[ Bleach, Junjou Romantica, REBORN!, Sailor Moon, Tales of the Abyss, Young Avengers ]
SHARING TIME:
ღ - Moar manifestos! Spike/Buffy this time and I am delighted to see this one. Plus there are even more recs in the comments! ♥
ღ - One more because I can't resist: Sarek/Amanda has always been an OTP of mine and I'm so glad STXI brought a new wave of fans to them.
ღ - No wait! Still one more! House/Cuddy and I continue to love this trend of being an actually active recommendations comm, it's amazing.
ღ - Tachibana Kaimu manga makes my heart soar. ♥ (Though, really, fandom, if you loved me, you'd scanslate Rasen no Kakera or her doujinshi.)
ღ - Ugh, my Google-fu is failing me lately. I spent, like, an hour looking for a consolidated version of my favorite fic ever and had zero luck at all. Then, finally, I give up and start compiling it into one file manually and, while I'm doing this, I'm half-heartedly looking for recs. AND THEN I FIND A LINK TO IT ON FFNET and Fanfiction Downloader puts FFNET fics all into one handy file for me and I had a microscopic moment of UGH WHY SO DIFFICULT GOOGLE before I went OMG THIS IS GOING TO MAKE ME SO HAPPY and it's going to be way easier to find Valerie Jones' updates now! And she has new fic! Life is not all bad. ♥
ღ - Oh, shit. Egoist mood theme. My desire for this is burning in my soul, but I'm not sure I want to give LJ money for being able to change my mood theme again. BUT IT'S AN EGOIST MOOD THEME. *PINES* And then there's an anime/color version and now I'm pretty sure the universe is cockteasing me. :<
AND ONTO THE RECS:
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
Junjou Romantica - 4 Fanfics
Katekyou Hitman REBORN! - 2 Fanfics
Tales of the Abyss - 1 Doujinshi
Junjou Romantica - 9 Fanart
Sailor Moon - 2 Fanart
Young Avengers - 1 Fanart
Bleach: Your Secrets, My Secrets by sureasdawn - This was a cute piece with Renji and Rukia bickering while they're not quite making out. I like the sexiness of the piece while still keeping it to a PG-13 level, it's more about intimacy and playfulness than straight up porn, which is nice sometimes! But mostly it's the fun banter between the characters, which is one of the things I like best about this pairing. :D (Renji/Rukia, maybe a smidge NSFW.)
Bleach: peu à peu by alice hattercandy - A post-Hueco Mundo fic where Orihime decides that today is going to be the day, where she confesses her feelings to Ichigo, and it's just so... I love this Orihime because she's so determined and upbeat, but not brainless or without fear. The point is that she's overcoming her nervousness and the butterflies in her stomach are still there, but she's more sure of herself after everything that's happened, and it's just so sweet and adorable. I love that Ichigo is a total idiot here, too, flailing and turning red over her actions and just. It was light and airy and upbeat without being pure fluff. Very sweet! ♥ (Ichigo/Orihime.)
Junjou Romantica: Are You Awake? by fudeki - This is another short piece, but it's one of those that I stumbled over on a whim and I... this is the kind of fic that makes me kind of envious in fandom, because this is the kind of ficlet I want to write sometimes, where Nowaki is trying to wake Hiroki up and it goes about as well as usual so Nowaki... is Nowaki, and yet the author clearly beat me to it. But it's so adorable and the ending is perfect, so I can't really complain. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: 4:03 by Sorryll - My only real complaint about this fic is, fffffffffffffff, I really wanted another scene to it! The author does a really nice job of Nowaki and Hiroki having one of their usual arguements just before Nowaki has to leave for several days, getting Hiroki all worked up about it, and then the resolution of it that's just so... Egoist. It can sometimes be a difficult line to walk, getting Hiroki to stew about events like this, to not go too far, but to not make him callous either, but the author does a really fantastic job of it and the final scene at the end is a nice emotional payoff, very nicely done. Even if I totally wanted the author to write another scene. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: Keep Warm by hitzusin - This might have been a very short piece, less than 300 words, but it's wintery weather and clothes and Hiroki wrapping Nowaki up in his scarf because Nowaki wasn't properly dressed for the weather and trying to be nonchalant about it and just. I am totally weak to stuff like that, it makes me feel all warm and fluffy and happy, too. <3 (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: Beautiful by yunakitty - I will admit that I was a little wary of this fic when I first started reading it--there was a little too much emphasis on Nowaki seeing Hiroki as an "angel" or a "beautiful creature" and I can buy a certain amount of loopy thinking from Nowaki, especially after he first met Hiroki, but the beginning of this fic was rough for me. But I liked what the author was doing, the way Nowaki was instantly taken with this guy he saw, the way he had all these feelings about the guy, but also clearly really, really wanted to fuck him, the mix of fluffier feelings and physical attraction to him clicked well with me. So I kept reading. And the author found the characters' voices pretty quickly after that, setting the Egoist storyline through Nowaki's eyes here, showing the early stages of the first meeting and tutoring and how they fell into a relationship with each other and--despite that I've read the manga and watched the anime a ridiculous number of times--still made these events really interesting to me! She didn't just rely on the events we already saw, she wove in other moments, original ones, that felt very organic to the timeline and gave depth to the relationship.
