Archived Discussion FanficRecs / Naruto

This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.

Rogue 7: You know, on the boards for the Team 8 Fic I linked, someone came up with an explanation for the sheer number of Naruto fics out there versus everything else- People love a lot of the secondary characters, and the manga doesn't use them enough, so they resort to fan fiction. Of course, this was on a thread reserved entirely for bitching about the current state of the manga, so take it with a grain of salt, but it makes some sense.

Donomni: Well then, that explains Harry Potter. ._.

Clendy82: Stories like Naruto and Harry Potter have such an immense universe and implied history (even if it's not developed) that it can't help but create herds of horses to flesh out in further detail. Detailing a side character that's barely been named on screen, or referring to events far in the past or future, makes writing stories for them simplicity itself.

Anonymous: Another major factor is that Naruto focuses on shonen fighting, but has underlying themes of romance (ye gods, the shipping) and of darkness (even the "nice" village has child soldiers by the bucketload and a division of torturers) that are only lightly touched upon.

AkatsukiDaybreak: Would anyone object to reorganizing this page? Some of the fics under Continuation and For Want of a Nail don't quite fit those categories, but there isn't just a Gen category.

• Fish Called Waldo: Done and done. Added a Peggy Sue category, too, because there seemed to be enough. Paired down the Crackfic/AU section because enough of them were either For Want Of A Nail or Continuation. Considering removing the 'Fancomic' and putting it up with Authors and Websites like the rest of the recommendations, but waiting until I've checked over them all again.

Clendy82: I would hesitate to move the fancomic up to Authors and Websites; generally the A&W is for authors who have produced a number of noteworthy works for the category, or fanfic archives. The comic is only one story by one author, but is...well...a comic. If there's a consensus, we can move it to the Continuation category and tag it as a manga rather than a text story.

As for the category reorganization, I would recommend we move the For Want Of A Nail stories to the top of the archive and move the General fiction down beneath it, simply because there are more and better stories in that category then there are in the General category, and I'd like to see the higher quality works make their way to the top.

• Fish Called Waldo: That's true. Something I've been thinking about, and that I may try to enact, dividing comics from actual fanfics. But as for the shifting of General fiction down, I'm a bit against that. Let it slowly get filled up with better works, or let people scroll down - it's not that much right now, and not everyone is looking for For Want Of A Nail or continuation, or A Us.

Riful: I wouldn't mind seeing a section dedicated to good OCs in the Naruto fandom either. :D

Lurking Reader: I quite like the idea of an Original Character section. There's got to be a few good stories like that floating around right? I remember one a while ago that involved a Jinchuuriki called Kita or something that had good character development.

X Shouldve Died: Don't we have some sort of rule against self promotion?

Nitramy: I didn't, but I did drop a link on my contributor page.

Donomni: No actual rule for that, but it is in bad form... I kinda like Shay Guy's addition. :3

Shay Guy: The same guy did it again with a The Legend Of Zelda fic. 9_9

Uh... Lurker: Why is it that several of these fanfics have pretty poor versions of Sasuke and Sakura, while Naruto is made out as some sort of perfect being who is always right? Naruto has his faults too (headstrong, loud, some could argue naive), and it seems people have forgotten the concept of Nakama when it comes to this entire series. There's a reason that Canon!Naruto and Sakura disliked Sai at first after all.

• Also, is it really that hard for fanfic about Sasuke and Itachi's pre-massacre days to not be Uchihacest for once? I just want some nice and cute WAFF instead of implied manlove for once. And shouta just doesn't do it for me.
  • ... Lolwut? I've read 80% of the fics w/o a yaoi main pairing here, and I haven't seen a single fic rec'd here that this describes.
  • Oh, I was just griping about fanfic in general there.
• Fish Called Waldo: Personally I wish there were a few non-AU stories focused on Naruto's childhood friends — that is, Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru. I know that stuff is mostly in the Anime, and the filler parts of the Anime, but darn it it seems like such a fun thing to write about. Oh well, it's not like some kindly tropers will add these stories, huh?
• I think part of the reason is that there are a LOT of Naru Hina fics here, and Hinata fans tend to (a) hate Sakura as her main rival and either (b) hate Sasuke on his own or (c) make him more loathsome to make Sakura even less likable. You know how shippers can get. Naruto, of course, must be the perfect boyfriend for the beloved Hinata or is just the victim of more God-Mode Sue Author Appeal.
• The point could be that you can't really please anybody. Many fics with a good premise (and an honest attempt at taking up the challenge of making fan unfavorites compelling) often need help in the execution because that's a really large challenge to take on. and if someone's really that damn good at reading fics, why hasn't he or she volunteered as a beta, if the concept is good? My "Stop Having Fun" Guys senses are tingling.

Akatsuki Daybreak: Simple. Many fans of the series dislike Sasuke and Sakura and have their own idea of how Naruto should act.

