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Anime fanfiction and Momoshiro Takeshi
A few people asked me about the characterization of Momoshiro in Journeys End and it's complex enough to warrant a separate post. It involves some general thoughts on writing fanfic for media from a different culture, so you might find it interesting even if you haven't read the story. (If you plan to read the story, do that first, though, since this completely spoils it.)
When I write fanfiction for Prince of Tennis (Bleach, Naruto, Whistle!, Samurai Champloo, or any other show that's set in Japan, historical or modern) I am a western writer (specifically Canadian) writing in English for a primarily western (probably mostly American) audience, but about Japanese culture. There will always be readers who know less about it than I do and readers who know more. This makes writing a rather special challenge.
I find that the theory I use when writing sex scenes applies here as well: give the reader enough authenticity that they can suspend their disbelief about the rest. Enough accurate detail to ease the tension about the sex that's always great or the middle school kids who all play tennis so amazingly well.
I do try to get things right, but there's only so much research I can do. If I were writing a novel about Japanese schoolboys in love, I would of course do shedloads of research. But for fanfic, there's Google. I google things like "homosexuality in Japan" and "wedding rings in Japan" and "Japanese middle schools". I don't believe everything I read implicitly, but it's a good starting place for me.
And even if I did do all that research about Japanese schoolboys in love, would it really apply to fanfic? Japanese culture seems very difficult to understand; since my audience is Western, I think being too true to life would make the stories less accessible to them. (Okay, that sounds really pretentious, but I don't mean it like that.)
Not to mention I'm writing about anime/manga, not real life. Just like western TV, things are idealized, simplified, fictionalized. If I were writing an X-Files casefile story, I might do a lot of research about the FBI. But the real FBI doesn't operate the same way as the TXF FBI does, so I'd have to make choices about how I was going to incorporate my research into the story. It's the same with TV relationships and culture. It's almost a caricature of reality, sometimes. But since I'm writing within that caricature, I have to watch that I'm not too realistic or it will seem false for the source material. That's true for any fanfic, not just anime.
So all these things get dumped in and shaken up and the story gets written. I try to be true to Japanese culture in so far as I can, which is probably not very far. (And I hope if I make egregious factual errors someone will correct me.) And that probably works the best for my audience.
Okay, now on to Momoshiro. Please note that I am not trying to excuse him or to tell you what you should think about him. I just wanted to explain what was in my mind when I wrote the story.
In the story (spoilers begin now), Momoshiro and Kaidoh are both in their early twenties. They haven't met since high school and even then, they were in different schools. In junior high, they "fought a lot and fooled around a little". Momo has just moved back into the area and comes to find Kaidoh. They talk a little and end up in a hotel, boffing like bunnies. It's only afterward that Kaidoh finds out Momo is married. Momo says it's fine, it's okay, but Kaidoh, who has started to fall in love, poor thing, throws him out. Le sigh.
The main question seems to be: Would Momoshiro cheat on his wife?
I was interested to see people's reaction to his behaviour. It was pretty strong! Some people questioned that he would act that way, others became quite angry with him.
I think that the North American reaction to infidelity is rather more hysterical than other societies's. Which is not to say that other cultures don't consider it wrong, but here it seems like one of the very worst things you could do. (I think a lot of that is due to the influence of Christianity in the west, actually. The conflation of religion and morality makes for a major guilt trip. Not trying to diss anyone's religious beliefs here.)
Despite that, there's a lot of infidelity around. It's impossible to get accurate statistics, since it depends on people's own admission, but I've seen numbers (and I'm sure these numbers were all for the US) of anywhere from 20% to 80% of relationships compromised by infidelity. Now that DNA testing is more common, they're finding a higher incidence than previously supposed of children whose father is not who they thought. (Ah, the age-old tension over paternity!)
I don't think that most of those people deliberately set out to cheat or that they think cheating is acceptable. But love and sex really fuck with your brain. It's not hard to slip up. To lust, to fall in love. And once in that situation, it's not hard to rationalize it to yourself. To make excuses, to think it's all right.
My googling indicated to me that there was less moral outrage attached to infidelity in Japan than in NA. Still wrong, of course, but not at the same level. So I tried to work from that viewpoint.
(I also read that there is an increasing trend of straight women knowingly marrying gay men, so they can both have a family, but I don't think that's what's going on with Momo. He likes women and I bet he's a good husband for the most part.)
