May 09, 2023
To:JB94
Typo fixed. Thank you, thank you.
Yeah, fanfiction can go overboard real fast. It's not as major a theme in the story, but I definitely wanted a lot of push and pull with the fanfiction/shipping aspect. I know there's a lot of discourse in various internet communities about the appropriateness of shipping. Personally, I'm all for allowing people to imagine whatever they like, and share it amongst like-minded people. I feel that it's core to nerd culture in specific, and pop culture enjoyment in general. But I'm not blind to the ugly sides, and I don't blame people for getting weirded out by adults wanting underage characters in children's media to kiss, and when people start flamewars because other people ship different pairings, it goes beyond letting everyone like what they like.
So the tension I tried to weave into this story is slowly pushing the characters together, encouraging readers to get invested in their relationships, while creating a problematic in-universe shipping community that might give readers pause about their own feelings. And the potential of the Hina x Erika ship gets into the problematic waters of an adult with a minor.
But of course, it's not all bad, even in-universe, as evidenced by the wholesome Sachiko x Maeko story referenced in this chapter.
And nice catch on the classic GL discussion. I am nothing if not inspired by years and years of yuri manga.
I hope the next chapter shed some more insight into Maeko's actions. She's very much of the opinion that the ends justify the means, and that's why she's in such an extreme minority faction.
