What kinds of fans scare you the most?

[RidleyofZebes]

I've gotta say, Guro fans top it all. I mean, how can anyone find that kind of stuff... interesting?
Those guys really scare me the most of any kind of fan. I'd hate to imagine what's going in in their sick little minds. What really worries me is that some psychotic guro fan somehow just loses it and decides to 'experiment' or something. *shudder 10x*

[Mave]

I agree with ya Darkelfgirl. I was just telling someone the other day that I thought we had waaaay too many Naruto pics on CAA. Every time I log on I see more... >.<

Eh, maybe there's a good reason for it. Some Naruto pics out there are just .....scary. *points to tons of slash/yaoi/obscene Naruto pics outside of CAA* I'm not a huge Naruto fan myself but I feel really great knowing that the images floating in CAA are decent and 'safe'. ^^

The number or actions of fans don't influence my liking of an anime/manga. I still like Gundam Wing despite the ridiculous amount of yaoi fangirlism that revolved around that title. I quit hanging out with GW fangirls in a mailing list because they always fought about something silly. Introduce the yaoi vs canon debate and you have World War III. Man, what a waste of time. But I still like the series very much. ^^

I guess I'll echo the additional 'niche's some of you have mentioned. I thought nothing fazes me anymore but I was wrong: Guro freaks me out and I'm glad it does. If that doesn't bother me, I think there's something seriously wrong with me. I would gladly move very far away from a self-acclaimed guro-fan.

Cosplaying......ah. Well, I'll just say that cosplayers who dress up inappropriately bother me quite a little. Irregardless of the intention, obese Sasuke or male Chobits can be a bit tough on their fans. I respect that anyone has the freedom to dress as they like but I hope they'll carefully consider how similar/dissimilar their physical characteristics are to their fav. character. I grimaced and laughed at Man-Faye but it was quite disturbing.

As a whole, I conclude that my answer is dictated by the scale of how much fan seem to be losing their ability to discern between fantasy and reality. The scary ones are those who are a little too tad obsessed and pursue their fantasies to an extreme. Anime is fun but come on, don't go overboard.

Subs and Dubs? Doesn't bother me too much. I would try to watch the originals as much as possible but if that's not available, I'll take alternate versions.

[Crazy Kitty]

Well, I'd say yaoi fans - but they're more annoying than scary. I think, when a yaoi fan goes to the extent where all their couples -have- to be gay... that scares me. Considering the things I love and enjoy (art and BJD), I see it all the time, but it never really looses it's bad taste for me. :x

And then you have fangirls who will, instead of discussing vital plot and twists in a new chapter of manga, will instead be talking about some non-canon yaoi couple. I can't begin to describe how much that annoys me.

What scares me most though is any form of sexual perversion that some fans seem to thrive on. *shivers* It's as though because it's drawn, the perversion is somehow normal? And to think they can connect with other minds just as perverted and twisted as themselves over the internet creeps me out even more.

Even creepier are the hardcore furries x__x Ugh, don't even get me started on them. I sometimes draw anthro's and I have a humanoid animal as an avatar on a couple of sites, but I certainly wouldn't call myself a furry. Especially not because of those extremists...

[Shadowalker]

....Disney incest?! how is that even possible...

I seriously think that lots of (not all) the fangirls into this whole forbidden love thing are just trying to feel mature and hardcore rebel-- essentially equating "unconventional" and "against social norms" to mean "liberal and open-minded." It really gets to the point that if you don't personally care to see two men make out, it must mean that you're a narrow-minded ignorant homophobic conformist bigot against social progress and human rights. I think that's much more closed-minded and unreasonable, but those are the kinds of people that are the hardest to reason with...

I consider Kingdom Hearts yaoi to be Disney slash, which is why I say, "No, you little fujoshi, you are NOT being mature and awesome and hardcore sexay rebel fringe by writing AkuRoku ero."

I largely agree. However, I think that some heterosexual female anime fans like yaoi for much the same reason that many heterosexual male anime fans like yuri... you probably know what I mean by that.

