#I should just respect people loving evangelion good for them

[notalicorn]

Yesterday I discussed Evangelion with a friend. Told him I'm not a big fan (and complained about it). He replied that Trigger, thus Dungeon Meshi, would not exist without Evangelion. I replied that I still prefer Dungeon Meshi over Evangelion, and that DM is the best thing that came up because of NGE.

He then told me: "So you prefer eating your sister than fucking your mother."

We agreed. This discussion was intellectually satisfying.

[makib1tch]

ummm all of them 😅

OKAY OKAY THISLL BE LONG BUT ILL TRY

the character everyone gets wrong : Alnst Luka. LIKE I GET THAT PEOPLE DONT LIKE HIM BUT HE ISNT THE VILLAIN. THE ALIENS ARE THE FUCKING VILLAINS. Like I lowkey feel like he doesn’t understand that what he’s doing is wrong. Like he wants to survive. Thats how the alien taught him too. DONT GET ME STARTED ILL RAMBLE WAY TOO FUCKIN MUCH

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom: uhhh my fav is Aventurine and I see him as a switch sooooo….idk 🥲🥲🥲🥲.

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr : uuuuuuh idk sorry

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person? : idk if it counts but like I had a friend I vented to her and told her I $h and she started to insult me and yea I was having a panic attack and blocked her

worst discord server and why : I’m never on discord so idk

which ship fans are the most annoying? Not all of them (I sometimes ship it too) but aventio/ratiorine/call them what u want idc. Like. There are ratiorine shippers who are like "OOOOHOOHH AVENTURINE IS SUCH A HORNY BOTTOM WHOREEE AND RATIO IS A HORNY DOM EUZKZKALALAL" and then they go and ruin the entire fucking characters. Like I like the ship when it’s done right. When they respect the fuckin characters. Not when they ship them out of pure horniness. BUT NOT ALL OF THEM. Oh and it’s the same for Ruikasa (pjsk) shippers.

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? : I used to hate Ratio. Because of the weird ratiorine shippers.

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about : THAT LUKA FROM

ALNST IS THE VILLAIN

worst part of canon : idkidkkdk

worst part of fanon : idk too sorry im shit at ask games

number of fandom-related words you've filtered : none

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them : Alnst Luka. Again with him. HES SUCH A FUCKIN INTERESTING AND COMPLEX CHARACTER ILOVE HIM

worst blorboficiation : the fuck is that?

that one thing you see in fics all the time : in x reader like "you have blue eyes and black hair" THEN NO THATS NOT AN X READER

that one thing you see in fanart all the time: aaaaaahh idkk I see way too much fanarts everyday

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) : Hyuna x Luka. I don’t understand. They’re so toxic like

there should be more of this type of fic/art: anyone comforting aventurine. My baby needs comfort. I love him. I want to hug him

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on... : i don’t think people have been sleeping on but idk she still doesn’t get enough credit everyone go read @aventurineswife ‘s fics they’re so fuckin good.

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like... : those x reader fics that are written out of straight up horniness. They be having the most obscene and devious devilish things.

part of canon you found tedious or boring : the whole xianzhou luofu quest ig. Expect for Tingyun I love her. But like idk I was kinda bored in it. Maybe it’s just me idk

part of canon you think is overhyped : Himekos death in csm. Like I saw people being super sad but like…idk. I didnt feel sad for her. I felt bad for Aki since he was sad yeah. But Himeko like her death didn’t do anything for me.

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores : AAAAAAAH IDK IM SORRY

ship you've unwillingly come around to : Ratiorine, I used to hate it. Now I like it. (I’m not sure I understood the question lmao)

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse : The hospital scene in the End of Evangelion. I don’t have to explain. I think just no one should talk about it.

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing : "Denji is a dumb pervert."

OK FINALLY FINISHED I TOOK WAY TOO FUCKIN LONG TO ANSWER THIS

I’m shit at ask games sorry lmao

[gwendolyn-of-loxley]

Tag 9 people you'd like to get to know better.

I was tagged by @nitewrighter and @macko-99, both of whom are wonderful! Check 'em out!

Three Ships:

Gency: This is technically cheating because @nitewrighter did it too, but I like these two a lot. Cyborg ninja and the angelic field doctor that nurses him back to health while both of them learn to lean on other people aohfoieofkjrehadsjklewjfdsioewqjaoewhfd YES. Nite's fics certainly didn't hurt.

Gestures vaguely at Mystery Incorporated: Look, this might sound non-committal, but I'm down for whatever's going on for the main cast of Scooby Doo. Are they all dating? Sure. Fred and Daphne in love while their queer-platonic friends come along with a talking dog? Dig it. No labels but Fred and Shaggy for sure explore each other's bodies? Hell yes. The concept of going on a road trip with your besties in a Volkswagen van solving mysteries is literally a dream. (Fred: "These are my three partners. And yes, they smoke weed.")

CaitVi: I watched Arcane and now it's rotting my brain.

First ever ship; Sonally: My first ever, like, official ship, since I started out in the Sonic fandom on DeviantArt back in middle school. I just think they're neat. While the running joke is that being in the Sonic fandom is kinda cringe, I love the bond of mutual trust and respect that these two had for one another both in the old SatAM cartoon and in the Archie comic books. Is it basic? Kinda. Was it especially refreshing to see a m/f relationship in fiction be based around both people lifting each other up through the good times and the bad? Hell yeah. I also think Sally is an s-tier female character in a property that has routinely done its female characters super dirty, and so she is my blorbo.

Last song: "Soldier, Poet, King" by the Oh Hellos.

Last movie: "The Iron Giant" (yes I sobbed leave me alone)

Currently reading: Not nearly enough. I'm in the middle of "The Witcher: Sword of Destiny," but I'm reading at a snail's pace, and no pharmacy has had my ADHD meds for several days, so I'm just kind of sitting here pretending to be productive.

Currently watching: "The Last of Us," "What We Do in the Shadows," "Good Omens."

Currently consuming: Just finished a roast beef, ham, cheddar, and provolone on sourdough, with chicken noodle soup and a glass of V8.

Currently craving: It's hard to crave anything with all that food I just stuffed into my gluttonous face, but I could always go for a good bowl of lo mein.

I tag @astroflowershop, @bouncyorb, @disabledcole, @estrogenesis-evangelion, @feministfandomforever, @gojira007, @harbinger-archives, @la-duderina, and @otemporanerys, though none of you should feel pressured to do so. Anyone who didn't get tagged: feel free to play the game with us.

[flastar13]

I think a Netflix Live Action series would be interesting. As for the change of nationality, my opinion is most certainly extremely unpopular but please don't crucify me, it would be very interesting and perhaps necessary. Something that caught my attention in the first anime and Crystal, is that all the operations of the dark kingdom are in Tokyo-Japan, despite the fact that: 1) Each general has a specific area assigned to work in, only Jadeite deals with Asia, and the rest should deal with other places like Europe, America and the Middle East. 2) It is not smart to keep attacking the same area in search of energy, even if you have already searched in other places for a mystical magic crystal, stealing energy from a specific place would attract unwanted attention from the sailor senshis. On the other hand, collecting energy from different places makes it harder for them to locate you.

Also it's pretty weird that they all reincarnate in the same place, maybe it makes sense with the sailor senshis, but as soon as the shitennou Another History hinted that they were reborn in other countries. I don't think Queen Serenity would be so dumb to make her enemies reincarnate near her daughter, so they must have been born in other countries. One Piece introduced a diverse cast even though the characters were considered Japanese, although in its favor the world in which the plot takes place doesn't have fixed ethnicities, so everyone can be multiethnic. Going back to the previous point, I think it's more realistic that the characters come from different places, I always found it too convenient for the plot that all the sailor senshis live in the same city, in the same country and that three of the five attend the same school. In other shows it's because a higher entity transferred them to the same class cough Evangelion. I think each Sailor Senshi awakening their powers in a different country, fighting the general that controls the neighborhood, and then reuniting with the rest of the team is great cough Evangelion again but it makes sense and is realistic that the chosen ones are not born in the same place neglecting the land, only Rei and Shinji are Japanese, Asuka and Mari are foreigners, okay Asuka has a half Japanese mother but her father is American and she herself was raised in Germany. I really liked PGSM, its plot twists were spectacular. It is the adaptation that best develops the cast, taking their backstories which were rarely or never touched on in the manga or any of the anime. We really see the family situation of Rei, Ami, and Makoto, and how that affected them so much that they were very lonely people until Usagi arrived. We really see the Shitennou interact with Mamoru, and remembering the past does not turn everyone into perfect soldiers loyal to their respective master. Each side and character takes information in a different way and acts according to their personality and character arc. It shows that a good live-action adaptation with its own plot development is possible. Its flaws aside from the special effects are the lack of information about the Shitennou’s second life pre-dark kingdom and Minako’s characterization. I love that Mina is an idol but can we have a flashback to her Sailor V days based on her prequel manga please? The Minako from the manga has been fighting the dark kingdom since she was thirteen, destroyed the dark agency on her own, worked with the Tokyo police, killed her first love in her first transformation and then had to kill her almost boyfriend Ace, only to remember how all her friends died and how her real boyfriend turned evil and joined the bad guys. I hate how the first anime makes up some absurd love triangle story, where Minako makes her surrogate older sister believe that she died just because the boy she likes is said surrogate older sister's boyfriend and that's her big tragedy. What the hell? Not only did they take away any depth from Minako but in my opinion they made her seem mean for traumatizing Katarina just because Alan loved her instead of Minako. The Minako of Damn Sailor V, disguised herself as the love of a boy she liked just to help him not get expelled. As for PGSM giving Minako a nameless deadly disease just to increase the angst is unnecessary when Minako's backstory written by Naoko is so rich and interesting, it's inexplicable why it wasn't used in PGSM given the darker and more serious approach, it was the perfect setting to show how screwed Minako is after the events of Damn Me Sailor V, as well as being an opportunity to explain how Minako became an idol, she had to participate in dark agency idol events and the Kaito Ace movie, attracting attention from the media and idol recruiters.

I didn't like that she was so serious, granted Minako is actually quite serious but she always wears a mask of perpetual happiness, I felt that Minako from PGSM was missing that, they made her an expy of the outers. I love the outers but they are their own characters. I think Minako is more of a joker type teacher like Gojo. At least that's how I see her. I think Minako is an idol who acts like a clone of Usagi but as Rei gets closer to her, she realizes that she is the opposite of Sailor Moon.Sailor Moon Crystal was a missed opportunity to develop the Dark Kingdom arc more with a bigger budget than PGSM, especially if they decided to make SenshiXShitennou canon, but sadly while it was fairly faithful to the manga, it didn't develop the themes that the original work introduced. We get more development of the SenshiXShitennou ship in the musicals than in a TV adaptation. Rei and Ami's family life was not given any screen time, even though Naoko had already published "Casablanca Memory" a short story that chronologically takes place in the Dark Kingdom arc, it deals with Rei's past and why she distrusts men. Why wasn't it adapted in Crystal? But it was used in PGSM, it wasn't 100% faithful but it was used to develop Rei's arc. As for Ami, while her family life was introduced in the Dream arc in the manga, a slight glimpse would help give her more depth, the same as her friendless state before she met Usagi.I think any change of nationality isn't that important as long as the plot is good.

If Hollywood was able to get their hands on a Sailor Moon Live action movie who would you want to do it?

TBH, I would be super nervous about Hollywood touching Sailor Moon. They don’t have a great track record with adapting anime of any kind, and the extremely small handful of female-dominated ensemble movies I can think of are nothing like Sailor Moon. Hollywood is pretty familiar with superhero films by now, but magical girls and superheroes have very distinct flavors and conventions despite their similarities, and I think a lot of the charm that makes Sailor Moon what it is would be lost in an effort to make it recognizable for an American audience. Plus, it would be pretty much guaranteed to be whitewashed, what with Usagi being blonde. 

I seem to recall a Japanese live action Full Metal Alchemist movie that looked amazing. I’d be way more interested in something like that, or a Japanese-produced Netflix collab. 

