There is a growing rate of Samurai Troopers and Ronin Warriors fanfiction appearing on the Internet. Yet there are also a lot of overused concepts that sometimes the author does not realize until they see the same idea used in other writer�s stories. I know it�s hard to come up with an original concept so here are some tips that I hope will help you out. I am not the greatest YST fanfic author out there, hell I think my stories suck personally, but I try my best to help out fellow authors when asked.

1) Keep the characters in character. Some English YST fanfiction display the Samurai Troopers with Ronin Warriors personalities. It is not impossible to research the YST casts� personalities. While RW is considered to be one of the more �better� dubs there *are* some major differences between the original and dub characters. Fanfiction personalities are not the true personalities of the characters. Here are just a few of the facts that are often mistaken as official information:

It is rather hard to write Ronin Warriors fanfiction when it comes to the characters� backgrounds. In truth there is no �official� information pertaining the dub. Mangazine #41, a magazine that talks about anime, manga, and sentai gives you information on RW and the characters featured in the dub. That and the back of the RW action figures are the only real deals in regards to RW information. Some people may say �just use YST background information.� The only reason I�m against this idea is because as I said earlier, YST and RW have many differences when it comes to character personalities and backgrounds. The characters from the original and dub have their set natures so I would find it hard to believe that Rowen could even come from Osaka when he has a Brooklyn accent. Or how Sage could grow up in a traditional, respectable household when in lots of English fanfiction he enjoys chatting up girls.

Overall keep everyone in character in reference to either YST or RW. Unless it�s a parody or a plot where it�s necessary to change their personality, don�t change the character by giving them unexplained attitude adjustments.

2) Write what you know. I made the mistake of writing my second fanfic (Another Story�the Chibi Troopers series) without having watched the YST TV series or OAVs. I�ve read what little information that was available on YST and worked with that. If I could start it all over, I would certainly liked to have gotten the original series first followed by reading the episode summaries, character guides (both official and doujinshi) and so forth. It�d take a while but the efforts would be worth it once you are able to write the characters IN CHARACTER. The Ronin Warriors speak English (even though in the 2nd episode, the location of Toyama [Shinjuku in the original] is shown to be in Japan) and not Japanese.

3) If you wish to create a new character, try to come up with something that nobody has come up with. More than half of Ronin Warriors fanfiction consists of �Mary Sue� stories where the new characters are [mostly] female. They are exchange students from another country, most likely the United States. They show up in the Ronins class, befriend them, and is later revealed to be Ronin Warriors who have their own set of armors and weapons. If anything you�ll receive more praise for creating a good, solid character.

4) There is a reason you may entitle your story �Samurai Troopers or Ronin Warriors: (insert title here).� You�re implying that you are going to offer the reader a look into your story featuring Samurai Troopers/Ronin Warriors. Yet you can read the entire story and see that it�s focused on original characters with only YST or RW terms mentioned here and there. There are a few fics where the author has pulled this off but when I mean a few, I mean a FEW. If you�re going to write a fanfic without mentioning the YST/RW cast at all, well, it�s not a fanfic anymore is it? It�s more like an original story. Get what I�m saying here?

5) If you�re going to state the copyrights (you really should, considering you�re using characters and concepts that don�t belong to you) then please state the correct people or companies. I�ve seen some fanfiction and even websites that credit YST and/or Ronin Warriors to �Sunset� Animation. It is SUNRISE Animation, along with Nagoya TV, Sony Music Entertainment, and CBS (The last two mentioned have released the TV episodes and OAVs on VHS/LD). If you can�t remember all of these names, then the important one to remember is Sunrise because they are the creators behind our beloved Samurai Troopers.

For Ronin Warriors, the North American dub, the rights belong to Sunrise, Graz Entertainment, and Ocean Studios. Graz and Ocean have nothing to do with the original creation behind YST, just having bought the rights to YST and doing whatever they want with it.

Remember this is just *my* advice on fanfiction. You can take it or leave it. This is just something that personally I would handle and deal with.