What are you reading?

[Dracos]

That's definitely on target.  It also had a more consistent tone and goal.  R+V starts as a classic "Throw Yourself at him" Harem + Monster of the week fare, with the vampire very much taking the Magical Girl role in it.  Eventually the cast grows to a large size and they start having trouble with that model, so they switch over to drama and having him get monster powers so he could go rescue characters instead being a genderswapped Damsel in Distress (Because really that's his role in the early part).

In Big Human, its more a comedy, but from beginning to end, Tsukune has his blind spots, but instead of just being a passive survivor amongst superpowered females that are jockeying for his attention and looking after him, he's got someone else to hang out with, talk about, be protected by and protect that's outside of the romance context.  This gives his character room to grow as a character since not every event is wrapped around "Hook protagonist up with new fetish subject".

It could be reasonably said that in the original first season at least, his actions were primarily passive female lead transposed onto male lead.  His rebukes were social, or by tossing himself in the way, rather than active 'Well, I'll solve this problem'.

[Jason_Miao]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10534035/1/Catch-me-if-you-can

An odd Ranma story.  Starts with Ranma pulling a reverse Kiss of Death and Ranma continually pranking Shampoo as she tries to kill him.  Veers off into strangeness past that.  I am not yet sure if I like this one or not.  I like the different take, but some of the events post-Shampoo seem arbitrary.


Mother of Learning ended the first arc today.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6318423/1/Hitchups

I found this a relatively adorable coming of age tale.  It's very light, and definitely not written to be serious fantasy writing, but it's a pretty cute story.  It follows Hiccup of Training a Dragon through a wandering adventure of northern Europe, having decided differently during that first argument on revealing Toothless the dragon to the vikings that they wouldn't be accepted, so to run away, getting declared an outlaw as he begins his hero's journey.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10225608/11/A-Demon-Among-Devils This updated recently.  Was still a fun read.  Mayhaps my favorite new fic of the year.

[DY]

Gabriel Blessing updated his Dresden Files x High School DxD fanfic, have yet to read the latest update but I enjoyed the first 2 chapters.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10202330/3/Beyond-the-Outer-Gate-Lies

[Pensive Rumination]

Honestly, the standard of some DxD fanfics out there has surprised me.  I dropped the anime halfway through the first episode when it quickly became apparent that it was almost entirely based around fanservice, but then you have stuff like Beyond the Outer Gates Lies, A Demon Among Devils, Devil You Know, and that SAO/DxD crossover oneshot that GB did.  Here are some more:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10264827/1/Devil-Arts-Online
Basically someone decided they liked GB's oneshot.  This is they're attempt at extending the idea of fusing the two series togethor.  Honestly, I preferred GB's version because this one feels a little choppy and unpolished, but I though I'd chuck it here for those interested.  NOTE: I'm not entirely sure, but I think the recent start to the GGO arc has been pretty much identical to the LNs which is kind of a turn off for me.

God-Harem King Quest [Highschool DxD/Exalted]
http://questionablequesting.com/index.php?topic=408.0 (First Thread)
http://questionablequesting.com/index.php?topic=563.0 (Second Thread: Current most complete Index HERE)
http://questionablequesting.com/index.php?topic=674.0 (Third Thread)
A crossover quest run by Alexander on QQ.  It's in the SFW section with any explicit material being posted in a separate NSFW thread which you need membership to view.  Basic premises is that Issei gets a Solar Exaltation at the beginning of the series and proceeds to pull off some Glorious Solar Bullshit and thoroughly derail canon.  Involves a few crossovers and expys, History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi and RWBY being the primary ones so far.  Alexander's English isn't perfect and there are a few occasional glaring errors, but I've found the quest to be a source of endless amusement at times.  Helps that as an Communal Exalted quest, there are other writers willing to chip in by writing stunts.

Most complete index can be found in the second thread below the very long Exalted character sheet.  Only lists the stuff found in the first and second thread though, Alex hasn't got around to indexing the posts in the third thread, but it's only 14 pages so far, so it isn't too hard to find the story posts.  Index is separated into the MAIN and SIDE Continuity.  Make sure to read each story segment in the correct order, otherwise you'll get confused when new characters seem to pop out of nowhere in the main continuity when there was an entire side continuity devoted to their introduction.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9978662/1/Transformers-Prime-Divide
An interesting Transformers fic that takes us back to the first movie and adds a liberal dash of spiritual elements to a thoroughly sci-fi setting.  Sam gets to have a role other than an ordinary teenage kid in way over his head, basically he gets the title of ordinary removed from him.  Not in the "I suddenly have super powers" or "I'm actually a transformer and I didn't even know it" way, but more in a "I'm a teenager and suddenly halfway to enlightenment" way.  Canon hasn't quite been tipped on it's head yet, but the author's only up to the Mission City battle so far.  Give it time.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9794740/1/Pokemon-The-Origin-of-Species
Another attempt at making a 'realistic' pokemon world while following the story of Red, Blue, and Green.  Of note is that this one ISN'T totally grimdark!  Have to say this story is starting to shape up nicely, especially since Red is doing stuff like questioning how a move like Ember works by the second chapter and then proceeding to figure it out with a hastily thrown together experiment.