[justepilepsy]

Just don't engage

It means a lot to me, when my friends give me headsups and reviews on strobes and intense effects in films and series'. One of the popular rebuttals to complaining about photosensitive effects, seems to be the

"why are you watching it then / engaging in the media?" and "Can't you watch something else then?" And I will be honest. Yes. I could just. Not watch it. I could just decide to quit video games. Or certain video game genres altogether.

And to be honest, when it comes to games, I have decided to avoid first and third person shooters like the plague. As well as VR Games and most Rythm Games.

The thing is, sometimes I don't have a choice in wether I engage with a certain media or not. I work with and in media creation. I am absolutely illiterate when it comes to knowing popular Movie Franchises or classics. This is unrelated to my epilepsy, but let me continue. I want to learn more about classic movies, old anime, old 1920s cinema and historic film. I want to induldge myself in popular franchises and see why people love Jurassic Park or Star Wars. It is generally known, that cinemas tend to be in dark rooms, because it has been shown to have a more immersive effect for viewers attenidng the movie. Movies with a lot photosensitive content, are inaccessible to watch in the theater for me. I could watch them at home. So what is my set up for these movies, on which many great actors, artists and people worked on? How do I pay respect and tribute to their historic work? I put the movie on on my phone. I have a 19'' TV Screen. I turn on all my lights in the room. I watch the movie in bright daylight, just to compensate the intenseness of stroboscopic effects or gunfire. I hardly ever put on movies or fancy shows on my TV-Screen, despite the screen not even being large for a modern TV. I turn up all the lights. I watch the movie on my phone. and by watching i mean: I put the movie on, sometimes with a bluetooth speaker, i put my phone somewhere while i work and listen to the movie. I sometimes glance at it, so i can see characters. Then i look away. Back at my work. or Art. Or at my jigsaw puzzle. I avoid focussing on the screen. I keep distance to the screen. And ultimately i don't end up being engaged or captivated by the show or movie. I barely recognise characters. I remember lines, but could not tell you how good the acting or cinematography truly was. I end up disrespecting the movie. The artists and actors. Because I am tired of having to randomly look away or cover my eyes. To be ripped out of my immersion. So I end up not being immersed at all, while knowing what happened. I'd like to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion. But the show is old and has been made before general rules for safety and photosensitivity applied in Japanese Anime Production.

Telling me or anyone to just not participate in movies or media in general is short sighted. What if you love Spiderman Comics and cartoons? What if you are excited about the adaptation of a specific adventure or franchise? Just don't bother with it. You love this thing, it might even be a hyperfixation or special interest. But you can't even participate in modern fandom culture, because you can't keep up with the media without risking your health. I know it is unrealistic to never have strobes or gunfire in movies. But we need a different way of creating media, editing it or giving viewing options. A photosensitive safe cut perhaps? turning of Thunder and lightning effects in games should be standard and not an option i happen to discover by accident! "Oh did you watch XY thing? IT WAS SO GOOD!" And then I say "well it was rated 10/10 flashing lights. So no. I guess i'll pass this one" It's a conversation killer. And not fun. Not every media is for everyone. That's okay. But I think there is a difference between "Hey this deals with heavy subjects and themes, that may be triggering for some parts of the audience" vs. "Hey this media, which was made for a wide audience for as many people to enjoy as possible, contains effects that can kill a person."

[aotopmha]

asdfgh can I also just add: Eren was like "Imma commit genocide" and Historia follows with "What were you to say if I got a child?" she recovered very quickly and found way to save herself from being fed to Zeke. I probably sound like a hater but I never paid much attention to her and now seeing people thinking she did a 180 in the finale, just makes me feel..the evidence had been in front of us the whole time, maybe I missed sth why people are giving her the benefit of the doubt

I read this and the previous ask I got, but I couldn't figure out if you were the same anons, so I'll treat these as separate asks.

People have been saying that characters have made a 180 for a number of characters at play here.

Apparently Reiner is back to where he started and preposterously cares for his friends on Paradis (when in reality he probably just got to rest a little bit and he didn't actually end up hating any of them and felt intense guilt for hurting so many people on Paradis).

Apparently Eren is unrecognisable from his character (when he has been a very impulsive and single-minded character for pretty much all of the story *together with* the changes in his character, there are a lot of moments where he cares about Mikasa, he even directly asks what she is to him and we know for a fact memories are screwing with him).

Apparently Mikasa never got an arc (when in reality she killed the person she loved the most to save the world). The most frustrating elements for me in terms of criticism I see for Mikasa's arc is that she should "grow independent" from Eren.

It's been a criticism for as long as I remember, but I think that would be a lonely and miserable thing. Eren's and Mikasa's relationship is complicated, but it slowly grows more healthy as the story goes on. I think her suddenly just stopping to care about Eren would be the solution that would be wrong. Remembering him for the good moments they had is absolutely the way to go. It could've been empowering if Eren was an uncomplicated abuser, but he's not.

Immediately pairing her up, more specifically her "needing another man in her life" as some people put it is the actually sexist thing to do, too. A woman should be allowed to have feelings, even if it is about another male character.

Giving her personal time and solace in good times and friends coming to see her instead of instantly pairing her up with another guy is the more respectful move because pairing her up with another guy immediately after the person she cares about dies would be treating her like a prize passed over from guy to guy.

(In fact I like that none of the female characters are left off as solely to be mothers. Even Historia.)

But speaking of Historia, to finally directly address your ask, I think her motives absolutely were selfish, she probably did this with the reasoning to survive/refuse the Titan cycle, but at least her ultimate desire was a world free of Titans.

I do not think she is cheering on the death part of it at all, at the very least.

I have a firm wall between fiction and reality so I don't particularly care about the moral implications if you zoom in there to the very basics, rather I care about the framing of this entire thing.

Is Eren actually celebrated as some grand hero who saved humanity here, textually and subtextually?

No. Armin is the hero here.

For stuff like this, morality and scale of a situation is actully pretty irrelevant.

Evangelion's Shinji gets shit for this very same reason. His hesitation is putting many lives in danger, but this is technically irrelevant to framing and what the story wants to say. I think the world wasn't at stake a lot of people wouldn't rag on his character so much.

What is the intention here? Because I think if Eren would've killed any amount less and the story would say he was a great hero and he would get a good life with his friends, it would still be horrendous storytelling in my eyes because the point would be that what he did was okay. I can nitpick the details of the situation all day, but that really doesn't mean anything if a narrative delibrately paints disgusting stuff in a positive light.

I think this is the primary reason why fascists are disowning this story. The vibe and points made don't check out. The big parade and Eren's motto are framed in a sinister light, not for heroes coming home.

This even goes for the general claims I see around for the tone of the ending.

It's not a pure power of friendship ending: 80% of humanity is dead, the Yeagerists are still alive on Paradis and for all we know, just like Pieck says, their ship could just be sink the moment they arrive.

It's a hopeful ending, but it is also the beginning of a new struggle.

Thank you for the ask!

[katyatalks]

PASH! ILLUSTRATION FILE 2017 (January 2017) - Character Designer Kameda & Director Tachikawa - Character Design Notes

Here’s Director Tachikawa & Character Designer Kameda’s notes on a few Mob Psycho character designs from PASH! ILLUSTRATION FILE 2017 (January 2017). Includes a bunch of interesting info including Reigen’s shoujo manga love interest roots, Ritsu’s hair changes, and Teru’s connection with Neon Genesis Evangelion. Characters covered; Kageyama Shigeo, Reigen Arataka, Dimple, Kageyama Ritsu, Onigawara Tenga, Hanazawa Teruki, Mezato Ichi, Kurata Tome, Tsubomi, Gouda Musashi, Kamuro Shinji, Suzuki Shou.

KAGEYAMA SHIGEO

Tachikawa; “Deciding how big to make Mob’s irises was something that often caused a bit of trouble. There were plenty of times where I’d look at him on paper, or I’d draw him and think that his irises were an OK size, but then actually looking at him animated they’d be too small and a little scary...”

Kameda; “I’ve become aware that when I draw him, I make his irises not too small, but so that they reach about half-way down the whites of his eyes. I think Mob’s face around volume 9, 10 of the manga is really good!”

REIGEN ARATAKA

Kameda; “I paid attention to the way he stands, so that just by looking at his silhouette his character would stand out. In contrast to Mob-kun’s spaced-out standing pose, Reigen exudes confidence. I pay attention to the line his body follows, so that it resembles an S shape. I imagine Marmalade Boy’s Matsuura Yuu-kun, and apply that coolness to Reigen.”

Tachikawa; “Sakurai-san’s performance as him is also great. There’s a slight shadiness to his voice, so to say…”

Kameda; “It gives Reigen this handsome vibe (laughs).”

DIMPLE

Kameda; “I wanted his form to sway in the anime, so I drew him like a fireball with his edges spinning clockwise. Actually, the way his edges move differs depending on the episode; in some, it’s an anti-clockwise spin, and in others it’s a movement from both sides that spits off at the top, and so on (laughs). Also, when he possesses the security guard, he has wrinkles under his eyes. Without those lines, he’s too fresh-faced. He’s the sole adult within this work * - I’m also conscious of that.”

Tachikawa; “I’m glad that Ootsuka-san’s cool voice was able to add a liveliness to this work. I wanted there to be some weight when he plays the funnyman.”

KAGEYAMA RITSU

Tachikawa; “The volume of his hair proves a struggle.”

Kameda; “Actually, when I draw him, I have two ways of doing so. From episodes 1 to 8 I gave his hair a big volume and made the ends pointy, but episode 9 onwards he rounds out a little. When he reconciles with Mob-kun and the darkness in him fades, the spikiness of his hair also decreases (laughs). I kept that a secret. So this amusement park art takes place during a time in which Mob-kun and Ritsu-kun have reconciled.”

Tachikawa; “So, when you look at Ritsu’s hair, you can see how he’s doing mentally (laughs).”

ONIGAWARA TENGA

Kameda; “What stands out in his design is the plaster on his left cheek. I proposed his design should have something that identifies Onigawara as some king of the punks. In the manga, he only has the plaster when he first appears, and following that it’s typically gone, but I think the plaster is good in that it gives him this delinquent vibe.”

Tachikawa; “Also, he has eye bags and two lines there.”

Kameda; “Yes. Much like the manga, I gave him those two lines.”

HANAZAWA TERUKI

Kameda; “When I draw Teru’s hair, I imagine Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Nagisa Kaworu-kun, & I give it that kind of square silhouette. What also stands out in his design is the way that bundle of hair jumps at his parting. Also, when his hair is at 150%, I have the ends of his hair be a little wriggly. Seems like plenty of our staff thought that drawing that ‘bundle of hair’ feeling was difficult.”

Tachikawa; “There were also people who made the ends of his hair bounce cleanly.”

MEZATO ICHI

Kameda; “She’s cute.”

Tachikawa; “That’s right. I also love her.”

Kameda; “When I drew her, I did so with the impression that she’s one who’s got her eyes open. She is sharp sighted, after all.”

KURATA TOME

Kameda; “Tome-san strikes me as a character who pulls a lot of blank faces.”

Tachikawa; “She appears in this amusement park art… and yet she seems bored, doesn’t she.”

Kameda; “She’s at an amusement park, and yet, she’s playing a video game (laughs).”

TSUBOMI

Tachikawa; “Tsubomi’s anime design is completely different to how it is in the manga.”

Kameda; “She’s /the/ bishoujo. However, with each character in the Mob Psycho 100 manga they have distinct lines that mark their upper and lower eyelids, so I drew the anime’s Tsubomi while respecting that rule.”

GOUDA MUSASHI

Tachikawa; “I feel I really put my all into drawing Gouda.”

Kameda; “He’s got plenty of special aspects to his design such as his faux hawk and centipede eyebrows, but contrary to expectations he’s difficult to draw. I tend to give him droopy eyes…”

KAMURO SHINJI

Tachikawa; “Onigawara has them too, but I think Kamuro’s eyebags are his special feature.”

Kameda; “I agree.”

Tachikawa; “I suppose those lines under his eyes that go toward his cheeks are also a feature.”

SUZUKI SHOU

Tachikawa; “Shou distinctly has pupils, so when you compare him to the others characters he looks a little different.”

Kameda; “Definitely! Since he has pupils, he’s the only character who looks like a foreigner.”

---

* Cast have taken digs at Reigen being an adult ‘only in age’ before

---

Originally posted on twitter here.

