🌻Jaded by FoxyPuff 🌻

Genre: BNHA Fanfiction, Fiction, Coming-of-Age

Chapters Reviewed: 10 Chapters

Summary: Takara Juba loves heroes and is determined to become one. She's confident in her abilities, but she soon finds herself in a whole new league.

Her classmates are the top of the top, and she finds herself a step behind. Without a flashy enough quirk, she begins to think her family is right; how can she really hope to become a hero?

Reviewed as of 10/16/2024.

Link to Story: https://www.wattpad.com/story/271758739-jaded-a-mha-oc-fanfic

Review Type: Advance Review, Spoilers

Review: Note, this will be spoiler filled up until chapter 10 (as that was the last chapter I read)

When asked what three words described her book, FoxyPuff claimed it was dramatic, new-age, and fun, and honestly, and I can see why. This isn't your typical BNHA fanfic. It takes place a few years after the series, where we get to see Takara fangirling over the Pro Hero, Suneater, and training under Uravity at Unforeseen Simulation Joint (USJ). It's so neat seeing what has happened to these characters in the lens of the next generation of heroes, but not overshadowing them. Personally, I love stories like these. There is so much lore that has yet been discovered in the BNHA realm, so focusing on characters outside of that is very refreshing.

Because there are so many new characters being introduced, I feel like this story is still in the exposition part of it. Ten chapters of mere exposition may sound like a lot, but I think it's needed. We're introduced to the 10 main classmates of 1-A by chapter 6, but it's not character overload, all at once. Instead, they're scattered throughout the first 6 chapters fairly evenly that it makes it easier to memorize who everyone is. I love that we see Morita and Takara work together flawlessly in the entrance exams. In the following chapter, once Takara gets accepted into U.A., the two then meet the Pixie Twins as well as meet a few of the teachers.

Which is another thing I want to pause to talk about. I love when writers put twins in their stories, but it peeves me to no end when I cannot differentiate them. It's such a cliche so many authors use, whether in fanfiction or in published works. Luckily, that doesn't happen in this story. We can clearly see Aiya is the shyer of the two twins while Kaede seems to do all the talking for the two. This can be seen when they're introducing themselves and discussing their Quirks as Kaede said "'Our quirk is called Pixie,"' almost speaking for Aiya. Maybe that's just how they are, especially since Aiya has this quiet personality, but a couple chapters later, Aiya is calling Kaede a control freak. Honestly, I can see it. Kaede wasn't a horrible control freak in the beginning, but there's definitely subtle hints that I can see why Aiya would be so frustrated with her.

This tension between the two sisters really does a great job showcasing not just those two characters, but those around them. As I've said before, we're introduced to them gradually. Araya, for example, is another character that is named after the first test Sensei McCaffery (the 1-A teacher) throws at the students. He seems to look forward to meeting the twins and is disheartened when they leave because of Aiya's shyness. Later, when we see the fight between the twins, he's very patient, wanting to learn more about what's going on between Aiya and her sister.

Now that I'm writing this all out, I think I know why I'm enjoying this story so much. It reminds me of the classic novel by F. Scott Fizgerald, The Great Gatsby. Even though Takara is the main character, so far, the story has been focusing more on the twins, kind of like how in The Great Gatsby, the main characters are Jay Gastby and Daisy Buchanan, but it's from Nick's point of view. Maybe that'll change, but I like that it's not taking the "I'm the main character, so I'm going to fix everything!" approach. Instead, Takara is there to support Aiya and help out, but she seems to know her boundaries, not interfering too much. She still has her own problems that she needs to navigate through—like worrying about getting into U.A. (she ranked 36/40 students during the entrance exam) and witnessing all the fantastic Quirks the others have—but once the twins are introduced, it seems to focus more on their problems more so than Takara's.

Well, except for accidentally drowning, therefore, needing help from both the twins that they have to work together, but that was definitely an accident caused by the traitor, Akihiko Hirose, who taunted Takara into going into the water at USJ, despite her not knowing how to swim. Do we know that Hirose is truly a traitor? No. There could very well be no traitors considering this story is taking a different approach than BNHA since there's no huge villain group that the cast has yet to face, but there's something off about him. I'm calling it now that when he turns out to be the villain, you all know I warned you about it.

I think that would be the only problem I have with it. Not the Hirose thing or no villains thing, but how there's probably going to be some big villain group but they haven't really popped up outside the prologue. Granted, the prologue did take place during BNHA, with Compressed using his Quirk to shrink someone into a small marble and mentioning how Shigaraki would be proud that he captured a boy named Kiyoshi. Who is Kiyoshi? He's a baseball player who we know was turned into a nomu, but hopes that he doesn't hurt his family consisting of two parents and a younger sibling during his time as one. My first thought was that maybe it's Takara's older sibling and maybe there's a reason she's going to U.A., except she never mentions him and he only mentions one younger sibling. So how does this play a part into the story? I'm not sure. With more than ten chapters written by the time this review is out, if it's not mentioned again, I feel like it's going to be forgotten.

