Bleachness

Oh it was aizome 's bday DAYS ago but we're going to celebrate here at bleachness  forever because we love aizome that much. This is the Bleach fan who gave us Barralepew and Yachiru feeding Kenpachi cupcakes.

*blows kisses to Alex* Yes, we love you. We're easy. Make us laugh and we looooooooove you.

So nehalenia wrote a wonderful fic for aizome that I HAVE to rec. Neha was worried about the narrative voice because she used, of all people, Renji, to tell about a sexual encounter between Chad and Ishida. You'd think that Renji couldn't sustain a descriptive first person for pages but Neha pulls this one off so entertainingly that I want to thank Alex just for being born and inspiring Neha to write this piece. Here it is--DEDICTED TO AIZOME FOR HIS BIRTHDAY:

So the Last Time I Went to the Living World... Warning NC17 yaoi Ren, Chad/Ishi by the talented nehalenia . Not for the young and innocent but for anyone who appreciates Bleach humor and good writing and detailed boisterous boysmut.


Love & Food Art Contest Updates: I was sidelined by a migraine this weekend but I've gotten packages ready to mail to son nekoni, halclouds and midoringo. I'll send the list of remaining prizes to choose from to mooguruklaine and cclemon when I get my act together, which should be no later than a couple days.


Members of bleachness , stay tuned for a special gift for lovers of fanart by Blast.

The spoilers (check BA if you're interested) are out for the latest Bleach chapter and Kubo notes in his author message that this time, for Rangiku's birthday, someone sent him blue roses. He tells fans "Take it easy."
Ha ha ha.

I keep the man in little chocolates and regular fangirl mail but I can't compete with these new fans who send him Dom Perignon, premium sake, and a hundred roses. Kubo-sensei must have some wealthy fans!

Now some recs.

Because I'm a fool for great Ishida fics and especially if they have Ishida break down in character, here--a really powerful drabble about math and consequences: A Rock and A Hard Place (Ishida, rated G) by vayshti

And looky here. I meant to show these off the other day. incandescens crafts awesome fic and knits adorable Shinigami too!

( behold teh cute )

Holy Crap Kubo is Here! Well that's exactly how Anime News Network put (from here)



For those of you who aren't at Kubo-con, here, some fic recs, all PR0N:

A Yukata Fetish by syneiam      Based on recent WSJ Obon cover. IchiRuki. NC17 with "guest" appearance by Renji. Hilarious.

A Friend in Need by nehalenia       Ichigo x Chad x Ishida. Yaoi OBVIOUSLY. NC17. Adorable and Yuuuuum.

Madonna by fishingforboots   Grimmjow/Ichigo. NC17 Rawr.

Oh and Read Kaya's latest entry of Oh Bleach Me! (re chapter 318)

If fishingforboots isn't on your radar yet, she should be. I want to sing her that Roberta Flack song "I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style...." because I wandered into her yaoi on a let-skim day and left with goosebumps, a romantic awed feeling, and thrill bubbles up my spine. I'll never stop loving the boy-loving dark waters of fanfiction if only because there are so many good slash writers out there. Here's a fic by her that's not even smut--just a very emotional, well-constructed story that hits you in the ovaries and then some:

Architect PG13 IchiIshi

The IchiRuki essay contest is hopping over at Bleach Asylum, and it seems that Annie and I have done well by our threats of withholding doujinshi from the masses if they don't write so some great essays are coming through. One I have to admit great prejudice for but I'm only reproducing it here because it's so damn funny as well as logical and I thought it might appeal to Bleach fans in general not just shippers. I hope you enjoy this piece by mezzo_marinaio:



*applauds Mezzo*

*puts on shipper boots*

A fun tidbit someone noticed the other day when discussing shipping was that Ichigo has yet to say "I'm going to save Orihime" in the HM arc the way he said so many times with so much conviction and passion in the SS arc about Rukia. Sure, he mentioned that he was going to bring her back in a list with his other nakama but it wasn't that singular "I will save Orihime." Then someone pointed out that instead, in the infamous much debated When The Sun Turned Around for the Moon Chapter 270, Ichigo actually did the say words again about Rukia.

Yup. He said. "I'm going to save Rukia" in a crucial moment in Orihime's own rescue arc.

I don't know why I still like to keep arguing these points because it's game, set, and match as far as I'm concerned for IchiRuki but we'll see. Someone out there has to think of something humiliating for me to do if Kubo goes IchiOri and I'll promise to do it if he does.

Oh, and finally, I just have to spazz over one thing. Everyone knows my pet (het) pairing is IshiHime. Okay it's my favorite pairing even over Ishida/Ishida or any other yaoi combo. Everyone knows my pairing hasn't had any canon interaction for months and I'm hanging by a thread here just waiting for Kubo-sensei to pick up the stitch from SS and reunite that pair. But dang, people, what's this I hear now from IchiOri fans about Ishida discounting Orihime's powers and Ichigo being the only one who understands her and commends her for her healing power? Wut?

 nehalenia  is one of those writers like incandescens or laurie_bunter--I'm just going to rec ALL this writer's Bleach fic anyway so just remember the author's name. She's done it again. This time she's written a piece that for being first person Hollow!Ichigo narration is surprisingly eloquent-- yet the guy is  IC. Hollow!Ichigo maintains a dynamic with an Ichigo who figures in the story even if nicey Ichigo's not there. The violence is handled expertly--it's never over the top. The characterizations make me give this piece of smut my "more than smut" award (didn't know I gave those out, eh? Usually sublimeparadigm racks them all up in my head for her emotional but hardcore yaoi stuffs). And yes, it's disturbing subject matter, and yes it's disturbingly erotic, and yes, the story is about that ambivalence. It's smart stuff.

