I said I would do a fanfic review so here it is! "Sakura Urameshi" is a fic series made by Rosentic_xo and can be found in Wattpad, AO3, and Fanfiction.net. This by far might be one of the very few OC insert fanfics that actually does it perfectly! So I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading their work, it's amazing especially in the later books.
As of now, I FINALLY finished book 1 so here's my review of it. I'm gonna review book 2 and 3 later on once I finally watch season 2 and 3 of YYH.
I will keep on saying this but here's the first time I will say it. THIS IS A REVIEW FOR BOOK 1 OF THE SERIES, THIS REVIEW DOES NOT DEFY THE SERIES AS A WHOLE. READ THE FIC YOURSELF TO SEE THE OTHER BOOKS!!!
So far nothing really changes a lot in the fanfic, just only additional stuff since there's an OC.
HOWEVER, that doesn't make it bad. In fact, how they included the OC, Sakura, was what I liked.
Rose not only stick to the canon events, but also tried to include Sakura despite having the same results as canon. How they include her, in my opinion, felt natural and fits the OC's character. It gets even better in the later books, but I'll review them once I finish them.
And now, the OC. Sakura Urameshi is the younger twin sister of the main protagonist, Yusuke Urameshi. Sound like your typical OC insert, right?
But that's just it. The best thing I love about their work is how they include and show Sakura's relationship with every character. Not only that, but her power scaling is pretty balanced and there are moments shown of why her power is valuable but still needs to be mastered by Sakura.
Sakura's power is basically telepathy. A very OP power, so to balance that out, she can only read the minds and see the memories of the people she's very close to. She will start learning how to read minds and memories of people not close to her, but that's a work in progress for her.
She also has a similar attack as Yusuke called "Spirit Blast" but I assure you that her power isn't just a copy paste. Far from it.
Since Yusuke is the closest to her, of course they would have a strong bond and care deeply about each other(especially with their childhood). And it emphasizes that every time. Yusuke, the arrogant yet caring person he is, always tries to put her in the sidelines to keep her safe. But Sakura always retaliates, wanting to fight with him instead. As the book goes on, Yusuke starts to trust her more to take care of herself and is proud of her. They don't just add an OC, they EMPHASIZE how strong their bond is because they're twins. Not all twins are that close, but with their childhood, they would have a strong bond with each other and care deeply about their siblings.
THIS is what you should do with OC inserts, show their relationship with the characters and make it fit their personality.
And now Keiko and Sakura. For some context, Keiko is Yusuke's childhood best friend and love interest. And since they're best friends, Sakura is also best friends with her. While reading the story, I like how it showed Sakura bonding with Keiko when Yusuke is not around. They're not friends because of Yusuke, they're friends because, well, they became friends in their own way. They don't need Yusuke to connect. In fact, I like how they have their backs for one another because of Yusuke's reputation as a delinquent. They know Yusuke is more than that, and are not alone in that statement.
I also love how it shows Sakura's love for her friend, not to the same extent as Yusuke(yk what I mean) but the love she has for her is still there. They've been friends for years and every scene with them shows it.
Unfortunately, I don't have a lot to say about Kuwabara and Sakura's relationship. They're close, but not to the extent of Yusuke and Keiko. But I still like the dialogues and relationship they have. Feels natural and funny.
