Begin Ranting!

First and foremost, this is not a story. There isn't even an inkling of a story in here; it is a rant. A rant that I wrote out after trying to find a good Fruits Basket story, and finding very little. Once upon a time, the entire section of Fruits Basket was full of good, literate stories. Where have they all gone?

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not here to insult you or your writing style, and this is not pointed at anybody in particular. Whether or not you, who is reading this, is literate I don't give a shit. What I'm here to, ultimately, complain about is these things. Maybe, if there are people who agree with me on this particular topic, they can voice their support and we may be able to persuade people into writing better fanfiction.

Also, I am writing about the majority. I'm well aware that there are certain stories that fit into these categories but are enjoyable. Majority over minority.

Thus, here I go.

The first thing that really shits me off is...
Those god damned So-and-so is transported into the Fruits Basket world! KyouOCblahblahblah. While you may find it dreamy to suddenly wake up and be in Kyo's arms, you're not alone. But that doesn't mean that there has to be a billion of these stories, and unfortunately they're all I'm seeing. OC's are okay once in a while, but not when they litter the Furuba section. Although writing about yourself (and friends) falling into the Fruits Basket world is fun, it's really only for you and your friends to read. It is insanely boring for everybody else.

The second thing that really shits me off is...
Retards who call their Japanese OC characters English names. So you have a really good idea for a character? Great! Now find a Japanese name generator! Don't do the stupid thing like calling your character "Judy" or "Harry"; you may not be Japanese, but Fruits Basket is a Japanese manga. It is set in Japan. Thus, all Japanese OC characters that you create should have believable Japanese names.

The third thing that really shits me off is...
People who create new Zodiacs. Now, there are exceptions to this. In some stories these work extremely well, but in most... not. The particular ones I'm picking on are the "Insert-name-here was a fox, she met Kyo, they fell in love and have babies" stories. These are really, really annoying and I'm seeing them more and more often. Please, for the love of god, if you're going to make a new Zodiac, make it believable and actually fit into a storyline that doesn't involve them shagging an existing character.

The fourth thing that really shits me off is...
Stories that sound great, but aren't. Ever seen a summary on and thought; "Wow! This sounds great!" and then opened it to discover it is poorly, if anything, written? And it makes your eyes burn? Yeah, me too. While I support first time writers, this greatly annoys me. I'm sure it annoys other people too.

The fifth thing that really shits me off is...
People who write an obnoxious amount of Japanese dialogue and then follow it up with English in their stories. Woah, that was a mouthful. Anyway, the thing I'm talking about is something like this.

EXAMPLE
Kyo sat down. "Tsukaretta, Kyo-kun?" Shigure questioned. "Nandemo tabette ii."

"Yeah, I will. Arigatou Shigure." Kyo replied.

I mean, what the fuck?! And yes, I have seen stories like that. I don't mind honorifics - they're normal, but speaking in a language that they obviously don't know what they're saying ("Are you tired Kyo? You can eat anything." "Yeah, I will. Thanks Shigure."). Not only does it confuse me, being somebody who's learning the language, it makes me wonder where THEY'RE learning it.

Either write your dialogue in English or Japanese. Don't do the mix in between.

The sixth thing that really shits me off is...
People who kill off zodiac characters so they can use OCs. Now I haven't seen this one for a while, but it used to really, really, really, really shit me off, so I thought it was worth a mention. The people I'm referring to, of course, are the people who write stories, kill off a major zodiac character, and then place another one in it's place.

The seventh thing that really shits me off is...
Second generation stories. I don't really have much to add to that one, it pretty much says it all. Yes, some of them are a decent, enjoyable read, but they are very few. The majority are poorly written, anyway.

The eighth thing that really shits me off is...
OOC. Now, I presume we all know that that means "out of character". I, like the next person, can tolerate the occasional OOC moment that comes with a particular story line. What I'm picking at are the people who start with the character OOC and then finish with the character OOC. It's uncool, and it just spoils the entire story.

The nineth thing that really shits me off is...
The "I'm not good at summaries it's better than it sounds, please read!" people. So what if you can't write a decent summary? Practise makes perfect! If you can't come up with anything, get a friend to beta read it and ask them to come up with a summary for you. It isn't hard.

So. That is my rant for this day. If I shall find more in my brain, I shall add them on as further chapters. Do you support what I've said, and have a decent Fruits Basket story for me to read (I especially like weird pairings)? Drop a review! Do you not support me and want to flame? Go ahead! I want to hear your opinions on this.

Flamers, go for your life.

END