So, Momoshiro. I don't think he arrived there intending to seduce Kaidoh. (He would probably have had condoms on hand if so.) Maybe he knew about his feelings for Kaidoh, maybe he didn't. But I doubt he cold-bloodedly planned it.
As I trickily skipped over some bits, we don't know whose idea the hotel room was or how they came to that point. But it implies a lot of chemistry between them and that can be hard to resist. And I tried to show that with Kaidoh too: he knows, from a responsible safe-sex point of view, he shouldn't be fellating Momoshiro, but he does anyhow because he just can't help himself. And at the end of the story, even though he burns the phone number, he can still remember it. He's still tempted. (I doubt he'll succumb, though.)
We don't know what Momo's particular situation is. (And I confess, I didn't work it all out in detail beforehand.) He might have been pressured into this marriage, it might have been all his idea, we don't know. I doubt his wife will really be as understanding as he seems to think she will (or maybe he means it will work out fine to keep things from her), but who knows? Maybe she is.
I don't think Momoshiro would respond to an opinion poll and say that marital infidelity is acceptable behaviour. But he's a passionate and impulsive guy. I don't think it's out of character for him give in to his feelings, even though he knows it's wrong.
After writing out all of this, I think that part of the problem is that Momoshiro does seem too deliberate at the end of the story, even though I didn't intend for him to be. His insistence that everything will be fine is probably the part that rings false for most people and I think if I were to write this again, I would soften that or add some physical reaction to show more inner turmoil on his part. Maybe I'll edit it a bit before I post it to my website.
I do think that it's natural for him to be defensive with Kaidoh, so his stance there might also be a reaction to Kaidoh's horror at Momo's behaviour. We none of us like to admit we're wrong. We'd rather explain how what we've done is all right.
That's the background I was working from when I wrote the story. What do you think? Does it make any more sense to you now? Should I have done anything differently? Crit is always welcome; I'm not sensitive.
And you can still watch Momo get sporked.
When I write fanfiction for Prince of Tennis (Bleach, Naruto, Whistle!, Samurai Champloo, or any other show that's set in Japan, historical or modern) I am a western writer (specifically Canadian) writing in English for a primarily western (probably mostly American) audience, but about Japanese culture. There will always be readers who know less about it than I do and readers who know more. This makes writing a rather special challenge.
I find that the theory I use when writing sex scenes applies here as well: give the reader enough authenticity that they can suspend their disbelief about the rest. Enough accurate detail to ease the tension about the sex that's always great or the middle school kids who all play tennis so amazingly well.
I do try to get things right, but there's only so much research I can do. If I were writing a novel about Japanese schoolboys in love, I would of course do shedloads of research. But for fanfic, there's Google. I google things like "homosexuality in Japan" and "wedding rings in Japan" and "Japanese middle schools". I don't believe everything I read implicitly, but it's a good starting place for me.
And even if I did do all that research about Japanese schoolboys in love, would it really apply to fanfic? Japanese culture seems very difficult to understand; since my audience is Western, I think being too true to life would make the stories less accessible to them. (Okay, that sounds really pretentious, but I don't mean it like that.)
Not to mention I'm writing about anime/manga, not real life. Just like western TV, things are idealized, simplified, fictionalized. If I were writing an X-Files casefile story, I might do a lot of research about the FBI. But the real FBI doesn't operate the same way as the TXF FBI does, so I'd have to make choices about how I was going to incorporate my research into the story. It's the same with TV relationships and culture. It's almost a caricature of reality, sometimes. But since I'm writing within that caricature, I have to watch that I'm not too realistic or it will seem false for the source material. That's true for any fanfic, not just anime.
So all these things get dumped in and shaken up and the story gets written. I try to be true to Japanese culture in so far as I can, which is probably not very far. (And I hope if I make egregious factual errors someone will correct me.) And that probably works the best for my audience.
Okay, now on to Momoshiro. Please note that I am not trying to excuse him or to tell you what you should think about him. I just wanted to explain what was in my mind when I wrote the story.
In the story (spoilers begin now), Momoshiro and Kaidoh are both in their early twenties. They haven't met since high school and even then, they were in different schools. In junior high, they "fought a lot and fooled around a little". Momo has just moved back into the area and comes to find Kaidoh. They talk a little and end up in a hotel, boffing like bunnies. It's only afterward that Kaidoh finds out Momo is married. Momo says it's fine, it's okay, but Kaidoh, who has started to fall in love, poor thing, throws him out. Le sigh.
