trace_by_echo

I'm backdating this to be just before the Recommendations post, as I like the idea of my first 50(!) large fandoms sticking together.

This is a Chinese donghua, a soon-to-be-released-in-English novel, and a blockbuster live action TV show, so you know MDZS has serious fandom behind it. Some of the plot twists differ among the adaptations (ex. the Yin Iron is strictly from The Untamed), but the core story is the same: a mixture of epic tragedy, coming of age during a war, fantasy horror, martial arts that lean heavily on use of magical talismans and musical instruments, homoeroticism, found families, betrayal, murder mystery, a romance that lasts beyond death... honestly, it would be difficult to pin MDZS into just one genre.

I have a few favorite characters (why hello, Nie Huaisang, I do see your machinations that lay undetected for years and raise a glass to you), but MDZS is appealing as an ensemble work, so I tend to look for a variety of Gen fic and pairings. Unless marked otherwise, expect canon Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji to exist in the background. Fics will be marked Gen unless/until the pairing(s) become part of the plot. Note: when he's being a good/reformed character, I call him Meng Yao below; when he's evil, he's Jin Guangyao.

EDIT: Updated 9/24 to add a few fics and tidy up those which are completed.

( I don't know, I really don't know )

Backdated from a year later, to hang out with the other fandom posts. I got into this fandom for the supremely petty reason of wanting to watch a "Q" anime for an alphabet challenge. The joke was on me, because I loved learning about the Chinese e-sports world, and the characters of Team Happy have grown on me like a fungus.

( Running away from home & using my twin's ID to play video games )

This, like Blue Exorcist, has also been backdated; I first began reading in this fandom in July 2020, and while it hasn't been long, I've been enjoying my dip into wuxia parody and deconstruction. If you liked isekai in theory but thought the plots had gotten stale, switching to older protagonists and a fantasy China setting might be just the ticket. Well, and it's extremely gay, which is part of the appeal. EDIT: last updated August 2023.

( Fans oneself dramatically )

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.

( Ready to kick Satan's ass! )

This show has eaten my mind, since I binge-watched it last week and fell in love with the characters, their terrible sibling dynamic and all. Plus, the soundtrack is terrific.
Generally, I've been looking for adventure, good characterization of Klaus, and some successful timeline fix-its, since that's actually canonically possible. While incest is also canonical, I'm neither searching it out nor avoiding it - Allison/Luther is of very little interest to me, but various Klaus pairings don't bother me.

( I think we're alone now... )

As a middle-schooler, I used to run (badly) in cross-country and track & field. This anime hits all of my nostalgia points, and makes me want to go running again. It's been a joy to watch, and I genuinely haven't been able to predict nearly any of the plot, which is a rarity for sports anime. Perhaps being set at a college with older characters has made it more accessible - there's very little traditional high school antics here. The characters have been endearing - by being so realistic and balanced, while also gradually falling into place as a team united by a single goal: the Hakone Ekiden. It's a real-life relay-style race for college students only. It takes place over two days, 5 legs per day, with each leg around 20km for a total of roughly 218km. Not only that, but they have to run up and back down one of the steepest mountains in Japan. It's not a course for rank beginners, but we can see through the two-cour anime just how our guys are going to make it there... and how much we want them to succeed.

( The mountains of Hakone are...? )

Somewhat unusually for me, I went from not having seen a solitary minute of this anime last Wednesday, to binge-watching all 16 episodes off of a library DVD set on Thursday, to trawling eBay for my own DVDs on Saturday. Baccano! is a bit gorier than I like, but I can close my eyes as needed, and there's so much to like about it, from the Highlander-meets-the-Mafia plot, to the excellent relationship dynamics, to the wacky side characters and the high proportion of interesting female characters (I don't think it technically passes the Bechdel Test, but Baccano! manages to have enough proactive and identifiably different women in it that I'll let it off the hook). Warnings for gore, period-accurate criminal behavior, and hilarious character names like Jacuzzi Splot.

( Well, no matter. )

The world-building is great - a universe in which people have been developing Quirks, which are essentially mutations, for a few generations and so have been changing society at the same time - and there are some very talented authors working in the fandom. It's a young fandom, so many of the recommendations are WIPs. Quick note: I find Bakugou Katsuki to be somewhat but not deeply problematic (I prefer fics where he gets some character growth and stops being 100% a dick - which I hear is happening canonically as well, so it's not OC for him to change) so there are a few stories about him in this list, and like much of Western fandom I prefer not to read the canonical version of Mineta Minoru (although I don't read bash!fic).

LAST UPDATED: 6/19/20. The cracks in the canon world-building are yawning wider now, although it's hard to tell whether the manga-ka intended Japan-with-Quirks to have dystopia implications. Also, BnHA is becoming less of a deconstruction of shounen than a typical example of one (with the attendant problems regarding female characters). I may be ditching canon soon, but keeping up with WIP fics. EDIT 12/27/22: I've lost patience for most WIPs, as they haven't updated in years. I'm keeping only the ones I like well enough even if they're never finished.

