Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction “recommendation”, you will see why I put those quotation marks there later in this post. This time, I am taking a look at an Inuyasha fanfic called A Hint of Hope which was written by darling krash and published on January 29, 2005. It’s rated M. It’s in English and the main pairing is Inuyasha and Ayame. Other characters involved are Kouga, Ginta, Hakkaku, and one random character who appears in the end. I will say this once and I will say this again. I am no InuKag fan in the slightest. I find it annoying whenever Inuyasha and Kagome bicker constantly even though they grow closer to each other, and it does not help matters when Kagome uses the “Sit boy!” command although there were times Inuyasha did not deserve to be punished in such a fashion. There are also times that despite being the main female protagonist and showing some strength and independence as a character, Kagome will at times be the designated damsel in distress probably because the plot seems to demand it. Even at thirteen, I always thought that Inuyasha should be better off with another girl aside from Kagome, who can be as strong, tough, and courageous as Inuyasha. Enter Ayame. Even though she is a filler character and was meant to be Kouga’s bride to be, she certainly has a presence to her which makes her all the more endearing and charming as a character. Yes, she only appeared in a total of four episodes, and spoilers I am not even a fan of KogAya, mostly because Kouga seems to have a lot more interest in Kagome, despite the respective couples being married in Inuyasha: The Final Act. When all is said and done, this is all just a matter of personal tastes so InuKag, InuKik, and KogAya fans please put down your torches and pitchforks. When it comes to shipping Inuyasha and Ayame, there are traits about the both of them which I love. Both Inuyasha and Ayame are strong, tough, capable, battle-ready, fiery, and badass characters with a lot of spirited personalities. Because Ayame has been raised by the white wolf yokai tribe, she was taught to fight at such an early age, and for that, she is respected by her tribe, though Ginta and Hakkaku are rather intimidated by her. In terms of Inuyasha, he grew up in such a harsh environment where both humans and demons repudiated him because of his ********** status, due to the fact that he has a human mother and a Daiyokai father. When one puts two and two together, one has characters like Inuyasha and Ayame who have gone through a lot in their lives, faced many a hardship, and even faced loss and heartbreak, Inuyasha with Kikyo and Ayame with Kouga. In spite of the obstacles, these two remain resilient and headstrong with their goals, Ayame in trying to get Kouga to marry her to reunite their tribes and Inuyasha in obtaining the Shikon no Tama or the Shikon jewel, in order to become a full-fledged yokai. Even more so, these fighters are intrepid enough to go headfirst into battling demons and other evil spirits. I love these two so much as characters, that at times I wish they could’ve been the main couple and let Kagome be paired up with someone as thrill-seeking as Kouga or calculating as Sesshoumaru. It is also a shame that Ayame did not get as many appearances in the TV show, as she was a pretty formidable ally, who was criminally underused. With that rambling out of the way, let’s get on to what I thought about the story. Ayame is sitting by a stream pondering about Inuyasha and Kagome liking each other so much. Kouga appears not to return Ayame’s love, but to scold her for interfering with his obsession with Kagome, and he assaults her. In storms, Inuyasha defends Ayame against Kouga, wards him off, and tends to her wounds and her overall loneliness. During Inuyasha’s stay with Ayame, the two of them become closer, a bit more intimate, and their relationship blossoms even further. All the while, Kouga is all the more obsessed in terms of having a bone to pick with Inuyasha, no pun intended. By and large, the story was pretty well-woven with sufficient interest. As always, I want to spoil neither the climax nor the ending. I will say this about the latter. The ending does make me want to draw fanart of how Inuyasha looked like with his new attire when he returns to Ayame. Okay, I know I have a no-spoiler policy when it comes to doing fanfic or general reading recommendations, but I will give myself the benefit of the doubt, the ending had a nice build up, it was nicely satisfying, and it was lovely to have Inuyasha and Ayame be together. The characters who managed to steal the show for me were Inuyasha and Ayame. Inuyasha does manage to keep his tough-guy personality, though it’s backed up with a chivalrous and noble personality without going too over-the-top with it. He makes sure that Ayame gets not only the protection she needs but the love she so wholeheartedly deserves. Speaking of Ayame, she herself manages to be thoroughly enjoyable as a character. She still keeps her loyal, fierce, and strong personality, but it’s also backed up by some vulnerability to make her all the more human and relatable. Kouga took a level in jerkass in this fanfic. Yes, he was rather villainous in his debut episode when he and his wolves ransacked a village, but he immediately had a 180 when he met Kagome at such a bizarre rate. Here, I actually like how darling krash made him a little bit more villainous in terms of his jealousy, animosity, and obsession to best Inuyasha, and he served his purpose well. The other characters like Ginta, Hakkaku, and a random black wolf yokai serve their…
Fan Fiction Recommendation
