#c!asuka mention

[re-ikrmso]

i think. the events of rpd!universe has no real message all at the end

theres not a grand motive

it’s just people hurting each other and trying to help each other and ignoring the hurt until everyone is just gone (with the exception being like two in-universe characters who never got close enough to the problem)

its just people living life until something goes horribly wrong again, and again and again to the point where it feels like death is the only option 

the only people who got an happy ending out of this in the main cast that we can see is again, the two in-universe characters that never got sucked into the problem or had to face them directly: they were two (by story standards) normal people that got swept up in something they had barely any control over. they were the collateral damage. they were the victims that could not fight back effectively. they just lived life. they were happy. 

c!ikari kept getting swept back up into scenarios due to previous intervention or due to something they care about getting threathened after what accounts to be thier first death. they love the thrill but it kills them and drags them kicking and screaming after they run from it

c!asuka is the main source of the problem, but cannot truly control it. it’s as out of her reach as anyone else. but it’s still her. isn’t it? 

c!eleven devoted entirely to himself and c!asuka, he does anything he wants. he dies a couple times. hes selfish, but hes so alone. and he doesn’t care what it takes to make everything “okay”. 

c!JD is techinally part of the cast but appeared very briefly and we don’t even see much of her, but she is still part of some major events. If she ended up alive, then it was because she managed to distance herself from the devastation.

Now the two people who actually got a happy ending is c!cart and c!jade, who again was. two relatively normal people. half the time they’re unaware of whatever the fuck’s going on with everyone else. by the end, they probably got more than they bargained for and are left alive.

at least somebody got a happy ending out of it . (c!ikari does get a relatively okay aftermath but it’s not included in the main events of RPD!universe...and will mainly be told here. teehee.) 

[rainnoblade]

MY FIRST MOVEMENT IS TO REVOKE THE CITIZENSHIP OF SAURISSA SOOT AND TOMMYINNIT!!

og meme under the cut

[spigosaur]

VERY new to the Hatchetfield-verse. NPMD was the first ever Starkid musical I’ve seen so I’m trying to learn about the rest of the series

Uhhh lemme see- Headcanons…

Richie having an Asuna body pillow makes me think he’d quote the SAO abridged series. “Take the worst thing you can think of and multiply that by cancer” is something Peter and Ruth hear a lot

Ruth is actually well liked in the theatre program. The actors appreciate all she does and invite her to cast parties. Only reason she’s never gone is cause she thinks it’s some kind of prank (projecting as a former theatre kid—)

Stephanie would be into fanfiction culture. She just has the vibes/pos

Grace described Judas’ betrayal to Ruth and Stephanie once and they described it as “Toxic Yaoi”. She doesn’t tell them Bible lore anymore—

Heyoh!

I'm also kinda new to the fandom. I've watched tgwdlm and Black Friday a few years ago, but I didn't find out about nmt and never interacted with the fandom before npmd. But either way, welcome to hatchetfield and thanks for sending your headcanons!

I don't know if that's what you're referring to but in the show Richie only mentions his body pillows of Rei and Asuka (from Neon Genesis Evangelion) but I don't think that invalidates your hc at all! That obnoxious little disaster of a boy is constantly making references to the weebiest shit and when people don't understand him he calls them uncultured. (Ruth and Pete understand so many anime references because of him without ever having seen any of the media they're from)

Your Ruth hc makes me sad because it makes me think that she's been pranked in that way before and now she doesn't trust anyone who "pretends" to like her anymore :c

Steph I 100% agree with. She has that certain something, the alt style, she's totally a fandom girl. Although most people, even among her friends, don't know that about her. She probably has a tumblr nobody knows about where she yells about her obsessions but irl she never shows that side of herself until she starts hanging out with the nerdy prudes. Seeing them shamelessly gushing over their interests encourages her to let out her inner nerd too. When she eventually starts sharing her fanfics with the others, they're very supportive.

I don't think Grace would know what "toxic yaoi" means so now I'm imagining her being quite happy that her friends reacted so positively to a bible story just for her to look up what that means and. Yes I see why she wouldn't talk to them about bible lore anymore...

[the-halls-of-hatchetfield-high]

what kind of music do you all listen to?

Steph: Hey! Cool question :) I really like bands led by like, badass powerful women like Fleetwood Max and omg HAIM? are you JOKING me with those percussive elements? They scratch an itch in my brain, they're awesome. Special mention to Beyoncé, that woman's vocals are like actual honey...

Ruth: OOOOH! Well, I LOVE showtunes and musical theatre! Barbra Streisand is like, the love of my life....but then there's dodie and oh! and Chappell Roan! *pants lightly* Oof, I need a minute-

Grace: Well every night before we have dinner Mommy, Daddy, and I listen to Elvis' gospel albums. They're so heavenly! I feel like I'm sitting in church talking to God, y'know? But I also really like The Arcadian Wild ♡

Max: Huh. Well, it depends if you mean like my pump music or the stuff I listen to normally, my pump playlist has lots of like Michael Jackson and KISS, dudes get me movin' and ready to pummel those Clivesdale losers before games. But also like, blink-182, Green Day, and Ben Folds Five - their song 'Army' just...idk man, it hits...

Pete: Oh! Just uh, normal music? I like the songs from the 60s and 70s that tell stories, like Billy Joel and the Beatles and, just those classic Crooners like Dean Martin. They're so soothing to listen to. Ted always says I have the music taste of a dad...

Richie: A N I M E 👏🏻 M U S I C 👏🏻 ALL DAY EVERY DAY!

s-sometimes i listen to anime soundtracks when i'm doing chores and pretend i'm an anime hero and rei and asuka love me and- *closes his eyes and sighs happily*

// the biggest of thank you's to hatchetfield high's music guru @twicebittentwicebaked for helping brainstorm! we loveeeee youuu 🫶🏻 //

[kaiowut99]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX Episodes 113 & 114 Subbed (Finalized)

(Previously: Episodes 111-112 Subbed [Finalized])

(Check out my Subbed!GX Stream Masterpost!)

TURN-113: Judai VS the Traitorous Elemental Heroes

Because of the large amount of wounded due to the Dis-Duels, and their being convinced that Professor Cobra has something to do with it, Judai and the others head towards the SAL research lab where Cobra is hiding out. Finding an elevator that leads underground, they advance on to the lower levels of the SAL lab, deciding to split into two groups there to find Cobra. Along the way, Judai comes across Professor Satou, who tells him, "Unless you defeat me, this door to where Cobra is will not open." Judai then duels with Satou. The Scab Scarknight that Satou summons is a Monster that brings Monsters that attack him to his side--so, with his Burstlady attacking him, Judai...

TURN-114: A Desperate Situation! The Battered Hero

With Burstlady and Air Hummingbird now on his side through his Scab Scarknight's effect, Satou wages attacks against Judai. For his part, Judai Fusion-Summons Sailorman and wages a direct attack against Satou. Cobra, watching the battle through his monitor, informs Judai of the trap he set for this duel--that trap being taking Asuka hostage and increasing the water level in the room she is locked in with every attack Satou takes. With Judai unable to attack, Satou wages merciless attacks against him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Semi-slight delay on these aside--hoped to get these wrapped up last week prior to my birthday on Wednesday lol--episodes 113 and 114 are now finalized!

Come for the crocodiles taking on wild tigers, stay for the introspection Satou spurs within Judai as their duel goes on as he confronts him for the lethargic attitude he's spread among the students due to being unaware of the great power he has as the Academia's hero, and enlightens him about the responsibility he bears and the lack of darkness in his heart. This duel and the "darkness of the heart" bit/"what do I duel for?" question are the start of the thread that runs through the rest of Season 3, and it's always fun to revisit these in hindsight, knowing what comes later (and why it causes pain seeing how the dub handled this). We also have everyone splitting up to find Cobra while Amon sneaks around to get close to Cobra and a certain card.

And almost as if foreshadowing the change in tone and Judai's character arc this season, we have an updated Teardrop opening! This V2 changes the shots of Judai looking more somber--in his shots with Johan, the Academia, and his friends at the end--to having him looking more confident but also determined. It's more subtle compared to the updates V3 will give us later, but interesting.

Also, fun to note that Satou's VA, Mitsuru Miyamoto, gets brought back in ZEXAL to play the real Don Thousand; that was neat to learn as I finished ZEXAL for the first time recently, lol. And speaking of VAs, wanted to make a quick shoutout to Taiki (Tatsuya) Matsuno, Manjoume's VA, who passed away too early a few weeks ago at 56; as I mentioned here, Manjoume wouldn't be one of my fave YGO characters without the life he brought to the role, and I hope he's making 'em feel the thunder up there somewhere.

(Quick Translation Note: Early in the episode, as Amon talks with his commandant in the submarine [Echo], she sends him a bio on O'Brien which highlights his involvement with Cobra; though it's a quick shot, lasting 64 frames/2-3 seconds, I went and translated the bio for the hardsub, as highlighted here. Shoutout to Zichs over on NAC, who provided me with a clearer shot of the text in the bio from the DVD itself than the Astral_Union raw I worked with, allowing me to identify more of the Japanese text.)

Animation error-wise, there were about 30 fixes I worked on throughout both episodes, with the bulk of them in 113, ranging from smaller quality-of-watching things like split-screen timings to card errors (including a big one in 114) to the ol' forgotten Burstlady outfit shoulder strap. Given the amount of fixes worked on, I'll go through the usual edit breakdown in this separate post for the interested!

