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tomomichiNotes: .....okay. I am now caught up on what I needed to do for Sunday through Wednesday, god help me. Technically, it's Thursday now (which means Happy Thanksgiving Day! ♥), but I can do my recs for today a little later, I think.
58 recs, oh my god, shoot me.
Series:
Avatar: The Last Airbender - 2 Fanfics
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
The Forbidden Game - 1 Fanfic
Friday Night Lights - 7 Fanfics
Fullmetal Alchemist - 3 Fanfics
House - 1 Fanfic
Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 6 Fanfics
Odin Sphere - 1 Fanfic
Spirited Away - 1 Fanfic
Stargate: Atlantis - 1 Fanfic
D.Gray-man - 5 Fanart
D.Gray-man/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1 Fanart
Gintama - 5 Fanart
Gurren Lagann - 4 Fanart
Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 4 Fanart
Katekyou Hitman Reborn!/Gintama - 1 Fanart
Naruto - 1 Fanart
One Piece/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss - 9 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss/Odin Sphere - 1 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss/Howl's Moving Castle - 1 Fanart
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Beard by Icka! M. Chif - This was a really cute, fun little fic about Toph's blindness and Sokka's beard, which we have seen a couple of times now in season three, and it's one of those moments where... Sokka's a dork, Toph is pretty much pure hardcore hilarious awesome. It's dorky friendships being shown wonderfully, the kind of relationships between the characters that made me love the main gang in the first place. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Only Might by jetamors - [Note: There will be spoilers for 3x08, as well as this fic probably won't make sense without having seen that episode.] I picked up the link for this fic from this rec post, intrigued about a rather dark Hamma fic, since she was such an interesting character. And this was a creepy little fic about her time in the prisons and the way her worldview shifted because of what she'd gone through. Her descent into the darkness and rage and insanity is really kinda disturbing to watch here and the ending scene is really perfect. I'd wondered a little about that, what about the other prisoners there with her, and this is something I can picture perfectly after this episode. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Bleach - New Tricks by kay_willow - This is a really interesting look at Renji's perspective about halfway through the Soul Society art, when he goes to visit Rukia in jail, when he clearly wants so badly to save her, to get a reaction out of her, something. I like the way the author tied together the other events happening in the series at the time (Aizen's "murder", Kira and Hinamori's arrests for fighting with bankai, etc.) to push him over the edge and into his actions in the later half of the arc. It's an insightful look into his character, always the stray dog barking for attention, which Renji kinda knows, but it's done in such a way that I can believe these are the thoughts going through his head. (Renji/Rukia.)
- Bleach - Diamond Girl by kay_willow - Ishida/Rukia is a pairing that I have contemplated before, they've had a moment or two in canon that has made me think, but nothing ever really came of it (in canon or in fandom) so I sort of forgot about it. (Especially since I like Ishida/Nemu so much.) And then I read this fic and it makes me want to actively ship them, because the dyanmic really works here, the whole fic sparkles and is full of clever little moments that are hilarious and sharp-witted. There's a certain sort of understanding between the two of them, an acceptance of both of their quirks that they don't really seem too bothered by, and after this fic where Ishida asks Rukia to attend a party thrown by Ryuuken (since who else is he going to ask?), about the only reason I'm not shipping it is because it'd break my heart always pining for more of it. Instead, I'll enjoy this fic where it works and be delighed with that. (Ishida/Rukia possible implications, mild blink-and-you'll-miss-it implications of Ishida/Orihime.)
- The Forbidden Game - Relics by praiseofshadows - I read this series of books many, many years ago, they were always my favorites of the LJ Smith books, and... okay, looking back on them and the summary now, I do wonder a little how well they would have held up, how very cliche they must have been, but at the time I was utterly, madly in love with them. And so when I saw Forbidden Game fic being posted at 31_days, I had to at least go check it out. These four ficlets (at the time of this rec) are very short, just little snippets strung together, and it will probably read even better when there are more of them, but I like what the author is building here. The sense of something pulling at Jenny, the way the stave just happens to find its way into her posession, it's building up very nicely so far. The writing is very solid and I definitely want more of this. (Eventual Julian/Jenny, I presume?)
- Friday Night Lights - Gentle by scoob2222 - There is something about the relationship between Tim and Tyra that I can't quite let go of, something that makes me really want to actively ship them, except that I know it would only get my fangirl heart broken. And, yet, I cannot resist promising fic for the two of them, especially a lovely piece set post-1x20 (which means spoilers for that episode!) where Tim tries to be gentle with Tyra, tries to be careful with her when it's not something that comes natural to him, especially as he's realizing what happened and is so angry about that, even as it's not what Tyra needs right then. There's a deliberately awkward quality to Tim here, fumbling just a little and not sure what to do, that's perfect for this moment. The hurt and upset in this scene were lovely to read, a moment of obvious connection still between them. Lovely. (It's not really Tim/Tyra, it's gen, but.)
- Friday Night Lights - Drowning by natfudge - He leans back on his arms as his eyes refuse to meet hers, instead staring hard at the top button of his shirt on her and Tyra finally gets it. He hadn’t been able to drown himself in drink this time, so he was going to drown himself in her. This is the kind of fic I've been quietly wanting from the FNL fandom, but am a little too wary of trying to sift through a whole new fandom that I'm unfamiliar with (it takes so long to find the authors that mesh with my own tastes, so I usually wander through other recs posts), but I'm glad to have at least this one. It's not a nice fic, but it's not a horrible fic, either, instead it's got much the same tone that the series itself has, it's not about making everything all better by the end, it's about managing to live through one more day. The way the relationship between Tim and Tyra at the beginning of the series is portrayed in this fic is spot-on, every little thing that Tyra knows about Tim is exactly the kind of thing this fic was trying to accomplish. I love that even the sex, while being really kinda hot, is more about coping with pain than it is sexy. Lovely fic. (Tim/Tyra, somewhere between R and NC-17, NSFW.)
- Friday Night Lights - Verboten by Kate Andrews - Oh, oh, oh. Matt and Julie and this fic is so perfect that I was quite possibly clapping my hands together with delight and/or grinning stupidly the entire time. It's got such a perfect Julie voice, how much she really, genuinely likes Matt Saracen and how much she really, genuinely likes teasing him. Matt is brilliant throughout the fic as well, so very nervous and obviously liking her so very much and so awkward in that sweet, adorable way that makes you love him more. I can't decide if the characterization of the two of them or the truly clever, brilliant little moments of the fic are my favorite part. It's such a simple story on the surface--Matt and Julie's relationship, all normal moments in the course of them dating--but it's perfect, right down to Matt's very obvious fear of Coach Taylor and how everything was so easily pictured in my mind. I loved this fic. (Matt/Julie.)
- Friday Night Lights - Restraint by Kate Andrews - So, I was trying to go for this Tim/Tyra thing tonight, read more of those fics, instead of heading for the usual Matt/Julie. Just for some variety. Except I cannot stay away because these two are just so damn cute together and it's really wonderful to read a fic about how much Matt Saracen is a teenaged boy with a sex drive that's hard to force down when he really, really likes his girlfriend. Especially when she keeps nudging him and teasing him and being so very Julie. They're adorable together, it's so easy to see how much they really like each other and how sparklingly clever they are around each other. The fic was another one that put a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it, they're just so damn adorable and fun together. I'd put this as another must-read for these two. (Matt/Julie, a solid R rating, NSFW.)
- Friday Night Lights - A Poor Man's Memory by shrift - I was enjoying this fic, a short piece that's mostly a conversation between Tim and Landry, with Tim being so very Tim about everything, when I got to this line from Landry: Landry's eyes bugged out. "Would you please tell me, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, what the hell is wrong with you?" And I cracked up because it's such a perfect voice for Landry, I can just see him throughout the piece and this is why the Tim - Landry not-quite-friendship is such a beautiful thing. It's a lovely look at Tim for the most part, though, and it's just painful enough that it's completely in line with the show. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Friday Night Lights - I'll Be Leaving Soon (Tonight I'm Here) by minervacat - One of the things I like best about the FNL fandom (or what I've seen of it, not that I've poked around all that hard) is the way the fic isn't exactly angsty or melodramatic, but it's not exactly happy fun times, either. While reading this piece about Tim, about his relationships with both Tyra and Jason, the way he sees and watches and knows more than most people would ever think he does, it's kind of heartbreaking in exactly the way watching Tim on the show is. He's not going anywhere and it almost hurts more because he's long since accepted that. It's got moments of awesome--especially the way Tim views Tyra, it doesn't focus on what breaks them apart, but why they worked for so long--but I love that the ending made me feel so much of what the show does as well. (Tim/Tyra, implications of Tim/Jason.)
- Friday Night Lights - Texas Forever by topaz - This is a gorgeous story about Tim Riggins and where the future of these characters might be going. It's almost sort of a hopeful look, but not in the shiny happy sort of way, it's about small town people and some of them make it out and make something of themselves and some of them don't. The more fic I read about Tim, especially ones like this, the more I fall in love with his character all over again. The writing is fantastic, the format of the fic--shifting scenes, one set in the future, one showing the progression of the timeline from a more current point--works so very well, a little bit introspective, a lot like an article being written on Tim Riggins' career, and yet still a story. I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out what to say, despite that this was one of the best FNL pieces I've ever read, it's absolutely a must-read. It's brilliant, it's a little painful, it's a little sad, it's a little happy, but most of all, it's breathtaking. (Nothing to really warn for.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - On The Table by Sister Coyote - It's been ages since I've read any FMA fic, but I've often said that one of the few things that could bring me back would be Havoc/Hawkeye fic. It's not a pairing that's often done right, but I've liked Sister Coyote's FFXII fic a lot, so I was eager to try this one. It's a short scene, Havoc and Hawkeye playing cards, there's an almost terse quality to the language of the story, but I find that works really well for these characters in this story. There's a very direct feeling, a very straight-forward style that fits well with two military officers. The way their card games unfold, the way Havoc looks at her, it's all very well-done. (Havoc/Hawkeye.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - Very Responsible by Sister Coyote - Forget there being much Havoc/Hawkeye fic in the first place, there's hardly any porn for them that's any good. This fic isn't really that much above an R (or maybe just a hard R), but sometimes fics don't really need to be NC-17 to be hot, because this fic has them both with such great characterization, so straightforward and direct while still being flirtatious in a way that's very much like themselves, while also having very, very nice sex. The use of Havoc's hands were really fantastic, especially since Hawkeye is so much tinier than he is, his hands would be so large and not quite rough against her skin (and I love tha the size difference never really mattered except in a physical sensation sort of way), it was just... very nice. Mmm. (Havoc/Hawkeye, semi-graphic content.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - The Bottom Line by ArtemisRae - I picked up the link for this from this recs post and I'm so glad that laurus_nobilis makes recs sometimes because she manages to find some utter gems. This Sieg/Izumi story is just a short little thing set at the beginning of their relationship, one that made me laugh and then sparkle because asdlfkjasldk that's probably just exactly how it went. ♥ (Seig/Izumi.)
