Title: Honor Thy Masters
Author: Gabriel blessing
Rating: M
Genre: Horror/General
Chapters: 6
Words: 181,691
Updated: Dec. 16, 2012
Published: Feb. 25, 2012
Status: Complete
Fandom: Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple X Bakemonogatari Crossover
Summary: Kenichi never really had much going for him. However, there was always one way Kenichi excelled: he was lucky in his Masters. A shame that those of Ryouzanpaku weren't the first he called his Master though.
Link: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7870920/1/Honor_Thy_Masters

Gabriel's latest work. Takes place in Kenichi-verse, shortly before the current arc, maybe two or so arcs ago. Kenichi is apparently Koyomi of a different name, with the events of Bakemonogatari taking place approximately 1-2 years before the beginning of the series. None of the other characters from Bakemonogatari are making an appearance, as the author has stated a love more for the setting than the characters themselves.

I personally enjoy the story, though the two protagonists of the series don't mesh perfectly in my mind. It's not the difference in family--one sister versus two--or the personality difference between the two. It's just that I can't see anyone who could go through the events of Bakemonogatari and still be afraid of some two-bit thugs who know karate. Other than that little nitpick, the story's pretty good.



Checked by Minion, Dec. 16, 2012

 

If I haven't seen either show, is it still worth reading?

 

The story assumes that you know both series well enough that it doesn't need to explain what each character looks like or what their personality is, so I wouldn't recommend it if you haven't read the Kenichi manga to the latest chapters. The Bakemonogatari references are light at this point, so you could probably get by without seeing the anime.

That being said, I would highly recommend watching the series even if you don't read the story, especially the Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple manga. They're both great series.

Also, as a general rule don't read fanfiction unless you know the series that are being written about. Authors generally assume that the readers know the characters and the setting, so they don't spend a lot of time explaining canon plot elements.

 

Both of these manga are run-of-the-mill and not worth reading. If you're not a fan, I recommend not touching either of them.

 

I haven't read either series, but still enjoyed Honor Thy Masters. I combed the Bakemonogatari wiki when I read Gabriel's previous Bakemon/Medaka crossover, "Those Who Love Monsters" but you don't even need that if you read a little background on the protagonist. As for Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple, it's apparent from context that it's just another shounen, romantic comedy, martial arts manga. If you've read one, you've read them all. I've never heard of it, and there was nothing in Honor Thy Masters that made me want to read any background on it. The characters and plot are easy enough to understand just by reading the fic.

 

Kenichi is pretty popular, and at some places enjoyable and/or even dramatic (I wouldn't even touch the manju in the fridge!). However the crappy art and run-of-the-mill archetypes keep it from being worth following every week - I stopped reading as soon as I reached the current arc.

So, like... 40 volumes. D:

Anyway, HSDK crossover with Bakemonogatari is so implausible it's almost not funny - almost! - (Araragi as Kenichi? Srsly?) and I'll go read this now.

If I die laughing, a retroactive 5/5 from me. Even if that's not what Gabriel's aiming for...

 

I only read maybe the first 20 or so volumes of HSDK.. it is your typical shounen manga.. Never read/watched the other Manga/anime.

I had no problems with understanding the fic and enjoyed it. The idea is a good and new one and I also like the style of gabriels writing.

 

I've seen the Kenichi anime, and dropped the manga a year ago. The arc after the anime finished was fun, but it started to decline (in the Naruto way. Just kept going on and on with no clear goal or ending. Just new plot points appearing and constant fights that come out of nowhere).

Anyway, onto the fic. Initially I wasn't really interested. It just felt like a crossover for the sake of a crossover. It's also quite silly and a tad annoying that despite having gone through exactly the same experiences Kenichi went through, he is apparently Araragi. Their personalities aren't even vaguelly similar. It's like Araragi transformed into Kenichi after he left the Bakemonogatari universe, then transformed back at the start of this fic.

But that aside, as I got through Chapter One, I actually found myself growing really interested in how it was playing out. I was actually really glad he released a second chapter instead of keeping it a one shot.

Spoiler

Kushinada deciding to take the Miko option was kind of awesome.

