#WE ALL KNOW THEY ARE KAWORU AND SHINJI IN ANOTHER TIMELINE

[coredrill]

okaaaaaaaaay bravernine thoughts. lol (lots of lulu)

i have never been more intrigued and confused and clueless abt where this show is going to go and i am HOOKED. i called my one (1) shot in abt smith dying in ep8 and so now i am just along for the wacky ride until the end!!!!!!!!!! also my understanding of time travel stories is very poor compared to my understanding of wow cool robot stories so that is undoubtedly a part of it FNDNFBJD

i’ll probs catch more on a rewatch and others have pointed this out but. it seemed like the “timeline” changed right when we got the ep1 flashback/eyecatch? like that’s when hibiki’s arm wound vanished and switched to her head, and wehn we saw hiro again, and also lulu’s demeanor switched from being sad to more determined? so like. i wouldn’t be surprised if lulu shenanigans happened as well in that time…………

also lulu. obviously bravern is smith + knuth + brainwave bot but i would NOT be surprised if there was some of lulu in there too. since her brainwaves were in there too? which would make sense as another ingredient in the bravern soup, if he gets his clinginess and more childish demeanor from her in addition to his horniness from knuth and his heroic attitude and love for isami from smith. which is maybe why, after the “timeline switch” i just mentioned (idk what else to call it) lulu suddenly Knows Smith’s In There in a way she didn’t SEEM to before? like she called bravern “smith” ofc but this was like. deliberate in a different manner imo. idk. lulu is up to Some Shit tho and like everthing else i am SOOOOOOOOOO excited to see it !!!!!!!!!!!!

i know i keep making haha funnies abt smith trying to outgay kaworu and like. when it comes to queers in mecha anime i rly don’t think anything can reasonably “outdo” eva due to its impact (heh) and the fact kaworu and shinji did all that in 1996 but like. lewis smith is putting in the bravest effort i’ve seen by a LONG shot……………….what if that tokubro u met in hawaii loved you so much he became your undead horny super robot soulmate (“hey tumblr user coredrill what if you stopped beating this joke format to death” LISTEN i think its funny still. lmao)

hmmmmm i feel like i had more to say but. i forgor lmao. surely this won’t be like every other week where i am like “these are all of my thoughts 😇” and then i continue to make AND ANOTHER THING posts every 3 hours like clockwork. surely things will be different this time. surely i am not also stuck in a timelo

OH WAIT I REMEMBERED. but yeah i was just thinking abt how like. smith gets so fucking angry abt how the lulu are used and so when he contributes to bravern he makes it so that isami can pilot him safely. and not a lulu-pod-scenario. because he loves lulu and he loves isami. i am going to tear my skin off of my own body

[friedesgreatscythe]

my all time fave romance trope is “we meet at different points of a timeline but  don’t know it’s the other at the same time.” im okay with it resulting in the lovers getting a happily ever after and realizing who they are, or if it’s left open-ended in a wistful “maybe someday” hopefulness.

an example of the happy ending version of this trope is sophie hatter and howl from howl’s moving castle (the movie--can’t remember how the book does it). an example of the wistful/”maybe someday” version is themis/elidibus and the warrior of light in final fantasy xiv. (this could also apply to the WoL and hades/emet-selch, but you have more interactions with themis throughout the whole game.)

another example is kaworu and shinji from evangelion. it’s my fave AU idea for akeshu in p5r. it’s absolutely part of the 2b/9s dynamic from nier automata. it’s the defining element of madoka/homura from madoka magica. light/hope from the final fantasy xiii trilogy played with it in parts. it’s the starting conflict/dynamic of the doctor and clara oswald from doctor who.

it’s just,,, so fucking good and makes me positively feral because it’s pure hope condensed into pining, yearning hearts. it’s soulmates defying any concept of time as a straight line, but as a flat circle of experience with no start or end, because souls and love are neither defined nor limited by boundaries.

[miladysatsuki]

ok my post about talking about 3.0+1.0 kawoshin & kaworus development got a few likes so I’m going to ramble under the cut about mostly kawoshin & kaworu but actually about all of the pilots & the whole movie.

SPOILER WARNING FOR EVANGELION 3.0+1.0 also out of context spoilers for pmmm in the second to last paragraph I’m just comparing the two

So, first of all I’m going to say some general movie thoughts: I liked the movie, I know there are some polarizing opinions. I agree that Asuka and Mari both deserved more development and attention. However Asukas “confession” at the EoE mirrored scene really did not feel romantic to me like it felt very much just accepting that like no I do actually care about you Shinji despite always pushing you away I do want well for you and always have, but I didn’t know how to deal with that truth and my own pain at the same time. Asuka is not tsundere, she does not have romantic feelings for Shinji and never has. I will die on this hill. She may have wanted him to want her to validate herself but, thats a different can of worms.