Quick housekeeping: I made a quick revision to 110 and 111 again to just update the one line Cobra has referring to the being he's collecting Duel Energy for, correcting "it" to "them" as I had him use in 113. The 110 and 111 links in their respective release posts now link to the re-uploaded versions, as do their links in the Masterpost; the re-finalized hardsub/script/MKVs have been posted on NAC along with these.

Anywho, enjoy! After a little detour back into TFSP land for a bit (and enjoying a little bday vacation time), we'll have episodes 115 and 116 next, as Johan deals with a Spirit Hunter and we get some lore about him. Also hoping to work on the three-part Judai vs Cobra together after that. Stay tuned!

[colossal-niamh]

@reneethejackdaw

Alright I promised it so here’s my top 20 matches

Now a quick heads up, this isn’t just going to be a retread of my 5-star list. That’s more of a list of what I think is the best matches in the world, while this is more matches that I in particular like and/or hold sentiment for me. Though there will inevitably be overlap

Honorable mentions:

Hangman Adam Page vs Bryan Danielson 12/15- This match is basically number 21. this is the best AEW world title match and I love it sooo much but it just barely gets eeked out by the other 20

Asuka vs Ember Moon Takeover Brooklyn 3- one of the best NXT women’s matches and just barely didn’t make the cut. If they were to do this with modern Athena this would soar in my personal rankings Bull Nakano vs Aja Kong 11/4- an excellent finale to Aja's long title chase and her crowning as the new top boss of AJW

Kaientai DX vs Gran Hamada, Gran Naniwa, Masato Yakushiji, Super Delfin, and Tiger Mask 4- great and extremely fun multiman tag and a perfect primer for Michinoku Pro's style

Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton 6/24- One of Randy's best matches and probably the best PG era no DQ match. THE LIST: 20. Bryan Danielson vs Kenny Omega, 4/12/09- a cartoonish and lighthearted match before each man went on to dominate the world. This is probably the most farcical match on this list but for good reason. it's an excellent display of both men's comedy chops, crowd work and eventually a sprint of both men's in ring capabilities. I delightful foot note

19. Cody vs Dustin Rhodes, 5/25/19- The Match that made me go "oh yeah, AEW's gonna work." Bar none Dustin's best match as he and his brother honor their late father's legacy by drenching themselves in blood. I know Dustin getting busted open was an accident but it added so much to the sprit of the match.

18. WALTER vs Ilja Dragunov, 8/22/21- This is the best NXT match of all time. A passionate and brutal rematch of their 2020 encounter. Dragunov shows he truly does have that dog in him as with a chest made of hamburger meat and a gash on his forehead, physically clobbers WALTER into submission

17. Steve Corino vs Yoshihiro Tajiri, 5/14- This is probably my most self indulgent pick on this list as I feel a lot of people could be turned off by Corino's racist pre match promo. I justify my liking of this match by going "DID YOU SEE HOW HARD TAJIRI KICKED THAT RACIST FUCK'S HEAD?!" Tajiri gives Corino one of the most satisfying beat downs I've ever seen and it rocks so hard.

16. Tsuruta Gun vs SGA 4/20- best 6-man tag in wrestling history, every participant plays their part perfectly. Tsuruta Gun's monumental hater energy is prevalent in all 3 members, Jumbo's ongoing grouchy ace energy, Taue fighting to prove he belongs with the vets, and Fuchi's the evil old man viciously harassing his younger opponents. Meanwhile Misawa, Kawada and Kobashi are in a constant state of white hot babyface sprit that does not let up the entire match.

15. Rey Misterio vs Eddie Guerrero 10/27- The perfect encapsulation of WCW's cruiserweight division. Eddie clawing and slamming Rey with the viciousness only a rudo like himself can show off. Meanwhile Rey shows of just why he's one of the best underdog babyfaces as he uses everything in his book to counteract Eddie's harsh offence. Special shoutout to Rey's The Sprit gear here as it works with the theming of the PPV and as a visual metaphor for a Luchador's mask being a part of themselves.

14. E&C vs The Hardy Boys vs The Dudley Boys 4/1- WWE's best stipulation match with 3 of their best tag teams ever. TLC 2 is the wrestling equivalent to watching the police car pile up from the end of Blues Brothers. An insane series of mesmerizing car crashes in rapid precession.

13. Akira Taue vs Toshiaki Kawada 4/1- These 2 start their own independent blood feud while inside the bigger blood feud that is Tsuruta Gun vs Super Generation Army. Taue and Kawada go at each other like 2 beta fish in the same tank, fast and violently. Taue in particular does the rare but awesome All Japan blade job. a dark horse in the 4 Pillars cannon

12. Eddie Kingston vs Jun Akiyama 11/19- The proper match itself is a good time and one of Eddie's sleeper hits, but the post match is special to me. Eddie showing respect to one of his all time heroes and that hero showing an equal amount of respect back is the only time a wrestling match made me cry. The exact moment I realized who my favorite wrestler is, hail to the Mad King.

11. KENTA vs Ricky Marvin 10/15- This match is one of the best sprints I've ever seen. The moment Marvin launches himself at KENTA begins 2 minuets of the 2 men throwing the sickest strikes and nastiest bombs I've ever seen. Gets everyone I've shown it to jumping out of their seats

10. CM Punk vs John Cena 7/17- Punk snatches victory from the jaw of a corporation. Punk truly attains his 2nd City Saint nickname and the title of generational talent. Cena's no slouch here either as he does his patented one night stoic heel routine like it's 2006 all over again.

9. Jon Moxley vs Wheeler YUTA 4/6- This is my most biased pick as I was there live in the arena for this, but also it's the best match I've ever seen live, so it evens out. This is the match that convinced me Yuta is a guy to look out for. Jon Moxley initiates Wheeler Yuta into the BCC through blood and carnage. I was physically leaping out of my seat as Yoots bit and clawed his way to meet Mox on his level. While he failed to beat Mox, Wheeler's sheer tenacity proved he deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the best wrestlers in the world.

8. Kenta Kobashi vs Kensuke Sasaki 7/18- I lovingly described this match to a friend as "if 2 fridges worked out and hated your chest." Kobashi vs Sasaki is one of the most Dudes Rock matches ever in a medium designed for shit that makes you go Dudes Rock. watch that chop off in the middle of this match and not get hype I dare you.

7. Daniel Bryan vs John Cena 8/18- This is John Cena's best match in his best genre, all timer wrestler sets their legend in stone by surpassing Big Match John. Bryan that this point was, you know, an exceptional technician with a storied career outside of The Fed. But this particular bout cemented him as a star so bright Even the WWE couldn't look the other way as oceans of people rallied behind that little harry hippie.

6. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/3- This match is mythical. A short hand for greatest of all time for those in the know. In the early years of their decade spanning war, Toshiaki Kawada throws everything in his arsenal at Misawa. In the face of this offence, the Ace manages to have an all timer comeback. I first watched this while on a plane ride and by the time the match was over I didn't ever realize the plane had landed, I was so enthralled I lost track of time.

5. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada, 6/6- Buuuut this is my favorite match between the 2. Years later into the feud, Misawa and Kawada have fought so many time and have elevated into a barrage of heavy bombs, stiff strikes and tight grapples. Kawada is an absolute freak at this point, desperate for his first win and eating everything the Ace has in store. Despite all his efforts, the heartbreak sets in as Misawa once again vanquishes Dangerous K. The ending is the same as always but hits hard, Kawada was so close, but victory slips away yet again.

4. The Briscoes vs FTR 12/10- I find it fitting the late great Jay Briscoe's last great match, the last Great Briscoes match, sits atop the heap as the best tag team match. Blood and metal fly. Jay's bleed, Mark's bleeding, Dax and Cash are bleeding. hell even the ref gets in on the blood. A grand farewell to the best team, dead or alive.

3. Terry Funk vs Atsushi Onita, 5/5- This match is a beautiful as it is violent and boy, is it violent. Onita and Funk slug each other as their bodies are pelted with explosions as the hit real barbwire. The battle makes these great transitions as it goes from all out hatred to desperation as the clock winds down, then finally one of the grandest acts of kindness I've ever seen in a match. Onita, realizing Funk will get caught in the explosion, show his foe some humanity and shields his near lifeless body from the final bomb. The best ending to any match I've ever seen

2. Shinobu Kandori vs Akira Hokuto, 4/2- This. Is. War. Hokuto and Kandori go at each other from minute one with unparalleled animosity. They're snappy, they're agile, they are vicious. Kandori's murderous submission holds, Hokuto's brilliant dives and bombs, THAT TOMBSTONE ON THE TABLE. Undoubtedly the greatest women's match ever, no chance of it being topped.

Kenta Kobashi vs Samoa Joe 10/1- The perfect dream match. 2 of the best to ever do it, at the hottest time for the promotion, at the zenith of both men's careers. Kobashi is fresh off his legendary reign of fire with the GHC heavyweight title. Joe's in that mythical period of his career where he's the best wrestler who ever lived. It is 2 unparalleled greats colliding likes stars, and the explosion is spectacular

[ancientevangelions]

Evangelion, LGBT+ Rights and Time

It is fascinating how readings of Evangelion have changed over time as society varies. In 2012-2015 (and to some degree even now), vocal shippers would bully others if they chose the "wrong" pairings. Reminder to everyone that you choose to engage with fan content, and it is 100% your choice to harass and bully people over their views. Shipping fictional characters should be fun and a way to engage on a different level with fandom, not an exercise in who has the moral high ground. There are shows I will not engage with because I find the canon pairings to trigger my C-PTSD, but I block those tags. (It's Madoka Magica; the third movie starts a violent fear reaction).

