The Escaflowne Sue Report ([info]escaflownesues) wrote,
@ 2004-02-19 09:55:00
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Current mood: nauseated

First post, and it's a good one. I was going to start with a Gary Stu, but decided to do this one instead.

Title: We Could Be Friends (How about no?)
Author Miscreant: trick is to keep breathin (please stop though to save the rest of us)
Rating:
Spilled Piscus Juice

Character's Name: Cevena Jade Fanel (Now, wouldn't her name be Japanese? Oh wait, Van has apparently forgotten all about being a King in Fanelia, so he might have chosen the name...but I doubt it. I see way too many H/V children with "Jade" as their middle name, although Japanese don't have middle names...*goes off on a rant*)
Species: Human/Draconian (I suppose the last part is true, since Van IS her father, but they haven't mentioned it yet)
Hair Color: "dark glossy hair"
Eye Color: "shocking, green eyes"
Special Possesions: Uhhh, her CD player? She tends to listen to Angsty, American music on it alot. Oh, and of course Hitomi's pendant. Duh, how else would she get to Gaia?

Annoying Origin: Uhh, well, when two people, like Van and Hitomi, fall in love, they get together and...
Annoying Connections To Canon Characters: Van and Hitomi's daughter, and suggested by the summary, is going to be Dilandau's TWU WUV!! *gags*
Annoying Special Abilities: None really, unless you count extreme angsting! No? Didn't think so...
Other Annoying Traits: Is a snot nosed brat who doesn't appreciate Hitomi and Van as parents and thinks she's different from every other moody teenager out there. *rolls eyes*

Parts from first chapter(I could only read through that much, though I did scan some of the later chapters):

But she could not act at all, she wasn't good at pretending to be something or someone she wasn't. Then there was singing.she still winced at the thought. Her voice was something like a dying, tortured, constipated bull frog in heat. She tried her hand at almost every sport, hoping to find one where she had a natural talent and could be a star. Her body had other ideas though, She had no endurance, all the others were always, tougher, smarter, and stronger and outlasted her. She sighed. Then she had watched some samurai cartoons and thought she could be some great martial artist. She had made her mother enrol her in wushu, karate and taichi. Altogether she had been exhausted and overwhelmed. All the moves from each art bled into one another until she seemed be doing wusharatichi. She still remembered her instructor's sniff of disdain, and the rest of the class's laughter. She had walked away and never tried again.

She did okay in school, but had to work hard for her 60 average where others who didn't seem to care at all easily got 95s. She was tired and frustrated in general with life, she was sick of trying again and again to find something she had a passion for and each day the fire within guttered a little lower. There came the point about a year ago, when she just gave up and stopped trying. She went to her classes, didn't pay attention, didn't do homework. None of her so called friends seemed to notice the change. In fact, they didn't even seem to notice when she started skipping her classes more and more often. She felt invisible.


No, trust us, we can see you. We WISH you were invisible though.


Yah, maybe I'm just psycho.she thought. Late at night she could hear her parents talking about her. She just turned up her music and ignored them.discussing her like she was some kind of problem that needed to be resolved. The door opened suddenly, her father stepped through, snapping her back to present.

Her mother whipped around. "Oh, Van." she started. Her father looked at her and then at her mother. "What is wrong, Hitomi?" He asked sternly, looking at her mother. They met each others eyes and a brief look of understanding passed almost to quick for Cevena to catch. Van turned to her, first taking a deep breath. "Cevena, Your mother and I think that we might know what the problem is." Not another "understanding parent" talk. She couldn't stand it. She had to get air. She turned around and ran up to her room, slamming the door. "Cevena!" Hitmomi cried anxiously. She heard it through the floor. But then she heard her father shush her and say something like "Give her some time, she needs to calm down first."

Cevena could feel the anger gathering inside her, like a dark beast. She turned up her music, Down with the Sickness, resounded off the walls. Covering everything. She was tired of being so predictable. She wanted to prove that she wasn't just a teenager going through her phases! She had to prove somehow that she didn't want to be what everyone wanted her to be. What the world expected her to be. She felt like she was going insane. She grabbed her CD player and climbed out the window. She needed a walk.


A walk off a short bridge is more like it.



She wanted to cry, but she hadn't cried since she was a four year old. Why start when she was 17? She sighed again. Suddenly she wanted to sing, to put her feelings into a song. It came out a tuneless, weak mewling melody that was *supposed* to be Lennie Kravitz. "I wish that I could fly, so very high into the sky.to anywhere I please. Oh, I wanna get away.I wanna fllllllllllyyy away!" Sure it was an old song. But the words seemed to come straight from her soul and she smiled at her own silliness. A light pulsed from under her shirt. She gasped and took out her necklace. Her mother had given it to her on her fifteenth birthday, almost at the same time Cevena had started to give up on life. Her mother had never taken it off, so it came as a shock to her when she just gave it. The pulsing had slowed to a steady glowing pink light, getting brighter and brighter. The last thought before everything went black was. "My wish is coming true.?"

