, minimal progress with my 00Q fanfic, and I've currently regressed into an ancient fandom that I've never written in and I want to write something in it now. It's like a spirit has taken over my brain or something. That fandom is Saint Seiya, something not at all popular in America (I really doubt anyone who's reading this heard of it) but very popular in China and apparently Brazil? A lot of South America? Don't know, but not English-speaking countries. I grew up on it in China (as did pretty much every kid in my generation because Chinese TV had ONE channel when we were kids, so we all watched the same things). By the way DO NOT WATCH THE NETFLIX REMAKE of it because they fucking CHANGED THE GENDER of one of the main characters so "girls can relate" or some bullshit, except they just HAD to change the one guy who's not stereotypically shonen male and we all loved him for that reason, cause obviously anyone who does not exhibit meathead violent tendencies needs to be a GIRL like WTF Netflix??? Ahem. So, if you want to actually experience Saint Seiya I recommend you read the manga or watch the original anime from the 80s/90s. I'm sure you can easily find them online somewhere. I can't speak for all the sequels and spin-offs or whatever, since I've only had experience with the original, however, I found them more than enough.
I've spent a lot of time in the Chinese forums for Saint Seiya fan content back when I was in college, like 20 years ago. Unfortunately all the forums are defunct now, and there are precious few fics on AO3, so I can't really go back to the source and revisit. (How I wish I could read Spanish or Portuguese! AO3 got more fics in those languages but I can't access them.) On the Chinese side most people did not give a lick about the main 5 characters, the Bronze Saints, and neither did I haha. I mean it's not our fault that all the interesting characters are the Gold Saints. Some of them are Gary Stus but dude, all the girls (and boys) loved them, which I found very interesting because how often do girls like Gary Stu characters? (There are very few Mary Sues in this manga, I think, because well, there's like literally 10 girls that's named in a gigantic sausage fest roster, and only 4 that mattered, really. A lot of them got fridged, too). There's one guy that's my fav but I hate the pairing people put him in, which unfortunately is like, the most popular pairing in the fandom. (I don't hate the other guy people pair him with, just the pairing itself.) So I've always visited a side bbs where people pair him with others and, boy, some of those fics are pretty damn amazing. Such a shame they're forever lost to the Internet.
Yes, I realize this entry has gotten ridiculously long but like I said it's like a spirit has taken over me or some such. I am NOT going to write about the Gold Saints and the people I just talked about, weirdly. Mostly because they're actually complex people and I don't trust myself to write characters that I haven't really visited for like a decade. Instead I'm going to write about those Bronze Saints that nobody gave a lick about because their motivations are a bit simpler so I can make them more complex and fun. And that's what writing fic is about, isn't it? Fun. To make things even simpler, I'm going to follow the manga's ending and stick to it. Which means that everyone's pretty much dead. All those interesting Gold Saints? Dead. The actual main character of the series, Seiya? Dead. All those opponents and Gods reincarnate and whatever? All dead. See, now I literally only have to worry about 3 or so people. That I can do okay. (Most post-manga fic would magically make everyone alive but then they have like 20+ characters to write so they do a terrible job haha. Should've selectively picked a few to focus on, or just make it take place during the plot, imo.)
My fic will have a single pairing told from a 3rd party POV most of the time. The funny thing is this particular 3rd party, well, I think people literally couldn't care less about him because I don't think I've read a single story from his POV on, anything really haha. (I mean I'm sure some exist but, again, nobody cares.) In the manga he definitely saw the least amount of screen time amongst the main group. I don't think even the mangaka cares - he's just there to occasionally make sure half of my pairing survives some harried situations without giving up his gentle nature or whatever. But from a writing point of view what a great blank canvas! He can basically be the reader reacting to all the changes that has happened since the end of the manga storyline. It's the story about the pairing, after all.
I will talk in a separate entry more about my fic. Because this has gone on for quite a while now. Look, I'm consumed by the idea right now so might as well hit while it's hot, yeah? Also unfortunate is that I won't have an icon dedicated to this, probably. I mean I don't like most of the official logos and art for this franchise. Maybe I'll find something symbolic but, that takes time, so it's just default icon for now.
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