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trace_by_echo) wrote2019-11-08 10:04 pm
trace_by_echo) wrote2019-11-08 10:04 pm
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Fandom #47: Blue Exorcist
While I've backdated this to come before my recommendations pileup, in truth I watched this anime in May 2020, skipping the anime-original episodes from season 1 (roughly 18-ending) but including season 2... and I just loved it, enough to immediately buy manga volumes 1-8 at a bargain bookstore.
Rin is a surprisingly endearing protagonist, for all that I usually dislike the shounen tradition of stupidity in its male leads; at least he's not so dumb that you have to wonder how he's survived, he's just extremely disinterested in school and has low self-esteem regarding his ability to hold a job (although really, he should have tried cooking school, as he's a natural chef) that has the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy. He's had to work against his own destructive instincts since he was a child, without any explanation of why he was so strong or bloodthirsty until the shocking arrival of Satan in the beginning of canon, and in doing so he's taught himself to be kind, in ways that surprise and charm the characters around him with his authenticity and straightforwardness.
Since Rin is the heart of the show/manga, and the core of my interest, the fics will probably all center around him. Until I get deeper into manga canon, they will probably also be heavy on speculation regarding the sexier sides of his demonic inheritance. While Rin reads as not tremendously interested in having a sexual relationship (he likes reading sappy shoujo over the pervy gag manga his twin prefers, and never attempts to pick anyone up after a halfhearted suggestion to Shiemi), it's believable that his libidinous instincts were suppressed as well by the sword seal. And, well, that's what fanfic is for! Finally, it probably makes sense to divide these between demonic OT3 fics and ones where Rin dates a human. So...
The OT3 (Amaimon/Mephisto/Rin)
~Briar Rose Syndrome, by TheBeingOfEverything. Mephisto gets cursed into a withering coma, and Amaimon and Rin team up to find the cure, be it in Assiah or Gehenna. They have no idea that Mephisto is able to hear and see them after a fashion, or that he's going to have to meet them halfway in their devotion if he ever wants to wake. Featuring: large helpings of demonic denial regarding the existence of love. Complete.
--->Sequel Happily Ever Afters: The Abduxuel Sides covers Mephisto's first beloved, who perished before Mephisto believed in love. WIP, likely resurrection of OC leading to an OT4.
~Incandescence, by TheBeingOfEverything. Before the Festival arc, Amaimon wagers with Mephisto: he'll teach Rin demon etiquette, and by the time he's done, they'll all go to Gehenna willingly. As it turns out, it's more a case of mutual attraction and three-way seduction, and a young nephilim can teach some old demon kings some new things about love (while learning about his own demonic instincts). WIP. Comes with some side fics:
--->Incandescence Sides, a look at some missing scenes. Complete.
--->The Long Night, branching off from Ch. 9 with a hurt/comfort lean. Rin is captured for experimentation; once his beaus rescue him, they have to come to terms with their own feelings. Complete.
~It's A Scent Thing, by TheBeingOfEverything. Turns out demons have heat and rut cycles (not quite ABO, since Rin goes through both, and it's about dominance rather than reproduction), and Rin's having his first one with two experienced older demons - who nevertheless weren't quite expecting him to be so interesting a heat partner. Complete.
--->While technically not a sequel, I read Just_a_useless_writer's A Nest Of Wrens as the logical continuation; it's a WIP set a year after such a heat cycle.
~Remedy, by seaweary. AU, somehow Rin went for years longer without attracting demonic attention, so by the time Father Fujimoto dies he's a wreck: college-aged Rin is grieving, he's been suffering migraines & other pains from his demonic energies being sealed for too long, he's estranged from Yukio since the latter left for True Cross boarding middle school and never came home again, and crucially he's still ignorant of the entire truth. Amaimon is 100% done with what's been done to Rin, and throws Mephisto's plans in the trash. WIP.
Rin/A Human:
~Between the Shadow and the Soul, by TongueTiedRaven. Bon's figuring out slowly that he's not actually 100% disinterested in dating, because of one nephilim who fascinates him almost from day one. Eventual Bon/Rin. WIP.
~Deflowered, by Panlock. In their 20s, Bon and Rin work an exorcism together and get caught in a curse that requires sex to break. Bon's a little surprised at how much he wants to keep doing it. Eventual committed relationship Bon/Rin. Complete.
~Inheritance of Cards and Demons series, by Love_Psycho. Crossover with Cardcaptor Sakura. Sakura chose Rin, across dimensions, to be her heir. He gets the cards about three years before BE canon starts, so a great many events change. Personally, I just read the first and third of the big fics in their entirety (the first being about Rin finding the cards, and the latter about BE canon), and skimmed the second. Eventual Rin/Shima Renzo. The series is complete.