- House - Sonic Ex Machina by Adrian Tullberg - Okay, this is actually a Doctor Who crossover, but I don't think it's of interest to soley Who fans enough to mark it as such. Anyway, it's a funny little fic about House finding the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and having a little fun with it, just a light-hearted little humorfic that made me laugh. It's nice to see House actually having some fun and it was creative enough to keep my attention during the whole thing. ....House and Doctor Who, that's not something I would have immediately gone for, but now I kind of want more of these two crossed together. Hmm. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - The Tigers Come At Night by cerepan - I don't know how to explain why I liked this fic. There's something about it, it's very... I don't know. Stylized, perhaps. It pretty much throws you into the action in medias res, having an almost whimiscal sort of narration for a rather outlandish plot. Which is what makes it work for me, if Mukuro's illusions as a trap for Dino had been told in a more straightforward manner, I don't think I would have liked this as much, except this fic somehow both... it made me laugh and it was kind of really hot and Hibari was suitably violent and... it was kind of all over the place, but deliberately so. The little comments could have almost derailed the fic off its track, but instead I wound up laughing at all the right moments, the little asides from the characters added to the fic rather than taking away from it. This was fun. And kind of really hot. Mmm. (Dino/Hibari, maybe a little bit Mukuro/Hibari if you want to see the implications that way, a hard R or so.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Hit the Ground Running by picnicbird - This is another story that just sort of drops you right into the middle of the story about Dino and Hibari doing a hit, but because it's a short moment in time sort of fic, I found that worked for me. The author's take on the characters is really lovely, Hibari is violent and aggressive, while Dino is still a member of the mafia and yet much more patient and warm, the two of them balancing each other out/being foils for each other works very well here. I love this fic because it's almost sort of... cute and sweet, except in that Dino/Hibari sort of way, so it's a weird sort of... uh, sweet. XDDD (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - untitled by kasugai_gummie - Perhaps there is something about the Dino/Hibari pairing that lends them well to dropping them into the middle of a scene (another hit they're working together on), which might just be because they work well with that sort of storyline. There's such antagonism and yet lingering respect underneath the aggression between them, it makes for something hot as hell, especially when they're in a darkened alleyway while on the run from the local police and Hibari is still so Hibari even while Dino's trying to have a little common sense. There's something hard and intense about these two, it's really fantastic. (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - untitled by kasugai_gummie - Mukuro/Hibari jumped out at me while reading the manga (how could it not?) but it's never been my favorite pairing. I don't mind it, but it didn't really catch me. As I was reading this Reborn! kink meme drabble dump, though, I figured, why not. And this is a powerful little ficlet, Hibari's fury and Mukuro's casual lethal grace, combined with sakura petals all around them, it's an intense moment that comes off as exactly what it should be--creepy and yet somehow still hot. (Mukuro/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Princess Hibarin Likes His Tea by kasugai_gummie - Normally, I'm not that one much for princess-ifying characters (there are occasional exceptions) and certainly not a character like Hibari. But I read the beginning of the fic anyway and fl;asdkalksj jesus christ that was hot as hell. He's still so Hibari, he's so aggressive and dangerous and intense, even while being a Yakuza Princess and the entire scene is just... perfect and hot as hell. ♥ (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Zelophilia by Enkidu - As I mentioned in a previous rec, Mukuro/Hibari is something I saw in the manga, of course, but never really sought out, as by the time I was entering into fandom, I was far more interested in Dino/Hibari, but after reading some of these fics... there's so much of that same harsh intensity between these characters, the way I could believe they would actually keep Hibari's attention long enough for something to happen. Or pin Hibari down long enough to make him pay attention. Between the implications of Dino/Hibari here (which were hot as hell, too) and the implications of what Mukuro was going to attempt to do to Hibari, how creepy and disturbing and hot those implications were, just... mmm, yes. I am going to be spoiled as hell by this kink meme's responses. (Dino/Hibari, Mukuro/Hibari, Mukuro/Hibari/Dino?)
- Odin Sphere - Time Apart by Ethereal Vesper - After playing through Mercedes' book in the game, I was struck by the utter need I had for an Ingway/Mercedes fic and so I wandered over to FFNET to find something. And this was a cute little fic (with perhaps some spoilers for the end of Mercedes' book?), just a quiet little thing where Mercedes goes back into the forest to hunt frogs again (since the last promise didn't really count) and thinks about Ingway. She lays down for a nap and when she wakes, perhaps someone has come to visit her while she was asleep. It's just... really cute and the characterization is solid. And I'm delighted that I'm not the only fan of these two. ♥ (Ingway/Mercedes.)
- Spirited Away - Hand of Sorrow by Aishuu - This is a lovely little piece set post-movie, after Chihiro has forgotten her time in the other world, even if her spirit vaguely remembers some of the things there that made her a stronger person, set from Haku's point of view. Haku, who does remember and watches over her in what few little ways he can, in a really pretty, bittersweet narrative. It's just a small moment in time, but it has several lovely insights into the characters making it a very nice read. (Some implications of Haku/Chihiro if you want to see them that way.)
- Stargate: Atlantis - we were never good soldiers (or very good fighters) by minervacat - Every so often I go through the SGA fandom again to find new Ronon/Teyla fic, as they're the pairing that intrigues me the most. I really, really liked Sparky, but sometimes it's hard to be a fan of those two... not that it's much easier being a fan of Ronon/Teyla. But every so often there comes along a fic I genuinely like and gives the couple a baby! I love babyfic when done right. I love the sense of permanence it can give a couple, I love the potential for antics with a kid (and their kid is so adorable and Teyla being pregnant early on in the story is fantastic), and this fic achieves both. Sure, the kid is kinda hilarious, but it's the way having a child born on Atlantis changes the perspectives of people, the way it brings home a few things, is lovely, the kind of thing babyfic should be used for. I really like the way this story was written in a series of scenes across several years, showing the progression of their relationships with everyone, the way people changed over time, both naturally and because of a child running around. It's really, really lovely. (Ronon/Teyla.)
- D.Gray-man - that day [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was in the mood to look for more Ravi/Rinali fanart, despite that I wondered if I'd seen all of the good sites for them already, when I stumbled over this site. The first couple of illustrations were more cute than anything--and several of the illustrations on the rest of the site would be described the same way, I think--the site quickly started showing these really beautiful images. I wound up liking the gen stuff as much as the Ravi/Rinali stuff, there are some gorgeous Rinali pieces, there's a really lovely gen poster-style illustration and you can look at the artist's b&w sketches to see how fantastic her basic lines really are. They're so sharp and clean when she's really concentrating on the images. The artist also seems to have snuck in a Kanda/Rinali illustration or two, not enough to count as a theme for the site, but just enough that it made me kind of stupidly happy. ♥ And, oh, my god, the comics with Noah!Rinali are gorgeous and creepy and perfect. The one with Komui meeting her again is heartbreaking and one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Totally worth the site alone right there. *__*♥ (Ravi/Rinali, a little other, some gen, too.)
- D.Gray-man - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I wasn't sure I should recommend this site, there's only about ten illustrations in the gallery proper not counting the sketches/diary art, but... they're such clean, pretty illustrations that I couldn't resist. This artist's Allen looks fantastic and her Rinali is very pretty, the Allen/Rinali art on the site some of the best I've seen around in the fandom. And the sketches do start out a little, well, sketchy, but the artist quickly improves, so the second page of them looks really, really very nice, all these clean, pretty lines and light, soft colors. Very nice. (The site is half-gen, half-Allen/Rinali.)
- D.Gray-man - Aurora [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site without a ton of art in the galleries, but what's here is so clean, sharp, and beautiful that I couldn't resist it. The artist does such fantastic things with characters like Rinali or Kanda, all that pretty hair streaming around them or a really lovely use of white space in an Allen image. And it was a lot of fun to go through the rest of the galleries, especially the hit galleries, to see the Gintama art or the gorgeous couple of Reborn! illustrations she has here. (....nothing I'm going to warn for.)
- D.Gray-man - THOLOS [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It only took two illustrations into this site, despite that there's not a whole lot of art here, to know that I was going to really like this site. The detail and color put into the images make them look so pretty, they're just so richly and lushly done. Some of them are a little darker, like the one of Allen in the rain that's so pretty to look at, and some others are done in these light, pastel-friendly colors and I love both styles. It's not a perfect site, but it's certainly one of the better ones I've seen and totally worth it for the adorable kitty!Kanda/Allen/Lavi image. It actually makes me like Kanda/Allen again, reminds me that some artists can still do it so that it looks really beautiful. And the sketches of the stand-alone characters are just gorgeous, all soft lines and soft colors. And any image the site has of Allen by himself? asdlfkjasldkjalsk so hot. And the handful of Rinali illustrations! Omg, so pretty. *__* (Some Kanda/Allen, some Lavi/Allen, some Lavi/Kanda, but worth it for the gen if you step carefully, I think.)
