Give a Reason for Life - A Lina/Gourry manifesto

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Title: "Give a Reason for Life" - A Lina/Gourry manifesto
Pairing Lina Inverse/Gourry Gabriev
Fandom: Slayers
Spoilers: The entire Slayers franchise to date. There's quite a bit of it! The big spoilers for those not familiar with the parts of the series not released in English are novels 7-15 and Slayers: Knight of Aqualord.
Note: As done by previous posters, parts of this manifesto will be linked back to my LiveJournal due to the breaking of the character-limit count for posts and because this manifesto went way over 5,000 words and I couldn't get it trimmed down.


Part I. Introduction and Acknowledgements
I: Much appreciation!
I'm starting off my essay with this because I couldn't had done this essay this throughly without a bunch of people pitching in with pictures, novel snippets, canon correcting and being dragged into World of Warcraft to work off some steam. Thanks goes to theslayers and the people on my friends list who answered the survey I put out for them. Many images used here are provided through Eterno Poder, True Slayers and the scanning efforts of ichiban_victory and gigabahamut666. the_flowergirl and gigabahamut666 saw early versions of this manifesto and helped me refine my thoughts.

Formatting credits for this essay go to heronite and her awesome manifesto on Naruto/Sakura from the series Naruto. While I'm not a fan of that series or pairing, her attention to detail and her organization method greatly influenced how I handed my own manifesto.

Finally, the biggest thanks goes to kitesareevil and snowstorm_tm, both who were instrumental in getting me addicted to Slayers. I'll get you for this, Stef!

II. Why Slayers? A Bunneh comes very late to the fandom!
There are some of you not familiar with Slayers that might be reading this. Most, I assume, have at least a basic knowledge of who the characters are and how the series works. beccastareyes did a fantastic manifesto back in 2004 that covered the anime and the movies. It is a good article that covers the big events in the anime between this pairing.

There are two other aspects to this franchise. The first is the novels, which ran from 1989-2000 in Gekkan Dragon Magazine and is the original source for everything else in the franchise. Then there are several manga series that relate directly to Lina and Gourry. I decided to write this essay because I wanted to show the Lina/Gourry relationship from the novel and manga side of the story and show different facets of this pairing.

I am a latecomer to the Slayers fandom. It was one of those series I'd always meant to watch. I got the first novel in English, always intending to read it but never did. I saw the first eight episodes of the anime back in 2001, but was too focused on college homework to really pay attention. It wasn't until four years after I first saw those episodes that I decided it was time to continue. Thus the wonders of Netflix provided me with almost the entire first season at once.

I did not enter Slayers as a Lina/Gourry fan. I never even really paid attention to Gourry, to be honest. Lina captivated me from the get-go with her sheer attitude. She's everything you wouldn't expect in a heroine. She's greedy, selfish, a glutton, and all sorts of things that you wouldn't assign to a series heroine like Kamiya Kaoru from Rurouni Kenshin or Higurashi Kagome from Inuyasha. Lina isn't afraid of anything and isn't exactly the easiest person to be around. Sweet and pleasant don't really describe her. I laughed my head off at her antics and stuck with the series to see what Lina would do next.

When the character of Zelgadiss Greywords was introduced, I found myself liking that pairing instead. Thanks to a couple of close friends, I had been spoiled to the ending of Slayers NEXT, the second season, and wondered what kick in the head it took to make Lina like Gourry in that way. When the first arc of the anime was complete, Zelgadiss exited the scene. When he came back after Amelia's introduction, I could see immediately see the Amelia/Zelgadiss pairing, but not Lina/Gourry. It wasn't until the Copy Rezo fight, when Gourry completely loses it on the battlefield when Lina was mortally wounded, that the little lightbulb went on in my head and the pairing suddenly worked. I suddenly picked up the first volume of the novels, the one gathering dust on my shelf, and read it. Then I ran out and grabbed the second and third, the only other ones out at the time. I was completely sold on the pairing.

From here, the manifesto is broken up into parts. Each part of the manifesto has a clickable index at the beginning so it's easier to read if you need to take a break and go beat up critters in WoW.

