Escaflowne Alright, someone explain this to me. PLEASE.

I recently made a foray into FF.net to check out their Esca fics, since I hadn't been to that site in ages. Now I remember why. Dilandau/Hitomi seems to be the second most popular pairing there! (After Van/Hitomi, which at least makes some damned sense.) o_< What in the name of all that is canon is THAT about?

Please. If there's anyone here who can possibly understand how such a pairing could have broad appeal, explain it to me. I don't get it. I mean, I know that many a teenage fic-writer likes to toss together character for no other reason than "they look soooo cute/hot 2gether!!1!" But even that doesn't account for the sheer number of poorly-written D/H fics I found. It was mind-boggling.

 

While the amount of knowledge I have of Escaflowne could fit onto the head of a pin, I think I could take a pretty accurate shot at this question.

I've been an active member on ff.net for almost a year, and in that year I've learned quite a bit about airheaded teenaged anime fangirls - they're everywhere. Half the fics you see on fanfiction.net are of alternate pairings, and while alternate pairings COULD be written by decent writers for the sake of trying out different personality types, the fact of the matter is that most aren't.

For whatever reason, most fangirls enjoy putting 'the hottest' characters together in their imaginations, and it shows through their writing. And while I'm insulting myself by saying this, the majority of people who write on fanfiction.net ARE your basic teenaged anime fangirl. I know that whenever I access the Inuyasha section of ff.net (my favorite o' course ;-)) you see more Sesshy/Kagome fics then you do Inuyasha/Kagome. It's mind boggling.

 

Ha ha, it was just today i was talking about odd character pairings in fanfictions. To be honest, i have no clue what the people are thinking when they write these things. Maybe they just like the character so much and use Hitomi as a cover up for really imagining it was them or they just see it sexy having a bad guy paired up with the goodie goodie girl. i guess we'll never know....unless you ask the writers of the fanfics themselves.

 

Egh, yes. ~_~ I can't say I don't do the same at times - but gah, I'd never devote some crap fic to what amounts to nothing more than a pairing based on aesthetics.

Yeah, that had occurred to me too. It's pretty likely. But then again, it would almost be better to see an original Mary Sue. *sigh*

 

Yeah, I think I agree with wing_goddess in that numerous fanfic authors probably use *insert main female character here* as a fictional entity of themselves. I've seen some main heroines with some pretty non-canon personality traits, and I think that fits in with the aforementioned theory.

But gah, Dilandau, how can you say that? Mary-Sues are usually so irritating, everyone's got to have at least SOME faults. But then again (bringing this back to the original topic), I'm betting some of the fanfiction Hitomi's are probably perfect little angels as well. Just a Mary Sue with a familiar name.

 

You're forgetting that there are different breeds of Sue, and one of them is teh "I can't do anything right, woe is meeeee~!" Flawed Sue. XD But point taken.

Mm-hmm. I'd honestly rather see a blatant Sue right from the start than have authors cloaking themselves in the guise of a canon character. If they have to make things nausiatingly OC, they could at least have the courtesy to insert a little of their own "creativity." I dun like canon rapists.

Don't get me wrong, though. It's not that I hate all non-canon pairings. It's just that I'm amazed by the prevalence of certain pairings which have no logical basis, and yet everyone seems to write them. Are they trying to be original or something, with the heroine-falls-for-hero's-rival idea, and just don't realize that fifty billion similar fics already exist?

Another interesting note: Twins seem to be a very popular theme in Esca fics - twins from the Mystic Moon, twins who are orphaned in some way and are taken in by a main character, Hitomi and Van's twin children. What's that about? Is that common in other fandoms? Or is it because Naria and Eriya already created a reference point for twins in Esca?

 

The sad thing is, a lot of these fanfic writers probably don't even realize that they're changing character personalities. The unconscious tendency to write a Mary Sue in one form or another seems to lie in a lot of fanfic writers.

I don't understand the seemingly incessant need for fandoms to obsess over alternative pairings. While the pairings themselves in general do not bother me, the fact that they are so poorly written does. If you can give a plausible reason why two characters would, while staying in character, get together, I'm willing to listen. Or if you're writing a deliberately comedic piece, I can generally buy it.

As for the whole twins thing...no earthly clue, really, except for the fact that for some reason twins are amazingly cool. *wry smile* Not a very valid reason, in my mind.

~Shadrach Anki

 

Most likely. I'd assume that in most cases, the writers simply have a goal in mind (say, character A and character B being in love), and getting to that point is more important to them than maintaining the characters' original personalities along the way.

