[Title]: Enough [Author]: jfiacrez [Category]: General, M/M [Rating]: General [Fandom]: Run with the Wind (Anime) | 風が強く吹いている | Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru & Haikyuu [Characters]: Kurahara Kakeru, Akane “Prince” Kashiwazaki, Kageyama Tobio & Haiji Kiyose [Status]:Completed Part 3 of the “Of Stilted Conversations and RBF’s” series.
[Synopsis]: Kakeru has an epiphany in Paris with the help of Prince, Kageyama, and the Mona Lisa.
I was curious what I’d find in the Run With the Wind fandom of fanfiction, and it is pretty bare boned. But I had to check out at least one of the ships. To be honest, I haven’t really thought about ‘shipping any of our boys in Run just because this show really screams mentorship and brotherhood to me more than anything. But if I did ‘ship anyone it would be Kakeru and Haiji.
The context appears that this happens way after college a few years after the Hakone Ekiden. In this short one-shot, Kakeru comes to terms (belatedly) that he’s in love with Haiji. Prince has dropped hints on this odd trip of theirs to Paris.
Also an odd addition is Kageyama Tobio from the Haikyuu series as Kurahara’s step-brother. I think it’s funny that the author would have these two be step-siblings because they’re so similar in looks and personality – but who hasn’t made that parallel?
I know my notes above say Part 3 of a series, but I feel like these could be read as standalones.
Without giving away too much, I thought this was a short cute one-shot about Kakeru’s awkwardness and slow realization of having feelings for someone else because he’s always been too focused on running to think about anything else.
[Title]: What He Left Behind [Author]: Ive_Ben_Writing [Category]: General [Rating]: Teen & Up [Fandom]: My Hero Academia | Boku no Hero Academia [Characters]: Bakugou Katsuki + Class 1-A [Status]:Completed
[Synopsis]: Two weeks after Midoriya “Deku” Izuku defeated the dreadful successor of All for One and disappeared, the Hero Class of 1A tries their best to cope with their sudden loss. And just when the weight of their grief proved to be too much, they discovered that Deku lives on in a manner they didn’t expect.
Angst, angst angst. So. Much. Angst.
Ive_Ben_Writing writes a 7 chapter story on how everyone copes with the loss of Deku in their lives. They’re all still students in this fanfic, and if you’re not caught up with the manga, there’s a slight spoiler as there’s a character that is new and they’re a prominent figure who is deeply affected by Deku’s death and does not cope well.
We all know that Deku and Kacchan have known each other since they were kids, and we all know that Deku believes in Kacchan. They have a special bond, but their layers of miscommunication and misunderstandings have left their relationship in tatters. We also know that they’re trying to rectify the chasm between them and trying to restore some kind of relationship. These things are evident in the show and the manga.
What He Left Behind is a heart wrenching story that literally had me crying in every chapter. This story mostly comes from Katsuki’s point of view, and how he copes and deals with his newfound role in the wake of Deku’s death.
We see the effect that Deku had on each of their classmates, and how each of them are coping with the loss of their friend. They use his death as self-reflection and as a source of inspiration. The fact that he is able to move each of his classmates souls in a way no one else could post-mortem, is really mind blowing, and god, this just really pulls on your heartstings. And for those who aren’t coping or grieving as they should, well, you can only guess who’s there helping them along the way, because at the end of the day, what would Deku do?
This fic is such a ride, especially with Kacchan as the lead. Tasked with being the support, because a certain nerd believes in him, was the most emotional part for me. How he deals with being there for his “friends” and classmates, and as a stand-in for Deku is a great exploration of his character.
I seriously hope you guys give this one a read. It’s fic’s like this that make me understand and love Kacchan’s character and the potential that he has.
Happy 2019 everyone! As you all know, I’ve been MIA for most of 2018. I’ll get more into some of the details, and it looks like “Where in the World is Zel?” might become the replacement of my Sunday Salutations post. It’ll be more of a quarterly update.
Looking back at my last post like this, I was obsessed with My Hero Academia. I’m still very clearly NOT over this phase, as I’m still very very active in keeping up with it. I also was heavily invested in Hakuouki. Unfortunately, I have yet to finish all the routes of the both of the games, but I plan on getting into it again, but I have been invested in some things as of late….more on that soon.
