the amazing OP pairing post
Aug. 11th, 2004 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xparrotSo a while back I ranted about my issues with yaoi, and promised a OP rant another day. And since today was lousy for entirely other reasons, I figured that day has come - nice relaxing retreat into my favorite series, maybe see if I can get all of fandom turned against me...
My favorite One Piece pairing, as you likely already know, is no pairing whatsoever. One of the reasons I love the series so damn much is because it's all about love and friendship and not about romance at all. The closest you get to canon romance in the crew is Sanji...and that's with every vaguely attractive woman. And I love it that way.
Which doesn't stop me from collecting massive amounts of doujinshi, or hanging out on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
onepieceyaoi and onepieceyaoi100. I've found One Piece yaoi fans to be one of the coolest groups of fen ever--most of them fully admit it's not in the canon, a lot of them don't even want it to be there, they just enjoy playing with (hot, cute, silly) alternatives, and they're open to everyone and all pairings. I even started writing it myself.
But even now, I find I don't really enjoy the yaoi stories, despite there being no lack of talented authors. The art & djs are very nice (I've always been an art slut; my One True Pairing tendencies are casually swept aside for the sake of teh pretty) and the drabbles are much fun, but longer stories usually end up setting off my OOC allergies. Especially because this is OP, and it has some of the most difficult chars to write, because not only are they insane but they are so developed...I have issues with my own fic characterizations; it's even harder to manage when just giving the chars sex drives makes half of them OOC anyway.
But that isn't my major problem with OP pairing fic. The real issue I have is the same reason that I preferred gen Saiyuki stories even while I completely OTPed on 58 and 93, and why I had trouble with RGB slash even after I got into slash in general. The thing I love most about One Piece is the nakama theme. I adore all the crew (I've given up trying to choose a favorite character) and I love the way all the crew loves one another. Even if it's not romantic love, it's definitely love. "Ore-tachi wa Family" - true for all of them, with all the others. The problem I have with pairings is that in a pairing fic, one relationship becomes more significant, more special, and the others get shunted aside. It's worse in the djs - Usopp disappears for pages at a time (a couple djka even comment on this in sidenotes ^^;) But the fic do it, too. And while I enjoy Zoro & Sanji's snarking as much as the next fangirl, I soon miss everyone else tremendously.
(Yes, I'll confess now I'm as guilty of single-pair fixation as anyone in this fandom, and without even romance as an excuse. In my defense, 7 Deaths was never meant to be that long, and the only way I could get them to do what I wanted was to get them alone for a while, and also I'm a shameless hypocrite who writes what she wants to read at any given time and then craves something else immediately.)
So, that being said, what are my favorite OP pairings? The odd thing is that, given my initially anti-yaoi stance, and my love of all the chars, I've bypassed my usual OTP nature. (Unless you count minna x minna. Bring on the GM orgies!) If I'm gonna like one pairing, I'm gonna like all of them, apparently, though only in fandom. There's only one pairing I care for in canon itself, which would be Vivi/Kohza (well, and if I'm gonna be twisted, I wanna see Smoker/Tashigi. Please don't ask, I can't explain it.) So while I can totally see the Nami/Vivi, and it would be sweet...don't go for it, because Vivi's taken. Sorry. Like I said, I'm usually OTP.
I hesitate with all Nami pairings, really. It's not that I don't love Nami - she's one of my favorite anime chicks ever. Oda-sensei's got a gift for writing convincing, strong women. But one of the reasons I love her so much is that she's not there to be a romantic interest. Guy-girl platonic friendship has been one of my favorite things for forever; it's so terribly rare in fiction. That Nami is such close friends with all the guys is a beautiful thing. If you are going to pair her, Luffy/Nami can be extra-super-sugar, and Zoro/Nami could work. I don't like Sanji/Nami; I suspect that's partly because it's about the closest to canon there is, and I don't like the thought that any romance could enter the canon. Nami loves Sanji, but no more than any of the others, in spite of all he does for her. And I think Sanji's massively confused by her. Nami's the first girl with whom he's actually become friends; she also tells him exactly what she wants, and to Sanji, who is so desperate to make girls happy, that's a spectacular boon. This isn't to say I don't enjoy Sanji-Nami interaction, but my favorite moments are those rare times his attention is elsewhere, and they work together as friends. And Nami/Robin - I need to see more Robin. I suspect I'd like it. Robin is hot. ^^
So that leaves the yaoi. In which it's a free-for-all; I think by this point I've written most possible combinations...
Luffy - on the one hand, Luffy + sex breaks my brain. Love the boy, and he can be improbably hot, but...it's Luffy. If I can get over that, he can go with any of his crew - he loves all of them, they all love him, no problem. Except that's a problem all in itself. Frankly, if Luffy discovers sex, I only see two options. Either he won't like it (and I pity the foo' who tries to rape Luffy. Uke!Luffy dj aside, it would just be funny to see someone try; you don't win in a power struggle against the Pirate King ...unless you were drowning him...and I think I just broke the rest of my brain, so I'll stop there) Or he will like it...in which case he'll want to share it with all his beloved friends. I don't see Luffy understanding monogamy; I cannot see him ever putting any of his nakama above the others in any way.