When I first watched Evangelion circa 2010, a Trans reading of Evangelion, though not unheard of, was less common than it is now. I grew up in Northern Alberta, Canada, where we knew what gay, straight, and bi were. Still, everything else was not mentioned until after I graduated high school and moved to a bigger city for University in 2009. This led to me doing a lot of self-discovery. I didn't fully embrace my non-binary identity until I turned 28 for various reasons, including personal safety (that would be spring of 2019, for those wondering). I knew my gender identity differed from others because of the LGBT+ club at University, where I would hang out and learn new terminologies, identities, and what consent meant. Still, until recently, people did not talk about LGBT+ identity outside of these circles, especially not in groups with aging populations. Fast forward to now (2023) on Tumblr, when there are so many differences in opinions and interpretations. I wonder if people my age (or older) watched Eva and considered the characters could be anything but straight and cis or if they were shocked by Maya's love for Ritsuko when it was revealed in End of Evangelion. 90s media had a lot of ingrained homophobia and transphobia. You don't need to look further than popular sitcoms like the Simpsons or FRIENDS to see the LGBT+ community ridiculed for a cheap laugh. Western society was very anti-LGBT, and though we have made gains with marriage equality laws in 2005 for Canada, there is still room for improvement.

When I watched NGE/EoE, It was at the start of LGBT+ identities becoming more prevalent in Western media. I watched the ambiguous interactions of episode 24, and I remember thinking how sad it was that Kaworu had to die. The interactions between Shinji and Kaworu did not appear romantic or wholesome while I watched. It seemed tragic and doomed to failure (like Shiniji's previous attempts at gaining understanding.) Upon my first watch, I concluded that Shinji's desperation for affection led to his attraction to Kaworu. It did not seem genuine, and I saw it as less romantic and more as a deeply tragic episode where a broken boy is manipulated by lies of exclusion and ultimately heartbroken because he is once again betrayed and left alone. This reading was solidified for me in EoE when Asuka confronts Shinji with the line that anyone will do in Hell's Kitchen. Shinji is even more frantic and desperate for someone to love and save him and is once again rejected. Shinji wants someone to give him love and support and to understand and help him. The fear and desperation of being left alone make Episode 24 and End of Evangelion incredibly twisted and tragic. Shinji's arc climaxes with the tragedy of human miscommunication, desperation for affection, and the desire for love and understanding without the act.

Hell's Kitchen (End of Evangelion)

There's so much pain in suffering and loneliness. Additionally, I firmly believe Shinji did not/does not love anyone romantically in NGE/EoE. I am not saying he has no potential to love anyone. He is not there yet in his journey. He may have crushes or interests, but romantic love takes Time, communication, compromise, understanding, and so many elements of vulnerability between two people to establish, form, and maintain that connection. Shinji did not have the time to develop a true romantic bond with anyone and was not in a formal relationship. Yes, he kissed Asuka and relied on her for stability/support. He had deep conversations with Kaworu and received unconditional affection. He trusted and depended on Misato. He was curious about Rei and wanted to help her/know more about her. Still, he never took steps to form a romantic partnership, instead preferring to "keep things ambiguous."

Shinji is still figuring things out. The point of NGE and EoE isn't romance. It's figuring out your identity.

This message of misunderstanding and muddling through your identity is likely why it resonates so much with LGBT+ communities because many of us did have to muddle out our difficult questions of identity. It can be intimidating to navigate so much information, especially if you aren't in a safe environment. It feels similar to being attacked by alien forces in a war zone, except instead of Angels, it is hate-filled views, bullying, name-calling, misinformation, and fear. And instead of Evas/NERV, we have GSAs, outreach centres, online spaces, and supportive people that we hope will help us more than they harm us.

I find an element of cultural difference intriguing in Evangelion (and all Japanese anime to some degree). Japanese people interpret scenes very differently from English-speaking Western audiences. Part of the nuance is lost in translation, cultural differences, and the differences in Time that have passed. I highly recommend reading various semi-autobiographical works such as "The Bride was a Boy" or "My lesbian experience with loneliness." to understand the queer experience in Japan better. There are a lot of differences to sort through when we look at different cultures. Unfortunately, Japan has a ways to go on LGBT+ rights, including access to transgender health care and same-sex marriage (which, at the time of writing, is still not recognized in Japan). My point is that culture-to-culture intent in various media, whether written or visual, will be lost. We can, of course, read interpretations, watch video essays, talk to friends, etc. Still, to draw our conclusions, we often would rather watch the source material as "purely" as well as can without interference from other people. This brings in a final theme from Evangelion. We can never understand anyone 100%; only you can completely understand yourself. So whether you agree or disagree with me, remember these are my thoughts and opinions shaped by my life growing up as an LGBT+ Canadian. So be good to yourself, and congratulations.

[marmakar]

Got a random question! Do you have any Sexuality Headcanon on the major characters? I would love to hear your Sexuality headcanon on Donald Love.

Yeaaah, sure! I don't know which part of GTA series to take, so I'll take characters that I have headcanons for.

More often I'm just starting from the canon and what we have.

Donald Love: Homosexual (GTA 3 and VC it's not expressed, but in GTA LCS we can know a lot. Honestly, he just leave main protagonist with compliments and they look more like flirting. He is trying. Come on! Donald's first mission's cutscene literally begins with when he happily trying to dance with Toni and hugging a person he doesn't know at all. And another interesting detail is that he would say "WE" about any mission, when Toni rejected. And only at the end, Toni nevertheless began to speak on behalf of "WE", ahah. Another fact. Donald gave Toni a mission to steal the bodies of only men's character. IDK maaaan. Kinda SUS character. We LOVE Mr. Love).

Lance Vance: Bisexual with homosexual tendencies. At first, in the VC his behavior seemed SUS to me. Probably the moment he calls Tommy after mission Cop Land and begins to literally complain at some point that he doesn't pay attention to him like he is his boyfriend fr: "Why should I be? You don't care about me, do you? You gotta look after me a bit better". Well, in the VCS only this feeling finished off. More gay jokes update, LMAO. Lance is so cool underrated character.

Asuka Kasen: Bisexual in canon, but I see her as a lesbian. In the plot she is literally have BDSM session with Maria in GTA 3. I didn't play or watch walkthrough GTA Advance, but I just read she also have BDSM session with Mike (GTA Advance Protagonist). A cool dominating woman.

Reni Wassulmaier: Pansexual and just ICON. This is not discussed!

Ahh enough for now. It’s difficult for me. My memory is fish's memory. If your want to hear about character who doesn't mention here, just ask about, it will be easier for me to write.

Don't forget the truth: "Bruh, all characters in GTA is gay (c)" /j

[countlessrealities]

@haus-der-mysterionmusen sent:

“I uh thanks for inviting us it uh actually kinda nice to get out of the apartment a little but uh Merry Christmas,” Shinji said, he was carrying a giant case with him for a cello since he figured playing Christmas music was part of American Christmas and he wanted to be prepared.

“Fröhliche Weihnachten, I’m Asuka Langley Soryu the second child, charmed huh? You should look more happy to have us at your party.” A redhead wearing an eyepatch and improbably an expensive looking red party dress adds with a smirk. It seems while nervous about spending time with a more traditional family she was hiding it masterfully and hiding it with full bravado.

When Morty had decided to invite Shinji and his girlfriend over for Christmas, he hadn't been sure that the two would show up. It had felt like a good idea, considering that he owed the other teen for having saved his life. Not to mention that the poor guy deserved a prize for having put up with Rick's crap during their messy first meeting.

So, when the one-way portal device he had left them to join the family got activated, the boy found himself being both glad and surprised.

"Uh, h-hey, Shinji! W-Welcome to you both!" He greeted his new friend with a small, slightly awkward smile. Seeing him again away from giant aliens and life-threatening situation is good, but "D-Don't mention it, it's...it's not a big deal. Y-You'll see, we don't do anything so special. J-Just the usual stuff."

...Always assuming that Shinji knew what the "usual stuff" entailed.

Hazel eyes lingered on the cello case for a moment, but he quickly looked away, resisting the urge to ask why the other had chosen to bring the instrument along. His Dad would surely make all possible the faux pas for the rest of them later, so he didn't want the night to start off on that kind of track.

Not to mention that his attention was quickly drawn by his other guest. Asuka wasn't how he had pictured her. She was good-looking and badass, but he had expected her to be more...somber, considering Shinji's personality. Not to mention that the eyepatch was a little creepy, even if that had more to do with Morty's experience with a certain version of himself.

"N-Nice to meet you, Asuka...?" Was he supposed to say her full name? "I-I'm Morty, a-as I supposed you already know." Cue to an awkward chuckle. "An-And I assure you that, uh, w-we are very happy to have you! J-Just...I wasn't sure you'd come. T-That's all."

Alright, time to cut that conversation short, before he embarrasses himself by throwing out some weird compliment about the girl's dress.

"C-C'mon, l-let's join the others. I-I'll introduce you to my family an-and...I'm sure that Summer, my sister, will love t-to hang out with you today, Asuka! An-And the food is almost ready!"

