Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context FanFic / Memoirs

Go To

1[[quoteright:233:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/memoirs_6792.gif]]
2[[caption-width-right:233:Every generation blames the one before]]
3''"Memoirs"'' is a [[WebSerialNovel long-running]] {{Backstory}} [[FanFic fanfic]] for the ''{{Manga/InuYasha}}'' manga series, following the pre-series life of Inuyasha's father. The first chapter was published in June of 2008 on its home site of [[http://www.inu-papa.com/memoirs/memoirs.html Inu-papa.com]], and has since then surpassed 100 chapters, with new chapters being posted approximately once per month. Each individual chapter also has an accompanying illustration.
4
5As Inuyasha's father is [[NoNameGiven never]] [[UnnamedParent named]] in any canon material, this story circumvents that by being told in FirstPersonPerspective as a sort of [[{{Biography}} autobiography]], thus negating the need to ever [[TheAllConcealingI refer to him by name]], with other characters addressing him by [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep titles]] or [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname epithets]].
6
7However, for ease of discussion, he is often referred to by the FanNickname "Inu-papa".
8
9The story opens with a young Inu-papa separated from his mother, and his subsequent quest to find her again. Along the way he meets various [[OriginalCharacter other characters]] who help him become stronger and learn more about himself, eventually leading to his final role as a ''{{Youkai}}'' lord.
10
11The story is somewhat of a PatchworkFic in that it borrows Inu-papa's character design from ''"[[Manga/InuYasha Inuyasha]] The Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler"'', but otherwise derives its canon only from the manga. It attempts to maintain a [[OriginalFlavor similar tone]] to the source material with a balance of humor and drama, however it will habitually devote much more time to character analysis and social commentary than the original ''{{Manga/InuYasha}}'' series.
12
13
14
15----
16!! This fanfic provides examples of:
17* TheAllConcealingI: In order to keep the narrator [[NoNameGiven nameless]].
18* AllPartOfTheShow: When Inu-papa barges in on Omosaki in his oni costume, thinking he's attacking some children when he's really putting on a play. They ad-lib from there.
19* AnalogyBackfire: Hisui tries to cheer up Inu-papa by giving examples of ways a bad situation can open up opportunities for good things to happen, and he turns it right back on her by asking her, [[spoiler:"So what sorts of good things should I expect to come from my mother dying?"]]
20* AnatomyOfTheSoul: [[spoiler: A soul can only pass into the next world in a complete state. Kogane's body was left "alive", but functionless, due to her soul being split and unable to pass on.]]
21* AnimalThemeNaming: The oni on the cursed mountain are all named "Oni" + animal, based on which kind of animal they're crossed with (e.g. "Oniuma" = "oni horse", "Onishika" = "oni deer").
22* AnotherMansTerror: A side-effect of ''Tamaokuri no Nari'' is that the wielder has to personally experience the dying memories of the spirit they send.
23* [[spoiler:ArchnemesisDad]]: [[spoiler: Souzou Tennou]]
24* ArtEvolution: Sansazume was so manageable-looking when it first showed up.
25** Akagane gets progressively more muscle bulk as the series progresses. Can be justified by the fact that he returned to his blacksmithing trade full-time between his first and second appearance.
26* ArtShift: The illustrations for the April Fool's chapters are intentionally drawn badly.
27* ArtifactOfDoom: The Shikon no Tama
28* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:The fate of Inu-papa's mother. Eika knows, but tells Inu-papa he's better off not knowing and runs away before he can prod her further. [[HeroicBSOD He ends up finding out later, anyway]]]].
29* [[BathtubBonding Bathtub Bickering]]: Inu-papa and Akagane squabble with each other while purifying themselves in the river.
30* BattleAura: Auras play a large role in the story, and are represented as free-floating energy connected to the body, which can be drawn on or manipulated for attacks.
31%%* BeeAfraid:
32%%** Queen Amahari's castle.
33%%** Inverted later when [[spoiler:Inu-papa brings the surviving bees back to the Artisan Village to help rebuild, making it better with bees]].
34* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Akagane originally considered attempting to [[WhatTheHellHero revive his sister with the Shikon no Tama]], but after [[AscendedFanon readers thought that was a terrible idea]], he [[DefiedTrope amazingly decides against it in the next chapter]].
35* BishieSparkle: Parodied with Akagane after he gets dunked in ''sake''.