Mari and Shinji running off together at the end, OBVIOUSLY the implication is they’re together but I feel like they intentionally left it a bit ambiguous for people who didn’t need/want to see Shinji in a romantic relationship. Like they easily could have shown her pregnant or kissing him or something and that would have been very blatant. I think the fact that she is the one who came up to him at the end instead of Asuka Rei or Kaworu is mostly fan service with a dash of letting the other three have room to be their own people separate of Shinji. Rei and Kaworu have never been their own person without their entire worlds revolving around Shinji and I think the visual of the two of them talking together at the end but still on the other side of the train station was a good way of showing like they are still relevant to Shinjis life but they get to explore their own worlds too. Obviously same goes for Asuka because she is the other side of the same coin with Shinji, she deserves to be her own person too. I also like to pretend after running off the train platform together they go to the other side & meet up with the others :)

ANYWAYS MORE ABOUT KAWORU SPECIFICALLY

I think its really interesting that almost every popular fan theory about him got confirmed in this new movie, even ones that had barely any basis in previous movies, and that they also dismissed the main popular homophobic opinion of “he was just using Shinji”. He truly wanted Shinji to be happy, because he wanted that to be enough to make himself happy. & I genuinely think he was aware and fully willing to keep living the loop for Shinji infinitely but Shinji recognizing the loop existing and acknowledging all that Kaworu had done for him already was also extremely releasing. Probably freed him from something he didn’t even know was trapping him at all. Kaji and Kaworus father/son moment was really sweet as well considering Kaworu is his own parents and has never known any kind of family.

I also have read some online takes that Rei and Kaworu are meant to be “together” at the end? but I really dont think standing next to one another constitutes a romantic relationship LOL. They’re definitely still/always siblings in my book. I also would like to think all the pilots kept their memories from the rebuild timeline, Kaworu keeping them from every timeline & Shinji having a blurry understanding of the existence of multiple timelines but not every detail.

I wonder if this implies Kaworu and Rei are fully human, I’m not sure how that works. Maybe he still is Tabris but angels pose no threat without evas anymore so he can just live amongst them like anyone else.

I also wanted to say like PMMM is another one of my dearest animes and something about Shinji pulling the Goddoka card to rewrite the universe without evas (without witches) but Yui facing the burden for him is so sweet. I can’t see it going any better way. Unit 01 obviously was taking as much damage for Shinji all along and her being able to be his final release from that pain is just, I don’t know how it could do any other way. I also don’t think I could handle it if it was exactly the same as PMMM and no one remembered Shinji. Shinji my beautiful baby boy who represents hope for humanity?? Completely forgotten?? thats too much even for me 😩 also this is a side note: I am absolutely in no way a Gendo apologist but I really appreciated him getting his loose ends tied off too, for Shinjis sake mostly. I don’t think Evangelion could have ended without Shinji gaining understanding for his father. Shinji understanding his father is another important aspect of Shinji representing humanity. It probably also allowed him to heal a little from Kaworu being “just like my father” like yeah, we all are, a little bit he’s also just a guy just like you. Gendo is the absolute tail-end of the spectrum of losing your hope and your humanity. The visual of Shinji using the lance of hope and Gendo using despair is obvi a very classic anime trope but I still liked it. Gendo losing Yui and letting it destroy him and Shinji losing Kaworu but using that to move forward and grow and keep Kaworu alive in spirit (also in real life but he didn’t know that at that point obvi). Chefs kiss.

anyways Shinji and Kaworu get a house together and live happily ever after :) idk I haven’t thought much about how they would live on post movie but I feel like the whole group would all be good friends + Toji and fam + Kensuke too of course. I could do a whole nother post about Toji and Kensuke 😫 I have so many feelings for evangelion lmk if u wanna hear LOL

[wiseabsol]

Do you have an ultimate OTP or rankings of OTPs across fandoms? If so, why? I found some of your OTP essays and thought they were quite thoughtful!

I'm glad that you enjoyed those essays, even though they're old as dust now XD

I don't really have any ultimate OTP or rankings of OTPs across fandoms, since my interest in ships tends to be cyclical. When I get in the mood for one, I'll consume fanwork of it for a few weeks, then move on to another and another, until eventually that mood hits me again. Off the top of my head, though, here are a few I revisit on an regular basis:

Shinji Ikari / Rei Ayanami (Neon Genesis Evangelion): I had a weird introduction to Neon Genesis Evangelion in that I started with the manga version by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. I knew nothing about how popular the show was at the time--in fact, because I had such a hard time getting the manga volumes, I assumed it didn't have much a fanbase. It turned out it did, of course, but the manga is considered an inferior, watered down version of the story. I don't agree with that assessment--I think all of the main versions of Eva have something valuable in them, and excluding any of them misses out on something worthwhile--but I do love the manga version the most. Shinji is more thoughtful and proactive in this version of the story, while Rei is much more fleshed out as a character. Their friendship and quasi-romance is touching, especially in how it encourages them both to grow as people. Plus, it leads to a fascinating, if very controversial take, on Kaworu's character.

Harry Potter / Hermione Granger (Harry Potter): I shipped them from the very beginning and still get hit in the feels with the concept of them on occasion. Admittedly, the last time I read the books, I thought that Hermione really should have wound up with Krum, because he at least fully appreciates her, while the boys struggle to do the same. Still, it's hard for me to not want these best friends and amateur detectives to be together, especially when their canon ships were poorly developed (Ron is too mean to Hermione for my comfort, and Ginny, while she had a ton of potential, was very underutilized by She Who Must Not Be Named).

Roy Mustang / Riza Hawkeye (Fullmetal Alchemist): Who read or watched Fullmetal Alchemist and didn't ship them? The mutual loyalty is just so good. Also he learned her father's secret flame alchemy from her naked back. Come on!

Madoka Kaname / Homura Akemi (Puella Magi Madoka Magica): Homura went through an endless maze of timeline resetting for Madoka. If that's not an act of devotion, I don't know what is. Madoka's feelings for Homura are less blatant, but I think she definitely has a crush on her "cool" classmate, and learning how much Homura has given for her probably cemented that. I really hope they get a happy ending in the movies (which we didn't need, but I'll still watch the next one).

