joiedecombat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
joiedecombat) wrote2010-09-30 09:50 am
joiedecombat) wrote2010-09-30 09:50 am
shipping meme, day three: baccano!, luck/eve
Day 03 - A pairing that needs to happen now?
Bear with me for a minute here. The Baccano! anime has basically no support for a relationship between Luck Gandor and Eve Genoard - they meet exactly once, and while Luck does show Eve some consideration, that's mostly just because Luck is (his being a Mafia executive and self-identified villain notwithstanding) a naturally considerate guy. All things considered, Eve's most significant interaction in that scene is probably with Bartolo Runorata, not Luck.
A good chunk of the Western fandom sees no appeal in the pairing at all, and while I can't say for certain how many of those people are going by just the anime, considering that the novels it's based on have only been published in Japanese, it seems reasonably likely and I can't blame them.
However, there are fan translations of the novels available online. And while the anime managed to lift the plots of the first three of them more or less intact, the 1932 arc was greatly modified from the novel it was taken from, Drugs & Dominoes - which, unlike the anime version, has some definite subtext between Luck and Eve.
How definite? The dramatic climax of the novel is the scene in which the two characters meet, during which:
* Luck shows up in the nick of time to save Eve from being brutalized by Gustavo.
* Eve confronts Luck over what he did to her brother Dallas.
* When Gustavo comes to, Luck prepares to hold him off so that Eve can escape.
* Upon learning that Gustavo killed her father and other brother, Eve promptly apologizes to Luck for not understanding him before and prepares to blow Gustavo's head off with a revolver.
* Luck puts his arm in the way of the gun, getting his hand blown off in the process, tells Eve he understands her pain, stabs Gustavo in the throat with the jagged end of his own severed arm, and checks to make sure Eve's okay before passing out from the pain.
Or, to put it more simply, the emotional high point of the entire novel is these two characters finding out that, deep down, they're really not all that different from one another.
There's also the epilogue, in which Luck gives Eve the location where they dumped her brother ("When you feel my pain has disappeared, please do as you wish. I shall leave this judgement of when this time has come to you,") and then goes home and wonders why the hell he did that; meanwhile, Eve frets about how rescuing Dallas would hurt Luck. Not to mention the earlier scene in which Luck's brothers pester him about when he's going to follow their examples, find a girl, and get married.
My point here is that, at least going by the novels, these two are perfect for each other. On the one hand there is contrast: Luck is outwardly a cool, cynical, and ruthless Mafia executive (with a heart made of marshmallow; the two characters who know him best both separately identify him as way too nice for his position), Eve is a sheltered, innocent, idealistic young lady (with a spine of steel; even in the anime she's kind of fierce, and that version actually robs her of some of the agency she displays in the novel). And also a very important similarity: what is most important to both of them, above anything else, is family. No exceptions.
As far as I know, Narita hasn't done anything else with the two of them together in any of the novels after Drugs & Dominoes. Unless and until he does, my personal canon for both of them is that, somewhere a few years down the road after Eve has caught up to Luck in age a little, they end up married.
Even if they don't, Luck has demonstrably had an effect on Eve, and judging by Luck's brooding in the epilogue, Eve has had an effect on him as well, and I'm pleased with that. But come on: imagine Dallas's face when he finds out the Gandors are going to be his in-laws. It'd be gold. And if the series makes anything clear, it's that Narita loves abusing Dallas Genoard.
So Luck/Eve definitely needs to happen right now.
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?
Bear with me for a minute here. The Baccano! anime has basically no support for a relationship between Luck Gandor and Eve Genoard - they meet exactly once, and while Luck does show Eve some consideration, that's mostly just because Luck is (his being a Mafia executive and self-identified villain notwithstanding) a naturally considerate guy. All things considered, Eve's most significant interaction in that scene is probably with Bartolo Runorata, not Luck.
A good chunk of the Western fandom sees no appeal in the pairing at all, and while I can't say for certain how many of those people are going by just the anime, considering that the novels it's based on have only been published in Japanese, it seems reasonably likely and I can't blame them.
However, there are fan translations of the novels available online. And while the anime managed to lift the plots of the first three of them more or less intact, the 1932 arc was greatly modified from the novel it was taken from, Drugs & Dominoes - which, unlike the anime version, has some definite subtext between Luck and Eve.
How definite? The dramatic climax of the novel is the scene in which the two characters meet, during which:
* Luck shows up in the nick of time to save Eve from being brutalized by Gustavo.
* Eve confronts Luck over what he did to her brother Dallas.
* When Gustavo comes to, Luck prepares to hold him off so that Eve can escape.
* Upon learning that Gustavo killed her father and other brother, Eve promptly apologizes to Luck for not understanding him before and prepares to blow Gustavo's head off with a revolver.
* Luck puts his arm in the way of the gun, getting his hand blown off in the process, tells Eve he understands her pain, stabs Gustavo in the throat with the jagged end of his own severed arm, and checks to make sure Eve's okay before passing out from the pain.
Or, to put it more simply, the emotional high point of the entire novel is these two characters finding out that, deep down, they're really not all that different from one another.
There's also the epilogue, in which Luck gives Eve the location where they dumped her brother ("When you feel my pain has disappeared, please do as you wish. I shall leave this judgement of when this time has come to you,") and then goes home and wonders why the hell he did that; meanwhile, Eve frets about how rescuing Dallas would hurt Luck. Not to mention the earlier scene in which Luck's brothers pester him about when he's going to follow their examples, find a girl, and get married.
My point here is that, at least going by the novels, these two are perfect for each other. On the one hand there is contrast: Luck is outwardly a cool, cynical, and ruthless Mafia executive (with a heart made of marshmallow; the two characters who know him best both separately identify him as way too nice for his position), Eve is a sheltered, innocent, idealistic young lady (with a spine of steel; even in the anime she's kind of fierce, and that version actually robs her of some of the agency she displays in the novel). And also a very important similarity: what is most important to both of them, above anything else, is family. No exceptions.
As far as I know, Narita hasn't done anything else with the two of them together in any of the novels after Drugs & Dominoes. Unless and until he does, my personal canon for both of them is that, somewhere a few years down the road after Eve has caught up to Luck in age a little, they end up married.
Even if they don't, Luck has demonstrably had an effect on Eve, and judging by Luck's brooding in the epilogue, Eve has had an effect on him as well, and I'm pleased with that. But come on: imagine Dallas's face when he finds out the Gandors are going to be his in-laws. It'd be gold. And if the series makes anything clear, it's that Narita loves abusing Dallas Genoard.
So Luck/Eve definitely needs to happen right now.
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?