Variety? Personally, I do support a few non-canon pairings in various series, but the key element that they all share is some degree of plausibility. I mean, let's face it - when you like a character enough, you want to explore scenarios with them that weren't covered in the series. But... Well, thinking about them and putting them in print, badly written and barely thought out, are a bit different. Namely, because the latter is in very bad taste.

YES.

If even 25% of pairing-based fanfics were written decently and showed some degree of thought and a good effort at telling a complete, logical story, I don't think I'd waste energy getting irritated over the crappy ones. But, well... show me ONE Dilandau/Hitomi fic that's actually GOOD, that develops the characters and treats them and their canon personalities with respect. Just one. Because, frankly, I've seen no proof that such a thing can exist.

Yes, agreed. I wholeheartedly believe that under the right conditions, in the right setting, and with the right development, nearly any pairing can work. What varies by pairing is how easily that situation can be created.

Comedy... *points at her slew of doujinshi with Dilandau/Van and Folken/Van gags* Oh, how I loathe those pairings in most serious settings... But they can be amusing if I'm not actually supposed to take them seriously. XD

Yes, that must be it. *snerk* Just like "raven-black hair" is amazingly cool. (Seriously, that's gotta be the one descriptor for hair that I see most often on Sues.)

 

Personally, I read (and ocassionally write) fanfictional stories to look at the main story (or ocassionally a crossover between two stories) from a different angle; i.e. to see different events taking place and how they could make characters' personalities to develop in a different way. And since I enjoy reading romantic fanfictional stories very much, alternative pairings (well written alternative pairings that excplain how characters came to love each other, not the alternative pairings that simply assume that two characters are madly in love with each other [which ocassionally doesn't really show in the original animated series ^_^]) are usually very interesting for me to read.

On the other hand, original pairings, especially those that have been detailed in the original animated series very well (for example, Van/Hitomi from The Visions of Escaflowne) are usually quite boring for me too read, and I rarely read fanfictional stories centered around the originally well-developed pairings.

But returning to alternative pairings, a lot of fanfiction writers unfortunately don't really care about the characters' personalities, they just want to see their two favorite characters (or just two characters who [in their humble opinion] look cute or hot together) together, which usually result in very poorly written fanfictional stories.

 

Maybe all those Dilandau/Hitomi writers really want to be yuri writers but are afraid to take that final step and actually write a yuri fic, so they write D/H instead. Okay, that was weird. Ignore that.

Part of it might be the writers' attmept to "redeem" Dilandau. Some fans are unable to accept that their favorite character is an enemy of the main characters. After all, they like Dilandau, so everyone should like Dilandau. Since no one in their right mind would like someone who tried to kill them, the author must use her/his omnipotent powers to basically murder their "favorite" character in order to make them more appealing. Since Hitomi is "good", Dilandau should be with her so that it will be obvious that he is also "good". Or something like that. Yeah.

(Btw, Black Robed One, love the sig^_^)

 

Well, that's assuming that you buy into the idea that Dilandau is female... But we won't go there. ~_^ I understand the point you're making.

...That's actually a very astute observation, and one I hadn't considered in this context. I think you're onto something with that. It's very, very common among Dilandau fans (myself included, actually) to want to portray him as a more complete character, someone who isn't just a villain, but human. And part of that is the desire to explore him as a romantic, loving individual. It does have a lot of potential for a complicated and interesting scenario, considering what a troubled and unstable character he is.

Such a shame that most attempts to do that result in very bad fanfiction.

 

Well, I think some fanfics use alternate universe things, y'know? I think that's perfectly fine, and fun. They do the "What if thes character DID get together?" As long as the stay true to their personalities, I believe it's all fine and dandy. Afterall, isn't that interesting? To see what it could have been like?

 

Yes, and you're right - in an alternate universe, many things tht wouldn't work in the series can work. But mainly, I'm complaining about canon-setting fics. XD And AU fics that get very OOC.

How many Dilandau/Hitomi fics, AU or not, have you read that really presented the characters accurately? ;P

I'll agree with you that the potential is very interesting. It's just never been handled well in any of the examples I've seen. It tends to be either very tasteless idyllic romance with no regard to the characters' history and behavior, or trashy hentai - either the author getting their favorite character(s) into a porn scene for their own gratification, or a Hitomi-hater using Dilandau to hurt and humiliate her, again for their own gratification. None of those scenarios makes a very good fic.

 

One good reason I detest fanfics.

Another good reason I detest fanfics.

Would you look at that? A third good reason.

I know that the vast majority of bad fanfic shouldn't speak for everyone, but the vast majority is the vast majority. Really good fanfics usually get carried farther than fanfics.net.

Oh! But back to the topic. ^^;
... yeah. xD