Differences...

Differences in Japanese and English fanfic sites I've noticed. The Japanese don't seem to be into archives. I have yet to come across anything remotely like fanfiction.net, or even those fandom specific archives. But they love love love webrings and search pages and "leagues." I have spent way to much time going through webrings looking for sites I'll like. I don't bother with the fandom-wide webrings, because those are huge and many aren't in my area (well, pairing) of interest. Even a pairing webring can have hundreds of sites anyways.

Searches are a little nicer, because you can narrow your search for fanfic or fanart sites, for different types of stories. "Leagues" are interesting, because they seem to crop up in some kind of fangirl frenzy, people join in support (whether or not they have a site) and put in some comment about how they love whatever the league is for (for example, an AtobeRyoma league). I've never found them remotely as useful for finding new sites as webrings or searches.

One interesting phenomenon is the "100 (or 50) Topics." Someone comes up with a list of 100 (or 50) topics, and people write stories/draw pictures regarding/inspired by that topic. One such "50 Topics" list goes as such:

1. Blue Sky
2. Where is this?
3. Jewel
4. Maiden
5. Be with me
6. The one that is the other half
7. Maniac
8. Eyes
9. Daisuki!
10. 1/2 (One-half)
11. This is fate
12. Even so, I
13. 17 years old
14. Lovesickness
15. Crazy
16. Welcome
17. Boy
18. (in english) freely
19. Just woke up
20. The true me
21. Hand in hand
22. Liar
23. Clinical records
24. Beatitude
25. Halving
26. Stand
27. How grand
28. Sing of love
29. Light (Hikari)
30. Unhealed wound
31. The voice that calls
32. Tears
33. Field of flowers
34. Madder red
35. It hurts, it hurts
36. I'm going to die. Please live.
37. Hero
38. Dry leaves
39. Want to try?
40. Bewitch!
41. Smile
42. Fear
43. From now
44. Battle positions
45. Small animal
46. Let me rest a little
47. Glico (I think a brand)
48. 20km/s
49. Sayonara
50. What a beautiful scene is this

Wow, I bothered to do it all. This one is from a Hikaru no Go fanart site. I've read fanfics for a different "100 Topics," and they don't always refer to or seem to be directly connected with the topic. It's interesting to see how people interpret the topic. People don't go the obvious route either. It can certainly inspire some creative ideas. ^_^

The one thing that Japanese sites that I absolutely despise is the "under." What is this annoying phenomenon? Why, it's when a writer/artist puts fics/art in a hidden (or password protected) page because of content they feel uncomfortable putting out in the open. It can include sexual content, or violence, deathfics, or just plain wacky fics. Anything an author/artist feels is inappropriate. That's fine and dandy, but what gets me is when they write a multi-part story and hide several chapters--sometimes these chapters have important plot developments. One Gundam Seed fic hid a chapter with the end of a big battle, after which the main characters have sex. I don't need to read the sex, but considering this was an epic multi-part story, and this was the conclusion of a very important battle...to say I was ticked was an understatement. It took a while to find where the chapters were hidden. I almost wish the authors just hid everything, OR broke up the chapters (if it's possible) so that you can read the story without the hidden parts. *sigh*