Most popular FFVII pairings?

[Danseru-kun]

I'm just curious which pairings are the most popular to you guys. Well popular is a bit subjective but at least we can say that it means a lot of fanwork like fanfiction, fanarts, doujins and AMV. We can also say that the number of fansites/forums along with their size can indicate popularity.

On fanfiction.net alone, I was surprised at the most populated pairs as of this day.

Based on the number of fanfics in all genres/ratings/status:

1.Cloti - 2596
2.Clack - 1867
3.Clephiroth - 1616
4.Yuffentine- 1523
5.Clerith - 1333
6.RenoxRude - 559
7.Cid x Vincent - 558 (added)
8.Zerith - 490
9.Zephiroth/Sack - 474
10.Vincent x Tifa -429
11. Sephiroth x Genesis - 374 (added)
12.Cloud x Vincent - 367
13. AeriSeph - 345 (added)

Romance genre filter:

1.Cloti -1870
2.Yuffentine - 1123
3.Clack - 1013
4.Clerith - 910
5.Clephiroth - 840
6.Zerith - 369
7.Cid x Vincent - 340 (added)
8.Vincent x Tifa - 311
9. AeriSeph - 225 (added)
10.RenoxRude - 216

But if we get the ratio of romance fanfics to total fanfics (kinda like romance rate)

1.Zerith - 75%
2.Yuffentine - 73%
3.Cloti - 72%
4.Aerti - 68%
5.Vincent x Tifa - 65%
6.AeriSeph - 65% (added)
7.Clerith - 63%
8.Clouffie - 62% (added)
9.Cid x Vincent - 60%
10.Clack - 54%
11.Clephiroth - 52%
12.Reno x Rude - 38%

I'm studying statistical economics so I got motivated to do this. I thought that Clerith or Clephiroth will be at the 2nd spot but I guess it just proves that I'm still a newb in the FFVII fandom. I'm kinda sad that Zerith (mah OTP) is pretty small but hey at least it's not that small

Of course, this is not enough to conclude anything. But feel free to share your other thoughts on this. Also, feel free to double check if I missed a couple or something. I didn't include the ones with very low figures. I'll be continually editing this post.

 

[Soakette]

The fanfics i read the most would be renoxrude. I like tsengxelena as well but I see that didn't even make the list. Yuffentine just makes me sick. Dont know why so many people pair them up.

 

[Flintlock]

Nice work. I conclude that people need to get more original in their pairings. Where are all the Eluffies, the Diotines, the Tiriths, the Nangenhagens?

 

[Octo]

Lol 'Sack'!

Surprised Cid/Vincent isn't up there, that seems pretty popular.

Probably would be impossible/difficult to do but I'd be interested to see how fanfic trends have changed over time. Cloud/Zack seems much more popular since AC and CC came out.

The amount of Clephiroth and Yuffentine stuff baffles me completely.

 

[OneWingedDemon]

I see peoplez objecting to Cloud/Sephiroth?
bitches please, practically canon with all that homoerotic dialogue.

 

[Octo]

Well yeah I guess, those two just can't seem to stay away from each other

 

[Edley]

Heathens don't know the power of Sephiorth/Jenova.

On a different note, I do wonder which paring has the highest percentage of wangst. Some Cloti and Clerith fics are so god damn depressing it hurts. Then again I don't read the yaoi stuff, but I'd imagine those fics would probably be fairly OOC in general.

 

[Splintered]

There is no way Cloud/Sephiroth is less popular than Cloud/Tifa and Cloud/Aerith.

Also all these names sound like STDS... Clephiroth. Sounds about right.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

So, just out of interest, I went to Archive of our Own, where I think the overall quality of the writing is somewhat higher (though there are not nearly so many fics posted there: 1633 for the whole Compilation) and this is what I found, just looking at the tags:

"The Turks" have 429 fics tagged
Cloud: 282 fics
Reno: 253 fics
Sephiroth: 229 fics
Zack: 188
Tseng: 168
Rufus: 148
Vincent: 135
Tifa: 129
Aerith: 106
Yuffie: 59
Elena: 58
Barret: 25

Pairings:
Overall total pairings for Cloud were difficult to calculate, because his name usually comes second, after the slash.
The single most popular pairing was Sephiroth/Cloud with 62 fics.
Tifa/Cloud: 35
Zack/Cloud: 31

Zack/Aerith 31

Reno's name usually comes first in any pairing: there were 125 of these fics altogether. The most popular were:
Reno/Rude: 43
Reno/Rufus: 29
Reno/Cloud: 28
Reno/Tifa: 14, tied with Reno/Tseng which also has 14

There were 40 Rufus/Tseng fics and 9 Elena/Tseng fics.