[Shadowalker]

I like my favourite anime series' to be just popular enough that most broad-based anime fans (i.e. people who are fans of anime as a whole , and not just one or two or three specific anime shows) are familiar with it, and hence I can have a good conversation with them about the characterization, plot elements, and themes of my favourite anime series'.

Something around the popularity level of Death Note, or Full Metal Alchemist, for two examples.

Once a series gets more popular than that, though (such as you have with Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece), that's when you tend to get loads and loads of fanfics focusing on yaoi or yuri couplings that simply make a mockery out of the canon material. In the case of Naruto, I've heard it stated that Naruto/Sasuke slashfics have grown so much in number and popularity on the internet that they're now starting to overwhelm legitimate, actual romances within the Naruto anime.

To me, this is an insidious subversion of an anime/manga writer's original intent, and initial vision for what romances he or she wanted to explore in the anime/manga. It really does do loads to invalidate and marginalize the anime/manga in question, in my opinion.

So, for that reason, I have to admit that I generally don't want my favourite anime series to get any more popular than Death Note or Full Metal Alchemist currently are - up to that point, sure, but not beyond it.

[minakichan]

I actually saw a male Sakura (cardcaptor) at a con that I thought was veryyyy cute. I'm pretty sure he was there to scare people, but still. I still wholeheartedly believe that ugly people should be allowed to cosplay as beautiful people if they so choose (although I'm not so open-minded as to say that I won't be making comments in my head, unfortunately).

Eh, I think Light X L and Matt x Mello and Elricest and Ed X Roy have already pretty much conquered the respectable parts of their respective fandoms, although perhaps not to the extent of NaruSasu on Naruto.
But this might be because I still subscribe to about a million Death Note comms on Live-"Freaking Fujoshi Base"-Journal.

Death Note one or two years ago was at its peak of respectable popularity to me-- most anime fans I met still knew what it was, but fandoms and discussions were still actually relevant-- and interesting.
It's gotten out of hand by now-- I remember when the manga was freshly licensed, a girl who came into the Death Note community was under the impression that Death Note was ACTUALLY A YAOI MANGA, and when we kind of told her it wasn't, she was insistent and told us we clearly weren't paying attention. Turns out she read too many yaoi doujinshi and might have thought some of it was actually canon. Similarly, there's a lot of girls there nowadays who say they only read Death Note for the yaoi; when I bemoaned the fact that there are no good general (i.e. non-romance) fic in the fandom, and that I wish there were some fanworks that preserved the, you know, ethics debates or exciting cat-and-mouse games, I was told (by another yaoi fangirl only in the fandom for yaoi), "The reason no one writes about that stuff is because it's boring. No one cares about that." ...ISN'T THAT WHAT DEATH NOTE IS ALL ABOUT?!?!?!111eleventy-one.

[Shadowalker]

I actually saw a male Sakura (cardcaptor) at a con that I thought was veryyyy cute. I'm pretty sure he was there to scare people, but still. I still wholeheartedly believe that ugly people should be allowed to cosplay as beautiful people if they so choose (although I'm not so open-minded as to say that I won't be making comments in my head, unfortunately).

Eh, I think Light X L and Matt x Mello and Elricest and Ed X Roy have already pretty much conquered the respectable parts of their respective fandoms,

I respectfully disagree based on my own experiences. The vast majority of the FMA fans that I've talked to consider Ed/Winry Rockwell to be the true main protagonist romance of the series (to the extent that there is one). Some folks I know joke about Ed and Mustang, but nobody that I know takes the idea seriously.

I've heard a few smatterings about Light and L, but most people I've talked to about Death Note do focus on the cat and mouse game, and the moral ideas and themes of the anime.

Naruto is different. I've seen more than a few people seriously argue for Naruto and Sasuke - I can't say the same for Light and L, or Ed and Mustang.

although perhaps not to the extent of NaruSasu on Naruto.
But this might be because I still subscribe to about a million Death Note comms on Live-"Freaking Fujoshi Base"-Journal.