- D.Gray-man - mossgreen [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is a really cool little site with a lot of really sharp illustrations. The colors are very bright and vivid, the concepts/poses are solid, and the whole entire site is very strong. Occasionally, the artist tries something different (there's a really cool one of Allen looking bone-white on a dark blue/black background, just a splash of green for the tie around his neck and I sort of love the style of it) but mostly it's just a really well-drawn site, the b&w sketches showing off the artist's basic skills. The site is most worth visiting for the b&w poster-style illustration of the major players of the manga, the detail is just fantastic and it really fits the tone of the series. Some of the art is just gorgeous on this site and I'm so glad to have stumbled over it this morning. (No warnings/pairings.)
- D.Gray-man/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1369 [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site that's not going to appeal to everyone, I wasn't even going to recommend it at first, I was barely even halfway through the Reborn! art when I was about to give up. But... the D.Gray-man gallery is what really caught my attention with this site, the artist's style (which is very stylized, something that's not going to appeal to absolutely everyone) was kind of quirky and interesting, something that suited DGM really well. And I decided to include it in the Reborn! section as well because the artist does Dino/Hibari and it's somewhat intense art, which suits them. And, you know. Dino's tattoos are hot when drawn by this artist. That's a point in their favor. <3 It's not perfect, but it's interesting at least. The site makes for a good stop in a fanart hunt spree, I think. :D (Dino/Hibari for Reborn!, mostly gen for DGM, maybe a little Lavi/Allen.)
- Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I had been spending the morning looking for D.Gray-man fanart and surfing around a bit and somehow I managed to end up on a Gintama site. A Gintama site with a rather pretty Katsura. A Gintama site with a rather pretty Katsura in GinZura art. I love that pairing deeply, but it tends to be extremely rare in fandom. And there's not a ton here and the artist took about half of the site to really improve (though, she's always been good), but she has these really sharp CG-style colors that I really like, so I enjoyed pretty much everything on the site. There's some really hot Gintoki fanart on the site as well, the one of him in his old samurai clothes is beautiful. Fantastic site. ♥ (Some GinZura, some other, a lot of gen, too.)
- Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - For awhile, I was really trying to avoid recommending this site because the art style isn't really my usual preferred style, but I at least wanted to stick around the site to see if there was any interesting GinZura art. I'm very weak to this pairing, so when the artist started having some these interesting illustrations that were almost sort of stylized (well, I chose to look at them that way, anyway) and the site turned out to be a fun, interesting little stop... well, I had to go ahead and recommend it anyway. Not going to be for everyone, but if you like any and all Gintama fanart or are partial to the GinZura pairing, then you might like this one, too. (Some GinZura, some other, some gen.)
- Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site will definitely not be for everyone, the art tends to very much lean towards being cute more than anything, but... well, it's got GinZura in their past soldier days and I'm really, really fond of that sort of thing. The artist also has the occasional very pretty Katsura illustration and she does improve a lot as the site goes along, some of the later art is very pretty. The artist also does really well with Gin's flat-eyed stare and I just... enjoyed this site, it was fun. (Some GinZura, some other, some gen.)
- Gintama - Silver Labor Council [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I'm beginning to sound a bit like a broken record with how many times I've said this lately, but it's still very true and I say it because I want to convey my recommendation in the right frame of mind, as pretentious as that sounds. I really was going to pass right by this site, I'd planned to skip the last few images in the gallery, hit up the links page for anything that caught my eye, and move on. I don't really know what did me in with the site, much of the art isn't to my particular taste, but... when the artist would do some of the GinZura illustrations, she had this particular style. A style that felt very reminscent of a shounen manga, the tiny little lines and sharp detail, but without the "prettiness". (This, by the way, is not an insult at all, I like this style.) And then applied it to art of things like Gin kissing Katsura under a momiji tree, or the foursome walking along at a festival, or Gin lying with his head in Katsura's lap as they sit on a porch. And it just somehow fit with the Gintama style or fit with the characters or something, that those turned out to be my favorite illustrations on the site. ♥ (Some GinZura, some gen.)
- Gintama - Lesport [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Okay, Hijikata/Yamazaki isn't my preferred pairing, it's not something that would have occurred to me with this series (though, it's not like the pairing has never crossed my mind, I could have seen it in Peacemaker, if Hijikata/Okita weren't so OTP there), but... goddamn, some of this art is just gorgeous. It's got those clean CG-style colors and lines and Hijikata looks so hot and I am always, always for Hijikata looking hot. There's also a smidge of Okita/Yamazaki here, which is drawn looking just as pretty. There's the occasional Shinsengumi as a group illustration and there was even a cute Kagura illustration floating around. Even if it's a bit of a rare/unusual pairing, it's worth a visit to the site, I think. (Hijikata/Yamazaki, some other.)
- Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site... I might not have spent much time here or just passed it on by, but it has a certain style, very much like a watercolor painting, and somehow this really fits well with the Simon/Nia pairing. Especially since the artist seems to really adore Nia and draws her so cute and then has these lovely illustrations of her floating down into Simon's arms or the two of them floating along or flying way up in the air with Lagann while flowers rain down around them. It's one of those styles that I wouldn't want to see all of the time, but when just the one site comes along... it's really cute and very sweet, totally hits that craving for Simon/Nia adorableness that I've been having. (Simon/Nia.)
- Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Sites ] - This is one of those sites that's going to be hell for me to describe properly. It's not that it doesn't deserve a proper rec, because it does. The art is all very good and very nice to look at and the artist even covers a variety of poses and characters. It's everything a site should be. But there aren't really any themes, it's largely a gen site (with some Simon/Nia) and so not much stands out for me to comment on. It's a really nifty little site, it's very solid and I enjoyed it a lot. It's just a little hard to describe. Totally worth visiting, though. (Mostly gen, maybe a little Simon/Nia.)
- Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site that took me awhile to really warm up to, one that I almost gave it a pass, not because it was bad or anything, just that it hadn't really hit me yet. But somewhere along the way it still managed to win me over. Whether through having a surprising amount of art on the site, having a lot of it be focused on how adorable Simon is (who is my favorite character, I think), or because there are a handful of really cute Simon/Nia illustrations (a couple of the images in the gallery proper are just lovely, with the warm watercolor style the artist uses on them), I'm not sure. But it's a solid, cute site that's worth your time if you like looking through a lot of j-fanart. (Some gen, some Simon/Nia.)
- Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - There is often a particular single illustration that will put me over the top with a site and make me finally cave on officially liking it. I usually enjoy the art up to that point, wavering back and forth, liking it but not quite enough that I would want to recommend it yet. But then I'll hit an image, maybe one of Yoko looking smoking hot and the artist has used all these really pretty shades of red and orange and her hair looks fantastic, and for some reason, even if it's not the most amazing thing I've ever seen, it just hits me right and I adore the site from then on. The site is very solid and there's a lot of cute art, one that has a lot of very decent art. But every once in awhile there's that one illustration of Viral from his dream, the little kid kissing him on the forehead or devestated!Simon's face from episode 9+, and they'll be the kind that I just love. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - DESORDEN [ Japanese Fanart Sites ] - The longer I'm a fan of Reborn! the more I find myself becoming a fan of Dino and becoming increasingly weak towards fanart of him. This site has some really super-cute art with the light pastel colors that sort of shimmer/glow and... I like that style so I'm probably going to be softer towards than most people might be? I like Dino's messy pale blond hair, I like Tsuna's shining eyes, I like their cute clothes, etc. There's a fair amount of art on the site as well and will probably appeal to you more if you like the Dino and Tsuna characters a lot, which I do. (Dino/Tsuna, a little other.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - KJ [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - There's not a whole ton of art here, but at least there's a solid amount, which I mostly only complain about because I would really like to have seen more from this artist. There's a feel from her art that's very much like the canon source, which I didn't realize for a little while at first because the artist resizes her images on the page, making them look very aliased. When I viewed them at their regular size, the lines smoothed out considerably and the art looked terrific. My favorites were the Dino/Hibari illustrations of course, but the artist does a really fantastic Tsuna and some great Hibari stand alones as well. Very worth the trip here. (Some Dino/Hibari, maybe some Hibari/Tsuna, some gen.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - morrisn [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - So. Dino/Hibari is fast hurtling towards being an OTP of mine, which means seeking out as much fanart of them as I can, quite possibly until my brain melts from seeing all of it. But it'll be worth it because I really do enjoy sites with that rough sort of quality that so fits these two characters, the kind that might not be my preference with another pairing, but for these two it works. And, yeah, again, Hibari's a little more passive than I'd expect, but... hot!Dino! Hot!Dino with hot tattoos. I don't care about a lot in the face of hot!Dino with hot tattoos. It's not going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitaman Reborn! - L + A + S [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - So. I mentioned the growing obsession with Dino/Hibari, right? Because it's certainly attempting to take over my brain for awhile. And maybe it makes me less discerning or maybe it just makes me enjoy sites that I might have otherwise skimmed over because I'm just looking to enjoy the site, rather than critique it. But this artist does some really nice stuff, her Hibari looks great in a lot of these illustrations and her Dino has really hot tattoos and she draws clothes so well. She actually has some really cool lines and strong details, so I genuinely liked this site a lot. (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn!/Gintama - nkk [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I feel like maybe I've been to this site before, but that it might also just be because the style is similar to one I've seen used on other Dino/Hibari sites or even because I've been looking at so much fanart in the last few days that my brain is sort of starting to dribble out my ears a little. However. It's a style I greatly appreciate for Dino/Hibari sites because it's got this almost rough quality to it, except that's not really it, maybe intense might be a better word for it. Their hair is messy and their eyes draw in my attention with how sharp they look and the Dino/Hibari chemistry totally carries over into the art, I think. I do wonder if Hibari is a little more passive than I would like here (as well as put in dresses a little more often than I might have believed), but... well, I totally forget that in the face of the artist's smoking hot Dino. His tattoos are so hot. As for the Gintama fanart, it's much the same. I really like the artist's pseudo-rough style and her Hijikata looks really kinda super hot and I wonder if Okita isn't a little too passive, but I forget about that in the face of art that makes me smile. A very nice site! ♥ (Dino/Hibari, Hijikata/Okita.)
