Give me a Team 7 blueberry pie. And recs, among other things.

[indira14]

I haven’t been on LJ for a month due to personal reasons, but during that time, I’ve been reading. Books, physics guides, doujin, medical texts, wiki pages on Japanese cultures, and fanfiction.

Especially fanfiction.

Comments

[nthcoincident]

Being pretty useless on this front, I have no recs :( (Have you read this http://m.fanfiction.net/s/3475505/1/ though? You probably have, but if not, I really found it stunning) but omg, THANK YOU FOR YOUR RANT about how certain things "can't be done." There is such a difference between an archetype and a cliche and most anti-pairing types don't seem to understand that.

That said, I'll admit that I never really actively seek out fic about Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura because my tastes lean to more atmospheric prose and it's hard to find in that part of fandom unless you somehow stumble across someone like fahye or octavius_x. But the STORIES there are anything but cliche--the Narutoverse is all about patterns and the Team Seven story is about breaking those patterns; it's about having a chance to make the first Hokage's choice to abandon Madara and making that choice differently. It's about what's earned being more important than what's inherited. It's about taking a legacy and turning it on its head. It's an incredible story, nothing fluffy or saccharine or insipid about it. It's the story of growing up and staying idealistic--it's not due to the story that that inherent maturity doesn't come across in the writing; I wish people would understand that.

...just to play devil's advocate, though, I can see how the fans of Team Seven fic also contribute to the hatred for it. I think it's really hard for people to understand that even others who like a pairing/character might like it for different reasons. Some people like SasuSaku because it has the potential to be completely horrific; some people like it because it has the potential to be tooth-rotting take-you-to-the-prom fluff; some people like it for other reasons entirely--and I think that fans' tendency to put forth their particular interpretation as THE REASON A PAIRING IS AMAZING OMG is what sets antis off so vehemently. I know sometimes I have this reaction to instinctively shun pairings I love because someone felt the urge to lay out "the reasons you should love it," which are not necessarily my reasons :) (This inevitably results in things like my idiocy wherein Hashirama/Mito is one of my favorite canon pairings done one way, and one of the most godawful pairings anyone has ever conceptualized done another...)

The BNF tendency in these fandoms is another reason some people seem to hate Team Seven fics so vehemently too :/ When I started reading, people kept putting forth this sort of OMG IF YOU DON'T LIKE ________'S FIC YOU WILL NEVER LIKE THIS PAIRING, and mostly...I didn't, which made me distrustful of fic for the pairing in general. This, probably, being why I muck about in Ita/Shi land and other small fandoms where people don't continually try to impose their tastes/interpretations on you :) I want to write Team Seven fic, but I'm always afraid it'll be shunned because my interpretations are weird /INSECURE

...omg, if you DO find any spectacular Edo period, historical Japan style fic, do introduce me! I realized that the reason I've been so unbelievably obsessed with the Founding Five as of late is because I need historical fic in my life and that period's legendary feel is most conducive to it.

Um, on a different note entirely, I was recced a book lately that dealt with the 1971 Liberation War and I remembered our long-ago conversation about how it's always sidelined :) This is one of the most spectacular books I've ever read that deals with outsiders making sense of that war, and the prose is jaw-dropping--Kartography, by Khamila Shamsie. Judging from your tastes in writing styles and your opinions and background with that history I think you would really enjoy it, if you haven't already read it.

THIS WAS SUCH A POINTLESS COMMENT OMG, BUT I LOVED READING YOUR THOUGHTS. PLEASE RANT MOAR ANYTIME &hearts

[indira14]

(I... had not read that before you mentioned it. But I did just now and i found it breathtaking and beautiful and maybe it's just all the studying and stress I've been smothered with this month, but by the end i was trying so hard not to cry. still sort of am, because prose like that does that to me sometimes, so forgive me if i'm a bit incoherent - and, um, you always somehow seem to find these unacknowledged gems, which i can only thank you for.)

I'm sorry, I did not mean to rant at all. D: It just all sort of came rushing out when I realized this would be the last time I'll be in fandom for a while. I suppose this was my way of leaving my thoughts behind, safe and sound, in order to concentrate on other things. ;__;

I can understand why you never go fic hunting for Team Seven, considering your preferences - it's, admittedly, hard to find fic that would suit you. Which is totally not a bad thing, trust me♥ I can't think of many that you'd maybe like - and that doesn't happen very often at all, I always have something to rec to someone. D: But may I push forward this here by alcedines? I have no idea how much you'll like it, and I'm only just rec'ing because my reaction to your prose is always "Wah, so colourful *__*" and alcedines' prose is what I'd consider vivid, too, but in a different way.

