I am not one of those people.
Why? Well, Ameria may be a bit.. eccentric, but she's not Satan. She is a direct takeoff of Sailor Moon (Sailoon.. Sailor Moon...) and not really to be taken seriously. People get drawn into Zel, who is nothing BUT serious.. and so, with Ameria always there, they tend to take Ameria seriously.
BAD idea.
Ameria is not the type you SHOULD take seriously... she's just a walking joke, for the most part. You're supposed to think her justice kick is funny.. admit it, the first time you saw her climb a tree and fall on her face, you thought it was funny. See? That's the kind of thing Hajime was aiming for. Ameria is a deranged, off-the-wall, NON-serious character. Almost everyone in Slayers is! The reason there's no love story going on is because it'd be freak loving freak! Is there anyone WORTHY of Zel? No. Worthy of Lina? No. (well, there's Gourry, but that prolly ain't gonna happen)
The thing with Ameria is that you just have to let yourself go. If you don't take her seriously, maybe you'll be able to stoumach her and even find her a likeable character.
The main thing I have seen wrong with Ameria's characterization is her speech. Yes, she is annoying, but she doesn't TRY to be. She's OBLIVIOUS, and that's her main fault. She keeps the justice kick low-profile most of the time.. otherwise, how'd she get along with Lina? Or Xelloss? Or Gourry? Or... you get the idea.
A typical Ameria scene would go like this :
- Ameria sees wrongdoing, and flips out.
- She does a speech.
- She beats up villains in a VERY bizarre manner.
- She does the lil 'victory!' sign.
- She's proud of herself.
- She gets into her dreams of justice and (optionally) gets approval from her father.
As to her relationship with Zel.. I don't think he'd go for it. But she's gradually toning down her sense of justice.. in Next she's almost tolerable here and there. All she needs is some depth (which she might have and I haven't seen yet), and she'd be a fine character.
Discrepancies in her behavior :
- EVERYWHERE. It's growth. She goes along with Lina's insanity because she wants friends (she doesn't have many, I'd wager) and somewhere, even SHE can't stand being little miss Sailor Moon.