( It's fine now. Why? Because I am here )

Like much of the world - at least the part that participates in fandom, figure-skating, anime, or a mix of all three - I have been delighted by the plot developments of Yuuri!!! On Ice (the three exclamation points are obnoxious, but I've resolved to be accurate when it comes to titles). It's rare for any form of fictional media to have openly gay characters in healthy relationships, but in a sports anime it's practically unheard of. This anime about a slumping skater who catches the attention of the bored prior-gold-medalist, and consequently gains him as his new coach and eventually his lover, is really breaking new and fun ground.

( How about that Episode 10 reveal, though? )

I haven't seen the movie yet, but Tumblr and AO3 are going crazy for it, and the fandom seems like a good fit for my tastes. Incidentally, 99 44/100ths of Kingsman fics are fix-it; apparently no fans are putting up with Harry's death. So unless the fics otherwise stray from the main storyline, I won't bother marking them AU. Also, all fics are Harry Hart/Eggsy Unwin unless noted otherwise. EDIT: finally watched the film on 8/14/15, and well worth the wait it was. However, I will now be looking for more gen fic, as the actual spy stuff was what appealed to me the most in the film.

( This ain't that kind of movie, bruv )

I might as well admit to getting pulled into this one; I lasted through Season 4. The recs below, while necessarily full of Derek/Stiles, are a healthy mixture of gen and other pairings, with an emphasis on Stiles. Unless otherwise noted with a "S3", the fics were written or begun prior to Season 3, and do not incorporate any Season 3 or later canon. LAST UPDATED: 2/10/18, to remove old fics that either deviated too far from accurate/believable characterization & plotting, or no longer suit my tastes. EDITED: 6/20/20, to add one new fic and clear away broken links.

( Teenage Werewolves... That's Original )

It's a bit odd, but reading fic about hockey players made me start watching a professional sport on a regular basis in 2012. Go figure. The list below starts with Team sections, then cross-team pairings, then gen, then the trope I call "NHL Ladies", then non-fic recs.
LAST EDITED: 9/08/19, to remove broken links and fics that I no longer find readable and/or interesting.

( Olympics, Stanley Cup... )

Since the X-Men, Ironman, Thor, Captain America and all those Guardians were cluttering up my posts, I'm going to stick them all together. LAST UPDATED: 12/28/17: After seeing Thor: Ragnarok (the first Thor film I really thought made any sense at all), I found a handful of fics to add. But I am ignoring the stingers, and choosing fics that do the same.

( That's absurd. And... fantastic )

Even though I doubt that this will ever be a big fandom for me, I like the idea of it having a post of its own.
EDIT: Haha, who was I kidding about this being a small fandom? LAST UPDATED: 7/3/13

( You're waiting for a train )

This fandom has been a great way to start 2011. A viable and popular OT3 is always welcome. As for the canon, I appreciate genuinely happy marriages, non-"controversial" gays and whip-smart dialogue.

( Trust Me. )

Since I've become unduly interested in this show, I'm giving the fandom its very own post. No housekeeper, though. :) EDIT: I did not like the direction this show went, so my recs are largely from season 1 and AUs only.

( Not your housekeeper, dear )

How could I resist such an enticing combination of history, porn and lulz? There's some longer fic and some really sweet stories to be found if you look hard enough.

( Because *I'm* the hero! )

Mithen single-handedly brought me into the DCU fandom in July 2008, and Te's keeping me there; I love every minute of it. I don't have a ton of *different* recs; what I have are ways to find other rec pages, or sift through a particular author. Smallville fics and authors are mixed in here too - that sometimes-wacky show is, after all, part of the same universe. UPDATE 9/1/24: I've started dipping my toes into this fandom again, largely looking at more Tim-centric fics. However, I've also gotten into Shazam, so that will start popping into this rec list.

( Creatures of the night... )

Naruto fandom, for me, is a guilty pleasure sometimes. You see, the Naruto fandom to me is all about Naruto himself. I think the canon post-timeskip is screwing him over, and I like the opportunities fandom gives him. EDIT: now that the manga is done, I can say that the final chapter screwed everybody over, to a remarkable degree for an ostensible happy ending. I don't care for the Boruto next-generation stuff, either.

Stories are gen or non-romance-focused unless otherwise marked.
LAST UPDATE: 8/5/23 - basically all WIPs are dead in the water at this point.

( A genius of hard work will beat a natural genius! )

The first year of college, my friends and I watched all the episodes within a few weeks. I was hooked, and ended up buying my own set. Since then ('03), my fandom interest slowly dropped, and plummeted after I saw the movie. I still re-read old stuff, and there's one or two WIPs that I keep up with, but otherwise we're quits.

( You can't take the sky from meeeeeeeeeeee... )

Fandom #50: Mo Dao Zu Shi (a.k.a. The Untamed)

Fandom #49: The King's Avatar (Quanzhi Gaoshou)

Fandom #48: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System

Fandom #47: Blue Exorcist

Fandom #46: The Umbrella Academy

Fandom #44: Run With The Wind

Fandom #42: Baccano!

Fandom #40: Boku no Hero Academia

Fandom #36: Yuuri!!! On Ice

Fandom #35: Kingsman

Fandom #34: Teen Wolf

Fandom #33: Hockey RPF

Fandom #32: All Marvel Comics and Movies

Fandom #31: Inception

Fandom #30: White Collar

Fandom #28: Sherlock (BBC series)

Fandom #26: Axis Powers Hetalia

Fandom #25: The DCU

Fandom #22: Naruto

Fandom #21: Firefly

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