And suddenly she was smashed to smithereens. "No, you silly silly Mary Sue, OUR wish is coming true!"




(27 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]peeperoonie
2004-02-19 08:54 am UTC (link)
Wouldn't Dilandau be a bit old and well...female by the time any sprog of Van and Hitomi's got to Gaia??

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 09:36 am UTC (link)
Mary Sue does not follow the rules of time and common sense!

Actually, you bring up a good point. It provoked me to read further that Folken is back as well, and the Dragonslayers are now...ROBOTS?!

AAAH! *sporks out her eyes*


Oh, and as for your question, they have a made a process to separate Dilandau from Celena. Damn, if I had read this far, I would have gaven it a lower rating.

"And my uncle is a strategos! Awesome is the tip of the iceberg!!"

*stabs her eyes some more*

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Re:
[info]sabonasi
2004-02-20 08:00 pm UTC (link)
Particularly since the image I have of Dilandau is not that of the anime but of that of Aki-sensei's manga, where I believe he is older than he is in the anime. Pedophilia!Dilandau!!!!!!

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-20 08:27 pm UTC (link)
However, if they were going with the manga Dilandau, there would also be no problems with dealing with Celena.

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Re:
[info]sabonasi
2004-02-20 08:38 pm UTC (link)
True. So you would only have pedophilia!Dilandau rather than pedophilia!lesbian!Dilandau. (I haven't seen the anime, but from what I understand, Dilandau really is a female, so Dilandau/Mary-sue would be shoujo ai, correct?)

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-20 08:55 pm UTC (link)
Err, he changes.


SPOILER

Allen's little sister Celena was captured by Zaibach, the sorcerors did horrible experiments on her, and turned her into Dilandau. Dilandau IS male (his body structure is clearly different then Celena's) , just he morphs into Celena, and vice versa.

It's really hard to explain actually.

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Re:
[info]sabonasi
2004-02-20 09:03 pm UTC (link)
Ah...that's what I thought. Now I have naughty images of Mary-sue going to bed with Dilandau and waking up next to Celena.

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[info]sparklychibi
2004-02-19 09:07 am UTC (link)
She grabbed her CD player and climbed out the window.

When I read that, I got this mental image of Cevena jumping out her window, falling two stories and landing headfirst, breaking her neck. Nice image, isn't it?

Suddenly she wanted to sing, to put her feelings into a song. It came out a tuneless, weak mewling melody that was *supposed* to be Lennie Kravitz. "I wish that I could fly, so very high into the sky.to anywhere I please. Oh, I wanna get away.I wanna fllllllllllyyy away!" Sure it was an old song. But the words seemed to come straight from her soul and she smiled at her own silliness.

Oh, sure. Because I always burst into song randomly when I'm upset. *gags and sporks*

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Re:
[info]sparklychibi
2004-02-19 09:08 am UTC (link)
Oh, and I almost forgot - I LOVE your Dilandau icon.

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 09:25 am UTC (link)
When I read that, I got this mental image of Cevena jumping out her window, falling two stories and landing headfirst, breaking her neck. Nice image, isn't it?

Oh yes, quite. Problem is, she probably has wings, and thus can save herself. Damn.

Oh, sure. Because I always burst into song randomly when I'm upset. *gags and sporks*

Oh good lord, that makes it sound like this is going to be a musical. *shudders at the thought*

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[info]maboroshitsuki
2004-02-19 10:15 am UTC (link)
She had walked away and never tried again.

I thought Mary Sues did wonderfully at everything they did? Or wait... either that or their horrible at everything they do and angst about it until their life gets better....

Late at night she could hear her parents talking about her. She just turned up her music and ignored them.discussing her like she was some kind of problem that needed to be resolved.

My GOD, how can she stand having parents who CARE?! My heart goes out to this poor suffering soul and all her damn angst filled woes.

Wouldn't Van be in Fanelia considering he's the King of that country? Where the hell does this take place anyway!? I get the Earth impression yet the monarch and figure head of Fanelia is there....


She wanted to cry, but she hadn't cried since she was a four year old. Why start when she was 17?

Sure she hadn't... perhaps she'd start if she wasn't a MARY SUE!!!

Ugh. I feel like going to scrap my skin off with a cactus or something after that. Too much angst and woe is me... the authors writing style is pretty good, though she needs to back away from the Sue. O_o

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 10:28 am UTC (link)
Wouldn't Van be in Fanelia considering he's the King of that country? Where the hell does this take place anyway!? I get the Earth impression yet the monarch and figure head of Fanelia is there....