But it wasn't just that that appealed to me. Oh, sure, the frequent sex was very, very nice (very nice) but it was also nicely done to show the attraction between the characters, Nowaki's very direct attraction and Hiroki's attempts to keep a distance yet failing to hide how much he wants this, too, and revealed little insights into the characters. I think what really made this fic work for me, what made it come together for me, is that the author had a great Hiroki voice. He was insulting but you could clearly read beneath it every time he bitched at Nowaki or ordered him around, every time he called him stupid or annoying, you got how Nowaki could read underneath it even in the beginning. Little moments (oh, my god, the thing with Hiroki slowly stealing Nowaki's clothes hit me right in my wheelhouse, that was a serious kink of mine) of adorableness or even rather awkward sex because Nowaki is new to this, all worked together to make this one of my new favorites in the fandom. Honestly, I was pretty much clapping my hands together in glee by the end because she just nailed the dynamic and the voices for the characters by the end, because she didn't skimp on the sex, but didn't make it all about that, either. This one hit me absolutely perfectly. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, NC-17.)
Katekyou Hitman REBORN!: Nana's Cooking by neko-nya - I was randomly in the mood for KHR fic this morning (well, for D18 fic, to be honest) and stumbled over this one and figured, oh, I'ld just read a bit of it to get a feel for the author's style. And, before I knew it, I was completely sucked into the fic because it was this adorable little story where Hibari drops by and winds up eating Tsuna's mother's cooking... and gets attached to it. This could have been really badly done, but the author kind of nails the Daily Life-style hilarity and the craziness of the series, the way Hibari is surprising in the most hilarious ways, and the way Tsuna is just... oh, poor traumatized Tsuna had me on the brink of a snickerfit every page pretty much, because his fear of Hibari and the way the rest of his world just doesn't make any goddamned sense and the way Dino shows up and makes everything worse is just... it was beautiful. One of those fics that captured the spirit of the series and gave me my ship fix all at the same time. ♥ (Implications of Dino/Hibari, but they're far from the point.)
Katekyou Hitman REBORN!: Buon San Valentino by neko-nya - W-well, I couldn't resist one more fic. And, true, it's a little fluffier than I might usually go for with Dino and Hibari, but... sometimes I like fluff, okay? Especially holiday-themed fluff, where Dino goes around handing out flowers to all friends and family for Valentine's Day, dragging Hibari along with him with the promise of a fight, and every time Dino says anything to Hibari, he pretty much threatens to make the herbivore eat the flowers he's carrying around, since he's such an herbivore. It's cute and was a really fun little read this morning and there was a hilarious Hibird scene at the end, all things I enjoy reading! o/ (Dino/Hibari.)