Runaway Horse (NC17) by  nehalenia Warning: non-con, yaoi, Hollow Ichigo/Ishida

Now more about chapter 315. The scans are out, and I've read at least two interesting discussions on friends' LJs about Ichigo's character--is it consistent? What about his speech to Kenpachi at the end of the chapter? IC? Unnecessary?

A fic rec! Some IchiIshi from a damn gooooood writer I've been squeeing over since her entry into the fandom! It's a bit squicky but it's a rescue fic so if you've seen Yael's infamous Ishida torture pic over at y!gallery, you'll appreciate nehalenia 's  story: More Than Nakama (NC-17)

And to further my campaign that Szayel will be back, probably for Easter, but knowing Kubo, maybe ... Tanabata?...HAVE SOME FANART: Not Dead by the ever awesome xilvrin (SilvaNoir on Deviant Art)

The best part about chapter 313 is that it's jumpstarted a lot of my old friends who were bored with Bleach into posting again. Jenni is one of those fans I love to disagree with, love to agree with, just plain love. Her sensible overviews trump my fangirliness any day. Recently, she pegged the issue at the heart of 313 while the rest of us were gawking at Ken-chan's shirtlessness or grumbling about ship stuffs. This is Ichigo's story, right? Ichigo is having some identity issues.

What is Your Place, Ichigo? (a 313 review by metaphore_art  )

What else? I've had a migraine all week so I've been kinda cranky. It's obvious to me now from having watched the latest episode of the manga that we're heading for EXTREME censorship of a lot of what we saw in the manga. Orihime was barely roughed up by Lolli and Menoli and their subsequent ... erm... punishment by Grimmjow was handled in a peculiar way to make the bitches half-responsible. *Sigh*  So much for my Szayel. There's just going to be no getting any of his outrageousness past the censors.

I can't remember the last time I had such extreme butterflies for a chapter as for 314 and I'm one of those Bleach fans who enjoys the whole damn thing and is RARELY bored of the manga. My most fervent wish is for Ulquiorra to return and I don't care where he shows up, but like most fans, I'd spin a cartwheel if he showed up to confront Orihime. Other things I'd like to see: 1) HOUGYOKU 2) KARAKURA PEOPLE, ANYONE, THE DADDIES, TATSUKI, ANYONE, even just some guy on the street buying a mochi ball 3) Grimmjow being healed by Unohana.

Wanna take bets as to who Nel is going to spit up on? I want it to be Ken-chan.

Indulge me, INDULGE ME. Another drawing for me by bananakaya  who is determined to drive me crazy with Ishida indulgence.




You people are determined to make me feel loved. I was so disappointed in the anime slap scene and then vesperh, who is such an excellent author, assuaged my grief with this lovely little story:

How Before Became After (Orihime, Ulquiorra, G) by vesperh 

Dear bleachness community, if I haven't answered your comments or emails, it's because I have a helluva cold right now and I'm forgetting things. Sometimes a fandom obsession is hard work. Today I shall avoid laundry, Bleach, and the telephone and read Claymore. Thank you everyone for being part of such a fun, talented, insane fandom. Any ideas on if and when Yachiru will fight? My fingers are crossed. I want little pink girl meanness all over that sexist asshole Nnoi!

There's a Basement Scans 305 out over at Mangahelpers here.




AND NOW FOR FIC RECS!

laurie_bunter  is a wonderful, smart and funny writer who doesn't post her stuff around that much so here I am to pimp her latest. Twas I who prompted her to write it, and I am thrilled I did so because the Bleach fandom needs more Shunsui/Nanao:

Boxing Day, T/M, by laurie_bunter

Oh, and in case you don't know, jaina  finished her wildly entertaining IchiRuki not long ago and you can find complete links here:

Setting Sun, Rising Moon, PG by jaina


jaina also just made a super-list of 2007 Bleach "Must Read" fics and there were a few lovely fics on her list I'd missed! I considered making my own fic rec list  for the end of the year, but I'm lazy and depressed just now, so I'm going to rec her list instead---not just because three stories of mine are on it (I think she's got very good taste XD and I thank her for reminding me I can write actual stories without any smut by listing them) but because all the stories are this list are WORTHWHILE READS:

Jaina's (mostly Bleach fanfic) 2007 Must Read List

If someone's got some spectacular Bleach fic enjoyed in the past year to rec, please link the fic in a comment to this thread. It was a fairly stellar year--the fandom exploded in size and writers got busy. Just for a quick pimp--a stroll through the archives of   bleach_flashfic   will turn up lots of gems.