She's on Earth, that's how she gets to Gaia. But yeah, no explanation on why Van is there instead of doing his kingly duties. Doesn't the author realize if she made Hitomi a single parent that would give more fodder for her Mary Sue to be angsty with. Maybe it's because if Van was on Gaia still, his daughter would be against, since she's helping Folken.

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Re:
[info]maboroshitsuki
2004-02-19 10:30 am UTC (link)
Ugggh. It makes my head hurt. I guess I realized she was on earth but boggled my mind that Van would leave his country behind for the sake of some hot passionate sex his family. And shh!! The whole single parent thing might give them ideas!!

... she's helping Folken? Wtf? I thought he was dead.... shows what I know, me and my uncreative mind. -_-

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 08:30 pm UTC (link)
Don't you realize that the Sue can bring people back to life? I would think that you of all people would know the powers of a Mary Sue. :P

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Re:
[info]maboroshitsuki
2004-02-19 10:23 pm UTC (link)
haha, yes, while I do write Mary Sue parodies it still boggles the mind that people would actually write it. I'll be the first to admit that I avoid fanfics and have hardly read any where Mary Sues are involved. Leigh and I usually just throw the really stupid ideas out and, ta da, people actually write those. XD I feel so evil. :p

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-20 07:43 am UTC (link)
Haha, then maybe I shouldn't post the link to the your big Mary Sue parody, because then I'll just encourage them. :P

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[info]otakukeith
2004-02-19 12:35 pm UTC (link)
>Uhh, well, when two people, like Van and Hitomi, fall in love, they get together and...

LOL! :D

>Van and Hitomi's daughter, and suggested by the summary, is going to be Dilandau's TWU WUV!! *gags*

So she's a lesbian who's going to hook up with Celena? :P

And what the zog is Van doing on Earth?! The sad thing is, I've *read* one of those Hitomi-as-single-parent fics (though she was dead by the start of the fic). The author somehow seemed to believe that Hitomi and Van had actually got round to having sex at some point during the series (I suppose in theory they could have, at the end before she went home, but still), yet he didn't bother mentioning the severe problems Hitomi would have as a 14/15 year old single parent - until I prodded him about it. *roll* He also gave his Stu a *titanium* replica of Van's sword, presumably because titanium is KEWL. You wouldn't make a standard sword out of it, though, because its weight would be all wrong and it probably wouldn't be hard enough, to say nothing of the vast expense! *grumble* The story's already been reported, but if you want a look, it's called Lost Wing and it's on ff.net.

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 04:21 pm UTC (link)
Haha, dude, I know it's a Stu, but that's like, one of my favorite stories. XD I know there's things wrong with it, but I can't help but like it. I'll still want to do a report on it, though it might be a little biased, because SHE (not a he) is my friend. :p

Though I do agree about the titanium sword thing. I forgot what she said about it in defense (will check again for the report) And as for the problems Hitomi would have as a single parent, she hasn't truly covered it, but for the most part, supposedly Keori has been in a foster situation most of his life. Though I do find that his foster father being American a little out of place.

Gah, I can't believe I'm supporting a Gary Stu. Tsk tsk tsk, I'm such a hypocrite. :P

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Re:
[info]otakukeith
2004-02-19 05:47 pm UTC (link)
In defence, she (I assumed it was a he from the main character) said she knew nothing about science and didn't like it. I probably wouldn't have nitpicked it if I wasn't a materials science student and hadn't done an engineering alloys course where I'd learned quite a bit about the relative properties of titanium and its alloys. :D You *could* conceivably make a melee weapon out of titanium, but I'm pretty certain it would have to be a new design to accomodate titanium's lower density. Also, I think (90% sure) that titanium, even the hardest alloys, is much softer than tempered/quenched steel, so it would be a bugger to keep sharp. You use titanium alloys for applications where a high strength-to-weight ratio is required, like in aircraft components, not cutting blades.

It was a pretty decent story in some respects, it just had an irritating main character who somehow acquires l33t fantasy-world survival skills back on Earth, disables Guymelefs with his bare hands (if there was a convenient 'off' switch/way to open the crew hatch, someone else would already have found it by now) and, like all good Sues/Stus, gets instantly accepted by everyone he meets. Bleh...

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Re:
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 08:23 pm UTC (link)
Again, you make a good point, but not many writers are that knowlegeable about titanium. I, myself, if not for hearing your explanation, would think that titanium would be a good metal to make a sword out of, just on the common belief that it's a cool strong metal. However, she often does a lot of research into her stories, so I'm suprised she didn't find out about that before writing Lost Wing.