Tales of the Abyss Doujinshi (scanslated): Couronne - The summary of this is: A young Natalia wonders what her future wedding will be like. and it's just as cute, sweet, and adorable as I'd hoped it would be. The flashbacks of Natalia and Asch (still Luke then) were beautifully drawn, there's a breezy feel to the art that's just perfect for this, and the characterization is fantastic. Those two are stupid in love with each other, even as kids, and it's the little details (the dress, the flowers, the almost dreamy tone to the narration, etc.) that's really kind of perfect. I adored this ridiculously. ♥ (Asch/Natalia.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It did not take me long to fall in love with this site at all. Usually, I'm not that fond of sites that are almost pure comic strips/mini-doujinshi, but this was one of the first Junjou Romantica fanart sites I've come across, so I decided to give it a shot anyway. It helps that the artist frequently draws rather porny scenes and that she does really well with getting Nakamura's style down (if rougher and less polished) and that, holy crap, there is a lot of art here. It took me hours to go through the hundreds of pages here, all of them so cute and adorable and fun! It's one of those sites that... I mean, I'm still never going to be a comics person over more traditional art, but I'm glad this was my first site in the j-fandom because it gave me a satisfying amount of art and the artist clearly loves the Egoist pairing a lot (though, it's actually pretty balanced between Egoist and Terrorist) and I love her for that. And, seriously. There is A LOT OF ART here and it'll take you awhile to get through and that just makes it all the more fun and cute. <3 (Nowaki/Hiroki, Miyagi/Shinobu, Usagi/Misaki, a little other.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I managed to stumble over the link to this site today and because of my raging Egoist obsession (seriously, it's terrible right now) I immediately pounced on it and inhaled all the art here as fast as I could. I'll grant that the earlier stuff is a little rough, but the artist puts in a decent amount of detail to the pieces and you can see the potential and see her grow over time, to become a really fantastic little site for the Nowaki/Hiroki pairing. Plus, there's Halloween art and kidlet versions art and winter coats and chilly winds art and yukata and undone shirts and rain and umbrellas and sharing scarves and... well, everything that I totally go ridiculous over. (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Not that I wasn't pretty much going to love this site just for being an Egoist-centric site and having a really decent amount of art here. But. There was one of kidlet!Nowaki and kidlet!Hiroki (IN HIS SCHOOL UNIFORM) and I think I may have broken something squeeing. It was one of those sites that hit me super hard because I'm in the middle of a raging Egoist obsession and the art was sketch-like and light and airy and used soft lines and colors, which I am all weak to. There's also Hiroki in his reading glasses and Hiroki with a champagne glass in his hand and Nowaki/Hiroki in winter coats and more than one image of Nowaki suckering onto Hiroki in various situations and just. I am not even going to try to be unridiculous, okay. The image of Nowaki's desktop wallpaper is alone worth visiting the site for--! ....but, yes. This was totally adorable, there was a lot of art, and the sketches were right in my wheelhouse. I was all over this site. ♥ P.S. THERE WERE KITTY EARS. The noises I made were embarrassing. P.P.S. HOMOZUKA was amazing, I laughed so hard. (Nowaki/Hiroki, occasionally a tiny smidgen of NSFW.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site isn't going to be for everyone and I freely admit that I skimmed some of the earlier stuff. However! The artist does some really cute chibis and there's a really decent amount of art here and it's one of those sites that... I'm in the middle of a raging Egoist obsession, okay? So I needed my fix! And I liked some of the pieces here and would like to see the artist continue to draw! There's one of Nowaki, Tsumori, and Hiroki all together that kind of cracked me up and any time kidlet!Hiroki is in his school uniform, I'm totally weak. And her facial expressions are totally adorable. :D (Nowaki/Hiroki, a little NSFW in a chibi smooches and pulling Hiroki's shirt off sort of way.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site where I have to admit that I'm probably softer on it because I'm in the middle of an Egoist obsession and I did end up skimming a lot of the main gallery, but... there were a few pieces that I was charmed by and then I hit the log section, with all the black & white sketches... where, suddenly, the artist's style started really clicking for me. Her sketches really show off the potential she has, not to mention her Nowaki gets a lot hotter when he's sketched rather than drawn with firmer/inked lines. Plus, there is A LOT of art here--not just of Egoist, but also Romantica and a smidge of Terrorist--which always puts me in a good mood when it comes to fanart sites and I'm glad I stumbled over this site; I wound up enjoying it genuinely. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, a little Akihiko/Misaki, and other.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It really did not take me long to fall in love with this site at all. The artist starts out a very smidgen rough and then proceeds to get better and better until she's drawing really fantastically polished stuff. Her style is a little different from Nakamura's, but I find I rather like the artist's style of her own, especially with as strong and detailed as it is. But it's not just that. It's also that she does comic strips (with great Hiroki expressions and Nowaki wrapping his arms around Hiroki with a frequent ^__^ expression) and adorable chibis and really pretty colors and there's even another illustration with cat ears! The site isn't very big, I definitely wish there had been more here, but it's one of the prettier Junjou Romantica sites I've been to and it very nicely gave my my fix for today. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, some Shinoda/Hiroki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This artist's account might not be for everyone, but... as I was browsing through tegaki's JR tag, I stumbled over several of the artist's pieces and... the more I saw, the more I become won over little by little. It helps, of course, that there's a strong Egoist presence with the artist's work, but there's also some super cute Romantica art here, too! I like the artist's soft, manga-like colors and her type of scenes--leaning on shoulders, pressing close to peer over a shoulder, pulling the other back to lean against them, cute confectionaries and baked goods, Hiroki occasionally in glasses, etc.--are totally my type of thing. It is a tegaki site, so of course the art is a little rough, but I wound up really liking the artist's stuff and wanting to see more from her! ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, Akihiko/Misaki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It did not take me long to fall in love with this site, either! I wish there were a little more art here, especially since the artist is capable of really nicely done images, but I'm also pleased with what is here--the artist has a lot of potential, but also has a strong sense of her lines and does some really great poses--there's one of Nowaki and Hiroki in a forest-like area, smiling at each other, and it was just beautiful to see, half for the visual part of it and half for how much I wanted to squee. I think that's what this artist did for me--sure, the art is traditionally quite pretty, but it's also that sense of how fluttery I get over the characters that she brings out. There's even the occasional chibis and bedtime makeouts! Her cg colors are smooth and fantastic, looking really polished! It's like this artist knew exactly what I wanted to find today and hit me just right. ♥ Definitely one of my favorite sites in the fandom, I think. (Nowaki/Hiroki, occasionally NSFW.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another one of those sites where I wish the artist had done more work, because I can see how smooth and polished the lineart is, I can see how much potential there is in this artist! I liked her work enough to check out her other gallery--which is full of really beautiful stuff and makes me pine for her to do more Junjou art--and I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one. There might not be a ton here, but it was a fun little site and the artist has some great cg-style colors and even one really excellent Akihiko/Misaki image! (Mostly Nowaki/Hiroki, with a little Tsumori thrown in there, and a hint of Akihiko/Misaki.)
- Sailor Moon - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I could swear I've recommended this site before (or, at the very least, I'm sure I've been here before) but I can't find it anywhere on my list of recs, so I'm going to include it again. It's not a style I see a lot, it's almost sort of semi-realistic, and it's not one I seek out very often, but... when I come across it every so often, it's really kinda neat! The artist does a lot of detail on the clothes and hair of each illustration and I honestly can't pick a favorite (there's a beautiful one of Chibi-Usa, but several beautiful ones of Usagi, and then there's that gorgeous dress-up one of Rei....) because they're all so fantastic to look at. I love the artist doing more traditional animation-style images as well, you can see how good she really is at that style, but... I have to admit, the semi-realism-esque styled images are my favorites just for the clothes. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Sailor Moon - [ English Fanart Site ] - I stumbled over this artist when I was doing searches for Sailor Moon art and I'm glad I came to her gallery this way because I found some of my favorites that way that I might not have otherwise seen. (I especially liked Usagi, Small Lady and Helios, Usagi and Chibi-Usa, Serenity's Family, Serenity and Small Lady, and Usa-chan and Mamoru.) The art style isn't going to be for everyone, there's a very old school feeling to the art, I want to say? But there's potential here and I'm fond of all the swirly hair and adorable poses and the feel of the pieces that are very SM-like to me. (A bit of Mamoru/Usagi, but it's not really the focus, it's more of a gen site.)
- Young Avengers - [ English Fanart Site ] - [ The artist's y!gallery account as well. ] I'm not sure what got me looking for Young Avengers art again this morning, but I was site hopping around and re-stumbled over the artist's fantasty style piece of Billy and Teddy and her Twins of Fate image of Billy and Tommy and her mid-air Teddy/Billy smooch image and I was back in love with the art style all over again. The fantasy costumes she draws for them are just gorgeous and they're definitely why I came to her account. But I found that I enjoyed the adorable kidlet art just as much, I adored the characters in their canon costumes, I enjoyed the tropical kiss image a lot, and she's one of those artists that's a must-see in this fandom. The lines are clean and polished, they're recognizable as the YA characters even out of costume, the situations she puts them in are fantastic fun, and it's everything it needed to be. ♥ (Teddy/Billy, some NSFW content on the y!g account.)