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction recommendation. Yes, I know I was supposed to review Rossini’s Semiramide live from the Met. However, because of my upcoming Spanish exam, I decided to postpone that said review until tomorrow evening, as after the exam, I also have to study for my upcoming Chemistry exam with some help from my private tutor. With that said, I will be taking a look at, of course, another Powerpuff Girls fanfic called, who you gonna call written by queen caffeine and published October 9, 2017. It’s rated T. It’s in English. It’s humor/friendship, and the main characters involved are Butch and Blossom, in which they have a platonic relationship as friends. There are also hints of Brick/Blossom, Butch/Buttercup, and Boomer/Bubbles. Aside from Brick, Buttercup, Boomer, and Bubbles being involved in this story, Princess Morbucks and a few extra characters make an appearance on here. The characters are all teenagers between 17 to 19 years old. Let’s get this started shall we? Aside from me being a fan of Brick’s and Buttercup’s platonic relationship as friends, I also happen to fancy Butch’s and Blossom’s platonic relationship, as all of their dynamics are really interesting, in my opinion. You will find out why, but first my thoughts on the entire story. Blossom goes about her normal day doing groceries when all of the sudden Butch attempts to call her, as something drastic happened. As she approaches her home, she sees Butch who then blurts out that Brick, Boomer, Buttercup, and Bubbles have been kidnapped. Through this revelation, an unlikely friendship is formed between the articulate, intellectual, usually composed pink Powerpuff girl and the hyperactive, big shot, tough dark green Rowdyruff boy. Thank goodness that not all hope is lost, as tracking devices were placed on Buttercup and Bubbles so that they can find their location via computer. Blossom initially wants to do this rescue mission alone, but Butch charmingly lends his aid to her, making her at first reluctant but she relents. After some expert-level hacking through different systems, Blossom finds out that Brick, Boomer, Buttercup, and Bubbles are on a huge ship in different cells, where they are deprived of their powers, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, and they were kidnapped by none other than Princess Morbucks. So, our two main protagonists suit up, head off to rescue them, and stop Princess. I’m not going to spoil the rest, but let’s just say that the climax has sufficient action and tension to make it interesting and it’s nice to our heroes kicking loads of butt, especially Blossom and Buttercup. Although the ending was satisfying, I would’ve wanted to see what happened after the final battle. Maybe we could’ve seen Boomer waking up and having a moment not only with Bubbles but the rest of the Puff and Ruff gang, that would’ve been sweet. However, as it is, the story has a sufficient amount of humor, charm, action, and enjoyment to make it an interesting and fun ride. In terms of characters, it should be no surprise that for the most part, Blossom was in character with a few moments, where she kind of swore but not on the sailor-mouth level like Brick, Butch, Buttercup, and Princess. She manages to keep her levelheaded nature to a T and she had her deadpan snarker moments, which made her all the more entertaining as an individual character. Complimenting Blossom’s levelheadedness is Butch’s charmingly lovable idiot jock, big shot personality. Alone, he too is extremely entertaining, being at times the chivalrous pervert to not only Blossom but, of course, to Buttercup. Even more so, he has his sarcasm and hilarity to make him all the more charming. He even blurts out the relationship status for each of their respective siblings, like Boomer and Bubbles officially dating for Lord knows how long, Butch being completely convinced that Buttercup wants him even though she is rather annoyed by him, and Brick and Blossom have a lot of unresolved sexual tension to the point where she is defensive about it. When one puts these two characters together, they are not only entertaining but also pretty good teammates, with Blossom being the savvy, articulate, composed technician and genius bruiser and Butch being the muscle and the impulsive yet lovable idiot big shot jock. These two definitely have some funny moments of dialogue where on the outside they show sass and irony but deep down one can tell that they care for each other as friends. I even enjoy how Butch calls Blossom “Rapunzel”, mostly due to her attractiveness and her long hair. Princess Morbucks and her troupe of guards serve their purpose as the big bads of the story, as she uses her master plan to lure Butch and Blossom to their fellow Ruffs and Puffs almost to perfection. The other characters also serve their purpose very well, like Brick keeping his impulsive and sardonic nature, Buttercup keeping her tsundere and tough girl edge, Bubbles keeping her sweet nature, and Boomer…Well, he passed out for the duration of this story. So, overall the characters were, as always, lovable and interesting with Butch and Blossom stealing the show all thanks to their fun character dynamics. Now with such praise, I have to give this story in terms of build-up and characters, one would think this is perfect right? Sadly, no. There were definitely some technical issues to be found, most especially in the grammar. First of all, the title’s first letters should have been capitalized, as it is the standard protocol when it comes to writing. Secondly, when dialogues are not involved, the story is written in present tense, when it should have been past tense. For anyone who aspires to write stories, please, use the past tense, as they indicate what the characters did. How this story was written seemed more like a script than a piece of fan fiction or even a book. Third, there were times that…
