Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Wei's 10 Fanfiction



My ten fanfics are all about my favourite Japanese anime . 




Dararara!!
              

   The story happens in  Ikebukuro ,a heroine who ride a horse( black motorcycle) around the city,and looking for her missing head.People name her as "The Black Biker"or "The Headless Rider". However, the story line does not just around her.they're more focusing on a group of people who seem ordinariness,but actually, they're all have their own unusual stories. No matter their life experience is positive or negative ,they still alive .The narrative makes all of the characters equally, underlying how their lives intersect, creating a greater plot line  to lead each character involves into a common incident.It has original light novels which written by Ryohgo Narita, a talent writer. When I first met this anime, I wasn't so impressed, because It's not so appealing ,and not easy to understand what is going on there.But when the story goes deeper, it catches my eyes. Not only excellent images,soundtrack ,special effect but also the humorous verbal expression .Anyway,I recommend it.



     Kimi ni Todoke

 A really pure first love story. Sawako is a high school student who often be called Sadako by her classmates ,a person who can see ghosts and curse people.Owing to her unnatural facial expression,people often misunderstand what she try to convey .She feels so sad and hopeless when others tend to keep away from her. Even though she is eager to make friends with others.Nevertheless, she meets her idol, a popular boy Kazehaya,who goes well with everybody and always smiling on his face. the gentle boy starts talking with her,and encourage her to communicate with surrounding person.From that on,Her life has changed.Everything seems new to her, this naive girl is on the journey of  becoming mature. Undoubtedly , they 're falling in love with each other. But at that time ,they don't say anything which might turn over their friendship. I think most people have similar love story like this, anyhow it reminds me my early days, and I wanna start over again.


























The Twelve Kingdoms



The twelve kingdoms is series of light novels which written by Fuyumi Ono. But the anime doesn’t tell the whole pieces of original work. It just takes out a small part. The plot begins with Yoko, a unhappy and timid girl, who always lives on what others told her to do. One day , a strange handsome man who has a long golden hair and grey face, suddenly appears in front of her,and takes her into a new universe “The twelve kingdoms”. In that new world ,she experience betraying by friends, escaping from murdering , joining the civil war and going through a long way to become a  successful Queen. Although I watched this anime several years ago, but the incredibly spectacle background history  
 fairly  broaden my horizons. It’s a good taste for those people who like adventure and myths.

Takashi Natsume ,an orphan , has the ability to see spirits .This special talent is inherited from his grandmother Reiko.However,he keeps lonely since his parents passed away,nobody wants to close to him because of his extra capability. He has been adopted by several relatives ,finally, he moves to a small town,where he meets Madara (Nyanko sensei),a spirit who try to kill him and take over Natsume”s book of friends .However,Madara becomes Natsume’s bodyguard due to he think Natsume is an interesting human being .From that point,this kind boy has been taught how to use the book of friends .During returning the name of spirits ,he receives some past memories between monsters and his grandma. Then , he knows more about his grandma and learns how to get together with spirits . Some people say it’s a sad story ,but I feel really peaceful and quiet. 

xxxHolic


Kimihiro Watanuki has similar talent as Natsume, he often be attacked by spirits. He becomes annoyed and hopes he can get away from these weird creatures .Then,he runs into Yoko’s shop by accidentally .Yoko is a mysterious witch ,who knows everything and owns this shop for those human who have particular desires and needs.Otherwise, people can’t get into her shop with out wish. The sexy woman grants Watanuki his wish,but he has to pay the equal value as he wish.As a result , he has been asked to work in Yoko’s wish shop until he totally return the fair price..Although he deserved what he want ,his life turns into more unimaginable .I like what Yoko says frequently :Everything comes with reason ,and will lead the end. Nothing is what it seems to be. People have to pay what they get.


Kara no Kyōkai  
Shiki, a beautiful unsociable girl has two personalities. One is male who often go out at night in the raining days. Another one is female awake during the day. Shiki has supernatural ability, which can see through the inherent mortality of everything both living and non-living. Because of this, the male Shiki often go out in the midnight and kill people in pieces. Her classmate Mikiya realizes that something link between Shiki and the strange series of violent deaths. As he attempts to get closer to Shiki, he finds Shiki’s secret and try to prevent the murders. Shiki gets anger and wanna kill him. But at the last moment,she stops. After that, she falls in coma by traffic accident and lost her memory. Mikiya takes care of her until she wakes up. They become friends and the story continues. It should be classified into action and thriller movie. Keep your eyes on the screen, never miss any tiny detail. Otherwise, you will get lost. 


Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit



Balsa, a spearwoman and wandering warrior, who is known for saving lives as bodyguard and so far as she has saved seven lives. The reason why she does this is that a male warrior (Balsa’s mentor) who killed his 8 best friends and parters in order to save her life when she was a child. She wants to atone for the past sin. And now, Chagum becomes the number eight. Chagum is a prince who bears the egg of the water spirit.However,his father the emperor has been told it’s a sign for misfortune. The spirit must be destroyed if they want to avoid the following disaster. Of course, the poor boy will die either.Fortunately, his mother begs Balsa to save his life. They run away from his father’s hunting, until the spirit gets the birth.The little boy suffers a lot during the journey,but Balsa also teaches him a lot of surviving skills. Finally, he becomes ruler of the country.











The Story of Saiunkoku              


Saiunkoku is a country has eight provinces named after different colors. The new emperor,Ryuuki, has bad reputation for being uninterested in governing and playing love with males. Shuurei, a kind girl lives with her father in a poor yard,even though she was born in a noble family. Shuurei has a great dream, she wants to be a court official, who can help poor people live away from poverty. However, at that time,female is not allowed to attend the official examinations, so she just dream it. One day, she is invited to pretend as the emperor’s wife in order to turn him into a good ruler.They like each from the first sight, but artificial is false. Ryuuki wants her to marry with him and become her real wife. In spite of this, Shuurei still wants to be a governer. Ryuuki helps her success her dream, but they make an agreement,Shuurei must marry him in three years. For lovers, waiting time is one of the most suffering thing no matter how long it is.

Ghost in the Shell

In 2029, the world is connected by a global electronic network. Human beings can easily change their body into mechanized artificial ones, except human brain.Communication between people is more efficient, everyone has usb connection behind the neck, which is able to link with any other’s neck to get the sharing information or plug to any computer systems .People often leave the artificial body alone and allow the soul surfing on the cyberspace to get involve into hot issue discussion. However,high technology is improved rapidly, crime is all so getting thorny and troublesome. Major Motoko, a cyborg officer works for Section9 (Japanese National Public Safety Commission), a department specializes in fighting with crimes that relate to technology.Motoko is an intelligent heroine, who has superhuman feats and her body is almost mechanized,except her brain and part of her spinal cord maintain organic.I have been keen on this plot for several years not just because the main character, but also the charming storyline which is absolutely out of my imagination.I’m not interested in play station game or any machine battle story, only the ghost in the shell I coldn’t release off.

Arakawa Under the Bridge



Kou is a university student who comes from a rich family and has a powerful father own a big company. One day, when he nearly drowning into the river, Nino, a mysterious girl saves his life. Kou has been taught by his father “never owe others anything”. So he has to pay her back. Nino asks him to be her boy friend, and must live under the bridge where Nino is living now. Kou is introduced to other weirdos as Nino who consider themselves as citizens in the “bridge village”. All the weirdos has some special background or experience. So… a funny and incredible life starts. At the first time, I thought this story is really weird and stupid, except extremely fun. It’s hard to imagine people would give up their sparkling life condition in the real world, and live in a poor, simple and happy way. However, when I take it deeper, it’s not just a funny comedy, but also refer to social value and beliefs. May be I think too much.











Monday, July 26, 2010

Elena's 10 fan fiction links





Fan fiction is a new area to me. Therefore finding the 10 candidates for this entry that genuinely interested me was not an easy task. After scratching my head for a few hours I headed for the obvious - the fanfiction.net, browsing through the titles in available genres. Please allow me to share with you my final selection:

1. The Bartimaeus Trilogy, by Jonathan Stroud.
It doesn't come as a surprise that Jonathan Stroud's captivating mythical-magical trilogy a la Harry Potter, only better in my personal view, attracted quite a few followers. At least that's what the numbers of fan fiction follow-ups suggest. Literarily inclined fans take the cheeky, sarcastic and arrogant, in an endearing way, djinni and his master Nathaniel, as well as some others, on a variety of new adventures. Most are set in a familiar parallel dimension of modern Britain, created by the author in the original. It is also hardly surprising that the topic of "resurrection" is a popular one with Barti's fans. Nobody likes to see their loved ones lost forever. Even if they are only the loved characters from a much-loved book. I'll leave you hanging here. Read the book to find out who died, or the fan fiction to learn who resurrected :)

27.07.2010 update:
Ok, I know I got it all wrong. But now that I know I am meant to review one particular piece of fanfic at a time rather than writing a general review of a collection of stories on the same topic, I promise to improve. Starting tomorrow.



2. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride - "Bright Blue Butterflies" 
Based on Tom Burton's darkly romantic animated stop-motion feature, the story in "Bright Blue Butterflies" picks up a few years after Victor's and Victoria's wedding. They are happily married and bringing up a lively teenage daughter , endowed with rebellious spirit and sarcastic wit. Valeria resents her grandparent's attempts to bring her up in a reserved Victorian style  and yearns to break away from the cold grey shades of her home village. She seizes every opportunity that promises some variety in her monotonous days and it leads her to an adventure she've always wanted to have. An interesting short read, with well-placed humour and an intriguing ending.



3. A.I. - "Alive"  
A.I. is an Academy Award nominated science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg. It tells a touching story of David, an android boy who longed to become a real child and regain the love of his mother. His wish was never granted, and alternative endings were explored by several  A.I. fanfic writers, including Bryan Harrison. "Alive" is a well-written ongoing project, unfinished story of David turning into a real human boy and experiencing the complexity of real human emotions and physical tribulations of human life for the first time. Will he ever get his happily-ever-after and reunite with his mother? Only time will tell.

 4. Madagascar - "The Tower Fortress"
An excellent well-written piece of fan-fiction which is as fun, fast-paced and entertaining as the conan itself. The story begins several days after the point at which the original movie ended, and the four New York Central Park Zoo escapees are still stranded on the island of Madagascar. Alex the lion is overcome with feelings of guilt and depression, putting his friends into anxiety over his well-being and triggering a chain of comical events. Soon after first chapter the author steps away from the children-oriented direction of the conan and masterfully adds a  mix of humour, drama and suspense into his creation, making it a gripping read.


5. Becoming Jane - "Never Wanted to Say Goodbye"
The author of this fanfiction admitted to feeling disappointed with the outcome of Jane Austen's romance with Tom Lefroy, as pictured in "Becoming Jane" - a historical film inspired by the life of a young Jane Austen before she became famous. Writing her own continuation of the story told in the movie, the author introduced a new character, set to capture Jane's heart and save her from the doom of a short lonely life. The author being "simply a modern teenager", as she describes herself, I welcome the  helpful adaptation of a flowery aristocratic language of 18th century to a moderate version of contemporary English.


6. Wall-E - "Awakening"
The plot of this  Wall-E fanfic is filled with potential, however I found the language to be a little bit too much which broke the flow of the story and made it difficult to read. Fiction is meant to be entertaining and no one wants to have to focus hard and have to reread sentences to make sense of them. Nonetheless, this story provided me with a desire to read more.  What happens? Does this android find his purpose in life? 


 7. Harry Potter - "Permanent Sticking Charm"
 A travel back in time to the senior years at Hogwarts of young Lily Evans and her three friends, known as the Maradeurs. The author experimented with changing POVs. It might seem a little distracting at first, but soon the chapters connect into one flowing story and watching the plot unfold through the eyes of different characters provides the reader with a different perspective and allows to develop a closer bond with each one of them.



8. Hobbit -  "Hobbit Poems"


This one is written in a form of a ballad describing events from J.R.R.Tolkien's "Hobbit", the predecessor of a more famous The Lord of The Rings trilogy. For someone who is not a renowned poet, this is very good. It is easy to read and the words paint a clear picture in my mind. I think the writer has talent and good imagination.

9. Coraline - "Beloved"
The author explored Coraline's feelings in an interesting twist to the original plot, putting her on the other side of the little door leading to the "boring" parallel reality. This very short yet moving story is very well-written and makes the reader want to save Caroline from the wrath of her oppressive mother. Dark and tragic, it stirs reader's imagination and leaves us wanting more.

10. Second Life - "Second Life with Sookie Sahara"
I was surprised at the difficulty of finding fan fiction dedicated to the wondrous world of Second Life. With hundreds thousands of active users surely some of them must be literarily inclined. However   fictional writings with accounts of their virtual adventures are virtually non-existent. After some searching I stumbled upon Sookie Sahara's memoir of her first day in Second life. Being familiar with SL myself, I could certainly relate to the feeling of being overwhelmed and somewhat confused, while trying to figure out how the whole thing works. The author captured it well. But I did find the storyline wasn't very well defined. I also felt a little cheated when two new characters were introduced, intrigued me, but nothing happened and they were just thrown away, leaving me with unanswered questions. This needs a little bit more work.


Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Min Sung's 10 fanfictions

1. Twilight


I found this fan fiction in twilight fanfiction and fanart site. This fanfiction was more dramatic than original twilight and the style of this fanfic was slightyly dark. This movie looked like a modern Romeo and Juliet love story and it was interesting to see that human falls in love with a vampire.

2. Twilight 'New Moon'




This fanfiction begins after Edward proposed to Bella.


It was three days before the wedding. I was so stressed. Between Alice yanking my wedding dress on and off for alterations, the wedding decorations, the guest list, and have course the location of the honeymoon. Edward would not tell me where we going and I was beginning to get impatient with his stubbornness.

I was pleased with the arrangements that were made. We really couldn’t go back to Forks High School considering Edward and I were getting married and how busy we were. So we decided after the wedding we could go to Alaska. It was the next best place for us.

Since I wouldn't be living with my Coven anymore I decided while I wouldn't be there, there had to be someone in charge. I choose Daisey. She had been with me the longest and knew everyone the best beside me. I would still be the leader but while I wasn't there she would be in charge.





I was content with this. I think that is the best way to do things. Because obviously the Volturi will know about the wedding. They have vampire's watching the Cullen's. I couldn't live with the Cullen's because that would give the Volturi reason to come after the Cullen's with someone as strong as me. And if we live with my coven then the Volturi would start to put there eyes on my coven as well because Edward will be there! We cant have that. ………………..

I enjoyed this fanfiction and I wondered if Edward and Bella get married then what will happen to them. Therefore, I liked this fanfiction and it will be interest how other werewolves and vampires will react to this marriage.



I wondered ever what Jake was thinking towards the end of Eclipse. This is that type of story. Here is a little story about the ending of Eclipse, too.


4. Avatar



James said originally the battle scene was longer and then he had to cut out about twenty minutes. They were coming out with more interment Jake and Neytiri scene though. The scenes that were cut out were mostly about the extra characters (Norm, Trudy, Grace). What I wanted to see were some NormxTrudy action.


New York’s intense street dancing underground came alive in eye-popping Digital 3D in the third installment of the Step Up franchise as the raw, passion-fueled culture goes global.



This fanfiction takes place after he finds out he can double major in dance and engineering. Camile and Moose were adorable and ‘I won’t dance’ scene was my favourite one in the entire movie. I liked the customs of Black Samurai; I thought their clothes and styles were very impressive. If you want to watch it for good dancing, then you should watch this movie.

6. Spiderman 3


After I watched this movie, I thought the movie should have just concentrated on Harry; him becoming the Goblin and his obsession with destroying Spider-man. I know, they did it in the first movie, but it would have been a lot better than what they came up with. Plus, they could have thrown in some smaller villains for a few single-scene fights, like how they added the Shocker and Vulture to the story in the first Spider-man game. I mean, not every character needs there own plot line, sometimes they're just around for display purposes; try and showcase Spidey's skills as well as his changing attitude throughout the movie.


7. Matrix 3 Revolution



This fanfiction archive is mainly about Neo and Trinity. The movie is about the battle between machines and human. Most of The battle scenes were okay throughout the movie however I think the battle scene from Neo and Smith was not enough.









In the fall of 1874, the Opera Populare is re-opened, only three years after it's tragic fire. The ballet mistress, Madame Giry, brings into the Opera a young gypsy woman, who is shunned by her people because of her long, white hair, in hopes of her becomming the opera's new leading soprano. How will the young woman's life change, after she is brought into the world she hasn't even dared to dream off, and is whisked away into another of music and dreams by the Phantom of the Opera, who has also returned one last time? ………….


This story is not a happy story. Every chapter holds a different song. I thought Christine and the Phantom have really good voice and I really enjoyed the scenes and music used in the movie. Especially I liked ‘think of me’ and I felt sad for Phantom after the movie. If you have not watched this movie I strongly suggest this you should watch this movie.



Titanic is one of saddest movie in the world. In this fanfiction people discussed about their favourite scenes from the movie. My favourite scene is when Rose and Jack are at front of the ship and Jack shows Rose how to fly. At the end where Rose gets rescued, and has to leave Jack; she kisses his hand and tells him ‘I’ll never let go’ is the saddest part in the movie.




10. 300


This movie is based on story of war between 300 Spartan armies and Persian Armies. The graphics were excellent and the characters were so realistic. However the scenario was little bit simple and the actions were quite cruel. In this movie, fantasy and action have compounded well together.



Welcome

blah