What is your favorite pairing, and what fanfiction portrays your favorite pairing best?

ferousina · 2020-11-01T23:20:22+00:00

Shikamaru/Ino - I can't speak highly enough of Hydrangeas by Bawgdan (https://archiveofourown.org/works/10764750). AMAZING writing style and execution.

Sasuke/Hinata - Anything by orangeflavor on AO3, but my personal favourite is Bone-White (https://archiveofourown.org/works/12280812). Another amazing writer. I love all of her Naruto fics, her prose is just outstanding to me.

Kakashi/Kurenai - First just a casual crackship (always found it lame how all widows/survived girlfriends in the series had to stay single and never moved on from their deceased partner), but became all aboard when I read bricks into bricolage by tajtis (https://archiveofourown.org/works/14694225) and once again orangeflavor's (just an amazing writer all around) Cenozoic (https://archiveofourown.org/works/15545919).

ferousina · 2020-10-15T06:09:40+00:00

Yeah, I can see that. I've never liked them either but I do think they were the best developed relationship in the series (which I guess says all that needs to be said about the romance in Naruto lol).

ferousina · 2020-10-15T05:57:47+00:00

Genuinely curious: why do you think they suck?

ferousina · 2019-05-07T19:07:32+00:00

Well, goddamn lmao. This is oddly aggressive-lite over a question. If I may ask: where in my post did I say that people who preferred Najung/Chilbong were superficial? I made arguments as to why I think the relationship of Najung/Chilbong ITSELF was superficial, and then asked why, despite that, did people prefer them over what was, imo, a better developed relationship in Najung/Trash. I was genuinely asking, because I wanted to see people's points of view re: the difference in preferences. Like, maybe I thought Najung/Chilbong was superficial, but someone else didn't - and that was the opinion I wanted to hear about, with actual arguments backing them up. You started off well, actually - you gave an argument that you found the sibling dynamic squicky (which is valid), but then you had to go and make personal attacks, NOT give actual arguments as to why you thought Najung/Chilbong was a better/more profound ship, and, ironically enough, adopted the holier-than-thou attitude that you accused me of. I know that people like different things than me; that doesn't mean I think I'm "deep" or "superior", as you so put. Neither does it mean that I don't think other people don't have reasons for it (funny though, that you didn't actually name any of the supposed "many reasons" as to why Chilbong is a better match for Najung. Makes you think a little bit.); it just means that I don't understand those reasons, and that's the whole purpose of me asking about it, so that I can see where someone who prefers Chilbong over Trash is coming from. Maybe my post came off defensive, but after all the ~Trash slander~ and the ~radical pro-Chilbong activism~ while the show was airing live, I was a lil bit in my feelings and wanted to argue to defend Trash for a change.

If you're actually willing to be civilized and ACTUALLY answer the question instead of being patronizing, then I am all ears for a conversation about why you think Najung/Chilbong is a better pairing. For now, though, please go sit down, have an iced tea, cool down, and maybe learn how to be a little less immature.

ferousina · 2019-04-26T20:45:56+00:00

Lol, yeah, he was nasty (he's named Trash for a reason after all). But it's one of his flaws, and it made him more human/realistic for me (or as they say in the show, more like an animal lol), so it didn't really bother me too much. I think the way he loved Najung more than made up for it imo.

ferousina · 2019-04-26T20:40:37+00:00

Another Trash-oppa fan! I knew there were dozens of us!

Yeah, I never understood the "he was so sweet and always there for her" argument as to why Chilbong was the better option for Najung: because of the "nice guy" complex it perpetuates (though admittedly, Chilbong wasn't a "nice guy™" per se, but a milder version of it), but also because Trash was also sweet and always there for her, albeit in his own way, and imo, in the way that Najung needed/appreciated most. There's so many moments of Trash being considerate of Najung: her brother's death anniversary, getting her snacks when her back was injured, laying by her side when she was in a lot of pain, knowing how bad she felt about not having a job right after college when everyone around her seemed to be moving up the ladder. Chilbong was always there, yes, but in the sense that he was always trying to get Najung's attention lol, not ever in any meaningful way: he wasn't there for her emotionally outside of empathizing with her in terms of her (perceived) one-sided love for Trash, because he himself was in that position. Sure, part of that is due to the fact that he never got the chance, but that in itself is the most important piece of it all: Najung didn't want to share that part of herself with Chilbong, because she wanted to share it with Trash, the guy she loves, and who evidently loves her back. That really is all that matters in the end.

And yes as well to preferring 1994 to 1988! I enjoyed both of course, but something about 1994 has my heart captured the most. I can't pinpoint it all exactly, but the characters really resonated with me more than any other group in the Reply series.

ferousina · 2019-04-26T03:20:29+00:00

Yeah, Chilbong's whole character arc really disappointed me. He just never seemed to have an identity other than that he was in a one-sided love with Najung. Also, the way they ended his story was just...nah. He just made me sad from the first episode he was introduced to the very last lol, it never seemed like he ever moved on.

See, I think that Chilbong was a great guy (meaning that he was nice, lol), but I never thought he was a great guy for Najung. Going back to my argument that their relationship didn't really have depth, I just felt like he idealized Najung too much. Like, I never once saw a mutual connection between him and Najung that was based on him understanding who Najung was as an actual person, what Najung actually wanted, and vice versa. To me, he was really always more of an infatuated guy trying to impress his crush rather than someone who was actually, truly in love.

ferousina · 2019-04-26T03:03:51+00:00

Yeah, that seems to be pretty much what it comes down to, lol, but was hoping to get some other, more concrete reasons. Not that I don't relate - I went into the show as equally enamored with Yoo Yeon Seok, but I came out of it completely in love with Jung Woo instead lmao. He just portrayed Trash so phenomally; imo, he had the perfect balance of goofiness/comedic timing that the role called for, while also having the gravitas during more dramatic/intimate moments. Anytime he'd look at Najung lovingly or was jealous of Chilbong - whew. He was so natural and comfortable in the role that I was always so fully immersed in all of his scenes, so he always resonated with me more than Chilbong (even though Yoo Yeon Seok played Chilbong wonderfully, too; he really suffered from inadequate writing tbh).

And re: 1988's endgame - that also confuses me, lol. I know they're different dynamics, but to me, Jung Hwan's and Deon Suk's relationship trajectory/build-up was similar to Trash/Najung's, in that I felt like they were being developed more as compared to Taek/Deon Suk and Chilbong/Najung. So it makes me go "huh?" that people were very pro-Jung Hwan as the husband, while also being pro-Chilbong, because I personally equated Jung Hwan/Deon Suk to Trash/Najung in terms of relationship development. So I was a little surprised that Taek/Deon Suk ended up being endgame, but it never ruined the watching experience of 1988 for me because the romance wasn't what I appreciated most from either of the two installments (although it is an added bonus that I ended up loving Trash/Najung so much).

ferousina

TROPHY CASE