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction recommendation. As promised, it’s another Powerpuff Girls fanfic involving Brick, Butch, Blossom, and Buttercup called Cheater Cheater Heartbreaker! written by kuku88 and published back on August 28, 2013. It’s rated T. It’s in English. It’s romance/drama, and the main couples are Butch/Buttercup and Brick/Blossom. There are hints Brick/Buttercup and Butch/Blossom, but it’s mostly platonic. Other characters involved are Boomer, Bubbles, Brute from the Powerpunk Girls, Bunny from the episode Twisted Sister who is thankfully revived in the fanfic, and Dexter and Mandark from Dexter’s Laboratory. There are also some original characters to be found in the forms of the other Rowdyruffs, Bandit, Blaster, Braker, and the other Powerpuffs, Banana, and Bliss, the latter one not being the one from the PPG 2016 reboot. Even more so the characters in this story are teenagers, roughly 16 to 18 years old so there will be some curse words like the F- and S-words, the former being slightly more dominant. Now, we are venturing into the less fluffy direction from Aqua Bailarina 15’s Sugar Song to A Bitter, Yet Sweet Step and head to something a bit more melodramatic. Before I begin talking about the fanfic’s melodrama aspect, I would like to mention that I’m sure in the previous fanfic it would have been also cool to see Brick, Butch, Blossom, and Buttercup form their own J-Rock, Alternative, or Rock band that would give the likes of ABBA and even the A-Teens a run for their money. With that little detail out of the way, let’s get on to what I thought about this fanfic. And for those who asked, this is what I meant by this story being melodramatic, almost akin to a teen soap opera, but not as far-fetched nor over-the-top. The story starts off as Buttercup scolds Butch, whom she has dated for three months and counting, and wants to call off their relationship, as he made out with her evil counterpart, Brute from the Powerpunk Girls, during her, her sisters’, and Brute’s birthday party. In Butch’s defense, he states that he was horribly drunk, as he though Brute was Buttercup and he was in under so much pressure with Buttercup’s expectations for him to be the best boyfriend. Buttercup not wanting to hear Butch’s excuses storms off to her home, where Blossom, Bubbles, Bunny, Bliss, and Banana try to comfort her. Because of the breakup’s impact, Buttercup then ends up crying in her bedroom, until Blossom’s boyfriend, Brick, arrives. As Blossom’s boyfriend and Buttercup’s closest friend, he also comforts her and even stated that he tried to stop Butch’s excessive drinking, but he was unfortunately stubborn. Buttercup grows feelings for Brick, as he is deemed Blossom’s perfect boyfriend. Thus, she uses him to break his relationship with Blossom and get back at Butch. However, Brick is befuddled by how she is reacting, and he proceeds to go to Blossom, as they have a study session. He reassures Buttercup that he, her sisters, and the rest of his brothers are there for her and he knows that Butch does need help in rekindling his relationship with her. Meanwhile, Butch is still awfully guilt-ridden about the incident and starts to suspect that Brick is getting much closer to Buttercup than any friend should. Whilst Blossom is doubting Brick’s fidelity towards her, as he starts to become Buttercup’s tutor in physics, and she cannot stand the thought of her boyfriend cheating on her with her own sister. I’m not going to spoil the rest of the story, but how it builds up shows that there is almost a love square going on between Brick, Blossom, Butch, and Buttercup, more appropriately of how even though Butch and Buttercup broke up, she then ends up having her eyes on Brick, even though he is faithfully dating Blossom. Of course, there is also a fair amount of bickering and suspicions going on between the four main protagonists due to misunderstandings, and the pattern seems to build. At least I will give the climax and the ending some kudos for alleviating the ongoing melodrama and resolving the story with a happily ever after, especially for our main stars Butch and Buttercup as well as Brick and Blossom. There were also some instances where flashbacks were used and they were done in the right moments. The character that really takes the cake here in this fanfic is Buttercup. Her impulsive nature is kept nicely intact as well as her tsundere edge, and I have to give kuku88 credit for keeping her characterization as it is. However, Buttercup in this fanfic also has the tendency to be manipulative, especially when it came to that break-up she had with Butch, as she tries to get her hands on Brick. Sure, it is not common for her to think about being lovey-dovey, but she always knew in her heart that Butch is not only her equal in terms of being counterparts but also someone she admires and adores so much because he is handsome, strong, and independent in his own way. In Butch’s case, I really like his characterization here. He is usually written by other fanfic authors as violent, a pervert, or even a psycho, but I love the route kuku88 was able to take him. What we have is a misunderstood and flawed male protagonist whose actions are rash and ill-timed but he still has enough loyalty, humanity, and compassion to make things right with Buttercup. Even more so, Butch has this charm which makes him all the more appealing as a character that I actually enjoy his presence. With Brick, it should be no doubt that I love the platonic sensible older brother and impulsive younger sister relationship he has with Buttercup. Given that he is her closest friend in this story, he does his best to support Buttercup and completely understands the situation she and Butch are in. Because of his act of kindness to…
