Kris' Ramblings

Webpage Updates: The SWAT Kats Fan Art Page is updated! Now, if I can just continue this mostly on time streak...

Art: And, I went digging through my box of sketches and found some stuff I hadn't scanned as well as a few projects I hope to finish up and scan eventually.
Faces - Several years worth of little face doodles compiled in one image.
Sad Callie - A quick sketch of a rather depressed Callie sitting with her back to the viewer.

Inuyasha Manga Prattle: Wow, Takahashi has really been awesome lately. First, that last arc with Sesshoumaru, which was all kinds of wow. Sesshoumaru is officially back on my good list (at least for now). And, Jaken! My opinion of Jaken has increased so much since he cried over Rin's plight. Crying since Sesshoumaru can't... riiiight. That's kinda endearing too though.

And, this week she's back to the good, old weird-creepy stuff that first hooked me on the series because it reminded me of "The Real Ghostbusters". Yes, I like what I term "weird-creepy", but I don't watch scary movies. Shush.

Finally finished another of my older short fanfics. This is actually the third or so Inuyasha fanfic I ever started... along with two others that I've yet to complete or post. It just took a backseat to other ideas.

Title: Dark of Night
Author: Kristen Sharpe
Date: August 14, 2006
Edited: August 17, 2006 (minor edits)
Genre: General
Rating: G/K
Status: Complete/Oneshot
Disclaimer: Inuyasha, the character and the series, belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan Inc., and Sunrise.
Notes: Set at no particular point in the series. No spoilers. Assumes knowledge of the first 13 episodes of the anime or first five volumes of the manga.

( Click here for the fic! )

Website Updates: The SWAT Kats Fanfiction Archive is updated! Man, I've been putting that one off forever. There was a slump in submissions, but I had at least a little something months ago. Ah well... At least this way I could post the final chapters of Etherweil's "Kats Eye Amulet" together. And, I should have an update for the SWAT Kats Fan Art Archive done this evening.

Fangirling: And, now I shall return to fidgeting and wibbling as I wait for this week's Inuyasha manga chapter to be released. Well, in and around doing some actual work, but I'll be thinking of wibbling. Because the last few week's worth of Inuyasha has me all excited. Although, I think it's going to end for real soon... and I can't decide if the excitement of an ending outweighs the fact that... then there will be no more Inuyasha... and I'm not ready for no more Inuyasha.

Ahhh... Last week was a good one in fangirl land.

First, last week's Inuyasha manga chapter (465, "Light") was amazing. Sad, sniffle-inducing and amazing. I was expecting it to happen. Just not so soon, with so many things still left to tie up. But, Takahashi certainly hasn't lost her touch. She even managed to swing me back around to being sympathetic toward a character who had mostly lost my sympathy over the last year or two's worth of manga. And... well, it was a beautiful chapter. And, it made me do fanart. That I'm still working on. But, here's a portion of it. Maybe it will speak better than I can as to how the chapter got to me. --Potential spoiler but nothing obvious.

( One Cut Spoiler )

And then, on Thursday, I saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Great movie. I can't, like seekersks, say that it was the best movie I've seen all year... since it was the only movie I've seen all year. In the theater anyways. But, it was wholly entertaining, never slow or dull like so many reviews have claimed and easy to understand even though I only saw the first movie once the year it came out. And, I just couldn't resist leaning over to Seek in the middle of the last big fight sequence (on land, with the water wheel and all) and asking, "Hey, I thought we weren't watching "One Piece" tonight?"

Okay, just one more piece of fangirlish prattle and I'm off: Yesterday, ryokometal_75 sent me a link to a video of the Inuyasha live action play. It's in three parts (you have to view the poster's listing to find the other two parts), not subtitled and not complete, but it's still fun to watch. I was pleasantly surprised. And, contrary to what I had heard, it's not a musical. Unless the random rock music that starts blaring during fight scenes constitutes "musical". It is entertaining though. Live Action!Miroku is a little disturbing, but Kagome seems to have him under control with a few well-placed slaps and a kick or two. Live Action!Inuyasha's wig doesn't quite convince me, but his acting is perfect. I didn't realize how much I missed the surly(er) Inuyasha from the early days when his "I don't care" attitude wasn't quite so transparent. (Not that I don't love the person he's evolved into as well.) I especially love how he sits on the sidelines and munches on Kagome's potato chips (or some similar snack) as she and Miroku fight for their lives.

Edit - 8/24/06: The video link no longer works as it has been removed from YouTube for the time being. However, here's a newer link. Sadly, presented in a sped-up form to avoid copyright flagging, but I find that slowing the playback speed to 0.5 helps.