- Naruto - PPS [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I actually came here looking for Gurren Lagann fanart, but got sidetracked by the two pages full of Naruto art. There's not an absolute ton here and it's not the kind of art that's going to win someone over if they're not interested, but there's very like Shikamaru/Ino fanart out there that I like and this site just... quietly appealed to me. I like the style, the soft colors on Ino's hair and eyes, the cuteness of many images, the stylized look of the artist's take on them. That's not the only characters present on the site, there's actually a bunch of illustrations of various characters in the Narutoverse, but unless you're at least somewhat fond of ShikaIno, I wouldn't recommend this site. If you do like the pairing, this site was kinda cute. (Shikamaru/Ino, some gen.)
- One Piece/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - CHITTYCHITTY [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is one of those times that I wish I could like the Zoro/Luffy pairing more, because the artist here draws them so incredibly like canon, it's sort of amazing. The wonderful thing (both for me and for all One Piece fans) is that she doesn't just draw that pairing, she draws all the characters, you can find art of pretty much every main character and they all look fantastic. Plus, the illustrations are fun and happy, so much like the style of Oda's color illustrations, too. In comparison, there's not nearly as much Reborn! fanart (compared to the solid section of One Piece), but what's here is adorable Gokudera/Tsuna art. The lines are so clean and so much like their canon selves, I love it! A fantastic site. ♥ (Zoro/Luffy, and a lot of gen for OP. Gokudera/Tsuna for Reborn!.)
- Tales of the Abyss - Kranz [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - The early art on this site is a little unsteady and it takes awhile for the artist to get going, but because she was drawing Ion/Anise and Sync/Arietta, I was willing to give the site awhile longer to even out. I'm glad I did, it's a very sweet little site and the artist draws some really pretty fan comics. Fan comics are something that are often hit-and-miss with me, sometimes I just love them to pieces, other times I won't even bother to click on more than a couple of random links in the galleries. I don't know what it is about any given artist that will make me sit up and take notice, but this one managed to catch my attention with her comics, they improved with every page and were actually really lovely to look at. It wound up being a really cute, sweet site with two pairings I love a lot. ♥ (Ion/Anise, Sync/Arietta.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site isn't going to be for everyone, but there are a couple of things that the artist did that I liked. First, I kinda enjoy the messy style with the light colors and almost scribbly lines, it works well for this site. Second, there's art of almost every important character in the game, even if it's just a simple oekaki sketch. Sure, the main focus might be on Ion/Sync/etc. and it totally helps that the artist seems at least somewhat fond of the idea of Sync/Arietta, but I love it when there's a ton of art of a bunch of different characters. It's not a perfect site, but it had enough to charm me into liking it, especially since the artist shows more and more promise, the more the site goes along. I'm definitely curious to where this artist will go in the future. (Some Sync/Arietta, a lot of gen.)
- Tales of the Abyss - 1212*online [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Oh, it feels like it's been forever since I've found a new Asch/Natalia site that I've really liked. It started off with a super-cute chibi illustration of the two of them and only got more fun from there--the artist draws the characters with these warm, soft colors that make them look so cute together, it sort of just automatically makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to look at them. Especially when Natalia is smiling so brightly and Asch is being all hilariously wtffff in her direction. ♥ Even the oekaki is adorable and cute and pretty. I dearly hope there are still a few more Asch/Natalia sites out there like this one that I just haven't stumbled over yet. ♥ (Asch/Natalia.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I generally really do try to avoid sites with only a handful of ToA art pages on them, but sometimes a site has art that is just so pretty that I cannot resist. Right from the beginning, from the cel-style coloring of the Luke fanart, then the Legretta fanart, then a gorgeous Tear fanart, and then a beautiful Luke/Tear illustration, and I knew I was going to be totally gone on this artist. The colors are just so lush and vibrant, every character the artist draws looks amazing. And there's also some smoking hot fanart on the artist's oekaki boards, which... again, not a ton, but enough to be satisfactory and even really kind of amazing at times. (No real warnings/pairings.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I couldn't help being charmed by this site, right from the beginning it's these cute little chibi-esque illustrations with the soft, pretty, light, airy colors that I really like so much. And everything is just so damned adorable that I either grin at the art or just want to scoop them all up and take them home with me. And, yes, many of them are just cute, but some of them are actually really pretty and very well-done. It helps that the artist seems to be at least friendly towards pairings like Ion/Anise or Sync/Arietta (the j-fans are really starting to spoil me on these pairings, I suspect) but it's also that the artist gets really good the further into the gallery I got. Again, not perfect, but worth a look. (A tiny smidge of Ion/Anise and Sync/Arietta, but it's mostly a gen site.)
- Tales of the Abyss - konekopunch [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was intrigued and a little charmed by this site right from the beginning. There wasn't a ton of art, though, so I was holding back a little bit, but eager to see where it would go. About the third illustration in, there's an image of Asch holding Natalia protectively close and his hair is in complete dissarray as it whips around in the wind. It's exactly the kind of fanart that I go for--Asch is beautifully drawn and the pose between the two of them makes my fangirl heart just utter glee over them--and thus it didn't matter whether or not I liked any single other image on the site. Except, of course, I very much did. Because there was one of Jade and Saphir with Nebilim, there was teasing of Dist, there was hot Asch + Luke art, there were even some really lovely sketches. Fantastic. ♥ (Some Asch/Natalia, some gen.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I originally came here for the potential Asch/Natalia fanart, but wound up staying because I liked the site as a whole. For the most part, yes, I'm partial to the Asch/Natalia art and that's why I was won over so easily here, but occasionally the artist would come up with a really cute Tear illustration or a cute Luke fanart or something similar. But, yeah, the Asch/Natalia stuff is my favorite--the image of them as kids or Natalia holding up a badly drawn image of Asch (asldkjalskj so cute!) or Asch kissing her forehead or the two of them putting their arms around each other and leaning in, all of them are so cute. The site isn't perfect, but it gave me several illustrations that I really adored and made me fawn over my OTP once again. ♥ (Asch/Natalia, maybe a smidge of Luke/Tear, some gen.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - At first it didn't seem like there were a whole lot of links to follow on this site, but what art that was here was gorgeous. Just stunningly gorgeous Asch illustrations, all that long hair whipping around him and gorgeous dramatic lines and everything wonderfully in proportion and a hot hot hot mid-battle pose and just beautifully drawn. There were a couple of really nice Natalia illustrations as well, some very nice use of color from the artist. I was ready to recommend the site based on those alone. Then I kept following the links, pulling up a few more and a few more images, discovering the comics that were cute as all get out and deliciously OTP-friendly. Seriously, the one where Asch is yanking Natalia along by the hand? Then later picks her up to carry her? Just. asd;flkjalskf squee. And there are still yet more really lovely images to be found tucked away on various pages and the whole site just... put me into total squee mode. (Asch/Natalia, some gen as well.)
- Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - The early art on this site is kinda shakey, it's not until about 30 or 40 links into the site that the artist has really tightened up her artwork, but the ToA art didn't start appearing until about link 45 or so, so by the time that happened, the artist was drawing fantastic stuff. There's a lot of oekaki-style images here, but you can see how tremendously talented the artist is, the lines are the jagged type from mouse art, but they're still steady and clean, used on some really fun/interesting concepts for images. The little mini-comics or the lovely art of Asch + Luke standing back to back or Dist working on Tokunaga or the group in some of their various costumes or the gorgeous illustration of the God-Generals as a group. The site requires a bit of patience (or enjoyment of other Tales series, as I liked seeing the Destiny art as well) to find all the ToA art, since it's tucked away into various corners, but it's got some really kickass art to make it worthwhile. (Implications of some canon pairings, but nothing I'm going to warn for.)
- Tales of the Abyss/Odin Sphere - side-A [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was rather immediately charmed by the artist putting the ToA characters into various costumes, a handful of illustrations for most of the main characters, but it was really the image of Guy watching over little Luke and little Natalia playing together while little Asch stands apart from them, obviously watching in pain. It was a lovely take on that scene from the manga and finally won me over. The site also has some very solid, pretty art of most of the characters, the artist is especially good at drawing Luke (the sketches of him and/or Asch are especially lovely) and there's a very sweet Luke/Tear-friendly comic and the artist's Natalia is lovely in her comics as well. By the time I was getting to the last of the sketch/junk pages, the artist had gotten some really beautiful art in, I'm very glad to have stumbled over this site. As for the Odin Sphere section of the site, there's not much here (just one really pretty Mercedes image and then two pages of diary-style art, which is actually quite a lot since the artist puts a bunch on each page), but it's enough to count and the art is very nice. ♥__♥ A-also. Totally worth it for the image of Velvet with Pooka!Cornelius tucked under her arm and stepping on Ingway's bloody head. I LOL'd. (Several potential het pairings, but this site could be entirely gen as well. Whatever was canon on Odin sphere probably shows up here.)
- Tales of the Abyss/Howl's Moving Castle - Bird Cage [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Oh, man, adorable little comics where all of the characters look so cute and then adorable Luke/Tear fanart to go along with them. The art is very much on the cute side during the whole site, but they can also be kind of pretty at the same time. The strength of the artist's basic lines (which you can especially see in those b&w comics) is solid and the colors are very cute. It's much the same for the HMC fanart, though, perhaps not quite as polished yet. It's the kind of site that'll make you go, "Awwwwww. ♥" a lot if you're partial to the characters/pairings drawn, but may not win you over if you're not already a fan. It's still really cute stuff, though. ♥ (Some Luke/Tear, some gen for ToA. Howl/Sophie for HMC.)
NEW GOAL: 961/1500
58 recs, oh my god, shoot me.