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction recommendation. Today, I’m taking a look at a Powerpuff Girls fanfic, Sugar Song to A Bitter, Yet Sweet Step! written by Aqua Bailarina 15, published back on November 27, 2015, and updated on March 26, 2016. It’s rated T. It’s in English. It has two chapters, one with the main story or more appropriately one-shot and the other with another author’s note, and the main character pairings are Brick/Blossom and Butch/Buttercup. Other characters involved in the story, though not as prominent, are Boomer, Mitch Mitchelson, Bubbles, and Robin Snyder. This entire story takes place in a middle school setting, so the characters are approximately 13 to 14 years old, as they are in the eighth grade. Let’s get this started shall we? Ah, the Powerpuff Girls. For those of you who watched my look back on ‘Twas the Fight Before Christmas, you will know that ever since I was a lad of seven years old, I was so excited to catch this show on Cartoon Network, considering the fact that it had two pilot shorts on The What a Cartoon Show, which a caught a year ago before the main show premiered in the Philippines, sometime during summer. I am still so happy to call myself a PPG fan to this day, as it is perched alongside my all-time favorite Cartoon Network shows, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Samurai Jack, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, Dexter’s Laboratory, Codename: Kids Next Door, Chowder, The Amazing World of Gumball, and Regular Show. I am really looking forward to reviewing the original Powerpuff Girls because Craig McCracken and his crew made something unique, fun, endearing, absolutely high-octane, and something worth remembering until the end of time. Now in terms of the Powerpuff Girls’ rogues gallery, there is no other group of villains to get as much popularity as The Rowdyruff Boys consisting of Brick the hot-tempered leader, Butch the extremely violent one, and Boomer the dim one. They were initially created by Mojo Jojo with the help of snips of armpit hair, snails, and a dog’s tail from, of course, The Talking Dog. As an ersatz for Chemical X, he flushed the ingredients down a toxic toilet and thus, The Rowdyruff Boys were born. Yes, in their debut episode their personalities were almost similar to each other that they came off as angrier, nastier counterparts to the Powerpuff Girls. However, if you take that characterization aspect aside, they were completely on par with the girls in terms of power, that they almost defeated them. The Rowdyruff Boys do prove themselves to be formidable enemies to the girls and their episode was the second to the last one of the first season. Just when Mojo Jojo and the boys were gloating at their presumed triumph, Miss Bellum gave a pep talk to the girls saying that they can use their feminine charms to defeat the boys. From there, the viewers are then treated to the most famous scene, which has cemented the whole RRB/PPG pairing frenzy, the kissing scene. Blossom kisses Brick, Bubbles kisses Boomer, and Buttercup kisses Butch. With that, the boys exploded. These little bastards were so popular that they were even revived in Season 5 to 6. In their returning episode, The Boys are Back in Town, HIM resurrected them with a cootie shot and the boys’ personalities are not only more defined with Brick’s impulsive, mean-spirited, and hot-tempered nature, but also Butch’s bouts of psychosis, bloodlust, overall insanity, and undying loyalty to Brick as the middle brother, and Boomer’s dim-witted yet infantile nature as the youngest, as there were times that he was used as Brick’s and Butch’s punching bag evidenced in Bubble Boy. Sure, the boys’ personalities during their revival came off as obnoxious, jerkish, and irredeemable, but they were still very entertaining as characters. Heck, in The City of Clipsville, there was one scene where the Powerpuff Girls and Rowdyruff Boys were teenagers and they seemed to have a thing for each other. While that scene was interesting and kind of funny, I felt like they were all robbed of their distinctive personalities, as the girls acted more like clueless valley girls and the boys acted more like laid-back slackers. Speaking of RRB/PPG pairings, my goodness a lot of fan-related pieces are all over the web, mostly due to the whole bad boy/good girl pairings are very much all the rage and there is so much appeal. As for me, I really love this particular pairing. Sure, it’s not canon in the TV show given the fact that the Rowdyruff Boys and the Powerpuff Girls are between 5 to 6 years old. However, if this show continued with the girls and boys as tweens or teens, I’d say they would all go a different route. The boys would be very fed up with both Mojo Jojo and HIM telling them what to do and how to be evil, and they would eventually find their own paths, all the while realizing that maybe they were in the wrong, to begin with. They would develop from being villains to anti-villains to anti-heroes at most heroes at the least. I am really sure that among Brick, Butch, and Boomer, the latter would really turn to the good side and have an amazingly stable relationship with Bubbles. Heck, it would be amazing to see the Rowdyruff Boys team up with the Powerpuff Girls and be a great superhero team to rival that of the Teen Titans, the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Avengers. I indubitably support Boomubbles with a passion, but I also enjoy Blossick and Butchercup, mostly because fanfic writers will tend to make their relationships a little bit more complex in comparison to the sentimental, lovey-dovey vibe of the youngest lovebirds Boomer and Bubbles. The usual case with Brick and Blossom in fanfics would be these two will have a will they or will they not type of relationship, and because they…
