(Sorry for my poor grammar: I'm Italian! Constructive criticism is welcome)
Everyone who watches all 3 series of Slayers may notice that not only the Z/L couple is not intended by the authors of the Anime, but in some episodes there are reliable evidences of the complete indifference that these two chars have for one another.
EPISODE #1 of Next : Zel works for the kingdom of Zoana, in exchange for a
book that may contain a clue for finding his cure. In order to read it the
chimera has no scruples: when Lina destroys the castle tower, Zel unsheats his
swords in front of her..
"Sorry, Lina, but I have to kill you..."
This
is just the typical declaration of love, isn't it?
NOTE: ten
minutes ago Zel HAD scruples...he asked Amelia to surrender so he wouldn't be
forced to battle with her.
EPISODE #2 of Next : Lina destroys a bandit gang and tries to infiltrate to another just to find Zel's cure. Later in the episode, the chimera shows all his affection and gratitude: Lina gets buried by tons of rocks when the bandits' lair fall down, she extends a hand in the air for help...but Zel prefers to collect Claire Bible pages instead of helping her... OH MY GOD THESE GUYS ARE SO MADLY IN LOVE!!!
"But Lina never judged Zel for his looks, while
Amelia did!"
I often heard this sentence, people who wrote it forgot
two important things:
1)Lina is an experienced woman, during her trips she
met all sort of people, nothing scares her anymore, she didn't react in front of
Delgiar the wolf-man and Zolf the mummy, why would Zel be an exception? Amelia
in the first series was only an apprentice sorceress, and it was the first time
she ventured outside the castle, so it's perfectly normal and excusable that an
inexperienced traveler would make bad judgments
2)Lina herself was
very suspicious of Zel at the beginning, and for Rezo it's child's play to
convince her that the chimera is a "bad guy". The sorceress change idea only
after getting to know him better...exactly the same thing that happened to
Amelia (who realises Zel is an ok guy only after seeing him saving Lina's and
Silpheel's life)
And don't forget the second episode of Next: Amelia says Zel
shouldn't worry about his phisycal appearence, Lina says something similar, Zel
gets angry and leave. Gourry reprimands the two girls and Lina admits she
went too far with her joke..while Amelia is left speechless: she WASN'T joking!
Lina and Zel saved each other countless of times!"
Countless..ok, let's count them!
I remember Zel saving Lina sometimes (from
Noonsa, from the cannon ball..)...but the other way round? Rina sometimes saved
the butt of all her friends, or of Zel and Ame together..but she never
saved Zel, and Zel alone!
And if you think about it, Zel never risked his own
life to save Lina, the worst he got was a cannon ball on his head (Try #2)and
for someone with a rock skin it's really nothing...
(Note : On that
occasion Lina didn't even thank him!. Who nursed him after he fainted? Hint:
it's not Lina and her name starts with A...)
All of this is absolutely not
comparable with being cut in two by Garv's sword to defend a certain Seyruun
princess...
(Note2: I don't remember Lina saving Zel, but I *do*
remember Amelia saving Zel..she did it 3 times!)