Author: metisket
AO3 ID: 5030443
Status: Complete (3 chapters)
My rating: 5 of 5
Ichigo is convinced that someone lost a bet–although whether it was his boss or the other guy is a bit of a mystery. Whatever the case, whoever thought sending him to some military magic school that’s full of weirdness and politicking to bodyguard some teenage ball of rage should probably be committed. Because seriously. In any case, Ichigo finds himself packed off to Scotland to keep an eye on one Harry Potter (and consequently, Harry’s friends and associates). Meanwhile Urahara and Yoruichi track down and kill off pieces of some “Dark Lord”‘s soul–and seriously, why do these wizards let him get away with giving himself airs when his name is, in fact, Tom?–because apparently Soul Society doesn’t take kindly to people splitting their soul into pieces. Naturally, Ichigo’s presence in Hogwarts is about as much a wrecking ball as you can imagine. But hey, at least the wizard kids are learning to protect themselves, right?
There May Be Some Collateral Damage is absolutely the Bleach/HP crossover that I never knew I needed. It’s taken mostly from Ichigo’s perspective, although we occasionally get Hermione, Ron, or the Weasley twins’ perspective on him as well. And yeah, it’s basically hilarious from start to finish. Ichigo is sooo not into his role, as he tells Toshiro over the phone repeatedly. And of course, he completely fails to keep stuff a secret from Harry &co., while at the same time, telling them basically nothing about who he actually is or about Soul Society or anything. Ichigo, being the man of action he is, manages to stir up all kinds of trouble with Umbridge, trouble the castle ghosts, rope the twins into his schemes, and generally baffle the student body–all while theoretically trying to keep himself in check and well-behaved. I really loved the characterizations presented here. Ichigo himself is full of snark and having none of this political rubbish. And seeing the HP characters through his eyes is just fascinating; the author did a great job with that. The one thing I didn’t care for was the presentation of Dumbledore, because I actually like him; and yet, I can totally see Ichigo seeing him as he’s presented here, so I can’t even really complain about that. Also, just the writing itself is quite good, managing to be enjoyable and seamless even though it’s written in present tense. I found There May Be Some Collateral Damage to be both insightful and funny (like, I was laughing aloud basically through the whole thing), and I would recommend it to fans without reservation.
Note: You can find There May Be Some Collateral Damage at https://archiveofourown.org/works/5030443/chapters/11562568.
honyasbookshelf 