From: sailorterra@gov.crystaltokyo.jp   
      
   On 2009-01-05 01:23:28 +0900, The Wanderer  said:   
      
   > (Not the relative obscurity of Usenet, or that that would have an effect   
   > on the degree of life in a.f.s-m - both of those are known and   
   > acknowledged if not accepted facts. What I find dubious is the claim   
   > that SM still gets significant attention, online or much of anywhere   
   > else.)   
      
   This has certainly not been my experience, especially after I started   
   watching the PGSM series. Even a trip to Nakano Broadway Mandarake   
   shows several cases nicely put up Sailor Moon merchandise and all the   
   shops in Ikubekuro had seifuku on display. Obviously if people weren't   
   purchasing these items...   
      
   Maybe it's because I am in Japan and fandom is still strong here and so   
   I am seeing fandom through biased eyes, but it certainly felt to me   
   speaking to others online recently, and as many references that   
   continue to pop up that the idea of Sailor Moon not being part of a   
   general consciousness does not seem to reflect my reality.   
      
   > This is precisely the root of the problem, if problem it can be called.   
   > You don't get active, vibrant online discussion of e.g. Dirty Pair (to   
   > pick one random and possibly poor example) anymore either, despite that   
   > having the reputation of having been one of the big-name popular series   
   > back in the day; SM has fallen into the same kind of "it was good, but   
   > it's over with" obscurity in the eyes of the general populace.   
      
   There was a general populace? I thought we were always a sub-sub-sub   
   group to begin with...   
      
   Dirty Pair never seemed to be that popular even when I was around   
   fandom in the nineties.   
      
   You want to talk a series that never got its due? Kimagure Orange Road.   
   I think there are like four of us on the entire planet sometimes (that   
   is my number one series, not Sailor Moon... Sailor Moon isn't even   
   actually on my own top ten).   
      
   Seems that if I am still interested in a series that isn't on my top   
   ten to spend precious days in Tokyo going to SM sites, then I must   
   really care.   
      
   > I concur with Mark: it's stagnation, lack of new developments, lack of   
   > immediacy and urgency. Nothing is happening with respect to the series,   
   > and nothing has been for quite some time, and there's no reason to   
   > expect that anything will happen anytime soon; for the most part,   
   > interest has come and gone like that in any fad.   
      
   Huh. Guess I never really knew the age demographic. Lots of kids and   
   teens, you think? People who just grew out of it?   
      
   > I don't necessarily feel that way myself - I like SM, and you'll note   
   > that I was still around enough to notice the question and post in   
   > response - but that is almost certainly the way the world sees it, and   
   > unless something changes in terms either of what material exists (as   
   > happened with PGSM) or what is available (e.g. a sudden new TV   
   > broadcast, preferably with a *new* dub), that is unlikely to change.   
      
   Indeed you were. And I am kinda hoping to keep the discussion going   
   long enough for other lurkers to catch us.   
      
   There has been a lot of Sailor Moon fanfiction being posted on the FFML   
   recently. Would anyone be interested in me posting links? Also the   
   first chapter of my SM prequel is being edited for distribution. It has   
   already received commentary on the FFML.   
      
   LeVar Bouyer also said he would be interested in posting more BSSO   
   here, but only if there was anyone around to read it.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)