Ash Ketchum / Misty Waterflower (Pokemon): Baby's first ship, or at least the first one where I was involved in the fandom. I still enjoy it, though I haven't engaged with content for it for years now. Still, if Ash is going to end up with anyone, I hope it's Misty. (I doubt it will be--this boy is staying 10 forever, folks!)

Ichigo Kurosaki / Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach): Baby's first smutty ship. The Bleach fandom was so horny back in the day. I also liked how the friendship between Ichigo and Rukia encouraged them both to grow, and how their involvement with each other changed their lives for the better. I'm also pretty sure the author shipbaited the fandom HARD with these two: the poems, the art spreads, that one super shippy movie! It being a shounen story, I didn't actually think they would get together...and then, when the ending happened and they married other people, I was flabbergasted. I still don't understand it.

Zuko / Katara (Avatar: The Last Airbender): So this is tricky, because the trauma of colonialism is very tied into this ship, since Zuko is from the people and culture who committed genocide against Katara's. So intellectually, a part of me doesn't like this. Emotionally, on the other hand, I do enjoy it because of the parallels between their stories, and because out of the members of the Gaang, Katara is most able to be herself around Zuko, rather than a nurturer. Mai also felt underdeveloped to me, and I wondered if she'd be happier away from the machinations of court (maybe with June?!).

Mewtwo / Sabrina (Pokemon): Listen, they're a crack ship, but they're my beautiful crackship. They have a weird amount in common, to the point where I wonder if Sabrina's episodes were a test run for Mewtwo's movie. Also, I adore Beauty and the Beast stories, and this ship would fill that trope nicely. I'm also one of maybe five people that have written this ship (if only I'd done it during my heyday! Then I could have converted so many more readers! Alas, I missed my shot).

Others I'm fond of include:

Naruto Uzamaki / Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto)

Korra / Asami (The Legend of Korra)

Artemis Fowl / Holly Short (Artemis Fowl)

Gideon Nav / Harrowhark Nonagesimus (The Locked Tomb)

Emma Swan / Regina Mills (Once Upon a Time)

Arthur/Morgana (Merlin)

Utena Tenjou / Anthy Himemiya (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Ahiru/Fakir and Rue/Mytho (Princess Tutu): Has the distinction of being written so well that I abandoned by original ship for the show (Ahiru/Mytho), which is something I never do.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fourth Evangelion thing Part 3

Latest Evangelion movie spoilers

Mari: hey shinji GUESS WHO~

Shinji: i have no idea

Mari: I sexually harassed you that one time on the roof years ago.

Shinji: oh yeah i remember that I guess.

Asuka: Shinji, I admit I had a crush on you when we were kids and you made me that sweet bento, but the thing is I’ve grown up and you haven’t, so I’ve moved on. You need to move on too, *turns to the camera* YES I AM TALKING TO ALL YOU GROSS OTAKU THERE. Your creepy eternally fourteen year old ideal wifey doesn’t exist and your fixation is unhealthy! Real women grow up and move on while you stay stunted and fixated on this image! And yes, me delivering this message does seem somewhat hypocritical when this movie is constantly pandering to you guys by fixating on the ass and tits of me and every other teenage looking female character at every opportunity, but ignore that! And yes, we WILL continue to produce merch sexualizing me and the other teen girls of this franchise, but also ignore that, the MORAL is-

Shinji: okay Asuka I get it you can go I want to hallucinate my dead boyfriend.

Asuka: wow you’re not being a very good straight male otaku stand-in right now

Shinji: Yeah I’m really not since I am literally a teenager, why tell me to grow up??? also I haven’t shown any attraction to you in this movie, I’ve just been puking and catatonic I didn’t even react to you being naked-

Asuka: OKAY FINE TALK TO YOUR DEAD BOYFRIEND BYE

Kaworu: Hi Shinji. It’ll be okay, boo. We’ll meet again someday.

Shinji: you always say that but like what do you mean, in another timeline, in heaven where all the buried gays go, in like five minutes? you’re so vague Kaworu!

Kaworu: That’s my thing. :) Love you.

MEANWHILE 

Lip girl: I don’t like Shinji being here. The apocalypse thing he caused killed my entire family

Sakura I think?: That was an accident

Lip girl: AN ACCIDENT. THAT KILLED. MY ENTIRE FAMILY.

Sakura: also the whole thing was a metaphor

Lip girl: A METAPHOR. THAT KILLED. MY ENTIRE FAMILY???

Sakura: shhh

Misato wistfully: You know it probably was pretty hypocritical for me to be mad at Shinji for nearly destroying the world when I was yelling “YEAH GO DO IT GO DESTROY THE WORLD!” the entire time. I realize that now that I have this nice picture of him and my son. 

Ritsuko: Yeah. so this ship-

Misato: let’s use it to save people

Ritsuko: THAT’S VERY MOTHERLY

Misato: ...uh...not specifically no...

Ritsuko: SORRY WE HAVE A THEME GOTTA HAMMER IT IN.

Asuka: GONNA DESTROY THAT ROBOT I HAVE AN ANGEL INSIDE ME OR SOMETHING I GUESS?..oh wait hey it’s me. I wonder what I’ll say to myself

other Asuka: I D I O T

Asuka: coulda seen that coming

other Asuka: CUTE idiot

Asuka: Aw! *disintegrates*

Mari: Yikes! Asuka’s soul is..absorbed uhhh something something! It was all part of Gendo’s plan I guess!