The interview that comes with these notes was translated by Kaga, here.

[autumnblogs]

Day 2: Symphony Impossible to Play

Picking up from yesterday, we just met Rose.

https://homestuck.com/story/220

Right out of the gate, here’s something interesting - another one where a character interacts directly with her medium! I wonder whose eyes she feels on her. Are Rose’s Seer powers allowing her to detect us watching her? Later on, it turns out that Kanaya was watching her all along during her intro. Maybe that’s who she senses? I think it’s possibly both of those, and a third option - Rose is a paranoid girl who doesn’t feel very secure in her own home, or comfortable in her own skin.

More after the break.

https://homestuck.com/story/223

John does a lot of roleplaying, and this is one of the earliest spots in the comic where he does this. Specifically, John performs a lot of his favorite scenes from different movies, and no surprise to anyone, almost all of the times he does, he’s performing either the role of a lover, or of a father. Malo, who I respect a lot, talks a little about John’s appreciation for signifiers here, along with some of their chums. I was going to say something about other points where John’s inner voice comments on the necessity of signifiers to make a thing itself (OR ELSE IT’S A PRETTY PISS POOR EXCUSE FOR THE THING) yesterday, but I didn’t have the thoughts fully formed at the time. Luckily, Malo will call attention to it for me.

This is another one of those weird things about the way that reality works, and it might all retroactively work that way because John expects it to work that way. Homestuck is full to bursting with symbols - everything in Homestuck is extremely abstracted as part of the art style, and also as part of the storytelling, often rendered down to some basic elements that make it recognizable. An example of something Homestuck uses as a symbol would be like, Mustaches - a symbol associated with Grandpa. Swords, symbols associated with Striders. The symbol doesn’t have to have any kind of literal logical association with the thing it represents, but we associate the two things with each other because of cultural context.

https://homestuck.com/story/225

I always liked Rose’s house best out of the group. There’s something deeply romantic to me about the premise of a wooded retreat far away from civilization. I’m pretty sure the Lalonde residence is based on Falling Water but I could be mistaken. As long as I’m thinking about Symbols, by the way, Cats are a Lalonde Symbol. Their presence in the story always evokes Lalondes even when they’re not in the room (which is not very often, as it turns out!) and by association, witches. Both of the Lalondes are witches in the sense of being powerful women who attain to that power by consorting with dubious and transgressive sources.

Rose is up front and melodramatic about her not so great relationship with her Mom, and it’s pretty much literally always on her mind. (Rose’s Mom is an alcoholic, and I should be clear that her relationship has lots of reasons to be not great, but Mom Lalonde deliberately being spiteful to Rose is not one of the reasons). I like to think there are a lot of these misunderstandings between parents and children and if that we were just a little more open with each other, we’d find that we didn’t have as much to be afraid of in each other as we think. But I might never know. Another one of my favorite series that has the inability of Parents and Children to communicate with each other as a central theme is Hideaki Anno’s Neon Genesis Evangelion and if you haven’t watched it, I highly recommend you go do so.

https://homestuck.com/story/231

The presentation of the Guardians is so unsettling that in my first readthrough, I thought they must be some kind of monsters artificially imposed into these characters’ obviously artificial lives to create difficulty for them. Clearly, I thought the story was going in a completely different direction than it actually ended up going.

https://homestuck.com/story/236

Rose does not always think her cunning plans all the way through, something she has in common with her biological father.

https://homestuck.com/story/271

I probably could have mentioned this funny little guy earlier than I did, but Wayward Vagabond is in the story now. I’m not totally clear on whether the Carapacians have any greater meaning, but they sure are charming, and like just about everything that isn’t specifically John and his friends, they exist on a layer of the story that is just a little further away from just the text, and a little closer to the audience - they can enter narrative prompts, much like you or I would have if we were involved in Homestuck’s earliest pages. As a rule in Homestuck, the more influence you personally have over the narratives which change the material conditions of the characters’ lives, the more sinister and ambiguous you become. Luckily, WV turns out to be a pretty benign guy, but if you’re the sort of person to be reading this, you are no doubt aware of the fact that most of Homestuck’s narrators don’t turn out to be nearly so friendly. The Carapacians introduce us to the idea that characters in the story are allowed to be audience members and narrators too. So I guess, really, that’s the greater meaning of the Carapacians.

https://homestuck.com/story/272

Always enjoy Rose’s long, outlandish metaphors. Any chance to read more of them is a good chance to. (Although the main one on this page is a holdover from some of the cringy stuff in MSPA’s early days - some of it slightly racist, some of it slightly homophobic.)

https://homestuck.com/story/287

Andrew’s insistence on having characters like Dave rap at us, the audience, actually reminds me a lot of JRR Tolkien’s tendency to pepper his stuff with songs that he wrote for his in universe stuff. And while both are legitimately talented at their craft, as one of my friends put it, “I’m not a rapper... so stop rappin’ at me!”

https://homestuck.com/story/293

Jade is another character whose first post I forgot to mention, but here she is having a bit more to say than before! I think I remember my initial impression of Jade being pretty favorable, and then gradually declining until she got a bit more exposition. Perky people bother me.

https://homestuck.com/story/307

Another one of Andrew’s cool prose poems. I don’t mind these as much as the rapping, clearly. Rain and Strings are another pair of symbols pretty strongly associated with Rose, although I hardly need to tell you that. This obviously alludes to Rose’s mythological quest. I think it also foreshadows a lot of her worst decisions. Rose overthinks and overthinks and overthinks, and then by the time she should have acted, it’s too late, and she overreacts instead, usually in catastrophic ways.

https://homestuck.com/story/312

Dave’s room isn’t nearly as messy as Rose’s, but his bed isn’t made, same as every other Derse Dreamer. This is also probably the first place that we get hints of Dave’s fascination with death (he collects dead things). He’s specifically fascinated with his own death, and fantasizing about self-sacrifice, something that he ends up doing twice over the course of the comic, is one of the ways that Dave experiences masculinity. Thanks for that, Bro.

https://homestuck.com/story/320

Dave almost immediately fails to uphold his irony schtick within just seconds of our getting to know him. For all that he pretends to the same extreme aloofness as his brother, I don’t think there’s an insincere bone in Dave’s body. Then again, maybe he’s just getting distracted by food, of which there is a significant dearth in his household. Thanks for that, Bro.

https://homestuck.com/story/326

I will never get back the time I spent reading Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff. Was it worth it?

Yeah probably.

https://homestuck.com/story/332

I think this is the very first time I’ve noticed that Dave has a nifty gaming computer with the transparent glass pane and the interior lights and everything. Like, this readthrough, this panel. I’m sure I mentioned somewhere that I get more out of this webcomic every time I read it.

https://homestuck.com/story/333

Dave and Rose are another character relationship I just enjoy tremendously. Their verbal sparring is one of the highlights of the webcomic.

https://homestuck.com/story/344

Bro’s puppet fascination tells us pretty early on that this is a hands-off, manipulative kind of guy. While Bro isn’t in a metanarrative layer the way that the Carapacians are, positioning him as a puppetmaster, controlling things from behind the scenes, still gives him the same kind of sinister ambiguity as one of the comic’s actual narrators.

https://homestuck.com/story/357

Far from being the kind of chill cooldude who kills with a straight face and doesn’t look at explosions, Dave kills a random bird and immediately feels remorseful about it. Poor kid.

https://homestuck.com/story/360

There is almost nothing worse than having someone perform interest in something you enjoy to try and influence you. Unfortunately, that is not what is taking place here. Rose is quick to assume malicious intent as she does a bit earlier when she tucks her journals under her bed because she feels like she’s being watched.

https://homestuck.com/story/369

Mom, sadly, giving your daughter oodles of presents and showering everything she does in ostentatious displays of affection is sadly not a substitute for earnest communication with her and your emotional presence. These two need to learn each other’s love languages. (Note to self. Not everybody enjoys lavish presents as much as I do.)

Roxy is a giver. That’s something that shows up time and again, especially when we meet her in person much later.

https://homestuck.com/story/377

Mom Lalonde performs femininity.

https://homestuck.com/story/382

Jade sees right through Dave.

In other notes, I think most of these kids would be way happier if their Guardians were more emotionally available, and less badass.

I’m going to come back to that and write more on it at some point instead of just alluding to it repeatedly. Maybe after Dave Strifes with his bro.

https://homestuck.com/story/389

Is Mom’s compulsive gift-giving because that’s her love language? Is she performing capitalism by giving her daughter extremely expensive gifts as a show of affection? Is it both things? (Roxy is never exposed to Capitalism except by the awesome powers of Dirk’s cached wikipedia archives, and her gift-giving tends to be significantly less ostentatious than Mom’s.)

https://homestuck.com/story/404

John roleplays some more.

https://homestuck.com/story/414

Here’s where I’ll say one of the things that I think is like a big deal, because I guess now’s as good a time as any. A lot of the roleplaying that John does, and the one-upsmanship that he and Dave do with each other, and Dave and Bro do with each other, and Mom’s ironic housewife routine, and the burial of Jasper in a mausoleum are rituals. Like symbols, they’re cultural touchstones that are ultimately empty when they no longer point to the thing that they signify. Funerals are grieving rituals. When a funeral doesn’t functionally serve the purpose of helping with grief, it becomes an empty signifier. Maybe this is how Mom grieved for Jaspers - I’ll have to check and see what Roxy thinks about it when I get that far, because I forgot.

We do a lot of stupid things in a monkey see monkey do fashion because we’ve just always done them that way, even when they were built for a completely different society, and no longer serve the same function that they used to serve. Big ostentatious funerals are like that, I think. Ideally, they’d give big families an opportunity to come together in mutual support, celebrate the joy brought to them by the deceased, demonstrate compassion to the grieving, and so on and so forth. I’m not prescriptively saying “don’t have a funeral” here, my point is just that funerals are one of those cultural narratives that I mentioned in the first post.

This funeral does not serve the function of helping Rose to grieve. It’s just kind of fucked up.

https://homestuck.com/story/415

Oh hey, Rose has more fish language attached to her - she earlier makes reference to her knitting-needle tech by saying that she thinks she could probably filet a fish with them. Here, she talks about having bigger fish to fry. Rose is associated with Water through her planet, the Land of Light and Rain, and with fish through Cetus. She’s also attached to other deep sea creatures in the form of the horrorterrors.

https://homestuck.com/story/420

I’m going to pause for now and post this since I’ve read through another roughly 200 pages of Homestuck this evening on the fortuitous page of 420. It probably helps that I started earlier than I did yesterday. Nanna’s about to give some exposition, and I already wrote my big brain take for the day so for now;

Cam signing off, alive and not alone.

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: The Ultraman Guide to Help You Enjoy Hideaki Anno’s Upcoming Movie

  On January 29, fans were treated to a teaser to Shin Ultraman, a new movie produced and written by the creator of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno, and set to debut in the summer of 2021. The roughly 30-second video spends about half its runtime showing us serious people in serious suits doing serious stuff but just before you start to suspect that Shin Ultraman is going to be, ugh, serious, BAM, it shows us its kaiju. One has what appears to be a drill on its head that opens to reveal a kind of turtle skull face, like if Cubone and Squirtle had a baby that became an Eva Angel. The video ends with a giant red-and-silver robot towering above a bunch of powerlines, leading many people to ask: “What?” We’re going to answer that now.

    Who Is Ultraman?

  The Original Ultraman is a live-action character who debuted in 1966 and pretty much set the tone for a franchise that continues to this day and has become a mainstay of Japanese television. He’s a space soldier from the Land of Light, located in Nebula M78, whose inhabitants gained super strength, speed, and the ability to shoot Ultra Beams by being exposed to the rays of the Plasma Spark, an artificial star they’ve constructed. It also transformed them into bio-metallic beings.

  The first thing we have to clarify about Ultraman is that, while in his physical form, he is not a robot. His face, eyes, and body are natural parts of his anatomy. They may look robotic but underneath them you’ll find a skeleton made out of bones, internal organs, and a biological brain. Although, it IS a “Tetra-Phased Brain” that works together with his Multi-Presensing Eyes and Digital Sonic-Organized Ears. He gains power from solar energy, which is just one way in which he resembles Superman.