There were a total of 13 Yuffietines.

I'm not really a numbers person so I don't understand what you mean by ratio of romance fics to the total fanfics. Do you means total fanfics featuring both those two characters?

 

[Danseru-kun]

I'll give my own reaction as well but not now since I'm in a hurry.

Lol 'Sack'!

Surprised Cid/Vincent isn't up there, that seems pretty popular.

Yeah same here tbh, your post reminded me of that. I remember years ago most of the yaoi was CidVin, very surprised.

Oops, I missed that pairing. So I made new stats.

Cid x Vincet -558 - Gotta put that on the top post

For those who want are disappointed that Clouffie and Aerti didn't make it:

Clouffie - 154 all, 97 romance
62% romance rate
AerTi - 151, 103 romance
68% romance rate

M-rated fanfics
1.Clephiroth - 680
2.Clack - 601
3.Cloti - 369
4.Yuffentine - 255
5.Cid x Vincent - 202
6.Reno x Rude - 198
7.Sephiroth x Genesis -132 (added)
8.Zephiroth/Sack - 123
9.Cloud x Vincent (Clincent?) - 122
10.Vincent x Tifa - 100
11.AeriSeph - 88 (added)
12.Clerith - 83
13.Zerith - 34

Ratio of M-rated fics over total fanfics

1.Clephiroth - 42%
2.RenoxRude - 35%
2.Sephiroth x Genesis - 35% (added)
3.Cloud x Vincent - 33%
4.Clack - 32%
5.Zephiroth/Sack - 25%
6.AeriSeph - 25%
7.Vincent x Tifa - 23%
8.Yuffentine- 16%
9.Cloti - 14%
10.Zerith - 7%
11.Clerith - 6%

Of course, M-rate fanfics include other stuff not just sex so we cannot conclude that it's all perv, especially that Clephiroth includes a lot of mindscrewing or possible sadism.

So I filted the M-rate stories under romance and here's what I got

1.Clack - 468
2.Clephiroth - 424
3.Cloti - 305
4.Yuffentine - 212
5.Cid x Vincent - 141
6.Reno x Rude - 120
7.Sephiroth x Genesis - 88
8.Cloud x Vincent - 82
9.Vincent x Tifa - 76
10.AeriSeph - 66
11.Clerith - 56
12.Zephiroth/Sack - 61
13.Zerith - 26

Then I divided M romance/Total M-rated fics so I got romance incidence in M-rate stories, orz is assumed as the romantic sex incidence rate iwhen you search with the M-filter

1.Yuffentine - 83%
2.Cloti - 82%
3.Zerith - 76%
4.Vincent x Tifa - 76%
5.AeriSeph - 75% (added)
5.Cid x Vincent - 70%
6.Clephiroth - 69%
7.Cloud x Vincent (Clincent?) - 67%
7.Clerith - 67%
7.Sephiroth x Genesis - 67% (added)
8.Reno x Rude - 60%
9.Clack - 50%
9.Zephiroth/Sack - 50%

EDIT:

I'm not really a numbers person so I don't understand what you mean by ratio of romance fics to the total fanfics. Do you means total fanfics featuring both those two characters?