Zoro - biggest problem with Zoro is that canonically he's got even less of a sex drive than Luffy. Rather than ignorance, it might be a deliberate choice in Zoro's case; that was one of the things he threw away with his life when he made that vow to Kuina. Which worries me a bit. Because if Zoro ever did find himself getting overly bothered by sexual frustration, to the point it was weakening him or distracting him from that goal...he might decide to, er, take measures. We're talking about a guy who saw no problems with chopping off his own legs here...
*cough* that being said, if you do grant Zoro a working sex drive, Zoro and Sanji is a natural. Of course shounen fighting = twoo wuv! Well, maybe not, but for all their arguing they are still nakama, and that kind of love-hate relationship is infinitely entertaining. They're also the two hottest crewmates - what? I can be shallow. Zoro/Usopp - doesn't exist, but I'd be curious to see it. It's one of the lesser explored dynamics even in the series itself, I'd say.
Sanji is easy to yaoi, as every fangirl in Japan knows. He's the only character who has a proven sex drive. More than enough to go around, in fact, and given that he's so hopeless with the ladies, one might assume that the only way he could be an actual partner in a relationship is with another guy. In addition to SanLu and ZoSan, Sanji/Usopp is cute because they are such good friends...they have about the most low-key relationship on the ship, but a lot of very sweet moments together. (actually enough to argue it's the most canonically supported yaoi, what with Usopp's hysterical sobs when he thinks Sanji's dead, and Sanji almost sacrificing his life to save Usopp's...)
Chopper? --no. And no, and no, because even if it's not beastiality, he's a kid. I think. He sounds young, anyway. Which brings me back to where I started - because I adore Chopper. I never thought I would, not like I fan on the rest of the crew, he's the cute animal mascot, for pity's sake - but he's as fully a nakama as any of them, and I'd love to read more with him. But since he's a relatively newer char, and not really decent pairing material, he's woefully unrepresented. (Such a shame, because Chopper & Usopp hurt/comfort is so damn much fun!)
A couple friends have asked me, why do I want to read gen fic, when the series itself gives all that I'm asking for? Which is a valid question - a lot of times, I crave fic because the series isn't providing enough of what I crave, but OP has nakama-ship in spades, and no fanfic could match what, say, the current arc is doing to me. I guess the only answer is that I'm greedy; I don't want better than the series, I just want more. It's only coming out a chapter a week! Not enough!
But I guess I'll have to make do with the pretty pairing pictures. (And stalking Croik, Quatrina, and those few other gen OP fic'ers out there...got any recs? Who wants to write nakama-fic and make me happy?)
My favorite One Piece pairing, as you likely already know, is no pairing whatsoever. One of the reasons I love the series so damn much is because it's all about love and friendship and not about romance at all. The closest you get to canon romance in the crew is Sanji...and that's with every vaguely attractive woman. And I love it that way.
Which doesn't stop me from collecting massive amounts of doujinshi, or hanging out on
onepieceyaoi and onepieceyaoi100. I've found One Piece yaoi fans to be one of the coolest groups of fen ever--most of them fully admit it's not in the canon, a lot of them don't even want it to be there, they just enjoy playing with (hot, cute, silly) alternatives, and they're open to everyone and all pairings. I even started writing it myself.But even now, I find I don't really enjoy the yaoi stories, despite there being no lack of talented authors. The art & djs are very nice (I've always been an art slut; my One True Pairing tendencies are casually swept aside for the sake of teh pretty) and the drabbles are much fun, but longer stories usually end up setting off my OOC allergies. Especially because this is OP, and it has some of the most difficult chars to write, because not only are they insane but they are so developed...I have issues with my own fic characterizations; it's even harder to manage when just giving the chars sex drives makes half of them OOC anyway.
But that isn't my major problem with OP pairing fic. The real issue I have is the same reason that I preferred gen Saiyuki stories even while I completely OTPed on 58 and 93, and why I had trouble with RGB slash even after I got into slash in general. The thing I love most about One Piece is the nakama theme. I adore all the crew (I've given up trying to choose a favorite character) and I love the way all the crew loves one another. Even if it's not romantic love, it's definitely love. "Ore-tachi wa Family" - true for all of them, with all the others. The problem I have with pairings is that in a pairing fic, one relationship becomes more significant, more special, and the others get shunted aside. It's worse in the djs - Usopp disappears for pages at a time (a couple djka even comment on this in sidenotes ^^;) But the fic do it, too. And while I enjoy Zoro & Sanji's snarking as much as the next fangirl, I soon miss everyone else tremendously.
(Yes, I'll confess now I'm as guilty of single-pair fixation as anyone in this fandom, and without even romance as an excuse. In my defense, 7 Deaths was never meant to be that long, and the only way I could get them to do what I wanted was to get them alone for a while, and also I'm a shameless hypocrite who writes what she wants to read at any given time and then craves something else immediately.)
