I had been more interested in Honor Thy Masters, simply because In Flight had gotten a bit dull, and I've been on a Kenichi kick though. Not so much now.

Dat ending.

 

IT HAS A PLOT AGAIN!

 

Finally. Still, he delivered when he said that the infodumps were over.

 

Very nice update, actually got me interested again. Still I'll be happy to see another chapter of HTM.

 

Is Honor Thy Masters that good, really?

On Topic: Honestly, I fucking love this entire fic. I have no problem with massive infodumps and ginormous length fics so long as they're written well. Since Gabriel Blessing can most assuredly write well, I have no issue with the massive length of this fic.

Still, it's nice to see Shirou being a badass and the plot moving along.

Also, Yeah, Dat Ending.

 

I like HTM, but I'm also a huge fan of Kenichi, and there isn't much in the way of even readable fanfiction for it.

It's very wordy, but since it's a bakemonogatari cross it actually works. Mostly.

 

It's honestly chapters like this that makes me change my rating back to 5-stars. If gabriel blessing could just condense his story and makes some edits, I swear this fic would be 100x better. Nonetheless, he managed to deliver what he promise, and as usual the fight scenes he writes are awesome.

 

Karasuba being crazy XD

It seems a little strange for Shirou to not be pragmatic about taking down those 2 Sekirei, but it makes him look epic

 

Finally, a chapter I can actually class as being 'epic'. This has completely rejuvinated my waning interest.

Spoiler

After a long, pointless musing about his flock's dynamics, Shirou finally does something. I thought the interaction between the Disciplinary Squad and Shirou were pretty amusing, and the fight was obviously badass - especially the fact he took on the two opponents himself.

And that ending I was pretty much waiting for.

 

Have you read History's Most Chaotic Disciple? It's a crossover with Ranma and fast becoming one of my favorites.

OT, the new IF was good. The Disciplinary Squad was awesome and I can't wait for Karasuba next chapter. The fight was badass, but more than that was Akitsu. Girl's got some serious power. From how I understand it, while Shirou was fighting she was holding back the Disciplinary Squad, although it seems that the DS were more caught up in just watching the fight rather than trying to join it. But still.

 

Well, well, as he (apparently?) promised, a chapter released for Christmas.

 

Meh. Going to read it till the end but not worth recommending anymore.

 

Implying In Flight is Less Than Incredible is Prohibited!

 

This chapter was somewhat bland. It was a fallout piece after the action packed last chapter, but goddamn if it doesn't feel like more payoff is needed after so much exposition and buildup

 

It has a somewhat interesting premise, a decent author, and more padding than can be found in a sumo suit.

 

Okay? This story falls into the same issue it always had. Too much damn words without enough content or characterizations. With this many words, one could have read the Fate and UBW routes in FS/N and see the huge gamut of emotions and life. While it is true that comparing fan fiction to an amazing original work is insanely harsh, what emotional impacts has this story given us? Akitsu being winged and that is it. The story feels dead inside and the only redeeming factor from it is some well done and amazingly written action scenes, but that is not an emotional core the story needs. The joke is that even if amazing actions is all one would want, there is not enough in the sheer padding of a story to be worth the time.

The other thing though, the redemption gabriel is attempting to do with the Sekirei still and always will piss me off. The Sekirei are treated like children Shirou has to babysit and they are supposed to give him self worth and pride as a human being. This is hugely insulting to Rin and Saber and I can only fear about how gabriel will write such a thing considering gabriel can not write emotions.

 

Tbh there are a few other annoyances too, like calling the Sekirei a flock. The mask tidbit is also starting to get old, though I never really liked it.

 

I think the problem is that he took on far too many characters. There's really no character development for anyone but Shirou.

Well, that's one of the problems. He also likes his system lecturing far too much. Some longwindedness is acceptable, but a lot of it, especially when he's talking magic, is like he's teaching a class on the subject. Not even an interesting class, but one that you just sit and try to not star at the clock in.

EDIT: Yeah, the Mask hasn't been funny or interesting since, well, pretty much ever. It's just forcing a visual gag into a written medium. A kind of stupid anime gag at that

 

I still love this fic, and I'm really looking forward to the next update, but I do agree with a lot of what SmileOfTheKill said. Even if there's way too many characters, that could be better if Shirou himself felt a bit more like a person.

In canon he's full of emotion. Overly serious most of the time, but unable to seperate his emotions from his fights. Archer obviously, is a lot more detached, but he's still interesting to see because he acts lighthearted and nonchalant most of the time.

GB's Shirou seems to be overly calculating, and detached most of the time - without anything to his personality that makes him interesting (except being secretly stronger than people expect). When there is a scene that involves emotion, it feels artificial and horrid (eg, when he's talking to Matsu about how much he hates Archer) - because he gets into long winded explainations. And most of all, its all portrayed like he's beyond reproach for everything.

The Sekirei give nothing to him, or their relationship. He's basically providing everything. "Babysitting" was a good term to use. He hasn't changed at all, they haven't offered him much except for tactical advantage, and because its a harem you can't even see a growing romance at all - with maybe the exception of Matsu. Completely of the opposite of Postnupital Agreements, where the Sekirei is pivotal to character development.

Somehow I just felt this chapter was a let down. I can't really point out exactly where, but the end of last chapter left me very pumped for this one. And this one just left me feeling like it was just another chapter, instead of a short fight with the strongest opponent that has been revealed so far, and what happens after. I am hoping we get a bit more aftermath in the future since a short phone call with Takami obviously is not enough.

Does it matter if it's not Kenichi? Because most well written Ranma crossovers are like that. Some good examples are Big Human on Campus (crossover with Rosario+Vampire) and Dark Lords of Nerima (crossover with Sailor Moon).