[ Bleach, DCU, GundamW, Kingdom Hearts, Studio 60, X-Men, HOLiC/CCS, Gravi, ReBoot ]
Notes/Babbling: This is quite possibly my new favorite Hikago doujinshi ever. Omg, wolf!Kaga is the hottest thing just about ever and Kaga/Hikaru is still totally my favorite pairing. (SIGH. I know, okay?)(And second part!)
One Piece ZoSan doujin! I love yaoi_daily for this kind of stuff, especially on this third post (it has links to a download and the first two posts) there's a panel of Zoro's head falling on Sanji's shoulder and Sanji looking unbelievably annoyed/pissed off. Yes, that's my ZoSan right there. ♥ (I was impressed with how well the doujin mimicked the OP style, too. And the kiss at the end? Hotter than a hot hot thing. *fans self*)
Okay. OKAY. As long as I'm spazzing out about yaoi_daily, the L’amour est Bleu by CRUSHERs Seifer/Zell doujinshi are the most gorgeous things ever. (There are multiple posts, so just hit up the monthly posts and do a search for the title. Or go to the final post to find the download links if the images still aren't working.) I'd seen them before, of course, but actually picking up the scanslated versions to read, they're just... it's not that they're pretty. That certainly helps, that they're some of the most flat-out gorgeous doujin I've seen. It's also that they're squee-inducingly adorable and hot and coo-worthy. Those CRUSHER doujinshi are pretty much everything I love about the Seifer/Zell pairing right there, that is why I ship them. (Also Matchmaker Pairings in the right hands = ♥ ♥ ♥ srsly.)
Series:
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
DCU/JL:TAS - 1 Fanfic
Gundam Wing - 3 Fanfics
Kingdom Hearts - 1 Fanfic
Studio 60 - 1 Fanfic
X-Men - 2 Fanfics
xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - 2 Fanfics
Gravitation - 3 AMVs
ReBoot - 1 AMV
- Bleach - A Song That No One Sings by Sintari - I was enjoying this fic, as I do most Renji/Rukia pieces, thinking it a sweet little fic that had some very pretty language to it. Renji and Rukia and a lack of clothing and touching always makes me happy, this fic certainly being no exception. <3 Then I hit the last few lines and it was just... it packed quite the punch and... yeah. Exact reaction the author wanted me to have. (Renji/Rukia.)
- Bleach - Broken Smile by allira_dream - One of my favorite things about Bleach is the Byakuya/Hisana - Byakuya/Rukia relationships, the way it's such a finely webbed, easily tangled thing and this fic captures that beautifully. The first half is one of the prettiest Byakuya/Hisana fics that I've read recently, one that fits so well with how I saw them in canon. The way they were such a quiet pairing, sad but with real love there, not soul-crushingly depressing, but almost gracefully tragic. That is Byakuya/Hisana to me, whatever this fic is, despite my inability to put into words. The Byakuya/Rukia is lovely as well, skating that line between seeing her sister and seeing herself, between something more and something familial. Very pretty. (Byakuya/Hisana, implications of Byakuya/Rukia if you lean that way.)
- Justice League:TAS - Till You've Left It by Mara Greengrass - You know, every time I think I might have a problem with JL:TAS, along comes a fic that reminds me of why I liked it so much in the first place. This is a lovely little 'between the frames of canon' piece during "Once and Future Thing", a look at Batman being trapped in the past and how that had to have been driving him a little crazy. The author handles the inner POV very well, doesn't go too far into cliche in either direction, instead it's this nice little piece where I can practically feel him twitching even as he's respressing the urge to do so. ....I'm writing this badly. It's a cool fic, one that I clearly should have read years ago. ^_~ (Blink and you'll miss it, Bruce/Diana. It's mostly a gen piece.)
- Gundam Wing - Role Reversal by Sefilin - Ever since memlu posted the first episode of GundamW on her journal, I've had the itch to go back through some of my old favorites that I never quite got around to recommending. For as much GundamW fic as I'd read before this one, this fic will always be special to me because it took me from not really caring for Relena's character to having this sudden clarity of understanding. It was like someone had finally explained her instead of just preaching about how great and wonderful she was, you have no idea how rare that used to be, how rare it was to find a Relena fan who wasn't as militant as the anti-Relena fans. But this fic came along. And I had this whole new world of possibilities opened up for me because of it.