  Image via VRV

  How It All Began

  The Original Ultraman is a warrior for justice, fighting space kaiju to protect the innocent. In the first series, he chases one to Earth but accidentally kills a human, Shin Hayata. To make up for it, he merges with him, allowing the human to “transform” into — or “call forth” — the giant Ultraman when giant monsters attack. But because Earth’s atmosphere filters out a lot of the Sun’s light, which powers Ultraman, he can only maintain his form for three minutes.

  The following shows starred other Ultramen — Ultraman Taro, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Zero, and MANY more — but they all shared a lot of similarities with the original: an Ultra warrior from the Land of Light travels to Earth, merges with a human, fights super-inventive kaiju. Why change a recipe that has been entertaining fans for more than half a century?

    Is It Good?

  Absolutely, and it has a lot to offer. Plenty of fans like it for different reasons. The Ultra warriors are tons of fun. They may look a bit similar at first glance but each has a very distinct personality and powers, which inform the tone of their shows. Some are unshakable pillars of justice, others are young hotheads who fight to repent for their past mistakes. Some of their shows are a bit on the goofier sides, while others can actually get a bit heavy. No two Ultraman shows are the same, so if you don’t like one, you can just try another. Despite connections between some, most can be enjoyed as stand-alone productions.

  The storylines can also get quite epic with intergalactic wars, monstrous alien experiments, disgraced Big Bad Ultra warriors, cemetery planets for vanquished kaiju, and the like. Although a lot of the early Ultraman shows worked on a very limited budget, they really gave it their all to craft a massive, engaging world that you always want to know more about. Especially its monster.

    The Kaiju

  While the vast majority of Ultraman villains are basically just giant lizards (the costumes for those are just easier to make), they are still awesome and are also joined by some more creatively designed friends. Have you met Takkong, the ball with a tiny face? He’s a ball-shaped kaiju with a tiny face and I love him.

  Then of course there’s Woo who always, and I mean always, looks like he just realized he’s left his phone in a gas station bathroom.

  Image via VRV

  Dinosaur Tank is self-explanatory and also beautiful.

  Not all of the Ultraman kaiju are goofy. Some are 31 flavors of badass and they bask in your despair as they’re robbing you of life. For example, Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legends The Movie gave us Belyudra, a monster created from the remains of the kaiju defeated by all the Ultra warriors in the past. Its behemoth body is literally made up of thousands of monsters squished together into the shape of Satan while he was going through his goth phase. It’s magnificent.

  Image via Netflix

  Also, Gatanozoa, first appearing in Ultraman Tiga, would give Cthulhu nightmares.

  Wait, Is This All Related to That 2019 Netflix Ultraman Anime?

  Yes! Also no. Sort of. Maybe? It’s a bit complicated.

  The Netflix Ultraman anime is actually based on the Ultraman manga which is a bit … different. It’s set 40 years after the events of the original Ultraman show, starring the now aged Shin Hayata who lost his link to Ultraman and became a regular human. But then he got a suit that allowed him to replicate a lot of the same powers he used to have and now he uses them to fight monsters threatening Earth. Also, his son seems to be developing Ultraman powers of his own. It’s super fun, no doubt about it, but it’s not really relevant to the series as a whole.

    Summary

  Ultraman has a long history but it’s not obsessed with it. Every new addition to the franchise respects and honors the past but tries to be its own thing, and that often means experimenting with its stories, characters, and tone. As a result, the entire Ultraman franchise becomes an expansive buffet of giant-alien-on-monster fights, and if you don’t like one, you can just move on to another. There are a lot to choose from.

  Are you a fan of Ultraman? Which series is your favorite? Which would you recommend to people hoping to get into the world of Ultraman? Let us know in the comments section!

      Cezary writes words on the internet. You should follow him on Twitter.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: Cezary Strusiewicz

[dumb-american]

The Rebuild of Final Fantasy VII: Your Expectations Will (Not) Be Met

I apologize for the stupid title and I promise I’m going to talk about the Final Fantasy VII Remake, but I have to get this out of the way first. Sometime in the mid 2000s, acclaimed artist and director Hideaki Anno announced that he was going to remake his beloved anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion the way it should have been the first time, free from technical and budgetary restraints. Evangelion had a notoriously strange ending when the original anime aired, consisting of character talking over still images, abstract art, and simple animations. It was highly polarizing and controversial. Anno, for his part, received death threats and the headquarters of the studio that produced the anime was vandalized. Soon after the initial uproar Anno would direct The End of Evangelion, a retelling of the final two episodes of the anime, and that seemed to mostly satisfy the fanbase. Looking back now, The End of Evangelion wasn’t “fixing” something that was “broken,” no, it was a premonition: a vision of things to come. Why remake the ending when you can just remake the whole damn thing?

The mid 2000s also saw the birth of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII: a sub-series of projects expanding the universe and world of the video game that had “quite possibly the greatest game ever made” proudly printed on the back of its CD case. The Compilation consisted of three games, all on different platforms, and a film. First was Advent Children, a sequel to Final Fantasy VII, where three dudes that look like discarded Sephiroth concept art all have anime fights with our beloved protagonists, culminating in a ridiculous gravity defying sword fight between Cloud and Sephiroth. Before Crisis and Crisis Core are prequels that expand the story of the Turks and Zack Fair, respectively. Then there’s Dirge of Cerberus, an action shooter staring secret party member and former Turk Vincent. Were these projects good? I’d say they were largely forgettable. Crisis Core stood out as the obvious best of the bunch and I think may be worth revisiting.

As a business model, the practice pioneered by the Compilation would continue on and eventually brings us FFXIII (and sequels), FF Versus XIII (which would later become FFXV), and FF Agito XIII (which would later become FF Type-0). If that’s all incredibly confusing to you, I’m sorry, I promise I will begin talking about the Final Fantasy VII Remake soon. Suffice it to say, both Final Fantasy VII and Neon Genesis Evangelion have a certain gravity. They punch above their weight. They are both regarded as absolute classics, flaws and all. And yet, in both cases, the people responsible for their creation decided that their first at bat wasn’t good enough and it was time to recreate them as they were meant to be all along. I think this way of thinking about art is flawed, limitations are as much a part of the creative process as vision and intent. Yet, we find ourselves in a world with a remake of Final Fantasy VII, so I guess we should talk about it.

From this point forward, there’s going to be major spoilers for every Final Fantasy VII related media. So, be warned.

So, is the Final Fantasy VII Remake any good? To me, that’s the least interesting question, but we can get into it. FFVIIR is audacious, that’s for sure. Where Anno condenses and remixes a 26 episode anime series into four feature length films, the FFVIIR team expands an around 5 hour prologue chapter into a 30+ hour entire game. Naturally, there will be some growing pains. The worst example of this is the sewers. The game forces you to slog through an awful sewer level twice, fighting the same boss each time. This expanded sewer level is based on a part of the original game that was only two screens and was never revisited.

Besides the walk from point A to point B, watch a cutscene, fight a boss, repeat that you’d expect from a JRPG, there’s also three chapters where the player can explore and do sidequests. The sidequests are mostly filler, but a select few do accomplish the goal of fleshing out some of the minor characters. You spend way more time with the Avalanche crew, for example. Out of them, only Jesse has something approaching a complete personality or character arc that matters. The main playable cast is practically unchanged which was a bit surprising to me. I figured Square-Enix would tone down Barret’s characterization as Mr. T with a gun for an arm, but they decided, maybe correctly, that Barret is an immutable part of the Final Fantasy VII experience. Also, it’s practically unforgivable that Red XIII was not playable in the remake considering how much time you spend with him. I don’t understand that decision in the slightest.

The game’s general systems and mechanics, materia, combat, weapon upgrades, etc. are all engaging and fun and not much else really needs to be said about it. I found it to be great blend of action/strategy. Materia really was the peak of JPRG creativity in the original FFVII and its recreation here is just as good. The novelty of seeing weird monsters like the Hell House and the “Swordipede” (called the Corvette in the original) make appearances as full on boss fights with mechanics is just weaponized nostalgia. In general, the remake has far more hits than misses, but those misses, like the sewers and some of the tedious sidequests, are big misses. It is a flawed game, but a good one. If I were to pick a favorite part of the game, I’d have to pick updated Train Graveyard section which takes lore from the original game and creates a mini-storyline out of it.

If that was all, however, then honestly writing about Final Fantasy VII Remake wouldn’t be worth my time or yours. The game’s ambition goes way further than just reimagining Midgar as a living, real city. There’s a joke in the JRPG community about the genre that goes something like this: at the start of the game, you kill rats in the sewer and by the end you’re killing God. Well, when all is said and done, the Final Fantasy VII Remake essentially does just that. Narratively, the entire final act of the game is a gigantic mess, but if you know anything about me then you know I’d much rather a work of fiction blast off into orbit and get a little wild than be safe and boring.

In the original games, the Lifestream is a physical substance that contains spirits and memories of every living being. Hence, when a person dies, they “return to the planet”. It flows beneath the surface of the planet like blood flows in a living person’s veins and can gather to heal “wounds” in the planet. In the original game, the antagonist, Sephiroth, seeks to deeply wound the planet with Meteor and then collect all the “spirit energy” the planet musters to heal the wound. The remake builds on this concept by introducing shadowy, hooded beings called Whispers. The Whispers are a physical manifestation of the concept of destiny and they can be found when someone seeks to change their fate, correcting course to the pre-destined outcome. Whispers appear at multiple points throughout the game’s storyline both impeding and aiding the party. The ending focuses heavily on them and the idea that fate and destiny can be changed. We receive visions throughout the game which some will recognize as major story beats and images from the original game. After dealing with Shinra and rescuing Aerith, the game immediately switches over to this battle against destiny and fate that you’re either going to love or hate. The transition is abrupt and jarring. While Cloud has shown flashes of supernatural physical abilities throughout the game, suddenly he has gone full Advent Children mode and is flying around cleaving 15 ton sections of steel in half with his sword. The party previously took on giant mutated monsters, elite soldiers, and horrific science experiments, but now the gloves are off and they’re squaring up against an impossibly huge manifestation of the Planet’s will. Keep in mind, in the narrative of the original FFVII, the Midgar section was rougly 10%, if that, of the game’s full storyline. This is, frankly, insane, but I’d be lying if I didn’t love it.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake, with its goofy JRPG concluding chapter, is forcing the player to participate in the original game’s un-making. We see premonitions of an orb of materia falling to the ground, we see an older Red XIII gallop across the plains, we see a SOLDIER with black hair and Cloud’s Buster Sword make his final stand, we see Cloud waist deep in water holding something or someone. We all know what these images represent, they’ve been part of imaginations for decades. But the Final Fantasy VII Remake allows us (or forces us, depending on perspective, I guess) to kill fate, kill God, and set aside all we thought we knew about how the game would play out post-Midgar. The most obvious effect of our actions is the reveal that Zack survived his final stand against Shinra and instead of leaving Cloud his sword and legacy, helped him get to Midgar safely. I have my doubts and my worries about the future of this series. I’m not sure when the next part of the game will be released or what form it will come in, but I can’t believe I’m as excited as I am to see it.

Of course, part of me wishes they’d just left well enough alone. Remakes are generally complete wastes of time and effort. Not all, but most. Maybe I’m, to borrow a term from pro wrestling lingo, a complete mark here and I just love JRPGs and Final Fantasy VII so much that I’ll countenance close to anything bearing its name. I’ve tried my best to be as critical and fair as possible to the game and I hope that if you’re on the fence and reading this I’ve maybe helped you decide if it’s for you or not. I think the Final Fantasy VII Remake is worth your time if you’re looking for a good, meaty JRPG. It’s not perfect and it’s final act is insane, but that just makes me love it more.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like for Zack, Cloud, and Aerith to face Sephiroth in the Planet’s core? I know 15 year old me did. And he may get his wish.

[neni-has-ascended]

You Can(Not) UnGay Kaworu Nagisa - An Essay

This is a text-version of my video-essay on the recent Netflix/Evangelion translation controversy. To see the video version, please click here!

I make no secret of the fact that the linguistics involved in Anime and Game translation are one of my primary fields of interest as a Japanologist. Compared to translation between Germanic and Romanic Languages, as the west is used to it, translating from Japanese to English is filled with a plethora of pitfalls, the likes of which can be very difficult to imagine unless you’re fluent in both languages.  

