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The overall conclusion to the trilogy! I'd really like to say that this story got better at the end from the last two parts, but... it fell backwards on itself. Not as much emo!angst as the first two parts, but the same mangle characterizations, the same fanpoodle-ness, and this time, not such a nicely neat plot.

Series: Yami no Matsuei
Title: Falling Is Like This
Author: Kouri Arashi
Genre: Drama/Romance
Rating: R
Warnings: NCS hints, wangst, angst, more angst
Couple (if applicable): Basically all the pairings as the previous fanfics, but mostly Tsuzuki/Hisoka and some hinted Muraki/Oriya

Plot: 6/10 - Okay, unfortuantely, the plot isn't nearly as good as the other one. The first part to this story is stupid. Basically, Hisoka is losing his powers that he gained as a Shinigami, but he doesn't know why. Tsuzuki and all the 'older' Shinigami know, so basically, Hisoka and Akimiya are in the dark. Later, it turns out that Hisoka purposely lost his powers (Control over his Empathy, Jitsu powers, healing powers) due to a test. So basically, Hisoka has to fight possible demons and psycho magic dealing humans with NO powers but what he was born with.

It really makes no sense. Shinigami got those powers in the first place so they have a CHANCE to deal with powers that no normal humans could. Why TAKE them away and leave them defenseless? And what about Shinigami that may not have had 'natural powers' when they were alive? Yeah, they are so totally fucked...

So Muraki comes in and messes up the test, because Tsuzuki won't have Muraki touching his man! As it turns out, Tsuzuki wasn't supposed to interfer whatsoever, causing Hisoka to fail his test. When Shinigami fail the tests, they are 'sent on'. Of course, Tsuzuki and Hisoka don't want that, and they run away. First they go to Hijiri, which was pointless, then off to Oriya's place where they find Muraki and ask him how to 'hide' themselves from the rest of the Shinigami, which makes sense because the Shinigami can't track Muraki for some reason. But it doesn't make sense cause it's MURAKI!

While trying to deal with Muraki's molesting and spell casting, a man appears. And at first guess, Hisoka knows that the man is Tsuzuki's father.

Well, as it turns out, Hisoka's guess is right on the money. But more importantly, Tsuzuki's father is not only a demon (Surprise!), but is the Prince of Hell who broke out of his imprisonment. And he's come back to get his son and merge Hell with the living world. Of course, Hisoka can't have that, and when fans really say that Hisoka would go to Hell and back for Tsuzuki... Well!

Add in a little bargain with Muraki (Who has an actual believable reason to go besides wanting to be in Tsuzuki's pants) to tag along with him. Yep, Muraki and Hisoka working together after what happened in the previous two parts. Urgh, but it works.

I won't spoil the rest of the story though, because there's some things that work and other things that really don't mesh at all.

Okay, I will give points to the author for trying to put in Tsuzuki's hertiage and trying to explain why he became a Shinigami and the like (Plus going through the levels of hell were interesting). Because, let's face it, I can think of maybe 1 other fic that does this that's finished. So it's not a theme that's commonly written about. But the first part of the story makes no sense.

Another thing wrong is Tatsumi's description, which I hope was just Tsuzuki trying to throw his father off, because it's so totally wrong. Besides 1-2 people, no one in the division is above the age of 30 when they died.

Also, the levels of Hell and how to get past them are really well written. That's about the only thing I liked though.

Writing: 7/10 - Fanpoodle japanese is STILL present in this story, though it's not nearly as bad as the last. But most of the phrases yet again can be translated into perfect english. There's still no excuse for this though. The only thing I can say is that it's gotten less frequent than in the previous one where there was a lot in a chapter.

Other than that, the writing pretty much stays the same as the first two stories.

Characterization: 4/10 - Okay, I don't know what series everyone else was watching, but when did Hijiri ever BLATENTLY flirt with Tsuzuki? I mean, I haven't watched the anime 20 times, but I don't remember Hijiri ever coming onto Tsuzuki, period. I don't even remember that in the manga.

Oh wait, it's your typical stereotypical fanon thing. It doesn't often appear since Hijiri rarely if ever shows back up, even in fanfiction. But in a lot of them, especially the 'love triangle' ones, people assume that all those worried moments Hijiri has about Tsuzuki was his way of 'flirting'. And that is where I seriously get out my /facepalm emote. Being worried about someone who doesn't know you but risking their neck for you and flirting are TWO different things.

And you know, I really like a sarcastic Hisoka. Face it, if you read the manga or watched the anime, Hisoka has a snarky side. But I have to admit now, it's overboard. He's just WAY too snarky and sometimes, I don't feel like it's him. Most of what comes out of his mouth are either emo moments or snark. And his snark does get him into trouble too, and I don't think Hisoka would embrace his snarky side if he knew that it would get him hurt or even worse others and moreso Tsuzuki. He is also emo, but I think Hell would make just about anyone emo.

Plus snarky!Muraki, while amusing, doesn't quite fit his character. Could I see Muraki being snarky a few times? Yeah. But could I see him being about as snarky as Hisoka in this fic? I really don't think so.

What is kinda sad is Akimiya isn't really present in this story much, considering how much of a role he played in the two previous stories. Also Oriya is in this story briefly and feels sort of off on his character, might be because he caught some of the 'snark virus', but it's not nearly the level as it is to Muraki and Hisoka.

The one interesting thing is Tsuzuki fooling his dad in one scene, but from Tsuzuki to go to one extreme to the next (He is still ubberly wussy, I'm sorry) doesn't feel right at all. I don't mind Tsuzuki even being uke, but here, he's so ubber uke that it makes me weep. I really can't decide what's worse, uber!snark Hisoka or uber!weak Tsuzuki. Both are a big mess...

Negativities: Snark up the bumhole, emo angst
Summary: Hisoka starts losing his powers and doesn't know why. Neither does Akimiya. The other Shinigami do, but they're not saying anything. When a case comes in soon after, Hisoka has to solve it only using his wits and his empathy. Easy enough? Too bad life isn't that easy...
Overall: 5.6/10 - Probably the weakest of the trilogy, which is a shame, since this should've been the strongest story of them all. The ideas were there, but they weren't pulled off well. Honestly, if you're looking for a story that covers Tsuzuki's background, this is a so-so job. If you're looking for this series to go out with a bang, you're probably better off skipping this part all together. Part two concludes in such a way that this series really didn't need another part save to prolong it's lifespan.
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