Gendo: haha yes it was! I’m here btw. Anyway my evil plan-

Ritsuko: *IMMEDIATELY SHOOTS HIM IN THE HEAD* YES! Guess what in this version I don’t inexplicably want to fuck you so I can JUST FUCK YOU UP! Eat SHIT Gendo!

Misato: Definitely one of the best changes in this reboot imo.

Ritsuko: *watches as Gendo scoops his own brains back into his head* yeah seriously I can’t believe any version of me was attracted to this.

Gendo: Look I’m just an immortal monster who just wants to make humanity a collective soul soup so I can reunite with my dead wife

Misato: EVEN IF IT MEANS SACRIFICING ASUKA?

Gendo: ...which one is Asuka?

Misato: yeah I’m not sure why I thought that would work.

Shinji: DAD

Gendo: *ignores him and leaves*

Shinji: That was very expected. Well I guess I’m getting in the robot to stop him.

Lip Girl: NO YOU CANNOT YOU KILLED MY FAMILY WITH THAT ROBOT! I WILL SHOOT!

Sakura: NO DON’T SHOOT HIM I WANT TO SHOOT HIM! BUT NON-FATALLY! BECAUSE WHILE RECOGNIZING THE HARM YOU’VE DONE, I ALSO CARE FOR YOUR WELL BEING AND DON’T WANT YOU TO GO INTO THAT HARMFUL-TO-CHILDREN ROBOT! I KNOW BEING SHOT WILL ALSO BE TRAUMATIZING BUT LESS TRAMATIZING THAN THE GODDAMN ROBOT WHY DO WE HAVE TO PUT CHILDREN IN ROBOTS-

Me: you know girls I would be much more invested in this dramatic scene if the camera wasn’t distractingly focusing on your asses

Movie: SHUT UP THIS IS HIGH ART

Me; annnnd with that I will take another break! And finish this up next time.

[mingmingfufu]

Can we just talk about the ending of KawoShin open discuss. *sort of spoilerish*

I feel like I’m the only one who’s like reallly disappointed LMFAO--ya’ll there’s so much “canon” alternative universe and merchandise for Kawoshin in Evangelion that it kind of makes me upset to realise this couple just went down the drain. Yeah, I can see how people were like, “Kaworu’s toxic” or “Kaworu has a hero complex for Shinji” to which I say are valid points. But the toxic thing I feel like can also be applied to pretty much everyone around Shinji tbh, except for Rei. I did NOT, like Asuka at all but I really love her character though, and I felt for her a lot throughout the series.

I did not ship them either because honestly, Shinji and Asuka seemed better off playing the sibling dynamic instead of trying to play bf/gf which honestly is kind of forced by their living situation. Also since they’re in a similar disposition non existent father and dead mother, you’d imagine they would rely on each other for emotional comfort. Though Asuka—her personality I feel like she can’t differentiate between familial love and romantic love and the affection she wants is a bit of both. But, her character tries to be “mature”; she wants romantic love more and does this through sexual means and romantic gestures e.g. like kissing. One of my friends told me that you can’t stay friends as a boy and a girl cause eventually you catch feelings. Which I say is kinda dumb cause I have a lot of male friends, and I definitely don’t harbour those feelings, but I guess it’s a common phenomena.

I think this is what happens in this case, of Asuka and Shinji. Even after rejection of instrumentality they actually are depicted as childhood friends. But knowing how they both were before to each other, it was not good tbh. Also to mention the choking like thrice— bro if anything, this showcases a really abusive relationship and I think this outstretches the idea of their character tropes. Which I firmly stand by saying they’re superficial to each other. AsuShin were never really there for each other and are using each other in a forced situation. However, you can’t deny that they didn’t at some point catch feels, also Shinji is pretty consistent how he still cares about everyone around him. Which I really like how they add that to his character because it reminiscent of Yui, because you see a duality of both his parents personality in Shinji throughout the series—it’s a really nice touch. But bruh, if we gonna talk about that coma scene—I’m out LOL.

Thoughhhh, she is a true definition of best girl I really like her arc, fighting drive, and her skills as an Eva pilot 😭💗--but bruh she’s still a toxic and sometimes annoying tsundere trope, but still she’s 14 what can you do. So I feel like Kensuke and Asuka are actually a pretty good combo, cause he’s always been pretty mature even without parents. Also Asuka was into older guys, so I guess this is a win win?? Also Rei and Shinji, I honestly cannot get my head around it cause that’s pretty much his mom—so in a way that’s like either his half-sister or mom-ish clone?? Idk but Yui is definitely the donor LOL.

Kaworu and Shinji I felt like brought a bunch of things out of each other. I don’t know which timeline begins first, but I’d like to think the manga, the anime (plus its movies), and then to the rebuild series. Because I think that order is kind of pivotal to observing Kaworu’s character development from being a person who’s trying to understand human feelings to then the kinder person we see in the final series. You can tell how he’s changed and he knows Shinji a lot more as well as being considerate to him e.g. giving him personal space or letting him work at his own pace. Also that “we’ll meet again.” Is an obvious nod to how he’s done this before.