ღ - Moar manifestos! Spike/Buffy this time and I am delighted to see this one. Plus there are even more recs in the comments! ♥
ღ - One more because I can't resist: Sarek/Amanda has always been an OTP of mine and I'm so glad STXI brought a new wave of fans to them.
ღ - No wait! Still one more! House/Cuddy and I continue to love this trend of being an actually active recommendations comm, it's amazing.
ღ - Tachibana Kaimu manga makes my heart soar. ♥ (Though, really, fandom, if you loved me, you'd scanslate Rasen no Kakera or her doujinshi.)
ღ - Ugh, my Google-fu is failing me lately. I spent, like, an hour looking for a consolidated version of my favorite fic ever and had zero luck at all. Then, finally, I give up and start compiling it into one file manually and, while I'm doing this, I'm half-heartedly looking for recs. AND THEN I FIND A LINK TO IT ON FFNET and Fanfiction Downloader puts FFNET fics all into one handy file for me and I had a microscopic moment of UGH WHY SO DIFFICULT GOOGLE before I went OMG THIS IS GOING TO MAKE ME SO HAPPY and it's going to be way easier to find Valerie Jones' updates now! And she has new fic! Life is not all bad. ♥
ღ - Oh, shit. Egoist mood theme. My desire for this is burning in my soul, but I'm not sure I want to give LJ money for being able to change my mood theme again. BUT IT'S AN EGOIST MOOD THEME. *PINES* And then there's an anime/color version and now I'm pretty sure the universe is cockteasing me. :<
AND ONTO THE RECS:
Bleach - 2 Fanfics
Junjou Romantica - 4 Fanfics
Katekyou Hitman REBORN! - 2 Fanfics
Tales of the Abyss - 1 Doujinshi
Junjou Romantica - 9 Fanart
Sailor Moon - 2 Fanart
Young Avengers - 1 Fanart
Bleach: Your Secrets, My Secrets by sureasdawn - This was a cute piece with Renji and Rukia bickering while they're not quite making out. I like the sexiness of the piece while still keeping it to a PG-13 level, it's more about intimacy and playfulness than straight up porn, which is nice sometimes! But mostly it's the fun banter between the characters, which is one of the things I like best about this pairing. :D (Renji/Rukia, maybe a smidge NSFW.)
Bleach: peu à peu by alice hattercandy - A post-Hueco Mundo fic where Orihime decides that today is going to be the day, where she confesses her feelings to Ichigo, and it's just so... I love this Orihime because she's so determined and upbeat, but not brainless or without fear. The point is that she's overcoming her nervousness and the butterflies in her stomach are still there, but she's more sure of herself after everything that's happened, and it's just so sweet and adorable. I love that Ichigo is a total idiot here, too, flailing and turning red over her actions and just. It was light and airy and upbeat without being pure fluff. Very sweet! ♥ (Ichigo/Orihime.)
Junjou Romantica: Are You Awake? by fudeki - This is another short piece, but it's one of those that I stumbled over on a whim and I... this is the kind of fic that makes me kind of envious in fandom, because this is the kind of ficlet I want to write sometimes, where Nowaki is trying to wake Hiroki up and it goes about as well as usual so Nowaki... is Nowaki, and yet the author clearly beat me to it. But it's so adorable and the ending is perfect, so I can't really complain. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: 4:03 by Sorryll - My only real complaint about this fic is, fffffffffffffff, I really wanted another scene to it! The author does a really nice job of Nowaki and Hiroki having one of their usual arguements just before Nowaki has to leave for several days, getting Hiroki all worked up about it, and then the resolution of it that's just so... Egoist. It can sometimes be a difficult line to walk, getting Hiroki to stew about events like this, to not go too far, but to not make him callous either, but the author does a really fantastic job of it and the final scene at the end is a nice emotional payoff, very nicely done. Even if I totally wanted the author to write another scene. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: Keep Warm by hitzusin - This might have been a very short piece, less than 300 words, but it's wintery weather and clothes and Hiroki wrapping Nowaki up in his scarf because Nowaki wasn't properly dressed for the weather and trying to be nonchalant about it and just. I am totally weak to stuff like that, it makes me feel all warm and fluffy and happy, too. <3 (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
Junjou Romantica: Beautiful by yunakitty - I will admit that I was a little wary of this fic when I first started reading it--there was a little too much emphasis on Nowaki seeing Hiroki as an "angel" or a "beautiful creature" and I can buy a certain amount of loopy thinking from Nowaki, especially after he first met Hiroki, but the beginning of this fic was rough for me. But I liked what the author was doing, the way Nowaki was instantly taken with this guy he saw, the way he had all these feelings about the guy, but also clearly really, really wanted to fuck him, the mix of fluffier feelings and physical attraction to him clicked well with me. So I kept reading. And the author found the characters' voices pretty quickly after that, setting the Egoist storyline through Nowaki's eyes here, showing the early stages of the first meeting and tutoring and how they fell into a relationship with each other and--despite that I've read the manga and watched the anime a ridiculous number of times--still made these events really interesting to me! She didn't just rely on the events we already saw, she wove in other moments, original ones, that felt very organic to the timeline and gave depth to the relationship.
