★ ☆
Hikago Deathmatch!!
so, yes, i participated in Hikago Deathmatch. I was Kyuba on team Ichigaya. my teammates were Kageyama and Qem. (i will post my other teammate's name when i'm sure it's ok...) my fics were:
Round 1 bitter: The Apple and the Tree, Ogata
Round 2 salty: Oral Sex and Tears Taste Kinda the Same, teen!Ashiwara, teen!Saeki
Round 3 umami: our bye week
Round 4 sour: the Unknowns, Akira and Hikaru
Round 5: sweet: ...it's all Yang Hai's fault, Waya, Yang Hai, Isumi, Le Ping
Round 5.5: spicy: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, Touya Kouyo and Akiko
FINALS!!: metallic: Forging Steel, Touya Kouyo and Morishita Shigeo
i'll be posting these to AO3, but please feel free to comment to those posts, if'n you like, i'm tracking comments on 'em, so...
and my teammates' works, which i'd obviously recommend:
Qem:
bitter, AMV
A May 5th, Semi-Silent Film, A Salty Taste, a Vidstory
A Sour Taste Left Behind, AMV
savoy truffle, AMV and fic
Silly, really, ficlet
19 x 19, fic and icons
Kageyama:
The story of Isumi & The story of Ogata, fic/art
Satellite, FST
that umeboshi story, fic with art
Together, AMV and fic
Ogata's Spice!, AMV
a story, fic and FST
and recs!! which is to say, my faves from all the deathmatches...
just to start out, a few biases... because, hey, we all have 'em. first off, apologies, but i'm probably unlikely to rec any of our opponents. i'm not saying that none of our opponents did anything good (and actually, i am rec'ing one two storyies by an opponent...), i'm just saying that it'd be very difficult for me to see an opponent offering as anything other than opposition. yes, i am competitive. not easy to tell from this deathmatch, i know... also, since there were themes, fics that were similar to each other (say, for round one, there was more than one dark chocolate fic) will seem less interesting/innovative/creative simply because of the similarity. (tho, lulz, in round 5.5, i wasn't the only one to hone in on Schezhuan for spice, ha.) also, i'm not a huge fan of fusion fics when i'm not into the other fandom. it's really hard for me to even give the fic a chance.
i will add in the authors' identities as i can, but people aren't obligated to reveal themselves, so...
ROUND ONE: bitter
★ Solitaire, by cumulonimbus (
jetsam), a fairy tale about Hikaru and Akira from Ogata's point of view. this fic was just a delight to read, such a charming universe. i really thought this one deserved to win its match... my only tiny quibble was that, though i could see the "bitter" in it, it really didn't have a "bitter" feel to it, much. but still, such a delight, truly.
★ Dark Roast, by Fido (
rex_sun), an exploration of Kishimoto, and his love for dark coffee. this was so perfectly canon, so beautifully done, and so poignant... and it was Kishimoto!! ack, love.
☆ Coffeeshop Date, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), Nase is on a blind date, but she's actually more into the cute waitress... Akari. they're the most natural girl-on-girl pair for this series, but it's hard to imagine them getting together. this scenario was perfect. i think it could have been improved by being a tad bit fleshed out, but this little taste of their getting together was just great. ^_^
ROUND TWO: salty
★★★ My Summer Vacation, by Miai, a multimedia fic about Hikaru and Akira's daughter, describing her summer vacation. not only are the drawings perfect child-drawings, but it's such a lovely taste of their family, with the ocean breeze giving it that salty tang. really inspired, hence the multiple fave stars. ^_~
☆ A Hand of Stone, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), a Mushishi-fusion, with Hikaru as the mushishi and Akira as the vicitim. i'm slightly conflicted about this fic, because as a mushishi fic, this has the perfect tone and tenor, and fits perfectly with that series. hikaru and touya are well characterized, too. it's not that i think that people have to know mushishi to know this well (obviously, since several people enjoyed it who weren't familiar with mushishi), but there are a few things left unsaid that people who do know mushishi would clearly understand and all. which, again, perfectly fits with mushishi... like, for instance, what happened to Sai. hikaru takes a lot more after ginko than basically any other mushishi we meet in series, save maybe his master, but. that's irrelevant. i did really enjoy it, but i dunno, i guess the balance between hikaru no go and mushishi was a little too on the side of mushishi for me, but that's not a bad thing about the fic per se, so... i liked it, but for some unknown reason, my feelings about it are complicated anyway. lulz.