His literal story in every timeline is always romantic LOL, like bruh I can’t remember which game it was but basically a bad ending of Kawoshin route is that you reject Kaworu and he starts the third impact 🤡. Also I don’t know why but I started to see a weird dynamic between those two, in the manga their interactions reminded me of Asuka and Shinji—which Shinji is the tsundere Asuka here. I don’t know if this is relevant but the older character relative to the character they’re with seems to play off a mature vs a childish person trope. Asuka is younger than Shinji and Shinji is actually younger than Kaworu. Then again I could be overseeing this but istg manga Kaworu and Shinji mirror the whole Asushin dynamic. Like he’s seriously agressive against Kaworu, then after killing him he admits liking him. 🤡 I don’t know which is funnier no homo Shinji, homophobe shinji, or just closet Shinji who needs to realise sexuality is a spectrum so he could’ve idk—come out as bisexual, but whatever manga Shinji lol that timeline is over.

Anyways the development of these two is real and I think the rebuild timeline shows them at their best bringing their own personage out from each other like how they both enjoy music together--WHICH I’M SO SAD WE NEVER GET TO SEE THAT CELLO AGAIN. Then there’s those feelings of humanity, love, kindness, etc. Which yeah an angel could represent those things, but Kaworu is still his own person, self-aware of a cycle and if you think about how he initially was there to USE Shinji, but ultimately turned on that plan set by SEELE because he loved Shinji (and a bunch of other things like him showing Kaworu humanity). I also can see the argument, how “ideal” Kaworu is to Shinji, but he’s more self aware of the time he has before he KNOWS he’ll die and knows how to act for himself in that duration to make the most of it. All with Shinji. At some point, I think he fell in love with Shinji tho I don’t know where it began tbh—considering that all those alternate universes do exist. Kaworu does romantically love Shinji--so, in some universe they both reciprocate their feelings to each other. 

In the last movie during that convo with Shinji. Like bREH it’s so emotionally moving because Kaworu remembers ALLLLL the timelines and how he’s been with Shinji and later Shinji himself recalls the events too. Where they show the scene from the manga and anime. Kaworu cries after being set free from the EVA cycle. Which, I definitely understood what he meant by him saying “it’ll be lonely” and how Shinji changed or that he’s actually different this time.

Either way, Shinji did right by him because it’s always Kaworu who has the purpose of “trying to save Shinji” but it always ends up the same. I thought that was really moving because Shinji tells Kaworu he’s gonna let him live a life for himself for once and he wants the same for everyone as well. Which was honestly so meaningful cause I think Kaworu’s character and like Rei too when they start to realise how to “live” like a person and not another puppet it’s truly liberating. Another thing I forgot, bruh Kaworu calls Gendo his father and ngl I feel like this is kind of a weird lore situation because I for sure don’t think he’s the donor. I think he calls him that as an insult because he knows Gendo’s whole doing and relative to Shinji—I kind of see it as a joke LOL. Like it’s equivalent to saying, “daddy chill”, or “hey look it’s daddy and his plans to end the world” also I kind of like to think of it as a father in law thing cause you know, Kawoshin *winks amirite*

The ending, I’m honestly hoping is just an open ending because it gives everything an actual start of their adult lives not being dictated by extraterrestrial forces. Though, I’m kind of wondering if the world doesn’t have EVAs does that still mean everyone else still has the same backstory, and do they remember? Maybe Mari really is just a coworker lmfao, and there’s still a chance for Kaworu and Shinji cause ngl, they did have a convo (presumably from the spoilers) about still remaining close afterwards and that stare at the ending seems very hopeful.

I call bs from Anno saying, “oh Shinji is based off him and Mari off of his wife”, like honestly any OCs made theres always some part of yourself made into that character. Which is probably why a lot of people relate to the characters in EVA because they’re based off real things (e.g. those war machines characters are named after and people around them). I think why Kaworu and Rei are together at the end, is bc they’re very much the same. They’re mass produced dolls—which oddly enough that’s the case for all the children except they don’t recall the loop. Kind of funny also how both Kaworu and Rei became farmers lmfao so ig it runs in the family (yes that’s right I like the idea that they’re siblings it was always noted that they’re like “the same”).

Another thing, i think why the rebuild really did well for Kawoshin and in my opinion canonised it—the convo with elder Ryoji Kaji (Misato’s baby daddy) that there was a time he felt incredibly lonely and depressed thinking Misato didn’t love him and so he started looking out for himself. So self love and found himself a hobby in farming which he suggests to Kaworu—basically saying he might feel like Shinji doesn’t love him but he’s gotta remember to take care of himself. if I go thru a breakup ill feel like it’s the end of the world but Kaji says y’a gotta self love broe and take care yo self gad dam fam 😭 💗.

Though, that look at the end from Shinji to Kaworu—I’d like to believe there is still hope that one day when they’re a bit stable in their adult lives, they’ll run into each other.

[literaryeagle]

For my sixty-seventh Evangelion book review, here is Shin Seiki Evangelion Koushiki Guide Book (Neon Genesis Evangelion Official Guide Book), published by Kadokawa Shoten. This 171-page paperback is a guide to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's Evangelion manga, however it was released before the manga was finished, so it only covers the first 12 volumes (the whole manga was 14 volumes).

This book is not available in English or French - although the chapter titles are in English - but it has plenty of pictures. The illustrations are in full color for the first twelve pages, and then the rest of the book is in black-and-white. (The book's dust jacket is also removable, however there is no alternate cover art hidden underneath.) The full color pages are devoted to the cover art for the first 12 volumes of the manga. For example, here is the cover for Volume 6, which features Toji, Hikari, and Evangelion Unit-03:

It's interesting how some of the characters' hair color in the manga is different from how they look in the anime. And as many of you probably already know, Shinji's eyes are a different color as well.