I have great fondness for the writing and characterization of this story, the technical aspects of it are very solid. There's some fangirl Japanese and maybe a little stiffness to it, but considering this was written at least six years ago, it's holding up brilliantly well. But what really drove home the coolness for me was the way it drew parallels and connections between Relena and Duo's characters, made me realize why their interaction could be so incredibly flat-out awesome. For all that this fic isn't 2xR, it also gave me my intense love of that pairing.
I like the pacing of the fic as well, the focus of the fic is put on the two versions of Duo in the two mixed up worlds and the two ways Relena's character could have gone. (I think Heero and Relena having been switched might have worked even better for me because they're such inverted mirror images of each other, but I also like that this focused on Duo and Relena, because it was about a new understanding, a new connection, rather than expanding on one that was already there.) I like that the author didn't ignore that aspect of the fic, even while it wasn't the point. It created this nice little fic that always stuck with me as the one that finally explained Relena to me in a way that I understood. So much love for that alone. (Some Heero/Duo, some AU Heero/Relena, some Duo/Relena-not-romance, but 2xR fans might like it.)
- Gundam Wing - Loaded by One Person - I was doing a lot of journal hopping lately and stumbled over a link that led me to a link that led me to a link that led me to this one. I tend to be wary of reading Heero/Duo fics these days because so few authors hit the characters the way I'm looking to read them, but I skimmed this one and promptly got sucked in. This is what I like with my 1x2 smut. They're both dark and dangerous and Duo's a little more screwed up than usual, but that's what makes this fic good. He loves blowing shit up, gets this weird sense of being turned on and I can believe that a fifteen year old in his situation would absolutely react that way. And Heero... Heero was just how I like him, too. He's dangerous and intense, but he's not without feeling and the way they move together, the way the author describes the smut is gorgeous. I almost don't want to read any more 1x2 smut ever again because this one was just exactly the right thing I wanted at exactly the right time. It's so pretty. *_* (Heero/Duo, NC-17.)
- Gundam Wing - Kimi no Koto wa Itsudemo Mamoru by Orla - This is a story I've been meaning to read for years, but was just never in quite enough of a GundamW-ish mood to actually sit down with it. I've always been curious about this Heero/Hirde story because... well, I liked Duo/Relena (based on the idea that Heero and Relena are such inverted mirror images of each other that if Heero/Duo worked so well, why wouldn't Duo/Relena work just as well? Which somehow extended into wanting to curiously poke at the idea of Heero with Hirde. And while a lot of the old-school fics don't withstand the test of time, I still greatly enjoyed this one, it's just so... *waves hand* it's completely het, but in the good way. It's that enthusiasm for a pairing that convinces me, hey, that might actually be a good idea....
So much about this story is charming to me, the way Heero and Hirde interact just... I always wondered if I really would glomp onto the idea, being such a staunch OTP fan as I am. But I loved the way the author wrote them, Heero's intensity and quiet, Hirde's wearing her emotions on her sleeve, the author contrasts them well, makes them play off each other nicely. I liked the way the fic dealt with Heero's relationship with Relena, it's obvious he cares about her, but it's not that kind of love, but it takes Heero awhile to really sort out his feelings.
Admittedly, the scenes with Duo coming back, his anger at Heero and Hirde having fallen in love felt off to me, but I've never been a fan of the pairing, so I wasn't likely to connect with them in the first place. They felt over the top, like the author was working a little too hard to show why Duo and Hirde wouldn't work out and use Duo's anger for more drama, when her having simply moved on would have been enough. However, I still kept reading through those scenes when I normally skip right on by 2xH stuff. And, okay, I'm a great big sap for the ending because part of the original attraction to this story was the Duo/Relena content that would eventually happen and just... shut up, I know. (Heero/Hirde, some Duo/Hirde, eventual Duo/Relena.)
- Kingdom Hearts - Silver Lining by Jaelle - [Note: There are some spoilers for KHII in this fic, but of an incredibly vague nature.] I... I... I have this weakness for Leon/Aerith in the KHverse. It's not something I seek out very often because too much of the fic is badly written (much like my weakness for Leon/Yuffie--whyyy is there not more non-cringe-worthy fic for them??), but when an author I like writes them, I'm always happy to bounce over. And this was... this was just fun, the way Tifa was terrorizing the lot of them while she was looking for Cloud, the way of course Leon had to be the one to deal with it, and the absolutely sweet and adorable scene with Aerith afterwards. I loved that the previous scene ended on such an abrupt note because you know exactly what happened and hee hee hee! Such a fun fic! ♥ (Some light Leon/Aerith.)