Happy Veterans Day, everybody, Antoni here, with another fan fiction recommendation. This is Lethean Caresses written by ZoZo1770 back on February 9, 2014, starring two of my most favorite Soul Calibur warriors of all time Siegfried Schtauffen and Kilik and they are a couple in this story, which I really love with a passion. It’s rated M, it’s in English, and it’s under Angst/Romance. I know a lot of people who support Kilik and Xianghua as a couple will be out for my blood, but as much as I like that couple, along with Siegfried and Cassandra and to some extent Siegfried and Sophitia, I absolutely fancy the pants off of Siegfried and Kilik as a handsome, sexy, and awesome couple. Think about it, both of these gentlemen have very haunting pasts, what with Siegfried murdering his father, Frederick, for mistaking him for an enemy bandit, and Kilik murdering his half-sister, Xianglian, when he was under the influence of the Evil Seed, they are of the same age and born in the same month of February, with Kilik being three days younger than Siegfried, both carry huge and long weapons, Siegfried with his Zweihänder and Kilik with his bo staff, they are both the fan favorites in the gaming community, and in Japanese they are respectively voiced by two of my most favorite male Seiyuu, Nobuyuki Hiyama as Siegfried and Souichiro Hoshi as Kilik. The very interesting thing about Hiyama-sensei and Hoshi-sensei when it comes to the characters they voice together there is a certain Ho-Yay atmosphere going between said characters. It could be a fan thing, it could be kind of canon in the show, or it could be interpreted by fan fiction authors and fan artists as belligerent sexual tension. On top of that, while Nobuyuki Hiyama specializes in a lot of passionate heroes, tragic anti-heroes, maniacal villains, and even comedic characters all thanks to his rough, wide-ranging, husky tenor voice, which can reach baritonal low notes, Souichiro Hoshi specializes in a lot of youthful, boyish, and a lot of boy-next-door characters all thanks to the soft-toned and light tenor voice. Speaking of which, both of them have really gorgeous singing voices. Hiyama’s singing voice has that smoothness and coolness which make him very alluring, whilst Hoshi’s is youthful and gentle. When you put these two together, their voices blend gorgeously with Hiyama’s earthier and rougher timbre being a fine complement to Hoshi’s airier and more delicate timbre. Don’t get me wrong I also love Grant George as Kilik and Crispin Freeman as Siegfried before he got Darrin’d by Roger Craig Smith as these two also did phenomenal jobs of embodying them, but I can never go wrong with Hiyama-sensei and Hoshi-sensei for their amazing works as Siegfried and Kilik. With that said, let’s get on to the fanfic. I will warn you that this is not for everyone to read, mostly because it is rather erotic with our two heroes making really passionate yet painful love to each other. That’s pretty much the entire story and I’m sure some of you are feeling hot beneath the gussets. Yes, the plot is rather minimalistic with two men caressing, kissing, embracing, and making love to each other, but this minimalistic plot is more than compensated by the language and stylistic devices. Let us not forget that Lethe is a river in the Underworld, which is meant for forgetfulness, hence the title Lethean Caresses. What we have here in this story are two men tormented and tortured by their sordid pasts that they find solace, comfort, intimacy, and such strong and mutual affection for each other, so much so, that they yearn to forget their earthly pains by making strong love to each other. There are only two pieces of dialogue, which are just the words “Bitte.”, or please in English said by Siegfried and “Look at me.”, said by Kilik, as the imagery, atmosphere, wordplay, and many other stylistic devices I could barely name off the top of my head help to make this story a huge blast to read from beginning to end and of course, make it extremely interesting. Speaking of language, I found no typography errors whatsoever and even though a super small of punctuations were a bit questionable, that did not distract from the enjoyment I had reading this fanfic. The vocabulary has a lot of distinction as it is vivid, colorful, and just plain excellent in a somber and melancholic way. The overall language manages to manipulate my emotions so masterfully that I was so rooted in Siegfried and Kilik’s erotically intimate tale. Speaking of our two male leads, Siegfried and Kilik sell the story. Their chemistry with each other is so effective, as their personalities blended so well, and I have to give ZoZo1770 a lot of credit for bringing in this much action to the both of them whilst keeping them sufficiently in character. I can sense the tension, the passion, the steam, and the longing for solace going on between them and it is a marvelous experience. On top of that, I can see their moments of intense intimacy playing in my head, all in courtesy of the great use of such poetic language, which showed eloquence, passion, and allure. Overall, I am absolutely astounded by this dark and haunting tale of erotic pleasures going on between such tortured souls as Siegfried and Kilik. With such magnificent poetry in the passages and an overall haunting yet darkly romantic atmosphere to move the story along, this is a major must-read especially if you like Yaoi, Soul Calibur, or of course, Siegfried and Kilik just making out with each other. With that said, I give this an A+. I spotted no grammatical errors, I was not left bored, and the action going on between Siegfried and Kilik was thrilling, which were the biggest strengths of this story. Well, that’s all for now, and tune in later for…
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction recommendation. And this time, we’re taking a look at Encounter, a soul calibur fanfic written by vhorizon. It’s rated T. It’s in English and the main characters of this fanfic are Mitsurugi and Maxi. Now, if you know me, I love it when Mitsurugi and Maxi get paired up together either as friendly rivals, really good friends, or just a couple of guys willing to knock each other out, yet still have a good time. That’s mostly because their characters were famously voiced by veteran Seiyuu, Toshiyuki Morikawa and Nobutoshi Canna, whose collaborations in Bleach, Slam Dunk, Naruto, and Berserk are pure evidence that these two have amazing chemistry voicing friends, rivals, allies, and friendly rivals. Plus, these two seem to be pretty good friends in real life, if the list of collaborations weren’t evident enough. The basic plot revolves around Mitsurugi encountering an old enemy of his who has come back for vengeance after his arm was lost. Meanwhile, Maxi has gotten himself in a pickle with an assassin who seems to be Astaroth’s minion. After all that, the two then meet each