FanFiction
Since my fall into My Hero Academia I’ve actually delved deeper into the fanfiction fanbase and am also in contact with a lot of content creators in that regard as well. I was also very heavily into Hakuouki. I haven’t finished those games, but I have written quick one-shot stories based on routes I’ve finished.
I have mainly tried to stay anonymous with my fics due to their very NSFW content. But you know, the more I get involved with the fic community, the more I’ve realized it’s hard to make the correlation between my work due to use of username. I’m in a debate to keep pushing this pen-name or creating a pseudonym from that main account. I shouldn’t feel ashamed of the content I create. I like what I like, and really, no one in real life knows much about this blog much less my interests outside of architecture.
I really love creating stories, even if they’re not original characters of mines, taking those personalities and placing them in different situations and finding out how they react in in these alternate settings has been so fun to create and explore. This and my Hakuouki writing has really shown me, that I LOVE to write stories. That my mind is full of these alternate worlds that just want to be written. Even when I’m listening to music, songs will pop up and I’ll imagine a scene unfold, or an entire story. So I write. I’m always coming up with ideas; but sitting down to write them. That’s something I really want to do this year.
You can find my Hakuouki fic here on the otogehanami website: (I’ll be posting it to my ao3 account soon as well)
My latest fic, is actually about BakuDeku (NSFW) and has by-far been my most popular of the three that I’ve posted regarding my favorite ship from the series. If anyone is really that interested, it’s called “Sober” and can be found here:
I’m currently in process of writing two multi-chapter fics that I want to focus on this year featuring BakuDeku while the other focuses on KiriDeku. The stories are so different and the world building has honestly been interesting to say the least.
It All Leads Back to You
The moment Izuku Midoriya’s name fell from Tomura Shigaraki’s lips, Katsuki’s urge to protect kicked into overdrive. Protecting the love of his life was non-negotiable, even if it meant breaking both of their hearts.
For every action there is a reaction. As the two live lives in parallel, everything Katsuki does in life is in correlation to Izuku’s. At the core of everything Katsuki is: it has and will always lead back to Izuku.
Basically an alternate universe in which Izuku remained quirkless and Katsuki learned what it really meant to be a hero. It’s got a lot of angst and heartbreak in it, as I’ve found myself crying over certain scenes.
Under the Shadow of the Sun
In the midst of war and political unrest, samurai Eijirou Kirishima serves as Daimyo Overhaul’s retainer. Eijirou could not be more unhappy with where his life has taken him. But that all changes when the most beautiful and most rare of Geisha’s appears and leaves him breathless.
I’m collaborating with a friend on this because I wanted this story to be more than just a love story. We’re still trying to figure out where to pull our historical references from but it’ll obviously have its own BnHA spin to it.
Art
Over the summer of 2018, I had started doing a sketch a day as many of you saw on my twitter feed. I’ve decided to carry that on in 2019. I’d really like to get better at my skills, so I’ve decided to take on at least one fully realized digital drawing per month. Since my friend and I have been really invested in our Geisha AU, we thought it’d be a good exercise for me to draw our BnHA boys this year in some form of a geisha. So, that being said, I hope to create some great portraits, paintings that do our boys some justice.
Career
I have a lot going on in terms of content creation, and trying to be more active on my blog again. But once again, I may be off and on here just because I really need to spend more time studying and passing these exams. I had promised myself to get licensed before the age of 35, and honestly I’ve only gone 2 years to go. So, wish me luck in that regard, geez.
Otherwise, I’m going to try to get one post a week out somehow or other, somehow schedule some things in advance. I will have to really try to stick to some kind of schedule.
Other General Housekeeping
Otherwise, life’s been good. I’ve been working on my health since last summer and can officially say I’ve lost 20+ pounds since I’ve embarked on my weight loss journey. I don’t think it’ll be something I account for on the blog, but last year I just felt really really shitty about my appearance and how I felt in general. It’s gotten better, and the doing something about my weight was definitely a key factor.
I’ve also started up a new bulletjournal for the year, so I may just have a follow-up post regarding those layouts? Don’t really know if anyone would be that interested.
My cousin and I are also picking up photography together, trying to master and really get the most use out of our fancy camera’s.
And another cousin and I literally just signed up for Japanese classes today, so that’s another thing I’ll be looking forward to doing this year!