- Studio 60 - Meeting The Constituents by Sam Vimes - More Studio 60 fic that I enjoyed! Sometimes I wonder if I'm not watching the show just so I can read the fic, because... it's not that the fic is better than the show so much as it is... a really satisfying addition to watching the show? This fic is more of that, more of those cute little moments between shows where the rest of the cast screws around with Matt and Danny in that friendly/funny way that makes them so much fun. The little touches with the bumper sticker for President/Vice President that the crew works up, the way Matt tends to get way too up inside his own head with that kind of thing and gets in a tizzy, even the way Jordan was in the fic, all of it was the fun, cute little thing. :D (No warings/pairings.)
- X-Men - Looming by mizzmarvel - As is frequent with me, I don't even remember how I got onto looking for Northstar fic, just that I have this occasional urge to fall back in love all over again with him. So, I started poking around just a teeny bit and happened to stumble over this fic. It's actually a Bobby fic, you have to squint to read the (rather one-sided) Jean-Paul/Bobby into it and that's not really even why I liked it so much. It was just... it was a really good, solid Bobby piece, especially after he's been put through the wringer so many times lately. The fic does a lovely job of not overstating his angst, his loss, his frustration, his sadness, same as it doesn't overstate the connection with Lorna or Jean-Paul. It's just... the author played it with a lovely, deft hand and makes me like Bobby again. (Some implications of Bobby/Lorna, Jean-Paul/Bobby.)
- X-Men - Norway by mizzmarvel - Oh, Jean-Paul/Bobby. I don't even need them to be doing anything, all they have to do is go on a trip to Norway so Bobby can be in the cold for a little while, and I'm a pile of fangirl mush because I love them so damn much. It helps that the author does a lovely job with them, keeps Bobby's sense of... well, Bobby, while still never forgetting how much crap they're all going through. The end of this fic, as well, just makes me ache in that fangirly way. (Implications of Jean-Paul/Bobby if you squint.)
- xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - Better Than Drinking Alone by allira_dream - I meant to go to bed last night. But I was gathering up a few last-minute fic links to read in the morning and I wanted to skim this one to see if it was worth pursuing. Cut to about ten minutes later when I was clicking all over the author's tags to find more of her Clow/Yuuko fic to read and... well, here we are. There's something very pretty and elegant about the writing for the characters here, something very sad but very pretty and magical at the same time, all the things I want from Clow/Yuuko even if it's not really Clow/Yuuko. And OMG OMG OMG. The author addressed Madoushi! I loved Clow and Madoushi! This fits together brilliantly well with how I loved both pairings, making me love both all the more at the same time! Yuuko watching Clow play the piano, the way they don't really talk directly about things, the way Yuuko knows things about Clow that no one else does... all of it is gorgeous. (Clow/Yuuko, but not really, it's mostly gen. Mentions of possible Clow/Madoushi.)
- xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - Once Upon a Dream by allira_dream - After having read the previous fic by this author, I meant to just skim another of hers to see if I liked it as much as the first. About a minute later, I was unable to put the fic down, despite that I should have been sleeping by that point. There was something absolutely beautiful about this set of facets of their relationship, from the way they first met in a dream to Clow's plans for the future to their different types of magic to a thousand other little details that are woven into the background from what we know of the characters. It's not just that the fic is written in that hazy space between love and could have been love (because Clow and Yuuko knew far too much to have been tied together too tightly, much as I might wish otherwise) or the way there's such affection there without even having to breathe a word of it, it's that... there's this really elegant, beautiful sense to the writing that fits the tone of the characters so damn well that I couldn't put the fic down. I really loved this one. (Clow/Yuuko, but not quite entirely.)
- Gravitation AMV - Gravitation Toons - Stealing the link off of Noel here~~ Let me say one thing before I keyboard mash over this AMV. There are parts of this AMV that are totally not well-done, it needed more work in a lot of spots. That said. Holy crap, there were parts this AMV that made me laugh so hard I cried, man. With a little more work, it could have been one of the best AMVs ever, because the concept is totally solid. You wouldn't think putting the Tiny Toons intro song over a bunch of Gravitation clips would work, but... I dare you to get to the K part and not laugh yourself sick. I dare you.
