EPISODE 0: THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY: ver. 6.1
ALTERATIONS:
Some reformatting of paragraphs on prior parts. Added Chapter Links.
CHAPTER LINKS:
Ep 01: Trouble Begins... a Visit from Overseas.
(MB title 01: "There is Love, He's Handsome: But I Can't Forgive Them")
Ep 02: Start of a Rivalry? Urawa’s Return.
(MB title 02: "Side Effects of a Kiss: He Doesn't Understand My Feelings")
Ep 03: Close Encounters! What Will People Think?
(MB title 03: "Two Kisses: Yuu Had a Girlfriend")
Ep 04: Secrets of the Past. The Tale is Told.
(MB title 04: "Ginta's Confession: I Won't Let You Have Her")
Ep 05: Confrontations. Can a Medallion Help?
(MB title 05: "Legendary Girlfriend: Making a Wish on a Medallion")
Ep 06: Dilemma with a Chess Mate. I Can’t Talk to You Now!
(MB title 06: "Love Game: I Really Hate Ginta")
Ep 07: Tower Tour Trouble. Complications Continue.
(MB title 07: "Love in Hokkaido: What's Going On With That Couple")
Ep 08: Mixed Emotions. What’s With Those Two?
(MB title 08: "Fragrance of an Adult: I'm Not Jealous")
Ep 09: Video Vendetta. The Game is Afoot!
(MB title 09: "Part Time Job: The War of Love Depends on Sales")
Ep 10: Just the Two of Us. An Unsettling Discovery!
(MB title 10: "Our First Night: Surprise in the Bathroom")
Ep 11: Celebration! The Significance of His Presence.
(MB title 11: "Birthday: Yuu Is Watching Me!")
Ep 12: Decision Time? Hoping for the Perfect Match.
(MB title 12: "Smash: I Love Both Yuu and Ginta")
Ep 13: In Search of a Solution – Urawa, Take Minako!
(MB title 13: "Love and Friendship: Ginta, Please Date Arimi!")
Ep 14: Qualification of Love – Things Aren’t Going as Planned.
(MB title 14: "Qualification of Love: You Don't Deserve Yuu")
Ep 15: Impact of a Confession – How Long Will This Happiness Last?
(MB title *18*: "The Direction of Yuu's Love: Things Aren't Going As Planned")
MarmMerc Postlude: The Spoilers Behind The Story
THE SAGA, TIMELINES:
Dec 1996: Episode 1
Jan-Mar 1997: Reworked Episode 1 and completed Episode 2
Apr 1997: After receiving positive feedback, wrote Episodes 3 & 4
May 1997: Episodes 5 & 6, story posted to webpage (vs NCF)
Jun-Aug 1997: Break; troubles working in the class trip
: Wrote "A Stitch in Time"
Sep 1997: Episode 7 in time for Ami's birthday
Oct 1997: Episode 8
Dec 1997: Episode 9; one year anniversary
Jan-Aug 1998: Break; out of MB synopses to reference!
: Wrote "What Evil Lurks"
Sep 1998: Thanks to continued support, wrote Episode 10
: Again sent out in time for Ami's birthday
Oct-Nov 1998: Webpage troubles and some work on another story
Dec 1998: Episode 11 out in time for XMas; have synopses to 20!
Aug 1999: Episode 12; now over 2.5 years in
Jul 2000: Episode 13 completed, unreleased
2002: The live action "Maramalde Boy" series
2004: English dub of "Marmalade Boy" released by TokyoPop
May 2017: “Marmalade Boy” relicensed by Discotek Media
Aug 2017: Episodes 14 & 15 to complete the series
: Yes, that’s a 17 year gap. See Postlude for explanations.
THE IDEA:
Back in late 1996, me, Curtis and Scott were watching the entire Marmalade Boy anime over the span of a couple months. Given my known obsession with the lovely Mizuno Ami, they told me I should write a fanfic called Marmalade Mercury, as a Marmalade Boy/Sailor Moon crossover featuring Ami. Though probably said somewhat in jest, the idea did have a certain amount of appeal… and thus I wrote an episode in my spare time in Dec 1996. (Ha! Dare me, will you? ;) ) Prior to that, the only multi-part fanfic I’d managed was “Dark Slide of the Moon”, a Sailor Moon/Sliders Crossover.
THE EXPLANATION:
This story isn’t really a Crossover - it’s a fusion. A Sailor Moon (SM) story that contains Marmalade Boy (MB) style plot points… no MB characters appear. Romantic hijinks ensue. If you don't want to be spoiled on some early MB plots, you may wish to skip the story and/or not continue reading on; alternatively, if you’ve never HEARD of MB, here’s a fun introduction. Some things had to change as I fit events into the SM Universe (the parents in particular), but I tried to remain as true to the MB series as possible.