Nitramy: Which brings me to my point that if you don't like certain characters, it doesn't give you the right to bash them up and down the nine circles of hell. The least you can do is write in their 15 minutes of fame and then slowly place them in the background.

Anonymous: Remember that canon Naruto is definitely a "the Messiah" type character, a character archetype that is more probable than most to become a Sue. Any character that pulls a Peggy Sue also tends to be prone to Sue-ness simply by virtue of the experience and foresight they get out of it.

Clendy82: Reposting some culled comments from the main page that I cut due to excessive natter. Hopefully, the original posters will see them here and reorganize them into a more critiqueful and proper format:

• Heliomance: Recommendation disputed. Features Nice!Kyuubi, guns, frequent references to real world geography and history, making up medical conditions (to whit, repetetive jutsu disorder), ignoring canonical physical limitations, confusing canonically distinct jutsus, being indecisive and inaccurate with regards to Kyuubi's species, referring to the jyuuken as being different from taijutsu, using the term taijutsu to refer to one specific style, referring to the Bunshin and Henge techniques as genjutsu, referring to any and all clan techniques as bloodline limits, especially as under canonical explanation only ten bloodline limits could possibly exist, making Ino a seeress when the gift of prophecy has never been attributed to the Yamanaka clan, "incomplete" versions of clan techniques that are not only easier to use than the full versions, but also more effective, and an utterly illogical explanation of the nature of summoned creatures with respect to the flow of time.
• Yeah, I'm going to dispute this dispute. This is Au dude, and doesn't have to adhere completely to canon (And honestly I can pull this same on ANY of the fics here with countless examples), which most of your complaints are based on. I agree completely with Nice!Kyuubi and Real world Geography and History refs (Though I can't recall the latter of the top of my head), but most of these other complaints are at best random if not pointless. The Seer bit in the Yamanaka line is hardly worth mention, as the clan is unexplored as is and it was certainly better than the fandom's love of Psychic powers, and complaining about refering to Henge and Bushin as Genjutsu is futile because them being Genjutsu would not only unbreak them (Henge at least), but also make a hell of a lot more sense. Point about the Taijutsu, minor as it is as a point, but making up medical conditions is hardly a complaint in a free verse like this, and since when in the crap was there only ten bloodline limits that can possibly exist and why the hell would it matter otherwise? I mean really dude. You might have a point with the 'incomplete' techs, but given the properties of the three most basic techniques, specifically Henge and Kawarimi, those are so broken that if used wisely a ninja would logically need nothing else. Further I'm going to pull canon on you for that last one, as summoning is specifically stated to be a 'Time-Space' Jutsu, and one could EASILY argue a case in which a person with a summon contract went back in time and used it, resulting in the summon itself being pulled not only through space but time as well, so that frankly makes sense. Finally there are a case for guns in the verse anyway, we see one behind a counter of a shopkeeper in the VERY SAME ARC. Granted the change itself was an eyebrow raiser though.

Anon: Moved DKN 117's comment to this page, because it wasn't really going to do anything useful on the main page.

