Age:20s

Education: University of Wisconsin-Madison

History Major, ESL teacher

Interests:

Anime: Naruto, Highschool DxD, Akame Ga Kill

I pretty much follow the Naruto and Highschool DxD fanfiction pages (and their crossover) and keep on the lookouts for new stories that catch my interest. Mostly because I watched those series and I quite like the interesting ideas that they have.

Things that turn me off from a story:

Any character bashing whatsoever.

It detracts from a story (especially if it is out of character) and although characters, like their human counterparts, make mistakes it is rarely to the degree portrayed. I get it if a character makes a dumb decision and they get called on it but some people just don't know when to stop doing it to a character. (insert Simpsons; "Stop it he's already dead" meme).

It's even more hilarious when people add 'fanon' (fanfiction Canon such as a civilian council in Naruto or a purge of nekomata in DxD from the aftermath of Koroka) just to bash them.

Overpowered characters.

It's easy to fall into this trap. I once read a Naruto fanfic where he was Tsunade's son. He had wood style (Hashirama level, not Yamato), high water affinity, Tsunade super strength and healing prowess, master sword skills, and her 100 healings technique to survive fatal attacks. AND he still has Kurama. How is he supposed to lose? And did I mention he had this all at 12 years old? He's basically a mini Itachi except he has a wider range of skills. Again, why should they ever struggle in a fight? A lot of the pay off from really good fights are when opponents can out think one another. Nothing really to outthink if he can just straight up tank anything you throw at them and can hit back even harder.

This is also why I will never read a rinnegan Naruto fanfic. I always find fanfic ideas interesting when they change one factor and see how the rest of the world around that one factor changes. But honestly, there is a very specific set of requirements on how to get those fancy eyeballs. It's in my opinion laziness and again, Naruto is plenty strong without them so why do it?

Last thing is a tortured (physical) childhood.

Seems pretty common in the Naruto world but newsflash, there were no 'fox hunts' or 'let's finish what the 4th Hokage started' bullshit. The only one that I think handles this topic well (torture not those stupid quotes) is The Snake's mistake by defiasstone2 (12268977/1/The-Snake-s-mistake). It treats it like the gravity of the situation deserves and not just something that can build edgy characters.

As for story recommendations, here are some of my most favored ones from across the fanfictions I follow.

ANBU's Mascot - theriku260. (Naruto)

Just recently got published and is ongoing with updates every couple of days so far. Pretty good crac-fic if you want some lighthearted Naruto action. Pretty damn hilarious at times as well.

Broken Reflection - Xejis. (Naruto)

There are a couple of stories that deal with Kurama coming around and having a human body and iteracting with the characters. There are countless ones that you can find that are long and have a lot of reviews/favorites (just set the search to sort by most favorites and you can find a couple of them). In my opinion, this is the best at that category. There are a couple of other good ones, but some of those go into a heavily AU and this one stays pretty close to canon.

Dragon of Bael - TheMousEmpire. (Highschool DxD)

Issei leaving Rias' peerage is a pretty common idea among the DxD fanfiction community. This one in my opinion is the best example of one that does not turn Issei into a total tool or edge-lord. Issei gets recruited into Sairiog's peerage (the one he fights at the end of DxD Hero) after the Riser vs Rias rating game.

Written in Reverse - JMenace and Reload - Case13. (Naruto)

Ever wondered what would happen if Sasuke was female? Well, these two stories are the best examples of it. There is Uzumaki by AlmostElectric, but that damn near follows canon except for one huge change that ripples. These two focus solely on the relationship that could have developed if Naruto and Sasuke are the main characters. They offer unique pictures and are well written.

Go Away I'm Watching Porn - Third Fang. (Highschool DxD)

Probably the best Highschool DxD that acts strictly in the DxD universe (it does reference other Anime but with Rias being an Otaku, that is fine). The dialogue is well written and the character development is flushed out and changes. From his previous stories I know that the person has a lot of experience writing good and popular fanfiction and he updates every so often.

Pain, Hunger, and Betrayal - Tyrannitor. (Naruto)

Definitely my favorite overall from the Naruto fanfic community. Not really a fan of time travel fanfics but this one is very well done (meaning that Naruto doesn't go back to his old body with his older power level and knowledge to completely fuck up the canon and make everything uber easy). This one still creates an AU and has an awesome skill for Naruto to have and I wish that more people would include it.