Looks like there’s lots to do in 2019. It’s another busy one, and I hope I accomplish half the things I’ve written here. I figure by speaking it into existence it should happen.
Looking forward to another great year with all of you, and thank you so much for sticking around!! ❤
Hi everyone, I’m still around! I swear, and omg, for like the first time it didn’t take me forever to answer a tag (okay maybe the harem one didn’t take too long?)
But uh yeah, Remy tagged me for the create-a-story tag, and most of you know I’ve been writing and reading a lot of fanfiction lately, so I figured I shouldparticipate in this particular tag. So…
Keiko over at Keiko’s Anime Blog is the originator for the Create-A-Story tag , and the rules are as follows!
Rules
1. You pick your first word, your setting and your story genre from the list below. As individuals, your brand of creativity is unique to yours, so we want to highlight that by letting you choose from a bunch of words and creating something beautiful out of it.
First Word Fall
Fire
Music
Station Rain
Setting Hospital Mountain
Sea
School
Street
Genre Comedy
Drama
Slice of Life Romance
Tragedy
2. The short story will have a limit of 1000 words. You do not need to write a story with 1000 words exactly. It could be 300, or 500 as long as it doesn’t surpass a thousand.
3. YOU HAVE TWO WEEKS TO ANSWER THE TAG.
4. You must tag three people to participate.
5. Don’t forget to link back to Keiko (this is her story) so she can collect all the stories.
6. Use the Create-A-Story picture in the post.
7. Copy and paste the rules in your tag post as well, so others can be clued in to the Create-A-Story rules.
A bit of a background on my story. It features my two favorite characters at the moment; My Hero Academia’s Deku and Kacchan. And no worries, while this story is BL; it’s more implied romance without shoving it down your throats. So please! Give the story a read!
Keywords (if you couldn’t tell): Rain + Mountain + Romance
And I tag….
Mel – I know you’ve been tagged, but it went beyond the time limit, so here ya go! Besides you love writing short stories as much as I do, so why the heck not!
Shoujo – have you read any of her fic’s on her blog? Because they’re amazing, and I think she’d do great with this tag!
no clue who hasn’t done this already – I’ve seen it around..so …sorry I fail at listing 3!
Now! On to the story!
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The trickle of water echoed off the cave walls. Thunder rumbling and lightning crackling in the distance.
The onslaught of the storm had caught the duo off-guard during their monthly hiking-camping expedition. They ran for cover, finding shelter in a cave. Katsuki used a finely tuned explosion to light the dry leaves found further in the back.
Izuku had quickly made himself comfortable leaning up against Katsuki bundled up and was lulled to sleep by the sound of the rain as he warmed up by the fire. Katsuki couldn’t blame him, they started off at an ungodly hour and the nerd wasn’t much of a morning person.
Katsuki deftly maneuvered Izuku into a lying position, slipping hands through soft green curls, a soft smirk appearing on his face. He got up and stretched before making his way to the cave entrance. He found a rock to sit on as he watched the tumultuous storm rage on a few feet away.
It was quiet moments like these where Katsuki found himself lost deep in thought, thoughts that wandered to Izuku. He can’t help but compare the days events to the current state of their relationship.
Much like the trail they had tread upon, their relationship had withstood the twists and turns, the high’s and the lows, steep inclines that made one wary of how far it was to the top, the swooping declines that made traveling a breeze. The rough winds and rain pelting down on them forcing them back. Katsuki knew that most of the hardships they experienced akin to the storm were due to his godforsaken pride, the miscommunication, and yeah, he was getting better at it. They were working on it. Together. They were re-building the foundation that had cracked so many years ago.
But one thing had remained constant back then and during the ascent up the mountain and through the storm. And it was the one thing that Katsuki would forever be thankful for: Izuku’s perseverance. This trail was easy to Katsuki, but it wasn’t the case for Izuku. Yet he pushed on because Katsuki was just ahead of him, and like in their childhood, wherever Katsuki went, Izuku followed with stars in his eyes. Izuku fought against the bitter storm that was Katsuki, continually pushing forward knowing there would be a break in the storm. A day where the storm would subside and bring a cloudless sunny sky. He huffs out a small laugh at the thought as he leans back against the cave, the nerd didn’t know when to quit.
