What are you reading?

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384156/5/Why-Me

Why Me updated. I don't have much to say, it was a setup chapter. Nothing terribly interesting happens, but it isn't boring. It felt like it punted on all the questions I had, so I'll be waiting another month for answers. Sigh.

[Brian]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9637797/1/Control

A Haruhi dark/tragedy fic.  Something that looks at Haruhi discovering her powers and....

...you'll see.

[Grahf]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9637797/1/Control

A Haruhi dark/tragedy fic.  Something that looks at Haruhi discovering her powers and....

...you'll see.

Spoiler: ShowHide

This story actually reminded me of a more extreme version of what happened near the end of The Death of Haruhi Suzumiya. This, as the author said though, was probably the most extreme extrapolation of what could have happened with a self-aware Haruhi.

[sarsaparilla]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9637797/1/Control

A Haruhi dark/tragedy fic.  Something that looks at Haruhi discovering her powers

I was left unimpressed.

Spoiler: ShowHide

The author is insufficiently rigorous with both establishing the setting and exploring the consequences.

The true tragedy of power is not in a horrible person getting hold of power far beyond her wildest dreams -- while that would arguably be a tragedy as well, it is not an inherently personal one -- but in a decent person getting corrupted by that power, with good intentions turning into nightmarish travesties of their original form. There isn't any change visible in the story; the author just throws together an early series Haruhi and power awareness without bothering to study either how that combination came into being or how it changed Haruhi. Judging by the source material, the author didn't even consider the power changing anything in Haruhi's personality, thus making her a static character.

Throwing in Judeo-Christian mythology didn't really help the issue. For a while I thought that the author was heading for gnosticism, but in the end it didn't seem to be the destination after all -- at least as far as I can see, though implied gnosticism would certainly affect the interpretation of the resolution.

The resolution seems to go directly against the established rules of Haruhiverse, without any visible justification unless there is that implied gnosticism angle I mentioned. Rewinding time is one of the most salient feats that can be accomplished through the power; thus, Kyon's claim that Haruhi won't be able to resurrect him doesn't make any sense. She doesn't have to resurrect him in the first place when she can just force time back to a moment before the jump.

These points considered, I feel that the story is essentially a textbook example of angst for angst's sake. If there was an exploration of some non-trivial aspect of the series, I failed to notice it.

[Brian]

I was left unimpressed.

Spoiler: ShowHide

These points considered, I feel that the story is essentially a textbook example of angst for angst's sake. If there was an exploration of some non-trivial aspect of the series, I failed to notice it.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I disagree, but mostly only because I've seen significantly more blatant and less technically well written attempts at the exact same thing ... which also pay less respect to the universe's rules at large.  It asks a few simple questions, though.  How Haruhi came to be the way she was isn't particularly salient for the purposes of this story, either.  It's about how much Kyon can handle, and how he would finally face a threat he's otherwise powerless against.

It reminded me of a Greek hero doomed to fail because he's just a mortal opposing a god.

While the story doesn't hold to the original canon (in multiple ways), it's internally consistent.  I could also see Haruhi just preventing the final outcome, but I don't think that was the point.

The point was more that if Haruhi were an all-powerful and self-aware entity who treated people like toys, what does it take to reach her?

But there's another reading to it, too: The story could also have a subtext in that on some level, Haruhi wasn't willing to tamper with Kyon directly, instead of being incapable.  Therefore, everything else is Haruhi's basic stubborn insistence on finding and sharing something amazing ... no matter the cost.  And how far does she go?  She's all-powerful, but isn't wiling to just change Kyon, so she instead plays 'games' and tries to get him interested, but it works worse and worse every time.  She removes obstacles between her and Kyon and loses sight of what her original purpose was anyway, and at the very end, she realizes what she's done ... too late.

Which I guess is the more classic take on the tragedy.  I dunno -- I read it both of those ways initially.

[Ergoemos]

I was left unimpressed.

Spoiler: ShowHide

These points considered, I feel that the story is essentially a textbook example of angst for angst's sake. If there was an exploration of some non-trivial aspect of the series, I failed to notice it.

Spoiler: ShowHide

I disagree, but mostly only because I've seen significantly more blatant and less technically well written attempts at the exact same thing ... which also pay less respect to the universe's rules at large.  It asks a few simple questions, though.  How Haruhi came to be the way she was isn't particularly salient for the purposes of this story, either.  It's about how much Kyon can handle, and how he would finally face a threat he's otherwise powerless against.

It reminded me of a Greek hero doomed to fail because he's just a mortal opposing a god.

While the story doesn't hold to the original canon (in multiple ways), it's internally consistent.  I could also see Haruhi just preventing the final outcome, but I don't think that was the point.

The point was more that if Haruhi were an all-powerful and self-aware entity who treated people like toys, what does it take to reach her?

But there's another reading to it, too: The story could also have a subtext in that on some level, Haruhi wasn't willing to tamper with Kyon directly, instead of being incapable.  Therefore, everything else is Haruhi's basic stubborn insistence on finding and sharing something amazing ... no matter the cost.  And how far does she go?  She's all-powerful, but isn't wiling to just change Kyon, so she instead plays 'games' and tries to get him interested, but it works worse and worse every time.  She removes obstacles between her and Kyon and loses sight of what her original purpose was anyway, and at the very end, she realizes what she's done ... too late.

Which I guess is the more classic take on the tragedy.  I dunno -- I read it both of those ways initially.

