Links and recs: All Naruto (A)

[thistlechaser]

Anime-only stuff. Move along, uninterested people. :)


I'm really going to end up making a new recs page or expanding my HP page to include other themes. I keep finding good things that I want to save and share!

Four fic links/recs:

* Weak - In my HP-only days, I would never, ever have ventured onto FF.net to read stories. (Read to mock them, yes. Read them to enjoy them? No.) However, for non-HP themes I sometimes pick through the fics there, and in this case I got lucky. Zabuza/Haku, from Haku's POV. Not slash, but the love is there. It tells of their final time together. *sniff*

* Hand Over Fist by velutlunas. NC-17. A wonderfully realistic view of a teenage boy (Kiba) exploring his sexuality both with himself and the people around him. I grinned the whole time I was reading this -- it made Kiba into such a real person! It's odd when a fanfic makes you like a canon character more, but that's the case here.

* Two drabbles written by ryuuro by my request. One, Seven Days and Seven Nights, I mentioned here last week, but it's worth mentioning again! Zabuza and Haku are stuck on a tropical island and... well, you should just read it! Gigglingly funny. The second she wrote for me, That Special Time of the Year, is a snickeringly good look at Ebisu trying to, well, get into Iruka's pants. Ebisu is his usual overly "enthusiast" self (enthusiast's not the right word, but I don't think there is one to describe him. Energetic, forward, confident? Whatever. Ebisu-esque.). Both can be found here.

Bonus fanart link: Keen dark Zabuza.

One BT rec -- 72 Naruto wallpapers. Lots of fanart, nearly 100% of it is great quality stuff. It's a tiny file and at the moment the torrent is moving super-fast (over 100 Kb/sec!!). I completed the download in about a minute; it's totally worth it!

http://anime.mircx.com/download/aa18e928b5fe150b1ea3479e179bd8e2a204add1

Even if you don't need new wallpaper, it's cool just for the art. (I love the Ninja-Dogs ones and the Kakashi's bedroom one.)

Comments

[fealu-bryne.livejournal.com]

Hand Over Fist.

*dies* Mmmmm...

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I know! And it was the perfect title too, wasn't it? Mmmm. It made me like Kiba a whole lot more, too. A whoooole lot more. :)

(Not that *you'd* know him, you suck and all that! ;) )

[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

Oooh, Naruto recs! And eeee~ Zabuzu/Haku! ♥ I love Kiba, so I look forward to reading that too. I'm always excited to see anime recs, because there just aren't enough anime rec pages around. Thanks for the recs. ^_^

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I wonder if there are fewer rec pages because there's a lot less fanfic around? In HP Land, there's a kazillion fics, with what seems like hundreds of new stories coming out every day. In my anime circles (PoT, Naruto) it seems like just a couple a week...

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[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

I think the amount of fic definitely has something to do with it, and this would also explain the lack of structured, fandom-specific fic archives, which always makes me envy tv fandoms. I remember going on a hunt for fic archives in tv fandoms a while ago looking to see what things looked like in non-anime fandoms, and it just made me feel really wistful. I mean, I do understand that the fleeting nature of most anime fandoms makes this difficult (I mean, look at how quickly new series come out), but I still feel disappointed sometimes.

But anyway, back to recs. I also think that less anime fans read fic than tv fans. If you think about it, trying to keep up with both an ongoing anime series, plus reading the manga, takes up a whole huge chunk of time as it is, not to mention just interacting with other fans. Add to the fact that many anime fans are watching multiple series, well, this leaves very little time to indulge in fic except for the occasional peek at a few stories. But of course, all of this makes anime fic recs more precious.

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

All of that makes sense. When I first came over to the anime side of things, I went looking for the online archives of fics. For weeks I scratched my head and wondered where in the world they were all hidden, that I couldn't find them after so much googling and following links. I guess that's why I end up on the dreaded fanfiction.net looking for stuff...

It's really a shame there's not more fanfiction out there, but I bet you're right as to the cause. And I bet there's an added element as well: In western TV/book fandoms, fanart and fanfics are needed to cover the elements fans want to see (there'll never ever be Snape/Harry sex in the HP books, for example), but in anime we often get that! Maybe not the sex in exacting details, but the proof of the relationships is enough -- I can fill in between the scenes in my head, I don't need a fic to come up with the proof of the relationship PLUS what happens between the scenes.

Anyway, if I find more good ones I'll be sure to post!

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[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

I admit that I never paid much attention to online tv fandoms before I discovered LJ (and LJ really does bring together people from all sorts of different fandom backgrounds), so it's sort of the opposite experience for me as it was for you. Imagine my surprise and envy when I found such wonderfully structured and frequently updated large fic archives in many tv fandoms. I remember seeing huge archives devoted to just slash for fandoms like Smallville and Buffy, or Stargate, and of course for books/movie fandoms like HP and LoTR, etc. Unfortunately, I didn't want to read any fic for non-anime/manga fandoms. Yeah, it was eye-opening for this anime fan. ^^; So I definitely understand the need to go picking through ff.net, although I've been burned too many times and fear it muchly these days.