• DKN117: ...I post a rec in Halo. It gets ignored (well, the first one did. The second, Enemy of My Enemy, is a hit). I post a rec in Mahou Sensei Negima. It disappears. I post a rec in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. It gets attacked so viciously I have to remove it. Why is it that every time I post a Fanfic Rec for anything, it backfires horribly on me and I learn that I'm the only Troper ever who likes it? Do I have really, really, really bad taste in fanfics, or something?
  • You said yourself that you recommended one that -is- liked. But in this particular case, I'd dispute 'top-notch writing' - as a random example: "This revelation had reduced the fact that the older woman had some sort of infection or tumor that had recently been excised with chakra to a mere minor detail." So while it might be a good story with good characterisation, some people will criticise it because they find prose like that to be somewhat . . . jarring.
  • Should I remove it, then, like I did with the controversial Nanoha fic-rec? So far I'm 1 for 5, which is not a good track record. Should I just stop posting fanfic recommendations period? Since I seem to be the only person out of thousands of tropers who has any liking for any of the fics I find myself hooked on. So... we all agree: This Troper has the absolute worst taste in fanfics?
  • Comartemis: No we do not agree. Speaking as the person who ripped your last Nanoha recommendation a new one, I wouldn't say you have bad taste so much as you have taste that clashes horribly with mine; I am a stickler for high writing quality in my fanfics — almost to the point of being a Grammar Nazi — and Arcane Heart falls far short of my standards in that regard. Likewise for The Closing Stars, fanfics that inflict extreme degrees of suffering on characters I like will never get a recommendation from me no matter how good they are otherwise; this is the reason I hate The Open Door and The Return with the blazing fury of a thousand suns. But my preferences are not a reason for you to delete your fanfic recs (Though I would be very happy if I never heard anything about The Closing Stars ever again); I've had more than a few negative comments on fics I've recommended in the past but I still like them so I don't delete them. You shouldn't either, but they're your recs and ultimately that's up to you. If it helps boost your confidence a bit, post a link to your FF.net profile and let me take a look at your favorites list; you gave us Enemy of My Enemy, which I loved, so there's gotta be something in there I'd be willing to vouch for.
  • Also, that Negima fanfic you posted... that wouldn't be A Day Indoors, would it?
    • ...Yes... yes it is. Here's my Profile page. Voila. If I knew how to post my Story Alerts List, which is bigger and has fics that the Favorites page doesn't, I'd do so. You want I should type out each fic's name here from that list?
  • Comartemis: If you want to, go ahead. Your favorites list has a couple of fics I wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole (28) and most of the others are from shows I'm unfamiliar with or just don't read fanfics for (I spy Hey Arnold and Azumanga Daioh, for instance), so I guess our tastes really are quite different. I would vouch for 100 Years for you, but I think someone else already posted that one on the Higurashi page.
    • Beginning Trainer's Guide to Pokemon, Chains Of The Kindred (Halo / W40K), Code: Omega (Nanoha; possibly a Dead Fic), Crimson Eyes (Naruto / Elfen Lied; finished; sequel in progress), Day In The Life (Nanoha), Egg Belly (Negima; already on Fanfic Recs page there), Elfen Lied: Requiem Of Annihilation, EVA Possibilities And Fusion Pandemonium (Evangelion / DBZ; not quite a Dead Fic, but updates very infrequently), Fallen Happiness (Azumanga Daioh; Tomo as a Stepford Smiler), Forbidden Fruit (Elfen Lied; lemony yuri goodness 'tween Nana & Mayu, and Lucy the Voyeur), Gohan's Dilemma (DBZ / Naruto, pre Time Skip for both sides), Halo Of The Force (Halo / Star Wars; promising, but possibly dead), Harry Potter & The Magister Magi (Harry Potter / Mahou Sensei Negima), In The Case Of Asuka Langley Sohryu (Evangelion; Asuka gets a therapist), Infinity (Nanoha; already on Fanfic Recs Page; epicly excellent, but slow to update), Key Through The Heart (Naruto gets a Keyblade), Mahou Sensei Lyrical Nanoha Negima (promising, but likely dead), Men Of War (Gears Of War / Halo; superb, but Word of God all-but-confirms it a Dead Fic), Negima Star (Negima / Lucky Star; Better Than It Sounds), Negima! Void Callers Chronicle (Negima/Halo; Negi accidentally summons the Master Chief), Negima: Ninja Magi Sensei (Negima AU: Kaede gets Negi rooming with her instead of Asuna & Konoka), ODST: Shattered Glass (Halo; OCs, a new post-war human Insurrection, and an author who knows a not-very-famous old foe of the original Greek Spartans), Ofuda no Kokoro (Negima; possibly a Dead Fic), Shinji And Warhammer 40 K, Superwomen of Eva: Treacherous Web (Ritsuko becomes Spider-Woman; Better Than It Sounds), Tangled Up In Blue (Negima Hentai fic; surprisingly well-written), Team 8 (Naruto; has its page here; can't get link to said page to work), The Book Of Naruto (on the Fanfic Recs page; funny as hell), The Secrets Of Rapture (Halo/Bioshock; possibly dead), Unworldly Time Share (X-Men / Gears of War), Way Of The Heart (Naruto (pre-Time Skip) / Kingdom Hearts (first-game era), and Wish (Azumanga Daioh; poor Kaorin...).
  • Comartemis: You probably can't get the Team 8 link to work because you're not directing the link to the fanfiction archive; you do this by putting a "FanFic/" before the trope name (Team 8 in particular also needs a set of {{}}'s around it because the 8 doesn't register as a second word and single word trope pages like Badass need {{}}'s around them to make them into a link).
    • Now as for the fics you posted, I see several stories right off the bat that I would recommend (Forbidden Fruit; it's so nice to see an Elfen Lied fic that doesn't involve copious amounts of blood being shed and limbs forcibly removed from their owners, isn't it?) and several that I like but wouldn't recommend for one reason or another (Chains of the Kindred feels distinctly like the author is Fan Wanking the 40K crew over the Halo crew, at least for the first few chapters). I also see a few I've already posted myself (Key Through The Heart is on the Naruto list because I put it there ^_^) and the trope page for Team 8 is actually my creation. So I definitely wouldn't say you've got bad taste in fanfics, you just posted a few lemons (not that kind) and had the bad luck to attract the attention of someone with very high standards. I'm going to spend the next few days looking over some of these fics and I might even recommend a few of them myself if I like them enough; in the meantime, keep at it!