Of Swords and Parasols

A follow up to this post and this one.  These are the series I've read all of(as in, the entire thing has been released here and I've read it all).

A few notes:

Those less than 10 volumes aren't here because they were covered, even briefly, before.

Saiyuki Is not included for the same reason it wasn't in the "short manga" post: there's not much more than the title to distinguish it as a second series, as opposed to a continuation of the same story.  Even though there's currently a sequel series in Japan, W Juliet is because it completed it's story, and the sequel is a new story.

Actually been trying out some fanfic lately instead  of just reading summaries. Nothing really new here, but...

(pretty much all anime/manga because hey, it's my life lately, though a few other things get mentioned)

I like canon.  I'm not quite a canon nazi, but unless canon is flatout BAD(in which case, why bother with the fandom anyway?) I see little point in fanfic that opposes it...seems to me that once you're writing AGAINST the story, you aren't even really writing about the characters or world anyway.  I have no problems with stories that add to the canon, as long as they don't contradict canon. 

That said, most characters tend to be defined by their relationships, romantic or otherwise.  In other words, if you want to pair A with B and neither is paired off in canon or indicated to have preferences elsewhere, fine.  But if A is paired with C, then by pairing A with B you really aren't writing about the same characters anymore because you're contradicting who and what they are. On the flipside, certain ships I get.  I mean, sure Clark/Lex in Smallville are straight, but any time they fight it's like a lover's quarrel...and Lana...if I didn't know Clark would be with Lois in the end, I couldn't bear to watch the thing.  And, while it's not MY ship(insert obligatory Kyo/Yuya squee) I get Yuya/Akira in Samurai Deeper Kyo because it likely WOULD happen if Kyo died(I mean, seriously, can anyone REALLY see Akira ending up with someone not directly associated with Kyo?)

Then there's rewriting the stories...I don't mean AUs, but completely rewriting the stories so that having the characters do and act completely differently from how they do in canon makes sense...again, not even writing about the same characters anymore.

Genderswapping? Scares me.  So do pregnant guys.  I mean, both inspire nothing but a huge "HUH?????" from me.

And child/guardian ships?  *shudder*  I don't mean ALL of them.  Handled right, they can be the best thing ever.  I'm all for Rin/Manji(Blade of the Immortal) Sesshomaru/Rin(Inu Yasha) and Kazuya/Kanami(S-Cry-ed).  If it weren't for Inara, I'd be all for Mal/River(Firefly-but again, hey, I love the canon ship, so...) However, none of those cases are of a paternal/sibling style guardian and a child.  Manji/Rin is actually no greater of an age difference than Kenshin/Kaoru or Kyo/Yuya(older-20s samurai, younger girl seems to be the thing for samurai manga)-in fact, I think it's less.  She's 16 and most of the "too old, guardian instead of lover" is because HE thinks she's too young(though for their time period, she'd actually be doing well to get a guy only 10 or so-if that-years older than her) and it would be a bad thing for her right then...it's very clear he's never going to leave her side or stop protecting her regardless of what happens in their lives as long as he's alive, and every character but Rin(who clearly fell for him pretty quickly) is well aware that if she's not technically "his woman"(as virtually every character-including Manji-refers to her) it's only because he's waiting until their lives aren't nuts.  In the case of Sesshomaru/Rin, she's literally the only thing that keeps him human and the relationship isn't remotely paternal...he takes care of her because she's the only one he cares about, she all but worships him.  The idea that they'd eventually be separated by anything but death is silly.  Kazuya/Kanami isn't even much of an age difference-12/13 and 17 or so-and is much like Rin/Manji in that she's someone he takes care of, only with him completely oblivious to her crush(Manji is WELL aware of Rin's) but their future is obvious once she gets a couple more years under her belt and he realizes she's not the kid he first took in anymore.  In all these cases, though, I'm all for it when she's OLDER and age appropriate, not at the current stages in their lives.

Those are also all not REMOTELY paternal or sibling(though Manji initially compares Rin to his sister, that's more an age/guilt-over-his-sister's-death thing than any real fraternal feelings) and are all simply a case of a guy taking care of a younger female who needs protecting.  Except for Manji/Rin I'd be completely opposed to anything romantic or sexual with  them in the timeframe of the story.  What gets to me is when it's still in the adult/child timeframe and turns anything remotely sexual.  ESPECIALLY when the canon relationship is paternal or fraternal...sets off my squick factor like nothing else.

And slash/yaoi...I have no inherent problems with it, I just hate seeing female characters sacrificed to slash their love interest with another guy, and again, back to the relationships defining characters thing.  (Same thing with Mary Sues and the rarer Gary Stus, too.)  If a character isn't indicated to really have one preference over the other in canon, have fun(respectful fun, please, but have fun)  For example, though I don't see it personally, I don't run from the idea of Hakkai/Gojyo in Saiyuki because there's nothing to really oppose it and, frankly, the 2 are good for each other regardless of the context(Sanzo/Goku and Kougaiji/Dokugaku, OTOH...)

One other thing I never get is being into a fandom when you hate the main character...preferring other characters to the main character, yeah, but plot generally centers around the main character, so it just always seems odd to me when someone loves a show, series, book, movie, etc. but hates the main character(I say that despite loving Eragon the book but disliking the character...though that could explain why Eldest has been sitting here unread for a month or so now. *is all about Murtagh*) because it seems that that would naturally lead to hating the story and themes of the series.  Buffy, Angel, Veronica Mars, Bones, etc. come to mind.



I could cover plenty more fandoms, but it's almost 3:30 am...

I KNOW there's good fanfic out there, and that there are good fanfic writers on my flist, and I trust the opinions of the people on my flist who have recced fic to me(though, chomiji, I don't think you'll ever get me to read that one Saiyuki fic...) it's just that actually reading a few fics reminded me of why I haven't touched fic in years.

My sleep deprived mind has decided to blame this post on dangermousieas I hadn't even THOUGHT about fanfic in years until I started reading her fanfic posts.

*heads for bed as she should have an eternal post ago*