Vines: as good as tentacles, or BETTER than tentacles? XD

[ymfaery]

aka OMG VATHARA WROTE A SAIYUKI FIC AHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Entanglements is set after volume 9 of the first manga series and goes into AU territory. In the story she has.. interesting answers to questions such as "Did Sanzo kill enough youkai to be in danger of turning into one?"; "Why does Hakkai have vines in his youkai form?"; "Is it a coincidence

Comments

[lady_ganesh]

IMO, canon-Gojyo is a lot more perceptive than story-Gojyo, and that's probably what's bugging you (it's what's bugging me). I think he knows Sanzo better than anyone, so his 'oh, I'm pretty sure there's a decent guy in there somewhere' line doesn't really ring true.

[ymfaery]

More perceptive definitely, although I'm not sure he knows Sanzo *better* than the other guys. If anything, I think all of them know each other pretty well and pretty equally.

I was thinking there were possibly two things going on.

1) The note at the beginning did say she may have lifted some things from the anime (as if Hakuryuu wasn't a big enough hint). If she had more exposure to the anime than to the manga, that would explain a few things.

2) It's not clear to me how much of the manga she's read. The story didn't mention Kami-sama's connection to Ukoku Sanzo, for instance, and I don't recall Kanzeon Bosatsu talking directly to *Sanzo* in the manga (since he was unconscious during the Rikudo thing). Ze definitely did that in the anime though. Though all that might be part of that AU take she's doing.

Still. The fic is priceless if only for imagining Sanzo and those flowers. >D >D >D >D >D

[lady_ganesh]

I guess it depends on how you interpret 'know,' too-- (it all depends on what the definition of 'is' is, lol), because they all sort of work better on some levels than others-- Gojyo and Goku more gut-based, Hakkai more intellectual, Sanzo some odd hybrid between the two.

1) Oh yeah, absolutely. And it feels like a first fic, for want of a better way of putting it-- there's some exploring around the edges.

2) It's been Jossed pretty hard by the latest canon! Kanzeon's never spoken directly to (a conscious) Sanzo, and she's never shown up since Rikudo. I think Minekura made a definite decision to step permanently away from the Deus Ex Bodhisavatta, and the anime not so much.

Poor Sanzo. He suffers so much for our art.

[ymfaery]

Heh. Just had a stray thought: if Gojyo had received formal schooling up until he turned 18, he'd probably end up as Kenren version 2, officer rank optional. XD

1) Well, it is. ;D

2) When you say badly Jossed, you are referring to Kanzeon's (lack of) appearances in the manga, right?

And he's so grouchy about it too. >D Do I want to be evil and ask around for fanart? XD

[lady_ganesh]

He'd need more hugs from Mommy too. Though that might have kept him in school, heh.

1. That's what I was saying!

2. That's light Jossing. The more significant Jossing was in some of the backstory stuff, might mostly be opinion (and of course, this is AU, to further complicate things). I'd have to actually think about it to pin it down better than that.

You totally do. I think springkink is open for prompts, but I'm not sure if asking for fanart of someone else's story is kosher.

[ymfaery]

2) Ah, okay. I haven't really caught up with current canon--skimming scanlations don't really cut it--so I'd have to do that first before I could seriously look for inconsistencies. Besides, unless I'm told otherwise, I'm just assuming lack of canon knowledge beyond the anime and first 9 manga volumes on Vathara's part anyway.

I guess I could Photoshop something if I seriously want it. XD

[lady_ganesh]

Thinking about it, I think Hazel is part of it-- not that Hazel's needed, as she's going AU, but a lot of the things in the Hazel arc doesn't match what she has going forward. Hakkai, for example's, clearly not as comfortable with his youkai-ness in Reload as she kind of needs him to be in her AU. So I think it just feels kind of off to me.

And actually, that's not just Hazel, it's the Banri thing too.

[ymfaery]

Well, I did ask her how much of the manga she actually read, but I didn't get a reply back. Not sure if FF.net screwed up the private message thing or if she doesn't feel like answering. Either way, compared to some fic that I wish I could ERASE FROM MY BRAIN that was posted at the time the first manga series was released, hers is really good. Which is probably why I can sort-of tolerate the subtle off-ness of the fic. The reason why I noted Gojyo's characterization is because it's what bugs me the most.

[lady_ganesh]

Yeah, and I'm not trying to rip the story apart! It was really interesting and very good in parts, but I tend to turn well-written but 'off' stuff over in my head trying to figure out what I thought the off bits were.

I've been re-reading the manga (this is why no one should ever leave me without my laptop) and there's that great bit in the Rikudo arc when Gojyo says, 'Oi, Sanzo, if you're gonna sneak out with your nasty gut wound, please be a dear and crawl out the window.' And that's the kind of 'knowing' Sanzo I meant earlier on-- Hakkai tries to shame Sanzo into staying put but Gojyo knows it's not worth the bother.

I love strikeout tags.

[ymfaery]

Nothing wrong with that. I just don't have anyone else to yak with/to regarding Vathara's fic. It makes me so saaaaaaad. Why don't anyone else (that I know of) want to read/talk about her stories? /whine. Also, this is the first fanfic she's written where I *know* the canon material. I was entertained by (most of) her other stories, but there was no way for me to judge whether she stuck close to the canon material for them. Even for the ones I do have some knowledge on, such as Airwolf and Bleach, what I know is shallow at best. Not counting GW because 1) its been forever since I saw the fansubs, and 2) she fused it with the SG-1 universe anyway. So being able to discuss this fic in depth with someone and debating whether or not parts of it fit the guys is like "YAAAAAAAAAAAY." \o/

Heeeeeee. It just so happens that today I borrowed all nine of the first manga series from the library because I don't remember where my copies are the YA librarian was all "PLEASE BORROW STUFF I DON'T HAVE ROOOOOOOM." XD Just finished that story

Re: I love strikeout tags.

[lady_ganesh]

I don't knooooow! I tried to get someone to read the SGA/GW crossover, but she had a roommate who tried to get her to watch Gundam Wing so many times she lost all desire to learn anything about it ever. Which is a damn tragedy.

Hee!

SHINY it's so nice to have everything in a neat little pile, isn't it? Ukoku's "I can't tell if you're brilliant or retarded" cracks my shit up every time.

I do think the Homura arc could suck almost anyone's brains out the back of their heads. Especially since most of the characters act like they've been post-sucked.

Now with extra rambling!

[ymfaery]

Aw man, that sucks. D: Understandable, but still.

You know, I almost didn't get into Saiyuki? Back in the early days when online anime fandom(s) was scattered around on blogs and mailing lists, there was A LOT of batshit behavior going on with shows that were either CLAMP-connected, had all-male ensembles, or a combination of the two. The bloggers I began to follow from mailing lists started out with CLAMP series-es, then branched out to others that were more recent, such as Gundam Wing, Weiss Kreuz, Trigun, and Saiyuki. This was the time I also discovered slash/yaoi, rabid fangirls, and good writers aren't always nice people, and some of those blog entries were really vicious. (If I could find any of them, I'd post them to FW IN A HEARTBEAT.) Since the really batshit fans were also the ones that wanted to jump on the newest thing for early BNF status or some crap like that, and at the time the newest series was Saiyuki... well. The only reason why I got into it at all is because a friend of mine borrowed the early fansubs and

Re: Now with extra rambling!

[lady_ganesh]

Hahah, yeah, there's a reason I've never actually been on any of the Supernatural comms but capslock_spn.

Hahahah, yes. That.