It’s because of this that my interest in any given AniManga controversy immediately skyrockets as soon as the matter of translation issues is brought up. Which brings us to June 21st’s release of Netflix’ Redub of Studio Gainax’ internationally infamous existential creator meltdown disguised as a Mecha Anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion.

1.)    Neon Genesis ADVangelion

For those among you who haven’t yet heard of this inherently controversial work – what rock do you live under and does it still have vacancies? In all seriousness though, enough videos attempting to summarize the plot of NGE exist on the internet to make giving the rundown here an exercise in redundancy. All you need to know is that the protagonist’ name is Shinji and that he’s a mental-wreck with Daddy Issues who pilots a giant cyborg infused with the soul of his dead Mom to fight surrealist alien abominations and gains an increasingly screwed up social life doing so, all while his already fragile psyche gradually declines to world-ending consequences. For far less fatalistic takes on some of these concepts, please see RahXephon and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Good? Good. Let’s move on.

The original ADV Films dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its sequels and spin-offs is… not really flawless, to say the least, but it did a good job in introducing the series to a western audience while staying entirely true to the themes and intentions of the original version. This is definitely at least partially thanks to the fact that director and auteur of the series, Hideaki Anno, personally oversaw the translation and dubbing process, and while the guy in all honesty doesn’t really know the first thing about voice acting – his performance as Jiro in The Wind Rises is one of the reasons it’s my least favorite Ghibli movie – what he does understand is his own work, and what it should convey to the audience in order to be authentic to his vision. So while I do have my issues with the ADV dub, such as poor audio-quality and hopeless cases of overacting caused by poor voice direction in certain parts, the translated script of the series was as stellar as could be expected from something created with the original author’s input, and to the very end of the original 26 episodes run, one can definitely feel the deep, emotional investment every single member of the English cast had in these characters and their journey. (I mean. Just listen to Spike Spencer’s secret rant in the end of the last episode. The dude clearly cares about what happens to Shinji.) In any case, this is probably one of the most influential, iconic dubs to all of the English-speaking Anime Fandom.

Then Netflix decided to license NGE. Not the ADV Dub. Just the show.

People were not happy.

2.)    The Rebuild of Netflixgelion

Please do not mistake what I’m saying for pedantic. The iconic nature of the original ADV dub of NGE cannot be understated, and plays a huge role in the current lack of acceptance for the Redub, even though previous similar redubbing efforts, such as in the case of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, where welcomed by the community wholeheartedly. The new dub cast is absolutely stellar, including voice acting veterans such as Carrie Keranen and Erica Lindbeck, and Casey Mongillo’s amazing vocal range goes a long way to replicate and convey the emotional depth of Shinji Ikari in a way previously only seen in Megumi Ogata’s original Japanese performance.However, while the Netflix dub has a wonderful cast and voice direction, what it does not have is the original dub’s Hideaki Anno-approved script.

…Aaaaand, this is where the real troubles start.

To be totally clear, the redub always meant trouble. The original voice cast were reportedly never given a real chance to reprise their roles- despite efforts made by the main trio, Spike Spencer, Amanda Winn Lee and Tifanny Grant to at least be given a chance to audition – which is a surefire recipe for upsetting a lot of fans. However, this is a problem that could have at least been partially smoothed over after allowing the performances of the new cast to shine in their own right. I mean, even if it is incredibly scummy to not even inform the old cast of the auditions for the redub, if the new version proves to contain superior performances and direction in comparison to the, honestly badly-aged ADV dub, then Netflix’s decision to make an entirely new dub is entirely understandable, right?

No such arguments can be applied to the retranslation of the show’s script.

3.)    The End of Authorial Intent

I haven’t rewatched the entire show in the new dub, just two key episodes. That said, I wouldn’t dream of calling the new script ‘bad’. It’s, for the most part, natural and faithful to the original Japanese source text in much the same way the ADV dub was, to the point that some stray lines received identical translation in both versions. What gives the new script away as entirely unrelated to that of the ADV dub, however, are some rather…  baffling localization choices. 

All of those decisions are rooted in the original Japanese script. They’re not incorrect translations. If the Japanese were to be your only point of reference, there would be no reason to complain about these choices.

But we do have a point of reference. The ADV script. Which was overseen and approved by Hideaki Anno. The original director.

In the making of this video, I have since learned that Anno’s animation company, Khara, was most likely involved in the translation of the script for the Redub. However, as I can’t find any evidence that he himself was involved, the point I am about to make still stands:

Back in the 90s, very shortly after the show concluded its original run, Anno personally signed off on every single choice the ADV dub made. The respective pronunciations of Nerv, Seele and Gehirn, calling the EVA pilots by the correct singular “Child”, rather than the awkward Engrish singular “Children” the original Japanese featured, and referring to the enemies consistently as Angels, even in parts where the original Japanese mixed up the terminology for the sake of a pun with Kaworu’s name. 

So, all of the ADV localization changes are within the intent of the original author. They are part of how the show is meant to be consumed by a western audience. Not carrying over this terminology, despite it being faithful to the Japanese script, thus ironically makes the Netflix script LESS faithful to Anno’s authorial intent than the ADV dub. But those are only terminology changes, right? They’re not a big deal. They don’t alter the context of the narrative itself.

…

Kaworu Nagisa.

4.)    Kaworu Nagisa

Remember how I mentioned that I only really watched two episodes of the Netflix dub all the way through so far? Well, one of those two episodes happens to be one of the series’ most infamous, right after the two-part finale: Episode 24. “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, or “The Final Messenger” – Let’s not get hung up on which it is, Evangelion has ALWAYS been weird with titles.

This Episode introduces Kaworu Nagisa, the fifth of the EVA pilots and long-time fangirl-favorite for not-so-subtle reasons. Kaworu appears as Shinji is at his lowest point, our main protagonist’s already pretty much non-existent self-esteem in shambles. The two boys bond immediately over… the fact that Kaworu can sing ‘Ode to Joy’? Yeah, let’s go with that – And the majority of the episode consists of showcasing the growing relationship between Kaworu and Shinji, beginning with simple conversations, but quickly progressing into some more… serious territory.

I won’t sugarcoat things, in terms of narrative structure, the episode is a mess, rushing from scene to scene with reckless abandon, attempting to successfully tell a story in under 25 minutes, that some Disney Movies don’t tell right in 90+ minutes. This is doubtlessly due to the overall mess that NGE’s production process had become at this point in its original run for reasons too complicated to talk about in this video, but let me assure you that there’s pretty solid evidence that Kaworu was definitely originally meant to appear for much more than a single episode. As it stands, however, he dies in the same episode he is introduced, begging Shinji to assist him in his suicide after revealing himself to him as the final Angel. His effect on Shinji, however, is profound and comparable to the effect Nia Teppelin of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has on that show’s protagonist, Simon Giha. In that way, just as with Nia later, it is plain as day that Kaworu is intended to be one of Shinji’s love interests. And the episode is NOT subtle at all in portraying him as such.

A lot can be said about the exact nature of Kaworu’s affection for Shinji, from Kaworu clearly seeing Shinji as some sort of avatar for humanity as a whole on which he projects his admiration for the species, to Shinji seemingly falling victim to an idealized Oedipus Complex in regards to his perception of Kaworu, the fact remains that their interactions with one another in Episode 24 are in places obviously romantic to even sexual in not only the dialogue, but also the visuals. Even with Hideaki Anno’s profession that Shinji’s romantic feelings for Kaworu aren’t “carnal”, they’re still obviously there. Projected and skewed by their unusual psyches as aspects of it may be, the relationship between them is clearly portrayed in a way that transcends the platonic and becomes intimate more quickly than your seafood friends can start singing ‘kiss the guy’ on a romantic boat ride – It’s not subtext, you guys. Towards Shinji Ikari, Kaworu Nagisa acts and speaks quite openly like one would speak to a lover. And even if Kaworu and his ambiguous humanity are somehow not gay enough for you, well, resident violently blushing and stuttering smitten wreck Shinji Ikari will put your doubts to rest. The visual homosexual (homoromantic?) tension in these scenes is so tangible, you can cut it with a knife. The dialogue, at certain points, doesn’t even really matter. Kaworu could quite literally be reading off the grocery list, and these scenes would STILL be gay.

That doesn’t mean the dialogue is not important, and that one shouldn’t really, really pay attention to what’s on screen when translating.

5.)    The Final Angel is in the Detail

The translation of Kaworu’s words to Shinji in the Netflix dub is not wrong. But it ignores the context of the scene, as well as authorial intent. And that’s why I understand why people are angry at it.

The lines in question are these : 

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: そう、好意に値することよ。

Shinji: 好意？

Kaworu:「好き」ってこと、さ

(Scene 2)

Shinji: カヲル君が「好きだ」って言ってくれたんだ。僕のこと。初めて…初めて人から「好きだ」って言われたんだ。

In the ADV dub, these lines were translated like this: 

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: This is worth earning my empathy.

Shinji: Empathy?

Kaworu: I’m saying “I love you.”  

(Scene 2)

Shinji: Kaworu said that he loved me. I’ve never... felt such kindness before.

In the Netflix dub, however, they were translated like this: 

(Scene 1)

Kaworu: Yes, you’re worthy of my grace.

Shinji: Your grace?

Kaworu: I’m saying “I like you.”  

(Scene 2)

Shinji: Kaworu said I was worthy of his grace. That was the first time... someone told me they liked me.

Which one of these is right? The fact is… both are.

The Japanese term “ 好き ” doesn’t really have a direct equivalent in English. It holds a connotation that is meant to convey very personal, but broadly defined affection. It doesn’t simply mean “to like something”. It means to feel a strong, positive, emotional connection to that person of thing. For that reason, this term can be used to profess affection to your friends, your family, your favorite item… Or as a love-confession. 

In Japan, love-confessions using “ 好き ” are a lot, lot more common than the much, much stronger term “愛する”, let alone the implicitly sexual term “恋する”. In most romance Manga, “ 好き ” will be the term of choice the heroine uses to confess her love to her object of affection. And though, via character analysis, a strong argument can be made that when Kaworu uses “ 好き ” to express his affection for Shinji, he means general affection towards Shinji’s humanity more than personal, romantic affection, this is clearly not how Shinji takes Kaworu’s words. To Shinji, what Kaworu said in that moment, definitely sounded like a confession of romantic devotion, which becomes very, very clear when Shinji later tells Misato: 

Shinji: 初めて人から「好きだ」って言われたんだ。

With the line being translates as “I like you”, this statement of Shinji sounds like pure delusion, which wouldn’t be out of character for him, of course, but isn’t at all what the episode is trying to get across. Of course people have told Shinji before they ‘like’ something about him! That’s a big part of the reason he started defining himself through his status as pilot of EVA Unit 01; his efforts earned him praise from those around him. He had friends for most of the series, at least implicitly, these people have definitely expressed a ‘liking’ for him. So by translating “好き” as “like” in this context, a whole layer of the statement is lost, and Shinji professing that this was the first time anybody has ever said that they “like” him sounds less like a serious revelation about his character, and more like his typical, delusional whining about how the world hates him.

And I think that’s why Anno signed off on the ADV dub translating the line as “I love you” rather than “I like you”. Because the point of this line is not Shinji thinking that Kaworu is the only person who’s ever tolerated his presence. It’s that Shinji feels like Kaworu was the first person to ever have a genuine, emotional connection to him. Something he’s never allowed himself to have, due to the series’ often cited theme of Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

And, as correct as translating “ 好き ” as “like” is,  a whole dimension of Episode 24 of NGE is entirely lost if you choose to translate Kaworu’s lines that way. As much sense as it technically makes.

The Netflix dub of NGE, by all measures known to me, is a very well-acted, well-directed, well-translated version of a classic piece of Animation History. I am not telling anyone that it is in any way bad or even inferior to the original, and I am not telling anyone to avoid it.

All I am saying is, that if you, as a translator, have access to references regarding authorial intent you should probably use them.

[medea10]

Medea Rambles - Changing Voice Actors (in anime)

Your favorite character! You love the way they look, the way they act, and in many cases, the way they sound. Yeah, voice actors are a vital role when it comes to bringing life to any character in animation. But what happens when your favorite character doesn’t sound the same as he/she used to?