But, it’s that perseverance that got them to where they are. The summit was not far off on their journey up the way they came and in terms of their career as well. Their rise in the hero ranks was taking off; having registered as a hero duo as their debut, they quickly became a household name: The Wonder Duo. Izuku never gave up on Katsuki. He had unconditionally believed in Katsuki since they had been kids. He didn’t overlook the bullying, the chastising, but those never erased the positive things that Izuku saw in him. After all, Katsuki was his first hero.
Katsuki looks at the green-haired boy sleeping with a furrowed brow and mumbling in his sleep. He walks over and runs his fingers along pinched skin between eyebrows. Izuku’s face relaxes at the touch.
It’s soft moments like these, where Katsuki realizes how much he loves Izuku. Running fingers along the constellation of freckles that dot his face, he thanks the stars that Izuku hadn’t turned his back on him. He’s thankful for how forgiving Izuku is. Izuku doesn’t try to change Katsuki, like everyone else around him attempts to. Izuku doesn’t try reign him in or calm him down; because that wouldn’t be Katsuki. Izuku understands him better than anyone, and as long as Izuku understands, then no one else matters. Izuku’s love came easy, like the gentle breeze that caresses your skin on the winding path down the mountain.
It had taken Katsuki far too long to realize how much Izuku had meant to him, till he had almost lost him in their third year. They had weathered many storms together, but nothing had prepared them for the attack by the League of Villains. Izuku was left in a coma and in the hospital for an excruciatingly long month. Most people thought Izuku felt the most pain when he let Katsuki slip through his fingers when the League took him in their first year. But no one knew what despair really looked like till they saw Katsuki by Izuku’s hospital bed.
Katsuki had been unapproachable and more prickly than ever. Posted at Izuku’s bedside 24/7, a loyal guard dog protective of the person they loved and wanted to protect. He growled at anyone who threatened to invade their space.
When emerald eyes had opened, Katsuki had vowed to never take Izuku for granted again. He worked on communicating with him. He didn’t want to leave it to chance where things were left unsaid. Their miscommunication would not follow them to their graves. He’d be the one to protect Izuku this time around. He’d be the hero that Izuku had always seen and believed.
Now, those sleepy emerald eyes slide open slowly, blinking up at him.
“Kacchan? Was I asleep long? Is the storm still going?” Izuku says rubbing his eyes.
“Not too long. But, we might have to settle here for the night. At least the worst of the storm is behind us.”
“Mm, we’ll get through it. We’ve seen worse,” Izuku replies with a yawn.
Katsuki’s small smile appears again as Izuku’s eyes slide shut as the latter snuggles up close. He looks outside at the subsiding storm. Yeah, they’d make it through the storms ahead of them just fine. As long as they had each other, they could get through anything. After all, every cloud has a silver lining.
I have to say, this was a really fun post to write! It forces you to get creative, and like me who has a million ideas and have started a few long-winded fics, sometimes I wish I could just finish the story and be done with it. It was nice having the constraints!
Thanks again to Remy for tagging me and for Keiko for creating such a brilliant tag. I’m so glad to have been apart of this! 🙂
I hadn’t considered reading fanfiction based on an otome before. That is, until, I played Hakuouki: Kyoto Winds and had chosen Susumu Yamazaki as my first bachelor. I had gotten so invested in his story line, I actually wrote a first person POV fanfiction for this series.
However, due to my own piece I decided to check out the some other fanfiction’s in the fandom. There aren’t as many (only 496 as of today!) compared to more popular series like Haikyuu!!, Free!, and My Hero Academia, but there was one that really struck a chord with me, and that was Kimi no Tameni.
Before Yamazaki stole my heart, Okita Souji was one of my favorites from the original Hakuouki, so I thought he would be a safe bet to start with in fanfiction.
TheStarsHaveAligned has created a beautifully heartbreaking story regarding Okita and Chizuru. Much like his otome and real-life counterpart, Okita is dying of tuberculosis and this story focuses on that and the bitter impact of impending death that strains their relationship.
What would you do to save a loved one? How much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice? How far are you willing to go? If you were given the chance to save them from dying, would you do it?
The story explores various snippets and events that occur between Okita and Yukimura. The Point of View changes from Chizuru’s to Okita’s and it’s rather painful to read from Okita’s POV sometimes, because the reader already knows what that odd deja vu feeling that Okita is experiencing.