But it wasn't just that that appealed to me. Oh, sure, the frequent sex was very, very nice (very nice) but it was also nicely done to show the attraction between the characters, Nowaki's very direct attraction and Hiroki's attempts to keep a distance yet failing to hide how much he wants this, too, and revealed little insights into the characters. I think what really made this fic work for me, what made it come together for me, is that the author had a great Hiroki voice. He was insulting but you could clearly read beneath it every time he bitched at Nowaki or ordered him around, every time he called him stupid or annoying, you got how Nowaki could read underneath it even in the beginning. Little moments (oh, my god, the thing with Hiroki slowly stealing Nowaki's clothes hit me right in my wheelhouse, that was a serious kink of mine) of adorableness or even rather awkward sex because Nowaki is new to this, all worked together to make this one of my new favorites in the fandom. Honestly, I was pretty much clapping my hands together in glee by the end because she just nailed the dynamic and the voices for the characters by the end, because she didn't skimp on the sex, but didn't make it all about that, either. This one hit me absolutely perfectly. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, NC-17.)
Katekyou Hitman REBORN!: Nana's Cooking by neko-nya - I was randomly in the mood for KHR fic this morning (well, for D18 fic, to be honest) and stumbled over this one and figured, oh, I'ld just read a bit of it to get a feel for the author's style. And, before I knew it, I was completely sucked into the fic because it was this adorable little story where Hibari drops by and winds up eating Tsuna's mother's cooking... and gets attached to it. This could have been really badly done, but the author kind of nails the Daily Life-style hilarity and the craziness of the series, the way Hibari is surprising in the most hilarious ways, and the way Tsuna is just... oh, poor traumatized Tsuna had me on the brink of a snickerfit every page pretty much, because his fear of Hibari and the way the rest of his world just doesn't make any goddamned sense and the way Dino shows up and makes everything worse is just... it was beautiful. One of those fics that captured the spirit of the series and gave me my ship fix all at the same time. ♥ (Implications of Dino/Hibari, but they're far from the point.)
Katekyou Hitman REBORN!: Buon San Valentino by neko-nya - W-well, I couldn't resist one more fic. And, true, it's a little fluffier than I might usually go for with Dino and Hibari, but... sometimes I like fluff, okay? Especially holiday-themed fluff, where Dino goes around handing out flowers to all friends and family for Valentine's Day, dragging Hibari along with him with the promise of a fight, and every time Dino says anything to Hibari, he pretty much threatens to make the herbivore eat the flowers he's carrying around, since he's such an herbivore. It's cute and was a really fun little read this morning and there was a hilarious Hibird scene at the end, all things I enjoy reading! o/ (Dino/Hibari.)