By the way, this is going to be another multiship-friendly review, so expect a mix of ReiShin, KawoShin, and AsuShin. Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

After the Cover Illustration Gallery, there is a title page and a Table of Contents page, and then the first chapter of the book which is called "the Character". This section contains pics and information about various characters, including dates of birth and blood types, and discussions about the characters' personalities. Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Kaworu, and Misato each get 4 pages devoted to them, while the other characters only get one or two pages. The other characters in this chapter are Toji, Kensuke, Hikari, Gendo, Ritsuko, Kaji, Fuyutsuki, Maya and Makoto and Shigeru (these three characters are squeezed together into two pages), Yui, Naoko, and Keel. This part of the book also contains three brief columns about other topics: Evangelions and Angels, Nerv, and Seele.

By the way, even though this chapter has lots of pictures, they're all from the manga, so you won't see anything new here if you've already read the manga. Also, many of the pages have multiple images all crammed together, so the pics end up being very tiny. Most of the book is like this, unfortunately.

The second chapter of this book is called "the Episode", and it contains illustrated timelines for events in the manga (again, only for the first 12 volumes), plus information on battles, characters' relationships, and some background stuff about Nerv and Seele. The section on relationships isn't just about romance; it also covers family (for example, Asuka and her mother) and friendships (such as Shinji and his classmates). Anyway, I said this would be a multiship-friendly review, so I'll get to that now. Let's start with Rei and Shinji. This chapter devotes three pages to Rei's relationship with Shinji (two of those pages are for Rei II, while the third page is about the introduction of Rei III). Here is a piece from one of those pages:

Awww, Rei and Shinji holding hands! So sweet! (By the way, the above scan is larger than actual size, so you can see it better. As I mentioned before, a lot of the pictures in this book are really small.)

Moving on, this chapter has two pages about Kaworu's relationship with Shinji. Here's a piece from one of those pages (yes, the kiss is here):

Such an iconic moment. ^_^

As for Asuka and Shinji, um... This chapter only devotes half a page to their relationship. Yeah, not even one full page (the other half of the page is for Asuka and Kaji). What the heck? None of the illustrations for the Asuka and Shinji portion are romantic, either: There's a picture of Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke freaking out; a pic of Asuka kicking somebody; and a picture of Misato standing next to Asuka. That's it. Fortunately, there are some images later in the book that I think AsuShin fans will like, so don't worry, I'll get to those next!

The third chapter of the book is "All of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto". It starts with a Q&A section, and then there's a gallery of the title page illustrations from various chapters of the manga. Like many other parts of the book, this gallery crams multiple images onto each page, so most of the pics are tiny. But at any rate, here are some cute ones that AsuShin fans can enjoy:

Adorable pics, aren't they? The one of Shinji and Asuka dancing together is so precious!

The next part of this chapter has some pictures and info about other manga that Sadamoto has worked on, plus his art books, and other things for which he has done illustrations or character designs such as album covers, video games, and anime. There is also a timeline of his career, and some extra comments from him.

Okay, next we have the fourth chapter of the book, which is called "Message from EVA Friends". It starts with a conversation between Hiroya Oku (creator of the manga Gantz) and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. After that, there are short messages from some of the Evangelion anime staff: Hideaki Anno (creator), Ikuto Yamashita (mecha designer), Yoshito Asari (assistant character designer), Yuko Miyamura (voice of Asuka), and Megumi Hayashibara (voice of Rei).

The next part of the chapter has illustrated messages from various writers/artists. Finally, some pictures that aren't already in the graphic novels! Check out this message from Kazuya Tsurumaki (assistant director for the Evangelion TV series, director for the first half of The End of Evangelion, and one of the directors for the New Theatrical Edition - AKA "Rebuild" - movies):

What a cute drawing of Asuka!

All right, I'll show one more illustrated message from this section. This is from Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou (the writer and the artist for the manga Deadman Wonderland):

Wow, Rei and Evangelion Unit-01 look pretty cool in that art style!

The book's fifth chapter is "Comic EVA History", and it shows Evangelion-related covers for various issues of Monthly Shounen Ace magazine and Young Ace magazine (the chapters of Sadamoto's Evangelion manga were originally published in Monthly Shounen Ace, and then starting in the summer of 2009 the remaining chapters were published in Young Ace). This part of the book also has pictures of some Evangelion-related bonus goodies that could be obtained with those magazines, such as posters, cards, and stickers.

And finally, the sixth chapter of the book is called "Extra Part", which includes notes for some of the terminology used in the manga, such as "LCL" and "entry plug". Then the book ends with a short psychology test to see which of the Children you are most in sync with.

Overall, I don't really recommend Shin Seiki Evangelion Koushiki Guide Book. It's supposed to be a guide to Sadamoto's Evangelion manga, but it was released before the last two volumes of the manga came out, so the information is not complete. Also, most of the illustrations are smaller versions of images that you can already see by simply reading the manga, so it isn't even all that great as an art book. It just feels like a cash grab. There are much better Evangelion books out there, so I would say don't bother with this one unless you're a serious collector who wants to obtain as many Evangelion-related publications as possible. Anyway, that's just my opinion. Your mileage may vary.

Well, that’s it for my sixty-seventh Evangelion book review. I have plenty more Evangelion books to discuss, so keep checking my blog for new reviews!