The formula is like this: Romance genre fanfics of the pair/total fanfics of the pair. So for example for Zack/Aerith = 369/490 = 75%. I searched fanfics under Zack(Character 1) and Aerith(Character 2), I didn't include the fanfics searched under one character, it's always a pair. --> gotta add this

 

[OneWingedDemon]

any pairing involving Sephiroth is an instant ew for me

I'm pretty sure that's what Sephiroth thinks of sex seeing as how in my headcanon he is totally asexual

 

[Edley]

So, just out of interest, I went to Archive of our Own, where I think the overall quality of the writing is somewhat higher

Isn't AO3 mostly smut? I think it's home of the Orwellian Dissidia All Female Sex Tournament :nosebleed:

Upon further review there's actually 91 Cloud/Tifa fics on that site though, but Sekiharatae and Diane Taylor's smut collections are more than half of that number.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Isn't AO3 mostly smut?

And ff.net isn't? I think there's some sort of rule about this on the Internets somewhere.

Anyway, you can have well-written smut or poorly-written smut. Given that we're talking pairings here, the probability of smut is inherently high.

Edit: are we talking about the same site? I went and double-checked the tags for the Cloud and Tifa relationship. Nothing for Cloud/Tifa, 35 for Tifa/Cloud.

 

[Edley]

Cloud/Tifa Works I think the tag Cloud Strife/Tifa Lockhart is what I checked, so it's possible there's more than that if you searched Tifa/Cloud or some other variant.

I actually agree on the smut statement, there just seems to be a higher percentage of pr0n on A03. This isn't a bad thing. I think on a whole FF.net is kinda like wal-mart as everybody puts there fics up there so you have to wade through a lot of crap to read one decent fic. A03 is less well known so while there are less fics, the quality from work to work is higher. Besides, A03 is a choir boy compared to adultfanfiction.net.

I'm rambling.

 

[Celes Chere]

I see peoplez objecting to Cloud/Sephiroth?
bitches please, practically canon with all that homoerotic dialogue.

 

[Danseru-kun]

Sephiroth x Genesis

All fanfics -374
Romance fanfics - 194
M-rated - 132
Romantic M-rated - 88

Romance rate overall - 51%
M-rated fanfic ratio - 35%
Romantic M-rated fic ratio - 67%

AeriSeph

All fanfics - 345
Romance fanfics - 225
M-rated fanfics - 88
Romantic M-rated - 66

Romance rate - 65%
M-rated fanfic ratio - 25%
Romantic M-rated fic ratio - 75%



Gotta add these now


I'll write a summary and some analysis of the results later.

 

[Fangu]

I like tsengxelena as well but I see that didn't even make the list.

Oh helloooo there

"The Turks" have 429 fics tagged

See, now we're talking
"Turkfic" is a lovely word.

There were 40 Rufus/Tseng fics and 9 Elena/Tseng fics.

I love AO3.

Isn't AO3 mostly smut?

Not mostly - there is a lot of smut on there (but so is there on ff.net.) I'd say I agree with Licorice - the overall quality of the fics are much higher on AO3, as "everyone" is on ff.net and the number of random stuff there will be higher.

Also, I think a lot of the folks who write good quality fic from the Compilation usually don't write your standard Cloti/Clephiroth/whatever, it's usually more character studies, "20 years ago in North Corel", Turkfics and so forth. I mean Cloti one-shots are fun, but I don't really find the "and then Cloud came home" fics very interesting. I like the exciting and somewhat miserable ones that have you on the edge of your seat go to ff.net and type "LicoriceAllsorts"

Then some tech rant (because, you know, I just have to): I just wish AO3 would get out of Beta mode soon and be a proper fic site, because they've gotten so far with it and I overall prefer the database solution they have going there instead of the "print to new file" super outdated solution ff.net is built on.

 

[Vivi]

Sephiroth x Genesis

All fanfics -374
Romance fanfics - 194
M-rated - 132
Romantic M-rated - 88

Romance rate overall - 51%
M-rated fanfic ratio - 35%
Romantic M-rated fic ratio - 67%

This is why the official pairing name should be Sephesis. Because it almost sounds like syphilis.


And I actually like this pairing

 

[Masamune]

Tifa x Marlboro.

Makes about as much sense as anything else on that list.

Spoiler

And TENTACLES.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

Tifa x Marlboro.

Makes about as much sense as anything else on that list.

Spoiler

And TENTACLES.

It's a whole sub-genre.