Series:
Avatar: The Last Airbender - 2 Fanfics
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
The Forbidden Game - 1 Fanfic
Friday Night Lights - 7 Fanfics
Fullmetal Alchemist - 3 Fanfics
House - 1 Fanfic
Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 6 Fanfics
Odin Sphere - 1 Fanfic
Spirited Away - 1 Fanfic
Stargate: Atlantis - 1 Fanfic
D.Gray-man - 5 Fanart
D.Gray-man/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1 Fanart
Gintama - 5 Fanart
Gurren Lagann - 4 Fanart
Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 4 Fanart
Katekyou Hitman Reborn!/Gintama - 1 Fanart
Naruto - 1 Fanart
One Piece/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss - 9 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss/Odin Sphere - 1 Fanart
Tales of the Abyss/Howl's Moving Castle - 1 Fanart
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Beard by Icka! M. Chif - This was a really cute, fun little fic about Toph's blindness and Sokka's beard, which we have seen a couple of times now in season three, and it's one of those moments where... Sokka's a dork, Toph is pretty much pure hardcore hilarious awesome. It's dorky friendships being shown wonderfully, the kind of relationships between the characters that made me love the main gang in the first place. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Avatar: The Last Airbender - Only Might by jetamors - [Note: There will be spoilers for 3x08, as well as this fic probably won't make sense without having seen that episode.] I picked up the link for this fic from this rec post, intrigued about a rather dark Hamma fic, since she was such an interesting character. And this was a creepy little fic about her time in the prisons and the way her worldview shifted because of what she'd gone through. Her descent into the darkness and rage and insanity is really kinda disturbing to watch here and the ending scene is really perfect. I'd wondered a little about that, what about the other prisoners there with her, and this is something I can picture perfectly after this episode. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Bleach - New Tricks by kay_willow - This is a really interesting look at Renji's perspective about halfway through the Soul Society art, when he goes to visit Rukia in jail, when he clearly wants so badly to save her, to get a reaction out of her, something. I like the way the author tied together the other events happening in the series at the time (Aizen's "murder", Kira and Hinamori's arrests for fighting with bankai, etc.) to push him over the edge and into his actions in the later half of the arc. It's an insightful look into his character, always the stray dog barking for attention, which Renji kinda knows, but it's done in such a way that I can believe these are the thoughts going through his head. (Renji/Rukia.)
- Bleach - Diamond Girl by kay_willow - Ishida/Rukia is a pairing that I have contemplated before, they've had a moment or two in canon that has made me think, but nothing ever really came of it (in canon or in fandom) so I sort of forgot about it. (Especially since I like Ishida/Nemu so much.) And then I read this fic and it makes me want to actively ship them, because the dyanmic really works here, the whole fic sparkles and is full of clever little moments that are hilarious and sharp-witted. There's a certain sort of understanding between the two of them, an acceptance of both of their quirks that they don't really seem too bothered by, and after this fic where Ishida asks Rukia to attend a party thrown by Ryuuken (since who else is he going to ask?), about the only reason I'm not shipping it is because it'd break my heart always pining for more of it. Instead, I'll enjoy this fic where it works and be delighed with that. (Ishida/Rukia possible implications, mild blink-and-you'll-miss-it implications of Ishida/Orihime.)
- The Forbidden Game - Relics by praiseofshadows - I read this series of books many, many years ago, they were always my favorites of the LJ Smith books, and... okay, looking back on them and the summary now, I do wonder a little how well they would have held up, how very cliche they must have been, but at the time I was utterly, madly in love with them. And so when I saw Forbidden Game fic being posted at 31_days, I had to at least go check it out. These four ficlets (at the time of this rec) are very short, just little snippets strung together, and it will probably read even better when there are more of them, but I like what the author is building here. The sense of something pulling at Jenny, the way the stave just happens to find its way into her posession, it's building up very nicely so far. The writing is very solid and I definitely want more of this. (Eventual Julian/Jenny, I presume?)
- Friday Night Lights - Gentle by scoob2222 - There is something about the relationship between Tim and Tyra that I can't quite let go of, something that makes me really want to actively ship them, except that I know it would only get my fangirl heart broken. And, yet, I cannot resist promising fic for the two of them, especially a lovely piece set post-1x20 (which means spoilers for that episode!) where Tim tries to be gentle with Tyra, tries to be careful with her when it's not something that comes natural to him, especially as he's realizing what happened and is so angry about that, even as it's not what Tyra needs right then. There's a deliberately awkward quality to Tim here, fumbling just a little and not sure what to do, that's perfect for this moment. The hurt and upset in this scene were lovely to read, a moment of obvious connection still between them. Lovely. (It's not really Tim/Tyra, it's gen, but.)
- Friday Night Lights - Drowning by natfudge - He leans back on his arms as his eyes refuse to meet hers, instead staring hard at the top button of his shirt on her and Tyra finally gets it. He hadn’t been able to drown himself in drink this time, so he was going to drown himself in her. This is the kind of fic I've been quietly wanting from the FNL fandom, but am a little too wary of trying to sift through a whole new fandom that I'm unfamiliar with (it takes so long to find the authors that mesh with my own tastes, so I usually wander through other recs posts), but I'm glad to have at least this one. It's not a nice fic, but it's not a horrible fic, either, instead it's got much the same tone that the series itself has, it's not about making everything all better by the end, it's about managing to live through one more day. The way the relationship between Tim and Tyra at the beginning of the series is portrayed in this fic is spot-on, every little thing that Tyra knows about Tim is exactly the kind of thing this fic was trying to accomplish. I love that even the sex, while being really kinda hot, is more about coping with pain than it is sexy. Lovely fic. (Tim/Tyra, somewhere between R and NC-17, NSFW.)
- Friday Night Lights - Verboten by Kate Andrews - Oh, oh, oh. Matt and Julie and this fic is so perfect that I was quite possibly clapping my hands together with delight and/or grinning stupidly the entire time. It's got such a perfect Julie voice, how much she really, genuinely likes Matt Saracen and how much she really, genuinely likes teasing him. Matt is brilliant throughout the fic as well, so very nervous and obviously liking her so very much and so awkward in that sweet, adorable way that makes you love him more. I can't decide if the characterization of the two of them or the truly clever, brilliant little moments of the fic are my favorite part. It's such a simple story on the surface--Matt and Julie's relationship, all normal moments in the course of them dating--but it's perfect, right down to Matt's very obvious fear of Coach Taylor and how everything was so easily pictured in my mind. I loved this fic. (Matt/Julie.)
- Friday Night Lights - Restraint by Kate Andrews - So, I was trying to go for this Tim/Tyra thing tonight, read more of those fics, instead of heading for the usual Matt/Julie. Just for some variety. Except I cannot stay away because these two are just so damn cute together and it's really wonderful to read a fic about how much Matt Saracen is a teenaged boy with a sex drive that's hard to force down when he really, really likes his girlfriend. Especially when she keeps nudging him and teasing him and being so very Julie. They're adorable together, it's so easy to see how much they really like each other and how sparklingly clever they are around each other. The fic was another one that put a smile on my face the entire time I was reading it, they're just so damn adorable and fun together. I'd put this as another must-read for these two. (Matt/Julie, a solid R rating, NSFW.)
- Friday Night Lights - A Poor Man's Memory by shrift - I was enjoying this fic, a short piece that's mostly a conversation between Tim and Landry, with Tim being so very Tim about everything, when I got to this line from Landry: Landry's eyes bugged out. "Would you please tell me, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, what the hell is wrong with you?" And I cracked up because it's such a perfect voice for Landry, I can just see him throughout the piece and this is why the Tim - Landry not-quite-friendship is such a beautiful thing. It's a lovely look at Tim for the most part, though, and it's just painful enough that it's completely in line with the show. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Friday Night Lights - I'll Be Leaving Soon (Tonight I'm Here) by minervacat - One of the things I like best about the FNL fandom (or what I've seen of it, not that I've poked around all that hard) is the way the fic isn't exactly angsty or melodramatic, but it's not exactly happy fun times, either. While reading this piece about Tim, about his relationships with both Tyra and Jason, the way he sees and watches and knows more than most people would ever think he does, it's kind of heartbreaking in exactly the way watching Tim on the show is. He's not going anywhere and it almost hurts more because he's long since accepted that. It's got moments of awesome--especially the way Tim views Tyra, it doesn't focus on what breaks them apart, but why they worked for so long--but I love that the ending made me feel so much of what the show does as well. (Tim/Tyra, implications of Tim/Jason.)
- Friday Night Lights - Texas Forever by topaz - This is a gorgeous story about Tim Riggins and where the future of these characters might be going. It's almost sort of a hopeful look, but not in the shiny happy sort of way, it's about small town people and some of them make it out and make something of themselves and some of them don't. The more fic I read about Tim, especially ones like this, the more I fall in love with his character all over again. The writing is fantastic, the format of the fic--shifting scenes, one set in the future, one showing the progression of the timeline from a more current point--works so very well, a little bit introspective, a lot like an article being written on Tim Riggins' career, and yet still a story. I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out what to say, despite that this was one of the best FNL pieces I've ever read, it's absolutely a must-read. It's brilliant, it's a little painful, it's a little sad, it's a little happy, but most of all, it's breathtaking. (Nothing to really warn for.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - On The Table by Sister Coyote - It's been ages since I've read any FMA fic, but I've often said that one of the few things that could bring me back would be Havoc/Hawkeye fic. It's not a pairing that's often done right, but I've liked Sister Coyote's FFXII fic a lot, so I was eager to try this one. It's a short scene, Havoc and Hawkeye playing cards, there's an almost terse quality to the language of the story, but I find that works really well for these characters in this story. There's a very direct feeling, a very straight-forward style that fits well with two military officers. The way their card games unfold, the way Havoc looks at her, it's all very well-done. (Havoc/Hawkeye.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - Very Responsible by Sister Coyote - Forget there being much Havoc/Hawkeye fic in the first place, there's hardly any porn for them that's any good. This fic isn't really that much above an R (or maybe just a hard R), but sometimes fics don't really need to be NC-17 to be hot, because this fic has them both with such great characterization, so straightforward and direct while still being flirtatious in a way that's very much like themselves, while also having very, very nice sex. The use of Havoc's hands were really fantastic, especially since Hawkeye is so much tinier than he is, his hands would be so large and not quite rough against her skin (and I love tha the size difference never really mattered except in a physical sensation sort of way), it was just... very nice. Mmm. (Havoc/Hawkeye, semi-graphic content.)