It could mean your favorite character’s voice actor has CHANGED.

Don’t fear! This happens all the time and many factors can come into play to make that happen.

Because I’m bored today and have nothing better to talk about...

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BETTER TO TALK ABOUT!

(seriously, I do like this movie)

I want to talk about voice actors! Because I like talking about them. I have the highest respect for these people and these people give it their all with the characters they voice. Every scream Sean Schemmel ever gave as Goku, every cackle Sayaka Ohara gave as Beatrice, these performances can be considered remarkable and memorable as time goes by.

But we must all remember this. Voice actors are just like you or me. They are human. No one lasts forever. And when the unthinkable happens and a voice actor dies, many creators grapple with either retiring the character or hire a replacement.

In the anime world, it’s most likely the latter because there’s no way in fuckdom Professor Oak would EVER be retired as a character (R.I.P. Unshou Ishizuka).

Even though no one could match the charm of Unshou Ishizuka as Professor Oak and many other roles, we accept the change. But it’s not just death. Life in general can get in the way. Many voice actresses have long-running roles to voice even when they’re pregnant. So when they go on maternity leave, they’ll need a replacement. However these are thankfully temporary so we were able to get Mariya Ise to voice Bonnie on Pokemon again and soon Brina Palencia will be back to voicing Juvia on Fairy Tail (and congrats to her for the birth of her first baby).

Child actors in anime will probably not have the same voice they had 10 years ago and if a role is making a revival in the present, that person will more than likely not play that same role. Perfect example there would be Aaron Dismuke who was a young boy when playing roles like Al on Full Metal Alchemist and Hiro on Fruits Basket. When FMA: Brotherhood came out, it was very clear that Dismuke was well past puberty and so his role of Alphonse had to go to someone else.

And voice actors who sustain injury to their voices during production. Jessica Calvello, the original voice of Excel from Excel Saga literally blew out her vocal chords for this role and had to have her role replaced for the second half of the series. Was it noticeable? Fuck yeah it was. But it was for the greater good. Plus her replacement wasn’t that bad. In fact she did a good job with the wacky behavior of Excel. The dubbing company was on a deadline and it had to be met. So what’s done is done. I’m just happy Calvello healed from that and is still a voice actor.

And other issues like scheduling conflicts and controversial issues come into play throwing a monkey wrench in productions. But we all move on for the most part.

WE ALL MOVE ON!

Anyways, for the most part these are just singular acts concerning one or more characters at a time. What happens when AN ENTIRE CAST IS CHANGED?!

Well...it happens! It just depends on the circumstances with the anime. And let’s face it, some of these changes can be for the greater good. Take Sailor Moon for example. Yes, we all know this tale! Sailor Moon was originally licensed by DIC for the first few seasons. And then the next few seasons it was taken over by (the thankfully gone company) Cloverway. With both companies, the anime was given the royal fuck-over with skipping episodes, chopping or editing scenes, Americanizing everything, downplaying homosexuality, shotty voice work, and blow off an entire season. And during the transition from DIC to Cloverway, some of the voices were changed and it was noticeable.

Decade later, Viz Media swoops in and gives the fans what they waited for. The entire series redubbed with original names, Haruka and Michiru are lesbians, Fisheye has a penis, and season five can finally be shown. But for many of us, we were delighted to hear the voices to the characters we grew up with finally getting some justice. While many of us loved Sailor Moon growing up, it was kind of painful to hear some of the voices. I once again point to Haruka’s original voice (or Amara as they called her). And the same could also be said about the first dub to One Piece. This redub needed to happen! No one objected to this, nor should they! But that’s just one person’s opinion here. Others, not so much. Especially the next one!

POKEMON! Yes another anime that went through a giant change. In 2006 (right in the middle of a fucking arc mind you), Pokemon switched the dubbing rights from 4Kids to TAJ/Pokemon Company. To which we all said...

And then they got rid of all the voice actors who have voiced these characters for YEARS and replaced them. To fans of the show from the very beginning it was noticeable and STILL IS. To people who were born in 2006 and are watching this now as a teenager (fucking shit I feel old just realizing that), they probably wouldn’t give it a second thought.

I know it hurt fans and voice actors at first but look at the bright side, a lot of them went on to do great things after Pokemon. Veronica Taylor is busy doing Sailor Moon. Eric Stuart is still touring. And Andrew Rannells...I don’t think I need to bring up Book of Mormon. As it has been over 13 years since the change I think many of us have gotten used to or have accepted this.

Does that mean you’ve accepted Tracey’s new voice?

No. Fuck no. And I never will.

Yeah, Tracey’s a different story. I refuse to accept that change.

Anyways back to voice actors changing! Pokemon and Sailor Moon were kind of special cases as those had a bunch of in-fighting to get what we got. Same with One Piece because no one wanted to watch that hot mess get raped with censored items, Americanized names, and a horrific rap song that even Vanilla Ice would say that’s too much. But sometimes, an anime that has finished its airing and has been dubbed and released in the states, it will be out of print or its license will be expired.

Animes like Berserk, Squid Girl, Rozen Maiden, and Shakugan no Shana were all owned, licensed, and dubbed by a company. But then their licence would go belly-up and their title would no longer be available for purchase (at a decent price) or streamed on a website. Luckily, these titles were eventually saved. Kept the same is a different story there.

All four of those titles had one or more of their seasons dubbed and anything else the series had that wasn’t dubbed was now going to be dubbed by their current licencor. In many of these cases it was changed due to the fact that many of the original voice actors for these roles are not where this certain anime is being worked on. Like in the case of Shakugan no Shana, many of the voice actors reside in Vancouver BC and FUNimation, the licensing company is in Texas. Hence, you get the second and third season sounding way different from the first season. Yes, it’s convenient or cheaper to use people in your studio instead of waiting to hear from Canada. So that’s a possibility of why they do that. Or of course, scheduling issues/conflicts or wanting to do things their own way. Haven’t decided on which one to believe.

And then there are some animes like Escaflowne (an anime that was already dubbed and licensed and released in the late 90s) only for the whole thing to be redubbed by FUNimation decades later. Reasons? They re-licensed it? There was over 8 minutes of new footage found that was never dubbed? They found it necessary to do that? Take your pick!

Now most of what I’m talking about is mostly America problems. Does Japan redub classic anime? To my knowledge, no. But if they remake, reboot, or give a sequel, the cast might change. In recent reboots such as Fruits Basket, Berserk, Sailor Moon, and Genshiken, the entire cast will change to either appease the original creator’s wishes or start over with a clean slate. And if a series makes a return after several decades, of course they’re going to change voices, are you insane?

Why did I find the need to spew a bunch of useless information today? I felt inspired after Netflix decided to grace us with IT’S presence.

Neon Genesis Evangelion.

A classic in the anime community. A gateway anime for many. A massive mindfuck wrapped in a brainfart. A clusterfuck of many proportions.

The television series was licensed and dubbed by ADV back in the 90s. But of course that company went belly-up and so this series has been unreachable in terms of purchasing for over a decade. Even when Japan gives us reboots in the forms of movies for the Evangelion franchise, only those movies would be picked up (by FUNimation). They didn’t even touch the series. Didn’t they realize fans would pay through the nose to get a blu-ray release of this series? The most fans could get were split-up copies on DVD and old VHS tapes. This was a goldmine.

Alas, FUNimation was not the one to save the Neon Genesis Evangelion series.

It was Netflix.

But...all things come at a price when you make a deal with the devil. Netflix found it necessary to redub the entire series (both movies included) without giving word or even consideration to the original cast (that has been doing the voices to these characters for over 20 years). Spike Spenser, Amanda Winn Lee, Tiffany Grant, and Allison Keith wanted to help with this as they all had a lot of input in the original (especially Lee). Now before I cast stones upon this, I do give this dub some credit. They do make an effort to make this sound like an improved version of the 90s dub. And in some aspects I find the new voice to Shinji bearable. And I’m okay with many new casting changes. I mean NGE was okay, but the dub wasn’t the greatest. My only gripe with the change...

Downplaying Shinji x Kaowru.

Netflix, you just undid like a decades worth of change when it comes to homosexuality in anime. You just took us five steps backwards! Kaowru says he LOVED Shinji. “Like”? No, you like a pair of pants. You like that new Bruno Mars song. Kaowru said he LOVED Shinji. Why the fuck didn’t you keep that translation? The 90s dub was kind enough to have Kaowru say that and the 1990s were run by a bunch of prudes! I thought we were past this shit when we put an end to the old Sailor Moon dubs!

Now with this Netflix dub, many characters on Evangelion officially have 2-3 different voice actors. Or in the case of the character Toji, Johnny Young Bosch is the fifth person to voice him. But some platforms can have the anime itself, just not get the right with the english dub probably due to some legal loophole.

Whew, a lot of changes in anime, right folks? It almost feels like these dubbing companies want to erase the past, right? Well to be fair, everyone seems to be doing that. Disney keeps giving us live-action remakes to classic Disney animated films. Classic anime titles are being rebooted. Dubbing companies are taking older animes and redubbing them. I know it feels like they want us to forget these dubs existed. But I know they just want to improve them.

No matter what, everyone will find fault with everything. And in the anime community, it feels like a never-ending flame war. Older animes will get hated on by how crappy it sounds or looks. And nostalgic fans will hate on the new dub because it’s with new people who sound nothing like the original.

YOU CAN (NOT) WIN!

Heh, I made an Eva-build joke.

With these redubs, many names get pronounced the correct way, many translations will be accurate to the Japanese version, and in some cases it’ll sound a lot better. Dubbing companies try to aim at new viewers and to introduce a new generation of anime fans to an old classic. But for people who grew up with animes like Pokemon, Escaflowne, Cardcaptor Sakura, Sailor Moon, and many others, we grew accustomed to the dub. And when hearing it changed, it’s kind of a kick in the ears hearing anything penetrated or different from all the years you spent watching these animes.

Everyone has their own opinion of what they like and don’t like to hear. I like to give things the benefit of the doubt for the most part. Especially when I watch an older anime for the first time that has several dubs. When I began watching Rurouni Kenshin about 7 years back, I was warned that there were three English dubs to that. And I heard all three. I made my choice of which one I prefer, which one was okay, and which one needs to be set on fire. In case you don’t know, the original TV series had the best, the OVA series was okay, and the redub Sony did needs to be set on fire.

And that would be my advice to new anime watchers. Give both dubs a chance and make your decision on which one you like best.

Sadly, these changes will continue to happen whether for the better or the worst. While there are some changes that upset me, some I’m okay with if not pleased about it. But with the recent upset over fans hating on Evangelion’s new dub and change, do you think the fans will get a revolution and their old dub/old translations back? Let me put it to you this way. If Pokemon told us to sit and spin after many of us outraged over the cast change, what chance do Evangelion fans have against Netflix? But you never know, stranger things have happened. Maybe a miracle will occur and the old dub will get a blu-ray release.

In the meantime, I’ll have to re-write my thoughts on Evangelion with the ADV dub, FUNimation dub, and Netflix dub. TOO MANY DUBS!

This has been another Medea ramble. I’ll go back to doing whatever it is I normally do around here.

[svartikotturinn]

Trimming down my OK Cupid profile: the ‘before’ part

My self-summary

אוֹקִ֥יר אֱנ֖וֹשׁ מִפָּ֑ז וְאָדָ֖ם מִכֶּ֥תֶם אוֹפִֽיר׃

I’m an unpredictable but fiercely empathetic person, with a somewhat off-beat sense of humour. A huge fan of languages and human cultures. Moved to Haifa in Dec. 2017 and loving it, now working as a tutor and loving it too. Currently working my MA in sign language linguistics at Haifa U, planning to study teaching ESL at NUI Galway later on and later then going to settle abroad somewhere undecided to work in Deaf education (likely Montréal).If you want to know more about me, you can read more about me on my Tumblog. You should probably read the ‘About’ page and maybe look through my more important posts (for some of my observations and opinions), and in general pay particular attention to this post. (I’m not re-typing everything over here…)

Also, I have a Quora account. And a mostly inactive YouTube channel, with Hebrew CC & English subs for all vids there.

