taotrooper | About time!

Lina/Gourry, Howl/Sophie :)

It's sort of a weird thing, but I starting shipping this during the first episode for no particular reason whatsoever. Looking back, I think it was the ending of season 1 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=I-C-4oJ8Uus) what really got me into it (like, most shippy ED in a non-romantic series EVER). I think I like the contrast the most, mostly: magic powers vs. physical strength, brains vs. brawl, impulsiveness vs. doubt, rudeness vs. not really that rude. But also I liked a lot at the time that the chick was the most dangerous one of the pair and the guy is decided to be her support/help, because I had never seen something like that before Slayers. Besides, they compliment each other, get along pretty well, and I think they have good chemistry. I don't know, the idea of them out there having adventures or doing mercenary jobs or saving the world is just lovely~

I was never surprised it was canon. I was even more surprised people actually believed Lina would like somebody else and didn't see it coming since I saw it FROM THE BEGINNING. For me it was going to be either no romance or Gourry, and funny enough it was both XD

Also, they started a fetish kind of ship I like: fantasy-adventure traveling companions. (But only if they're equal or complementary; something like the Doctor/whoever not, but something like Schmendrick/Molly Grue yes.)

Edited 2008-04-22 15:50 (UTC)

I watched the movie first, and it's probably a good thing because otherwise I would've mind-boggled like crazy. Sure, movie!Howl/Sophie is cute, but the movie has such plotholes I was more confused than moved at the end. Which is probably why I downloaded an eBook to see WTF was that all about.

And I never looked back. Cute Ghibli pairings are good, but honestly. It was a snarky, bantering pairing. I have this weakness for the type in het ships. And I also have this trend when it comes attention-whore, metrosexual, charming (straight) men: I HAVE to pair them off with the least impressed female in his environment. And more than impressed, Sophie grits her teeth with Howl's ways. I love that he drives her mad, and she drives him mad, and yet it's because of their flaws, and not good qualities, that they fall for each other. And they managed to love each other so much and got married "happily", without changing to please the other! That's refreshing and realistic, or the most realistic you can be if you're a Welsh wizard and a nosy Ingarian witch living in a moving castle.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, I fucking have to read the book now... because pairings like that are, well, a kink of mine. Damn it.

I'm not sure if I have the file anymore, or I'd send it to you D: You could always ask Laurus, because IIRC she read it on eBook, too. Or was it Good Omens what she read on eBook? Damn, can't remember anymore.

Clow/Yuuko

I must say, for a pairing that started as sexy crack because of a crossover mention, it sure progressed its way.

But even before we saw how they really interacted, the speculation was so much fun. They had the potential for a bantering drinking-buddies-with-benefits pairing. Which they kind of are, in canon, although way friendlier and sweeter than I expected (I swear to God, sometimes they feel like this divorced -yet still in good terms- couple with shared custody of the kids, instead of two magicians doing a joint project).

After reading several fics and the whole book with their canon, which was such a lovely thing for CLAMP to pull together ~~and fuel us with crack and fluff~~, I can say that years later I still find them fascinating. Because they're so powerful, they probably could understand themselves well -and have someone to argue in equal terms. Besides, it's also fun, and they're both the old yet pretty mentors who knew it all. And there was booze, lots of it.

Klavier/Ema

Just my two cents from what I've seen in my lurking: I think OOC Japanese fanart and fanon RPing fooled a lot of people into shipping this before the English game was out, because I remember seeing an amount of people into Kyouya/Akane, and then people were like "it was nothing like I expected! no chemistry! I don't ship it anymore!" after playing the thing. And now I can't see fellow shippers anywhere, whut.

Um, so they don't get along in canon? Actually, it's because of the antics and mocking and annoying the crap of each other that *I* started shipping Klavier/Ema. I imagine they'd be this eternally bantering pairing, even if they got involved, and that's what I find appealing. They're so different in tastes and thought patterns, so there's so much to do with them.

And I don't know, I have a thing about putting the metrosexual, flirty guy (Tamaki, Howl) with the girl who's the least easier to impress (Haruhi, Sophie). And that's the trick: I think this pairing COULD be done like the two couples above without changing the crap out of both characters, especially in a Howl/Sophie way. But not by turning Ema into a tsundere who always pined for the fop but pretended the opposite. Nor turning Klavier into a blushing dork who'd mope if he gets rejected.