ROUND THREE: umami
...boy, am i glad this was our bye week, for multiple reasons, really.
★★ Shouganai, by cumulonimbus (
jetsam), a short vignette about Hikaru's father, and the lack of intersection between his life and his family's life. how deliciously ironic, then, that this is umami. i love it. ^___^
☆ Covalence, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), while not my favorite pairing, this Kaneko/Mitani tidbit so beautifully has them meeting up again in college, and finding that very little and yet everything has changed. i love the way Mitani is portrayed here.
☆ A Taste of Home, by Miai, a little Yashiro moment that is just great for Yashiro and the series.
★★ My Heart of Yore, by Uchida (
verysang), who picked up from where her/his teammate started last week with My Summer Vacation. here we get an absolutely beautiful, homey, and so true to life picture of Hikaru and Akira and baby Ikuko's homelife. it's an easy fic to get invested in, and it's beautifully written. love, love, love the characterization, all around. nicely done!!
★★★★ The Cage, by Fido (
rex_sun), the very best Sai-fic i've ever read, no question. it's dark, it's got sweet moments, it shows the difficult sides of being a ghost tied to a boy at all times, the weight of Sai's pain but still, his sweet nature... it's just gorgeous.
ROUND FOUR: sour
★★ Pucker Up, by Fido (
rex_sun), a sweetly sour little examination of Hikaru's friendships over the years, right up to his perfect rival. ^_~ just wonderfully characterized, with a small note of sadness about his relationship with Mitani.
★★ Misplay, by akota (
phnx), a heartbreaking little tale of Ashiwara trying (once again) to get some time with Saeki, and having things go, well, sour at the end. it really does leave me feeling achy, but it's a wonderful use of theme.
★★ Lingering, by La Niña, ahah, yeah, i managed to rec even a competitor... but i love the idea that Torajirou was so different with Sai because... he was in love with Sai. and i adore to bits, even though it's kinda heartbreaking, the idea of Torajirou's ghost invisibly and silently watching jealously over Sai and Hikaru is just perfect.
ROUND FIVE: sweet
★★★ Okashi, by Kazutaka Muraki (
mmmdraco), fic and photos and video and CAKE. CAKE! it's charming and SWEET and there was cake... the fic alone is actually only so-so (though, the last line kinda seals the deal...) but it's such a creative fusion of different ideas, it just leaves you with a yummy feeling. pretty much perfect for "sweet."
i don't really mean to imply that this was the only thing this round that i liked, apart from my teams' work. it's just... a lot of what was done was either... a pairing that i don't really care for, or something like that. also, i think both of the really long fics would have been better served if they had been much, much shorter. =X anyway!!
ROUND FIVE-POINT-FIVE: spicy
well, this time around, it's JUST my team and the competition, but...!! however...
★ Food Fight, by akota (
phnx), a funny little vignette with Hikaru being wrangled by Kurata and his obsession with An Taeseon. It fits in canon so perfectly, and it's such a fun description of Kurata, who is one of my faves... though i'm still wondering, like Hikaru, just who were they initially spying on!! ^_~
FINALS!!!!!!!: metallic
once again, it's just us and them! only by this time... my neuroses and anxieties have all wrapped themselves thoroughly and completely around my brain... i can't be objective at all, so just read them all!! there's only 6 and they all pretty much come with their own gimmicks, so. ^_~
please read and enjoy!! deathmatch was awesome with good fanworks, so...! oh, and no one guessed for me, so no writing.