I’ll explain some of my character rationalizations below, lest people start reading and immediately complain, “But THAT’S not accurate…". I have tried to avoid any major spoilers (for my story), but if you really want to go in blind, feel free to only read the rest of this document after checking out the actual MarmMerc episodes. Just don’t gripe about continuity. (Note: There is now a Postlude document for the end, explaining things WITH spoilers.)
THE STORY TIMELINE:
As to creating the crossover, some parallels were obvious… Miki to Ami indicated an Usagi to Meiko parallel. (Best friends.) This casts Mamoru as Na-chan; but if you then situate the story before the Dark Moon saga of the anime’s R series, it makes a scary sort of sense, recalling their relationship. (Plus any earlier and they weren't going out.) So that's where I've situated it. After the Makaiju (Ail/Ann) arc, and about a month before Chibi-Usa shows up. (Meaning yes, there was over a month with no Senshi battles, work with me here.)
SM/MB STORY DIFFERENCES:
Of course, I fiddled with some MB plot points too, to make the story fit. Ami's parents are already divorced, so a partner switch isn't as feasible… all of them living in the same house becomes more unlikely… and a single remarriage I decided would complicate matters too much. It all seemed out of place for the SM world anyway, and I was never too sure about the Miki/Yuu family relations. So those parent hijinks are out. But Ami DOES live in a house now, not an apartment, and I bend other elements of character history (notably for Minako) to fit the plot. Hopefully it’s not bent to the breaking point.
It should also be noted that, in both cases, my portrayal of the Japanese school system ranges from “suspect” to “inaccurate”. My understanding of Japanese naming conventions is somewhat better, but in this story, they’re not that accurate either. If you see a simple way of dealing with such issues in edits, I’m listening, but I didn’t want to completely revamp story elements that were (by now) old enough to get their own driver’s licence.
THE FEMALE CHARACTER FUSION:
From the basis above (Miki to Ami, Meiko to Usagi), I figured it was pretty much a case of making the other Senshi friends on the sides, filling in for Usagi at times. However, I quickly ran into a bit of a snag with Arimi, a major MB character. I was trying to use established lore if at all possible, and had trouble deciding on an acceptable minor Arimi-type SM character who'd been seen in the show. (Naru just didn’t fit.) At the end of episode two and beyond you'll see what I did with that, and I do hope it works. Free free to let me know.
THE MALE CHARACTER FUSION:
Obviously Ryo Urawa (from first season) should figure in. Another male character was then needed to also be in love with Ami… and so I chose to invent the character "Greg Anderson", selected due to Urawa's North American dub name, in combo with a not-exactly-canon last name for the NA-dubbed Amy. (grins) Yes, my name is also Greg, and I do have some things in common with the character in the story… but I wouldn’t call this an intentional self-insert. (Hey, the last names are different. :) ) After that, and having already decided on Mamoru as Namura, the only other obvious parallel I could come up with was Umino for the "Lunchtime News" guy (Furutachi). ^_- This left the main characters Miwa and Tsutomu…
THE NEW CHARACTERS:
I needed people to correspond to Miwa, Tsutomu, and Ryoko (the sensei who liked Namura) - and no characters from Sailor Moon seemed to fit the bill. So I went to an online Japanese<->English dictionary (in 1997, mind!) and fiddled around, coming up with the characters Kaijin [mysterious person], Sewaya [from sewayaki: meddlesome person] and Kato [tame rabbit]. If you're wondering just what the heck I was thinking when I came out with new names, there you go. (As it turns out, Kato is apparently the name of some other anime character, a not-tame male, but oh well.) They’re roughly on par with their MB counterparts, but being original characters, I felt I had free reign to bend their histories even more than the established ones.
CHARACTER LIST: Moved to the Postlude.
(No Suzu or Anju. If I’d gone that far, it’d be shocking. ;) )
THE FUTURE: Thanks to everyone who gave feedback (mostly within the National Capital Freenet’s “Sailor Moon” discussion forum). It was largely positive. I’m certainly still open to constructive criticism now that the fanfic’s complete. Recognize that, with the plot being “recycled”, it’s the integration and characterization that were my primary focus… though the plot itself wasn’t always that easy to follow, episode-by-episode!
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
- Scott Delahunt. For comments, for helping me realize Usagi couldn't do all Meiko's work by herself, for tips, and for general inspiration in the home stretch of 2017.
- Margaret Brown-Bury for the idea of Greg's part-time job.
- Craig Erickson for offering assistance and brainstorming.
- Andrea Doolan for Marmalade Boy synopses, as well as Margaret Brown-Bury.
- drdata, for providing Karen Duffy's synopses that were of some use.
- Brad Lascelle, for letting me borrow Marmalade Boy episodes 9-20 in the late 90s so that I could remember where I was going.
- Everyone who has e-mailed me concerning the story and everyone who has enjoyed it thus far. (A surprising number! :) That I no longer remember!)
With no further delay, I present to you (in the next post in two weeks) a Sailor Moon/Marmalade Boy fusion: Marmalade Mercury.