[angelic-courting-rituals]

interstitial (part the fifth)

Story subtitle: “Don’t they know it’s the end of the world (if you don’t love me anymore)”. Continued from part the fourth. An AU where this time, it’s Shinji’s turn to wait. (part the first here)

Shinji could tell that Misato feared he was slipping back into old habits when she found him in the same place he’d been ten minutes ago, still running his hands over his drying laundry. Her expression was the same one she’d worn as she watched him obsess over recreating his first duet with Kaworu one key at a time. Shinji had to admit there was logic to her concern; the two behaviors did share a rather prominent cause, but how to explain that they were merely two lookalike symptoms of their own discrete ailments? During those silent hours at the keyboard, his body had been living in the past, trying to pull his mind away from the present via muscle memory. His current tactile fixations, on the other hand, were a product of his body moving on without giving his mind a chance to catch up. He hadn’t the energy to even begin to explain this, so instead he just calmly met Misato’s gaze and said, “Did we get a new laundry detergent or something?”

Misato blinked as if to recalibrate after his unexpected question. “What? Um… no, we haven’t.” Shinji, of course, already knew the answer, because he was the one who took care of buying supplies like the laundry detergent in the first place.

“I was just wondering,” he said, running his fingers along the seam of a uniform shirt. “Something feels different and I can’t figure out what.”

“Oh.” Misato’s own fingers scraped down the edge of the door jamb in subconscious imitation. Shinji couldn’t help but notice, and he felt guilty for monopolizing her concentration like this.

“Well…” she said, “let me know if you figure it out.”

“Will do.”

Shinji had heard that grief had the power to transmute, wine turned back to water, the Dead Sea apple turned to ash on the tongue. The other morning he’d chewed on his usual breakfast cereal at a practically cow-like rate, trying to determine what had changed about the taste. It wasn’t as dramatic as an apple turning to ash, but he thought the principle was probably the same, and the idea had actually made him start laughing right there at the breakfast table. After some more thought, though, it occurred to Shinji that he had come into contact with ashes, the letters he’d cremated and with whose remains he’d dirtied his fingers as he’d wiped them from the sink. What smoke those letters produced had been subtle, but it seemed to have clung nonetheless to everything Shinji owned: his clothes, his hair, his very insides. Now food tasted different, sounds vacillated between being muted and being abrasive, and there was a faint chlorine smell that wafted in and out of his consciousness.

When it first occurred to Shinji that this might indeed be his body grieving, then he had to confront the idea that Kaworu had, in some sense, died to him in this timeline, and he wasn’t sure what to make of that. As far as he knew, he hadn’t decided that Kaworu was dead to him (though he was aware that people hid things from themselves all the time). He still found himself writing little notes to Kaworu in the margins of his notebook during class, and he’d be several lines deep before he remembered that he wasn’t supposed to be doing that anymore.

What could I have done to stop you from catching their eye? one of these notes read. He hadn’t had a specific “they” in mind at the time he wrote it. “They” only stood for any of the myriad forces who had pried Kaworu’s fingers from his over the years. Then, below this line, another: What could I have done to stop you from catching mine? The answer, obviously, was nothing, short of being unable to see Kaworu at all. “If thine eye offend thee,” and all that. Yet Shinji knew that even if he had been blind, he still would have fallen for Kaworu by the sound of his voice alone; he could have identified it merely by looking at the waveforms of sound it created, he was sure of it. His hands could have recognized even the pattern of Kaworu’s fingerprints after lifetimes of familiarization. Even now, if he closed his eyes, he could almost summon the shapes of their arches, which made him think of the arches of Kaworu’s brows, which made him think of the crescents Kaworu’s eyes made when he smiled.

“Say you were made for me too,” Kaworu had entreated once upon a time, and his eyes had crescented when he said it, because he already knew what Shinji’s response was going to be.

Kaworu, Shinji thought now, I think I was born to meet you, not the other way around, because without you to love, I don’t even know what to do with myself.

Between faith, hope, and love, supposedly the greatest was love, but what was he to do now that love was taken from him?

He imagined Kaworu waking up one morning, humanity all used up after running on empty for so long, and finding that he couldn’t love anymore; his heart had just given out and relapsed back into its original core. Then maybe he’d finally decided to fulfill his purpose and go back to Adam, up in heaven where he belonged. But, Shinji believed, because he had to, that kind of love that existed between them couldn’t just go away; it had to go somewhere. Perhaps love hadn’t been taken from him after all; it was just Shinji’s turn to carry it for the both of them this time. Maybe this whole ordeal was some kind of odd gift that he as a Lilin wasn’t enlightened enough to understand. These kinds of machinations were, after all, supposed to work in mysterious ways.

After love, what was the next best thing? Faith, Shinji guessed. Maybe he ought to start devoting his time to that. In all their past lives, Kaworu had been there to give Shinji his hand and guide him through the wasteland. Now, it was looking more and more like Shinji’s trial this time was to wander through purgatory alone with nothing but his faith to sustain his love, and this constant ache was only the slow burn of his sins being purified. What was my sin, anyway? he asked Kaworu’s spirit, wherever it was. Not trying hard enough for you? Not being grateful enough for our time together?

It doesn’t matter, he found himself writing in the corner of his notebook. I’m coming to you. Let’s meet again in the next life.

[hazel2468]

Evangelion Rewatch: Damnit

I just rewatched Evangelion 3.33 (Rebuild movie) and like... I’m having feelings about it? And Cyn isn’t awake so y’all fuckers are going to have to deal with me being angry right now. 