If you love angst, and drama then I highly recommend this one. I was in tears for a lot of this fanfic, so if you’re also in need of a good cry, by all means this is probably a good one for that if you’re into heartbreaking romance.
This is supposed to be Part 1 of a series, but can be read as a standalone piece. I’m not sure if the author will continue, as in a previous note to me – seems to be rather nervous about their interpretation of Okita. Even though I found it fantastic like many other readers, I don’t blame her. It’s the reason why a lot of my own fanfic stays as personal projects shared amongst friends.
Hopefully you guys will give this one a chance! Shoujo and I have discussed this particular one before as we’re both Hakuouki fangirls. And maybe I’ll get around to posting my first person POV post sometime soon.
Bear in mind, a lot of the fanfics I’ll be suggesting will probably have a lot of angst, and have seriously brought on major bouts of crying. I love emotionally gripping stories. Like said in my introduction post to this segment – fanfics have become a source of catharsis for me, whether in reading or writing it.
Welcome to Zel’s Hideout! As all of you have noticed, I’ve had a massive drop in terms of posts, and while real life stuff has taken over majority of the day, I can’t deny that I’ve fallen into the deep deep void known as fanfiction.
Truth be told, I thought last year was the year I was introduced to this medium; but the more I thought about it, the more I realized. I’ve been involved with fanfiction since I was 12 years old. How? At such a young age? is probably what you’re wondering. And no, I wasn’t reading the explicit stuff at that age.
I’m definitely giving away my age by talking about this; but back in the mid- to late 90’s several things had occurred in my 12 year old world. 1. The internet became accessible via dial-up and the rise of AOL. 2. I was introduced to the world of Anime via Sailor Moon. Now, how are these two things exclusively interrelated to fanfiction?
With the rise of the internet came the creation of free personal websites (thanks angelfire!). Also with the internet, anime became just a bit more accessible than what I saw on TV. So in love with the Sailor Moon series, I researched for images endlessly to create my own personal online shrine via html coding. (I had dreams to be a website designer at that young age lol). But as I searched the internet for anything closely related to Sailor Moon, I embarked on a website (I’m not sure the name anymore) that featured a story about Queen Serenity and King Endymion and I was hooked. It was a beautiful heartbreaking romance from what little I can remember. I already knew it wasn’t entirely canon aside from the characters and the setting, the story didn’t fit with what we knew of the actual story.
From there, I ended up writing my first fanfic at 13. I struggled with my feelings towards my (guy) best friend at the time. I had written it using Serena and Darien, influenced by that fic I had stumbled upon. It really was an angsty drama; he and I were filled with unresolved feelings, miscommunications and misunderstandings. I wrote that story to convey how it felt like falling in love with my best friend. Yep, I’ve been a hopeless romantic since the beginning, and nope we did not end up together. It took one misunderstanding for our entire relationship to be obliterated in high school the next few years. I guess, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to cross the line, or maybe afraid of losing the friendship we had built over the years. Needless to say, that fanfic was abandoned (and it was handwritten too!)
I forgot about fanfiction after that brief stint in it, and it wasn’t till I met Mel, Jill and Naja in 2016 and our lovely LINE groupchat where we supported Jill in her endeavor in writing Haikyuu fanfiction (A/B/O Omegaverse AU) that I embarked on reading more of the medium. Eventually I started to feel inspired to write again. It’s been a snowball effect since then.
Writing in general has been a form of catharsis for me, and the same can be said about reading. Escaping into fantasy, sighing at romance have always been the biggest draws for me. I’ve come to terms that I write very emotionally in a lot of my posts, and have since extended that into my own forms of fanfiction. Expressing my own feelings via characters, or even interpreting a character’s demeanor, thought processes, and personality through dialogue, interaction and situations, has been stress-relieving to say the least.
So yeah, like the title of this segment suggests; I’ve literally been hiding out and holed up reading all kinds of crazy fanfics. It’s where I go when I’m not on social media and not active on the blog; you can find me either reading or writing fanfic.
I figure, there’s so many great fanfics I’ve come across, that have really spoken to me, whether in angst, drama, fluff or the NSFW types. Why not share and review the ones that I really love? Since I have so many under my belt, this could quickly be a series that is easy, and honestly it’s a great counterpart to Mel’s weekly doujinshi posts. (yeah, I had to plug her. LOL) Also, I may even share my own fanfic’s in this segment.
