Yep...and there's enough of a variety of views in the English-speaking fandom that even if a particular writer you like has a definite seme/uke preference for the boys, well, you can always hunt down someone who switches them around and still wind up with a sense of balance as a reader, if that's how your tastes run.
(The Japanese fandom, OTOH, judging by the doujinshi scans and circle webpages I've seen, is much more strongly focused on Gojyo/Kenren as semes; I think Shinkai Ni Sumu may be the only thing I can think of off the top of my head where you have a seme-ish Hakkai, and it's of course wildly AU. But from what I've seen Japanese fandom (and published yaoi canons) is not so big on the switchiness in genreal; seme/uke roles tend to be pretty firmly set.)
And ha, yes, "Mutability", that's the same one I was thinking of! I want to say I've seen a few other uke-youkai-Hakkai fics here and there, but Louise sets a pretty high standard for them to live up to...
Although speaking of balance, in a more general sense that may be some of the appeal of reading/writing 85 vs. 58? In the canon setting we mostly see Hakkai's more soft-spoken, self-effacing side, and Gojyo's brashly confident persona. 85 is a bit of a reversal showing aspects that are more usually hidden, Hakkai being blatantly demanding and Gojyo being openly vulnerable. I've discussed this idea a fair bit in the past with kispexi2 in particular, how it seems like one thing that tends to drive a lot of the urge to fic is to fill in things that aren't provided in the series, balance it out somewhat -- exploring relationships that never move beyond subtext in canon, looking at the dark side of a cracky comedy series or the lighter side of something unrelievedly dark, filling in unanswered plot questions, etc. So playing with the flip side of the dynamic we see between them more often in canon might be part of what gives it the 85 that extra charge.
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branchandroot
Re: They seem to think I'm Gonou! o_O
Date: 2008-07-23 07:14 am (UTC)(The Japanese fandom, OTOH, judging by the doujinshi scans and circle webpages I've seen, is much more strongly focused on Gojyo/Kenren as semes; I think Shinkai Ni Sumu may be the only thing I can think of off the top of my head where you have a seme-ish Hakkai, and it's of course wildly AU. But from what I've seen Japanese fandom (and published yaoi canons) is not so big on the switchiness in genreal; seme/uke roles tend to be pretty firmly set.)
And ha, yes, "Mutability", that's the same one I was thinking of! I want to say I've seen a few other uke-youkai-Hakkai fics here and there, but Louise sets a pretty high standard for them to live up to...
Although speaking of balance, in a more general sense that may be some of the appeal of reading/writing 85 vs. 58? In the canon setting we mostly see Hakkai's more soft-spoken, self-effacing side, and Gojyo's brashly confident persona. 85 is a bit of a reversal showing aspects that are more usually hidden, Hakkai being blatantly demanding and Gojyo being openly vulnerable. I've discussed this idea a fair bit in the past with