Gen Fic (the rarest of beasts):
~through rose colored glasses, by SidewaysClarinet. AU, Rin thinks to bargain with Satan to save Shiro's life. Canon is slowly twisting the longer Rin goes without revealing his deal with the devil (even the readers still have no idea what the actual parameters were). WIP.
Rin is a surprisingly endearing protagonist, for all that I usually dislike the shounen tradition of stupidity in its male leads; at least he's not so dumb that you have to wonder how he's survived, he's just extremely disinterested in school and has low self-esteem regarding his ability to hold a job (although really, he should have tried cooking school, as he's a natural chef) that has the effect of a self-fulfilling prophecy. He's had to work against his own destructive instincts since he was a child, without any explanation of why he was so strong or bloodthirsty until the shocking arrival of Satan in the beginning of canon, and in doing so he's taught himself to be kind, in ways that surprise and charm the characters around him with his authenticity and straightforwardness.
Since Rin is the heart of the show/manga, and the core of my interest, the fics will probably all center around him. Until I get deeper into manga canon, they will probably also be heavy on speculation regarding the sexier sides of his demonic inheritance. While Rin reads as not tremendously interested in having a sexual relationship (he likes reading sappy shoujo over the pervy gag manga his twin prefers, and never attempts to pick anyone up after a halfhearted suggestion to Shiemi), it's believable that his libidinous instincts were suppressed as well by the sword seal. And, well, that's what fanfic is for! Finally, it probably makes sense to divide these between demonic OT3 fics and ones where Rin dates a human. So...
The OT3 (Amaimon/Mephisto/Rin)
~Briar Rose Syndrome, by TheBeingOfEverything. Mephisto gets cursed into a withering coma, and Amaimon and Rin team up to find the cure, be it in Assiah or Gehenna. They have no idea that Mephisto is able to hear and see them after a fashion, or that he's going to have to meet them halfway in their devotion if he ever wants to wake. Featuring: large helpings of demonic denial regarding the existence of love. Complete.
--->Sequel Happily Ever Afters: The Abduxuel Sides covers Mephisto's first beloved, who perished before Mephisto believed in love. WIP, likely resurrection of OC leading to an OT4.
~Incandescence, by TheBeingOfEverything. Before the Festival arc, Amaimon wagers with Mephisto: he'll teach Rin demon etiquette, and by the time he's done, they'll all go to Gehenna willingly. As it turns out, it's more a case of mutual attraction and three-way seduction, and a young nephilim can teach some old demon kings some new things about love (while learning about his own demonic instincts). WIP. Comes with some side fics:
--->Incandescence Sides, a look at some missing scenes. Complete.
--->The Long Night, branching off from Ch. 9 with a hurt/comfort lean. Rin is captured for experimentation; once his beaus rescue him, they have to come to terms with their own feelings. Complete.
~It's A Scent Thing, by TheBeingOfEverything. Turns out demons have heat and rut cycles (not quite ABO, since Rin goes through both, and it's about dominance rather than reproduction), and Rin's having his first one with two experienced older demons - who nevertheless weren't quite expecting him to be so interesting a heat partner. Complete.
--->While technically not a sequel, I read Just_a_useless_writer's A Nest Of Wrens as the logical continuation; it's a WIP set a year after such a heat cycle.
~Remedy, by seaweary. AU, somehow Rin went for years longer without attracting demonic attention, so by the time Father Fujimoto dies he's a wreck: college-aged Rin is grieving, he's been suffering migraines & other pains from his demonic energies being sealed for too long, he's estranged from Yukio since the latter left for True Cross boarding middle school and never came home again, and crucially he's still ignorant of the entire truth. Amaimon is 100% done with what's been done to Rin, and throws Mephisto's plans in the trash. WIP.
Rin/A Human:
~Between the Shadow and the Soul, by TongueTiedRaven. Bon's figuring out slowly that he's not actually 100% disinterested in dating, because of one nephilim who fascinates him almost from day one. Eventual Bon/Rin. WIP.
~Deflowered, by Panlock. In their 20s, Bon and Rin work an exorcism together and get caught in a curse that requires sex to break. Bon's a little surprised at how much he wants to keep doing it. Eventual committed relationship Bon/Rin. Complete.
~Inheritance of Cards and Demons series, by Love_Psycho. Crossover with Cardcaptor Sakura. Sakura chose Rin, across dimensions, to be her heir. He gets the cards about three years before BE canon starts, so a great many events change. Personally, I just read the first and third of the big fics in their entirety (the first being about Rin finding the cards, and the latter about BE canon), and skimmed the second. Eventual Rin/Shima Renzo. The series is complete.
Gen Fic (the rarest of beasts):
~through rose colored glasses, by SidewaysClarinet. AU, Rin thinks to bargain with Satan to save Shiro's life. Canon is slowly twisting the longer Rin goes without revealing his deal with the devil (even the readers still have no idea what the actual parameters were). WIP.