 

[Dana Scully]

ngl, all that yuffentine pleases me greatly :3 even if, tbqh, a lot of it is, well, bad.

also the lack of tsengxelena fics is nothing short of a travesty

 

[Alessa Gillespie]

I see peoplez objecting to Cloud/Sephiroth?
bitches please, practically canon with all that homoerotic dialogue.

i dont think either party knows how to use their dicks

i imagine that all their sexual encounters are dickslapping contests that end in both wondering why they're not satisfied

 

[Danseru-kun]

HERE ARE MY FINDINGS!


Notes:


* Romance rate = Fics under romance genre/Total fics
* Ratio of M-rated fics = M-rated fics/Total fics
*Let’s assume that M-rated fics filtered under romance is smut
* 1% difference is not significant
* The quality of fanfics does not matter


Findings:
1. Cloti is the most populated pair and has the highest number of romance fics and ranks third in the number of smut. Cloti has a low ratio of M-rated fics, only 14%, However 82% of its M-rated fics are smut.

2. Clack is the 2nd most populated pair and third in the number of romance fanfic, however in terms of ratio, only a little more than half of Clack fics is romantic. It’s also second in the highest number of M-rated fics, 50% of them being smut. Despite this, Clack still has the highest number of smut.

3. Clephiroth is the 3rd most populated pair but only half of its fics are romantic. It has both the highest number of M-rated fics and highest ratio (42% of the total.) It is the second highest in smut.

4. Yuffentine is the 4th most populated pairing and 2nd in the number of romance fics and fourth in the most number of M-rated fanfics. It has a low M-rated fic ratio with only 16% but it still is the fourth highest in smut.

5. Clerith is the 5th most populated pair ranking fourth in romance. Like Cloti, its M-rated fics are a small, ranking 11th, but 67% of this is smut.


Other findings:

a. Though Zerith only ranks 8 in population, 75% of its fics are romantic which is the highest percentage among all pairs.

b. Aerti and AeriSeph fics are more likely to be romantic than Clerith fics

c.Yaoi pairs tend to have a higher ratio of M-rated fics

M rated fics/Total fics
1.Clephiroth - 42%
2.RenoxRude - 35%
2.Sephiroth x Genesis - 35% (added)
3.Cloud x Vincent - 33%
4.Clack - 32%
5.Zephiroth/Sack - 25%
5.AeriSeph - 25%
6.Vincent x Tifa - 23%
7.Cloti - 14%
8.Yuffentine- 16%
9.Zerith - 7%
10.Clerith - 6%

d. However het couples tend to have a bigger ratio of romance in their M fics

Romance M-rated/M-rated fics
1.Yuffentine - 83%
2.Cloti - 82%
3.Zerith - 76%
4.Vincent x Tifa - 76%
5.AeriSeph - 75% (added)

e. Romance rate and the M-rated ratio have a somewhat negative relationship in certain couples

Romance fics/Total fics
1.Zerith - 75%
2.Yuffentine - 73%
3.Cloti - 72%
4.Aerti - 68%
5.Vincent x Tifa - 65%
6.AeriSeph - 65% (added)
7.Clerith - 63%
8.Clouffie - 62% (added)
9.Cid x Vincent - 60%
10.Clack - 54%
11.Clephiroth - 52%
12.Reno x Rude - 38%

M rated fics/total fics
1.Clephiroth - 42%
2.RenoxRude - 35%
2.Sephiroth x Genesis - 35% (added)
3.Cloud x Vincent - 33%
4.Clack - 32%
5.Zephiroth/Sack - 25%
6.AeriSeph - 25%
7.Vincent x Tifa - 23%
8.Yuffentine- 16%
9.Cloti - 14%
10.Zerith - 7%
11.Clerith - 6%

Again, this does not speak for the whole fandom. This is just data from Fanfiction.net.

C'mon what do you think?

 

[Roger]

What source provided Reno's last name as "Sinclair"?

 

[Soakette]

Oh helloooo there

Spoiler: How You Doin'?

See, now we're talking
"Turkfic" is a lovely word.

It is isn't? Pretty much the only fanfics I read involve the Turks.

What source provided Reno's last name as "Sinclair"?

^ This. I've always wondered. Where the fuck did this come from?