36-->Though it might just have been the residual moisture clinging to his skin-tight black bodysuit, reflecting in the sun as he crouched there on all fours, but he almost seemed to... sparkle. His face, however, was hardly alight when he flatly wondered, "Why are you looking at me like that?" ''--Chapter 67''
37* BondingOverMissingParents: Inu-papa with just about everyone thanks to a rash of [[MissingMom missing mothers]] and [[DisappearedDad fathers]].
38* BothSidesHaveAPoint: The story recognizes that two diametrically opposing forces hold their opinions for legitimate reasons.
39* BreakingTheFourthWall: As this is meant to be a chronicling of past events, the narrator occasionally breaks prose and addresses the audience to provide reasoning or clarification.
40* BreakTheCutie: Pretty much every character experiences this at some point
41* BreatherEpisode: The "Trip to the City" mini-arc.
42* BroughtDownToNormal: Inu-papa has to wear a rosary for a while that inhibits all his youkai abilities.
43* CallBack: Too many to name. As a general rule in this story, ''anything'' that happens is going to get brought up again at some point.
44* CallForward: Due to being a prequel, makes several references to events of the original ''Manga/InuYasha'' series.
45** Yakurou Dokusen's treatment of Inu-papa and Akagane parallels his future treatment of their descendants, Inuyasha and Sango.
46** "For a moment, I almost thought he was suggesting I make a weapon out of my own body. But that would be silly." -- Chapter 94
47** "I wondered if this was what it was like to deal with quarreling brothers. Hopefully I would never have to deal with that in my future." -- Chapter 109
48* ChastityCouple: [[spoiler:Akagane and Hisui don't get around to consummating their marriage until four years after the fact]]
49* ChekhovsBoomerang: [[spoiler:''Tamaokuri no Nari'']]. TWICE.
50* ChekhovsSkill: Inu-papa learning to use Yachouon's bells.
51** Yachouon's voice-projection ability also applies. It first appears in Chapter 6, but [[spoiler:Inu-papa doesn't realize he's inherited the ability until Chapter 79, when he discovers it can allow him to speak to people while in dog form]].
52* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played with to various degrees.
53** Played straight with Inu-papa and Kogane
54** Zig-zagged with Ryakki. Her attitude is innocent, but she willfully kills and steals due to being raised with BlueAndOrangeMorality.
55** Discussed with the baby spider oni, but ultimately subverted.
56* ChildrenForcedToKill: Inu-papa kills his first human at age 7, to save his own life.
57* ChildSoldiers: The spider oni babies.
58* ColourfulThemeNaming: Every named character in the artisan village has a color in their name, which is also the color they tend to wear.
59** Akagane: "Red Metal" (copper)
60** Kogane: "Yellow Metal" (gold)
61** Hisui: "Kingfisher Green" (jade)
62* ComingOfAgeStory
63* ContemplateOurNavels: Inu-papa and Akagane's favorite pastime.
64* ConverseWithTheUnconscious: Akagane and Hisui have been doing this with Kogane for five years.
65* CoolClearWater: Justified with the purified river.
66* CooldownHug: Hisui to Akagane when he freaks out after [[spoiler:Kogane is possessed by the Shikon no Tama and flies away]].
67* CustomUniform: Hisui's father became an artisan due to needing to customize his uniform and equipment to fit his size.
68* CutenessProximity: Lampshaded and averted with Akagane.
69-->[You want me to be] his little fluffy buddy? Oh suuure, I'm sure he'd warm right up to me. With my big, adorable eyes and cute floppy ears, it's amazing the guy hadn't melted into a puddle of "Awwww" already. ''--Chapter 28''
70* DatePeepers: Inu-papa and [[spoiler:Kogane]] when they sneak into the house to spy on Akagane to see if [[spoiler:he'll be able to get Hisui out of an arranged marriage and propose to her instead]].
71* DoubleAesop: After Inu-papa helps Akagane, he finds himself in almost the exact same situation Akagane was in originally.
72* ElsewhereFic / LowerDeckEpisode: While Inu-papa is technically a canon character, his canon personality is unknown and therefore functions more as an OCStandIn. The majority of other canon characters who make appearances are side characters in the original Inuyasha series.
73* ExponentialPlotDelay: The introductory arc lasted 3 chapters. The Yachouon arc lasted 10 chapters. The first Akagane arc lasted 27 chapters. The second Akagane arc is currently at 48 chapters and still going.
74* FakingTheDead: Wakage.