What I'm doing with my life

Having finished my BA in linguistics and East Asian studies, I translate and teach Hebrew and English whenever I get to (I translated the young adult fantasy novel Murderess by Daya Marnin to English), while learning a whole bunch of languages, most notably improving my already decent Japanese, and being as politically active (staunch leftist here) as circumstances allow. Also, I am now a tutor for K–12 students, teaching English, math, and Hebrew grammar & composition.

You’re more than welcome to contact me if you’re interested in learning Hebrew!

Also, I’m trying to make some money off my poetry, either through personalised commissions or through Patreon supporters.

I'm really good at

Languages are definitely my thing. I’m studying all languages currently available on Duolingo (finished 11 already and counting) and then some, and when Duolingo releases more I’ll add them to the list. (So you’re more than welcome to tell me what languages get you going… 😉)

Other than that I’m very good with words, as a translator and a poet (as I pointed out, I translated a book, and it had poetry in it; I’ve written poetry that’s moved people to tears, too), and I’m a pretty good dancer. Also, I’m creative and rather skilful in the kitchen, having honed these skills somewhat during the time I was a vegan. (If I like you, I’ll definitely make you something nice!)

My golden rule

‘Integrity above all.’

Favorite books, movies, shows, music, and food

BOOKS

My all-time favourite is Summer Celebration by Natan Alterman (look it up on TV Tropes; I wrote that article). Other than that I loved:

 I Am a Cat by Natsume Souseki

Mr. Muo’s Travelling Couch by Dai Sijie

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

The Lover by A. B. Yehoshu‘a

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green & David Leviathan

The Narrow Road to Oku by Matsuo Basho: I actually wrote a book report on it and dressed up as Basho for Purim in the 10th grade

…and others

FILMS

My all-time favourite is Pink Floyd’s The Wall. Other than that I loved:

everything by Satoshi Kon

almost everything by Hayao Miyazaki (I’ve seen ALL of his films), the only exception being Porco Rosso

Love & Pop and Shiki Jitsu by Hideaki Anno

Wild Strawberries and The Best Intentions by Ingmar Bergman

anything by Akira Kurosawa

The White Ribbon and Funny Games by Michael Haneke

almost every Israeli film I’ve seen

almost every German film I’ve seen

The Rocky Horror Picture Show & Shock Treatment

(Needless to say, I’m somewhat of a film enthusiast; this doesn’t even begin to cover it)

SHOWS

My all-time favourite is Hideaki Anno’s life-changing fantastic Neon Genesis Evangelion. Others include quite a few good anime series and some non-anime ones:

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)

Elfen Lied

Samurai Champloo

Cowboy Bebop

Kino’s Journey

Gunbuster

Ouran High School Host Club

Loveless

Shinsekai Yori

Aggretsuko

Live action:

Kidding

The Good Wife & The Good Fight

Orange is the New Black

Dexter

Breaking Bad

Borgen

Ray Donovan

Please Like Me

Looking

Jinn

some Israeli series

Non-anime animated:

Steven Universe

Adventure Time

MUSIC

Pink Floyd is my favourite band. I also love:

Bands:

Sigur Rós, especially Von (though I struggle to listen to them after Orri Páll Dýrason got #MeToo’d)

HaBiluim

HaMechashefot

The Seatbelts

Enigma

Jane Bordeaux (my guilty pleasure)

Stereopony (another guilty pleasure)

Individual artists:

Nujabes

Zemfira

John Coltrane

Antonio Carlos Jobim

Thijs van Leer

Hughes de Courson

Jacques Brel

Composers:

Bach

Beethoven

Prokofiev

Scriabin

Purcell

(These lists are by no means exhaustive…)

Generally, I find Modern Hebrew to be just the right amount of rugged for rock music. But I’m probably biased because Israeli rock was very much in vogue here when I was a little kid…

My taste is generally very eclectic though I don’t listen to music all that much on my own; basically, it amounts to ‘everything good, especially ambience, Western art music, chillout, jazz, prog/post-rock, and folk’.

FOOD

I was a vegan for almost two years starting around November 2014; it was somewhat of a challenge, but it did teach me to be very creative in the kitchen, and very aware of vegans’ needs. Generally, I’m pretty open-minded, but I particularly love:

East Asian food: Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese

French and Italian food

Seafood

Six things I could never do without

Cats

Human interaction (in moderation!)

Textbooks and other study materials

The ability to watch films

The ability to listen to music when I want to

Good food

I spend a lot of time thinking about

My day-to-day obligations, politics (including SJ), my ambitions, general philosophy… There’s plenty.

A perfect day

A day I feel I’ve been productive in: having read something, or learned something, worked out, cooked, written… and spent time with loved ones.

If I were sent to jail, I'd be arrested for

Either something I didn’t do, or some heroic act of vigilantism.

You should message me if

And now for what I’m looking for, especially for a more prolonged interaction.

As I said, I am obviously into languages and East Asian cultures (specifically Japanese), but I’m also happy to learn. If you’re willing to learn more about these topics (and in general) but your main field of interest is different, I’d be delighted, as I’d feel we could complete each other. (Same goes for speaking a foreign language.)

Genuine empathy matters a lot to me. If I think you lack it or deny it arbitrarily, I’ll be alarmed, but genuine warmth is something I love and will likely be drawn to you for.

With regards to personal convictions (e.g. political and religious): my main requirement is that you stick by what you believe in and be able to reasonably explain why you do. I may disagree with you fiercely, but I’ll respect you deeply for sticking by an informed opinion—I’ve gotten along surprisingly well with people from a very wide range of opinions.

Also, a pretty important pet peeve of mine: if I’m not calm or smiling there’s almost certainly a good, objective reason for it. You’re more than welcome to address those, or offer comfort and understanding, which I’ll appreciate immensely, but it really rubs me the wrong way when people try to tell me to react differently just because (‘Aw c’mon… Smile!’).

That’s about it in terms of personality. As for looks, I like soft facial features, smooth skin, and any body type that isn’t fat, or excessively muscular on women (nothing against those body types, they’re just not my taste).

Finally, as for expectations from talking: I’m not looking into anything too serious, for a variety of reasons. But I could make concessions if truly swept off my feet…

[cyndecreativity]

RE: latest ask game

L, O, X, Z

How do you select the names of your characters?

Names? Over the years I’ve made a bunch of characters for video games and DnD and stuff and MOST of the time, I will just use whatever pops into my head first. In the beginning, that meant I was using things I enjoyed, like Lucretia. But I’ve tried to move away from that by virtue of people deciding those names are memes now. In some video games, where there’s a randomizer, I would randomize until I found a good name that I could tweak to something I liked. Siliandra was my name in FFXI and then I used it again in World of Warcraft, then I shortened it to Liandra for Dragon Age and Dark Souls.

For Zodiac, the names were all my husband’s idea. The characters were originally his, and they’ve changed into something else, but kept the names. He’s a huge DnD player and the names are things like William Fymithral or Garren Grin. Characters I made are things like Idania, so named because I looked up a name for my Spanish class (Mireya) and found Idania to mean something like hardworking in some other language and liked it. And I’ve never found it again. The other names were just from Wikipedia. EXCEPT for Jorgus. 

We were talking about the outline I had and he suggested a character he called Jonesy as like this shitty bully kid. I said that’d be his last name, of course, and since we were watching all of JoJo, he said his name should be something to facilitate JoJo. I said I was gonna name his Fergus because it’s a sufficiently bad name that would warrant wanting to call him something else, like Jonesy for his last name. My husband laughed and said we should just call him Jorgus, that way it’d be JoJo. And I made a face and then said, you know what? Yeah. His name is Jorgus now.

What types of scenes are hardest for you to write?

Scenes that are the hardest for me to write are usually scenes with some kind of broken thought process or struggling not to identify the POV character. I was trying to write a scene that I eventually gave up on with one of my characters tied to a post and scared because they’re supposed to be “feral” from being in the woods for years, alone, and hunted. I just couldn’t do it.

I used to think I couldn’t do fight scenes, but I read a fanfic I wrote in like 2014 and there was a pretty cool fight scene near the end and I was like Oh, maybe I can do that? I guess they’re still the hardest.

(I spend a lot of time instrospecting so those aren’t really the hardest for me.)

I also have problems with either knowing where I want a scene to end, starting it, and finding the characters reacting to stimuli in ways that don’t lead to the conclusion I wanted. So, like, trying to get two characters to bone and they won’t. Or getting two characters to reconcile and they won’t.

I have found, however, that I’ve turned to Stage Direction style writing wherein I have too many short sentences depicting like a turn or a look without any kind of thought. And with my Dragon Age fanfic, I used that as my first draft. But now I’m self-conscious about it so it’s getting harder to look at it as a First Draft, which means I can’t just go on. Ah, the struggles of being a writer.

What inspires you as a writer?

I actually feel like I answered this a while ago, let’s see. Without reading it, let’s see if I can answer this with any similarity.

I’ve been having this argument with my husband about ART because he’s an artist and he respects and admires Nier and Nier Automata for it’s artistic value and he loves Evangelion. And I can’t... find it within myself to do so. So I’ve decided to call myself a philistine in defense of my distaste for these things. I don’t find beauty or meaning in them. Either because their messages are not clear enough or they’re desiring a specific reaction that I’m not able to have because I am the beholder and what I glean from the piece is not necessarily what you said. Maybe.

So inspiration for me comes in the form of gaining that beauty and enjoyment from something and wanting to also do that thing. I really enjoyed, say, FF6 and the character that I loved the most was Edgar. So I want to write something that gives him a happy ending with a character that totally isn’t some better version of me an OC. I loved watching my favorite Youtuber play a randomizer, so now I’m going to play one. I loved reading a book, so now I’m gonna write one.

That’s kinda the long and short of it. What inspires me is the joy I can feel from the thing I’m engaging with, either the fandom’s love or the media itself.

What made you decide to write your story?

I want to say that I didn't consciously decide anything. Most of the stories I come up with are solely because I couldn't sleep of I'm inspired by fixing something in a given story I've experienced. I want to see these two characters smooch or help one get closure and better mental health, etc.

My husband has been having a bit of an issue with his mental health re: his own art, and I’ve explained this same thing to him: You have to decide if doing the thing you like to do is worth more than the pain of NOT doing it. For me, that manifests as writing even if, like, once a month, I am miserable because I didn’t get the attention I wanted on the work I’ve put in on something. Why bother writing when no one reads it? Because the writing is more fun to me than the misery of being ignored.

And that’s kind of all of it. I don’t really have any conscious themes or activism or anything that I’m trying to convey in my stories, they’re just stories I came up with and had to write because I was having One Fun doing it. Zodiac is too fun for me to give up, it’s a nice healthy default state to settle into whenever I can’t sleep. “What if Alden is in the basement? That’s where they fight? Eli would notice that, though. So Tristan fights him in the burrow- how long would he had been there?”

Or, you know, “I should go back and update these stories I wrote and enjoyed when I was a kid. Make this Edgar/OC fanfic better, fix up this Protomen fanfic, tweak this Loki thing, rewrite the FF7 one. Yeah, that’s nice.”

Thank you for asking!

[adamworu]

Is there any character and/or episode that you feel should get more attention/love from the community in the original NGE ?

It’s actually a few characters I feel deserve more love from the Eva community (pertaining to the original show of course!). The same applies for the episode part of the question: it’s also a few.

More down below....

Rei’s a huge one I feel, considering she’s one of the most relatable characters within Evangelion. Shinji is a relatable character because his arc is around being aware of his own actions and steering him into free will rather than determinism. Shinji believes that reality is fixed, fixed in the sense that nothing good comes from reality. This leads him to reject reality and reject the true selves of people, therefore straining the relationships of everyone around him. Asuka feigns a persona of being + acting more grown than she actually is, all too aware of her problems. All too awareness is met with rejection rather than acceptance. We have the adults who parallel some of the children, the rejection of reality and the oft times selfishness that spawns from aforementioned rejection.

