the joys of a new fandom (aka, taking the new icon out for an airing)

[esmenet]

This is the first time I've ever been in a fandom that has just one totally obvious m/m pairing, and it's kind of weirding me out. I'm used to being in fandoms that have lots of ships, or one het ship (well, okay, that's really just Gokusen), or no ships at all.

It's interesting to see the difference between the fandom for something like T&B and the fandom for something like Natsume Yuujinchou, which has a totally obvious threesome and a separate fairly obvious m/m pairing but a roughly equal ratio of gen:romance fic. On the other hand, Gokusen fic has about the same ratios as T&B, except Gokusen fic is usually funnier. (This is probably because Gokusen as a whole is funnier, not because Gokusen fic is better.)


The kind of topics I (would) really enjoy in Tiger & Bunny fic: Karina & her singing, Kaede finding out her dad is a hero, the hardships of hero life in general (are you allowed to tell your non-hero friends about your secret identity? would you even want to? what happens if you die? what's it like, all your closest friends/acquaintences also being your rivals?), Kotetsu & Barnaby roommate hijinks, why Fire Emblem enjoys playing to the gay stereotypes so much, Kaede & Barnaby's first meeting.

But now I've read a lot of the fic and I think I found all the genfic there was. :( NOT ENOUGH.

Comments

[littlebutfierce]

I think the sweet tone of Natsume as a series has a lot to do w/the relatively low amount of romance fic -- certainly w/the v. low amount of smutty fic. I've heard a lot of people say that romance/smut for the series would just feel wrong.

But also Midorikawa said herself she wanted to write a supernatural series w/o any romance in it (I presume she meant for the protagonist, cuz there are romantic subplots w/various youkai). Which, if nothing else, means she probably throws readers less bones than other mangaka might.

(For all the obviousness (to me!) of the OT3, you'd think there would be more fic of it. ;_; I wonder how much of that is subconscious resentment towards a female for getting in the way of the main slash pairing, the kind of gross misogyny I've heard of in other fandoms. Boooooo.)

[esmenet]

Mmm, yes. The lack of canon romance hints is one of my favorite things about Natsume, really. Perhaps Samurai Champloo might be a better comparison?

Comparatively, I think there is actually a lot of OT3 fic for Natsume? I mean, there is not a huge giant amount, but there's a lot more OT3 fic than Natori/Natsume, which is what I'd expect people to latch onto if they were the sort who didn't like icky girls in the way of their pretty boys. (I think Natori/Natsume has the most 'shippy' hints of any Natsume ship, actually, even though Natsume/Taki/Tanuma is the clear OT3.)

[littlebutfierce]

Comparatively, I think there is actually a lot of OT3 fic for Natsume? I mean, there is not a huge giant amount, but there's a lot more OT3 fic than Natori/Natsume

*blinks* Really? OT3 fic that I haven't written (or got written for me for an auction)? Have I missed it?

Certainly on ff.net there's a lot of Natori/Natsume fic, & while I don't think there's any on AO3 there's various bits of either Natsume/Tanuma or Natsume/Madara. I dunno -- I get a totally different impression. (Also I think Taki gets a lot less fan buzz than Natori or Tanuma in general, sobbbbbbb.)

[esmenet]

I haven't actually gone looking for Natsume fic in a while, so my impression may be erroneous. (And yeah, she does. *sniffle* Though we may be able to blame that on her being introduced much later than them?)

[littlebutfierce]

ZOMG MY HOPES ARE DASHED.

(... yeah, Taki doesn't come around until much later, but I'm relieved she doesn't seem to be put back on the shelf -- she doesn't get as much face time as Tanuma but she's still there. Though she could be MORE THERE, natch.)