75* FamilyThemeNaming: Akagane and Kogane are named after precious metals, copper and gold, respectively. Hisui maintains the naming theme of [[spoiler:[[TheUnreveal Sango's family]], named after semi-precious stones]], with a name meaning "jade".
76* GoldSilverCopperStandard: Played straight with the money, for historical purposes.
77** Also in play with [[spoiler:Akagane's family's names, with Kogane (gold), Shirogane (silver), and Akagane (copper)]]
78* GratuitousJapanese: The story is written as though it was [[TranslationConvention translated from Japanese]], and keeps {{Honorifics}}, [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseSiblingTerminology titles]], attack names, and untranslatable words in the "original" language. Each chapter title also comes in both English and Japanese. The story even has an attached [[http://www.inu-papa.com/memoirs/glossary.html glossary]] of Japanese terms.
79* HammerSpace: [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], then later [[JustifiedTrope justified]]: Youkai can convert themselves and anything they touch between physical form and free energy.
80** [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] by Akagane when he needs a means to transport more cargo to the city than he can physically carry.
81* HatePlague: The miasma on the mountain is literally [[spoiler: malice made manifest]], and causes those who take in too much of it to become sadistic and easy to anger.
82* HeroicBSOD: Inu-papa when he discovers [[spoiler:what happened to his mother]].
83* HowDoIShotWeb: Eika [[spoiler:steals Yachouon's bell]], but after 10 years still can't use it very well.
84* HoYay: Although WordOfGod insists that Inu-papa and Akagane's affection for each other is not [[TheFourLoves THAT]] kind of affection, [[RecursiveFanfiction derivative material]] paints a different picture.
85* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Hisui and her father.
86* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Akagane vs. Inu-papa when Inu-papa has his [[BroughtDownToNormal youkai power-suppressing rosary]] removed.
87* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: Souzou Tennou's preferred method of execution, especially through the back.
88* InformedConversation: Due to the story being told in first-person, any conversations that happen between other characters that the narrator is not present to hear fall under this. Becomes more apparent after Akagane and Hisui grow closer and it's obvious they've been having a lot of private discussions.
89* InterspeciesAdoption: [[spoiler: After repeatedly balking at taking the role, mostly due to the [[AdoptivePeerParent only 9-year age difference]], Akagane eventually explicitly adopts Inu-papa]].
90** Myouga seeing himself as Ryakki's father would also likely apply.
91* InterspeciesFriendship: Inu-papa with Akagane and Hisui.
92* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Akagane's reasoning for not doing anything to prevent Hisui's arranged marriage.
93* JapaneseSpirit:
94** '''Koyuu''': Akagane, a prodigious craftsman and master of many skills.
95** '''Chie''': Hisui, unwavering optimism and a logical mind.
96** '''Kakan''': Inu-papa, single-minded devotion to a specific goal.
97* KissOfLife: [[spoiler:Kogane gets revived with a mouth-to-mouth soul transfer]].
98* KryptoniteIsEverywhere: Hard to avoid when your weakness is [[spoiler:human blood]].
99* LetsYouAndHimFight: Yakorou Dokusen forces Inu-papa and Akagane to fight each other to the death as part of his trials.
100* LostInTranslation: Invoked. Despite the story being originally written in English, it is written as though it were translated from Japanese, including retaining "untranslatable" bits of dialogue.
101** Chapter 8: Inu-papa asks Eika "Do you have ''kane''?", which can either mean "Do you have the bell?" or "Do you have any money?" He meant the former, she interpreted it as the latter.
102** Chapter 27: When Akagane jokingly(?) switches to Sansazume to threaten Inu-papa, Hisui comments "''Yarisugi''". This means "overkill", but "''yari''" also means "spear".
103** Chapter 45: Inu-papa notes that Ryakki refers to herself with the masculine pronoun "''ore''" rather than the feminine pronoun "''atashi''" in order to hide her lisp. Japanese has multiple pronouns that mean "I" that are divided by gender and social class, and Inu-papa initially mistook Ryakki for a boy due to how she referred to herself.
104** Chapter 66: Inu-papa wonders if Akagane chooses all red clothing because he has "red" in his name. While Akagane's name means "copper", the word is a compound word of "red" and "metal".
105** Chapter 77: When Inu-papa is learning to read numbers and money-related words, he points to the character for "copper" and asks Akagane if that's how he writes his name. Akagane's name means "copper", however it's written differently from the term for the coin.
