Day 17 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?

[brendala]

Day 25 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?
Lina and Zelgadis (Slayers)


Even though I'm a hardcore L/G shipper, I thought their flirty dialogue in the marriage temple episode of TRY was adorable.


This ship could have easily sailed if Gourry were out of the picture. And I’ve read some decent angst fics where Lina and Zell end up outliving Gourry and Amelia and find comfort in each other. But, currently, I don’t see it working out with them. A lot of L/Z shippers point to the Marriage Temple flirting scene (seen above) as evidence that they have a thing for each other. But I see it as just the opposite. Both of them have been previously characterized as being skittish about romance but having no problem showing affection to their friends. And I think that they're comfortable flirting with each other because they both know it's a joke and the other isn't gonna take it the wrong way and think it's a genuine love confession.
....at least that's my Lina/Gourry addled mind interprets it. ~_^

---

Do you think Gourry would get mad if he knew Zell got to second base with Lina before he did?

Lina and Zelgadis are both smart, independent people who like to do their own thing and they’d likely have constant fights about where to go next (they would be on their way to some magical cure-all artifact, and Lina would piss him off by getting distracted by a buffet or a bandit camp). And I get the feeling that Zelgadis would want to settle down once he’s cured (which wouldn’t sit well with Lina if she still had a ton of wanderlust left in her). Zelgadis and Lina have great friendship chemistry and it’s clear that they love each other. But I think their love is purely platonic.



Day 01 - What is your current favorite ship?
Day 02 - What was your very first ship?
Day 03 - A pairing that needs to happen now?
Day 04 - The pairing with the most chemistry?
Day 05 - The pairing with the least chemistry?
Day 06 - The best kiss?
Day 07- The most heartbreaking scene?
Day 08 - The pairing with the most baggage?
Day 09 - The most believable relationship?
Day 10 - Why aren't these two married in real life?
Day 11 - What is your dream pairing?
Day 12 - Who had the best wedding?
Day 13 - What is your favorite television pairing?
Day 14 - What is your favorite book pairing?
Day 15 - What is your favorite real life pairing?
Day 16 - What is the absolute worst pairing?
Day 17 - A pairing you thought would never work out, but did?
Day 18 - What is the cutest pairing?
Day 19 - A pairing you've rooted for since the beginning?
Day 20 - The "can't stand the sexual tension anymore" pairing?
Day 21 - A pairing you like and no one else understands why?
Day 22 - A pairing you hate and no one else understands why?
Day 23 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out great?
Day 24 - A crazy love triangle/quadrilateral that worked out badly?
Day 25 - A pairing that was/would-be adorable, but could never work out?
Day 26 - A pairing that you hated and ended up loving?
Day 27 - A pairing that you loved and ended up hating?
Day 28 - A pairing that you will never understand?
Day 29 - What ship had the best proposal?
Day 30 - Your favorite ship forever and ever and ever?

Comments

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say with Lina and Zelgadis. The marriage temple episode was pretty shocking to trad fans back in the day. Lina and Zelgadis were at total ease with each other, and even Zelgadis seemed entirely okay with it, letting Lina loop her arm around his. It's actually a nice (?!) nod to the novels, where it was revealed early on that Zelgadis did like Lina a great deal.

I did find it interesting that no one seemed to mind in the least how they were paired off, except for Amelia - until Gourry got separated from the rest and we saw how quickly Lina turned on Amelia, which of course made Zelgadis get defensive, and things just really broke down from there. I think a lot of us breathed a big sigh of relief when Jillas revealed he had paired everyone up according to what would drive them all apart. ^_-;;

...I really hate watching that episode now. Too much Amelia angst and Gourry stupidity!

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I always figured that Lina and Zelgadis were using humor to lighten up a very awkward situation (though that assumption could have simply come from the delivery of the dub dialogue). So it didn't shake up my TRAD sensibilities.


...I really hate watching that episode now. Too much Amelia angst and Gourry stupidity!

Word. It's really hard to watch Amelia act like a jealous shrew (and the fact that she acknowledges that she's being a jealous shrew doesn't make it much better). -_-

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

Word. It's really hard to watch Amelia act like a jealous shrew (and the fact that she acknowledges that she's being a jealous shrew doesn't make it much better). -_-

This and the Alto/Baritone episodes of TRY as well, where Amelia is yelling how her true love for Zel will solve everything and Zel is doing his absolute best to disappear into the ground. It's episodes like those that give birth to horrible fanon!Amelia.

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Nah, sadly, that's just Amelia being passionate. She tends to do things like that. She did it again in Revolution after befriending Pocota and realizing they shared a common goal. ^_-

It's fan perception of Amelia that led to fanon Amelia, what with all the accusations of Amelia 'glomping' onto Zelgadis that just did not exist in the series at all, yet rabid anti-Amelia protestors kept proclaiming it as truth.

I remember the old days of Amelia hate well... XP

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

Again, it's hard to say with Lina and Zelgadis. They've both always valued the other's ability to think about and discuss complicated subjects (never Gourry's strong point), and I think they respect each other's abilities a great deal. Also, I think Lina was totally at ease with being paired off with Zelgadis since she could continue to happily dwell in denial over her affection for Gourry - until it came back to bite her in the butt later.

The dub was a bit over the top in that episode, from what I recall. "Be gentle with me." Didn't Zelgadis say that? ^_-;;

Actually, I'm glad Amelia acknowledged that she was acting like a jerk. It's not every day one gets to experience jealousy when a girl friend puts her mitts on the guy you like. Plus, the poor girl hasn't had her sister around in forever for her to have any real experience with it. (From my own personal experience, we younger sisters always adored my older sister's boyfriends...well, the nice ones, anyway.) I just hated watching Lina and Amelia degenerate into two bickering *word I will not use* children. Lina even got tears in her eyes from being so upset! I'm sure Zelgadis was happy to finally be freed of that situation.

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

I can see why fans like Lina/Zelgadis. I will admit I've gotten much more open minded about the pairing since I got into Slayers. Also, I do like they're interaction with each other, sometimes it's like a brother/sister relationship.

Try was just weird, especially that temple episode, there are so many ways you could argue about the "hidden meaning". I will admit, tt was interesting to see Amelia and Gourry interact with each other one on one when the group got separated.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

The Peacemen episode of TRY has a special place in my heart. Mainly because it was the first episode of Slayers I ever saw. But also because Gourry and Amelia's interactions were so much fun to watch that it had me wishing they'd been paired up more often in the series. It was hilarious to see Gourry being the rational, sensible, and smart one while Amelia was playing superhero. XD

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the Peacemen episode, it is probably one of the better episodes of TRY. ^_^

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I agree with this completely. ^_^ Given the right context, I think Lina/Zel would work out far better than say Lina/Xelloss.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Heh, Lina and Zel could have worked in the first half of season one. That's pretty much it. It's clearly said that Zel might have had a crush on her. But it fades quickly into friendship. I still picture them as being the world's greatest BFFs (hence the teasing)