- Gravitation AMV - I want you to want me - Another Gravi AMV link I'm ganking from Noel. The song is really sort of an impressive fit--the light, upbeat tone works with Gravitation, but it's also that the lyrics work for both Eiri and Shuuichi. Combine that with how the artist didn't repeat footage and found some good stuf, and it's this really cool little AMV that I actually enjoyed watching. So often it takes a great hook or something that makes me laugh to get me to watch, but this one I enjoyed for the fun little song and the way it really fit the characters.
- Gravitation AMV - Which Backstreet Boy is Gay? - Maybe I'm just in a really good mood tonight. But I think this AMV might be the best use of that "Which Backstreet Boy is Gay?" song that I've seen yet. The nice thing about the video is that the clips are chosen/framed so that it actually looks somewhat like pieces of a music video, rather than obvious footage taken out of the TV series. But it's also that they fit the lyrics and I wound up laughing out loud every time Shuuichi would do one of his usual antics or the entire cast acted goofy and it's just... the artist was really good about not repeating footage and finding little moments that totally hit the spot. I loved this.
- ReBoot AMV - Holding Out for Hero - Last time I looked for ReBoot AMVs on YouTube, there weren't all that many to find. I didn't really have high hopes this time around, either, but I was poking for episode links, stumbled over this one, and promptly proceeded to squee myself into some sort of fangirl fit. It's partly that the vid is well-done, the moments the artist chose are great and a lot of them went into this clip... but mostly it was the way the artist chose clips that... sent me into spastic fits of glee. Any time Bob was on the screen and fighting or using Glitch!Bob powers or when he was fighting Megabyte and the lyrics were all, "I'm holding out for a hero" just after a flash on Dot's face... yeah, I was all, "OH MY GOD BOB/DOT OTP FOR LIFE" afterwards. Which is what AMVs should do, get a person hooked and make them watch and rewatch and rewatch because of all those tiny little moments of cool. I'm not in love with this AMV because it was so bad it was good. I'm in love with it because it kicked my OTP fangirl ass and didn't even bother to take any names.
One Piece ZoSan doujin! I love yaoi_daily for this kind of stuff, especially on this third post (it has links to a download and the first two posts) there's a panel of Zoro's head falling on Sanji's shoulder and Sanji looking unbelievably annoyed/pissed off. Yes, that's my ZoSan right there. ♥ (I was impressed with how well the doujin mimicked the OP style, too. And the kiss at the end? Hotter than a hot hot thing. *fans self*)
Okay. OKAY. As long as I'm spazzing out about yaoi_daily, the L’amour est Bleu by CRUSHERs Seifer/Zell doujinshi are the most gorgeous things ever. (There are multiple posts, so just hit up the monthly posts and do a search for the title. Or go to the final post to find the download links if the images still aren't working.) I'd seen them before, of course, but actually picking up the scanslated versions to read, they're just... it's not that they're pretty. That certainly helps, that they're some of the most flat-out gorgeous doujin I've seen. It's also that they're squee-inducingly adorable and hot and coo-worthy. Those CRUSHER doujinshi are pretty much everything I love about the Seifer/Zell pairing right there, that is why I ship them. (Also Matchmaker Pairings in the right hands = ♥ ♥ ♥ srsly.)
Series:
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
DCU/JL:TAS - 1 Fanfic
Gundam Wing - 3 Fanfics
Kingdom Hearts - 1 Fanfic
Studio 60 - 1 Fanfic
X-Men - 2 Fanfics
xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - 2 Fanfics
Gravitation - 3 AMVs
ReBoot - 1 AMV
- Bleach - A Song That No One Sings by Sintari - I was enjoying this fic, as I do most Renji/Rukia pieces, thinking it a sweet little fic that had some very pretty language to it. Renji and Rukia and a lack of clothing and touching always makes me happy, this fic certainly being no exception. <3 Then I hit the last few lines and it was just... it packed quite the punch and... yeah. Exact reaction the author wanted me to have. (Renji/Rukia.)