I've been on Live Journal very little. Most of my anime chats occur on this site, through a messenger system, through e-mail, or through a broad-based comic book/anime/fiction site that I can give you the name of in a PM if you want me to.

[quote] Death Note one or two years ago was at its peak of respectable popularity to me-- most anime fans I met still knew what it was, but fandoms and discussions were still actually relevant-- and interesting.

It's gotten out of hand by now-- I remember when the manga was freshly licensed, a girl who came into the Death Note community was under the impression that Death Note was ACTUALLY A YAOI MANGA, and when we kind of told her it wasn't, she was insistent and told us we clearly weren't paying attention. Turns out she read too many yaoi doujinshi and might have thought some of it was actually canon. Similarly, there's a lot of girls there nowadays who say they only read Death Note for the yaoi]

I completely agree with you. I have to say that even amongst unlikely yaoi couplings, Light and L come close to taking the cake, for one reason that should be pretty obvious to anybody who's seen all of Season 1 of Death Note...

The reason you don't see Death Note fanfics like the ones you and I would both like to see is because they would take a very sharp intellect, and a very dedicated Death Note fan, to write. You have to be very smart, imo, to write a plot like the one that Death Note enjoys.

[ShiroiHikari]

Again, I apologize, but your post comes off like a couple of people I could think of. There's a fair number of elitists who pride themselves on their underground tastes, and prefer it that way. "Mmm, nice and obscure for no weeaboos to touch."

It's a subject that's been on my mind recently

This bothers me too. If I like something that's obscure or not well-liked, I want more people to discover it. For example: I beat people over the head with the "WATCH HAJIME NO IPPO" stick every chance I get. Oh, and don't forget slicing people up with the beam saber of "GUNDAM IS AWESOME".

Also, I hate the word "weeaboo". XD

[mechana2015]

This bothers me too. If I like something that's obscure or not well-liked, I want more people to discover it.

I try to do similar things, mostly for the selfish reason of getting it popular enough to be published in the US on DVD or in manga form so I can get the highest quality copies of it.

[Radical Dreamer]

I try to do similar things, mostly for the selfish reason of getting it popular enough to be published in the US on DVD or in manga form so I can get the highest quality copies of it.

That's a good point. I always find it better to be able to own a neat artbox for a series that's been licensed due to popularity than to have the episodes merely stashed on an external HD somewhere. XD

Adding onto that, I've always found it silly to stop liking a series you've previously enjoyed just because the fanbase is generally immature, perverted, or annoying. If you decide to stop following a series, it should be because you no longer have an interest in the characters and storyline, not because fan artists and fan fiction writers don't know the meaning of the word "canon." XD

[Etoh*the*Greato]

I actually saw a male Sakura (cardcaptor) at a con that I thought was veryyyy cute. I'm pretty sure he was there to scare people, but still. I still wholeheartedly believe that ugly people should be allowed to cosplay as beautiful people if they so choose (although I'm not so open-minded as to say that I won't be making comments in my head, unfortunately).

Was it a tall black guy? If so, he wasn't trying to scare you. That's Cardcaptor Will, and it's just what he does. He's a pretty nice guy.

[uc pseudonym]

Similarly, there's a lot of girls there nowadays who say they only read Death Note for the yaoi]
I've met these people before, but hearing about them still makes me die inside.

I respectfully disagree based on my own experiences. The vast majority of the FMA fans that I've talked to consider Ed/Winry Rockwell to be the true main protagonist romance of the series (to the extent that there is one). Some folks I know joke about Ed and Mustang, but nobody that I know takes the idea seriously.

I've heard a few smatterings about Light and L, but most people I've talked to about Death Note do focus on the cat and mouse game, and the moral ideas and themes of the anime.

I respectfully submit that you probably spend most of your time on the better parts of the internet.

[~darkelfgirl~]

....Disney incest?! how is that even possible...

