Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[Feurox]

It's a nice short piece. But I definitely prefer 'Hello' by BlackWaltzTheThird. Still, quite nice.

[ProfAllister]

Honestly, what I find most interesting out of the highlighted entry is brythain's comments on the "rules" of Japanese letter writing.

I'd like to second Feurox's comment with the add-on of the fic that his link links to: Courtesy of Doomish

From there, it would actually be interesting to look at the several letters to Iwanako across writers.

BlackWaltzTheThird
Doomish
My Own Humble Submission
Downix

I'm certain there are plenty of others out there, but their location escapes me.

[Oddball]

It's Halloween season, so let's read a Halloween type story!


Inkyukasu - A KS Supernatural/Horror Fic by Bricktycoon.

Sometimes we read complete stories. This time we read the start of a story that was never continued. ... Unless of course that WAS intended to be the end of it. If that's the case, it needs work.

I think sometimes it's just as important to take a look at ideas and stories that have never taken off. Sometimes they can inspire the imagination of other writers.

I really do like the idea of a horror story being told from the point of view of a blind character. What the monster had to say to Lilly did seem a bit too on the nose though.


Also, a few words on the title.

I had to look up what a Inkyukasu was. It seems to be an incubus (male version of a succubus) but there was so few results for this that google listed this story as one of the top results. (Bing's search gave me a lot of results for gay men keeping secrets.) Either way, I'm not quite sure why that was the monster chosen for this.

One last thing, never use the word "Fic" in your story title. "Story" or "Tale" serves the same purpose and sounds so much classier.

[Mirage_GSM]

Yeah, the descriptions from the perspective of a blind person were done quite well, but with just that one scene the story does not have much purpose.
As it is, it's just an attempt to shock, and as such it doesn't even work all that well. I'm not sure if there was no larger plan behind it, or if the story was abandoned for some other reason.

[Craftyatom]

A Reply to Iwanako
As a story, I kind of enjoyed this one.  I mean, there's not much there to discuss, but I think it was good, overall.  The characterization seemed a bit stilted - to me, it was the second paragraph that didn't seem to match Hisao's style - but really, his writing style could be very different from his speaking and thinking styles.  We get the sense that he's not a huge fan of writing letters, so maybe this is just the best he can do.  Some of it is probably down to the writer's inexperience, though; especially the SpaG, which had a high density of problems.

I did wonder whether this would give me some ideas, since one of my stories has Hisao writing a reply fairly soon, but I think I'll be going for a different style.

Inkyukasu
I really like the opening.  The author does a great job capturing the feeling from the associated scene in-game (though I'll admit the 'I wasn't aiming for his cheek' part is a bit of a stretch).  The entire atmosphere is actually really nice for that first section.

The language for the rest of the story is compelling, and quite well-written.  Lilly's reaction is a bit strong in places, but one can see how it might be.  The entire sequence is a bit confusing, with very little information given to the reader, but that's likely a stylistic choice - the protagonist is also completely clueless about what's going on - rather than an error in storytelling.

Now, obviously the story sort of ends in the middle of things.  I think this is a valid way to end a short story, especially self-described "horror", a genre which often does away with both exposition and cleanup.  However, I do think the ending was a bit jarring, and might've been a better read with more words (which were somewhat implied to be forthcoming by the usage of a chapter title).  In particular, I think this would be the perfect buildup to it all being a dream.  Lilly wakes up in a cold sweat with a pounding headache, haunted by nightmares that tell her what she already knows, but can't bear to tell her friends: that her days in Japan are numbered.  Obviously not really a horror story, but it could be an excellent story about her perspective on the whole thing.

Oh, and just to be pedantic...

All of Lilly's neurons fired at once from the break in tension.

There's a name for this: epileptic seizure.  It's kind of like setting every single bit in your computer to a 1 - you'd get a lot of very strange errors, and then need to reboot.  Neuronal language is useful in emotional storytelling, but takes a bit of neurology.  Just saying.

