Love Hina Fan Fiction ❯ Great White Hunter: Keitaro ❯ GWH:K End Notes ( EndNotes )

GWH: K Authors Notes

 

I wrote this fanfic because, like most fans of LH, I was unhappy with the choices the original author made for his characters. While Naru has her good points, they're mostly outweighed by her bad ones: namely a short temper, turning to violence before even LISTENING to Keitaro, blaming, and a refusal to change over time despite the clear infatuation Keitaro holds for her. I asked myself: when would Keitaro give up? What would it take? The answer I got was: not until he gets really hurt. Until Keitaro suffers serious injury dealing with Naru, he's not going to change. He's going to keep forgiving her abuse, symbolic or not. The author of LH said in an interview that Shinobu was a better match for him than Naru was, once she grows up. I'm of the opinion that the LH girls represent a particular trend in modern Japanese feminism, that they are archetypes for independent thinking women. Japan's birthrate has dropped dramatically in the last two decades, oftentimes due to complaints of abusive male-dominated society and unreasonable expectations of women to be perfect housewives. They want more than that. They've seen what the Western world offers women and they see little reason to sit still for their own backward society's expectations as demure domestic slaves. “No thank you!” they say. Naru is a typical reactionary woman in this respect, yet she never really changes. Kitsune is an archetype of the “loose woman”, though many fans think she's just hiding her own disappointment at life, and all she's given up for Naru's happiness.

 

I have been accused of character rape for how Keitaro breaks up with Naru, and for his very brief physical relationship with her in the ruins of Molmol. I think I answered those properly in Fallout, the sequel to this story. My position on Keitaro's change in behavior is that his near death experience causes him to re-evaluate his life, his history with other people, and his relationships. He's fed up with her abuse, and after nearly dying he realizes that Naru is a destructive person and he's enabling her abuse. He steps back from her and instead starts to notice the other girls who have been waiting in the wings all this time. They know him, after all. And they know that he's intrinsically kind and supportive. As all the girls are one type of feminist or another, even Shinobu defies her parents and lives apart from them during their divorce, being around a kind man has helped shape them into the women they become. I was deeply impressed with how much Motoko changes in the course of the manga, considerably moreso than depicted in the anime. Compare her development as a woman with Naru… well, Naru looks more and more pathetic. Naru is not evil so much as stuck reliving the same stupid patterns. She gets left behind. Based on this I can see her turning into a wreck once the support of Keitaro is withdrawn from her life. And since she's destructive she's likely to burn bridges with the other girls as well. She'd be lucky not to. Could Keitaro have stayed with Naru and been happy? Not unless he's a masochist, which is the canon ending of the manga, an ending most fans found appalling. Could Naru have changed? The canon of the story shows she's just not capable. She changes more in the anime than she does in the manga, but mostly she just chooses to run from her feelings and act selfishly much of the time. Those of us who have known people like her tend to distance ourselves over time or end up drawn into their destructive personal lives filled with divorces, lawsuits, child support payments, and drug addiction. Naru was offered many chances for redemption and refused every single time. The real choice for a fanfic author is: when does Keitaro dump Naru and who does he choose instead?

 

I did consider having Keitaro travel around more of the world, taking a different girl with him to each site, and getting injured by Crocodile, hippo, jaguar, and shark prior to settling down with the Molmol find. I realized it would be too episodic and cut short the hunting to two events. That was enough to learn from and it got the point across.

 

Why did I choose the unexpected character for the Promise Girl (PG)? Well, Naru was too young, Mutsumi denied being the PG, an OC was boring, and Kitsune was the right age, has the same hair and eyes as the PG (note in the opening credits of the anime), and has known Naru for years. Why shouldn't she be the PG? As she's proven to be someone who sacrifices her own happiness for her friends (Seta and then Keitaro for Naru, plus various other boys prior to Seta), while she plays tough and aloof it comes across as an act when the chips are down. This smacks of self deception and denial, which makes her a great tragic figure. As Haruka is old enough to remember for herself, revealing the PG by simply asking was much more believable. I'm very happy with how I wrote that part, and with how I wrote Kitsune's response. Would Kitsune stop drinking and gambling if she had someone to love? Well, that's how I wrote it anyway.

 

I do intend to finish Fallout eventually. It's hard to focus on it as well as deal with other issues in real life, like my recent marriage, my education, and my health. I hope everyone liked my story. I'm very encouraged that it shows 9000+ visits at the time of this note. Of course, some spammy work by other authors get more visits but at least I'm getting compliments, which is encouraging. This has been a fun exercise. Writing fan fiction is not my main interest in fiction, as I have real (original fiction) novels too. Fan fiction lets me improve my characterization, which has always been a flaw in my prior work. Eventually I will return to writing original fiction properly, with better characters developed thanks to this exercise. Thank you for taking the time to read my work and I hope it helps you with your own inspiration.

 

 

- Terdwilicker -