Tales of the Abyss Doujinshi (scanslated): Couronne - The summary of this is: A young Natalia wonders what her future wedding will be like. and it's just as cute, sweet, and adorable as I'd hoped it would be. The flashbacks of Natalia and Asch (still Luke then) were beautifully drawn, there's a breezy feel to the art that's just perfect for this, and the characterization is fantastic. Those two are stupid in love with each other, even as kids, and it's the little details (the dress, the flowers, the almost dreamy tone to the narration, etc.) that's really kind of perfect. I adored this ridiculously. ♥ (Asch/Natalia.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It did not take me long to fall in love with this site at all. Usually, I'm not that fond of sites that are almost pure comic strips/mini-doujinshi, but this was one of the first Junjou Romantica fanart sites I've come across, so I decided to give it a shot anyway. It helps that the artist frequently draws rather porny scenes and that she does really well with getting Nakamura's style down (if rougher and less polished) and that, holy crap, there is a lot of art here. It took me hours to go through the hundreds of pages here, all of them so cute and adorable and fun! It's one of those sites that... I mean, I'm still never going to be a comics person over more traditional art, but I'm glad this was my first site in the j-fandom because it gave me a satisfying amount of art and the artist clearly loves the Egoist pairing a lot (though, it's actually pretty balanced between Egoist and Terrorist) and I love her for that. And, seriously. There is A LOT OF ART here and it'll take you awhile to get through and that just makes it all the more fun and cute. <3 (Nowaki/Hiroki, Miyagi/Shinobu, Usagi/Misaki, a little other.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I managed to stumble over the link to this site today and because of my raging Egoist obsession (seriously, it's terrible right now) I immediately pounced on it and inhaled all the art here as fast as I could. I'll grant that the earlier stuff is a little rough, but the artist puts in a decent amount of detail to the pieces and you can see the potential and see her grow over time, to become a really fantastic little site for the Nowaki/Hiroki pairing. Plus, there's Halloween art and kidlet versions art and winter coats and chilly winds art and yukata and undone shirts and rain and umbrellas and sharing scarves and... well, everything that I totally go ridiculous over. (Nowaki/Hiroki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - Not that I wasn't pretty much going to love this site just for being an Egoist-centric site and having a really decent amount of art here. But. There was one of kidlet!Nowaki and kidlet!Hiroki (IN HIS SCHOOL UNIFORM) and I think I may have broken something squeeing. It was one of those sites that hit me super hard because I'm in the middle of a raging Egoist obsession and the art was sketch-like and light and airy and used soft lines and colors, which I am all weak to. There's also Hiroki in his reading glasses and Hiroki with a champagne glass in his hand and Nowaki/Hiroki in winter coats and more than one image of Nowaki suckering onto Hiroki in various situations and just. I am not even going to try to be unridiculous, okay. The image of Nowaki's desktop wallpaper is alone worth visiting the site for--! ....but, yes. This was totally adorable, there was a lot of art, and the sketches were right in my wheelhouse. I was all over this site. ♥ P.S. THERE WERE KITTY EARS. The noises I made were embarrassing. P.P.S. HOMOZUKA was amazing, I laughed so hard. (Nowaki/Hiroki, occasionally a tiny smidgen of NSFW.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This site isn't going to be for everyone and I freely admit that I skimmed some of the earlier stuff. However! The artist does some really cute chibis and there's a really decent amount of art here and it's one of those sites that... I'm in the middle of a raging Egoist obsession, okay? So I needed my fix! And I liked some of the pieces here and would like to see the artist continue to draw! There's one of Nowaki, Tsumori, and Hiroki all together that kind of cracked me up and any time kidlet!Hiroki is in his school uniform, I'm totally weak. And her facial expressions are totally adorable. :D (Nowaki/Hiroki, a little NSFW in a chibi smooches and pulling Hiroki's shirt off sort of way.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another site where I have to admit that I'm probably softer on it because I'm in the middle of an Egoist obsession and I did end up skimming a lot of the main gallery, but... there were a few pieces that I was charmed by and then I hit the log section, with all the black & white sketches... where, suddenly, the artist's style started really clicking for me. Her sketches really show off the potential she has, not to mention her Nowaki gets a lot hotter when he's sketched rather than drawn with firmer/inked lines. Plus, there is A LOT of art here--not just of Egoist, but also Romantica and a smidge of Terrorist--which always puts me in a good mood when it comes to fanart sites and I'm glad I stumbled over this site; I wound up enjoying it genuinely. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, a little Akihiko/Misaki, and other.