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.

[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*

[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 *-*...

[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?

[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.

[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*"

[the-flowergirl.livejournal.com]

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

[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)

[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.)

[(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 :)