I'd like to put in a third perspective, though both of you had great points.

Spoiler: ShowHide

 I read the story as a deconstruction of the common concept of "Haruhi is God, and finds out about it." A lot of writers seem to accept Koizumi's version of events, and that Haruhi is a benevolent, if selfish deity. This one asks the question, "What if Haruhi was a selfish and malevolent god, a la Old Testament?"

There is all sorts of references to the bible easily grasped at in the story, from Nagato representing a sort of "Tree of Knowledge/Lilith" stand in, Mikuru as a warning against "false Idols" and Koizumi as the ever faithful "Job" to his deity. Finally, you come to Kyon, who is either Jonah, or Noah, depending on the perspective.

From Haruhi's perspective, he is Jonah, the unfaithful, or untrusting Disciple, who needs to be punished into following Her commandments.

From Kyon's he is Noah, standing on the deck of his boat, as he watches in despair as his 'God' recreate the world every night. "I didn't get it right this time Kyon, but next time I totally have the best idea! What if Asahina was actually kidnapped, and we had to rescue her from ninjas?! Nevermind, I'm already doing it. Last time, I promise!"

I doubt the author had quite intended a complicated deconstruction, but its rare when the relative brutality of the Old Testimony is hinted at. It's not the most brilliantly laid out story (The timeline is a little shaky, and Koizumi seems a little underused), but I liked it overall.

[Arakawa]

@Ergoemos

From what I remember, Jonah is not the best example to use for referring to Old Testament brutality of God. The second half of that book has Jonah being indignant that God has accepted Nineveh's repentance and is not making with the fire and brimstone. So, it's ultimately a case where the prophet is a lot more brutal in his outlook than God is inclined to be....

If you want to read about God being very brutal, I suggest Ezekiel.



@ more generally

As for mentions of Gnosticism, I've always thought you could shoehorn the first few Haruhi novels into a sort of anti-Gnostic fairytale. (Gnosticism is kind of hard to pin down as to what the key beliefs are, but it seems to revolve around the notion that physical reality, moral law, material existence, personal identity &c is just a huge con perpetrated by Old Testament God (recast as a clueless Demiurge), and the proper way to deal with reality is not to play the game, but to try to escape to some incomprehensible higher realm through magic rituals and incantations, which are guarded by an 'enlightened' elite which is considered infinitely more spiritual than the nonspiritual sheeple.

In that sense, Haruhi at the start of novel one could be like the 'enlightened' Gnostic who tries to escape / abolish reality, but Kyon convinces her not to / that the game is worth playing after all.)

I think this makes sense just on a tenuous level of Haruhi books repeatedly expressing the attitude that you should take reality as it is instead of trying to invent something better, whereas Gnosticism goes completely in the opposite direction....

[Ergoemos]

@Ergoemos

From what I remember, Jonah is not the best example to use for referring to Old Testament brutality of God. The second half of that book has Jonah being indignant that God has accepted Nineveh's repentance and is not making with the fire and brimstone. So, it's ultimately a case where the prophet is a lot more brutal in his outlook than God is inclined to be....

If you want to read about God being very brutal, I suggest Ezekiel.

You are absolutely right. I figured Haruhi would pick a kinder representation of Herself as a comparison to the Bible. Jonah/kyon eventually repented and all was forgiven for everyone, and probably how Haruhi would have wanted it.

You are very right about Ezekiel, however.

[Merc]

For Ko: Dungeon Keeper Ami thread from AA updated.

[Jason_Miao]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5713019/1/Dr-Strangelove

An Eva fic which, despite the title, has more to do with Groundhog day than its namesake.

And although I usually don't comment on how much I liked a fic until someone else has had a chance to read it, I'll make an exception here.  This isn't the greatest fic ever, and it's not the worst.    The first quarter is an Eva version of Innortal's Loops and the rest is Sarah1281's It's For a Good Cause, I Swear.  Still, while "Dr. Strangelove" does both, I think it doesn't pull it off quite as well as either of those two.

That said, I'm still mentioning this fic has because the writer has figured out something that 98% of writers of "time-loopers wanna fix everything" fics seem to miss: one still has to write the main character is getting a changed characterization and new abilities.   It made me curious enough to want to try reading another fic of the writer's to see if that worked better for me, but alas, all of the other stories are HP fics.   Since I haven't finished the first novel, I would be unlikely to know what's going on in any of those fics anyway.


* Also, I'm not sure this post quite conveys what I wanted, but I'm presently too tired to really judge that.  So I might edit this later.

[Yuthirin]

Rorschach's Blot is hit or miss. While the fanfic is indeed fun, it's not all it could be. A lot of his fics feel that way to me.

[Brian]

I'm honestly unclear which of these fics is worse:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9426618/1/Haruhi-Suzumia-In-the-USA

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9483712/1/The-Future-of-Haruhi-Suzumiya

But they're both awful, and have induced a certain self-destructive bile-fascination.

[Arakawa]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9426618/1/Haruhi-Suzumia-In-the-USA

*clicks*

1. Prolouge

Hey everyone! This is my first anime story, so please let me know how I'm doing.

*closes tab*

a.k.a 'how to make someone ignore your story'

[Yuthirin]

"Prolouge" sounds like something that's done in the Olympics.

[Arakawa]

"Prolouge" sounds like something that's done in the Olympics.

I can't imagine what that would consist of. The only mental image that comes to mind is gymnasts bending their spines in the wrong direction.