I seriously think that lots of (not all) the fangirls into this whole forbidden love thing are just trying to feel mature and hardcore rebel-- essentially equating "unconventional" and "against social norms" to mean "liberal and open-minded." It really gets to the point that if you don't personally care to see two men make out, it must mean that you're a narrow-minded ignorant homophobic conformist bigot against social progress and human rights. I think that's much more closed-minded and unreasonable, but those are the kinds of people that are the hardest to reason with...

I consider Kingdom Hearts yaoi to be Disney slash, which is why I say, "No, you little fujoshi, you are NOT being mature and awesome and hardcore sexay rebel fringe by writing AkuRoku ero."

I strongly agree. And some these are 11 year old children. Where are their authority figures? I don't know either.

[Mave]

I actually saw a male Sakura (cardcaptor) at a con that I thought was veryyyy cute. I'm pretty sure he was there to scare people, but still. I still wholeheartedly believe that ugly people should be allowed to cosplay as beautiful people if they so choose (although I'm not so open-minded as to say that I won't be making comments in my head, unfortunately).

Oh I have seen photos of this guy. It always makes me think of what would happen if Eddie Murphy was accidentally casted in Card Captor The Movie - Live. I also have another photo of him standing right next to male Chobits. The latter is a little harder to describe. XD

Maybe I'm a little harsh on obese Sasuke and the likes, and apologize if I hurt any feelings in this matter. It still bothers me a little BUT in the end, I'd rather hang out with these cosplayers than those hardcore [unmentionable sexual perversion] fans.

Oh oh, speaking of "I thought Death Note was canon yaoi aka I've only read yaoi fan trash comics," that happened to me a long long time ago. I was introduced to Yu Yu Hakusho and googled it. I stumbled upon some doujinshi online (uh oh). I read it thinking that it was the official stuff and was totally shocked to learn that Hiei and Kurama were lovers. I think my heart almost stopped beating and my face went pale (I was only 14 then, folks). Something told me that this was wrong and the next day, I ran off to my friend to clarify this. "Is this true? Is this true? WAAAAAHHHHH??? Tell me it's NOT TRUEEE!!!!"

Of course, some of us know what the answer is. Welcome to the evil world of fandom, Mave.

I respectfully submit that you probably spend most of your time on the better parts of the internet.

Good for you, Shadowalker. Stay where you are. But in all fairness, perhaps Naruto X Sasuke is slightly encouraged, thanks to the mangaka himself. *glares at Kishimoto-san for yaoi bait*

[Shadowalker]

I've met these people before, but hearing about them still makes me die inside.


I respectfully submit that you probably spend most of your time on the better parts of the internet.

Generally speaking, I search out sites where you can have mature, sensible discussions on anime where people have some respect for the canon material, yes. CAA itself is one such site.

My point with Naruto vs. Death Note/FMA is... once an anime reaches the popularity level of Naruto, the outlandish non-canon couplings can become so pervasive through out anime internet sites as a whole that you can't get away from it even if you are on the better parts of anime internet sites (CAA notwithstanding to its credit). At a Death Note/FMA popularity level, there are places you can go on the internet where you can have good conversations over the anime that are free (or fairly free) of many of the more absurd romance ideas.

Oh I have seen photos of this guy. It always makes me think of what would happen if Eddie Murphy was accidentally casted in Card Captor The Movie - Live. I also have another photo of him standing right next to male Chobits. The latter is a little harder to describe. XD

Maybe I'm a little harsh on obese Sasuke and the likes, and apologize if I hurt any feelings in this matter. It still bothers me a little BUT in the end, I'd rather hang out with these cosplayers than those hardcore [unmentionable sexual perversion] fans.