Part II: Character Introduction and Story Summary
Introduction of the characters and how their relationship has grown throughout the novels and manga.

Part III: Pairing Analysis and Fandom Resources
Discussing the arguments against Lina/Gourry, why the pairing works so well and fandom resources.

To keep everything organized, I ask people to post their comments to this post, please. Comments to the supporting posts are disabled. As always, flames are not allowed!

Comments

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Zomg.

*blushblushblush*

When I say things, I have no idea that people actually pay attention to what I say...I had no idea you would quote me! I am so extremely flattered, you have NO IDEA.

I saw you had finished this on the DK Flist, so I read it, and then I saw my name, and that you posted ALL of the fiction I wrote about Slayers! You flatter me to no end. Thank you so so so much.

And, oh, the whole essay is PERFECT.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Of course I listened to you, hon! *hugs* Everyone said some fantastic stuff. Your comment on the foreplay was bull's eye right there! Thank you for all the help!

*Light bulb in brain crackles, flickers suddenly goes on*

Wait a minute...YOU'RE OMONI!!!!! *drops to knees* What can I do to beg you to write more of "Insert Witty Title Here"? Want a kitty? How about three of them? Cookies? Cake? And yes, I have my own jellyfish moments. You've got to excuse them.

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

Eeeeh?!! *blushes crimson* You didn't know I was Omoni?I am she, she is me. We fight alot. I sort of hate her, actually =P.

And wait, you want me to write MORE of that story? I didn't know ANYONE wanted that story to go on, besides Mike o.o;;. Ever since I got that comment about it being OOC I've had a deflated heart and dead bunnies about it x.x;;.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Someone thought your story was OOC? No! I think you nailed both of them, especially going by the novels. I went and looked at your reviews and I do think that the one reviewer is way off about his assessment of Lina. It's not surprising for her to have some amount of claustrophobia after what she had gone through in the previous story. It's like how I wrote Lina with post-traumatic stress disorder in "Darkstar" based off of the events with Hellmast Phibrizzo. If anything, you've showed that Lina is extremely human and how she hates to be reminded of it.

The extreme stubbornness on both ends is rooted into the novels and Gourry's behavior toward Lina reminds me of the fourth novel when he told her to give up the Saillune assignment before she's killed. I have a feeling that from the way he acted in the sixth novel that Gourry was really close to doing the same thing and was biting his tongue - a LOT. I see what happened with them as a natural progression of their relationship since there's now some intimacy involved there.

And yeah, I'm kind of known for my own jellyfish moments. :) And don't worry, I fight with plotbunnies on a regular basis. ;)

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

You know, it's really nice to see and know that at least ONE PERSON understood what I was doing and where I was going. This really makes me happy. Especially since I've been a fangirl of yours for a while, now. I'm just glad that you not only get it, but also want more.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I'm a fangirl of yours as well, so the feeling is mutual. ^_^ I'm so bad about meaning to write reviews and never getting around to it.

[yukinoomoni.livejournal.com]

*bounces*

omoni_scribbles

Everything I write goes here. Comment and critique to your heart's content. I LOVE feedback.

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Okay! *joins*

I used to have stuff broken out into a separate community myself, but then kept forgetting to update it in addition to my regular LJ, so I decided just to fold everything back into the main LJ.

[xellos-fan-girl.livejournal.com]

*is stunned* AWESOME! I am in awe. Truly. *nods* You also have me watching the second season. *snickers*

*now has sooooo many ideas for new description*

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I want to rewatch Next too!!!

Do you still want me to write out those descriptions or do you want to base stuff off of what I've written here?

[xellos-fan-girl.livejournal.com]

Could you write them?

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

Gourry/Lina is clearly made of win!!!
I really have to read the novels though. Hum I don't know if they've been translated in french *-*...

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Hmm... I'm not sure either. You might have to import the English ones. 1-6 are currently out and 7 and 8 will be available in July. TOKYOPOP said that at this point they haven't licensed 9-15, it depends on how well novels 7 and 8 sell. Then there's the Japanese, but at this point all I can do with mine is look at the pretty pictures and go "Ooooh! Shiny!" I can make out some of the text, but the novels are on a higher reading level in Japanese than I can comfortably read at for the moment.