That aside, I think the pacing of the story is well done. Yes, the first ten chapters seem like exposition, but it's not a dreaded slow pace of 10 chapters worth of exposition. Instead, it's giving the reader time to feel the dynamics between all the characters as well as get familiarized with all the new characters that are in the story.

I think that's all I can really say about the first 10 chapters alone. So with that said, let's find out how Jaded ranks...

Rating: 5/5

I honestly can't find much to critique, and honestly, before giving the review, I've been rushing to each chapter to read it. There's so much to love about this story, whether it's the unique characters, the beautiful style it is written in, or just how much time the author has clearly given this story. I seriously think that if you're a huge BNHA fan, you should give this book a chance. My only complaint is the prologue and seeing how it fits into the story, but I've only read ten chapters. Maybe that'll change in the next arc or two and will be an aha moment. Until then, I'll just have to keep reading.

Interview:

Luckily, I had the privilege to interview FoxyPuff about what it was like to write Jaded.

Junie: Thank you so much for taking the time for an interview. Jaded is such a fresh take on the BNHA world, but I realize that many people may recognize your name from another popular fanfic, Muted Voices. Did the success of your previous story help influence you at all when writing Jaded?

Foxy: I think that, if anything, it made me more anxious. I knew that Muted Voices rose to fame due to my inclusion of beloved characters from canon, and so branching out to a mostly OC cast would mean I would have to make something truly spectacular to get people hooked. I suppose I put a lot of pressure on myself to write because of my readers, so going into a project expecting way less eyes than I have become used to pushed me even harder to make Jaded great.

Junie: I can definitely see how that would be intimidating, but if there's one thing I absolutely adored in your new story, it's how unique the characters are. Speaking of, which of your new characters has been your favorite to create and why?

Foxy: I don't know if I could choose just one, since the pixie twins have my heart. Aiya is a very familiar character to write, and Kaede's personality is based off of someone very special to me. I got to deep dive their pasts, as it plays an integral part to the story. But also, I just love thinking about them because of how cute they are

Junie: The twins are one of my favorite parts of Jaded. They're very unique, and I love seeing how their story pan out in it so far. Speaking of favorite parts, what has been your favorite part of writing Jaded?

Foxy:My favorite part has been writing the Sports Festival since I got to create some new events and highlight all my OC's different fighting styles. I was also fortunate enough to be lent some of my friend's OCs to fill out the cast a bit more, and it was really fun to work with them on it.

Junie: That is so neat that you created that opportunity to work with various different authors because you included their characters in your story. Tell me a bit about the process. Did you reach out and ask specific writers for them to lend a character, did you ask for specific ones? What was the collaboration process like?

Foxy: I put a call out in the writing channel of the UA Storytellers Discord asking if I could borrow some OCs for the Sports Festival Arc, and I got a few people who sent me specific OCs they'd like to see with my cast. And then, the thing was, it took so long to plan and write that I think a lot of people forgot that I had asked about it. But eventually, I went straight to those authors and asked about their OC's way of fighting, strategizing, and speaking. I wrote out the scenes with those characters and sent them to the authors for approval and let them make any edits they saw fit to make.

Junie: That is amazing that you had that opportunity to collaborate with various talented writers, giving their OCs a moment to shine as well. Speaking of which, how do you think this collaborative process enhances the experience for your readers? What unique insights or enjoyment do you hope they take away from your story?

Foxy: I think adding characters they know gives a good point of reference that will bring in more readers and more opportunities for collaboration with their favorite writers and OCs. But also getting to work with different writers brings new ideas for interactions. Because, of course, I can only imagine so much in the scenarios I dream up, so other writers planning for their characters creates new possibilities and a more diverse and authentic story for my readers

Junie: I love that you used the word authentic because that's such a great word to describe your story. Working with other writers definitely helps you achieve that goal. I don't think I've seen any piece of work like it before. Beyond the collaboration portion of the story, what other aspects do you hope your readers get out of your story? Are there any themes, characters, plot, or anything else that we haven't discussed you'd like to stick with readers?

Foxy: I think the ideal message to take away from Jaded would be to take care of one another and to find that group you can trust. Takara doesn't form those deep connections very easily, but it's exactly those bonds that assist in her goal of becoming a hero.

Junie: That is a great message to have. I cannot wait to see how that all unfolds in Jaded. Is there anything else you'd like readers to know about Jaded?

Foxy: I'm just grateful for everyone who has given my story a chance and hope that I can reach many more because I worked really hard on Jaded and just think it's worth it 😊

Junie: Thank you for taking the time to interview. If you think this seems like the story for you, then check it out!