Rei’s arc deals with identity, individuality + her character treatment parallels how people will forcibly mold your identity into something which benefits them personally rather than allowing you any iota of autonomy. Rei’s a character whose whole existence is objectified; her whole body is quintessentially used as a tool, ultimately for Gendo’s desire to reunite with Yui via Instrumentality as well as the core of the Dummy Plugs’ thought processes (excluding MPE Plugs). This is sadly relatable, especially if you’re navigating any part of adolescence. What really makes this a massive problem is that abstract thought (exploration and grey areas rather than concrete ones) come forth in early adolescence. Rei isn’t allowed to explore, just do what’s asked and not even go beyond what’s been imprinted on her.

 I feel as if understanding Rei is understanding some of the puzzle that is the AT Field. Rei actually insinuates about it in episode 14, during her pondering midway in through the episode.  (slight nudity warning here)

Rei also likens her identity to flowers during her thoughts. Many of them  the same and yet most lack purpose. I feel as if this is an indicator of Rei and paralleling her clones to aforesaid flowers, because again, she’s taught to feel expendable. She also talks about how she’s melting toward the end of her thoughts (back to the AT Field insinuations again!). AT Fields, other than being a well-placed metaphor for boundaries, also serve as our physicality (and most of all our identity). If we relinquish our AT Fields, we lose our physical shape. In End of Evangelion Rei’s arm just sort of melts/slides off her body. Gendo urges Rei to hurry along with the merging of Adam unto her (thinking she’s his personal puppet, when he doesn’t realize that she knows her she’s Lilith), remarking that her AT Field is beginning to break down.

Without an AT Field, we undergo death, metaphorically. In Eva’s context, it means that you give up an identity. Without identity, others cannot discern who you are, because metaphorically you don’t exist. Rei, when talking about the clones toward the end of her poem talks about no longer seeing herself. The other Rei’s aren’t allowed exploration either, causing Rei to question her individuality. Remember Rei’s words about the flowers? That many are the same but so many are without purpose?

Rei’s poem highlights the acknowledgement of identity (it ends with her speculating the identity of Unit-01′s soul). It’s Rei’s way of making sense of the world the only way she can, making sense of herself, and associating certain things with certain symbols or ideas.

I also feel that all the angels are characters that especially need as much credit as the cast of Evangelion. When you start seeing the angels, especially in the episodes involving psychological exploration of the pilots, you start realizing Evangelion isn’t actually about the human condition. It’s understandable that Eva is considered by many as a piece of media dealing with the human condition, considering humans are at the forefront of the show.  However, Eva pokes a hole through that considering two things. One, Ritsuko’s comment in regards to Arael breaching through Asuka’s mind in episode 22 and two, Misato’s comment to Shinji about the human’s origins. Ritsuko remarks that angels hold capability of understanding our psychology (and she’s right about that!). Misato states that angels came from Adam, the ones we know with all the varying shapes (but quintessentially the same physiology - cores, S2 engines, that good stuff) and we’re the 18th angel (Lilin from Lilith, 2nd angel). Evangelion cannot be the human condition because that excludes the angels from that, though humans are angels, not the other way around.

I feel that episodes wise: the episodes which show the psychological exploration of the characters need more love, especially when it involves the ones with the angels. The angels assume symbols immediately recognizable to the respective pilot and at least two angels use specific psychological concepts to get their point across. Leliel uses a Johari Window, a tool meant for self-awareness of the individual and their identity as known as well as unknown by themselves as well as others. When Leliel does talk on some points the two lines are presented as perpendicular, as a way of seeing a window to the self (and being aware of selves existing outside of the self). Leliel tries getting Shinji to be aware of his own actions (which involves understanding himself and others).

Tabris/Kaworu (yes I consider him one of the psychological angels, though he doesn’t use means to breach the subconscious) and Shinji embody the two loci of control. The internal locus and the external locus are more known as Free Will v. Determinism, an argument which intersects psychology and philosophy (psychology does have a philosophical aspect). Tabris, being the angel of Free Will is the internal locus (believing you can control your life, meaning you aren’t free of accountability). That leaves Shinji as the opposite, the external locus, the polar opposite of Kaworu’s loci. Determinism/external locus means that nothing in your life is within your control and therefore accountability is nonexistent. Tabris tries telling Shinji that he must endure pain rather than running away, insinuating that Shinji has free will and must use it in a way that helps most.

Episodes 14, 15, 21-24 (Director’s Cut versions), as well as the last two episodes are important. Episodes 25 and 26 need to be put on the same importance as EoE, because I think it gives the viewer insight to other characters (e.g. Asuka living so she can find out her purpose). It also helps give insight on who else may defy Instrumentality and who won’t.

[legendofthesmashedwineglasses]

So the PV for the new LotGH anime came out and there were very mixed reactions to say the least. Besides the Ginga Eiyuu no Basuke and Kircheis jokes which I enjoy myself, I’ve been seeing a lot of people acting like it is now guaranteed to be shit. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Kircheis’ design either and I have my fair share of concerns about the series as a whole, but I think that’s jumping the gun a bit. We have only seen a minute and a half of a hype trailer. That’s not even close enough to the material needed to make a fair judgment. Furthermore, I think that there are some good things that have been shown so far but they mostly get overshadowed by the reaction to the character designs. Because of that, I’ve decided to write about some of the potentially good things that I think Die Neue These has shown us thus far.

It’s Distinguishable from the OVA

I know some might disagree with me on this, but I was pleased to see that it looks like DNT is trying to be different from other LotGH adaptations. If it was just going to be the OVA with upgraded animation, it would be pointless. I’d rather just watch the OVA again if it was trying to be the OVA. There’s no meaning in trying to replicate something that just can’t be replicated. Since it looks like they’re working to make DNT distinct, it will have to succeed or fail on its own merits. In my opinion, that’s for the best and I respect the fact that they’re trying something different.

Cinematic Flair

Honestly, I was surprised that the PV was for a 12 episode TV series, because it sure didn’t feel like one. From the music to the lighting to the grandiose scenic shots, it seemed like a trailer for a movie. The transition from Reinhard’s raised to the title in particular was cinematic as hell. The theatrical presentation definitely fits the space opera genre. DNT might be going for a more dramatic approach which is an interesting possibility with a lot of potential. Also, some of the shot composition was just great like the shot below and the vollery fire of the Imperial ships.

Music

There’s nothing known for certain about DNT’s soundtrack at this moment, so the only thing to go on is what was heard in the PV. The new music showed promise. It had nicely timed swells and fit the space opera atmosphere of the PV quite well. 

It might be revealed later that the soundtrack will be entirely original with no classical music. As much as I love the classical music soundtrack, I think it would be an interesting opportunity to give LotGH a musical identity. Neon Genesis Evangelion makes me think of “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” and “You Say Run” always comes to my mind when I think of Boku no Hero Academia. LotGH doesn’t really have a particular piece of music like that. The closest might be Ravel’s Bolero, but even then it is not distinctly LotGH.

If it ends up being the case that the new soundtrack is entirely original, what was heard in the PV has potential at the very least.

The Scenery

The scenery was easily one of my favorite parts of the PV. Look at this.

I need to see Heinessen now.

Animation

We haven’t been shown much yet, but what has been seen of the animation looks pretty smooth. That’s a step in the right direction and could potentially help the visual storytelling in the story a lot. 

Additionally, the CG exceeded my expectations. When I first heard that the ships were CG, I started to get upset because of certain previous attempts at CG. It’s nice to be pleasantly surprised. The CG is pretty well done and could make the combat scenes more dynamic. There’s definitely potential there.

The Uniforms

Attention to detail was put into the new uniforms. You can tell. I would consider that a positive thing.

The Alliance uniforms were changed from air force-inspired outfits to a more naval uniform. It’s an interesting touch that stays in line with the spirit of the old uniforms. (Also, Yang’s little plant on his collar is really adorable).

The Empire uniforms stay in the spirit of the OVAs designs as well, as you can see with the collars of the higher-ranked officers and general look of the uniforms. I really appreciate the fact that differently ranked soldiers now have distinctly different uniforms from early on. It’s a nice detail. 

Miyano Mamoru

To be completely honest, Miyano wasn’t my first pick for Reinhard’s voice actor. That being said, it makes sense why he was chosen. He’s popular, talented, experienced, popular, oh and popular. In my opinion he’s one of the best choices for the character out of the most popular male voice actors right now. Given his track record, at the very least we’ll get a solid performance from him.

Takagi Noboru

Takagi Noboru is the person in charge of the series composition (aka scripts/the writing) and I’m cautiously somewhat positive about him being in charge. My biggest concern for someone writing the new anime is that the person has no experience writing political dramas and stories with large casts. I have more concern about the large cast aspect because that’s easy to screw up. Takagi has a good bit of experience handling large casts from being in charge of the series composition of shows like Baccano! (a personal favorite of mine) and Durarara!!. I don’t know how well he’ll actually do with LotGH but I do think that he has some of the tools needed to handle it well.

I’m not a professional in the industry, so please understand I’m only looking at this from a completely inexperienced perspective.

The Staff of KnB isn’t Necessarily a Bad Thing

While I myself am concerned about them being the staff for DNT, there are a few potential positives about it. 

The group has worked together in the past a bunch so they’re used to each other. Having a staff that works well together generally helps the final product turn out better. 

The other thing is that they know how to handle a franchise. KnB and LotGH aren’t comparable at all, but the fact that they are both franchises remains and franchises work differently than a one-off 12 episode series.

The Ships

They’re beautiful and you can’t convince me otherwise, sorry. I love the little scifi touches they added to the Brunhild’s engines. There’s not much else I can say so have some pictures.

Before I finish this I’d like to address some complaints I’ve seen and explain why they are non-issues (at the moment at least).

“They’re pandering to women/fujoshi now! This isn’t LoGH!”

Interestingly enough, this is nothing new. Despite the reputation of the series here in America, LotGH wasn’t only for male “elitists”. In the August of 1986 which was two years before the 1988 OVA, Michihara Katsumi began her manga adaptation of the Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels. It was released in the bi-monthly magazine Chara, a magazine which printed Yaoi and Shoujo manga. And, uh, if you read through it it becomes even more clear who this was meant for.

Alternatively, LotGH is not a women-only thing either, just the idea that LotGH adaptations have never been influenced by the female demographic is completely wrong. 

“The characters don’t look like they have the same personality!”

This issue just confuses me. There are only seconds of footage of the main characters in the PV. How did you expect them to show you their entire character in seconds? This is especially odd since the PV was meant to show off the space battle side of the series. All of the characters typically look serious during the battle scenes. I’ve seen claims that Yang is now a cold-hearted person because of how he looks in a promo image meant to show his and Reinhard’s opposing paths. It’s not like that he hasn’t looked a bit harsher to illustrate the conflict in the past.

It should also be noted that Yang is an alcoholic plagued with survivor’s guilt, so yeah, he’s not going to look cute and laid back all the time. I’ve also seen similar claims like Reinhard being too cold (despite him being in battle and commanding his subordinates) and Kircheis not smiling or looking kind enough and looking sly instead. The first can easily explained with context, though I can definitely agree that Kircheis doesn’t seem as openly friendly as the OVA. However, there are subtle signs of Kircheis personality and relationship with Reinhard in the one shot we get of him.

Kircheis has a raised eyebrow and a slight smile as he speaks to Reinhard. It shows their familiarity and the fondness he has for Reinhard. This is the exact opposite of contradicting his character.

“How are they going to fit 110 episodes into 12 episodes and three movies? It’s going to be rushed.”

There’s a huge assumption here. That is, Production IG is planning to tell the entire ten-volume story in just 24 episodes. Never have they said anything to suggest that they are going to do so. I like to think that such a prominent company wouldn’t be so stupid as to attempt that and completely butcher the story in the process. I’d say it’s likely that they are planning to end with the aftermath of the Lippstadt Rebellion. 

“Why didn’t they just use the original anime designs?”

Easy, this isn’t the 80s. The OVA’s character designs are distinctly 80s and I love that about them, but that’s just not going to happen in 2018. The popular styles have changed as have the styles that animators commonly use. Sadly, curly hair is rare these days. I feel your pain.

Many people have misgivings about Die Neue These. I am one of them. I just think it’s important to remember that the PV had more than just the character designs and that the purpose of the PV was to show off the space opera-like war setting. There is nothing to indicate that the most important part of LotGH- the plot and characters- has been handled terribly yet. It’s certainly possible that it is badly written, but at this point it’s equally possible that it isn’t. Who knows how it will turn out? I certainly don’t.