I hope that now that it was revealed that sacking Phoenix was all Kristoph moving strings and deceiving his brother, she at least stops hating the fop that hard in the next game (because of the Nick thing, I mean; she can still dislike him because of his un-frilly, un-frowning personality or because he sucks as a boss :D)

ETA: Aaaaand shallow speaking? I think he looks hotter with her than with Apollo. I might be the minority in this, I guess.

Edited 2008-04-22 19:14 (UTC)

Eriol/Kaho :D

I didn't ship it at first. At all. I even hated it because my first contact with CCS was the anime and Eriol was still a kid in my mind and anime!Kaho is boring as hell. It took me ages to stop acting like a fanbrat and accept how manga!Eriol truly was. Manga!Kaho was even harder.

But, like, two or three years ago I was rereading the series, and the cuteness and charm of Kaho hit me like a frying pan. She was so different of the borderline Sueness of her anime counterpart. Furthermore, I could actually SEE suddenly traits and facial expressions in her that were typical of the Eriol-tachi. And I was all "no, wait, she fits in". And I had the realization that her personality did suit Eriol so much. And that she'd be able to see how he really is past his Peter Pan exterior and his real thoughts and feelings about anything, I felt. And she could not only accept it all, but also tease the crap out of him about it, and he'd love to be teased and loved by her.

I can see why he likes her, and how well she'd get along with the guardians, and that's why I ship it. Also, I like het pairings in which the female can overcome masking physical appearances of the male. I think Kaho loves his soul, and that's why I find it fascinating.

And that she'd be able to see how he really is past his Peter Pan exterior and his real thoughts and feelings about anything

[paraphrase]

"Can I ask you about the Guardians?"

"I'm fond of them."

"That means you really like them, doesn't it?"

"I'm fond of someone else, too."

"...you know how I feel, don't you?"

Case. Closed.

I think Kaho loves his soul

NOEZ IT'S ONLY CLOW THAT SHE LOVES AND SHE DOESN'T CARE ABOUT ERIOL AT ALL SO ERIOL NEEDS TO BE WITH THE ONLY PERSON TO SEE HIM FOR WHO HE IS WHICH IS TOMOYO!!1!1!

Ayame/Mine, Yuki/Machi o/

~~Sokka/Suki if you can rant about it without spoiling me? xD;~~

I've noticed that Ayame/Mine is an exception in my ships, in the sense I normally ship the annoying metrosexual extravagant pretty guy with the person who's least impressed with him (but really, Hatori is so straight and his odd friendship with the other two is so lol, I can't ship Ayame with him).

But I completely believed Ayame was gayer than a tree full of monkeys on nitrous oxide. And even now, I say he's totally BI ~~and sometimes he dresses up in lolita outfits in bed and Mine uses a strap-on, but I digress~~. However, Yuki's first visit to the store left me thinking that it was obvious Mine had a crush on her gay boss. And I thought that if Ayame wasn't like I thought he is, they'd make a good couple because she was as nuts as he was, probably was the only person who'd get more than half of his tl;dr, and the anime discussion about socks from all things was so fitting. It was a nice surprise when it turned out they were lovers the whole time, because it was a crack pairing to me. And they're so sweet.

I see the point of people saying that Takaya hetero'd the manga pairing every guy with gay/crossdressing jokes with chicks. But honestly, on Ayame's case? I believe that he's like a CLAMP character and he would've fallen in love with Mine even if she was a man. (Of course, male!Mine would be a EGL drag queen into moe outfits anyway.) And I think Mine would've loved Ayame if he was a woman, and I even think she could be bi as well.

Also, of course she knew! The slightest change of weather turns him into a snake. I mean, durrr, she couldn't work with him for long without discovering it. They just pretended ignorance because after Tori, he was afraid Akito could do something to her. But I'm sure Mine even thought it was cool and pretty instead of being afraid. Ooh, silver scales!

Before their backstories came out, neither of them did it for me that much. But Yuki's flashbacks broke me a lot inside, and without noticing he was suddenly my favorite teen character in Furuba. Machi's backstory is sad as well, and even hits me personally because that feeling of being hollow inside and that nothing else matters and not being understood by your family or anyone else and being thought to be a weirdo because you have issues, I could relate to a extend to her pain. And dammit, I wanted them to find happiness and have hope and get over the darkness their families have put onto them.

But it is like Yuki told Kisa: if you have self-esteem issues, you can't just learn to love yourself. You only can if others see your worth. They could only move on with love, because their main issues were loneliness, not fitting in, and finding positive feelings to hold on to. Someone who needs him and can truly see how he is inside. Someone who challenges her to see beauty in an otherwise dull, neat world. They can understand what the other one is like, and not only accept it but find that amazing.