[rainbowgod666]

On it

Things that change between canon and what i cooked

Shinji and Gendo unironically are the only ones being like "WHY DO YOU HAVE TO FEEL PAIN WHEN USING THE EVA"

Kawoshin is canon

The compilation of times asuka gets humbled (read: decked in the face) would be ¼ of the shows runtime. Maybe a third. And 5 minutes of those would be shinji snapping

Speaking of our little white boy: he is the one actively making the EVA eat in that one scene (thenagain when iw atched the original i went "aww hes a widdle hungy boy :3"). Yeah when i gave him the "knight" upgrade it went... exactly as you would believe

The scene where theyre all naked has a gag where rei is like "nice cock bro" to shinji

Rei does every drug under the sun and also the only thing she got from shinjis mom is... the lineaments. Yeah the cloning process was so cracked the best way i can describe it is "NERV engineers accidentally gave a sister to one of the 4000 humans that survived the supervolcano eruption, whoops!"

She also is the first one to kiss shinji. Right before the Ramiel mission

Of course they both enjoyed it

Every time shinji runs away its shown less as "cowardice" and more as "look i will try my best but thats literally the gasterblaster gabriel ultrakill would use misato-san. Get a fucking grip girl". In at least one scene his running away is just him getting on a hill and screaming SO HARD everyone in neo Tokyo 3 hears him

Oh yeah btw he and steven quartz diamond cutiepie universe share one thing: (Max0r voice) step 1, bottle the emotions, step 2 uh (funny pause) m o l o t o v c o c k t a i l

Kaworu dies (he respawns right before the end of the series) and uuuh... you know that joke that goes "gay pride is over its time for GAY WRATH"?

Yeah.

That.

...

Unironically, by the end of this "Evangelion 4.0", shinji has one of the highest non-passive kill counts ever.

And he doesnt remember SHIT.

He did all that for kaworu (which, spoilers for evangelion, hes the last angel technically) which then causes 5th impact

Oh yeah btw this is a "reversal of cause and effect" where 3rd and 4th impact KINDA happened but uhhh yeag.

Also every other evangelion official series is canon

Aaaaaaaand one of the angels is just. An author stand in. Gonna call that mf Kamiel lmao

Oh and btw all pilots are over 18. Soooooooooooo

Did i mention mari is there? Yeah shes there and shes the light of the party :3

So, to recap

Shinji is now a power bottom with anger issues, asuka suffers karma every step of the way (and she doesnt learn at all lol), rei does le troche quelle besandi because she finds out shes immortal and they can quick-print her Lancer RPG style, kaworu is gay and everyone wuvs him (LOOK HIS HAIR IS HELLA FLUFFY AND HES A SWEETHEART OK?), gendo is just fucking done with everything because "look i get hes the 3rd children but hes mah son ffs at least make the EVA not THAT connected to his brain ffs when he cannibalized the angel im 90% sure the reports said "sexual excitement" like come on man let him have his legally required days off", misato has... a few braincells loose, and idk about everyone else. Everyone is just. Abridged

[butchford]

hey. prince of rage ryo and knight of heart akira

Nods along attentively. Ironically enough, I did dick around classpecting Ryo a few weeks ago and came to the solid conclusion of Derse & Prince, but aspect-wise entertained Light (course there's the whole Lucifer shit but also the media reveal fiasco), Hope(strong beliefs and all that shit, mentioning often but ultimately accidentally in some instances & purposefully in others destroying it), & Heart(Willll elaborate in a second). Completely blanked on Rage, but it does make a lotta sense on account of the ghosting Hope and strong conviction that merges into destruction etc etc. The reason I heavily entertained Heart is on account of the fact that A: routine emphasis on the importance of the human heart/spirit. B: Arguably destroyed pieces of Akira's identity by making him become Devilman. C: Made Psycho Jenny erase his memories in the first place to properly take the place of Ryo Asuka. D: Routine self-destructive tendencies. E: "This is who I am and what I stand for, and I can not give that up for anyone or anything although in hindsight I should've compromised," which also lines up with Rage. F: I dunno the arguable Satan splinters in spin-offs and shit? E: Trying come off as cool and collected at first and then failing miserably mixed with being seen as a cold person while being controlled by his emotions. Ya get the idea.

As for Akira, I understand the lines to draw of manipulation and exploitation of the self, but given his entire deal, I think Prospit Maid of Time is the best fit. "At their best, the Time-bound are empathetic and relentless problem-solvers. At their worst they are ruthless, defensive, and impulsive." Seems pretty on the nose. Maid-wise, Akira starts off as someone who's able to say no to shit, but not much beyond that. Miki's always there to fend off his bullies. Post getting Devilmanned, he's able to do whatever the fuck he wants forever and take his life by its reigns. And he also hits the negative end of the time aspect as shit wears on. Thumpsup 💯👍

[re-ikrmso]

c!ikari ramble

rpd!universe has no real message or theme to it to be honest, the best i can do is probably point out patterns i guess? at least on my side of the story there was mostly nothing to prove. c!ikari is childish, and takes things very unsympathethically (almost) because i found no message to give. but i wanted to protray ikari as just that: someone who by nearly all accounts finds it hard to take a situation seriously (that they themselves are causing at least) and if something does happen (and this is actually kinda supported in-universe considering the last time they tried to get answers themselves they ended up dead)) they do little to find out more and just stick to thier guns. They have little course on sympathy/empathy because any oppurtunity to use it would end up with them or someone else/something dead/destroyed.

its kinda sad actually, in-universe events actually justify thier behaviors pretty well. they’re shocked that thier more outrageous comments are actually taken as advice, and that so much injury and death is happening nearby. thier usual brand of sarcasm and shitty humor is taken in stride and as much as they get invovled in a situation, they barely find out anything at all or don’t want to due to how intense it is (and they just kinda want to get away from it). the first time they try to get answers, the person they were motivated by in the first place ended up killing them in a fit of anger. ikari recoginzes that it’s not normal behavior, and yes they end up not getting anything done in retaliation due to circumstances but like. it left an impact on them. it MATTERED. one of the first things they talk about when being revived is hoping that c!eleven and c!asuka are still alive so that c!ikari can fucking KILL THEM FOR WHAT THEY’VE DONE. in text, i never stated that explicitly, but that was a very clear implication. in text i chose to put more echoing ikari’s response before dying. and then as time goes on, they stop trying to invovle themselves, but they still get dragged in anyways, and they try to escape and then the fcking world gets destroyed and remade. any bit of empathy/sympathy is shot more and more as ikari tries to get away but fails, and as they get hurt and thier friends get hurt. c!asuka isn’t even to blame for a decent amount of the destruction they cause, c!eleven defends her and believes in the good of her and that he can help-

because he can handle it. He’s in a good enough position to reason with her, becasue he’s powerful, he’s experienced, and the two are just...connected. They love each other. (kinda.) 

c!ikari can’t spare sympathy or empathy because they don’t HAVE a reason to. And it’s not SAFE to either. They have people to lose. They’re not lighting fast, or have fast reflexes or superhuman. So when c!ikari stares down the barrel of c!asuka’s gun, they’re fucking scared. c!eleven has no such qualms. Because the only thing that matters to him is c!asuka, and he’ll make it out! It’s all okay! because power of love, blah blah blah. and that in part plays so much into why c!ikari hates him so much--because c!eleven could willingly tie himself to a walking disaster, and when c!ikari tried to help him....well, i’ve already told you bout how they died, didn’t I?

//note that this is kinda important to me cause the entirety of rpd!universe was made up as it played out, no script nearly no direction (except for perhaps tones of the story) was had. Hell, events of the story would often happen with one person litteraly hijacking someone else’s actions if they werent there and lore went on without members (which is important since we only had 4 actual members). analysis was a moot point due to anything i wrote being wiped off the map and it quickly becoming outdated from new lore. so when i look back i realize a whole lot of things about the story itself and how THAT impacted my character :p i reason i keep getting so re-hyped over my charatcer is well. 1. personal reasons 2. my fucking character ohghhghg its them 3. i never really got to look at them much before and make connections or anything so. :D 

[projektimpworld]

[HS2/AI] Senran Kagura ~ Asuka

Senran Kagura series for Honey Select 2 (ハニーセレクト2 リビド) / Ai Shoujo 少女 Name : Asuka (飛鳥) School : Hanzo National Academy Origin : Senran Kagura series Costume : Academy Birthday : September 8th, Height : 155cm Character Build : Projekt IMP Build version : 1.0 Mod by : chw, kkkk1111, mlekoduszek, Yamadamod Profile : https://senrankagura.fandom.com/wiki/Asuka

Asuka (飛鳥) is a playable character and the main protagonist of the Senran Kagura video game series. Asuka's shinobi heritage comes from her Grandfather Hanzō on her mother's side. Although her mother was a shinobi, her father was not. Originally, her father dreamed and was on the verge of becoming a successful lawyer, however he was charmed by Asuka's mother. Hanzō did not approve of their relationship, and the two constantly fought about it. Asuka's father loved her so much that he was willing to give up his dream of becoming a lawyer, as long as he could be with her. ---------- Card & Mod Pack ---------- ► Download : https://projektimp.gumroad.com/l/bjdun ► Store : https://projektimp.gumroad.com/  ►Install Note Extract Zip to your game installation folder : X:\Game\Illusion\Honey Select2\(HERE) ► Overlays Note : Load overlays manually IF needed, face, body or clothes overlays can be found at X:\Game\Illusion\Honey Select2\UserData\Overlays\IMP\(HERE) ► Gumroad download instruction : Put any amount inside "$ box" before check out. Ex : $.0 and click I Want This/Buy This. Fill the email section, fill discount code if you are a patron member, click "Get", click "View Content", Click "Download" to download your card file. ► Guide and tutorial to download and install : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ubmg-NUPaU

If you encounter any problems or have any question, feel free to reach our support. Contact Support : projektimpworld@gmail.com

---------- Social Media ---------- ► Pixiv : https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/74997946 ► Twitter : https://twitter.com/Projekt_IMP► FB Page : https://www.facebook.com/projektimp/ ► Youtube : https://www.youtube.com/c/ProjektImpWorld ► Deviant Art : https://www.deviantart.com/syncvloid► Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/ProjektIMPworldAlso Available at IG, Pinterest, Tumblr and Pawoo. Best regards, Projekt IMP 世界 Disclaimer : All character model available at Projekt IMP store are built by Projekt IMP. Projekt IMP 世界 character card store is ONLY selling base character model, not the mod. Please keep your KK manager updated. Mod creator will always mentioned at description box. Please do support Mod creator listed in the description for their awesome works. All character created in this channel is a work of  fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters,  businesses, places, events and incidents in this creation are either the  product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any  resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is  purely coincidental.