[Dracos]

It's kind of interesting to hear that since I found that kind of choppy by GB standards, so it'd be surprising to hear that behind it.

[Ebiris]

I've been reading this for a while and should have mentioned it before, but Seventh Horcrux is the funniest thing I've read in ages.

It's a 'Harry is actually Voldemort through Horcrux shenanigans' story where upon being given a new lease of life (as a new wizarding hero no less!) Harrymort decides he can finally act out his lifelong ambition of becoming the Defence Against Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.

Here's an exchange from the latest chapter that I think encapsulates the story best to see if it's for you:

"No, that likely has to do with the Bloody Baron's deathday. I was referring to whether you have experienced something strange lately. Odd visions, voices, urges. Anything of that sort," he prompted.

I considered his question. Every few nights, I dreamt that I was once again Lord Voldemort, ordering and crucioing my Death Eaters. Just this morning, I'd missed the entirety of Professor Flitwick's lecture because I was too caught up in daydreaming that I was a man-eating snake. And I'd nearly taken Ron's head off during a recent meeting of our new study group when I felt a sudden and inexplicable flash of rage.

For quite possibly the first time in my life, I answered Albus Dumbledore honestly. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

Give it a read, it's well worth it.

[Dracos]

I blame you for many snickers, Ebiris.  I blame you for this humor that you have delivered.

[Jason_Miao]

Some Ranma-Naruto xovers I ran across during my recent Ranma-fic hunt:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10492497/1/Fake-Uzu
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10179883/1/Who-s-a-Ninja

IMO not quite as striking as some of the other xovers posted (much) earlier in this thread.  The former takes some liberties with the character, and the later uses 1st person perspective.  Neither are over-the-top (although the later certainly tries)

[Ebiris]

Just got up to date on The Horcrux Within, a fic where Harry discovers he's a horcrux during the confrontation with Quirrel at the end of Philosopher's Stone and has to struggle with the knowledge that he's keeping Voldemort alive.

It reads a lot like Forging the Sword, so if you liked that you should like this.

[Dracos]

Some Ranma-Naruto xovers I ran across during my recent Ranma-fic hunt:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10492497/1/Fake-Uzu
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10179883/1/Who-s-a-Ninja

IMO not quite as striking as some of the other xovers posted (much) earlier in this thread.  The former takes some liberties with the character, and the later uses 1st person perspective.  Neither are over-the-top (although the later certainly tries)

Tried a little way into Lost uzu and just ran into a bit too much tossed together 'I like totally like aniiiime!'/'fanon!' vibe.  References to other animes that weren't relevant to the story being told, dramatic important set-pieces that that are fully from fanon.  I dunno, maybe I'll give it another look later but it missed getting its feet down before introducing strange things:
1)Ranma having a new cousin from another anime.
2)Ranma being in a new world/setting.
3)Ranma being de-aged.
4)Ranma being in his cursed state.
5)Herb having died during saffron arc, as a dramatic day saver to Ranma?
6)Ranma being precisely recognized as from a town/city that was destroyed a while ago based on hair/eye color.

This isn't halfway through chapter 1.  Just a lot of noise making it hard to ground in the story being told.

[Dracos]

Just got up to date on The Horcrux Within, a fic where Harry discovers he's a horcrux during the confrontation with Quirrel at the end of Philosopher's Stone and has to struggle with the knowledge that he's keeping Voldemort alive.

It reads a lot like Forging the Sword, so if you liked that you should like this.

Got a bit in.  The writing wasn't quite as strong, and the early focus on abuse grinded a bit.  Just too much time in the first few chapters spent working through the social issues of extracting Harry from the dursleys.

[Jason_Miao]

Drac,

I pretty much included both of them in the thread because I read them, and not for much more than that.

Tried a little way into Lost uzu and just ran into a bit too much tossed together 'I like totally like aniiiime!'/'fanon!' vibe.  References to other animes that weren't relevant to the story being told, dramatic important set-pieces that that are fully from fanon. 

It's probably because I haven't seen any new anime in years, except for Madoka, but I didn't catch any of the references except the gratuitous Inuyasha one in the first chapter.  I believe there's a Fushigi Yuugi(sp?) bit somewhat later. 

Info dump rate doesn't actually get better; the writer mentions at some point a few chapters in information is being presented to the reader as the protagonist learns it.  Which is all well and good (mysteries follow this convention), but pacing is important for that, and this fic doesn't strike that balance.  I usually admire the effort to work on new writing styles, even if a particular fic doesn't work out quite well, and that's the case here.


Although I try to keep comments on the links I post minimal until someone else read them, just to save you some future grief, I'll mention that the other fic starts in Wave.  So, fair warning. :)

[Dracos]

Yeah, totally fair.  I just discuss anything I bother to look at :)