- Fullmetal Alchemist - The Bottom Line by ArtemisRae - I picked up the link for this from this recs post and I'm so glad that laurus_nobilis makes recs sometimes because she manages to find some utter gems. This Sieg/Izumi story is just a short little thing set at the beginning of their relationship, one that made me laugh and then sparkle because asdlfkjasldk that's probably just exactly how it went. ♥ (Seig/Izumi.)
- House - Sonic Ex Machina by Adrian Tullberg - Okay, this is actually a Doctor Who crossover, but I don't think it's of interest to soley Who fans enough to mark it as such. Anyway, it's a funny little fic about House finding the Doctor's sonic screwdriver and having a little fun with it, just a light-hearted little humorfic that made me laugh. It's nice to see House actually having some fun and it was creative enough to keep my attention during the whole thing. ....House and Doctor Who, that's not something I would have immediately gone for, but now I kind of want more of these two crossed together. Hmm. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - The Tigers Come At Night by cerepan - I don't know how to explain why I liked this fic. There's something about it, it's very... I don't know. Stylized, perhaps. It pretty much throws you into the action in medias res, having an almost whimiscal sort of narration for a rather outlandish plot. Which is what makes it work for me, if Mukuro's illusions as a trap for Dino had been told in a more straightforward manner, I don't think I would have liked this as much, except this fic somehow both... it made me laugh and it was kind of really hot and Hibari was suitably violent and... it was kind of all over the place, but deliberately so. The little comments could have almost derailed the fic off its track, but instead I wound up laughing at all the right moments, the little asides from the characters added to the fic rather than taking away from it. This was fun. And kind of really hot. Mmm. (Dino/Hibari, maybe a little bit Mukuro/Hibari if you want to see the implications that way, a hard R or so.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Hit the Ground Running by picnicbird - This is another story that just sort of drops you right into the middle of the story about Dino and Hibari doing a hit, but because it's a short moment in time sort of fic, I found that worked for me. The author's take on the characters is really lovely, Hibari is violent and aggressive, while Dino is still a member of the mafia and yet much more patient and warm, the two of them balancing each other out/being foils for each other works very well here. I love this fic because it's almost sort of... cute and sweet, except in that Dino/Hibari sort of way, so it's a weird sort of... uh, sweet. XDDD (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - untitled by kasugai_gummie - Perhaps there is something about the Dino/Hibari pairing that lends them well to dropping them into the middle of a scene (another hit they're working together on), which might just be because they work well with that sort of storyline. There's such antagonism and yet lingering respect underneath the aggression between them, it makes for something hot as hell, especially when they're in a darkened alleyway while on the run from the local police and Hibari is still so Hibari even while Dino's trying to have a little common sense. There's something hard and intense about these two, it's really fantastic. (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - untitled by kasugai_gummie - Mukuro/Hibari jumped out at me while reading the manga (how could it not?) but it's never been my favorite pairing. I don't mind it, but it didn't really catch me. As I was reading this Reborn! kink meme drabble dump, though, I figured, why not. And this is a powerful little ficlet, Hibari's fury and Mukuro's casual lethal grace, combined with sakura petals all around them, it's an intense moment that comes off as exactly what it should be--creepy and yet somehow still hot. (Mukuro/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Princess Hibarin Likes His Tea by kasugai_gummie - Normally, I'm not that one much for princess-ifying characters (there are occasional exceptions) and certainly not a character like Hibari. But I read the beginning of the fic anyway and fl;asdkalksj jesus christ that was hot as hell. He's still so Hibari, he's so aggressive and dangerous and intense, even while being a Yakuza Princess and the entire scene is just... perfect and hot as hell. ♥ (Dino/Hibari.)
- Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - Zelophilia by Enkidu - As I mentioned in a previous rec, Mukuro/Hibari is something I saw in the manga, of course, but never really sought out, as by the time I was entering into fandom, I was far more interested in Dino/Hibari, but after reading some of these fics... there's so much of that same harsh intensity between these characters, the way I could believe they would actually keep Hibari's attention long enough for something to happen. Or pin Hibari down long enough to make him pay attention. Between the implications of Dino/Hibari here (which were hot as hell, too) and the implications of what Mukuro was going to attempt to do to Hibari, how creepy and disturbing and hot those implications were, just... mmm, yes. I am going to be spoiled as hell by this kink meme's responses. (Dino/Hibari, Mukuro/Hibari, Mukuro/Hibari/Dino?)
- Odin Sphere - Time Apart by Ethereal Vesper - After playing through Mercedes' book in the game, I was struck by the utter need I had for an Ingway/Mercedes fic and so I wandered over to FFNET to find something. And this was a cute little fic (with perhaps some spoilers for the end of Mercedes' book?), just a quiet little thing where Mercedes goes back into the forest to hunt frogs again (since the last promise didn't really count) and thinks about Ingway. She lays down for a nap and when she wakes, perhaps someone has come to visit her while she was asleep. It's just... really cute and the characterization is solid. And I'm delighted that I'm not the only fan of these two. ♥ (Ingway/Mercedes.)
- Spirited Away - Hand of Sorrow by Aishuu - This is a lovely little piece set post-movie, after Chihiro has forgotten her time in the other world, even if her spirit vaguely remembers some of the things there that made her a stronger person, set from Haku's point of view. Haku, who does remember and watches over her in what few little ways he can, in a really pretty, bittersweet narrative. It's just a small moment in time, but it has several lovely insights into the characters making it a very nice read. (Some implications of Haku/Chihiro if you want to see them that way.)
- Stargate: Atlantis - we were never good soldiers (or very good fighters) by minervacat - Every so often I go through the SGA fandom again to find new Ronon/Teyla fic, as they're the pairing that intrigues me the most. I really, really liked Sparky, but sometimes it's hard to be a fan of those two... not that it's much easier being a fan of Ronon/Teyla. But every so often there comes along a fic I genuinely like and gives the couple a baby! I love babyfic when done right. I love the sense of permanence it can give a couple, I love the potential for antics with a kid (and their kid is so adorable and Teyla being pregnant early on in the story is fantastic), and this fic achieves both. Sure, the kid is kinda hilarious, but it's the way having a child born on Atlantis changes the perspectives of people, the way it brings home a few things, is lovely, the kind of thing babyfic should be used for. I really like the way this story was written in a series of scenes across several years, showing the progression of their relationships with everyone, the way people changed over time, both naturally and because of a child running around. It's really, really lovely. (Ronon/Teyla.)
- D.Gray-man - that day [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was in the mood to look for more Ravi/Rinali fanart, despite that I wondered if I'd seen all of the good sites for them already, when I stumbled over this site. The first couple of illustrations were more cute than anything--and several of the illustrations on the rest of the site would be described the same way, I think--the site quickly started showing these really beautiful images. I wound up liking the gen stuff as much as the Ravi/Rinali stuff, there are some gorgeous Rinali pieces, there's a really lovely gen poster-style illustration and you can look at the artist's b&w sketches to see how fantastic her basic lines really are. They're so sharp and clean when she's really concentrating on the images. The artist also seems to have snuck in a Kanda/Rinali illustration or two, not enough to count as a theme for the site, but just enough that it made me kind of stupidly happy. ♥ And, oh, my god, the comics with Noah!Rinali are gorgeous and creepy and perfect. The one with Komui meeting her again is heartbreaking and one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Totally worth the site alone right there. *__*♥ (Ravi/Rinali, a little other, some gen, too.) - D.Gray-man - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I wasn't sure I should recommend this site, there's only about ten illustrations in the gallery proper not counting the sketches/diary art, but... they're such clean, pretty illustrations that I couldn't resist. This artist's Allen looks fantastic and her Rinali is very pretty, the Allen/Rinali art on the site some of the best I've seen around in the fandom. And the sketches do start out a little, well, sketchy, but the artist quickly improves, so the second page of them looks really, really very nice, all these clean, pretty lines and light, soft colors. Very nice. (The site is half-gen, half-Allen/Rinali.) - D.Gray-man - Aurora [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site without a ton of art in the galleries, but what's here is so clean, sharp, and beautiful that I couldn't resist it. The artist does such fantastic things with characters like Rinali or Kanda, all that pretty hair streaming around them or a really lovely use of white space in an Allen image. And it was a lot of fun to go through the rest of the galleries, especially the hit galleries, to see the Gintama art or the gorgeous couple of Reborn! illustrations she has here. (....nothing I'm going to warn for.) - D.Gray-man - THOLOS [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It only took two illustrations into this site, despite that there's not a whole lot of art here, to know that I was going to really like this site. The detail and color put into the images make them look so pretty, they're just so richly and lushly done. Some of them are a little darker, like the one of Allen in the rain that's so pretty to look at, and some others are done in these light, pastel-friendly colors and I love both styles. It's not a perfect site, but it's certainly one of the better ones I've seen and totally worth it for the adorable kitty!Kanda/Allen/Lavi image. It actually makes me like Kanda/Allen again, reminds me that some artists can still do it so that it looks really beautiful. And the sketches of the stand-alone characters are just gorgeous, all soft lines and soft colors. And any image the site has of Allen by himself? asdlfkjasldkjalsk so hot. And the handful of Rinali illustrations! Omg, so pretty. *__* (Some Kanda/Allen, some Lavi/Allen, some Lavi/Kanda, but worth it for the gen if you step carefully, I think.) - D.Gray-man - mossgreen [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is a really cool little site with a lot of really sharp illustrations. The colors are very bright and vivid, the concepts/poses are solid, and the whole entire site is very strong. Occasionally, the artist tries something different (there's a really cool one of Allen looking bone-white on a dark blue/black background, just a splash of green for the tie around his neck and I sort of love the style of it) but mostly it's just a really well-drawn site, the b&w sketches showing off the artist's basic skills. The site is most worth visiting for the b&w poster-style illustration of the major players of the manga, the detail is just fantastic and it really fits the tone of the series. Some of the art is just gorgeous on this site and I'm so glad to have stumbled over it this morning. (No warnings/pairings.) - D.Gray-man/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - 1369 [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site that's not going to appeal to everyone, I wasn't even going to recommend it at first, I was barely even halfway through the Reborn! art when I was about to give up. But... the D.Gray-man gallery is what really caught my attention with this site, the artist's style (which is very stylized, something that's not going to appeal to absolutely everyone) was kind of quirky and interesting, something that suited DGM really well. And I decided to include it in the Reborn! section as well because the artist does Dino/Hibari and it's somewhat intense art, which suits them. And, you know. Dino's tattoos are hot when drawn by this artist. That's a point in their favor. <3 It's not perfect, but it's interesting at least. The site makes for a good stop in a fanart hunt spree, I think. :D (Dino/Hibari for Reborn!, mostly gen for DGM, maybe a little Lavi/Allen.) - Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I had been spending the morning looking for D.Gray-man fanart and surfing around a bit and somehow I managed to end up on a Gintama site. A Gintama site with a rather pretty Katsura. A Gintama site with a rather pretty Katsura in GinZura art. I love that pairing deeply, but it tends to be extremely rare in fandom. And there's not a ton here and the artist took about half of the site to really improve (though, she's always been good), but she has these really sharp CG-style colors that I really like, so I enjoyed pretty much everything on the site. There's some really hot Gintoki fanart on the site as well, the one of him in his old samurai clothes is beautiful. Fantastic site. ♥ (Some GinZura, some other, a lot of gen, too.) - Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - For awhile, I was really trying to avoid recommending this site because the art style isn't really my usual preferred style, but I at least wanted to stick around the site to see if there was any interesting GinZura art. I'm very weak to this pairing, so when the artist started having some these interesting illustrations that were almost sort of stylized (well, I chose to look at them that way, anyway) and the site turned out to be a fun, interesting little stop... well, I had to go ahead and recommend it anyway. Not going to be for everyone, but if you like any and all Gintama fanart or are partial to the GinZura pairing, then you might like this one, too. (Some GinZura, some other, some gen.) - Gintama - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site will definitely not be for everyone, the art tends to very much lean towards being cute more than anything, but... well, it's got GinZura in their past soldier days and I'm really, really fond of that sort of thing. The artist also has the occasional very pretty Katsura illustration and she does improve a lot as the site goes along, some of the later art is very pretty. The artist also does really well with Gin's flat-eyed stare and I just... enjoyed this site, it was fun. (Some GinZura, some other, some gen.) - Gintama - Silver Labor Council [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I'm beginning to sound a bit like a broken record with how many times I've said this lately, but it's still very true and I say it because I want to convey my recommendation in the right frame of mind, as pretentious as that sounds. I really was going to pass right by this site, I'd planned to skip the last few images in the gallery, hit up the links page for anything that caught my eye, and move on. I don't really know what did me in with the site, much of the art isn't to my particular taste, but... when the artist would do some of the GinZura illustrations, she had this particular style. A style that felt very reminscent of a shounen manga, the tiny little lines and sharp detail, but without the "prettiness". (This, by the way, is not an insult at all, I like this style.) And then applied it to art of things like Gin kissing Katsura under a momiji tree, or the foursome walking along at a festival, or Gin lying with his head in Katsura's lap as they sit on a porch. And it just somehow fit with the Gintama style or fit with the characters or something, that those turned out to be my favorite illustrations on the site. ♥ (Some GinZura, some gen.) - Gintama - Lesport [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Okay, Hijikata/Yamazaki isn't my preferred pairing, it's not something that would have occurred to me with this series (though, it's not like the pairing has never crossed my mind, I could have seen it in Peacemaker, if Hijikata/Okita weren't so OTP there), but... goddamn, some of this art is just gorgeous. It's got those clean CG-style colors and lines and Hijikata looks so hot and I am always, always for Hijikata looking hot. There's also a smidge of Okita/Yamazaki here, which is drawn looking just as pretty. There's the occasional Shinsengumi as a group illustration and there was even a cute Kagura illustration floating around. Even if it's a bit of a rare/unusual pairing, it's worth a visit to the site, I think. (Hijikata/Yamazaki, some other.) - Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site... I might not have spent much time here or just passed it on by, but it has a certain style, very much like a watercolor painting, and somehow this really fits well with the Simon/Nia pairing. Especially since the artist seems to really adore Nia and draws her so cute and then has these lovely illustrations of her floating down into Simon's arms or the two of them floating along or flying way up in the air with Lagann while flowers rain down around them. It's one of those styles that I wouldn't want to see all of the time, but when just the one site comes along... it's really cute and very sweet, totally hits that craving for Simon/Nia adorableness that I've been having. (Simon/Nia.) - Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Sites ] - This is one of those sites that's going to be hell for me to describe properly. It's not that it doesn't deserve a proper rec, because it does. The art is all very good and very nice to look at and the artist even covers a variety of poses and characters. It's everything a site should be. But there aren't really any themes, it's largely a gen site (with some Simon/Nia) and so not much stands out for me to comment on. It's a really nifty little site, it's very solid and I enjoyed it a lot. It's just a little hard to describe. Totally worth visiting, though. (Mostly gen, maybe a little Simon/Nia.) - Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site that took me awhile to really warm up to, one that I almost gave it a pass, not because it was bad or anything, just that it hadn't really hit me yet. But somewhere along the way it still managed to win me over. Whether through having a surprising amount of art on the site, having a lot of it be focused on how adorable Simon is (who is my favorite character, I think), or because there are a handful of really cute Simon/Nia illustrations (a couple of the images in the gallery proper are just lovely, with the warm watercolor style the artist uses on them), I'm not sure. But it's a solid, cute site that's worth your time if you like looking through a lot of j-fanart. (Some gen, some Simon/Nia.) - Gurren Lagann - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - There is often a particular single illustration that will put me over the top with a site and make me finally cave on officially liking it. I usually enjoy the art up to that point, wavering back and forth, liking it but not quite enough that I would want to recommend it yet. But then I'll hit an image, maybe one of Yoko looking smoking hot and the artist has used all these really pretty shades of red and orange and her hair looks fantastic, and for some reason, even if it's not the most amazing thing I've ever seen, it just hits me right and I adore the site from then on. The site is very solid and there's a lot of cute art, one that has a lot of very decent art. But every once in awhile there's that one illustration of Viral from his dream, the little kid kissing him on the forehead or devestated!Simon's face from episode 9+, and they'll be the kind that I just love. (No warnings/pairings.) - Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - DESORDEN [ Japanese Fanart Sites ] - The longer I'm a fan of Reborn! the more I find myself becoming a fan of Dino and becoming increasingly weak towards fanart of him. This site has some really super-cute art with the light pastel colors that sort of shimmer/glow and... I like that style so I'm probably going to be softer towards than most people might be? I like Dino's messy pale blond hair, I like Tsuna's shining eyes, I like their cute clothes, etc. There's a fair amount of art on the site as well and will probably appeal to you more if you like the Dino and Tsuna characters a lot, which I do. (Dino/Tsuna, a little other.) - Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - KJ [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - There's not a whole ton of art here, but at least there's a solid amount, which I mostly only complain about because I would really like to have seen more from this artist. There's a feel from her art that's very much like the canon source, which I didn't realize for a little while at first because the artist resizes her images on the page, making them look very aliased. When I viewed them at their regular size, the lines smoothed out considerably and the art looked terrific. My favorites were the Dino/Hibari illustrations of course, but the artist does a really fantastic Tsuna and some great Hibari stand alones as well. Very worth the trip here. (Some Dino/Hibari, maybe some Hibari/Tsuna, some gen.) - Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - morrisn [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - So. Dino/Hibari is fast hurtling towards being an OTP of mine, which means seeking out as much fanart of them as I can, quite possibly until my brain melts from seeing all of it. But it'll be worth it because I really do enjoy sites with that rough sort of quality that so fits these two characters, the kind that might not be my preference with another pairing, but for these two it works. And, yeah, again, Hibari's a little more passive than I'd expect, but... hot!Dino! Hot!Dino with hot tattoos. I don't care about a lot in the face of hot!Dino with hot tattoos. It's not going to be for everyone, but I enjoyed it. (Dino/Hibari.) - Katekyou Hitaman Reborn! - L + A + S [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - So. I mentioned the growing obsession with Dino/Hibari, right? Because it's certainly attempting to take over my brain for awhile. And maybe it makes me less discerning or maybe it just makes me enjoy sites that I might have otherwise skimmed over because I'm just looking to enjoy the site, rather than critique it. But this artist does some really nice stuff, her Hibari looks great in a lot of these illustrations and her Dino has really hot tattoos and she draws clothes so well. She actually has some really cool lines and strong details, so I genuinely liked this site a lot. (Dino/Hibari.) - Katekyou Hitman Reborn!