[peeperoonie.livejournal.com]

I have the urge to re-watch and re-read all the Slayers stuff I have now XD Congratulations on completing a rather large undertaking and making a damn good job of it Two thumbs way, waaaay up!

Now I have a dilemma: draenei priest or fanfiction?

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Immense icon love and little people in post love! Is the icon gankable?? And thank you!

I need to work on my poor, abandoned Draenei shaman. I did one of those and a Blood Elf priest and my mage is almost to 61. It's been so busy at work that I hadn't had much of a chance to mess with the expansion this week. When I checked in with my brother on his server, he was already 65 and I'm quite sure he's higher than that now!

So my answer for the day is WoW, then fanfiction. Or combine both if you're riding a gryphon. What server are you on? My alliance are on Dethecus (ichiban_victory is the one who got me addicted) and my Horde are on Burning Legion.

[peeperoonie.livejournal.com]

It sure is aloong with the others I did for the Slayers LJ icon contest.

I made a Draenei shaman too, but there are loads of the buggers all over the starting area, so I decided to train up my new priest first and work on my shaman when everything calmed down a little. My poor human mage is only 62 because I adore my Rahxephonia so much

So yeah, WoW won the battle this afternoon -_- I'm on the EU servers, alas (The Venture co. for Alliance, Frostmane for Horde) so I won't be able to join you

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yay! Thanks! I'll make sure to credit! The little Gourry sprites are adorable too!

WoW will win the battle until my boyfriend comes over and reminds me of a concept call food and that I must consume it. But first I have to pacify the three lumps of fur that are curled up on the futon, even though they can stand to lose weight since they devour cat food like it's going out of style. I hate that we can't join you either!

[janegray.livejournal.com]

Great manifesto ♥

Just a note: in part III you answered the argument "Gourry's too stupid! Who'd want to be with such a idiot?" with the explanation that he isn't really dumb in the novel, only in the anime. But that answer works only if you ship Gourry/Lina exclusively in novel!canon. I ship it in anime!canon too, and my answer to that argument is simply that a person doesn't need to be smart in order to be loved by smart people, the lack of brains can be filled with kindness, loyalty, courage, skill, and many other qualities.

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

OH crap, I knew I forgot something....

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

You make a very, very good point here. Since there was a manifesto based on the anime canon, I kept a lot of my answers specific to the novels and manga, though I did mention some anime details. I'll probably go back in and flesh that out now that I'm not fighting with major work deadlines. Gourry also proves that he's smart in his own way in the anime - such as when he revealed that he knew that Xelloss was a Mazoku all along. I think that it's true for Gourry across the board and when I go back into revise and update (since there was some major fandom news out of Japan recently), I'll be sure to include that.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The manisfesto was pretty good (and distraction! *kicks away a work creature*) I liked the whole comparaison between the anime and the other mediums. I though it was funny, since you proposed this couple for the sexual tension contest: in the novels, you can feel the tension (and sexual references) but in the anime, despite the love, their relationship feels platonic. The accept each other so much, and work together so well, that there is no tension. I though that was a funny little thing to add.

And oh, thanks for putting me in the Fanart section and putting in the "To Return" fancomic. Did you read it in full? When I did, I was sobbing the whole time. "Gourry's dead! *sobs*"

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Yes, I read the entire comic, damn you! *thwack* That's for making me cry at work. Meanie. :P

The novels and the Knight of Aqualord manga are what really sold me on the pairing after I saw in the anime that it could work because both of those have a lot of sexual tension. I do think there is tension in NEXT, but it's nowhere near on the level that is in the novels or hell, the one-shot Araizumi manga (Medieval Mayhem) is much, much worse than even the novels regarding that. When I first got it and was flipping through the first couple of chapters I thought, "she's going to haul him into a room and have her way with him."

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

By the way, that Slayers graffitti, at animelibrary.org is done by akane no hime. She has awesome Slayers stuff.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

I was just gonna add that! *laughs* I love the librairy of slayers creativity. Awesome stuff ^^

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Thank you! The link was given to me with no artist, so I'll fix that when I do the updates.

