What are you reading?

[Arakawa]

I'm pretty sure Time Braid wins; those guys have had a lot of time to cultivate extracanonical skillsets. But Time Braid beats most things power-wise.

Yeah, there's really not much contest. Time Braid just gradually builds up their power levels over decades/centuries until they're all just way beyond what anybody in canon is ever capable of, while World's Greatest Chunin Exam Team has them pegged at late-canon power levels.

Ah, but you see, that is not the real contest. Ultimately it's not about winning, it's about looking the most like chunin material before the judges.

:3

[Empyrean]

Ah, but you see, that is not the real contest. Ultimately it's not about winning, it's about looking the most like chunin material before the judges.

:3

I'd still hand that one to Time Braid. They've been through the Chunin Exams many times over, and are very experienced in showing others the sort of performance they want to see. A big part of the comedy in World's Greatest Chunin Exam Team is how bad these powerful characters are at acting like Chunin.

[Arakawa]

Ah, but you see, that is not the real contest. Ultimately it's not about winning, it's about looking the most like chunin material before the judges.

:3

I'd still hand that one to Time Braid. They've been through the Chunin Exams many times over, and are very experienced in showing others the sort of performance they want to see. A big part of the comedy in World's Greatest Chunin Exam Team is how bad these powerful characters are at acting like Chunin.

True enough.

But watch Tsunade hand the promotion to the Greatest Team anyways and ignore the Time Braid genin because

Spoiler: ShowHide

the Time Braid genin didn't nearly destroy her arena.

:33



Also, I'm not sure why I find this guy's writing so hilarious, but I do:

• kyon and haruhi go on a date and get lost in a haunted froset and a strange creature seems to be after them.
• http://www.fanfiction.net/u/4714674/23xo97

It has a bit of that legendary 'Eye of Argon' sort of vibe to it, what with how off the grammar, the spelling, and the.... everything is. Would be ECB worthy in my books if it weren't largely hilarious and inoffensive.

[Jason_Miao]

Boy:
Yes, but Sakura shows no ambition, talent, or anything else really. 

He does have something. 

Spoiler: ShowHide

The writer works with the MPD aspect pretty hard.

It's not an earth-shattering something, but that's the point of the fic.

He reads like someone who should've been dropped out, rather than at least a try-hard dead last.  The entire setup comes off pretty weakly normally, but at least if you are doing it with a try-hard, it gives the notion that they bring something to the table that the elite may be lacking, a different perspective on life or whatnot.  Having demotivated non-conscripted army kid just comes off as a weird protagonist.

It's pretty odd for something based on a shonen series, and in a sense, almost the opposite of the usual shonen story.  Instead of the hero who is faced with high odds and works through them using persistence to reach his goal, it's a normal person who is given high expectations and told to either live up to them or shatter. 

The issue with using a try-hard character is that the character is still "Naruto", not "Sakura".   Nothing wrong with that per se, but it defeats the purpose of switching the main character.   Also, if the writer went for try hard+low power+modest goals, the writer would probably end up with something like Hurricane Suite which features a Naruto Shaped Entity.

[alethiophile]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7021752/28/And-What-Alice-Found-There

Continues to update, though sort of moves slow.

Might be more fun in 5 chapter chunks.

Just finished binging this, and it is very neat. Thanks for the pointer.

[Brian]

This fic is terrible:

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9759088/1/You-Never-Realized

But someone decided to mention me and a fic I wrote in (evidently) a number of reviews.  I tried to be supportive, since the author is complaining about being trolled.

Not sure how well I did. :x

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7657235/26/Path-of-the-King

Path of the King updated. Strong chapter, I liked basically all of it.

[spoiler]Archer mode, Satsuki saving the day, Shirou's snake fighting style getting screen time and a whole bunch of good reflection made this a hell of a chapter.

[alethiophile]

I was and remain skeptical about the effect on the overall story pace of dumping a whole Tsukihime arc in before actually getting to the War, but it seems that the quality of said Tsukihime arc remains excellent. (And I vaguely recall first finding the guy n chapters ago, and thinking his prose was kind of rough. He's improved immensely there.)

[Anastasia]

Neoalfa's improved and has a good proofreader. That's helped a lot.

The Tsukihime arc has been much better than anticipated. It's a sidequest compared to what's going on Fuyuki, but it's been a well done side quest.

[Ebiris]

Forging the Sword updated. It's got a crazy slow pace (started in 2007 and now on chapter 13), but it's well worth the read. Things diverge when Ginny dies in the Chamber of Secrets, and there are logical changes to events in years 3 and 4 that follow on from that, while Harry, Ron, and Hermione all find themselves working harder to bring Lucius to justice, find out how Voldemort's immortal, and become stronger so no one else will have to be sacrificed next time he shows up.

Fundamentally it's about removing the original books' focus on luck and self sacrifice bringing success and replacing it with effort and hard work. There's no easy solutions for the Trio, and because they're spreading themselves thin on various different projects they don't peel ahead and become overpowered in a year's time either. Also there's no character bashing, which is always a novel and exciting prospect in HP fiction~

[Dracos]

That's an interesting fic.  I like the author's depth of characters and generally deep reasoning on the magical world.

*finishes consuming it*

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384156/6/Why-Me

Why Me updated. The chapter's okay and explicitly stated to be a short cliffhanger. The second part's coming out in a few days. I don't have a real comment about it since it's obviously set up for the next part.

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9384156/7/Why-Me

Why Me updated again. Decent fight scene and the end stinger is good. [spoiler]Someone playing the dark side of 'they're just make-believe characters' is a nice contrast to the main character's attitude. Especially since she assumes that Louise summoned Saito, which hints at all sorts of amusing things.

[Anastasia]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9776943/1/A-Pig-at-the-Left-Hand-of-God

Ranma 1/2 and ZnT crossover. Ryouga's summoned by Louise, Ranma ends up in Diablo-verse Hell and shenanigans are happening with Nabiki and Shampoo. I'm not sure what the hell's going on, but there's some odd plot afoot. Worth a look, I'd say, though it's still early on.

[JonBob]

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9805735/1/A-Certain-Droll-Hivemind

Life from the perspective of an introspective Misaka clone. Kind of short chapters and only humor, but it entertained me.