other and it’s an all-out battle between Mitsurugi and Maxi against the police who are going to arrest them. This story is quite well-done in terms of establishing the epic feel of the Soul series. I like how the fight scenes are described being quite vivid without being too wordy. However, the biggest highlight has to be Mitsurugi and Maxi in this story. The way they formed an alliance with each other was really well-done and I wish there were more stories, which have them as best friends almost like brothers and just go around kicking butt. Their newfound friendship is established well and the fact that they are still in character, with Mitsurugi’s stoic, single-minded nature and Maxi’s cool sarcasm and laid-back attitude, is great as their personalities mesh well. The negatives mostly come from the wrong wording, i.e. “were” instead of “we’re”, missing apostrophes before the s, and even when it’s only one person the apostrophe ended up after the s when it should have been before it, and some of the paragraph spacing could’ve been improved. I’m sure that should vhorizon come back to this fanfic to polish it up, it would be great. On top of that, in terms of the title of the story, Soul Calibur should’ve been capitalized because that is the franchise the story is based on. There was also the issue of if the female assassin came on her own volition or as a command by Astaroth, but I digress. Overall, despite some technical issues, this is a fanfic I can safely recommend if you are a fan of Mitsurugi and Maxi from the Soul series and if you like video-game based fanfics altogether. With that said, I give this a grade of B+. Yes, some of the technical issues did bog this down, but the story was well-done, to say the least, and I would love to see more stories of Mitsurugi and Maxi being allies because these two are awesome when they work together. I know I’m going to hate sounding like a broken record, but the possibilities between these two are numberless. Whether they beat the crap out of their foes or each other, they have a sort of strong, masculine, and overall great presence, which makes them stand out among all the other Soul series characters, but that’s just me. Well, that’s all for now, I’m sorry if I haven’t been doing more video blog style opera reviews as I should, but you know how it is. Fulfilling academic expectations and the upcoming Werther play and many other things certainly make it rather impossible to find enough time. However, don’t despair. There are a lot of fanfics out there, that I would love to recommend, so stay tuned for those. Until then, have a great autumn season. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2689777/1/Encounter
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fan fiction recommendation. Yes, I know I was supposed to review Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte starring Tuuli Takala and Siobhan Stagg as the Queen of the Night and Pamina respectively, but I was busy with other things like school, I was quite knackered, and there was a bit of public transportation repair that had to be done, which was a bit of a detriment to my attempted journey to the Deutsche Oper Berlin. So, I decided to compensate for this loss with this interesting little fanfic based on one of my all-time favorite Nicktoons, Hey Arnold! The fanfic I’ll be taking a look at is, Arnold Betrays Iggy: Alternate Ending written by colossalblackening. It’s rated K. It’s in English and it was published to FanFiction.net on April 15 of this year. Have you ever watched an episode of your favorite TV show, whether it’s animated or live-action, and spotted an episode that makes you sick to your stomach because of its mean-spiritedness, out of character moments, and had many moments which make you say, “What the Hell happened?” Do you also feel that you could’ve bettered the overall story? Well, Arnold Betrays Iggy is one of those episodes and it was so bad that Craig Bartlett and his crew apologized for this episode’s existence. And of course, enter a bunch of fan fiction authors who do their best to write their interpretations of how they would rewrite certain episodes they don’t particularly like into something more optimistic and less mean-spirited. My personal experience with this episode was I hated it when I was a kid, felt disinterested with it as I grew up, and I still could not stand this particular episode, especially when Sid and Stinky were at fault for forcing the secret out of Arnold and they should’ve been the ones to pay the consequences. With that said, let’s get on to my thoughts on the fanfic. The fanfic starts off when Arnold finishes all of Iggy’s chores, yet the latter still has not forgiven the former. This is probably to establish that we as Hey Arnold fans or those who watched this episode already what happened prior, which is not a bad start, but I felt like the story could’ve started similarly to the original episode. I digress though, as after this the story then cuts to the chase of the familiar scene where Iggy forces Arnold to wear the bunny pajamas. For the record, it’s nice to read that Arnold’s grandpa is not being willing to take pictures of his humiliation and that Iggy confronted Stinky and Sid whilst the two of them were regretting that they were the ones actually at fault for what happened. I’m not going to spoil the ending to this fanfic, but let’s just say that it’s so satisfying with a few humorous moments coming from a few familiar characters, a touching moment with Gerald, Arnold’s best friend forever, plus with Iggy, yet an element that was a bit of headscratcher, but I digress, it’s still so satisfying and will leave anyone who reads this with a big smile and lots of pleasant thoughts. There is so much good in this fanfic. Everyone was in character, the humor from Hey Arnold! is still greatly intact, and more than anything the ending is super satisfying, especially if you cannot tolerate or even abhor Arnold Betrays Iggy. The layout is really good, though I am kind of not a fan of having the transitions marked on there as if it were a script. Even though the story was well-written, I did spot some grammar errors, in the form of missing words, and they were kind of jarring, but not enough to deter me. One noticeable one was, “how come you there with everyone else yesterday?” when it should have been, “how come you were not there with everyone else yesterday?”