I was skimming over some old chatlogs between myself and mbimomma the other night and hit upon a little joke about Miroku's sense of self-preservation that demanded to be made into a drabble. So, here it is.

( Self-Preservation (Inuyasha) )

And, in other news, I finally have fanfic submissions, so the SWAT Kats Fanfiction Archive will be seeing an update soon.

Project Updates: Fiiiiinally finished chapter 6 of my Inuyasha AU Miscommunication. After only... oh, a year and a half. Bleeeh, I can't seem to write anything longer than a drabble with any speed these days. But, oh well. Chapter 6 is done, and I'm moving on to chapter 7, which will hopefully be finished before 2007. And, maybe while I'm at it I can convince Doubletake to play nicely.

Project Updates: Just a new quick pic and a drabble!

Youkai Inuyasha - I just wanted to see what Inuyasha would look like as a full youkai. I didn't want him to have an outfit or a mokomoko (aka "The Fluff") like Sesshoumaru. I just wanted Inuyasha, as he usually is... only youkai. It's not much difference, I know, but it satisfied my curiosity. And, I needed to get out my Prismacolor pencils again.

And then, the almost-drabble, which snuck up on me today out of the blue. It's too long for a true drabble at 125 words, but I like it anyways.

( Cycle (Inuyasha) )

Website Updates: Both the SWAT Kats Fanfiction Archive and the SWAT Kat Fan Art Archive are updated! Both are small updates, but updates nonetheless. mbimomma and I still have some programming from the incredibly awesome modad to update on the fan art page, but some artists submitted their work ages ago and, as Sage was tied up, I went ahead and got the art at least posted.

I've also updated my Inuyasha site, Gone to the Dogs, with some new sketches (all previously posted here) and some icons. I couldn't find any icons of Sango and Kirara (though they may be out there), so I made some of my own.

...So, I made one.

As I've done before, here's some of my recent fanfic reads and/or re-reads that I thought deserved recommendations:

Walk Through the Valley by Vathara
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Rated: T/PG-13 for some profanity and violence.
Located: On Fanfiction.net
Status: Complete (though there is sequel potential)
Summary: Times and technology may change. People don't. AU, Hiko POV. (Summary taken directly from the one posted on FFN)
Comments: If I drooled over this as much as I would like to, I'd short out the keyboard. I have a particular penchant for sci-fi reinterpretations of very non sci-fi fandoms. This is probably the best I've ever read (well, Saro's Inuyasha AU "Synthetic Emotions" could compete if she'd ever finish it). While it has abundant parallels to the Kenshin storyline so that it doesn't become an original story with fandom names, it's also unique enough to be interesting in its own right.

Blades of Blood by Vathara
Series: Rurouni Kenshin
Rated: T/PG-13 for profanity and violence.
Located: On Fanfiction.net
Status: Complete (But, I'd love sequels... lots of them.)
Summary: In a world where monsters roam city streets, a mildmannered New Yorker has just picked up a blade called Battousai... Modern AU, based off the NightLife RPG. (Summary taken directly from the one posted on FFN)
Comments: Vathara + Rurouni Kenshin AU is proving to be a winning combination. This was actually written before "Valley", but I hadn't commented on it before. Which is sad because I've probably re-read it five times since my first reading. The touch of having Battousai actually be Kenshin's sword rather than Kenshin himself is particularly interesting.

Under the Dog Star by Catwho
Series: Inuyasha
Rated: T/PG-13 for mild profanity and some violence.
Located: On Fanfiction.net
Status: Complete
Summary: A retro-generation fic dealing with how Inuyasha's parents met. This is now AU based on movie three canon. First documented use of the name Inutaisho! (Summary taken directly from the one posted on FFN)
Comments: This one should have been on my recommendation list ages ago. As much as I love the third Inuyasha movie and its brief glimpse at Inuyasha's parents, I wish Catwho's version was canon. Oh, how I wish it. I love her characterization of both parents, particularly Inuyasha's father. Fandom-wise, Catwho's tale, in my opinion, is much more true to what little information the canon has offered than ninety percent of the other retro-generation fics I've found. It's also a wonderfully fun read if you enjoy a prequel with a lot of little nods to later events in the storyline. There are ominous glimpses of the Shikon no Tama, hints as to Tessaiga's creation and the implications of a curse as the root of the tragic outcome of Inuyasha and Kikyou's relationship. There is one original character who might tread into Mary Sue territory for some, but Makoto's part is small enough and she does serve a useful purpose in the storyline. Personally, I liked her. Of course, all she had to do to earn my favor was to snap, "And stop talking in third person, baka," after Sesshoumaru.