[Oddball]

We're going to look at TWO stories this time. Because I feel like it. Maybe I just have party on my mind. Both are really short. Both are really old.





Yamakus' Annual Sweet Rave Party by SnigendePind .

Because sometimes we need to look at bad ideas too.

This is one of them. It's completely over the top, unrealistic, and ... pretty stupid. However it still feel like it's lacking something that would really take it over the top to the point where it works as parody.


and

Costume Day by chaix.

This one works much better although that's not saying much. I do like the idea of Yamaku having a costume days. Some of the character work was fun. The costume choices don't quite work as well for me, as they seem more "author's choice" a less what the characters themselves would pick.

[brythain]

These were entertaining. I didn't immediately remember reading them even though I think I read through the entire corpus as it existed back in 2014.

I think they made little impression because they made so little attempt to be canonical while still having some fun of their own.

[NuclearStudent]

These were fundamentally ill-conceived and shallow. I find that relatable.

[Oddball]

The Pusher by Catgirl Kleptocracy

I like this one. It's a VERY different take on Suzu.

This story, while dark and not at all fitting the mood of Katawa Shoujo, still manages to pull off Yamaku in a believable manner. It's a darker, more depressing, smudgy manner, but it works.

It never feels too bitter, or like it's trying to hard to be edgy which would be really easy considering the material. I think a lot of that is because it focuses on just one person being slightly messed up, rather than trying to convince us the entire school is that way (despite her narration). Despite what she's doing, she never feel like a horrible person, nor is there any real attempt to make her cool.

I think this might also be my favorite version of Miki. It really adds a lot of personality and depth to her. Even in a darker story like this, it seems this take on Miki wouldn't be out of place in a more "normal" KS story.

The dream seems a tad out there at the end, but otherwise it's magnificent.

[Feurox]

I have always adored this story. It’s so dark, but in that beautiful, human way - it fascinates me. There’s no inherent badness in Suzu, and her actions consume her, she and all around her get caught in something bigger than themselves. It’s hopeless and dark and utterly wonderful, though not one for the kids ha!

Seriously though, it’s a pretty harrowing take on Yamaku; but it doesn’t feel unwelcome - and it certainly doesn’t outstay it’s welcome either. A superb read. Thanks for sticking it in the Book club Odd, a pleasure to go back through.

[brythain]

I remember reading this story and knowing it was a fantastic story that I never wanted to write. For years now, one of the courses I teach covers a lot of these substances, their mechanism of action, and stuff like that. I shudder. And yet, this story is so very unlikely for Japan. See, for example, this fine in-a-nutshell explanation. It is much more likely in places like the US.

[Mirage_GSM]

Yes, that was an excellently written story - like most of her works.

Of course the "business model" Suzu has implemented is not really feasible - whether in Japan or anywhere else. If someone at the school is suddenly selling all kinds of prescription drugs, while at the same time massive amounts of prescription drugs go missing from various bedrooms it won't take long before someone connects the dots.

What I found almost more interesting than the story itself was that version of Miki. I would have liked to see a "spin-off" of that Miki

[Oddball]

The very fact that this model isn't going to work long term seems to fit. Eventually everything is just going to crash down on Suzu's head. She's not a bad enough person to really be bad so while she's looked stuff up, she hasn't planned anything out.

[Oddball]

KS-EVANGELION (2012) by LordDarknus.

I hope you like crossovers. If you don't, that's okay. This isn't much of a crossover anyone. If you were looking forward to seeing Shinji and Kenji interact, you're out of luck. This is more the KS character standing in for the EVA. It's not really horribly written, but at the same time it's neither KS nor Eva.

[NoticeMeOppai]

An odd choice to make it all in past tense in summary style as if done properly that could have been a great story. Not particularly related to either Eva or KS as you say, but a great story either way. Still a fun read and certainly different to the usual fare on these forums.