Oh oh, speaking of "I thought Death Note was canon yaoi aka I've only read yaoi fan trash comics," that happened to me a long long time ago. I was introduced to Yu Yu Hakusho and googled it. I stumbled upon some doujinshi online (uh oh). I read it thinking that it was the official stuff and was totally shocked to learn that Hiei and Kurama were lovers. I think my heart almost stopped beating and my face went pale (I was only 14 then, folks). Something told me that this was wrong and the next day, I ran off to my friend to clarify this. "Is this true? Is this true? WAAAAAHHHHH??? Tell me it's NOT TRUEEE!!!!"

Of course, some of us know what the answer is. Welcome to the evil world of fandom, Mave.

Good for you, Shadowalker. Stay where you are. But in all fairness, perhaps Naruto X Sasuke is slightly encouraged, thanks to the mangaka himself. *glares at Kishimoto-san for yaoi bait*

Thanks. I actually don't know Naruto that well to comment on Naruto specifically beyond what I already have, though.

I'll certainly admit that even mildly popular anime can have fanfics with very weird romantic pairings in it, and that's no doubt true of Death Note and Full Metal Alchemist. It's when the weird romantic pairings in fanfics start spilling over into discussions on the anime that it becomes a bit annoying to me, I'll admit. Bad fanfics you can simply ignore, or not read - an entire fan community embracing a romantic pairing that is clearly not canon, that's a bit harder for me to ignore.

It might be something I need to pray over, and work on, though.

[Shadowalker]

Oh I have seen photos of this guy. It always makes me think of what would happen if Eddie Murphy was accidentally casted in Card Captor The Movie - Live. I also have another photo of him standing right next to male Chobits. The latter is a little harder to describe. XD

Maybe I'm a little harsh on obese Sasuke and the likes, and apologize if I hurt any feelings in this matter. It still bothers me a little BUT in the end, I'd rather hang out with these cosplayers than those hardcore [unmentionable sexual perversion] fans.

Oh oh, speaking of "I thought Death Note was canon yaoi aka I've only read yaoi fan trash comics," that happened to me a long long time ago. I was introduced to Yu Yu Hakusho and googled it. I stumbled upon some doujinshi online (uh oh). I read it thinking that it was the official stuff and was totally shocked to learn that Hiei and Kurama were lovers. I think my heart almost stopped beating and my face went pale (I was only 14 then, folks). Something told me that this was wrong and the next day, I ran off to my friend to clarify this. "Is this true? Is this true? WAAAAAHHHHH??? Tell me it's NOT TRUEEE!!!!"

Of course, some of us know what the answer is. Welcome to the evil world of fandom, Mave.

Good for you, Shadowalker. Stay where you are. But in all fairness, perhaps Naruto X Sasuke is slightly encouraged, thanks to the mangaka himself. *glares at Kishimoto-san for yaoi bait*

Thanks. I actually don't know Naruto that well to comment on Naruto specifically beyond what I already have, though.

I'll certainly admit that even mildly popular anime can have fanfics with very weird romantic pairings in it, and that's no doubt true of Death Note and Full Metal Alchemist. It's when the weird romantic pairings in fanfics start spilling over into discussions on the anime that it becomes a bit annoying to me, I'll admit. Bad fanfics you can simply ignore, or not read - an entire fan community embracing a romantic pairing that is clearly not canon, that's a bit harder for me to ignore.

It might be something I need to pray over, and work on, though.

[minakichan]

Actually, the male Sakura I saw was white, but he seemed like an OK guy too, at any rate.

Generally speaking, I search out sites where you can have mature, sensible discussions on anime where people have some respect for the canon material, yes. CAA itself is one such site.

Haha, I think you've confirmed UC's comment.

[Fish and Chips]

Some folks I know joke about Ed and Mustang, but nobody that I know takes the idea seriously.

I wish I could say the same.

My main issue with the majority of shippers is that platonic is a foreign language to them. Any two people even remotely connected (or not) are just fodder for some kind of bizarre fetish of theirs, regardless or even in spite of the author's intentions. That I'm also a "Canon nazi," our situation has not improved.

