Title: FateBlack Reflection
Author: Nameless Flame Wielder
Rating: M
Fandom: Fate/Stay Night x Bleach
Status: Work in Progress
Summary: With Aizen's plans foiled in Karakura, Ichigo and his friends are called to investigate strange happenings in nearby Fuyuki City. Hang on, what the heck are Magi? And who's that woman who's calling Ichigo "Master?" AU after chapter 389 of BLEACH
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5591380/1/FateBlack_Reflection

I found this one after catching up on In Flight. Another FSN crossover, this time with Bleach. Nasuverse fans will no doubt be able to point out any number of flaws, but that's nothing new.

It takes place during the 4th Holy Grail War, with Ichigo and his merry band of misfits getting called in to investigate the strange happenings in Fuyuki City. Following a series of fortunate/unfortunate events, they find themselves caught up in the middle of a war they'd never heard of. Ichigo gets himself a servant and the rest of the mages are getting worried about this mysterious black-clad samurai.

First let me get my gripes out of the way:
- The premise is a bit contrived. It seems a little unbelievable that Soul Society only takes an active interest in the Grail War now and not any time before. But it is, to an extent, passable.
- Ichigo's nakama thing gives off some major One Piece vibes.
- The story gets a little wordy at times.
- Ichigo does seem a bit overpowered, but he has yet to flat out destroy any servants. He's keeping himself restrained for the most part.

What I've enjoyed most so far:
- I never realized how much I wanted to see a Soul Reaper matched against a servant until I read this fic.
- As an extension of the previous point, the fight scenes are awesome. This is the first time I've read a story where the characters are actually portrayed as skilled instead of just powerful. In Bleach, it's always been 'the one with the most power wins,' but here it's really highlighted how pure mastery over your skills can outclass power. One of the many fights between Ichigo and Lancer demonstrates this point.
- And finally:

Spoiler

GETSUGA TENSHOU VS. EXCALIBUR

 

While this fics can be enjoyable due the reasons stated by Sin, however I feel that it could've been better. To start with, the entire Bleach cast (with exception of Ichigo) is at times just boring and annoying. It would've been better to leave out the entire Ichigo gang in the first place.

I think it should also be noted that the author is following the Fate route and as result the author is turning some characters OOC in order to follow the route.

Spoiler

Shirou, Archer and Tohsaka decided to investigate the barrier at school. Tohsaka had to stay behind for a moment, because of a ritual to empower herself. She told Shirou to continue on to the roof. That in itself is already OOC from Tohsaka, because there is a good chance for a servant to attack Shirou. Besides this excuse is just lame and in the end had no benefits at all. It turned out that Rider was on the roof.

In the end the author did this so she could set up the Rider and Saber fight from Fate route. It was only at the end of the chapter (while Saber and Rider fought for so long they eventually ended up on the roof of the office building and finished their fight already) that Tohsaka, who was finally done with her ritual, made an appearance again with Archer.

While this fic is by no means terrible, it is definitely not an shining example either. I would give it a tentative 3.5/5

 

While something of a guilty pleasure, not exactly the best fic on the net, nor something that I would recommend as a shining example of F/SN work. It mainly shines because there's just not that many high quality crossovers, or even stories, in the F/SN fandom, and 95% of bleach FFs are shit. The characterization is wobbly at times with the Fate route (F/SN), and some of the Nasu stuff is pure bullshit. I'm able to push past most of it because of artistic license, but it's really annoying to reread whole days from the Fate route drummed into the chapter with very slight changes that fuck with everything, but still somehow maintain the exact same chain of events. If you play Fate/SN, you'll notice that the routes are VERY, very different depending on which route you choose (bad end with a meeting at the tiger dojo for selecting the wrong option, anyone?), and they differ very quickly due to small changes- but this seems rigidly adherent to the Fate route despite the wrenchs thrown in the gears.

Authority?

Spoiler

Excalibur... yeah, this is not getting stopped, or even held back, by anything- yet the bleach style Getsuga Tenshou BEAM holds it at bay, due to mana being pumped into it? What the FUCK?

That said, if you don't know much about F/SN, and like bleach, you might enjoy it. More of a solid 3/5 for decent quality, length, and being a good intro into some of the concepts of the Nasu fandom. That said, please don't use this as a reference for Nasu mechanics - I'll kill a kitten every time you do. As a note, I really want to see how the hell the author resolves the Throne of Heroes and Counter Guardians, because I really can't see the Chamber of 46 putting up with either's existence- it would have been a war of attrition and eventual eradication for one side or the other- no way in hell could they have ignored each other. A good time waster, a bit of a guilty pleasure, but not library-worthy.

 

I only know a bit of F/SN from playing the Fate route and a bit of Bleach from reading the early volumes.

I found the story to be enjoyable to read. I didn't mind Shirou's friends being present; in fact I thought that they added to the story and gave me a good feel for Ichigo's character. The description of Shirou's super-sword beam blocking Arturia's was a bit weak, but I didn't find the idea of the counter to be troublesome like folks who're more familiar with Nasu-verse canon would.

Trying to force some of the fight scenes to match those from the Fate route was a classic amateur fanfic writer's fault. The most recent fight between Rider and Saber on top of the skyscraper was particularly guilty of this.

I liked that the Nasu-verse characters didn't just discover Hollows, and shrug their shoulders and continue fighting. They formed alliances, researched, etc. and the Bleach crew are going to be in for one hell of a surprise. It is annoying that somehow this whole Bleach-verse has never been noticed by the Mage Association before now, and vice versa. The author has shown that there are some links [that monkish fighting style, old-man Matou, the shrine priest's grandfather] but there's no explanation for why these worlds haven't properly collided in the past.

This story isn't perfect, but it's not too bad either. With a few changes it could be a solid 4/5, as it is it's close enough. I'll keep on reading it when the next chapter comes out.

edit: The author's got another story in the works that I'd really like to see:

I'd like to see what he can do with the old beauty and the beast formula. Hopefully he can write romance and keep the Beast's emo angst at bay.

 

The author has actually got a topic on another forum which is about eighty pages full of dicussion to make sure he gets all the facts right, etc.

The story is one of my favorites but mostly because the two anime are two out of three of my favories.

 

Updated, which is cool since I just caught up with this a day ago.

This is definitely in the guilty pleasure category for me so I was able to enjoy the fallout and reactions of Ichigo and Saber's clash without nitpicking too much, and for once didn't have to skim any of the chapter.

Spoiler

Lancer finally meets up with Bazett, so where they go from there will be quite interesting. I suspect Bazett will try to enlist Ichigo's help to get her hero back. Saber's identity is revealed and I can see Ichigo & Co. approaching her about an alliance or something in regard to protecting the innocent bystanders etc etc.

Quite frankly the way I see this ending is everyone ganging up on Caster and Gilgamesh, destroying the Grail, then going off to live happily ever after. Again, considering this is a guilty pleasure fic for me, I'll be quite happy with that.