106** Chapter 111: Since a youkai's aura is called ''youki'', Inu-papa attempts to coin a new word by referring to a human aura as ''ninki''. Unfortunately, this word already means "popularity".
107* LovedOnesMontage: Inu-papa gets one in Chapter 75 when arguing with his corrupted half that his keepsakes from his friends, which the corrupted half had discarded, had protected his memories.
108* [[spoiler:LukeIAmYourFather]]
109* MagicAIsMagicA: Youkai abilities are limited by Conservation of Mass and Conservation of Energy.
110* TheMainCharactersDoEverything: Averted in chapter 124. Despite Inu-papa's ChronicHeroSyndrome making him believe he's responsible for the Shikon no Tama, the monks are able to convince him that a youkai like him really isn't the most qualified person to look after it.
111* {{Malaproper}}: Kogane's attempts at mimicking her brother's inflated speech usually results in the wrong words.
112* ManlyTears: Akagane, several times.
113* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: Shigeka-sensei.
114* MissingMom: The main driving plot, plus a running theme with other characters.
115* MistakenForGranite: The koma-inu statues that guard the sealed shrine in the Killing Field.
116* MoralMyopia: Deconstructing this trope is one of the central themes of the story.
117--> [[spoiler: "Really the only striking difference between the two was how much personal investment I had in them. But could I honestly say that Akagane was in the right simply because I cared about his life more than the Meioujuu's, and Souzou Tennou was wrong because I cared more about my mother's life than his?"]] - ''Chapter 123''
118* MultitaskedConversation: Akagane's confirmation of devotion, which turned out to be directed not only to his sister, but Hisui as well.
119* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Inu-papa when he [[spoiler:realizes he killed a lot of innocent people after escaping from the mountain in a mindless rage]]
120* MythologyGag
121** In chapter 21, after Akagane refuses to tell Inu-papa his name, Inu-papa thinks, "I'd think it would be pretty horrible for no one to know your name and instead have to make up epithets as a placeholder", poking fun at the fact that Inu-papa himself in the series has no name and is only known by [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname nicknames]] and [[EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep placeholders]].
122** The "Inuyasha Jar" used in the play in chapter 79 is a play on the title of the "Inuyasha's Jar" segment that ran at the end of each episode during the ''Inuyasha'' series' original Japanese TV run.
123* NecessaryFail: A running theme, called "''kiki no ki''" ("opportunity in crisis") in the story itself. There are multiple instances where characters discuss how bad things that have happened can still result in a net positive outcome.
124* NighInvulnerability: Souzou Tennou, [[spoiler: Divine Protection type, however in this case it's not a favorable spirit protecting him, but rather because he physically bound himself to a godly being and is leeching her power]].
125* NoConservationOfEnergy: Averted. A youkai can utilize free energy or body mass, but has to exchange one to increase the other.
126* NoLovesIntersect: Akagane and Hisui are the only romantic pairing in the story, and neither has a legitimate rival.
127* NotSoDifferentRemark: In order to defeat a youkai who regularly slaughters random human villages to train his armies, Inu-papa goes out to find random youkai to kill to train himself. He soon realizes [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone how hypocritical this is]].
128* OfficialKiss: [[spoiler:Akagane and Hisui get theirs in Chapter 78]].
129* OneDialogueTwoConversations: Inu-papa confides in [[spoiler:Kogane]] that he's glad Akagane can "relieve his frustrations" with Hisui now instead of him. He, of course, means by talking.
130* OnlyMostlyDead: Kogane.
131* PatchworkFic: WordOfGod states that while Inu-papa is based on Rumiko Takahashi's design from the third movie, at this time there is no plan for the story to attempt to work in the continuity of the anime-only characters including the movie villains and the Hyounekozoku.
132* PhlebotinumAnalogy: Hisui can explain ''anything'' -- from supernatural energy to fighting stats to medical conditions -- in terms of money.
133* PlotParallel: All over the place.
134--> Present in the first story arc to in which Akagane acts as Inu-papa's mentor; Akagane undergoes a personal subplot in which he resigns himself to being unable to gain anything of importance with out losing something of importance. This plot is resolved in Chapter 42 when Akagane is faced with choosing between carrying either[[spoiler: Sansazume]] or [[spoiler: Kogane]], and Inu-papa solves the problem by [[spoiler: offering to carry one of the two.]] This comes up again later in the same chapter when Akagane feels like he can't save [[spoiler: Hisui from an arranged marriage]] because it isn't in his power to do so. Inu-papa draws a parallel from the earlier example, telling Akagane "But you shouldn't just resign yourself to losing one without considering you might have other options. Don't act like if you can't carry something yourself, it can't be carried at all.", which is sufficient enough for Akagane to experience some CharacterDevelopment.
