Yuso is a Princess Mononoke fanfic created and currently in the process of being written by author Zyrios on FanFiction.net
. It is currently eight chapters long, and counting.
The story of Yuso focuses around two teenage boys, Noah Errans and Finn Mc Daniel, two friends living in the present day who unexpectedly wind up transported through time and space to Japan, in the Muromachi Period, thanks to a mysterious force of nature. Stranded in an unfamiliar land during a tumultuous time, the two boys quickly cross paths with the Emishi prince, Ashitaka, and after unintentionally getting themselves wrapped up in his personal quest, they find themselves with no other option but to retrace the plot of the movie in the hopes of finding some means of returning to their own time awaiting them somewhere in the forest surrounding Irontown.
Word of God credits the works of authors Stone-Man85 and N'jata for inspiring Zyrios, though only insofar as the plot of "present-day person gets sent back in time" is concerned. The fic-in-progress can be found here.
Yuso provides examples of:
- Action Hero: Ashitaka, of course.
- Anti-Hero: Noah and Finn are chiefly concerned with surviving long enough to find their way back home, and only got involved in the plot by accident. Meanwhile, Eiji Abukara is a former samurai who fell from grace and has since then been reduced to an embittered, unwilling bandit lieutenant.
- Bilingual Bonus: "Yuso," according to the author, is one of several ways to say "transport" in Japanese, which he felt was appropriate for the title of a story about two kids being kidnapped through time.
- In chapter five, Finn calls his sister Sammie and receives an unwarranted chewing-out, riddled with angry Scottish slang.
- Chapter seven is titled, "Alleati di un Tempo," which means "Erstwhile Allies" in Italian - a nod to newcomer protagonist Eiji Abukara's backstory as an ex-fisherman from Venice, as well as a hint as to the meat of the chapter. Possibly subverted here, as Zyrios admits that he got his information from Google Translate, and could very likely be wrong.
- Bumbling Dad: Averted. Rick Errans is a very proactive single parent to his four children, and though he takes some convincing at first, he quickly wises up to the fact that his son is in a dangerous situation and jumps into action. Unfortunately, he just as quickly learns that calling the police does little good, since Noah isn't in present day Japan.
- Combat Pragmatist: In chapter seven, after being split up from Noah and Ashitaka, Finn undergoes a brief stealthy portion where he tries to sneak past a search party of bandits. It takes no time at all for him to ditch this plan and just bull rush one hapless brute, headbutting him to the ground, kicking him unconscious, and then, for good measure, hurling a large rock straight into the man's skull, caving a portion of it in and quite possibly rendering him mentally defunct, vegetative, comatose, or dead. The bandit's fate is ultimately left unknown, but any way you look at it, Finn well and truly ruined that man's day.
- Crazy-Prepared: Noah notes that Finn is unusually well-equipped for their current situation, from guessing where they are by the simple act of being knowledgeable about flowers to having two weapons with which to defend themselves, if need be.
- Foreshadowing: Prior to being thrown through time and space, Noah and his sisters had the idea to watch Princess Mononoke for late night fun, and Finn had just gotten done watching the movie, himself.
- Gratuitous Japanese: Averted, for the most part. The characters all appear to speak English, whether it should be their native language or not. It's explained in-fic that they're able to understand what they're saying to each other, possibly as a side effect of the phenomenon that brought Noah and Finn back in time in the first place.
- Missing Dad: Subverted. At first, Rick isn't present during the first chapter of the story. In chapter three, however, he makes his first appearance via Skype call.
- Missing Mom: Played straight. Noah's mother, Alice Errans, died two years after Noah's birth from a sudden attack of pancreatic cancer, and according to the doctors who treated her, it was one of the worst cases they had ever seen.
- Plot Device: Noah's cell phone is inexplicably stuck at 50% battery charge and can somehow make calls through time and space, allowing him to keep in frequent contact with his and Finn's families, who help drive the plot forward by being a constant reminder of what the two boys are trying to return to. The force of nature that caused the mess they're in is likely to blame for this.
- Shown Their Work: Frequent author's notes from Zyrios show that he takes a fair amount of time to make sure that he gets his facts straight before publishing a chapter.
- He also seems to be holding faithfully to canon for the most part, only deviating for such events as Finn helping Ashitaka strike Nago down and Noah getting captured by bandits.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Averted with Noah and Finn's families; every so often, one group or the other will call in on Noah's cell phone to make sure that the two are still okay, while they, themselves, are able to do nothing but sit on their hands, given the boys' situation.