. Another issue was minor and once you read the ending to the fanfic, you will know what I mean. So, there you have it. You know what I’m going to give this fanfic and it’s an A-. It had a few grammatical errors and it had a bit of a plothole, but when all is said and done, the strengths more than outweigh the weaknesses and it is a fine retelling of how Arnold Betrays Iggy should’ve ended. Well, that’s all for now, and be sure to tune in for another fan fiction recommendation. Goodnight, everybody! https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12447777/Arnold-Betrays-Iggy-Alternate-Ending
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fanfic recommendation. For those of you who watched my of Jigoku Shoujo or Hell Girl will know that I also recommended this as a really good read. That’s right it’s Jigoku Shoujo Season 1: Aftermath written by Celestialfae back on January 25, 2012, and it was completed on June 16 of this year. It’s rated T, it’s in English, and it has 26 chapters. Even though there are several moments where Ai Enma is the focal point of the story, this belongs to the victims of Season 1 and of course Hajime and Tsugumi Shibata, so each of their stories are stand-alone, yet nonetheless, are linked to Ai Enma. It should be no surprise that I am a major fan of Hell Girl and if ever I find the time to do the next top 15 favorite anime of all time or even bump it up to the next 25, Hell Girl will be placed on that list alongside Now and Then Here and There and Fantastic Children, which I regretted placing as honorable mentions. My history with this work by Celestialfae dates back four years ago when I first read a few chapters and I wanted so much more. I’m really happy this fanfic was completed because it was a fascinating read and here’s why. The chapters follow the show’s 26 episodes order to a T. There are some chapters in which the perspective is in the third-person form, while others like Chapters 5, 7, 11, 13, and 20 are in the first-person form to get a more in-depth look as to how the characters fared after their covenant with Ai Enma, and even a poem in Chapter 17 from the point of view of Nina’s father. For the most part, the characters ranging from Mayumi Hashimoto from Episode 1 all the way up to Goro Ishizu from Episode 22 do their very best to live their lives even though eternal damnation awaits them. It is really interesting to witness what they are doing with their lives after everything they have endured before, during, and after encountering Ai Enma. Some are very successful and have different personalities from their show’s counterparts to show that just because they have made it big does not mean that they can forget the pain caused to them by their tormentors, who are now six feet under. Others are deeply traumatized by what happened or are trying to pick the pieces back up in order to shape their lives in spite of their eternal damnation. Others turn to the cold, ambiguous side, as they will have to carry the burden they must live with. And of course Chapters 24-26 focus on Sentarou, Ai Enma, and Hajime and Tsugumi Shibata respectively. And in Chapter 23, a character is brought back to the mortal world and it’s worth the read. If you’ve watched the show and the episode, you know who it is. I’ll give you a guess. She’s a sweet and innocent nurse who was unfairly sent to Hell by a depraved drug-addict. So, I am not going to mince words here, the stories found in each chapter were well-thought out and were overall well-done. There were chapters I really loved from this fanfic mostly because since I watched the episodes there were ones that stuck out really well and in turn, the chapters were of emotional interest. Forgiving the Faultless, which is Chapter 6, has Haruka Yasuda, whose shining moment in this fic was when she spoke up against her father and after a few moments of hesitation and trying to bury resentment formed a new friendship with Yuria Todaka. Raise your Voice, which is Chapter 7, gives more development to Kaoruko Kurushima and her exploits when encountering Midori Kurenai, Ayaka, the two thugs who gave her that voice-damaging tonic, and of course Ai Enma because in the show, she did not really have that much to say nor do as Cracked Mask was sort of meant to be a sort of an episode full of surprises and of course focuses on Ayaka’s unraveling of her true, petty, and nasty personality. Worth It, which is Chapter 13, has Fukumoto who is contemplating his experience with Ai Enma and what lead him to pull the scarlet thread, yet live with agony until his old age. No One Mourns the Wicked, which is Chapter 16, focuses on Yumi now a young adult, more different than her poor, victimized younger self, and now an ambitious 23-year-old. Kikuri/The Lord of Hell even appears in this chapter and as they venture to Hell, the reader is then treated to such nightmarish, kind of graphic images that it’s hard to purge them away. Papa’s Angel, which is Chapter 17, does have Nina, but the focus is on her father, as he recites a poem that though short is rather heart-wrenching. You will have to read Chapter 23 in order to know who I’m talking about and I’m sure you will feel a lot of satisfaction after doing so. If I were to list more highlights from this fanfic, I would be here all day. Sufficed to say that the characters from each of the chapters have something unique to offer and their journeys after meeting Ai Enma are quite fascinating. Despite my immense love of this story, there were a few issues I had, but they did not detract my enjoyment of this fanfic. There were some punctuation errors, misspelled words, and a few grammatical errors. A good number of these were an oversight as I am sure that Celestialfae had a lot of things with to deal with in real life. And a minor detail that I found out was Haruka’s father is not named Toshi, but rather Hideo, but that’s just a minor gripe. I don’t know if Celestialfae will come back to fix up the errors, but if she does, it would be great. Still, the errors…