And you're so right, the subtext is damn near text in so many anime series, and they seem to be pushing fanservice to the limits these days. I'm sure it's not like that at all in most tv series, so I can see why fanfiction would be that much more sought after in tv fandoms.

You know, this is all very interesting to me. ^^

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Imagine my surprise and envy when I found such wonderfully structured and frequently updated large fic archives in many tv fandoms

I can imagine! I feel so spoiled, having had access to all that and now being scrambling for even the smallest good fic.

In case you didn't read all the comments in to the post (understandable!), someone left me one with a URL for a fic archive. Jumpy Boys (http://www.txq.nu/jumpyboys/index.php?PHPSESSID=8a91ad82d19ca83d942b9261e487b241). It's got 60+ PoT fics, under 10 Naruto ones, and assorted other things. While it's not as big or as high of quality as some of the more mainstream sites, it's by far the best anime fic archive place that I've found. (Okay, it's the ONLY one I've found, but it's still not bad.)

If nothing else, Jumpy Boys has confirmed that I can't really ship Iruka/Kakashi. They look good enough together, but for me the characters just don't seem to really fit together. (Funny, but unlike PoT, I don't feel driven to match up all the Naruto guys...)

One last good place to find fics: velutlunas's memories. She's done some good stuff, and I'm so totally drooling over Kiba now. Mmm.

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[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, Jumpy Boys has gotten a lot more actitivity! I had bookmarked them back around when the site opened, looking for Hikaru no Go fic, and there was like two. Not much else of anything else either, so I promptly forgot about the site. I'm glad there's more stuff there now. Will have to go take a look. Thanks! ^_^

See, and here I thought I was the only one. I don't really have a desire to ship people much in Naruto either, aside from Zabuza/Haku. I mean, I will read anything because I have several favorite characters, but I don't have preferred pairings.

Ooooh, I'm always happy to read more fic featuring Kiba. *_* Will check those out.

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

See, and here I thought I was the only one. I don't really have a desire to ship people much in Naruto either, aside from Zabuza/Haku. I mean, I will read anything because I have several favorite characters, but I don't have preferred pairings.

I thought about this a lot last night, but the only thing I was comparing it to in my head was PoT. I came to the conclusion that I want to match everyone up in PoT because that's sort of the point of the show. Tennis? You expect me to care about the show for the tennis? HA HA HA! But in Naruto, there's a darned lot else in the plot I care about besides who warms whose bed.

...except when it comes to Zabuza/Haku. They make my belly all twisty and warm. :) But no, seriously, even with them, there's a lot more I care about than just that they're sleeping together.

Naruto is like a show should be, really. Sex is only a part of their lives, and not the most important part, either. Visits to their bedrooms are nice, but for this show, I don't need to live in there. :)

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[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

Yep, you hit it on the nail. Naruto is more my ideal anime. The story is so engrossing and many characters so engaging that the slashiness factor takes a back seat. I'm so caught up in the storyline that I don't have time to even think about that. Naruto has taken over my life, and I just want more. ^_^

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Exactly, to all points! I can't even estimate how much of my brainpower during the day goes towards Naruto -- nearly all of it! ...it's a good thing jobs can't tell what you're thinking about. :P

By the way, have you seen this? http://www.hot-hot-hot-catlove.com/zhmanga.jpg (Not mine or by me, someone else LJ posted it earlier today.)

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[morinotokei.livejournal.com]

~cackles~ Oh my god, that manga was so cute! I hadn't seen it, so thanks for sharing. ^_^

[velutlunas.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was just poking around and read that you were having a hard time finding good stories in the anime-verse. I'd like to promote a couple of people who I think are just delicious. taimatv, malfoypridedxh, suzukiblu, sairobi. Tiamatv, dude, this girl OWNS PoT. Everything she writes reads like cannon. er InuiKai made it impossible for me to ever write that pair. Jade (malfoy) does some of the sweetest Naruto AU's and delicious little drabbles for PoT. I love everything she's done. Suzukiblu and her Naruto drabbles kill me with their clarity and the way she can just slip inside the character's skin. She makes me wish I could write drabbles. Sairobi? This girl and I see characters eerily similiar, and the doujin she's making for Shika/Neji? Possibly the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

An Archive rec is Jumpy Boys (http://www.txq.nu/jumpyboys/index.php?PHPSESSID=8a91ad82d19ca83d942b9261e487b241). They seem to be a bit discriminating in their choices, which makes almost everything in their archive just damn good.

I hope this helps, always love seeing people enjoy a fandom. *grins and scampers back to her little smutty world*

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[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you very much for the pointers! Eee! I can't wait to check them out!

I hope this helps

It totally will! :)