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

I've been a fan for a long time.

[maddy02.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, i'm surprised by your confession of early Lina/Zel sympathy. Not surprised you're brave/honest enough to admit it, more that it actually happened. You're basically my vision of LG shippynes (not that you arn't anymore =p)

A wonderful manifesto, superbly written, all presented factually with little to no bias detectable. A solid piece of work ^^ and particularly interesting to one who hasn't read the novels (I'll HAVE to find a use for Gourry's version of CPR somewhere)

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *hugs*

I think in the anime, the thing that lacked between Lina and Gourry was the sexual tension to begin with. I didn't see it the first time around. I saw some the second time after I'd become a Lina/Gourry fan. When I enter a new series, I do my best to make my own judgments regarding pairings and things like that and not go off of what other people like. I knew that Lina/Gourry was there, but the series was going to have to sell me on it and they did. I got the Lina/Gourry friendship right from the start.

[anna-nimmie-tee.livejournal.com]

Wow, you warned me you'd use my Xelloss/Gourry observation, but I didn't know you'd list one of my stories. [Gets wavey-eyed] Thank you!

What a lot of work! There was so much to cover and put together, and you did it beautifully with logic and your own and others observations. I also liked your use of the manga and novel illustrations to further your arguments. (One eensy, weensy detail, that makes no difference in concept or conclusions: The assassin didn't try to slit Lina's throat; he tried to crush her windpipe. In doing so, he almost destroyed her voicebox. Like I said, you had a lot of material to go through.)

(This is anime related, but the manifesto remineded me of this. There is one very short, subtle indication of Lina's feelings for Gourry in "Try" that very few people seem to notice. It's acutally one of my favorite "romantic" moments in Slayers. In the "Wonderland" episode, the second time she sees the "Corncob", she tenses up and clenches her fist in frustration. Her reaction is noticed by Zelgadiss, who looks down at her hand, but neither say anything. Zelgadiss for once shows some sensitivity about someone else's feelings. If he had any fantasies regarding Lina as a result of the Marriage Temple, even though he knows it was fake, he knows then Lina wants her Gourry. There's no yelling, no violence, no comedy, and the momement passes unobtrusively. I sorta see the alternate pairings of this episode and the Fishmen & Peacemen episodes as follow-ups to the Marriage Temple one and as the creators answers to the alternative 'shippers for Lina.)

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I'll make the change to the fourth novel description, thank you! That was actually one of the first things I wrote so I'd been going after the loose descriptions at that point.

I'll probably go back in and add the scene from TRY as well, because it's one of my favorite parts of that season. That moment and the first "Corncob" moment were awesome. You saw how tense and upset Lina was going into that party scene, but once she saw the shock of familiar-looking blond hair, her demeanor changed immediately. She relaxed completely and her smile was enormous and she sounded so happy when she yelled, "Gourry!" It makes me regret that there wasn't more to their real reunion a few episodes later.

[(Anonymous)]

Absolutely amazing. Great work of analyse and well writing.
I think Lina-Gourry is the the couple of Slayers.
I will add at your arguments against Lina-Xellos that, as a mazoku, Xellos is not able of love anybody.

[http://users.livejournal.com/__myxemergencyx/]

OKAY so i know that this is old, BUT i think i must add a quote you may have missed that made me think that Gourry was falling in love with Lina: so towards the end of book one, Lina was shaking Zelgadiss's hand, and Gourry asked if she was falling in love with Zelgadiss because of the way she shook his hand and she told him not to be ridiculous and he said something like 'i dont think i'm being ridiculous' :)

i'm not trying to say you missed it on purpoose or anything, not at all! i just like to add as much to the Lina/Gourry ship as i can :) even if it seems nonsignificant :)

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I really need to update this to reflect the new material that's come out since this was written. So much good stuff for the Lina/Gourry ship has come out!!

I remember the quote, and I do agree with you that it could be taken that way. I think once I get settled after the move, I'm going to sit down with this and start retooling it.