[centrally-unplanned]

I don't want to reduce this down to Romance Pls, to take this seriously. As I have mentioned before when discussing Hibike, its a story that has struggled beyond its first season due to a mismatch between its concept as an anime and the source material it is adapting. Its books are episodic and relatively shallow from a character lens; but the first season of the anime either enhanced or fully invented a bunch of scenes to give Kumiko a much more substantial arc. This arc is partially with Reina, the deuteragonist of Season 1, and partially within herself, around music, mastery, and the value of pursuing the latter in the former.

In Season 1, this works so well because they are intertwined - Kumiko's attraction to Reina, what Reina sees in Kumiko (that he hides while Reina flaunts), is that desire to push music farther. Moments with Reina further Kumiko's own arc. The later seasons really drop the ball on this, not just by being "not about Reina" (Though rugpulling your deuteragonist does suck), but because the problems of Freshman #16 with her bff or w/e have nothing to do with Kumiko. She is a hired hand trying to solve a problem so she can go back to her homework, it doesn't affect her. They try sometimes - the Kumiko's sister stuff is good, the stuff with Asuka is a failed attempt but I can recognize it was an attempt - but overall Season 2 & the films are unambitious compared to Season 1.

Season 3 so far is like both worlds being crammed together. Its chock full of Freshman Hijinks; some random person with cat ears for hair having misunderstandings with her peers? Like whatever man, Kumiko is so above you. But then they are also doing really good set-up around Kumiko dealing with post-highschool career woes, because that is A: actually about Kumiko, B: actually about the themes of Season 1, and C: via this episode in particular is actually something Reina can be a mirror for and have emotions around.

And I will credit that new girl Maya is being given a strong level of mysterious drama potential as like Alt Universe Quiet Kumiko who is gonna rock her boat in the world she's built:

Incredibly sus vibes, don't trust her Kumiko. Unless she wants to bone you obv, jury still out on that.

Anyway, all of this means that this season like, could be good? But also could be a let down, and I really can't tell yet. They just have to commit to the good material over the bad.

Judging all future Hibike Euphonium episodes by the quantity of Ear Reddening Moves Kumiko pulls on Reina:

I alas expect to be *extremely* disappointed by this metric but I refuse to reject the truth in front of me.

[adamworu]

The Subtle Horror of Evangelion

What keeps us all hooked to Eva time and time again? You get through your initial, confused watch of either Evangelion endgame, probably sometime in your adolescence wondering what the hell it is you just watched. The original source material is suffused with unsettling imagery, and sometimes too-close-for-comfort shorts. It’s so much to process that one watch is never enough. The imagery isn’t enough, however, because the mid-to-late-90s series comes with things you’ll pick up the more you focus on certain characters’ struggles or the interesting world-building. They arise little by little with every re-watch, adding onto what interested you in Eva to begin with.

There’s always that little voice asking you “What it is that really draws me here?”

Oh. The horrors.

The tragedy of it all.  

These things never leave you the second you bear witness to them, whether you become aware of them or not. You’re disturbed over it, a tad worried, no doubt, but you’re strangely hooked.

Horror works better on limitation, it’s why found footage capturing pale, ghastly, monstrosities of the deep wood will always stand as exponentially terrifying. While most all of us have taken cracks at Eva’s budget at some point, that’s what really drives these terrors home. Its low budget nature made it work.

Evangelion has commentary which forces a viewer to reflect. Most no one enjoys that. It’s the fear, however, that has its audience come back. Evangelion’s reflection alone isn’t what gives Eva it’s charm decades after its run. It’s the little things, most everyone misses, the anxieties, the terrors, all of it. Most of those things, fly over a lot of fans’ heads.

Buckle up, there’s a lot to go through…. (warning for mentions of abuse, body horror, means of suicide, nudity, blood, and gore)

Table of Contents

I. Icebergs for Dummies

Tier 1: The Tip of the Iceberg

II. The Hedgehog’s Dilemma

III. The AT-Field as a Universal Metaphor

IV. Kensuke Aida + War Idealism

V. Shinji is the Audience Surrogate

VI. Abuse in Evangelion

Tier 2: Just Below the Tip

VII. The Infamous Elevator Scene

VIII. Naoko + Casper

IX. The Other End of Existential Horror

Tier 3: The Body of The Iceberg

X. War Horrors of ‘Ambivalence’

XI. Unit-01 Berserk Scene

XII. Dummy Plugs + CNS

XIII. Kaworu + Adam’s True Power

Tier 4: Pre-Abyss

XIV. The “Nihilist” Lens

XV. The True Nature of Sync Rates

XVI. Unit 01+ MPE Gorging Scenes

XVII. Ancient Ruins of Arka

Tier 5: The Abyss

XVIII. Split Second Misato Death

XIX. Humans Are The Villains in Eva

XX. The Ultimate Paradox

XXI. Conclusion

I. Icebergs for Dummies

For those unaware, the iceberg image illustrates that things are much deeper than they appear, just like an actual iceberg. You’ve probably seen this selfsame iceberg--- separated by tiers--- a few times looking through late night internet rabbit holes (Putting it out in the open: I’m personally guilty of this!), fictional or non. It helps you understand why you’re so enticed to certain material, that you’d revisit them. The highest parts of the iceberg are the things in the material most everyone knows, the surface level stuff. The lower you go, however, the lesser known the parts of the material are. These are the things the person are aware of.

Eva has some iceberg illustrations if you look around, albeit they don’t go through the more saddening, sometimes graphic factors of Eva, only theories navigating through Eva’s universe. Evangelion is so deceptively packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it subtleties that if an iceberg were centered on that, the diagram would be packed. And I’m being generous as I write this.

A few ground rules, before we begin: The iceberg will deal with the more obscure and dark material as the tiers get higher rather than it only being relegated to obscure bits. The lower the tier, the higher the iceberg and the more subtler the anxieties which graduate into horrors the deeper you go.

Yes, Evangelion is occasionally horrifying. No, Evangelion is not lovecraftian. I think people use the term lovecraftian way too freely. It’s not enough to see something with (sometimes too many) limbs twisted in ungodly angles. Or legs where legs shouldn’t be. The same applies for creatures assuming forms we don’t entirely comprehend. Eva has never delved into the angels being incomprehensibly terrifying specifically because they come from a cosmic expanse.

Some of these actual horrors, big and small,  hit you after adolescence, something that makes you feel deeply for the characters’ dilemmas. It’s a feeling that grows and sometimes aches, rather than fades over time for many of us.

Tier 1: The Tip of the Iceberg

II. Hedgehog’s Dilemma

III. The AT Field as a Universal Metaphor

IV. Kensuke Aida + War Idealism

V. Shinji As the Audience Surrogate

VI. Abuse in Evangelion

II. Hedgehog’s Dilemma

Evangelion has its hand in so many psychological and philosophical cookie jars, from Freud, to Maslow, Johari, as well as Dostoevsky. The very tip of the Subtle Horrors of Evangelion Iceberg is something viewers are introduced to in the fourth episode of the series. It is one of the many psychological concepts dotted throughout the original show. Out of all those psychological concepts, this is the most explicit and most recurring.

The Hedgehog’s Dilemma describes the conundrum of two hedgehogs. The closer two hedgehogs become to one another, the more they harm each other with their spines. If you want to properly live, you need the closeness and intimacy of others. By allowing yourself to be close, however, you end up at great risk of being hurt. It’s the very reason what drives those who live to become guarded. Being perpetually apprehensive or building up walls isn’t a remedy for pains, however. The Hedgehog’s Dilemma isn’t just about why people become guarded after relationships ended on bad notes. It’s about the overall inevitability of pain.

Life is a continual push-pull of relationships, because we’re all creatures of comfort. We guard ourselves to varying degrees and sometimes even tell ourselves we won’t get close again, but personal comfort is one of our most ultimate drives.

The Hedgehog’s Dilemma not only describes that harm happens to us anyway, but illustrates that because comfort is universal we seek companionship regardless.

III. The AT-Field as a Universal Metaphor

The AT-Field is the most crucial rabbit hole in understanding the largest meta-narrative of Evangelion.

If Hedgehog’s Dilemma explains the what and the why people become more or less guarded, then AT-Fields explain the how. People build up walls around themselves all the time. You walk away from someone because they crack a smile at you... and it seems off.

Because you feel an anxious pang.