The main question seems to be: Would Momoshiro cheat on his wife?
I was interested to see people's reaction to his behaviour. It was pretty strong! Some people questioned that he would act that way, others became quite angry with him.
I think that the North American reaction to infidelity is rather more hysterical than other societies's. Which is not to say that other cultures don't consider it wrong, but here it seems like one of the very worst things you could do. (I think a lot of that is due to the influence of Christianity in the west, actually. The conflation of religion and morality makes for a major guilt trip. Not trying to diss anyone's religious beliefs here.)
Despite that, there's a lot of infidelity around. It's impossible to get accurate statistics, since it depends on people's own admission, but I've seen numbers (and I'm sure these numbers were all for the US) of anywhere from 20% to 80% of relationships compromised by infidelity. Now that DNA testing is more common, they're finding a higher incidence than previously supposed of children whose father is not who they thought. (Ah, the age-old tension over paternity!)
I don't think that most of those people deliberately set out to cheat or that they think cheating is acceptable. But love and sex really fuck with your brain. It's not hard to slip up. To lust, to fall in love. And once in that situation, it's not hard to rationalize it to yourself. To make excuses, to think it's all right.
My googling indicated to me that there was less moral outrage attached to infidelity in Japan than in NA. Still wrong, of course, but not at the same level. So I tried to work from that viewpoint.
(I also read that there is an increasing trend of straight women knowingly marrying gay men, so they can both have a family, but I don't think that's what's going on with Momo. He likes women and I bet he's a good husband for the most part.)
So, Momoshiro. I don't think he arrived there intending to seduce Kaidoh. (He would probably have had condoms on hand if so.) Maybe he knew about his feelings for Kaidoh, maybe he didn't. But I doubt he cold-bloodedly planned it.
As I trickily skipped over some bits, we don't know whose idea the hotel room was or how they came to that point. But it implies a lot of chemistry between them and that can be hard to resist. And I tried to show that with Kaidoh too: he knows, from a responsible safe-sex point of view, he shouldn't be fellating Momoshiro, but he does anyhow because he just can't help himself. And at the end of the story, even though he burns the phone number, he can still remember it. He's still tempted. (I doubt he'll succumb, though.)
We don't know what Momo's particular situation is. (And I confess, I didn't work it all out in detail beforehand.) He might have been pressured into this marriage, it might have been all his idea, we don't know. I doubt his wife will really be as understanding as he seems to think she will (or maybe he means it will work out fine to keep things from her), but who knows? Maybe she is.
I don't think Momoshiro would respond to an opinion poll and say that marital infidelity is acceptable behaviour. But he's a passionate and impulsive guy. I don't think it's out of character for him give in to his feelings, even though he knows it's wrong.
After writing out all of this, I think that part of the problem is that Momoshiro does seem too deliberate at the end of the story, even though I didn't intend for him to be. His insistence that everything will be fine is probably the part that rings false for most people and I think if I were to write this again, I would soften that or add some physical reaction to show more inner turmoil on his part. Maybe I'll edit it a bit before I post it to my website.
I do think that it's natural for him to be defensive with Kaidoh, so his stance there might also be a reaction to Kaidoh's horror at Momo's behaviour. We none of us like to admit we're wrong. We'd rather explain how what we've done is all right.
That's the background I was working from when I wrote the story. What do you think? Does it make any more sense to you now? Should I have done anything differently? Crit is always welcome; I'm not sensitive.
And you can still watch Momo get sporked.
no subject
I don't know how I come down on it, personally, but I've had several infidelity-based story ideas in the last few months (oddly enough, since I've been married *g*), and I was rather surprised to see that a number of people simply wouldn't read a story with infidelity. Granted, a lot of people are actually just touchy about canon relationships (or perceived "canon" relationships, like Ron/Hermione or Sirius/Remus) having infidelity, but I still think it's interesting that it's become an issue at all. Reminds me of the debates over Character A being sexually/physically abusive towards Character B in a story, and the idea of equating infidelity with sexual abusiveness is... well, intersting, I guess.
no subject
I may not go out of my way to dig up stories where James cheats on Lily, but I don´t mind the existence of it, and hell, if someone recs one such story, I´ll probably read it.
On the other hand, I have a serious issue with secrets and lying which is why I can´t watch Smallville without wanting to kick Clark in the head (and only grudgingly admit that he does have a valid reason for said lying and secrecy). But really, it all depends on the story and what it´s trying to say.