135* PoisonIsCorrosive: The spider venom dissolves Akagane's armor and bodysuit and severely burns his skin, but he's able to get an antidote salve on it before it can spread further.
136* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: And that's why Souzou Tennou loves it.
137* RecapEpisode: Chapter 81, where Inu-papa gets Akagane and Hisui up to speed on everything that happened to him.
138* RedOniBlueOni: Oniuma (red) and Onishika (blue). Bonus for actually being oni.
139* RestrainingBolt: Inu-papa was forced to wear a rosary for a while that suppressed all his youkai abilities.
140** He also gained a self-imposed weakness to human blood to prevent himself from committing massacres when his SuperpoweredEvilSide took over.
141* RunningGag: Inu-papa always smacking into the barrier around the temple whenever he goes there.
142* SadisticChoice: Inu-papa can either kill a bunch of potentially-brainwashed children or let those children kill everyone in the village.
143* SayMyName: Played straight with Akagane to Inu-papa (albeit calling him "''Bake-inu''" due to the latter [[NoNameGiven having no name]]).
144** However, interestingly subverted Inu-papa to Akagane, who has yet to refer the latter as ''anything'', even after nearly 70 chapters together.
145* SelfInflictedHell: Inu-papa gives himself a [[WeaksauceWeakness weakness]] to human blood to force his feral side into an aversion to killing them.
146* SelfParody: The April Fools chapters, and some of the gag images in the gallery.
147* ShipperOnDeck: Kogane, for Akagane and Hisui.
148* ShootingSuperman: Inu-papa temporarily blinds Souzou Tennou and takes the opportunity to attack him with a normal sword. [[spoiler:Strangely, it sort of works]].
149* ShrinesAndTemples: Both show up.
150* SickEpisode: Chapters 62-64 deal with Akagane knocked out by a stress-induced cold.
151* SideStoryBonusArt: The main story page has a link to a gallery of this.
152* SlidingScaleOfUnavoidableVersusUnforgivable
153* SpeakOfTheDevil: As Inu-papa is trying to get the nerve to tell Akagane and Hisui what he saw on the cursed mountain, he suddenly smells [[spoiler:[[OhCrap his mother]]]].
154* SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay: Inverted. [[spoiler: Akagane convinces Inu-papa that he's not a hallucination by saying something that Inu-papa could not ever imagine him saying]].
155* StealthPun: In Japanese, at least. Oniuma and Onishika are a horse (馬) and deer (鹿), respectively. These characters are the two halves of the word 馬鹿 ("baka"), the Japanese word for "fool".
156* SuckOutThePoison: Myouga to both Inu-papa and Ryakki when they're exposed to miasma for too long.
157* SympathyForTheDevil: The title of Chapter 98. This trope is also discussed in said chapter.
158* TakeAThirdOption: Discussed, but rarely available.
159-->'''Yakurou Dokusen:''' "[W]hile there's nothing wrong with having hope, there comes a time when you have to just man up and face reality, and deal with what's actually there in front of you instead of what you wish was there. You aren't always going to have the luxury of dilly-dallying about waiting for something better to happen." ''--Chapter 69''
160* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Inu-papa and Akagane have a lot of conversation time while fighting the giant serpent in front of the shrine.
161* TimeSkip: [[BreakingTheFourthWall Lampshaded]] in chapter 8:
162--> "At this point, I'm going to skip a couple of months. In hindsight, it was mostly just a couple of false leads, some incidental encounters here and there, but otherwise nothing worth noting and nothing that was of any importance to future events. So if anyone was really looking forward to random filler at this point, sorry."
163* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: Inu-papa releases the rest of his suppressed youkai power when Onishika shoots him a dozen times.
164* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Inu-papa, Akagane, and Hisui.
165* UnstoppableRage: [[spoiler:Inu-papa rampaged in this state for ''two years'' after he escaped the cursed mountain]].
166* TheUntwist: Sorry, Ryakki, that's not your real dad.
167* VitriolicBestBuds: Inu-papa and Akagane.
168* WackyMarriageProposal: Kogane suggested Akagane give Hisui flowers. Akagane thought flowers were dumb since he likes swords better. So he settled on a flower-shaped sword.

Top