I recently ALSO rewatched a bunch of the original Eva and the End of Evangelion. Which is, of course, fucking great (Ano is like, a level of petty that I fucking aspire to on top of being a wonderful artist... How many of y’all can say you made an entire film to dunk on entitled shitty fanboys?). But watching 3.33 in anticipation of the next movie (3.0+1.0 or something?) just... kind of pissed me off. Like, the storytelling is all over the fucking place, and I found myself sitting there going “Holy fucking shit, if one of you fuckers would just EXPLAIN shit to Shinji, maybe he wouldn’t make reckless and stupid choices based on the fact that y’all are being dickwads to him for, as far as he fucking knows, no damn reason at all.”

Which brings me to my other issue with this- the way that Shinji is punished. Like, I get that he almost fucking destroyed the whole world in 2.22, and maybe it’s just been a while since I saw that movie, but as far as I recall he not only didn’t do it on purpose, he was trying to save his friend’s life and, as far as he knew, everyone else too. Like, Shinji didn’t say “fuck all of you I’m destroying the world”, Shinji said “Holy shit my friend and fellow pilot is in danger” and the Eva just tried to grant his fucking wish. 

And they get him back after 14 years and just... Treat him like a criminal? Put a death collar on him? Literally everyone treats him like shit, punishing him for a “crime” that not only does he not remember committing, that he had no fucking control over in the first place? I get being cautious about another impact but MAN- textbook way to make a character do reckless, stupid shit that fucks you all over is to treat them like shit with no explanation and blame everything on them, all while explaining nothing. People are just pissed at Shinji for making stupid choices through the whole movie- but frankly? Based on the knowledge that he has? His choices really aren’t stupid. I mean fuck, if you were told that you destroyed the world, then offered a chance to fix it, and then the people who had been treating you like shit, threatening to kill you, and holding you against your will told you “no, that’s bad!” would YOU listen to them? 

Had anyone other than Kaworu actually been fucking open and honest with Shinji in this movie, shit probably wouldn’t have happened the way it did. Had Misato and her fucking goons not decided “Okay, let’s wake this literal child up from a 14 year coma, slap a bomb on his neck, and then all make it SUPER clear that we suddenly hate him overnight as far as he is aware and also tell him that he killed everyone so he deserves this” and instead were like “maybe we should, idk, try to explain shit to the kid who has been in a coma for 14 years and was a pawn?”, then nearly-fourth-impact probably wouldn’t have happened. 

Literally the only thing that didn’t piss me off on this rewatch was Kaworu. The relationship between Kaworu and Shinji was on the top of my list of Best Things in the original series, and was also done very well in 3.33. If anything, Kaworu intrigued me more than anything else, because we’re getting all of these hints that not only has this happened before, but Kaworu is AWARE of what happened in the original series and is actively trying to get both him and Shinji some kind of a happy end to this story. He is a delightful enigma of a character and I am hoping (though I know this is unlikely) that we get some sort of confirmation of his weird awareness of other timelines, or even just a scrap of info about him in the next film. 

I also very much think that this is a sequel to the original series and End of Eva, and I have a feeling that the next movie will solidify that a bit more. Because otherwise? All of this makes even LESS sense, and the character breakdown that we see is even MORE infuriating. 

[sinnyclair]

Maeko and Gendo’s Relationship

I’ve gotten a few anons asking about this and they’ve made me give this a lot of thought. If Maeko and Shinji have formed a bond, if not a friendship by now, then the  topic of Gendo Ikari has come up at least once. This isn’t a well-organized essay, this is just me rambling about my OC’s thoughts regarding him and how that affects her relationship with Shinji and other characters. Let me just start by saying that Maeko and I hate Gendo to the atoms that make us who we are. I didn’t write her to hate him because I, as her creator hate Gendo myself. I wrote Maeko like that for a reason.

@adamworu ​ and I have bonded over a love of Kaworu, and what we’ve discussed recently (in a shitpost sense, to clarify) that Kaworu has a potential animosity toward Gendo. We clearly see that he didn’t want to be the final messenger, nor did it seem like He wanted to be an angel that much. I think tjis is also highlighted in 3.0 where he’s in Terminal Dogma with Shinji and quote,

“I should’ve expected no less from the King of the Lilin, your father!”

The context behind this scene was Gendo manipulating Shinji and Kaworu to retrieve the two spears Longinus from Lilith. Kaworu, from what he knew, expected the Spear of Longinus and a Spear of Cassius inside of Lilith. This is not the only time Gendo has manipulated Kaworu, Shinji or pretty much EVERYONE inside the NGE Universe.

What does this have to do with Maeko? That’s pretty obvious

Because Kaworu has genuinely hoped for things to be better in each timeline, Maeko knows this, even before being sent to Earth with him. That means she has repetitively watched him die in all his failures. The hatred doesn’t stop there. Upon hearing Shinji talk about his father, especially mentioning the way he’s treated by him, Maeko sees this as a reason to hate Gendo MORE. Out of this 6-foot tall bearded sack of shit, she sees him do nothing but manipulate and show an overall contempt for others’ feelings. And as true as it is, he does nothing but remind Maeko that she is a tool of destruction. She knows that. Pile that onto killing Kaworu and neglecting Shinji for almost his entire life, I feel that she has every possible reason to hate Gendo. Yes, she may have seen another side of him during the Third Impact, but that does not, nor will it take away from the damage he’s done.