As you may know, the Manila International Book Fair will commence next month. Those who frequent Wattpad may also know that there will be yet another meetup there (and Mikki will be covering that one while we’re doing the Best of Anime 2014).
Speaking of Wattpad, I just visited the site and looked at some of the synopses for some of the titles posted on the new-generation fanfiction website.
Meet Kaycee. Isang college student na nangangailangan ng part-time job. Pinatulan niya ang pagiging maid, di niya alam, ang pagsisilbihan niya ay si Blake Cuenca. Ang vocalist ng The Boys at isa sa kinaiinisan niya sa Campus. Boom! End of the world. (I’m the Young Master’s Maid?!)
I’m the Young Master’s Maid?!
Nagsimula ang kwento nila sa isang maling “TAG” sa isang status sa Facebook.
Pero sino ang mag-aakala? Na ang isang anti-social, walang tiwala sa sarili at baliw na babae na si Felicity “Sitti” Sandoval ay magiging TAG at TRUE GIRLFRIEND ng pinaka sikat na lalaki sa Eastton University na si Kaizer Buenavista?
Sinong mag-aakala na yung pagpapanggap nila ay mauuwi pala sa totohanan? Ngayon, sa pagsisimula ng panibagong kwento ng love story nila, magawa kayang malagpasan ni Sitti ang mga consequences na darating sa buhay nya bilang girlfriend ng sikat na si Kaizer Buenavista?
At magawa kayang higitan ni Sitti ang isang babaeng galing sa nakaraan ni Kaizer na si Mia?
Our Tag Relationship
Paano kung makasabay mo sa may kanto ang isang taong ayaw mo namang makasabay? Anong gagawin mo? o shall I say… May magagawa ka pa ba?
Sa may kanto…
Notice that I’ve posted just three synopses from among hundreds of novels, short stories, and probably essays that are written on Wattpad. Also notice the bias that I’ve aligned by posting these three synopses — all of them either have school and / or romance genres. Yes, people of all ages who are on Wattpad — unlike comrade Mikki (who really has a grasp of the Wattpad culture in the Philippines), I tend to summarize the majority of the Philippine Wattpad community as Precious Hearts Romances redux, only bigger.
As much as I’d like to comment on that, that is not what I should point out here. I’m here with an idea of translating Anime series to Wattpad novels. Here’s five (among many) titles that can be disguised as Wattpad novels and / or short stories. I will give brief descriptions of each series and you observe closely the semblances between this and some of the novels that you have read.
- Ouran High School Host Club — I haven’t watched this series but I’ll try to summarize this in a few sentences: Haruhi Fujioka is a scholar at a classy school. She stumbled upon a room and broke a very expensive vase. She was told to pay the damages — by serving as a host, entertaining girls in the academy. (As you have read this, I think I have just failed to relay to you what the story actually meant, so I give up; check Wikipedia for more)
- Maid-sama! — The student council president (who happens to hate men) is an employee at a maid cafe.
- Special A (Class) — Girl and Boy are rivals since childhood; and their rivalry continues up until in high school. Girl and Boy are among the top seven students who are listed under the Special A Class, with each having their own quirks. Eventually, Girl falls in love with Boy and follows him to Europe.
- One Week Friends — Guy likes to be friends with girl, only to find out that girl forgets her ‘friends’ after a week. Guy tries to shove his memory to the girl so she won’t forget him.
- Blue Spring Ride — Girl meets boy in a shrine when they were in middle school. Girl falls in love with guy until guy saw her saying that she ‘hates men.’ Guy lost the crap over her and stops approaching her. They met again in high school, and girl tries to woo guy again, only to be teased by the guy.
As I was typing this post on a whim, you may notice that I have indirectly insulted loyal Wattpad users in some way or another, but the concept of translating Anime series to Wattpad novels in disguise, I think, is a good idea.
Pulling jokes aside, I think Anime (specifically shoujo series) has inspired Wattpad tenfold. What I always remember about the Wattpad community is the output that has been published from it — including Enjelia’s Manga-like illustrations for the covers, the sorta-Japanese and / or sorta-British names that appear on some of the stories, and the fangirls who are shipping their favorite loveteam (which includes Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla, etc.).