Stay tuned; I’ll start sharing in the next post! Till next time!
I’m sure you’ve all been wondering. It almost feels like I dropped off the face of the planet with the blog. Especially when I was hyped up about my trip to Japan and was prepping to write about it and share all the fun things I got to experience. But alas, I disappeared. So again, I’m sure it’s been a question that’s been on your mind (haha I hope so anyways). So, what the heck happened to Zel?
I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus, obviously. After the trip, I got overloaded with work. Like 50-60 hour weeks + coming in on weekends. So yeah, having to deal with that right after coming back from my vacation was just draining. It was like I couldn’t breathe let alone relax and recuperate. I’ve also started to notice this gnawing feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach about stuff – but I won’t get into that too much. But for some reason it’s left we feeling weirdly insecure about my writing for no good reason.
April was maelstrom of events, and feelings. It was just completely overwhelming, and now I’m dealing with the aftermath with a bit of self-care.
I couldn’t find it in myself to write anything for the last few weeks. Was it writer’s block? Maybe. Maybe it was because I’m surrounded by so many talented writers via the Podcast and the OWLS group, that me stepping away meant that I could no longer keep up with those that I consider my friends. I’m not one for competition, but the more amazing content people came up with the more I started to doubt my own self-worth and resentment started to build. Like I said, I got wildly insecure for absolutely no reason, it’s like all confidence went out the window. How does that happen in a span of two weeks? Hell if I know. Next thing I know, that pressure kept building and building and that led to some anxiety, and the more I dreaded to look at my blog. Honestly, I’m still feeling some type of way, but it’s getting better.
I decided that I should just let it be. Forget the pressure of those weekly posts I was doing and just really relax. Just take my time and do whatever the heck I wanted. The blog will be there, it will always be there. I just needed some time and space to clear my head. And when I was ready to come back, I’d come back. Simple as that.
It’s so easy to forget I started this for fun. The pressure I was putting on myself to produce consistently, and the pressure to compare myself was really no one’s fault but my own. So, I’ll be abandoning the “schedule” thing for the time being and just go with the flow, until I feel better about myself and writing.
But, fear not. The comeback is on the rise. Lately, I’ve been inspired to start writing again. While I was on hiatus, I found renewed inspiration for writing because I got hooked into a few things that just gave me the itch to write.
I’ve already been a huge fan of the series. But ever since I came back from Japan and decided to step away from the blog, I’ve been 100% engrossed and immersed in every aspect that is Boku no Hero Academia. I’ve watched Seasons 1 & 2 repeatedly the last month, with the weekly updates of Season 3 sprinkled in (honestly, I don’t think I’ve watched anything outside of BnHA the last few weeks). I’ve read every single chapter of the manga, and have gone over a few arcs several times. I’ve listened to the OST tons over the course of the day sporadically. Now, I’ve gone over to the dark side and have been completely submerged in fan fiction territory and have been stuck here ever since. I also may have started my own fanfic in this time frame.
It’s literally an obsession as of right now. I think it might be a sickness. How can someone be completely submerged in everything that a series has to offer? All day, everyday no less? For an entire month? The only time I’ve ever felt like this was with Free! but even then it wasn’t to this level of involvement; not to this drastic extent. My obsession cycles in phases that only lasts a few days or a few weeks (okay, that might change once season three of Free! starts, but we’ll see). Do I have a problem? Maybe…? It’s not necessarily a bad thing (I hope). I don’t know what kind of funk has left me stuck in the world of Heroes, but I don’t see myself snapping out of this anytime soon. I can’t turn away.
There’s something great here in BnHA, and I’ll try my damnedest to hopefully express the amount of joy this series has given me; whether that be in character studies, or writing reviews. Heck, I don’t know, but I’ll start somewhere, and by somewhere, I mean this quick little blurb of just talking about it.
This series has given me everything I needed on hiatus: laughter, drama, and angst. It’s given me hope, and given me despair but most importantly it’s given me inspiration. There are quite a few episodes I can’t make it through without shedding a damn tear, or being overwhelmed with raw emotion. Am I over-hyping the series? Possibly. But I’m speaking from the heart and how Hero Academia has personally affected me during this anxiety filled phase.
(I actually wrote a lot more about BnHA, but have since redacted this post in favor of a spin-off post to talk about my obsession before I get too carried away and go off tangent on this update.)