- Bleach - Broken Smile by allira_dream - One of my favorite things about Bleach is the Byakuya/Hisana - Byakuya/Rukia relationships, the way it's such a finely webbed, easily tangled thing and this fic captures that beautifully. The first half is one of the prettiest Byakuya/Hisana fics that I've read recently, one that fits so well with how I saw them in canon. The way they were such a quiet pairing, sad but with real love there, not soul-crushingly depressing, but almost gracefully tragic. That is Byakuya/Hisana to me, whatever this fic is, despite my inability to put into words. The Byakuya/Rukia is lovely as well, skating that line between seeing her sister and seeing herself, between something more and something familial. Very pretty. (Byakuya/Hisana, implications of Byakuya/Rukia if you lean that way.)
- Justice League:TAS - Till You've Left It by Mara Greengrass - You know, every time I think I might have a problem with JL:TAS, along comes a fic that reminds me of why I liked it so much in the first place. This is a lovely little 'between the frames of canon' piece during "Once and Future Thing", a look at Batman being trapped in the past and how that had to have been driving him a little crazy. The author handles the inner POV very well, doesn't go too far into cliche in either direction, instead it's this nice little piece where I can practically feel him twitching even as he's respressing the urge to do so. ....I'm writing this badly. It's a cool fic, one that I clearly should have read years ago. ^_~ (Blink and you'll miss it, Bruce/Diana. It's mostly a gen piece.)
- Gundam Wing - Role Reversal by Sefilin - Ever since memlu posted the first episode of GundamW on her journal, I've had the itch to go back through some of my old favorites that I never quite got around to recommending. For as much GundamW fic as I'd read before this one, this fic will always be special to me because it took me from not really caring for Relena's character to having this sudden clarity of understanding. It was like someone had finally explained her instead of just preaching about how great and wonderful she was, you have no idea how rare that used to be, how rare it was to find a Relena fan who wasn't as militant as the anti-Relena fans. But this fic came along. And I had this whole new world of possibilities opened up for me because of it.
I have great fondness for the writing and characterization of this story, the technical aspects of it are very solid. There's some fangirl Japanese and maybe a little stiffness to it, but considering this was written at least six years ago, it's holding up brilliantly well. But what really drove home the coolness for me was the way it drew parallels and connections between Relena and Duo's characters, made me realize why their interaction could be so incredibly flat-out awesome. For all that this fic isn't 2xR, it also gave me my intense love of that pairing.
I like the pacing of the fic as well, the focus of the fic is put on the two versions of Duo in the two mixed up worlds and the two ways Relena's character could have gone. (I think Heero and Relena having been switched might have worked even better for me because they're such inverted mirror images of each other, but I also like that this focused on Duo and Relena, because it was about a new understanding, a new connection, rather than expanding on one that was already there.) I like that the author didn't ignore that aspect of the fic, even while it wasn't the point. It created this nice little fic that always stuck with me as the one that finally explained Relena to me in a way that I understood. So much love for that alone. (Some Heero/Duo, some AU Heero/Relena, some Duo/Relena-not-romance, but 2xR fans might like it.)
- Gundam Wing - Loaded by One Person - I was doing a lot of journal hopping lately and stumbled over a link that led me to a link that led me to a link that led me to this one. I tend to be wary of reading Heero/Duo fics these days because so few authors hit the characters the way I'm looking to read them, but I skimmed this one and promptly got sucked in. This is what I like with my 1x2 smut. They're both dark and dangerous and Duo's a little more screwed up than usual, but that's what makes this fic good. He loves blowing shit up, gets this weird sense of being turned on and I can believe that a fifteen year old in his situation would absolutely react that way. And Heero... Heero was just how I like him, too. He's dangerous and intense, but he's not without feeling and the way they move together, the way the author describes the smut is gorgeous. I almost don't want to read any more 1x2 smut ever again because this one was just exactly the right thing I wanted at exactly the right time. It's so pretty. *_* (Heero/Duo, NC-17.)