Personally, I don't think Keori is THAT irritating, though the skills that came naturally to him were a little overboard. But I do agree with her on the being able to use a guymelef for the first time, for Van did fought in the Escaflowne the first time when Zaibach attacked Fanelia, though admittedly did not handle as well as Keori supposedly does. I argue about him getting accepted right away however, yes, Allen and Dryden welcome him openly, but the main person to worry about, Van, does not. Thus, Keori is an angsty Stu, and I'm one of this sick people who thrive in angst. ;P

I think the real thing that draws me to this story is how well it is written compared to other Mary Sues/Gary Stus, thus why it has become one of my favorite stories. If it was written as much MS/GS are, I probably wouldn't have read any more chapters. I'd give my highest on the piscus scale, which isn't really saying anything, because it's only Drinkable Piscus Juice, or okay. I doubt there could be any real MS/GS that I would find no flaws in.

I feel sort of guilty for saying this stuff about my friend's stuff, but I really don't want to be percieved as a biased person.

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Re:
[info]otakukeith
2004-02-21 04:28 am UTC (link)
Again, you make a good point, but not many writers are that knowlegeable about titanium. I, myself, if not for hearing your explanation, would think that titanium would be a good metal to make a sword out of, just on the common belief that it's a cool strong metal. However, she often does a lot of research into her stories, so I'm suprised she didn't find out about that before writing Lost Wing.

If there is no record of anyone ever making a sword, ESPECIALLY a katana replica, out of titanium alloy, then the safest thing to do is not to put one in a story. Apart from anything else, even if you COULD make one that way, if no-one actually does, where would he have got it made?

On the comparison with Van fighting in Escaflowne...one would assume that Van, having grown up in a world where Guymelefs are fairly common, would know a bit about how they worked and might well have had some practice in the mundane ones the Fanelian army had. Also Van is the hero and has a blood tie with Escaflowne, so he's allowed to pilot it really well. Kinda like the Evangelion Stus and Sues who can pilot an Eva really well even though their mother's soul isn't inside it. :D

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Sue/Dilandu????
[info]khym_chanur
2004-02-19 06:37 pm UTC (link)
Did the Sue author miss the fact that Dilandu is, well, a psychotic killer? Or does that just make him more of a hot bishie?

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Re: Sue/Dilandu????
[info]escaflownesues
2004-02-19 08:26 pm UTC (link)
I think because the Sue Author considers Dilandau to be an angsty character, her character being angsty would help them bond.

Or maybe it's just because he's like, "Totally Hawt!!11~~ MoReO mOrEo!!11~~~""

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[info]misachan
2004-02-19 10:22 pm UTC (link)
This author and I have very different definitions of the word "angsty." Dilandau is not "angsty." Dilandau is a freaking psychotic loon. These are very, very different concepts.

Whenever I read one of these fics, it's always one of the little throwaway facts that keep me up at night. Tonight it's going to be, "But why would anyone want to separate Dilandau and Celena?"

Really, why? Unless Celena's randomly switching back and forth, there's no point. And even if it could be done without breaking Celena mentally, why would they just set Dilandau loose? He's a murderous nut and a threat to the kingdom. Wouldn't he be hung for war crimes, or whatever the Fanelian equivalent of hanging is?

Am I the only one who's questioning why he wouldn't be, say, eating the daughter of his archrival instead of romancing her? This isn't Muraki we're talking about here. Smooth and suave Dilandau's not. And the fact of the Sue's gender aside, Dilandau would never go for this girl. He's much too self-centered to put up with all this whining; Real!Dilandau would get bored and slap her after about five seconds.

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Re:
[info]yuuo
2004-02-23 09:55 pm UTC (link)
They *wouldn't* let Dilandau just run loose, regardless of the fact that he's Allen's 'sister'. They'd have him locked up and Allen would have the best people you could get trying to bring Celena back faster than Dilandau could burn down a kingdom.

... ::eyes Celena:: And doesn't everyone just *love* having characters in your head? -_-;;

Celena> Pff. Five seconds? More like two.

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[info]doinkies
2004-02-23 04:12 pm UTC (link)
Actually, a lot of American singers are popular in Japan. Just look at the Oricon Top 10 Albums chart on any given day and you will see a lot of albums by American or British singers in there. (The Oricon charts are the Japanese answer to the Billboard charts.)

This Sue is still doinky, though. What an annoying, whiny doink. Poor Dillydoinkies.

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[info]voiceof_treason
2004-05-17 03:50 pm UTC (link)
I just found this LiveJournal (how could I not have before?! It's brilliant) and let me just say, I've read all of them, and my eyes have just bled all over my computer desk. Very good job with the anti-Mary-Sueness of my favorite anime. :)

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