That’s an AT Field.

AT-Fields, or Absolute Terror Fields bear a few metaphors, one of which being boundaries. You see it as Shinji’s fear of becoming intimate, knowing the future implications or Asuka’s masculine protest (putting up a front). We can see an excellent example of the AT Field used by Asuka, her “Wall of Jericho” in episode 9.

You also see it manifested through the angels, the strange creatures in Eva who supposedly desire to merge with Adam, their mother. Seeing this in the angels makes you realize that the AT Field is actually a metaphor for boundaries which implicates us all. In episode 22, Arael, 15th angel, seeks to understand Asuka. The angel uses its AT-Field (a beam of light) no, its boundary, to breach Asuka’s boundaries. 

AT-Fields can be used to not only build up personal walls but to breach them as well. The irony of Arael’s action is that Arael’s AT-Field being erected while it floats just over Earth’s gravitational field makes it immensely similar to the Second Child; they’re both guarded.

The AT-Field is a funny sort of thing because it also sometimes explains how two people who are so alike can be guarded from one another. Sometimes you gain contempt for someone because they’re too much like your least favorable traits. You see this with Shinji and Asuka, both children without their mother desiring validation. Shinji calls Asuka a child midway into episode 9 and Asuka isn’t shy on voicing ideas of Shinji as dense or immature. They’re throwing stones in glass houses.

AT Fields are used to get the user out of dangers both physical and perceived. Sachiel, 3rd angel in the original series’ pilot episode, uses its AT-Field, in the form of flotation, to get itself from enemy fire. It never shows this until it is attacked first.

AT Fields are also responsible for one’s identity and physicality in Eva. Without the AT Field you don’t really exist. When Rei assumes the form of the person the character being cast into Instrumentality loved most in End of Evangelion, she’s causing the character to give up their AT Field. With that gone, they lose their physicality, turning into LCL (given the lovely term ‘tanged’ by fans). The ‘tanged’ individual suffers metaphorical death. Evangelion argues that in order for one to exist, others must perceive you and you must perceive you, a point best illustrated in episode 16. Since everyone is converted to LCL, no one really ‘exists.’ Rei describes this unnerving state as the inability of differentiating who you are and others, since everyone lacks a physical state without AT-Fields. Metaphorical death can be argued as worse than physical, since we all exist to make an impression of some sort. It’s what ties all the Eva cast together and the cause of their dilemmas. Validation. You can be living, yet very much forgotten or simply unknown.

There is living and there is “living.”

You can’t “die” unless someone knows you. You were never there. AT Fields are the thing that make us live, but as a drawback, prevents us from understanding each other fully. Kaworu states in episode 24 that AT Fields are the wall of the mind and the heart of the soul, an unapproachable piece of sanctuary. When all else is taken from us, all we have left is our place of respite.

I’d also like to pitch the saddening reality that the AT-Fields are what prevent us from understanding angels as a whole, our genetic siblings as scared of this world as we are. The psychological angels want to understand us, that much is true. The angels, however, use forms of communication at the expense of our boundaries. Because people greatly value boundaries it makes it hard for us to comprehend angels. The creatures are hardly malicious when you realize they wonder why we all do things that actually hurt us, as well as the fact that they do understand our minds. But, because they breach our boundaries, we become even more wary of the (mostly) unknown. Angels may be us, but the strange forms they take are something we aren’t familiar with. The feeling is mutual with angels, wondering why there are many of us, our forms and outward appearances so identical. It’s a truth as old as time that we all fear the unknown.

The anxiety of an AT Field means comprehending that there’s very little chance to 100% get others. Because we’re all wary in some degree, because we’re set in an idea or perception of someone, even if the someone in the past no longer applies. It’s not healthy for you to continue dwelling on relationships not meant to be, keeping yourself up at night asking why, because both of you have closed off each other for good. There’s always that chance the other can come back and if they do seek to understand despite past hardships, that’s good. If they don’t, all you can do is move on and accept it.

IV. Kensuke Aida + War Idealism

Kensuke is one of Shinji’s classmates, a supporting player in the series. He’s close with Toji Suzuhara, a boy who takes his anger on Shinji, after finding out that his sister has been injured during Shinji’s fight with 3rd angel Sachiel. As Suzuhara beats him down, Kensuke downplays the incident. Kensuke’s and Toji’s relationship is particularly interesting because the latter is affected to some degree by war (the war by humanity to prevent our destruction by angels). Kensuke glorifies the sentient, implicitly eldritch, multi-armored war-machines.

Kensuke can be best described as the ‘wow, cool robots’ drawing you’ve probably seen floating around. This is in relation to Gundam’s war commentary, but replace Gundam with Eva. Kensuke is enamored with the Evangelions and totally, willfully ignorant to the war horrors. Adolescents are forced to be the salvation of humanity, feeling every bit of damage to their own bodies whenever the Evangelion takes any hurt. Even after the war for humanity is long over, the pilots will be afflicted with traumas that will always hang over them.

Kensuke’s glorification is also what draws him to be Shinji’s friend. He uses Shinji’s status as a way of becoming a pilot himself by meeting up with Misato, putting himself at the cockpit of a strange creature magnificent machine.

When Toji becomes hospitalized after his battle in a hijacked Unit-03 vs. A Dummy System-controlled Unit-01, Kensuke expresses discontent at not being a pilot. He’s annoyed because “everyone” but him is a pilot.

Thing is, Kensuke isn’t heartless, just ignorant. Idealism is one of the uglier things that runs thick in the heart of Evangelion. His is one of many cases of unhealthy idealism in Eva, another example of making it difficult for those living to understand one another.

V. Shinji as the Audience Surrogate

Shinji as the audience surrogate isn’t always touched up on, but is sort of understood subconsciously by a lot of the viewers. Shinji’s character is specific, yet so generalized that him being a surrogate for the audience just… works. Don’t believe me? Shinji gets two psychological exploration-based episodes whereas Asuka and Rei each have one. Episodes 16 and 24 are both psychological angel episodes, albeit the latter is more in-series subversive. The 24th episode doesn’t involve a breach of subconscious boundary, but the pilot (Shinji) is in the hot-seat, being made aware of their issues. Leliel, 12th angel, contacts Shinji in the former of these. Both characters talk to one another, shown as a series of horizontal lines and vertical lines, sometimes intersecting. These lines are a strong reference to the Johari Window, a tool in psychology which helps someone become more aware of themselves. The Window’s quadrants are as follows

1. the part known to the self

2. the part known to others

3. the part known to the self and others

4. the part known to no one

Leliel also states that the self only exists of one perceives themselves as well as others. The angel also states that Shinji could better his reality, to which Shinji absolves himself of responsibility by arguing the horrible state of his reality. It’s a subtle pushing to Shinji and by extension the viewer into free will. Kaworu builds up on these concepts with Eva’s in-universe concept for boundaries. Free Will versus Determinism is brought up here, with the idea that AT-Fields are brought up because the living (again, not people – emotional complexities aren’t only human) will them into existence. By exercising free will, it means enduring pain, one of Shinji’s, and again the audience’s greatest fears. Any relationship has pains and conflicts. This is all a buildup of free will, determinism, self-awareness, and the Hedgehog’s Dilemma. Understanding all of these means swallowing the “pain is inevitable” pill. The problem with much of us is that we like the idea of relationships rather than being in one. We want to feel validated but without the conflict, even if the conflict can be solved. We’re all Shinji because we’re all aware to life’s hellish catch-22s, so we run. There’s times in our lives where we run as far as possible from these woes, these truths, but there’s pain in running too. It’s why escapism seems like such a viable action for some of us.

Pain is inevitable, but pain can be mitigated.

More damning evidence to Shinji being a viewer stand-in lies in either endgame of Evangelion (pun intended). In EoE, after the Komm Susser Tod sequence of everyone on Earth being tanged, we’re treated to a shot of EoE’s live audience.

We hear Shinji’s voice about his reality while he talks to Rei toward EoE’s end. There are shots of the city, of people going about their daily lives cementing that this is about us. End of Evangelion shows us a less favorable side of Shinji, a departure from the lauded end series “Congratulations” scene, in which he does understand free will rather than perpetually dwell on negatives. Shinji reacts unfavorably toward Asuka in EoE after his mother’s speech to the audience that ‘anywhere can be paradise’ and Shinji stating he doesn’t know where his happiness resides. Shinji (We) still has a ways to go if he wants to be a better person.

It’s probably why many of us are either inclined to champion Shinji or harangue him, and either reaction is fair. Many of us are aware of audience surrogates, but never to this extent. Shinji isn’t his best person, but he can be. Being his best means self-reflection. Droves of people who first were exposed to Evangelion were teens, and again many of Shinji’s woes are specific yet so generalized, hence our feelings of defense and possibly disgust.

No one likes scathing, yet accurate call-outs on their person, but they’re paramount for us to understand ourselves and others.

VI. Abuse in Evangelion

One of the worst things recurring in all of original Evangelion is a bevvy of abuses.

Abuse comes in many shapes and forms and it’s many characters’ realities. Abuse happens not because the universe ‘wills it’ (determinism aka, ‘that’s just how people are’). Abuse, be it conscious emotional absence, actual neglect, among other ungodly acts fly though the cast.

Abuse is cyclical and a lot of those doing it often get away with murder because they have power.

Much of Eva is comprised of children being forced to sort through adults’ emotional baggage. Those children become adults and the cycle continues.

We all know a Gendo. Or even perhaps a Misato. Hell, even a Ritsuko.

