[ AMV, One Piece, Lost, Gravitation, Harry Potter ]

[tomomichi]

Notes/Babbling: I spent much of yesterday morning and this morning morning ignoring the rest of the world and reading Harry Potter and Gravitation fic instead. In the first day alone, I figure I read about 700k worth. What is wrong with me? I keep getting sucked into series I'd sworn off ages ago; it's getting highly irritating. Find the suddenly grown attention span v. disconcerting. (Seriously? Harry Potter? I read even more than this, but these were all the words my brain would cough up before it threatened to mutiny yet again.)
Series:
    [Music Video] - 1 AMV [Gravitation]
    One Piece - 1 Fanfic
    Lost - 1 Fanfic
    Gravitation - 1 Fanfic
    Harry Potter - 2 Fanfics



- Anime Music Video (Gravitation) - The Acceptance Speech by SarahtheBoring - I... almost don't want to say what this AMV is about, to say just skip the intro and go straight to downloading it, because that's the way I watched it and promptly laughed my ass off and sparkled at the genius of it. Brilliant choice of song and anime to bring together, really beautiful quality, and the lip synching and scene choices were fabulous. There are moments in this AMV that make me laugh every single time I even just think about them. Just... Gravitation and Avenue Q together, brilliant! I laughed so hard. I shall attempt to stop gushing now, lest I spoil any more of it. ^_~ (No warnings.)

- One Piece - And Eat It, Too by X-parrot - I always feel a little better after I've read a really good One Piece fic, especially when it's about Zoro and Sanji and has that sort of... even when they're getting along, it's not like they're exactly nice to each other and when they're not getting along, they're even worse to each other and... every time I think about this fic, I think about what stands out most for me, the way it was resolved, the way their fight was resolved and that just seemed like such a... them thing. Oh, and the practically tangible taste of chocolate cake. I have no idea how X-parrot did that or made it so hot, but... yum. <3 (Zoro/Sanji.)

- Lost - The Incredibly True Adventures of Scott and Steve by Miss Windy - This is quite possibly my favorite Lost fanfic ever--the concept is one that's great, but even more than that it's pulled off with deftness and flair. There are a lot of people on that island and we don't know everyone yet, so what Miss Windy did here was take two of them and set the episodes from their point of view, all the major action happening in the background and focusing in on the utterly hysterical reactions to all the weird shit going on from these two. And it's hilarious, it seemed like every other paragraph had me in stiches because the writing has that style that's just so easy to read, that it just sails right along, but it's also got fantastic comedic timing. A lot of other people weren't so lucky. This one guy survived the crash and then like FIVE MINUTES LATER got sucked into the jet engines, which was totally disgusting. Gah. Talk about shit luck, right? You survive the crash and then you get eaten by the plane anyway. Brilliant fic. I want more of it so very badly. (Not sure there are any warnings/pairings, maybe a little language?)

- Gravitation - The Disasters Brought by Free Time and Neglect by Hatsbox - This fic might not hit the right notes for everyone, but for me... I've long held the believe that, after all the repressing he's done and the way he acts, giving up so much of himself, that eventually Shuuichi was going to have to reach the point of a breakdown, so this fic was utterly amazing for me. The format isn't one I'm used to, there's almost no dialogue, it's just Shuuichi recounting everything that happened, but I didn't find that that affected the narrative much for me, in some ways it may even have worked better. And what a narrative it was--I believed Shuuichi's spiralling out of control here and there were three seperate points where this fic made my throat feel tight and my chest hurt for the characters. (Keep in mind that I'm particularily fond of these characters, so they affect me more strongly than a lot of others, but this fic was still damned good to get me there three times.)

I wish I could put this into better words without giving the whole thing away, because it was a story that I'd been waiting for for a long time, something that dealt with this topic in this way, that could deal with Shuuichi's character evolution and trauma without making me want to roll my eyes at the melodrama of it. The characterization, while it may have seemed OOC at first because I'm used to happy, bouncy Shuuichi, was particularily brilliant, the further and further I got into the fic. Shuuichi's slow maturation in this story, everything that he goes through and tries to realize about himself, everything you can and can't see from his perspective, and the way he was struggling through it all...

