Spring Green

[Fic] Nikita: Roleplay

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 05:51:55 GMT

Spoilers: For the premise of the series
Summary: Five roles we haven't seen Jaden play.
Notes: Written for labellementeuse for Yuletide 2010

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Source information

Nikita is another version of La Femme Nikita, in which Nikita used to be an agent for Division, a shady black ops group that ostensibly helps out the government but really hires itself out to the highest bidder. She's currently trying to bring down Division. Jaden is the black girl who's the rival of Alex, a recruit in Division, and I keep waiting and waiting and waiting for them to get awesome frenemy stuff or for Jaden to get more character development, but so far, no such luck.

( Commentary )

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[Fic] 20th Century Boys: 21st Century Girls

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 05:45:01 GMT

Spoilers: Spoilers through vol. 16 or so.
Summary: Because girl groups, childhood games, henshin pens, secret passwords, and shoujo manga can save the world.
Notes: Written for ambientlight for Yuletide 2010.

Thanks so much to etothey for beta-ing despite not knowing the source; to busaikko for answering completely random questions about growing up in Japan in the 1990s and 2000s (all cultural mistakes are my fault, not hirs!); and to edonohana for basically coming up with my plot, beta-ing and pointing out that things were entirely too confusing, and mutual moaning and whining as we procrastinated.

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Source information

２０世紀少年/20th Century Boys is a 24-volume seinen manga series by Urasawa Naoki (the final two volumes are published as ２１世紀少年/21st Century Boys) about a group of boys growing up in the 1960s and 1970s. They have a secret base where they read shounen manga and the occasional porn magazine spirited away from their dads, and while there, they invent a complicated scenario in which they defeat a supervillain trying to take over the world via an ebola-esque virus, giant robots, possible psychic powers, and laser guns. Fast forward to the 1990s, and Kenji is your average convenience store owner who has put aside childhood dreams of rock and roll and is currently raising his sister Kiriko's infant Kanna. A cult leader called Friend has grown in popularity, and suddenly, things that are eerily like Kenji's boyhood games are happening around the world. The series goes through several timeskips and numerous flashbacks, and I think I spent the first three weeks just re-reading and trying to piece together the timeline.

I love everything of Urasawa's that I've read, and although I don't think 20thCB is his best series, it's my favorite. (The ending is kind of incoherent, even on a reread. Or should I say, especially on a reread when one is attempting to map out when and where everything happens and getting extremely frustrated by the lack of months.) I love it because as with all Urasawa series I've read, it has awesome side characters and kitchen-sink plotting and plot twists like whoa and ordinary people being heroes, but I love it best because you can tell Urasawa crammed it full of all his own id buttons—secret forts and shounen manga and rock and roll and pulp sf, that he loves all the boys in the gang, that even though the specific scenarios are made up, he's drawing from his own boyhood memories.

I actually have no idea how necessary previous knowledge of the source is. The fic spoils a few plot points around volume 16 or so, but mostly in the background as worldbuilding. I think it's confusing if you don't even know the premise of the series, but several people have commented saying that they've only read one volume, or a few volumes, and it was fine. YMMV?

Everything after this has spoilers for the story itself (I can't believe I actually wrote a story that can be spoiled). I'll warn for additional spoilers for 20thCB and other manga as it comes up.

Embarrassingly, this may be longer than the fic itself. It should not be necessary for reading the fic, which hopefully stands by itself without explanations! It's just here for anyone who was curious about details, references, etc.

( Process notes )

( Language notes )

( References (spoilers for 20CB through vol. 14 or so and for Sailor Moon through Death Busters) )

( Final notes (vague spoilers for vol. 18 or so of 20thCB) )

Re: guessing, I suspect the question isn't so much "what gave me away?" so much as "what didn't?"

Also, I had figured a grand total of two people would read this, especially compared to the Nikita story, since this one is a) 9000+ words long, b) with almost all original characters, c) and series spoilers, d) for a 24-volume long series, e) that hasn't finished coming out in the US, and f) is from a non-Western fandom. YAY YULETIDE for proving me wrong!

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[Fic] Chinese mythology: Worlds Away

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:43:38 GMT

Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: I didn't invent Chang E, and I seriously doubt anyone can copyright her...
Summary: They say I stole the elixir from my husband, but how could a dry pill from the Queen Mother of the West ever appeal to one who has had the ambrosia of mangoes and durian and lychee?
Notes: Written for bravecows for Yuletide 2009

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Source information

I don't know the exact details of the Chang E story; checking Wikipedia, there seem to be several variants. The one I always grew up with was the one in which she was married to the archer Hou Yi and ate the elixer meant for her and her husband out of greed and ended up floating to the moon. The versions I've heard usually make Chang E out to be the flawed one who ends up punished for her greed, albeit inadvertantly. And, as with many things I grew up with, I don't remember when I first heard it or even how.

( Commentary )

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[Fic] Spirited Away: Becoming

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 09:18:29 GMT

Spoilers: For the entire movie
Disclaimer: Not mine!
Summary: In which dragons and boys both must find their own tale.
Notes: Written for Hikario for Yuletide 2009. Many thanks to edonohana, who did an extremely quick beta and helped me brainstorm the ending.
(Me: It's such a typical fic for me!
Her: Pretty prose, Asian mythology, and food?
Me: Oooh, I should add food...)

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Series information

Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi/Spirited Away is one of my favorite Miyazaki movies (as a side note, I love that AO3 puts the original language transliteration first, then the English translation). Ten-year-old Chihiro and her parents find themselves in a magical world, and Chihiro must find work in order to save her parents, who have been turned into pigs. She ends up in a bathhouse that serves spirits and gods. I love the movie for the imagery and for Chihiro and the daikon radish spirit and the river god and everything, and I was delighted when I got it as my assignment. Then I was absolutely terrified, because damn it's hard to live up to Miyazaki.

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