[Euterpe's note: This essay is copyright of Avocado. I shouldn't be having to say this, but please email the author for permission before making use of it. Thank you. ]
 

Good day, and welcome to Avocado's inaugural rant.
 

Romance in Slayers:

The Fan Wars

Slayers fandom is an inherently unfriendly place.

That's a strong statement.  And one I mean wholeheartedly.

I entered into the realm of online Slayers fandom after Dragonball Z.  After having read the entire collection of translated manga, I had managed to exhaust what good Dragonball fanfiction I could find.  My favorite Dragonball Z fanfiction writers were, one by one, pulling down their websites and setting up shop on Aestheticism in order to avoid flames and harassment from their fans.  In the immensely long Aestheticism application process (very frustrating when you're well over the age requirement but applications take months to process), I thought, well, I've seen all of the Slayers episodes now, let's go questing online for something else to read.  My main discovery: the world of Dragonball Z fandom is a much friendlier place.

Now wait a minute, you're thinking, how can Dragonball Z fandom possibly be a friendlier place than Slayers fandom when the Dragonball Z fanfiction writers were harassed off the web?

In the realm of Dragonball Z fandom, fans were at war with fanfiction writers.  When it comes down to it, that's nothing unusual.  People always disagree about interpretation of characters, storylines, etc., and fanfiction writers don't have the "I'm the original writer, so what I say goes" defense (although even that doesn't always get a writer too far... anyone seen "Misery?").  Any time a writer writes fanfiction, they run a high risk of being flamed by fellow fans.  Dragonball Z is very popular-- very popular-- despite some butchering in translation.  That means there are lots of fans out there to flame writers.

How is Slayers fandom different?  Slayers is less popular than Dragonball Z.  It has not yet been aired on network television (although unconfirmed rumors claim Fox Kids will be airing it in one form or another), and it therefore has a much smaller fanbase.  That should mean fewer total flames for writers, but, in practice, it doesn't seem to.  Why?  Because in Slayers fandom, writers are at war.

War? you think.  Are you insane?

Not in this case.  "War" is the perfect term to describe the current state of Slayers fandom.  There are two sides in this war-- the "traditional" fans and the "non-traditional" fans.  Traditional in what sense?  Why, romantic pairings of course!

The particularly humorous thing about the war over romantic pairings is that Slayers is not a romantic anime; it's a comedy.  The author of the Slayers novels has been quoted as saying that he doesn't write romance well, and that is the reason why his novels don't feature romance.  One could argue that certain pairings are hinted at-- and most would probably agree that those pairings are Lina and Gourry, and Amelia and Zelgadis.  (And Eris and Rezo, and Martina and Zangulus, if you will.)

But Slayers is not Sailor Moon, to speak of a popular anime that springs to mind.  If fanfiction were to pair Usagi with Umino, everyone would probably laugh.  After all, one of the main points of the anime is the destined love between Usagi and Mamoru.

What's the main point in Slayers?  Slayers is a series about adventure.  The adventures of Lina and Gourry and their friends.  It's about battles with demons and dark lords, and a somewhat morally ambiguous heroine.  It's not a story about romance, predestined or otherwise.

And now, why do I call it a "war?"  In Dragonball Z, you found writers featuring both traditional and alternative pairings.  It wasn't unusual to find stories about Vegeta and Bulma as a couple and Trunks and Goten as a couple on the same site.  You could often find Vegeta/Bulma stories together with Vegeta/original character stories.  In Slayers?  Perish the thought.  The Slayers traditional crowd is busy flaming alternative writers out of existence, as is clear in the traditional crowd's response to the newly-formed Lina/Zel writers' guild.  They're claiming that "Lina/Zel fic writer" is a synonym for "idiot."   If them's not fighting words, I don't know what qualifies.