♥ Kyuba ^_~
so, yes, i participated in Hikago Deathmatch. I was Kyuba on team Ichigaya. my teammates were Kageyama and Qem. (i will post my other teammate's name when i'm sure it's ok...) my fics were:
Round 1 bitter: The Apple and the Tree, Ogata
Round 2 salty: Oral Sex and Tears Taste Kinda the Same, teen!Ashiwara, teen!Saeki
Round 3 umami: our bye week
Round 4 sour: the Unknowns, Akira and Hikaru
Round 5: sweet: ...it's all Yang Hai's fault, Waya, Yang Hai, Isumi, Le Ping
Round 5.5: spicy: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes, Touya Kouyo and Akiko
FINALS!!: metallic: Forging Steel, Touya Kouyo and Morishita Shigeo
i'll be posting these to AO3, but please feel free to comment to those posts, if'n you like, i'm tracking comments on 'em, so...
and my teammates' works, which i'd obviously recommend:
Qem:
bitter, AMV
A May 5th, Semi-Silent Film, A Salty Taste, a Vidstory
A Sour Taste Left Behind, AMV
savoy truffle, AMV and fic
Silly, really, ficlet
19 x 19, fic and icons
Kageyama:
The story of Isumi & The story of Ogata, fic/art
Satellite, FST
that umeboshi story, fic with art
Together, AMV and fic
Ogata's Spice!, AMV
a story, fic and FST
and recs!! which is to say, my faves from all the deathmatches...
just to start out, a few biases... because, hey, we all have 'em. first off, apologies, but i'm probably unlikely to rec any of our opponents. i'm not saying that none of our opponents did anything good (and actually, i am rec'ing one two storyies by an opponent...), i'm just saying that it'd be very difficult for me to see an opponent offering as anything other than opposition. yes, i am competitive. not easy to tell from this deathmatch, i know... also, since there were themes, fics that were similar to each other (say, for round one, there was more than one dark chocolate fic) will seem less interesting/innovative/creative simply because of the similarity. (tho, lulz, in round 5.5, i wasn't the only one to hone in on Schezhuan for spice, ha.) also, i'm not a huge fan of fusion fics when i'm not into the other fandom. it's really hard for me to even give the fic a chance.
i will add in the authors' identities as i can, but people aren't obligated to reveal themselves, so...
ROUND ONE: bitter
★ Solitaire, by cumulonimbus (
jetsam), a fairy tale about Hikaru and Akira from Ogata's point of view. this fic was just a delight to read, such a charming universe. i really thought this one deserved to win its match... my only tiny quibble was that, though i could see the "bitter" in it, it really didn't have a "bitter" feel to it, much. but still, such a delight, truly.
★ Dark Roast, by Fido (
rex_sun), an exploration of Kishimoto, and his love for dark coffee. this was so perfectly canon, so beautifully done, and so poignant... and it was Kishimoto!! ack, love.
☆ Coffeeshop Date, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), Nase is on a blind date, but she's actually more into the cute waitress... Akari. they're the most natural girl-on-girl pair for this series, but it's hard to imagine them getting together. this scenario was perfect. i think it could have been improved by being a tad bit fleshed out, but this little taste of their getting together was just great. ^_^
ROUND TWO: salty
★★★ My Summer Vacation, by Miai, a multimedia fic about Hikaru and Akira's daughter, describing her summer vacation. not only are the drawings perfect child-drawings, but it's such a lovely taste of their family, with the ocean breeze giving it that salty tang. really inspired, hence the multiple fave stars. ^_~
☆ A Hand of Stone, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), a Mushishi-fusion, with Hikaru as the mushishi and Akira as the vicitim. i'm slightly conflicted about this fic, because as a mushishi fic, this has the perfect tone and tenor, and fits perfectly with that series. hikaru and touya are well characterized, too. it's not that i think that people have to know mushishi to know this well (obviously, since several people enjoyed it who weren't familiar with mushishi), but there are a few things left unsaid that people who do know mushishi would clearly understand and all. which, again, perfectly fits with mushishi... like, for instance, what happened to Sai. hikaru takes a lot more after ginko than basically any other mushishi we meet in series, save maybe his master, but. that's irrelevant. i did really enjoy it, but i dunno, i guess the balance between hikaru no go and mushishi was a little too on the side of mushishi for me, but that's not a bad thing about the fic per se, so... i liked it, but for some unknown reason, my feelings about it are complicated anyway. lulz.
