In a message dated 6/18/99 9:52:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
sjholstein@yahoo.com writes:

	The number one reason for this apparent lack of

 > innovation: Ranma,
 > Ranma, and more Ranma. It seems like only a few
 > months ago, there were all
 > kinds of new avenues being explored.

snipped comments were here...

 
 Weeeeell, I think the reason for all of these Ranma fics is that Rumiko
 Takahashi left the series very open. I mean, a lot of the fics take
 place after the failed wedding, which is where the manga series stops.
 There are so many things that could happen afterwords that makes it so
 much easier to write, meaning that nobody has to worry about fitting it
 into the timeline. Stuff like Fushigi Yuugi and Sailor Moon (well,
 somewhat) have definite endings, and not much more can be written about
 stuff that happened between the beginning and ending. I mean, it is
 very possible (and relatively easy) to write fics about stuff that
 happens after the end of the series (ie, Crystal Tokyo adventures and
 the like), while trying to find a legitimate reason for how your story
 fits into the timeline is usually time-consuming and in my case, sleep
 depriving. Also, the way that Rumiko Takahashi has the Ranma series is
 very loose and jumpy, and not all of it is one long story, just lots of
 smaller ones that go along the same path, if you know what I am saying,
 because I don't :)
 

Hmm... a very good point.  Also, I note that a series like Sailor Moon (for 
example) tends to be very "set".

	That is, Sailor Moon is very very destiny driven-- certain things 
WILL happen, and it's very hard to write a fic where they don't.  Well, a 
GOOD one.

	Ranma is about fights, romance, unexpected changes of sex and/or 
speicies, and a lot of general silliness... and has a LOT of room for 
interpretation, experimentation, etcetera.  It could be easily argued that if 
things had gone slightly diffeerently, ol' Ranma could have wound up with any 
of a dozen girls-- and not a few boys.  And that's assuming the same spring.  
LOTS of room for variance that's plausible, not forgetting that 
Takahashi-sama did leave the final chapter somewhat ambiguous... 

	Sailor Moon, OTOH, is about destiny.  Despite the desires of a lot of 
SM fans, the entire premise of Sailor Moon is her DESTINED romance with 
Mamoru.  Destiny drives the entire series.  Some things are GONNA happen, 
like it or not... they might happen slightly differently, but they are gonna 
happen.  Personally, when I read a fic that says it won't, I usually don't 
like it.  It just doesn't ring right, so when I write Sailor Moon I try to go 
either outside the bounds-- leaving the core alone-- or do in between things. 
 (I leave CTokyo alone, it's too easy to get people mad at you.)

	

 So, for today's society, the easy choice is usually the one made, and
 because having Ranma fics be relatively legitimate is also relatively
 easy (but this is all relative) gives it popularity among fanfiction
 writers... it is also a damn good series!
 
 

AND one that's easy to experiment with.  A LOT harder to experiment with SM, 
FY, or EVA.  (Sorry, but somehow I haven't read a EVA fic that has QUITE 
satisfied me, except Evanjellydonut,  and I'm not sure that counts... EVA is 
so VERY VERY tight and has a very serious agenda... IMHO.)

	OKay,  I said something.  NOW beat me over the head with a mackerel.

	kenko