However, I'm willing to compromise on one point; I will accept any Kira Yoshikage pairing as canon, provided it ends with him cutting off the other person's hand and killing them.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Well, I think that if you go to any section of a site like FanFiction.net, regardless of what fandom you're in, you'll find an enormous amount of crazy, nonsensical pairings that are overrunning all the canon fics there (unless it's a tiny fandom like the video game ICO, in which there are only three characters to begin with, and you couldn't have a yaoi pairing because there's only one male character). Seriously, when I discovered what Elricest was...I think a part of me died

[Shadowalker]

I wish I could say the same.

My main issue with the majority of shippers is that platonic is a foreign language to them. Any two people even remotely connected (or not) are just fodder for some kind of bizarre fetish of theirs, regardless or even in spite of the author's intentions. That I'm also a "Canon nazi," our situation has not improved.

Were you actually called that (canon nazi)? If so... wow, a lot of these yaoi and yuri fangirls are severely disturbed for them to be using a term like "canon nazi". What do they think the canon is there for?

And I agree that for many shippers platonic is a foreign language to them. Ed and Roy Mustang just seem to share a pretty good, and normal, soldier to soldier (superior to subordinate) bond, for example.

[Fish and Chips]

Were you actually called that (canon nazi)? If so... wow, a lot of these yaoi and yuri fangirls are severely disturbed for them to be using a term like "canon nazi". What do they think the canon is there for?

Nah, canon nazi is a common enough term, usually self-applied.

It's a badge we wear proudly.

[minakichan]

My main issue with the majority of shippers is that platonic is a foreign language to them. Any two people even remotely connected (or not) are just fodder for some kind of bizarre fetish of theirs, regardless or even in spite of the author's intentions. That I'm also a "Canon nazi," our situation has not improved.

I KNOW. Apparently, there is no such thing as male friendship; two guys can only either be totally in love with each other or hate each other (in which case they actually secretly like each other. Shhh!). It's so irritating, and it sure as heck don't work like that in the real world ><. Although, I think that this mindset sometimes rolls over from media and starts to pervade into our own world too, which is mighty scary.

Eh, I'm mostlyyyy a canon nazi, but sometimes I deviate, just for fun. I don't consider myself a shipper, though.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Generally speaking, I search out sites where you can have mature, sensible discussions on anime where people have some respect for the canon material, yes. CAA itself is one such site.

Livejournal.com and Fanfiction.net

Prepare to have your worldview shattered.

[Shadowalker]

Livejournal.com and Fanfiction.net

Prepare to have your worldview shattered.

I really don't want to come across as rude, but this is a question that I've had in my head for awhile now, and each new post on this thread that I read leaves me thinking of it even more and more...

So, and I mean this with sincere polite curiousity... if people find these sites so offensive, why do they go to them? If you (and everytime I use "you" in this post, I'm using it in a general sense - it's not specific to Mr. SmartyPants) find the fanfics so offensive, why do you read them? I mean, being a fan of Series A doesn't obligate you to read fanfics of Series A - and if most fanfics of Series A are terribly weird to you in one way or another, why read them?

Now, as big fans of anime, we like to go on-line and chat about anime, so some of the weird stuff we encounter can't be helped, of course. But if you know specific sites that are particularly infamous for containing the weird stuff that you don't like, why go to those sites?

I mean, thanks to what I've heard on this thread, I'll probably make a point to avoid LiveJournal like the plague. If people here are just trying to warn me against it, then that's great - thanks for the heads up, and I'll stay away from it.

But if you keep going back to FanFiction.net, and Livejournal.com, in spite of bad experiences there, I'm genuinely curious as to why you do that (again, I'm using "you" in the general sense here).

[uc pseudonym]

Good for you, Shadowalker. Stay where you are. But in all fairness, perhaps Naruto X Sasuke is slightly encouraged, thanks to the mangaka himself. *glares at Kishimoto-san for yaoi bait*

This is just an unscientific impression, but I think this is occurring more often in more recent manga. Naruto is a notable example, but even some of the others seem to have hints of this that feel intentional.