And I was never a huge Shigure fan...until I saw how her role was used in this fic. And I realized she was probably the best of the Masters to become Kenichi partner in things relating to the Nightworld. The deal with the Satori was particularly interesting/funny/embarassing.

It's a 4/5 at the moment, but if he continues it could very well go higher. Gabriel_blessing's writing style actually suits this a lot. Wieldy paragraphs full of thinking, and then long lectures actually work very well with Bakemonogatari (Moreso than it did for In Flight).

I do wonder how much of the battle with Yami he's going to maintain as plot points in this fic, or whether the other Kenichi characters will play a part.

Hill of Swords was pretty much a character from one universe (Fate Stay Night) inserted into another (Zero no Tsukaima). Nothing else from FSN featured in it.

In Flight was similar, though so far has a few more elements of Fate Stay Night appearing (which I'm hoping will play a bigger part in the future).

So far, this fic is a character from Bakemonogatari (kinda) inserted into the Kenichi universe, and then taking characters from there and putting them through situations from Bakemonogatari. It's kind of the opposite of the others. I just hope he doesn't trivialize the other aspects of the Kenichi universe (since unlike HoS and IF, he really doesn't have a good reason to).

 

I keep seeing people saying that Kenichi is Araragi but GB never says this that I can see, it seems more like what he did in Those Who Love Monsters where he has that set of events happen to the main character of the cross, in fact in the A/N of the first chapter of this story he says this:

 

Other than a few minor spelling or grammatical errors there is nothing wrong with the work; the writing is sound. The premise is... odd but not so far out of left field that it takes away from the experience. Prior knowledge of either series would help some, even if that 'some' is just being able to identify characters or referenced material.

Overall? tentative 4/5 at the moment, if the author keeps up this level of writing then it will be a solid score. I'm finding myself moderately excited to see where the author is planning to take this work.

 

Chapter 3 up

 

I have to say, the part with the kitsune was actually very well done. I'm really liking this so far, its wordy as all hell but Gabriel is doing a very good job bringing some of the old myths to life.

 

This chapter was the first time gabriel_blessings wordiness has really started to annoy me. I don't mind it when it's about the protagonist musing about plot related issues and ideas, but when there's 5 paragraphs describing how busy a TRAIN is, you start to get impatient.

Other than that though, this chapter was pretty cool. I'm really liking Shigure and Kenichi's interaction. Shigure is a really well crafted character in this story, while keeping her mannerisms from the series.

 

Gotta agree with Jarik on the wordiness. Usually I love gabriel_blessings' works. In RL, I have a tendency to run on with my sentences, so how he writes isn't too different from how I talk. But the part where he spends two paragraphs describing why a train station has lockers, and that they need to put a sword in it really annoyed me.

Its nice to see some back-story finally, specifically on the Araragi--Kenichi conversion. I don't know if its the back-story integration or if its just me getting used to the outlandish connection between the two, but it doesn't feel as out-there a transition as it used to.

The little outburst gabriel had in his author's notes about Naruto was kinda amusing though. And anyone else notice just how into this story he's getting? Three chapters, and it's already a quarter of the length of Hill of Swords!

 

Yeah, like usual his works have that mix of great writing and irritating info-dumps. I actually tend to just skip them though, so it doesn't bother me too much. 4/5 in my opinion

As for the mangas the fic is based on, neither are particularly stand-out. Both are fairly run-of-the-mill. But still, I like what he does with them. He's created a good atmosphere in the fic. Looking forward to more.

 

I don't know, I don't think I've ever found something quite like Kenichi. It's like somebody took most of my favorite character archetypes and shoved them all into one manga, thus making it awesome, or at least better then the big three.

But that's just my opinion. I like having a more upbeat and determined protagonist, without beating him with the idiot stick.

Luffy is still the king of unintentional badassery though.

 

Wait, putting her sword in the locker and a train scene? I think I skipped over those... That's really kind of sad that to make some of his writing enjoyable I have to actually gloss over things in my memory that annoy me about it.

 

Has anyone here actually reviewed his stories directly to comment on his excessive wordiness?

 

Well, it's never bothered me up until now, so I've never mentioned it.

I might go give him a review mentioning it on his latest chapter.

 

He needs a beta more than anything else.