And Yuki is an irritable, violent son of a bitch sometimes. Of course, the girl of his dreams can't be a Yamato Nadeshiko type like Tohru! It had to be a neurotic, violent tsundere like Machi. DUH.

Touya/Yukito and Touya/Kaho ~~If you don't mind rambling about a pairing you don't fangirl~~?

When I still didn't watch CCS frequently, and just when I was pretty bored and zapping around, I remember I joked about Touya and Yukito doing more than studying when Yuki stayed at the Kinomotos'. I guess most people did.

It was surprising when during season 3 they made it canon, and it was a good, slow transition if you ask me and not coming out of CLAMP/Madhouse's ass. I didn't exactly ship it before the Sakura arc, but then again my slash radar is kind of low. And it was the first time I had seen a male/male pairing in anime that had become canon (except perhaps Shinji/Kaworu in Evangelion, but it wasn't the same level of canon)

But I thought it was cute in my first watch. During the rewatch and while I read the manga for the first time, I understood I liked them the most, and that it was better when Yukito had got character development. They're sweet and are good friends and feel comfortable with each other (which is something hard for Touya). I think this might be the first gay pairing I supported seriously and not for the lulz.

Personally, I dislike them in the anime, and I think it's because anime!Kaho is so blah and couldn't be bothered with. But really, the fact Touya had a girlfriend before or that she was older never annoyed me or thought she was in the way of the gay. I guess I don't qualify as LOL YAOI FANBRAT at all.

Now in the manga? Actually, I have no problem with it. It was cute in this puppy way, and they had things in common to bond so it wasn't for me shouta sexual attraction ~~not that Touya looked like a normal 14 year-old, WTF CLAMP, my brothers'd look like midgets next to him~~. They needed each other at that time. But I do think they work better as friends, and that Yukito and Kaho can do more to the guys they're dating now than anything. I like they Yukito and Kaho are sort of buddies in the manga to Touya's possible dismay. And I bet Kaho teases Eriol every day for thinking Sakura/Yuki was going to be canon.

I bet Kaho teases Eriol every day for thinking Sakura/Yuki was going to be canon.

"That was Clow, dear, not me. Anyway, at least I didn't show dismay when I saw Yukito and Sakura together (http://membres.lycos.fr/saffiechan3/04/ch140.jpg)."

"*flails* That's because I didn't want Sakura to be hurt! ...by the Yue thing!"

I do think they work better as friends

Yeah... Rereading the manga (just the horrible scanlation version, though), I can't understand why they started dating instead of just staying friends. Kaho understands him just as well when she isn't in love with him, and Touya's less stiff and more good-humored during their friendship phase.

Yukito and Kaho can do more to the guys they're dating now than anything

Kaho can be more of herself instead of "wise older woman who can see spirits so I can related to her" with Eriol than with Touya, and Yukito draws Touya out of his shell around other people more than Kaho, amirite?

First: I hadn't seen your new header and it's so pretty.
Second: Kenshin/Kaoru.

Thanks :D The official art of Okami is really pretty so I didn't have to do a lot to it to make it look good.

I think this might be my first big anime/manga couple. It happened to me something similar than with Slayers: I shipped it from episode one. The funniest thing is that I didn't even watch the first episode whole, it was just their dialog at the end and I didn't even know it was the start of the series or its name. All I knew was that it looked oldish Japan and her lines were so sweet and I had to check it the next day. It was even more win when the next episode showed me it was Kickass Samurai Shounen Action as well! This was my first shounen, not Dragon Ball not Saint Seiya, and I checked it out because of the main pairing. orz

I think Kaoru gives Kenshin the stability and tranquility he needed to stay as the rurouni and keep the battousai controlled. He needed love and friends after the Boshin war and Tomoe's tragic demise (for the record, I also ship Kenshin/Tomoe), and that's what he got staying in the Kamiya dojo. But I also like that, for the designed damsel in distress to be rescued over and over, Kaoru has a will of steel, and she's not an useless female.

Besides, her feisty personality complements Kenshin's laidback kindness. It's good for the strongest man in Japan to get a strong wife who can pwn him XD

About time!

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Lina & Gourry

Howell & Sophie

Re: Howell & Sophie

Re: Howell & Sophie

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Clow & Yuuko

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Glimmerous and Gloomy

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Eriol & Kaho

Re: Eriol & Kaho

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Ayame & Mine

Yuki & Machi

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Touya & Yukito

Touya & Kaho

Re: Touya & Kaho

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Kenshin & Kaoru