Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

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Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby Cheb » Sun May 29, 2011 5:10 am

Japan is arguably the most tech-savvy country in the world.
Between 1994 and 2000 cell phone use jumped from 1 percent to 10 percent of population. In the late 1990s Japan boast the world's highest per capita rate of cell phone ownership. About 37 percent of the population has a cell phone in 1999, compared to 25 percent in the United States.
By 2002, 50 percent of the population had a cell phone. Sales reached 50 million a year in 2003 when cell phones with cameras became widely available.


How does this concern fanfic writing?
the cause:
- Ranma 1/2 was completed before the cell phones became widespread.
- Sailor Moon was completed before the cell phones became widespread.

the effect:
- your plot looks more holey in the places where a simple phone call would significantly change it. Mainly, it's the great difference between the todays ability to instantly connect to someone you know the number of vs the much greater disconnectedness of people in the before-cellphone era. When you can talk to someone (or know if they are even alive) only if you meet them or call their home (because phone numbers tie you to homes, not people). Imagine how the Herb story arc would change if both Ranma and Akane had cell phones (well, Ranma could've broken his in the final battle, but still). Imagine how much would having cell phones rearrange the entire plot of R1/2.
- you *have* to borrow the PGSM premise of magical cell phones replacing both communicators and henshin pens if you place your story later than, say, 1996..2000. In other words, the "eternal summer" or "eternal present" both Rumiko Takahashi and Rebecca Heineman are so fond of fails plunging face-first into this trope.

After making this research, I had to draw a line and state explicitly that my fic takes place "in the late 1990-s".
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby mondu_the_fat » Sun May 29, 2011 6:54 am

I rewatched Die Hard (1, 2 and 3) over the last week, and the first thing that crossed my mind is that the situation would be impossible today, given the spread of cellphones. Cellphones existed in the movies, but by Die Hard 3 only the police chief and the tech savvy villains had one. Watching the Street Fighter Zero OAV annoyed me a bit. The events of SFZ occurred early to mid 90's... and yet Ken in the OAV had a laptop with a wireless connection and a compact cellphone (my phone during that time was as big as a shoebox, and certainly things like wifi hadn't existed yet.).

For my fanfic, the characters' viewpoint is the 2000-2001. However, I do not state this in the author's notes, and frankly I don't think any author should. Rather, the time frame should be made apparent in the writing, even if it is a bit obscure. Drop some clues in -- Akane and Ranma conversing about what movies are showing, what bands are hot, which prime minister is in power, that sort of thing. In my fic (azumanga daizero) I used some specific events. Azumanga Daioh occur around 2000, so I tried to incorporate real-life events of that time in the story -- Dairy Queen pulling out of japan, the first Harry Potter being translated to japanese.
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby Ellen Kuhfeld » Sun May 29, 2011 7:31 am

It's a problem, that's for sure -- not as much a problem for the Senshi (who had moon communicators) but definitely for Ranma. I ignore it. I've used telephones where you had to tell the operator what number you wanted; and there were only three digits in the number. Lotsa folks today don't really know what an operator was. But I write with the head I grew up with; and while that head has known computers since 1960, it's never texted. I just don't write situations where immediate communications would solve the problem.

And if it's a period piece, so be it.
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby bneef » Sun May 29, 2011 11:11 am

I think you're making too much of a non-issue. Here's why: there are no official dates in Ranma, and most likely not in Sailor Moon, either (I haven't read too much or seen too much to know for sure.) Fanfiction, regardless of where in the original stories it branches, removes itself from the story time, and finally, they're comic books.

Because there's no official dates, a sliding time scale can be used. The important question is: are cell phones and laptops, or more accurately, their absence essential to the story. I get more annoyed when the stories are set in the 1880's so Kenshin can make an appearance, or in 2100 to be on par with Battle Athletes (which I have read and promptly ignored.) However, if the story is set in the current decade, and the story is sound, I don't have an issue with the technology used. They're props, nothing more, nothing less.

In the creative writing classes I took in college, way back when, the instructors, all of whom were published authors or poets, made the observation that the best stories are the ones where the author has some sort of experience. Obviously, there are exceptions, but I have found that to be true with my own writing, both original and fanfiction. Being a computer professional, I am probably going to add computers and cell phones to my fanfiction. However, I don't and can't focus on them, unless I do a Ghost in the Shell or Patlabor story. Martial arts and magical stories have their own foci, thus technology is a prop.