So, that being said, what are my favorite OP pairings? The odd thing is that, given my initially anti-yaoi stance, and my love of all the chars, I've bypassed my usual OTP nature. (Unless you count minna x minna. Bring on the GM orgies!) If I'm gonna like one pairing, I'm gonna like all of them, apparently, though only in fandom. There's only one pairing I care for in canon itself, which would be Vivi/Kohza (well, and if I'm gonna be twisted, I wanna see Smoker/Tashigi. Please don't ask, I can't explain it.) So while I can totally see the Nami/Vivi, and it would be sweet...don't go for it, because Vivi's taken. Sorry. Like I said, I'm usually OTP.
I hesitate with all Nami pairings, really. It's not that I don't love Nami - she's one of my favorite anime chicks ever. Oda-sensei's got a gift for writing convincing, strong women. But one of the reasons I love her so much is that she's not there to be a romantic interest. Guy-girl platonic friendship has been one of my favorite things for forever; it's so terribly rare in fiction. That Nami is such close friends with all the guys is a beautiful thing. If you are going to pair her, Luffy/Nami can be extra-super-sugar, and Zoro/Nami could work. I don't like Sanji/Nami; I suspect that's partly because it's about the closest to canon there is, and I don't like the thought that any romance could enter the canon. Nami loves Sanji, but no more than any of the others, in spite of all he does for her. And I think Sanji's massively confused by her. Nami's the first girl with whom he's actually become friends; she also tells him exactly what she wants, and to Sanji, who is so desperate to make girls happy, that's a spectacular boon. This isn't to say I don't enjoy Sanji-Nami interaction, but my favorite moments are those rare times his attention is elsewhere, and they work together as friends. And Nami/Robin - I need to see more Robin. I suspect I'd like it. Robin is hot. ^^
So that leaves the yaoi. In which it's a free-for-all; I think by this point I've written most possible combinations...
Luffy - on the one hand, Luffy + sex breaks my brain. Love the boy, and he can be improbably hot, but...it's Luffy. If I can get over that, he can go with any of his crew - he loves all of them, they all love him, no problem. Except that's a problem all in itself. Frankly, if Luffy discovers sex, I only see two options. Either he won't like it (and I pity the foo' who tries to rape Luffy. Uke!Luffy dj aside, it would just be funny to see someone try; you don't win in a power struggle against the Pirate King ...unless you were drowning him...and I think I just broke the rest of my brain, so I'll stop there) Or he will like it...in which case he'll want to share it with all his beloved friends. I don't see Luffy understanding monogamy; I cannot see him ever putting any of his nakama above the others in any way.
Zoro - biggest problem with Zoro is that canonically he's got even less of a sex drive than Luffy. Rather than ignorance, it might be a deliberate choice in Zoro's case; that was one of the things he threw away with his life when he made that vow to Kuina. Which worries me a bit. Because if Zoro ever did find himself getting overly bothered by sexual frustration, to the point it was weakening him or distracting him from that goal...he might decide to, er, take measures. We're talking about a guy who saw no problems with chopping off his own legs here...
*cough* that being said, if you do grant Zoro a working sex drive, Zoro and Sanji is a natural. Of course shounen fighting = twoo wuv! Well, maybe not, but for all their arguing they are still nakama, and that kind of love-hate relationship is infinitely entertaining. They're also the two hottest crewmates - what? I can be shallow. Zoro/Usopp - doesn't exist, but I'd be curious to see it. It's one of the lesser explored dynamics even in the series itself, I'd say.
Sanji is easy to yaoi, as every fangirl in Japan knows. He's the only character who has a proven sex drive. More than enough to go around, in fact, and given that he's so hopeless with the ladies, one might assume that the only way he could be an actual partner in a relationship is with another guy. In addition to SanLu and ZoSan, Sanji/Usopp is cute because they are such good friends...they have about the most low-key relationship on the ship, but a lot of very sweet moments together. (actually enough to argue it's the most canonically supported yaoi, what with Usopp's hysterical sobs when he thinks Sanji's dead, and Sanji almost sacrificing his life to save Usopp's...)
Chopper? --no. And no, and no, because even if it's not beastiality, he's a kid. I think. He sounds young, anyway. Which brings me back to where I started - because I adore Chopper. I never thought I would, not like I fan on the rest of the crew, he's the cute animal mascot, for pity's sake - but he's as fully a nakama as any of them, and I'd love to read more with him. But since he's a relatively newer char, and not really decent pairing material, he's woefully unrepresented. (Such a shame, because Chopper & Usopp hurt/comfort is so damn much fun!)
A couple friends have asked me, why do I want to read gen fic, when the series itself gives all that I'm asking for? Which is a valid question - a lot of times, I crave fic because the series isn't providing enough of what I crave, but OP has nakama-ship in spades, and no fanfic could match what, say, the current arc is doing to me. I guess the only answer is that I'm greedy; I don't want better than the series, I just want more. It's only coming out a chapter a week! Not enough!
But I guess I'll have to make do with the pretty pairing pictures. (And stalking Croik, Quatrina, and those few other gen OP fic'ers out there...got any recs? Who wants to write nakama-fic and make me happy?)