Augh, okay, this rec is sucking and the fic deserves better. The way Shuuichi feels and handles those feelings in this story hit all the right buttons for me. One caveat I'll give is that I found the hostility between Shuuichi and Tohma to be a little fanon-ish towards the middle, but as the story progresses, even that comes back to the brilliant characterization and everyone is so human and while, yes, they're messed up, I believed this sort of messed up. I thought this is the way Shuuichi would react under a breakdown/spiral and I was mesmerized by the whole thing. And, god, the Yuki/Shuuichi relationship hurt like hell in this fic, but it had to and just... I culdn't have asked for much beyond exactly what this fic did. Maybe not for everyone, but it was what I had been waiting for years for and it was immensely satisfying. (Yuki/Shuuichi.)

- Harry Potter - Stealing Harry by Sam Vimes - Wow. I'm not even sure where to start with this story. This was a story I hadn't even realized I was looking for until I'd found it, especially after having read "Beyod the Veil" by Helene; this was a perfect story to read immediately after that one because it sort of... I admit, I kind of fell almost completely away from the HP fandom after OotP, because even the Maruader-era stuff seemed so... pointless when I knew what was waiting for the characters. So, it took one fix it fic and one bloody brilliant AU fic to sort of get me over that and give me back a base from which to fall in love with these characters all over again. Now, this fic is long--the first story, "Stealing Harry", alone is over 700k--but no one should let that deter them, because this story has such fantastic writing that I barely even noticed that the chapters were flying by. I'd read over 500k of the story in practically one sitting before I'd even noticed how far along I actually was. ....well, okay, you may want to make sure you have the time for this fic first.

One of the things that kept me coming back to the HP fandom is that I knew somewhere in the fandom there had to be stories like this, ones that grab onto a concept (What if Sirius had been late that night and instead of getting to Peter first, Lucius Malfoy beat him there? What would happen if Sirius were never framed? Never went to Azkaban? Instead, he watches over little Harry, eventually reaching a breaking point over the abuse he suffers at the hands of the Dursleys and yanks him out there. Cue everything going to hell in a handbasket with an actual plot with Big Happenings and everything!) and just runs with it. The writing is fantastic, the characterization is brilliant, the power of the story being told ringing very genuine, and the story is so complete and so satisfying that it felt damn near flawless.

Despite the length, the story never dragged, it was merely complete, that everything that needed to happen was shown and paced just right. The relationships between the characters were built beautifully--you can see why all the characters are so fond of Harry, why they love him so much, and it all rings true. Even Snape's fondness for the curious little boy was wonderfully done, to say nothing of how beautifully done the relationship between Sirius, Remus, and Harry was. And, oh, I swoon with love over the Sirius/Remus relationship here, because it's not just... tossing them into bed together, but neither does it drag itself down in angst. Things happen, things are hard to deal with, nothing is perfect, but they love each other and they find their way to struggle through everything.

Even the minor characters are fantastic--I have such fun watching the "good" members of Sirius' family, especially Andromeda. And Moody is delightful in this story and everyone feels so... well, yes, that "complete" thing again. It was all touched on and explored as much as it needed to be. The writing is lovely, the dialogue clear and sparkling, just brilliant at showing the characters' personalities. And I gush because this now sits with "Beyond the Veil" as one of my favorite HP fics because I couldn't have asked for anything more and because it made me remember why I love these characters so much. ....hence all the gushing. >_> (Sirius/Remus, but it's half-plot, too.)

- Harry Potter - The Uncle by Sam Vimes - Considering all the angst fic there is for HP out there, sometimes it's nice to have something that's just... silly and makes me giggle and brightens my day a little to read. And that's what this fic is--utterly on crack and working just delightfully for that. Delightful. Yes, that's the word to describe it, I think. Plus, you know. Funny. Hysterical, really. I just... I don't even know if I could describe the concept, it's something that simply must be read and giggled over. Fortunately, the parts are short, so it goes really fast and it's just one of those things that's really low-stress and relaxing. (A little Sirius/Remus, but it's not really the point.)

Comments

[mclachlan.livejournal.com]

^^ ::hugs:: It must be something in the water, because I felt the exact same way. And don't worry about things being long-winded. I like hearing stuff like that.

... and the Sirius/Remus pairing will never die. Because I read "Beyond the Veil" and "Stealing Harry"/"Laocoon's Children" faithfully. ^_~


... And hey, while we're all a-reccing here, I figured I'd lend one of my own. You say you like the Aragorn/Legolas pairing, ne? Welp, Lady Elina wrote an incredible story called Leaves of Gold (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1598463/1/). I have no words to describe the... bittersweetness of this story. Recommended Reading!