/Gintama - nkk [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I feel like maybe I've been to this site before, but that it might also just be because the style is similar to one I've seen used on other Dino/Hibari sites or even because I've been looking at so much fanart in the last few days that my brain is sort of starting to dribble out my ears a little. However. It's a style I greatly appreciate for Dino/Hibari sites because it's got this almost rough quality to it, except that's not really it, maybe intense might be a better word for it. Their hair is messy and their eyes draw in my attention with how sharp they look and the Dino/Hibari chemistry totally carries over into the art, I think. I do wonder if Hibari is a little more passive than I would like here (as well as put in dresses a little more often than I might have believed), but... well, I totally forget that in the face of the artist's smoking hot Dino. His tattoos are so hot. As for the Gintama fanart, it's much the same. I really like the artist's pseudo-rough style and her Hijikata looks really kinda super hot and I wonder if Okita isn't a little too passive, but I forget about that in the face of art that makes me smile. A very nice site! ♥ (Dino/Hibari, Hijikata/Okita.) - Naruto - PPS [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I actually came here looking for Gurren Lagann fanart, but got sidetracked by the two pages full of Naruto art. There's not an absolute ton here and it's not the kind of art that's going to win someone over if they're not interested, but there's very like Shikamaru/Ino fanart out there that I like and this site just... quietly appealed to me. I like the style, the soft colors on Ino's hair and eyes, the cuteness of many images, the stylized look of the artist's take on them. That's not the only characters present on the site, there's actually a bunch of illustrations of various characters in the Narutoverse, but unless you're at least somewhat fond of ShikaIno, I wouldn't recommend this site. If you do like the pairing, this site was kinda cute. (Shikamaru/Ino, some gen.) - One Piece/Katekyou Hitman Reborn! - CHITTYCHITTY [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is one of those times that I wish I could like the Zoro/Luffy pairing more, because the artist here draws them so incredibly like canon, it's sort of amazing. The wonderful thing (both for me and for all One Piece fans) is that she doesn't just draw that pairing, she draws all the characters, you can find art of pretty much every main character and they all look fantastic. Plus, the illustrations are fun and happy, so much like the style of Oda's color illustrations, too. In comparison, there's not nearly as much Reborn! fanart (compared to the solid section of One Piece), but what's here is adorable Gokudera/Tsuna art. The lines are so clean and so much like their canon selves, I love it! A fantastic site. ♥ (Zoro/Luffy, and a lot of gen for OP. Gokudera/Tsuna for Reborn!.) - Tales of the Abyss - Kranz [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - The early art on this site is a little unsteady and it takes awhile for the artist to get going, but because she was drawing Ion/Anise and Sync/Arietta, I was willing to give the site awhile longer to even out. I'm glad I did, it's a very sweet little site and the artist draws some really pretty fan comics. Fan comics are something that are often hit-and-miss with me, sometimes I just love them to pieces, other times I won't even bother to click on more than a couple of random links in the galleries. I don't know what it is about any given artist that will make me sit up and take notice, but this one managed to catch my attention with her comics, they improved with every page and were actually really lovely to look at. It wound up being a really cute, sweet site with two pairings I love a lot. ♥ (Ion/Anise, Sync/Arietta.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site isn't going to be for everyone, but there are a couple of things that the artist did that I liked. First, I kinda enjoy the messy style with the light colors and almost scribbly lines, it works well for this site. Second, there's art of almost every important character in the game, even if it's just a simple oekaki sketch. Sure, the main focus might be on Ion/Sync/etc. and it totally helps that the artist seems at least somewhat fond of the idea of Sync/Arietta, but I love it when there's a ton of art of a bunch of different characters. It's not a perfect site, but it had enough to charm me into liking it, especially since the artist shows more and more promise, the more the site goes along. I'm definitely curious to where this artist will go in the future. (Some Sync/Arietta, a lot of gen.) - Tales of the Abyss - 1212*online [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Oh, it feels like it's been forever since I've found a new Asch/Natalia site that I've really liked. It started off with a super-cute chibi illustration of the two of them and only got more fun from there--the artist draws the characters with these warm, soft colors that make them look so cute together, it sort of just automatically makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside to look at them. Especially when Natalia is smiling so brightly and Asch is being all hilariously wtffff in her direction. ♥ Even the oekaki is adorable and cute and pretty. I dearly hope there are still a few more Asch/Natalia sites out there like this one that I just haven't stumbled over yet. ♥ (Asch/Natalia.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I generally really do try to avoid sites with only a handful of ToA art pages on them, but sometimes a site has art that is just so pretty that I cannot resist. Right from the beginning, from the cel-style coloring of the Luke fanart, then the Legretta fanart, then a gorgeous Tear fanart, and then a beautiful Luke/Tear illustration, and I knew I was going to be totally gone on this artist. The colors are just so lush and vibrant, every character the artist draws looks amazing. And there's also some smoking hot fanart on the artist's oekaki boards, which... again, not a ton, but enough to be satisfactory and even really kind of amazing at times. (No real warnings/pairings.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I couldn't help being charmed by this site, right from the beginning it's these cute little chibi-esque illustrations with the soft, pretty, light, airy colors that I really like so much. And everything is just so damned adorable that I either grin at the art or just want to scoop them all up and take them home with me. And, yes, many of them are just cute, but some of them are actually really pretty and very well-done. It helps that the artist seems to be at least friendly towards pairings like Ion/Anise or Sync/Arietta (the j-fans are really starting to spoil me on these pairings, I suspect) but it's also that the artist gets really good the further into the gallery I got. Again, not perfect, but worth a look. (A tiny smidge of Ion/Anise and Sync/Arietta, but it's mostly a gen site.) - Tales of the Abyss - konekopunch [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was intrigued and a little charmed by this site right from the beginning. There wasn't a ton of art, though, so I was holding back a little bit, but eager to see where it would go. About the third illustration in, there's an image of Asch holding Natalia protectively close and his hair is in complete dissarray as it whips around in the wind. It's exactly the kind of fanart that I go for--Asch is beautifully drawn and the pose between the two of them makes my fangirl heart just utter glee over them--and thus it didn't matter whether or not I liked any single other image on the site. Except, of course, I very much did. Because there was one of Jade and Saphir with Nebilim, there was teasing of Dist, there was hot Asch + Luke art, there were even some really lovely sketches. Fantastic. ♥ (Some Asch/Natalia, some gen.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I originally came here for the potential Asch/Natalia fanart, but wound up staying because I liked the site as a whole. For the most part, yes, I'm partial to the Asch/Natalia art and that's why I was won over so easily here, but occasionally the artist would come up with a really cute Tear illustration or a cute Luke fanart or something similar. But, yeah, the Asch/Natalia stuff is my favorite--the image of them as kids or Natalia holding up a badly drawn image of Asch (asldkjalskj so cute!) or Asch kissing her forehead or the two of them putting their arms around each other and leaning in, all of them are so cute. The site isn't perfect, but it gave me several illustrations that I really adored and made me fawn over my OTP once again. ♥ (Asch/Natalia, maybe a smidge of Luke/Tear, some gen.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - At first it didn't seem like there were a whole lot of links to follow on this site, but what art that was here was gorgeous. Just stunningly gorgeous Asch illustrations, all that long hair whipping around him and gorgeous dramatic lines and everything wonderfully in proportion and a hot hot hot mid-battle pose and just beautifully drawn. There were a couple of really nice Natalia illustrations as well, some very nice use of color from the artist. I was ready to recommend the site based on those alone. Then I kept following the links, pulling up a few more and a few more images, discovering the comics that were cute as all get out and deliciously OTP-friendly. Seriously, the one where Asch is yanking Natalia along by the hand? Then later picks her up to carry her? Just. asd;flkjalskf squee. And there are still yet more really lovely images to be found tucked away on various pages and the whole site just... put me into total squee mode. (Asch/Natalia, some gen as well.) - Tales of the Abyss - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - The early art on this site is kinda shakey, it's not until about 30 or 40 links into the site that the artist has really tightened up her artwork, but the ToA art didn't start appearing until about link 45 or so, so by the time that happened, the artist was drawing fantastic stuff. There's a lot of oekaki-style images here, but you can see how tremendously talented the artist is, the lines are the jagged type from mouse art, but they're still steady and clean, used on some really fun/interesting concepts for images. The little mini-comics or the lovely art of Asch + Luke standing back to back or Dist working on Tokunaga or the group in some of their various costumes or the gorgeous illustration of the God-Generals as a group. The site requires a bit of patience (or enjoyment of other Tales series, as I liked seeing the Destiny art as well) to find all the ToA art, since it's tucked away into various corners, but it's got some really kickass art to make it worthwhile. (Implications of some canon pairings, but nothing I'm going to warn for.) - Tales of the Abyss/Odin Sphere - side-A [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I was rather immediately charmed by the artist putting the ToA characters into various costumes, a handful of illustrations for most of the main characters, but it was really the image of Guy watching over little Luke and little Natalia playing together while little Asch stands apart from them, obviously watching in pain. It was a lovely take on that scene from the manga and finally won me over. The site also has some very solid, pretty art of most of the characters, the artist is especially good at drawing Luke (the sketches of him and/or Asch are especially lovely) and there's a very sweet Luke/Tear-friendly comic and the artist's Natalia is lovely in her comics as well. By the time I was getting to the last of the sketch/junk pages, the artist had gotten some really beautiful art in, I'm very glad to have stumbled over this site. As for the Odin Sphere section of the site, there's not much here (just one really pretty Mercedes image and then two pages of diary-style art, which is actually quite a lot since the artist puts a bunch on each page), but it's enough to count and the art is very nice. ♥__♥ A-also. Totally worth it for the image of Velvet with Pooka!Cornelius tucked under her arm and stepping on Ingway's bloody head. I LOL'd. (Several potential het pairings, but this site could be entirely gen as well. Whatever was canon on Odin sphere probably shows up here.) - Tales of the Abyss/Howl's Moving Castle - Bird Cage [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Oh, man, adorable little comics where all of the characters look so cute and then adorable Luke/Tear fanart to go along with them. The art is very much on the cute side during the whole site, but they can also be kind of pretty at the same time. The strength of the artist's basic lines (which you can especially see in those b&w comics) is solid and the colors are very cute. It's much the same for the HMC fanart, though, perhaps not quite as polished yet. It's the kind of site that'll make you go, "Awwwwww. ♥" a lot if you're partial to the characters/pairings drawn, but may not win you over if you're not already a fan. It's still really cute stuff, though. ♥ (Some Luke/Tear, some gen for ToA. Howl/Sophie for HMC.)NEW GOAL: 961/1500
Tags:
- fanart: d.gray-man,
- fanart: gintama,
- fanart: gurren lagann,
- fanart: howl's moving castle,
- fanart: katekyou hitman reborn!,
- fanart: naruto,
- fanart: odin sphere,
- fanart: one piece,
- fanart: tales of the abyss,
- fic: avatar,
- fic: bleach,
- fic: friday night lights,
- fic: fullmetal alchemist,
- fic: house,
- fic: katekyou hitman reborn!,
- fic: odin sphere,
- fic: spirited away,
- fic: stargate atlantis,
- fic: the forbidden game