Anno states that Gendo’s character is of a societal meta-text, which explains many viewers’ ire in relation to the character.  He’s responsible for many of the seedy goings-on in Evangelion be it the financial (see: Jet Alone’s orchestrated out-of-control nature to give NERV more funding) or abuses (see: Rei, Shinji, Ritsuko, and, Naoko). It’s for this reason why Gendo’s actions are a sore spot for a lot of fans.

Anno: I’m not sure that it’s a real father [that Gendo represents]. Well, not a father in the sense of a parent with a blood relation to his child, but more, I think, [in the sense of being] a representative of society or the system. That’s why he has that expression.

Takekuma: So, he’s kind of amorphous.

Anno: The angels are the same. I made them appear amorphous in that way because, for me, society is unclear, the enemy is unclear.

Takekuma: Gendo is [a representation of] the boundries or the pressure of society itself.

Anno: That might be it. Perhaps Gendo is [a representation of] society itself.

http://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff

After many re-watches of certain Eva episodes, it just hit me, as I’m writing this why I’m sometimes apprehensive on an adult-exclusive lens of the show. This happens a lot in adolescence and our struggles are made trivial because of the mishandled baggage. As children, you’re meant to be subservient to parental whims. You have this sort of obligation to solve their problems. Give them closure. It doesn’t even need to be parental baggage, but just from adults in general. You see the way the adults act not just with the children but with each other. You see the way Gendo justifies neglecting Shinji, objectifying Naoko and Ritsuko or Naoko’s emotional absences as a mother to her daughter (also manifested through the MAGI). It’s these immature excuses as to why they can’t extend empathy to those around them.

It’s always excuses.

Eva’s original series has always been a show about children.

Tier 2: Just Below the Tip

VII. The Infamous Elevator Scene

VIII. Naoko + Casper

IX. The Other End of Existential Horror

VII. The Infamous Elevator Scene

The Elevator Scene is a sequence that sometimes gets glossed over due to Evangelion’s fleeting budget.  It took me years to realize the true gravity of the awkward silence of both the 22nd episode and its Director’s Cut version. The Director’s Cut version has Asuka abruptly jerking in the silence,  but that blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment speaks volumes. Understanding the scene means understanding why Asuka quietly stews in her anger. Understanding why Asuka stews means understanding Asuka from her debut to her emotional breakdown.

Asuka’s appearance in the 8th episode, Asuka Strikes!, is marked by a bold persona that carries on until the end. She isn’t shy on imparting her prowess to Shinji, stating that Units 00 as well as 01 were the prototype and the test type, respectively. Her Evangelion, Unit-02 is the finished product. She even states that she graduated from university. Despite these impressive feats so early in adolescence, the only time in which they’re noted is when Asuka talks of them. Misato takes in both Shinji and Asuka, but only ever “dotes” on Shinji. Gendo pays attention to Shinji because he pilots Unit-01, and 01 contains the soul of his late wife. Rei is the clone of Gendo’s late wife, hence Gendo’s attention and overall creepy, selfish obsession with her. Asuka and Shinji’s relationship, with Misato as their caretaker strongly mimics a Golden Child and the Second Fiddle. The only difference is, Shinji gains more attention due to Gendo’s and Misato’s respective baggage. Again, Eva is a series where children are forced to handle the baggage (with no break in the cycle) and when the child doesn’t have anything the adult particularly can clue in on, they become neglected.

That’s Asuka’s dilemma.

It’s why Asuka forces herself to grow up.

It’s why Asuka is driven to be competitive to Shinji and Rei, later growing contemptible at both.

Asuka suffers a few curses, one of which being the youngest, the inevitability of being consciously sidelined dawns on her, leading to her selfsame breakdown toward series’ end. She aligns youth with trivialization, so naturally, she’d front with the opposite. She never gets help in relation to her period. Misato and Ritsuko realize something is up with Asuka but they never really offer her the support.

There’s also the flashback to her trauma in episode 22’s beginning. She’s replaced by her mother post-Contact Experiment (which led to a deterioration of her mental health) via a doll that looks like her, red hair in pigtails. It’s the leading factor to her feigned boldness, her ego. The way in which she is marginalized in the series brings it all back.

Rei breaks the silence with a few words of compassion and all Asuka can do is express disbelief. She mistakes compassion for contempt.

For pity.

The idea that anyone would extend kindness, especially now of all times, is unbelievable.

Asuka also experiences a dilemma here, a dilemma those like her face. She already knows what it means to be vulnerable and deeply hurt, but she needs to make herself vulnerable because now, more than ever, she needs the support. Being vulnerable will cause past traumas to flood back in full force, but by stewing she deprives herself of any support. Rei offers that support, but a few words of support in a wave of trivialization can’t help but feel a bit too strange.

Asuka’s greatest anxiety is realized in the twenty second episode. It’s of being and staying second fiddle, that she’s always been set up to fail. Even 2 episodes after the fact,  in which she actually starves herself does she realize once more how she’s permanently ‘below’ others.

Asuka’s curse finds itself in real life, and it’s for that reason why I believe some find themselves resonating with her. Asuka’s gradual descent into bitterness is something I find myself waking up some nights thinking about after 7 years going through Eva; hers is a cautionary tale on being emotionally distant to cries of a damaged youth. Casually imparted knowledge of past achievements, and the competitive attitude mixed with embitterment, some of which from a genuine place but also a product of neglect. We were forced to play second fiddle, we forced ourselves to grow up to feel more legitimate, forced to carry an ire that stews because it seems no one listens.

VIII. Naoko+Casper

The late Naoko Akagi is a woman of multitudes. Those multitudes are compartmentalized into the 3 MAGI. They are Balthasar, Melchior, and Casper.

Casper shows itself to be the most prominent aspect of Naoko’s personality, her as a woman. Ritsuko states that, after the defeat of Iruel, 11th angel, that Casper is the part of her mother which remained that way to the end.

Balthasar and Melchior have been bested, be it by rival MAGI, or Iruel’s assault. This calls back to the fact that Naoko’s other facets aren’t anywhere near as prominent. Naoko has cited her own emotional negligence, of only showing emotions should it ever benefit her.

Casper on 3 occasions fights tooth and nail, Iruel’s assault, an attack by multiple MAGI in End of Evangelion or the defiance of Ritsuko activating the self-destruct sequence. Ritsuko does this to seek vengeance against Gendo for coming to the immense realization that he never genuinely cared for her. Gendo has always used Ritsuko for her body. This would destroy NERV, meaning killing herself and Gendo.

Then you realize why Casper overrides the sequence.

Casper’s stubborn behavior wasn’t actually to defend NERV but to protect Gendo. Casper’s defiance aka Naoko’s emotional absence toward her daughter allowed Gendo to kill a bewildered, rightfully angered Ritsuko.

The saddest part of Casper’s, no, Naoko’s choice is that Naoko got away with murder. Evangelion is a story about children dealing with the selfishness of adults and the adults never receiving justice for their wrongdoings. The relationship between Ritsuko and Naoko is an excellent example that this doesn’t just implicate the young pilots. Ritsuko dies in End of Evangelion with the truth that her mother, as a woman, in the end chose the man who manipulated both of them.

IX. The Other End of Existential Horror

Some spend their whole lives trying to make a mark. Others can’t help but be known.

People get smart sometimes to get themselves out of a current situation. Kaworu and Rei’s existences are such that they’re deadlocked from living. Their existences are the product of an experiment, to be later heavily watched and raised as the Last Messenger. The latter is the result of Gendo’s obsession with his late wife.

Kaworu and Rei’s existential crises are opposite from the rest of the cast; while others do their damndest to become known, they cannot be unknown. Rei’s character centering more around her identity than other characters is also initially and sneakily alluded in the opening.

The Johari Window is a tool encouraging self-awareness in the person, alluded to twice in the show, with the second time being in the sixteenth episode. Both usages of that illustration, for Rei, and Shinji drive home crucial aspects of the meta-text.

This would also tie Rei to Shinji in End of Evangelion forcing Shinji to reflect on his own awareness and will. Rei is an astute, young girl whose arc is about her personal relationship with identity, something she is all too familiar with due to her objectified nature. Rei’s arc is even more so entrenched in identity than other characters that she is one of the characters imparting personal and universal realities.

Ayanami Rei’s existence from start to finish is inundated with the issues of others, causing her to internalize being always expendable. In Rei’s Poem in episode 14, it becomes clear that she sees herself based on usage. She likens herself to a field of flowers, which slyly alludes to the Dummy System’s “parts” 9 episodes later, other Reis.

  Rei is seen as malleable vessel which houses thoughts rather than her own person and she can’t do anything about it. So she resigns to her reality. Even if she does tell off Gendo in End of Evangelion for his objectifying, she’s not even out of the woods. She never will be.

I used to think Rei’s “slap” to the face to the man with the (most) baggage was empowering. Then I learned about abuse during adolescence, how kids who lack a support system act while away from their abusers. Even saying an emphatic “fuck you” to your abusers isn’t enough to be a happy ending. Rei is a girl who lacks a support system and she suffers from it. Start to finish.

Kaworu’s crises are much trickier to pinpoint because there’s so little to work with. He doesn’t get an episode dealing with personal, subconscious explorations. Getting his character means first getting how Evangelion re-contextualizes what “Ode to Joy” symbolizes. It also means understanding the AT-Field and most people won’t pick that up on an initial foray. Or maybe even a second. Most people don’t pick up that the AT Field implicates anything living and physical or its metaphor for boundaries and identity. There’s the common misconception that Evangelion is a “human” show.