Finally, by the premise of it being "hokey" having technology not in the original story, causes problems for characters like Superman, Batman, Tarzan, and Mickey Mouse. At best, by the premise of this thread, Superman and Batman should only have access to technologies of the 1930's, the time they were introduced. Tarzan should be limited to World War II technology, from one of his last adventures in the "modern" world, as written by Edgar Rice Burroughs himself. And Mickey Mouse should only have access to turn of the (19th to 20th) century technology.

However, each of these characters, with the exception of Tarzan, are set in a sliding time frame. In comics, the assumption is characters like Superman and Batman have been active and fighting crime for 10 to 15 years. That has been changing, but that is the general rule. Mickey Mouse is a "timeless" character and can be slipped into any age. Tarzan, Jane, and I believe "Boy," were granted immortality and youth in one of the novels. So any licensor can place Tarzan and his family into any time frame after the late 1800's.

Ranma, Sailor Moon, and any of the other manga/comic characters can also be placed on the sliding time, within reason. Obviously, it'll take work to place Kenshin firmly in the 21st century, but it can be done.

Bottom line: if the technological prop is properly introduced, and fits the "rules" of the story's world, it's not a problem. If you absolutely must keep the story in a certain year, 1988-1998, then do so. If well written, the audience won't notice or care. The technology will be relevant to them and serve as an anchor to their notions of the world the story takes place in.
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby Makoto » Sun May 29, 2011 2:08 pm

Could Ranma be counted upon to actually want to use a cell phone, anyway, and not end up with the phone broken in one way or another? :P Would anyone in either family really want to give him a phone? :)

Also, I'd say the financial stability of the Tendo family would be a factor (depending upon the author's view of that)... could they afford a phone plan, even if the phones are available? Would Nabiki be the only one to have one? ...etc. (Even if you consider the "Nabiki manages the household finances" fanon.)

But, yeah, given the vague time frames, you could even say that since it happens in an alternate reality, technological advances aren't necessarily parallel with our reality. :D Heck, Takahashi didn't even seem to want to include motor vehicles most of the time, in the manga. :)
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby Spokavriel » Sun May 29, 2011 2:15 pm

Then again there are cell phone plans that are completely minute card dependent. Nabiki could be selling pictures and the like just to buy phone cards and snacks. The first to be more in touch with her peers the later is her frequently seen habit.
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby mondu_the_fat » Mon May 30, 2011 1:35 am

Makoto wrote:Could Ranma be counted upon to actually want to use a cell phone, anyway, and not end up with the phone broken in one way or another? :P Would anyone in either family really want to give him a phone? :)


Not until phones are advertised like diving/race watches -- shock and water proof.

However, given that phones tech and trends change rapidly, I can't see a company making a "durable, lasts years, you'll never need another phone again!" kind of phone.

If Ranma does get a phone, it will be the cheapest possible, and pre-paid rather than planned.

Also, I'd say the financial stability of the Tendo family would be a factor (depending upon the author's view of that)... could they afford a phone plan, even if the phones are available? Would Nabiki be the only one to have one? ...etc. (Even if you consider the "Nabiki manages the household finances" fanon.)


Depends on when. Today, yes, the sisters definitely, maybe even Ranma. Maybe pre-paid to keep costs down. I can see Ranma making a 500 yen prepaid card lasts months, using it only when necessary, but the sisters would probably go through it like a normal teenage girl would.

Early 90's, no. Phones were unewildy and not really "cool", not to mention prohibitively expensive.

In between years, maybe.
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Re: Cell phones and the year your R/SM crossover takes place in.

Postby three headed dog » Mon May 30, 2011 10:31 pm

For the Ranma plot I don't think a cell phone would have mattered much at all. People do call each other up quite often in the manga (calls to the Cat cafe, Jusenkyo guide, classmates calling each other up to come see what Ranma's doing now, Ryoga's dad calling home, etc.) so they'd likely do so more often. But the series mostly revolves around Ranma and he is not likely to use a cell phone much. Owning a cell phone would not really benefit him anymore than a stationary phone because most of the time when not at home or school he doesn't want to contact people and he wouldn't want people such as the Kunos or Happosai to contact him (and cell phones aren't durable enough to last during a fight or even his average day). Akane outright complains that Ranma doesn't call her on multiple occasions (Saffron Arc, Herb arc, when he moved in with his mom for a bit, etc.).
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