My main issue with the majority of shippers is that platonic is a foreign language to them. Any two people even remotely connected (or not) are just fodder for some kind of bizarre fetish of theirs, regardless or even in spite of the author's intentions. That I'm also a "Canon nazi," our situation has not improved.

However, I'm willing to compromise on one point]
Indeed. To both statements, but principally the first. Unfortunately, our society is fairly anti-platonic in the first place.

I mean, thanks to what I've heard on this thread, I'll probably make a point to avoid LiveJournal like the plague. If people here are just trying to warn me against it, then that's great - thanks for the heads up, and I'll stay away from it.

It depends where you go. While the communities tend to pander to the lowest common denominator, individual blogs don't have to.

[Fish and Chips]

So, and I mean this with sincere polite curiousity... if people find these sites so offensive, why do they go to them? If you (and everytime I use "you" in this post, I'm using it in a general sense - it's not specific to Mr. SmartyPants) find the fanfics so offensive, why do you read them? I mean, being a fan of Series A doesn't obligate you to read fanfics of Series A - and if most fanfics of Series A are terribly weird to you in one way or another, why read them?

I don't.

As for LiveJournal, it's a community blog, so I just avoid certain "Choice" communities.

[Shadowalker]

uc pseudonym and Fish and Chips - Thanks for the reply! I see what you both mean about Livejournal, and I appreciate the info (I honestly didn't know much about Livejournal before going on this thread).

uc pseudonym, I have heard some Naruto fans say that they feel that the characters of Naruto and Sasuke, as well as the interactions between them, have been impacted by fan commentary and even fanfics - that the manga/anime writer is actually altering the canon somewhat to please the fans. This is probably my biggest fear with one or more of my favourite series' getting extremely popular - it can end up being guided by the lowest common denominator (this is less of a fear with a series that is already finished, of course - hence why I don't mind if older favourites grow a lot in popularity, though that's not likely anyway) .

[minakichan]

So, and I mean this with sincere polite curiousity... if people find these sites so offensive, why do they go to them?

I avoid Fanfiction.net for that reason, but LJ, well, for one thing, where else can you find all those pretty icons? For another, with the less popular series, the discussion (and even the fangirling) is really fine. As much as I really dislike the state of Death Note LJ comms now, a few years ago (when the manga was still being serialized) I remember touting them and telling people to check them out because fans there were having higher-level discussion that was exciting and interesting, and there was nowhere else on the internet that I could really find that. LJ is really one of the bigger Internet fandom hubs; that comes with ups and downs.

uc pseudonym, I have heard some Naruto fans say that they feel that the characters of Naruto and Sasuke, as well as the interactions between them, have been impacted by fan commentary and even fanfics - that the manga/anime writer is actually altering the canon somewhat to please the fans. This is probably my biggest fear with one or more of my favourite series' getting extremely popular - it can end up being guided by the lowest common denominator (this is less of a fear with a series that is already finished, of course - hence why I don't mind if older favourites grow a lot in popularity, though that's not likely anyway) .

THIS. IS. SO. TRUE and it really kind of pisses me off. There are mangaka who will change whole outcomes of stories just to please fans-- sometimes for the better, admittedly, but often for the worse. You should see what they do to Prince of Tennis, in the stage musical, especially-- stuff like Tezuka calling Echizen "Stupid... but cute" or having a song between Sanada and Yukimura called "First Love." (BUT I still stick with Tenimyu. There's really nowhere else you can find adult men dancing on a stage with tennis rackets in hand.)

[MasterDias]

Personally, I've never really understood this whole shonen ai/yaoi obsession that seems to overtake certain fandoms. And I've never understood why so many straight women and girls are so obsessed with it. Meh.

[Stephen]

Personally, I've never really understood this whole shonen ai/yaoi obsession that seems to overtake certain fandoms. And I've never understood why so many straight women and girls are so obsessed with it. Meh.

Heh. Just as many guys are all over the girlxgirl stuff though. Being a pervert is not limited to a gender.