- Gundam Wing - Kimi no Koto wa Itsudemo Mamoru by Orla - This is a story I've been meaning to read for years, but was just never in quite enough of a GundamW-ish mood to actually sit down with it. I've always been curious about this Heero/Hirde story because... well, I liked Duo/Relena (based on the idea that Heero and Relena are such inverted mirror images of each other that if Heero/Duo worked so well, why wouldn't Duo/Relena work just as well? Which somehow extended into wanting to curiously poke at the idea of Heero with Hirde. And while a lot of the old-school fics don't withstand the test of time, I still greatly enjoyed this one, it's just so... *waves hand* it's completely het, but in the good way. It's that enthusiasm for a pairing that convinces me, hey, that might actually be a good idea....
So much about this story is charming to me, the way Heero and Hirde interact just... I always wondered if I really would glomp onto the idea, being such a staunch OTP fan as I am. But I loved the way the author wrote them, Heero's intensity and quiet, Hirde's wearing her emotions on her sleeve, the author contrasts them well, makes them play off each other nicely. I liked the way the fic dealt with Heero's relationship with Relena, it's obvious he cares about her, but it's not that kind of love, but it takes Heero awhile to really sort out his feelings.
Admittedly, the scenes with Duo coming back, his anger at Heero and Hirde having fallen in love felt off to me, but I've never been a fan of the pairing, so I wasn't likely to connect with them in the first place. They felt over the top, like the author was working a little too hard to show why Duo and Hirde wouldn't work out and use Duo's anger for more drama, when her having simply moved on would have been enough. However, I still kept reading through those scenes when I normally skip right on by 2xH stuff. And, okay, I'm a great big sap for the ending because part of the original attraction to this story was the Duo/Relena content that would eventually happen and just... shut up, I know. (Heero/Hirde, some Duo/Hirde, eventual Duo/Relena.)
- Kingdom Hearts - Silver Lining by Jaelle - [Note: There are some spoilers for KHII in this fic, but of an incredibly vague nature.] I... I... I have this weakness for Leon/Aerith in the KHverse. It's not something I seek out very often because too much of the fic is badly written (much like my weakness for Leon/Yuffie--whyyy is there not more non-cringe-worthy fic for them??), but when an author I like writes them, I'm always happy to bounce over. And this was... this was just fun, the way Tifa was terrorizing the lot of them while she was looking for Cloud, the way of course Leon had to be the one to deal with it, and the absolutely sweet and adorable scene with Aerith afterwards. I loved that the previous scene ended on such an abrupt note because you know exactly what happened and hee hee hee! Such a fun fic! ♥ (Some light Leon/Aerith.)
- Studio 60 - Meeting The Constituents by Sam Vimes - More Studio 60 fic that I enjoyed! Sometimes I wonder if I'm not watching the show just so I can read the fic, because... it's not that the fic is better than the show so much as it is... a really satisfying addition to watching the show? This fic is more of that, more of those cute little moments between shows where the rest of the cast screws around with Matt and Danny in that friendly/funny way that makes them so much fun. The little touches with the bumper sticker for President/Vice President that the crew works up, the way Matt tends to get way too up inside his own head with that kind of thing and gets in a tizzy, even the way Jordan was in the fic, all of it was the fun, cute little thing. :D (No warings/pairings.)
- X-Men - Looming by mizzmarvel - As is frequent with me, I don't even remember how I got onto looking for Northstar fic, just that I have this occasional urge to fall back in love all over again with him. So, I started poking around just a teeny bit and happened to stumble over this fic. It's actually a Bobby fic, you have to squint to read the (rather one-sided) Jean-Paul/Bobby into it and that's not really even why I liked it so much. It was just... it was a really good, solid Bobby piece, especially after he's been put through the wringer so many times lately. The fic does a lovely job of not overstating his angst, his loss, his frustration, his sadness, same as it doesn't overstate the connection with Lorna or Jean-Paul. It's just... the author played it with a lovely, deft hand and makes me like Bobby again. (Some implications of Bobby/Lorna, Jean-Paul/Bobby.)
- X-Men - Norway by mizzmarvel - Oh, Jean-Paul/Bobby. I don't even need them to be doing anything, all they have to do is go on a trip to Norway so Bobby can be in the cold for a little while, and I'm a pile of fangirl mush because I love them so damn much. It helps that the author does a lovely job with them, keeps Bobby's sense of... well, Bobby, while still never forgetting how much crap they're all going through. The end of this fic, as well, just makes me ache in that fangirly way. (Implications of Jean-Paul/Bobby if you squint.)
- xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - Better Than Drinking Alone by allira_dream - I meant to go to bed last night. But I was gathering up a few last-minute fic links to read in the morning and I wanted to skim this one to see if it was worth pursuing. Cut to about ten minutes later when I was clicking all over the author's tags to find more of her Clow/Yuuko fic to read and... well, here we are. There's something very pretty and elegant about the writing for the characters here, something very sad but very pretty and magical at the same time, all the things I want from Clow/Yuuko even if it's not really Clow/Yuuko. And OMG OMG OMG. The author addressed Madoushi! I loved Clow and Madoushi! This fits together brilliantly well with how I loved both pairings, making me love both all the more at the same time! Yuuko watching Clow play the piano, the way they don't really talk directly about things, the way Yuuko knows things about Clow that no one else does... all of it is gorgeous. (Clow/Yuuko, but not really, it's mostly gen. Mentions of possible Clow/Madoushi.)
- xxxHOLiC/Cardcaptor Sakura - Once Upon a Dream by allira_dream - After having read the previous fic by this author, I meant to just skim another of hers to see if I liked it as much as the first. About a minute later, I was unable to put the fic down, despite that I should have been sleeping by that point. There was something absolutely beautiful about this set of facets of their relationship, from the way they first met in a dream to Clow's plans for the future to their different types of magic to a thousand other little details that are woven into the background from what we know of the characters. It's not just that the fic is written in that hazy space between love and could have been love (because Clow and Yuuko knew far too much to have been tied together too tightly, much as I might wish otherwise) or the way there's such affection there without even having to breathe a word of it, it's that... there's this really elegant, beautiful sense to the writing that fits the tone of the characters so damn well that I couldn't put the fic down. I really loved this one. (Clow/Yuuko, but not quite entirely.)
- Gravitation AMV - Gravitation Toons - Stealing the link off of Noel here~~ Let me say one thing before I keyboard mash over this AMV. There are parts of this AMV that are totally not well-done, it needed more work in a lot of spots. That said. Holy crap, there were parts this AMV that made me laugh so hard I cried, man. With a little more work, it could have been one of the best AMVs ever, because the concept is totally solid. You wouldn't think putting the Tiny Toons intro song over a bunch of Gravitation clips would work, but... I dare you to get to the K part and not laugh yourself sick. I dare you.
- Gravitation AMV - I want you to want me - Another Gravi AMV link I'm ganking from Noel. The song is really sort of an impressive fit--the light, upbeat tone works with Gravitation, but it's also that the lyrics work for both Eiri and Shuuichi. Combine that with how the artist didn't repeat footage and found some good stuf, and it's this really cool little AMV that I actually enjoyed watching. So often it takes a great hook or something that makes me laugh to get me to watch, but this one I enjoyed for the fun little song and the way it really fit the characters.
- Gravitation AMV - Which Backstreet Boy is Gay? - Maybe I'm just in a really good mood tonight. But I think this AMV might be the best use of that "Which Backstreet Boy is Gay?" song that I've seen yet. The nice thing about the video is that the clips are chosen/framed so that it actually looks somewhat like pieces of a music video, rather than obvious footage taken out of the TV series. But it's also that they fit the lyrics and I wound up laughing out loud every time Shuuichi would do one of his usual antics or the entire cast acted goofy and it's just... the artist was really good about not repeating footage and finding little moments that totally hit the spot. I loved this.
- ReBoot AMV - Holding Out for Hero - Last time I looked for ReBoot AMVs on YouTube, there weren't all that many to find. I didn't really have high hopes this time around, either, but I was poking for episode links, stumbled over this one, and promptly proceeded to squee myself into some sort of fangirl fit. It's partly that the vid is well-done, the moments the artist chose are great and a lot of them went into this clip... but mostly it was the way the artist chose clips that... sent me into spastic fits of glee. Any time Bob was on the screen and fighting or using Glitch!Bob powers or when he was fighting Megabyte and the lyrics were all, "I'm holding out for a hero" just after a flash on Dot's face... yeah, I was all, "OH MY GOD BOB/DOT OTP FOR LIFE" afterwards. Which is what AMVs should do, get a person hooked and make them watch and rewatch and rewatch because of all those tiny little moments of cool. I'm not in love with this AMV because it was so bad it was good. I'm in love with it because it kicked my OTP fangirl ass and didn't even bother to take any names.