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It really did not take me long to fall in love with this site at all. The artist starts out a very smidgen rough and then proceeds to get better and better until she's drawing really fantastically polished stuff. Her style is a little different from Nakamura's, but I find I rather like the artist's style of her own, especially with as strong and detailed as it is. But it's not just that. It's also that she does comic strips (with great Hiroki expressions and Nowaki wrapping his arms around Hiroki with a frequent ^__^ expression) and adorable chibis and really pretty colors and there's even another illustration with cat ears! The site isn't very big, I definitely wish there had been more here, but it's one of the prettier Junjou Romantica sites I've been to and it very nicely gave my my fix for today. ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, some Shinoda/Hiroki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This artist's account might not be for everyone, but... as I was browsing through tegaki's JR tag, I stumbled over several of the artist's pieces and... the more I saw, the more I become won over little by little. It helps, of course, that there's a strong Egoist presence with the artist's work, but there's also some super cute Romantica art here, too! I like the artist's soft, manga-like colors and her type of scenes--leaning on shoulders, pressing close to peer over a shoulder, pulling the other back to lean against them, cute confectionaries and baked goods, Hiroki occasionally in glasses, etc.--are totally my type of thing. It is a tegaki site, so of course the art is a little rough, but I wound up really liking the artist's stuff and wanting to see more from her! ♥ (Nowaki/Hiroki, Akihiko/Misaki.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - It did not take me long to fall in love with this site, either! I wish there were a little more art here, especially since the artist is capable of really nicely done images, but I'm also pleased with what is here--the artist has a lot of potential, but also has a strong sense of her lines and does some really great poses--there's one of Nowaki and Hiroki in a forest-like area, smiling at each other, and it was just beautiful to see, half for the visual part of it and half for how much I wanted to squee. I think that's what this artist did for me--sure, the art is traditionally quite pretty, but it's also that sense of how fluttery I get over the characters that she brings out. There's even the occasional chibis and bedtime makeouts! Her cg colors are smooth and fantastic, looking really polished! It's like this artist knew exactly what I wanted to find today and hit me just right. ♥ Definitely one of my favorite sites in the fandom, I think. (Nowaki/Hiroki, occasionally NSFW.)
- Junjou Romantica - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - This is another one of those sites where I wish the artist had done more work, because I can see how smooth and polished the lineart is, I can see how much potential there is in this artist! I liked her work enough to check out her other gallery--which is full of really beautiful stuff and makes me pine for her to do more Junjou art--and I'm definitely keeping an eye on this one. There might not be a ton here, but it was a fun little site and the artist has some great cg-style colors and even one really excellent Akihiko/Misaki image! (Mostly Nowaki/Hiroki, with a little Tsumori thrown in there, and a hint of Akihiko/Misaki.)
- Sailor Moon - [ Japanese Fanart Site ] - I could swear I've recommended this site before (or, at the very least, I'm sure I've been here before) but I can't find it anywhere on my list of recs, so I'm going to include it again. It's not a style I see a lot, it's almost sort of semi-realistic, and it's not one I seek out very often, but... when I come across it every so often, it's really kinda neat! The artist does a lot of detail on the clothes and hair of each illustration and I honestly can't pick a favorite (there's a beautiful one of Chibi-Usa, but several beautiful ones of Usagi, and then there's that gorgeous dress-up one of Rei....) because they're all so fantastic to look at. I love the artist doing more traditional animation-style images as well, you can see how good she really is at that style, but... I have to admit, the semi-realism-esque styled images are my favorites just for the clothes. (No warnings/pairings.)
- Sailor Moon - [ English Fanart Site ] - I stumbled over this artist when I was doing searches for Sailor Moon art and I'm glad I came to her gallery this way because I found some of my favorites that way that I might not have otherwise seen. (I especially liked Usagi, Small Lady and Helios, Usagi and Chibi-Usa, Serenity's Family, Serenity and Small Lady, and Usa-chan and Mamoru.) The art style isn't going to be for everyone, there's a very old school feeling to the art, I want to say? But there's potential here and I'm fond of all the swirly hair and adorable poses and the feel of the pieces that are very SM-like to me. (A bit of Mamoru/Usagi, but it's not really the focus, it's more of a gen site.)
- Young Avengers - [ English Fanart Site ] - [ The artist's y!gallery account as well. ] I'm not sure what got me looking for Young Avengers art again this morning, but I was site hopping around and re-stumbled over the artist's fantasty style piece of Billy and Teddy and her Twins of Fate image of Billy and Tommy and her mid-air Teddy/Billy smooch image and I was back in love with the art style all over again. The fantasy costumes she draws for them are just gorgeous and they're definitely why I came to her account. But I found that I enjoyed the adorable kidlet art just as much, I adored the characters in their canon costumes, I enjoyed the tropical kiss image a lot, and she's one of those artists that's a must-see in this fandom. The lines are clean and polished, they're recognizable as the YA characters even out of costume, the situations she puts them in are fantastic fun, and it's everything it needed to be. ♥ (Teddy/Billy, some NSFW content on the y!g account.)