ROUND THREE: umami
...boy, am i glad this was our bye week, for multiple reasons, really.
★★ Shouganai, by cumulonimbus (
jetsam), a short vignette about Hikaru's father, and the lack of intersection between his life and his family's life. how deliciously ironic, then, that this is umami. i love it. ^___^
☆ Covalence, by kakari (
troisroyaumes), while not my favorite pairing, this Kaneko/Mitani tidbit so beautifully has them meeting up again in college, and finding that very little and yet everything has changed. i love the way Mitani is portrayed here.
☆ A Taste of Home, by Miai, a little Yashiro moment that is just great for Yashiro and the series.
★★ My Heart of Yore, by Uchida (
verysang), who picked up from where her/his teammate started last week with My Summer Vacation. here we get an absolutely beautiful, homey, and so true to life picture of Hikaru and Akira and baby Ikuko's homelife. it's an easy fic to get invested in, and it's beautifully written. love, love, love the characterization, all around. nicely done!!
★★★★ The Cage, by Fido (
rex_sun), the very best Sai-fic i've ever read, no question. it's dark, it's got sweet moments, it shows the difficult sides of being a ghost tied to a boy at all times, the weight of Sai's pain but still, his sweet nature... it's just gorgeous.
ROUND FOUR: sour
★★ Pucker Up, by Fido (
rex_sun), a sweetly sour little examination of Hikaru's friendships over the years, right up to his perfect rival. ^_~ just wonderfully characterized, with a small note of sadness about his relationship with Mitani.
★★ Misplay, by akota (
phnx), a heartbreaking little tale of Ashiwara trying (once again) to get some time with Saeki, and having things go, well, sour at the end. it really does leave me feeling achy, but it's a wonderful use of theme.
★★ Lingering, by La Niña, ahah, yeah, i managed to rec even a competitor... but i love the idea that Torajirou was so different with Sai because... he was in love with Sai. and i adore to bits, even though it's kinda heartbreaking, the idea of Torajirou's ghost invisibly and silently watching jealously over Sai and Hikaru is just perfect.
ROUND FIVE: sweet
★★★ Okashi, by Kazutaka Muraki (
mmmdraco), fic and photos and video and CAKE. CAKE! it's charming and SWEET and there was cake... the fic alone is actually only so-so (though, the last line kinda seals the deal...) but it's such a creative fusion of different ideas, it just leaves you with a yummy feeling. pretty much perfect for "sweet."
i don't really mean to imply that this was the only thing this round that i liked, apart from my teams' work. it's just... a lot of what was done was either... a pairing that i don't really care for, or something like that. also, i think both of the really long fics would have been better served if they had been much, much shorter. =X anyway!!
ROUND FIVE-POINT-FIVE: spicy
well, this time around, it's JUST my team and the competition, but...!! however...
★ Food Fight, by akota (
phnx), a funny little vignette with Hikaru being wrangled by Kurata and his obsession with An Taeseon. It fits in canon so perfectly, and it's such a fun description of Kurata, who is one of my faves... though i'm still wondering, like Hikaru, just who were they initially spying on!! ^_~
FINALS!!!!!!!: metallic
once again, it's just us and them! only by this time... my neuroses and anxieties have all wrapped themselves thoroughly and completely around my brain... i can't be objective at all, so just read them all!! there's only 6 and they all pretty much come with their own gimmicks, so. ^_~
please read and enjoy!! deathmatch was awesome with good fanworks, so...! oh, and no one guessed for me, so no writing.
♥ Kyuba ^_~