For those of you that don’t know, I do tend to dabble in writing fan fiction. I have one piece up on Archive of Our Own under another name, which surprisingly has done fairly well since it went up. But I digress.
What about Hakuouki has helped me during this time?
I love otome. I love romance. I love a good story. I love angst. I love history. I love fantasy. I love crying over mopey shit. I guess I am a masochist for loving a good cry over anything that could be so emotionally touching. Otome in general gets my maiden heart going, it gives me that release I need emotionally.
I’ve played Hakuouki before, on my iPad. It was the second otome I played from IdeaFactory/Otomate (first being Amnesia). But having it on my PSVita, it became a whole new ballgame. With all the new routes, I was excited to dive in again.
I started with Kyoto Winds, the first half of the Hakuoki PSVita game. I chose Susumu Yamazaki because he was a new character, and he had definitely caught my eye, but wasn’t completely invested in his character in terms of anticipation. I wanted to go with Shinpachi Nagakura at first, but because he was one of the first guys I thought deserved a route from the original Hakuoki; I had to contain my hype. I didn’t want to blow through his route out of sheer excitement. So I opted for Yamazaki first, I thought his route would be harmless, and boy was I ever wrong.
Yamazaki’s route was such a great route for me to break into Kyoto Winds with. I got so attached to him, and was fully immersed in his story. I ended his game feeling a bit melancholic. Those feelings I had for this route were so utterly strong, I had to write. I neededto write. The urge to write about a route had never been like this. Of all the otome games I’ve played, and been immersed with, Yamazaki for some reason struck me to my core.
I didn’t want to just write. I wanted to write with the same feeling, the same sentiment that I felt when playing this route. The original intent had been to write a review of his route, but thankfully it evolved into something more. I ended up writing a short fan fiction based on the events of Kyoto Winds. I wanted to experiment with my writing style. I wanted to try my hand at flowery language. I wanted to express my attachment to his route the way that Chizuru (the heroine) felt. Yamazaki’s route had inspired me to be a different writer, to be more creative. So I did.
I wrote brief snippets about Yamazaki, and in the end I’ve created a story based on those snippets. I now have a running document called Hakuouki Vignettes, which are a collection of short stories, in the heroines Point of View (or Chizuru) and her leading man. It started with Yamazaki, but it grows as I complete each route of Kyoto Winds.
Which leads me to my latest project. In the midst of my writing crisis, anxiety and self-doubt, I went out on a limb and decided to sign-up for this project called otogehanami. A website that hosts a collaborative project for fans of otoge to come together and express their love in either art or written form. And with some encouragement from eversodearest shoujothoughts, I decided to put myself out there and submit a piece, and who better to submit than Yamazaki, the man who started this all.
Granted though, the piece I had started in my vignettes cannot be submitted to otogehanami, so I’m in the process of crafting something else, and hopefully it’ll be strong since I’ve completed his route 100% in both Kyoto Winds and the second half in Edo Blossoms.
Recovery?
Am I making a full recovery back to the blog? Yes and No. As stated earlier, I think I’m going to lay off the whole weekly bit thing for a while. I want to craft my posts and writing a bit more. I’ve said it before, in my OWLS post about Barakamonand in my Milestone post: “Through trial and error, we find ourselves and our passions. Through trial and error we find what works and what doesn’t work.”
Am I going through another Renaissance of sorts? Nah, not that extreme. But I am experimenting with my writing right now. I want to write more reviews, but with my own spin on it. I want to write about the things I love without feeling the backlash of the ‘unpopular opinion’.
The blog is supposed to be my outlet from my stressful work life, but I often felt like running the blog was just as stressful as my job. Coming up with content consistently, and keeping up with weekly themes pretty much overran the purpose of the blog. Honestly, I just want to go back to having fun.
Anyways, thanks for reading. The tone of the post seems daunting if not depressive, but I assure you it’s just a slight bump in the road. Yes, I’m struggling, but I’m working through it.
I’ve been feeling more like myself lately. So thank you everyone for your continued patience and your support. Especially you Mel, for having stuck by my side and consistently talking to me daily, it really helped my mood, more than you know.
But if any of you need to find me, you can find me stuck in Boku no Hero Academia Abyss, and Hakuoki Hell, for the time being. lol. ❤