And the characters, come to think of it. There are characters that I could just never imagine would cheat on a partner (Benton Fraser), and then there are ones where it seems more on the likely side (Alex Krycek).
no subject
no subject
I must say, though, that it's heartbreaking how uptight everyone is about sexuality and infidelity and all that in North America. It makes me hate living in the States. *sigh*
But I love the way you wrote Kaidoh and Momo. A lot of impulse and passion and just want. Lust is a very difficult thing to hold back when there is so much chemistry between those involved. *nod* I would, however, like to see Kaidoh give into temptation. He's a good person with high morals, but he's only human.
no subject
...isn't anyone asking how Kaidoh didn't notice the ring before the crucial moment, though? [vaguely puzzled]
no subject
So that's why you sporked Momo! I did wonder. (:
no subject
Infidelity isn't something that gets dealt with in a lot of fanfiction, which is a pity because it's such an interesting subject, with so very many nuances. I really liked that story, personally. I think you did a good job of it, though it did seem a little deliberate on Momo's part at the end.
no subject
--Storywise, Momo did come off as sounding very confident that his wife wouldn't mind (which made me wonder if they were in some sort of swinger relationship and she was hoping he'd bring over some other hot guys.. >.>) ...Blustering or not, it just seemed a little callous to his wife. (But then, I'm a girl.. I don't want mansmex when it hurts -me- :P)
It's still a great story. ^^ It's neat to see your thoughts on it.
Not that I've thought too much about this or anything. ^^;;
This might have been it for me... because it wasn't so much that he cheated--almost anyone can be brought around to anything--it was the offhand and almost calculated manner of it that jarred with my view of him. Making him a cheater, rather than a guy that cheated (if that makes any sense).
It also seemed that Momo really had an unfortunate accumulation of notsogreatguy details, with no goodguy ones to balance 'em out. Like, he hasn't gone to college... not a bad thing in and of itself, but put put him beside uber-studious Kaidoh, and add in that it seems like his Tokyo promotion came through mostly because he married the boss's daughter...
And I know infidelity isn't a huge a hot-button over there, but this is still a *young* marriage between 2 kids--I can't quite see it as the traditional setup with the salaryman sneaking away with his saved allowance and the wife secretly relieved/dutifully pretending ignorance. Plus, I get undertones that marrying her was more a career move than love on his side (the "I'll probably mess it up" line, as well as telling the guy he just slept with that his young wife is "nice and fun" and doesn't ping as very true-lovely to me). But if boss's daughter was willing to marry an employee with only a high-school degree, it probably was love on her side and not something thoughtfully arranged by family members. Aaaand, since I also saw "do you want to play now" as a proposition (since it led to a love motel 20 mins later), it seems all very actively manipulative by Momo.
Adding to poor Momo's sins... Inviting Kaidoh over to dinner later is verging way too close to breaking the ultimate rule of "do whatever you want, just don't get found out/dishonor the family name" for me. It seems very disrespectful to his wife somehow as well. Even if he intended Kaidoh to be no more than a buddy afterward. Although the business card thingy implies that Momo would have no problem continuing for as long as possible.
Which is another thing that make it seem less "heat of the moment"--the lack of Momo's wtf afterward and that he was ok with making premeditated future plans to continue it. Yeah anime!Momo's a passionate guy, but he also always seemed very sincere and honest and straightforward and chivalrous... and early 20s seems to early for this kind of doublethink subtlety.
Still, when reading the fic, I did imagine that, yeah, this future!Momo could come about by mixing his passionate drive for success (and *ahem* hunger) with his developing ability to "read people" and rapidly improving mental game. Up his good-natured manipulation/charisma and make his morality more situational due to whatever events made him go straight into the workforce and voila... Almost like a Stiva Oblonsky-type character. Not my Momo, (I want to believe the Seigaku guys to remain true-blue good sportsmen forever) but def believable enough for me in a short.
And it doesn't make Momo come off any better when there's poor Kaidoh who's had tennis taken away from him and is laboring to become a doctor and has had no luck finding love and is generally a woobie. So it does come a little close to fic-with-an-agenda, but... agh, it's so tightly written that I must love it anyway. And, really, as long as Kaidoh is Kaidoh s'all good in my biased little mind.
Not that I've thought too much about this or anything. ^^;;