Hey, everybody! Antoni, here, with another fanfic recommendation. And this time it’s Salvation, a Soul Calibur fanfic written by DarkStar56 on February 11, 2012. It’s rated T, it’s in English, it has 16 chapters, but it is unfortunately unfinished, more on that later, and the main pairing is Siegfried and Cassandra. Other characters involved in this fanfic are Sophitia, Mitsurugi, Maxi, Rock, Hwang, Ivy, Hilde, Aeon Calcos, Cervantes, Astaroth, Tira, and Nightmare. On top of that, the story takes place during the events in Soul Calibur 4. Let’s get this started, shall we? I first caught this fanfic about four years ago and I found it really intriguing. Those same sentiments held up really well and this is coming from someone who loved playing Soul Edge, Soul Calibur, Soul Calibur II, and Soul Calibur 3 ever since I was a kid and has been proud to call himself a fan of the series. What I truly about this fanfic is that is a character-driven story, meaning the characters move the plot along and do so in a way that I am completely invested in their journey. It is a great mixture of action, drama, comedy, romance, and of course, fantasy and the supernatural, the latter two plus a great deal of action being really great components of the Soul series. There was not a moment in the story which was neither boring nor dragged on for too long. It was well-paced with great interest, great build up in certain moments, and a very enjoyable experience. There were times I imagined the characters from the game living these moments and it is pure awesomeness. However, the story has been left incomplete for five years, which is a major shame because I wanted so much more. I wanted to see how it was going to build up further, more epic fight scenes, more character development, and hopefully a solid conclusion. I am very sure that DarkStar56 has a lot to deal with in his real life and I do understand and empathize with what he might be going through completely, but if he were to come back to this story, I would love to have a lot more exciting moments and a solid conclusion to wrap it up. So, DarkStar56, I do hope you finish the story because I enjoy it so far and I would love to see how it’s going to add up. What’s a great story without great characters? Fortunately, the main five of Siegfried, Cassandra, Sophitia, Maxi, and Mitsurugi were excellently characterized. They have amazing chemistry with each other and it makes me wish that they would’ve had their own show and have a lot of adventures together. I’m sure that any fan of the games will know that Mitsurugi is usually the stern and serious type. However, in this fanfic, he’s a lot friendlier and more open as a person, which might be a bit out of character, but it’s a welcome treat to make Mitsurugi more diverse. I also like the moment when Siegfried and Mitsurugi make an oath to be blood brothers, which I found rather sweet. Yet when it comes to the character relationships that steal the show, they have to be Siegfried and Cassandra, Siegfried and Sophitia, Sophitia and Cassandra, and Mitsurugi and Maxi. Siegfried and Cassandra are absolutely great as a couple, even though their relationship is not canon in the games. Despite that, I can sense their budding relationship with each other, as Siegfried is always willing to protect Cassandra, and as a Soul Calibur fan, I just love these two together as their personalities blend really well. With Siegfried and Sophitia, it should be no surprise that I used to believe that there was the potential for them to become a couple, but it was never meant to be when Sophitia married Rothion and had two kids of her own. Heck, I used to root for them to become a couple. There is one moment between them in which they confessed of how they used to like each other, and I thought it was done in a sincere and endearing fashion. One can tell there was something going on between Sophitia and Siegfried, but fate stepped in and Sophitia married Rothion and Siegfried will very well end up with Cassandra. It should also be noted that Siegfried was voiced by Nobuyuki Hiyama and Sophitia was voiced by Michiko Neya until Soul Calibur 3 before she was replaced by Chie Nakamura in Soul Calibur Legends in the Japanese dub. I can never go wrong with Hiyama-san and Neya-san when it comes to the characters they voice and a good amount of them have pretty good chemistry, not just as Siegfried and Sophitia, but also as Viral and Adiane from Gurren Lagann. Sophitia and Cassandra have great sisterly moments and each of them can be touching, humorous, and genuine. One can tell that they do care for each other and are practically like best friends. Mitsurugi and Maxi steal the show for me. I mean, come on! Mitsurugi and Maxi being best buds is an excellent idea. On top of that, I do love their backstory with Taki and Setsuka, which you have to read for yourself, it’s really intriguing. Seriously, there should be a show about them kicking butt, testing each others’ strength, and all the while being the best of pals and having a nice drink of sake to chill out. That would be an amazing concept! Their shining moment was in the combat scene before Sophitia interrupted their brawl and gave them a beating. Also worth mentioning is that Mitsurugi was voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa and Maxi was voiced by Nobutoshi Canna until Soul Calibur 3 before he was replaced by Kenjiro Tsuda in Soul Calibur 4 and Shigeo Kiyama in Soul Calibur 5, but personally Canna-san is always going to be Maxi. Morikawa-san and Canna-san have done a major list of works together mostly as friends and/or rivals…