The Naruto-verse is all about patterns - I'm so glad that you decided to bring that up. There's not much I can say that you haven't already, but the overall theme of Team Seven breaking those patterns, slowly, one step at a time, and -like you've mentioned- choosing to do things differently and do it right this time is what I so love about the manga. Team 7 and what they represent.

With all the sometimes-subtle, sometimes-not symbolism that you'll find sprinkled left, right and center throughout the manga, it's easy to see Team 7 as a part of something bigger, with the same old question of "Will history repeat itself?" hanging like a neon sign on every new development - but then you look deeper, you see Team Seven for themselves, and not as leftovers of people who've been in their shoes, and that's when you know that the endless cycle of repetition has already begun to break.

Why? Because Naruto refuses to stop being idealistic when everyone else around him (and before him) already has. Growing up and staying idealistic (oh how do you say it so well?) doesn't seem to go hand-in-hand - it's always one or the other, you can't have both. But Naruto almost makes it seem possible, and sometimes, just sometimes, I really wish we could move past all the shipping and focus on this message. Perhaps I'm reading a bit too much into it, for I do not know whether this was Kishimoto's intention, but it's certainly nice to think of it that way.

Ugh, do not get me started on the reasons for liking a pairing - the fact that people who support a pairing contribute a lot to "giving it a bad name" by warring between themselves cannot be ignored.

I don't really make a "list" of reasons for why, exactly, I like a certain pairing - I like it because I like it and whether the relationship between the characters is "horrific" or "tooth-rotting take-you-to-the-prom" fluffy, doesn't really matter as long as I can recognise the characters for themselves. But I've seen people freak out over whether, say, SasuSaku is "cute" or "dark" - if we choose to go by current canon, I'd pick the latter but that doesn't mean the other interpretation is wrong. >8(

askerian is one of the best SasuNaruSaku writers in the fandom, but often I find myself not agreeing with her characterization - but that doesn't mean she's wrong, either, or that I won't read her fics. :/ The entire point of fanfiction is exploring possibilities.

(But to be honest, I've been rendered incapable of enjoying any interpretations of Hashirama/Mito that are not yours. Which is a bad thing because now I'll always keep comparing any Hashi/Mito fics I read with yours and I'll be all, "NO THIS ISN'T RIGHT, THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DO IT", despite my attempts at staying neutral. DX)

[indira14]

So, um, yes - there are a lot of supporters for Team 7 OT3 shoving their unsolicited "reasons you should like it" down your throat, so I can understand why you'd choose to... stay away. And ship ItaShi, for that matter. I love how everyone seems to get along with everyone in the bitter_nakano com - it's so rare. D':

A-And what are you saying? You should totally sit down and write Team Seven fic. D: That'd be, like, completely awesome. :D And nooooo, your interpretations cannot be weird. And even if they're weird, they'd be the good kind of weird that I'm sure a lot of people would like<33

(do send me a PM if you ever get around to writing it sometime. I'd love to see that from you. ♥)

Unfortunately, I do not know of any historical fic that may be to your liking. D: But I'll try anyway: there's ThreeAlls by phoenixdown7, set during World War II in China. Then there's fearlessfirefly's Open are the Doors to the Deathless, which I linked to in my entry. And I do not know if the following SasuSaku story will suit your tastes, but... Crimson Reign is something I found to be very well-written - it's set in a fantasy world based on Japanese folklore, and Lady Hanaka has done her research and obviously knows where she's going with the story. She even has a Ita/Shi story on her profile, I think, but I've never had the chance to read it. :'(

Re: Kartography - no, I have not read it yet. D: I've browsed the first few sample pages on Amazon though and now I want to read all of it and feel extremely ashamed that I had not known about it sooner. OTL I have little hope that I'll find it here in bookstores, but I'll look out for it, definitely. Thank you so, so much for letting me know! :D Currently, I'm reading The Idea of Justice by Amartya Sen, and inching my through Subarnalata by Ashapurna Debi - it's nice to read something different once in a while. Speaking of something different, I really want to try Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian but I haven't scraped together enough money to buy it yet. ;___;

AND OH GOD, I'M GLAD YOU LIKED READING MY THOUGHTS BUT I DID NOT MEAN TO RANT AT ALL. DX ON THE OTHER HAND, I WOULD LOVE TO READ A RANT ABOUT YOUR THOUGHTS ON FANDOM<33