What are you reading?

[Arakawa]

Yes, but in ordinary shonen settings ordinary life stands aside for the heroes to throw mountains at one another, or whatever.

Here the entire rest of ordinary life stands aside for what amounts to holographic Magic: The Gathering tournaments.

The abridged series skewers this most aptly:

"Shouldn't you be off somewhere running your massively successful multi-gajillion dollar corporation?"

"I have far more important things to do. Like beating my sworn rival Yugi in a children's card game."

[Dracos]

How many here have read the early parts of Yu-Gi-Oh that wasn't so focused on the card game?

Never seen it :)  Prolly we should move further Yu-Gi-Oh discussion to the manga/anime forum though, so we don't distract from fic discussion :)

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6471922/1/Coming-Back-Late

Another referenced a few years ago.  I'll agree with the moved on Jon that it did have a very interesting amount of world building, particularly toward the machinations of the ministry and the nature of the deathly hollows and even toward the natures of house elves.  There's even many bits that are fairly believable toward racism or other problems.

But it just got to be too much at some point.  While neither the good or the bad guys were infalliable and it even played well with reasonable deduction and clever criminal underworlds, it just seemed like they got away with too much, not in secrecy, but through minor oversights.  And the campaign with elves frankly felt incoherent and forced after a bit.  Nobody seems to be able to do anything right with them, according to the almost always on camera Hermonine.  It got...tiresome really.

It has a big dramatic scene midway through involving bartering with death.  It should've wrapped up after that.  Instead, it has another 20ish chapters and they just feel lacking impact after that.

[Arakawa]

Decided to look for Yu-Gi-Oh fanfiction. Best I found thus far:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8383134/1/One-Last-Theft

Enh. Kind of entertainingly bad.

_{INFINITE encryption keys}

[thepanda]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6471922/1/Coming-Back-Late

Another referenced a few years ago.  I'll agree with the moved on Jon that it did have a very interesting amount of world building, particularly toward the machinations of the ministry and the nature of the deathly hollows and even toward the natures of house elves.  There's even many bits that are fairly believable toward racism or other problems.

But it just got to be too much at some point.  While neither the good or the bad guys were infalliable and it even played well with reasonable deduction and clever criminal underworlds, it just seemed like they got away with too much, not in secrecy, but through minor oversights.  And the campaign with elves frankly felt incoherent and forced after a bit.  Nobody seems to be able to do anything right with them, according to the almost always on camera Hermonine.  It got...tiresome really.

It has a big dramatic scene midway through involving bartering with death.  It should've wrapped up after that.  Instead, it has another 20ish chapters and they just feel lacking impact after that.

Spoiler: ShowHide

You mean the bit where he came back young? I think I managed a chapter or three after that. Gave up, though. Felt like an epilogue that was stretching too long.

[Dracos]

Continued discussion:

Spoiler: ShowHide

Yeah.  Not sure why that was even there, since it had very little meaningful effect for the next 10ish chapters.  It's hard to call it an epilogue when literally that's like halfway through the fic.  It certainly had to work on the tension.  A set of several super mind mages, so skilled in the craft that they're literally treated as discoveries by the best in the field?  Not just one, but several apparently of this level?  Not gonna go further in rambling on its descent into just a morass of boring.

[Rukatin]

I'm looking for a Dresden Files/ Harry Potter crossover fic that not only good, but COMPLETE. I've been having no such luck finding one.

[Dracos]

I don't know any myself.  Complete non-one-shots are pretty rare in all fandoms, crossovers especially.

[Yuthirin]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8642442/1/Variant-Strain

Variant Strain updated. I really like this fic.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4745329/19/On-the-Way-to-Greatness

Reread this, which I think had a new chapter or two since I last read it.  It's got some good points, but it leaves a lot on the floor, not the least of which from its timeskips, and voldemort's group is super effective in it.  It's an interesting take on Harry in Slytherin, but it's really more a take on exploring side effects of darkness, as just the community seems too indistinct otherwise.

[Empyrean]

For Want of a War updated. It's probably been linked here at some point, but I'm too lazy to dig through the whole thread and check. It's a Final Fantasy Tactics fic that averts Balbanes' assassination and subsequently the entire War of the Lions. So, without that aspect of things going on, Ramza gets involved in harem comedy with some rather unlikely women, so far. It's better than it sounds, really.

[Dracos]

No need to dig.  Updates are always welcome, and repeats really aren't a problem.  Sharing what we're reading right now just sorta provides opportunity to yammer on it :)

I read through all that was there on that recently, so good to hear there's more.

[Dracos]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7733374/20/Unforeseen-Consequences

Read this.  Surprisingly...enjoyed it.  I'm not really a Madoka fan for various reasons, even though I've watched it all.  This does a surprisingly good job interweaving the Madoka infrastructure into the Zero's Familiar setting and building a fairly robust worldset with it.

[Arakawa]

Found a hilarious, dare I say satirical, bit of fun in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense.

http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Perfect_Memento_in_Strict_Sense/Yama

The kishin chiefs will take charge as the souls fall down to Hell and will command the lesser oni in their torment of the deceased. A wide array of torture devices could be used, but current economic conditions mean that many of these contraptions are in serious need of maintenance and repair.

So, sinners arrive in Hell, but because Hell is just as incompetently run as the rest of reality, the tortures are not very effective. I'm not sure why I find this hilarious.

[Jason_Miao]

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7733374/20/Unforeseen-Consequences

Read this.  Surprisingly...enjoyed it.  I'm not really a Madoka fan for various reasons, even though I've watched it all.  This does a surprisingly good job interweaving the Madoka infrastructure into the Zero's Familiar setting and building a fairly robust worldset with it.

I am a Madoka fan, so read through ch 20, even though I still have not watched/read Zero

Nice fic, although some scenes are written in a fashion that suggests they are emphasizing the differences that occurred due to the change in familiar, and of course, I'm unable to appreciate their full impact.

Also, for a fic predicated on a change in familiar, Kyubei has surprisingly little screentime until the twist is revealed.  Or perhaps unsurprisingly - purely logical characters are not easy to write.