Before I proceed, I'll state my own opinion-- I do have one.  This shouldn't really be necessary, but will probably save me some trouble in the long run.  I think Gourry and Lina make a good couple, but that fiction focusing solely on a romance between Gourry and Lina is boring.  What can it offer that's more interesting than the whole battle with Hellmaster Fibrizo in Slayers NEXT?  For the most part, not very much.  I also think that Zel and Amelia make a good couple.  Unfortunately, anything focusing solely on that pairing seems to follow one of two patterns: Zel gets cured and there's suddenly a happy romantic ending; Zel doesn't get cured and gives up to live happily with Amelia.  It seems to be pretty hard for writers to inject any internal conflict in these romances, and if there's no external conflict, the story's just one long sex scene written with varying levels of skill.  Once you find the best-written one, there's not too much left.

What do I like to read?  Alternative pairings.  Why? Conflict is the most essential component of good romance.  Trust me, or pick up a romance novel sometime.  If you can get beyond the stereotypically gorgeous heroine (who may or may not be blonde) and the handsome man with chiseled features (usually surprisingly muscular when his shirt is removed about 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the novel),  you'll find that the characters suffer internal torment.  "Oh no, my father died at age 39 and I will too!"  "I have no money and will starve if I don't find some!"  The characters also have a conflicted relationship.  After all, if there's no contention between the characters, what's the point of reading the novel?  This contention generally takes the form of "We're entirely different social classes, but, even if we weren't, I wouldn't want you anyway" or "We're desperately in love but our families are mortal enemies."  The purpose of this book is to resolve the conflict and give the reader a happy ending.

Let's examine traditional Slayers romance.  It starts out with a considerable disadvantage: a certainty on the part of the writer that the couple is destined to be together and it's obvious it should be that way.  This means that there's no internal conflict in the romance.  The writer is writing a romance, so they're not interested in writing in any external conflict.  In the end, that means there's really nothing to read.

Let's examine alternative Slayers romance.  It starts out with an advantage.  It's trying to pair two people who the reader "knows" aren't supposed to be together.  What does that provide?  Conflict!  The writer must somehow overcome the scenes in the anime that hint strongly at the traditional couplings.  Any external conflict is just gravy from that point.  So, in fact, these romances tend to be a much better read, presuming that the writer does a halfway decent job of keeping everyone in character.

Traditional Slayers couples tend to work much better in a context similar to the series-- a strong external conflict to drive the plot forward.  Then the lack of internal conflict doesn't detract from the story.  Alternative couples don't require the same context, although it's nice if there's an adventure story.

If you're a fan of traditional Slayers couples reading this, you're probably furious right now.  After all, I've essentially said that the alternative Slayers couples stories are a much more interesting read and that traditional Slayers couples are boring because there's no conflict.  Instead of flaming me, sit down and spend about ten minutes thinking about your favorite romantic movie and why it's romantic.  Think about your favorite traditional Slayers couples fanfiction-- I'll bet it has a conflict.  Take this as advice-- try to figure out how to insert some conflict into your own writing.

Frankly, I'm writing this because I'm sick to death of the nasty attitude I've found in Slayers fandom.  I'm tired of reading the "traditional" groups rants saying that fans of alternative couples know nothing about Slayers.  I'm tired of seeing deceptive sites out on the web that exist only to insult fans of other pairings.  And I'm tired of the glee I've observed in some fans when they go out and ruin another fan's day.  I'm tired of seeing comments from the traditional Slayers couples fans claiming to be inherently superior writers.  To all of you, I say: Get a life, damn it!  Go out and do something constructive for a change.

Now that I've angered everyone, here's a list of my recommended writers, with pairing warnings.  If you're unalterably opposed to the pairing, do us all a favor and don't go read their stories just to flame them.

Lina/Zel:  Theria (also a very good adventure story writer)
Zel/Xel:    Shoujo Senshi
Xel/Lina:  Crystaviel (aka Tavi-chan)
Xel/Amelia:  Meeshy (warning: this pairing is very dark)
Lina/Gourry:  Paraika
Zel/Amelia:  Paraika (like this better than her Lina/Gourry stuff, actually)
Xel/Filia:   Harukami (my most controversial recommendation, but In Between the Lines is probably the best Xel/Filia fic I've run across)

Adventure stories: Theria, Twoflower, and Majo-chan*

*Majo-chan's plots are wonderful, but she does have problems keeping verb tense consistent.