Fanfic Inspiring and interesting, but flawed
Let me get some things out of the way:
1. This story was one of the major inspirations for my A Hunter's New Home fanfic. 2. I never finished the story as I lost interest at a certain point. 3. I'll be spoiling some parts of the fanfic, so if you don't want that stop here.
With that out of the way: This is a pretty good fanfic. This story is the first of the "Hentai Fix Fics" I ever read, and got me interested in that type of story. Plus it's the first Bloodborne Crossover fic I read that had an interesting and unique Hunter.
That's not to say there aren't others. But a few things that separate Kyril from the other Hunters in these types of stories are:
1. He's not a crazy lunatic. 2. He got the Childhood's Beginnings Ending of Bloodborne. 3. He doesn't have sex with anyone...at least as far as I read, nor does he let himself feel flustered, lustful, or let anyone force themselves on him.
He's a really fun protagonist. Not to mention that Kuroinu's swallow world building does wonders for allowing the author to expand on the world in his own way. I was all but ready to read about a story where Kyril stomps his way through the Black Dogs.
And that's what happened...until about the halfway point.
At this point, Kyril started getting kind of...boring. Not that he wasn't interesting anymore, but it felt like he just kept doing the same shit over and over again. And it seemed like his power level would flucuate based on the story. He could easily defeat a mutated member of the Seven Swords Alliance and a summoned Cleric Beast...but couldn't stomp Volt who is in no way a match for a Cleric Beast?
In addition, the story started to add in elements from Bloodborne. The summoning of Great Ones, Beasts coming in, and other such things. Which took away from the story for me and really made me drop it. I just didn't like the thought of stuff from the video game coming in and overriding all the story built up in the Kuroinu setting.
But the story still holds a special place in my heart for helping me clarify exactly how I would write my own fanfic. I'll probably stay away from the rewrite, as I feel it won't really fix these issues.
So, at the end of the day, should you give the story a go? Yes. I think you should.
Fanfic An In-Hindsight Review
This review is different from my original in that I have actually read through the entire Reimagined version of this fanfic now. As such, I felt the need to layout my thoughts on both versions.
To be completely honest, I think both fics suffer from the same problem. That being that the stories start strong and keep the momentum for most of the first and second halves, but then start to drop off near the end.
In the original version, Kyril's badassery and the way he completely derails the plot is amazing. Though he leaves Vault alive, it's still cool to see him rescue Olga, watch the reunion with Celestine where the two put aside differences, see Kyril actually try to comfort Mia while still rejecting her advances, and watch as he forms his own Hunter Group to fight Vault. But then it starts bringing in stuff from Yharnam and the story starts to get completely bloated. Not to mention Vault somehow being able to keep up with Kyril despite the fact that Kryil can one-shot a Cleric Beast later in that same chapter.
In the Reimagined version, Kyril is still a badass and he still completely derails the plot. He has more time to show his snarky side, the way he kills Vault right off the bat is amazing, I love the former Black Dogs he's gathered to his side, and loved the way he handled himself. But my enjoyment was immediately shot down the moment the OC Rat God was introduced, Celestine and the Seven Shields started acting like vindictive idiots even going so far as to ignore one of the Black Dogs admitting to everything to their faces, Grace for some reason not liking Kryil anymore just because he killed a guy who was going to rape her and Anna, Kryil going from understable cynic to straight up "Just Kill Yourself Already" Nihilist, and how most of the story starts feeling like just an excuse to create a Trauma Conga Line for Kryil.
Now this doesn't mean I don't think the stories are good. I still think they are some of the best editions of these "Fix Hentai Fics" out there. They're milestones that kind of started this trend to begin with. However, I personally don't like them as much as I used to. I prefer the original over the Reimagined if only cause I like the Kryil that has some form of compassion remaining better than the one that probably should've offed himself already in Reimagined. And I like Celestine and Olga becoming friends again rather than the bullshit that happened in Reimagined.
I'd still suggest reading them both.