Kaworu marks off his appearance humming “Ode to Joy” while Shinji wonders who to turn to. It’s a song generally known for its jovial nature, but most importantly, Ode to Joy is:

known also as the “Choral” Symphony. Its finale is a musical setting of Friedrich von Schiller ’s “Ode to Joy,” a hymn to the unity and freedom of humanity.

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/ninth-symphony

The Choral Symphony assumes a more horrific context later on. Kaworu is the last messenger and what his action is would lead to the mass annihilation to lilin/human or angels. ‘Unity of man’ is changed in Eva’s context – it marks either unity of man or the death of man. It doesn’t matter who Kaworu allows unity to, because his hands would be stained with death anyway. Then you realize why Kaworu deploys his most powerful AT Field during his descent to Heaven’s Door.

This is his reality.

Kaworu’s status as the Angel of Free Will isn’t about him being the only complex angel, as a lot of people think. It’s about being the sole individual handing that freedom to others.

You realize his terrifying dilemma goes to the tune of being feared for his own existence as an angel (which he notes to Shinji) and not being able to properly live.

Sometimes you ”hurt” people by existing.

Sometimes people hate you for the simple act of existing.

Kaworu’s and Rei’s terror is the other end of existential horror, that you can’t help but forced to be known. Sometimes you have knowledge but aren’t allowed to do much with it.

Tier 3: The Body of The Iceberg

X. War Horrors of ‘Ambivalence’

XI. Unit-01 Berserk Scene

XII. Dummy Plugs + CNS

XIII. Kaworu + Adam’s True Power

X. War Horrors of ‘Ambivalence’

Episode 18 is where anxieties graduate into horrors both implied and visceral. Unease hangs over the episode, with the mystery of Unit-04’s disappearance and tests being done on Unit-03. Misato tells Shinji that because tests would be done, there’d be a pilot there. Misato uneasily withholds this info from Shinji and Kensuke breaks the silence with his recurring desire of being a pilot, still ignorant of the war horrors. There’s a subtlety that Shinji picks up on with Toji but not enough to put two and two together: that the big-eater himself isn’t feeling so hot.

The continual chirp of cicadas and birds nor the peel of the school bell are enough to break the unease of the viewer or of Toji. Toji goes from indirectly being affected by war vs angels to being chosen, drafted even, a child at the first line of defense for the apocalypse. We get a flashback of him beating down Shinji, before it cuts back to present day Toji. He will be in Shinji’s shoes.

Toji balls a fist, a recurring theme in Eva, to the tune of “What is your hand for?” Toji is finally  about to take things into his own hands.

Asuka takes a few cracks at Shinji to Hikari that he hasn’t quite gotten the memo, but when Shinji asks her even she’s halted in words.

Then the day comes.

Tests are being done and suddenly Unit-03 goes  rogue with Toji in her (note the Evangelions have the souls of the pilots’ mothers, save for Rei). Unit-03’s’s strange behavior is revealed to be the work of the 13th angel, Bardiel. Shinji’s ignorance is made worse by Misato’s absence (with Misato telling Ritsuko she’d tell Shinji the pilot’s info after the tests). Units 00 through 02 are sent out for the new threat and Shinji sees this new threat. Anxiety rises.

The song “Marking Time Waiting for Death” accentuates the anxiety. Unit-03’s silhouette eerily contrasts with the sun, her body slightly hunched and approaching slowly.

Fear washes over Shinji when he deduces that with an Evangelion inside, there must be a pilot.

Yet he still doesn’t know.

The other pilots are aware, and show reluctance to the revelation. A hijacked Unit-03 sets herself on Asuka, Rei, and even strangling Shinji. Shinji allows the angel-hijacked-being to strangle him, because killing another human being is simply horrific.

 Eva has its hand in the war morals cookie jar here because Shinji stands at a conundrum, to other let this creature take his life or to murder flesh and blood. This dilemma goes double-time in war. Gendo asks why Shinji hasn’t dealt with the 13th yet, with a somewhat horrified Shinji pleading  about the pilot. Gendo commands for the unfinished Dummy System to override Shinji’s controls and then suddenly...silence….

The Dummy Controlled Unit-01 springs back and we’re treated to a close-up of Unit-03/Bardi3l being strangled. 

A nauseating crunch sounds and the unit goes limp. A controlled Unit-01 proceeds to raise hell on the incapacitated enemy, resulting in the unit’s blood and guts flowing through the streets. NERV’s personnel can’t do anything save for become fearful at the Dummy System’s capabilities. Terrible, visceral noises sound one by one as blows strike, as the unit’s severed limbs and blood splatters riddle the urban battlefield. Shinji hears every second, every squelch and splat.

Imagine the pain of 03’s pilot.

But the terrors don’t cease here. 

01 doesn’t stop at just raising hell on the incapacitated 03, and we’re treated to another close-up shot of 01 tightly holding onto 03’s entry plug, before crushing it.

Somewhere away, Misato receives news that Unit-03 has been dispatched as an angel. Shinji feels the weight of having actually killed someone, before Misato actually breaks the news that the pilot is not only alive but that the greatly injured pilot is his classmate.

It never really hit me until now how this scene holds another horrifying subtlety. Compare this to episode 3, where Toji’s first interaction with Shinji involved him punching him, the very scene playing at this episode’s beginning. The 18th episode ends now with ,Toji and Shinji are both joined in the same camp, of children emotionally and physically marred by war, not able to fully control their situations.

XI. Unit-01 Berserk Sequence

Shinji stands in a situation where he can no longer take the terrors aligned with the Evangelion. He’s gone from sustaining injuries great and small from combat with the eldritch angels, to indirectly harming a friend through it. He resigns from his position as a pilot, understandably running away even with the approach of the 14th angel.

After a talk with Kaji about how he can control his future and he only, Shinji once again puts himself at the forefront of further pains. He must once more thrust himself to the terrors that align with the war-machines whilst struggling with other traumas.

During his fight against Zeruel, his Evangelion dies out and it all floods back to him. Shinji once again finds himself at a position of no power, frantically pressing at his controls to no avail.

He can only hear blow after blow of the 14th’s onslaught. He and Unit-01 are at their most vulnerable.

Until Unit-01 springs back.

W hat follows is the famous Berserk sequence, a scene whose terror can be thanks to Evangelion’s low budget.

We see the Evangelion in all her terror and the sort of off-ness that carries in this scene.

Episode 19 has no problems on treating us to front-row tickets to terror.

Unit-01 snatches part of Zeruel’s appendage and adds it to her mass. A sickening squelch sounds and her new appendage contorts into place in an instant. 

She moves over to her incapacitated, angelic meal and doesn’t hesitate to chow down. The shots feel too personal yet nowhere near in the sense of the show’s meta-textual reflections. It’s almost like stumbling on a cryptid and when she shoots a look at the viewer, it feels as if she’s looking at us, like we’ve interrupted her dinner. Or perhaps she did finish the meal... and she’s in the mood for seconds? Perhaps even thirds?

The bizarre and eldritch nature of the Evangelions goes full force with this imagery. Episodes 2 and 16 laid the foundation of how off the Evangelion Unit-01 was with how she openly mutilates her targets. Or even the unsettling roar of Unit-01 that’s not entirely bestial. The sound is straddles a line between the blood-curdling bestial and the human. But here? Eva Unit-01’s position, from her hunched figure, to her more feral position as she feasts, feels far too organic...and far too human.

The Evas themselves aren’t human, but the souls housed within are. Eva’s souls are souls of the respective pilots’ mothers, an example of the mother and child symbolism omnipresent in Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Shinji’s mother is Yui and as we go through the series, we realize the s2 engine appliance was intentional. An s2 engine offers infinite stores of energy and this is needed for Instrumentality. With the s2 engine within her grasp and the fact that Evas don’t subsist on anything, this would make the consumption of 14th completely recreational.

It’s super tempting to frame this scene as containing some abomination that now stands unchained and indiscriminate in its targets, but it isn’t. It’s sort of understandable because Units 00 and 02 don’t come close to exhibiting this sort of behavior nor were they in this circumstance. Neither Unit-00 nor 02  have any desires in regard to Instrumentality. In the end, we should look to Yui and her own endgame, because Yui’s running the show here.

XII. Dummy Plugs + CNS

Ritsuko states the Dummy Plugs are machines which imitate pilot’s thinking. There’s a bit more than the possibility of this being 100% AI due to the apparatus Rei is in.

This very likely implies the respective person’s thought processes added with AI programmed in a way which best “describes” the pilot (basically how they are perceived). In episode 17, Rei is situated in this apparatus strongly resembling the central nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord.

{The central nervous system CNS is responsible for integrating sensory information and responding accordingly. It consists of two main components:

1. The spinal cord serves as a conduit for signals between the brain and the rest of the body. It also controls simple musculoskeletal reflexes without input from the brain.

2. The brain is responsible for integrating most sensory information and coordinating body function, both consciously and unconsciously. Complex functions such as thinking and feeling as well as regulation of homeostasis are attributable to different parts of the brain.

https://mcb.berkeley.edu/courses/mcb135e/central.html

Ritsuko imparts the unsettling revelation about Rei and by extension the Dummy Plant itself (after Misato coerced her into learning about Rei). The Reis are the core of the Dummy Plugs (and the System used to brutalize a hijacked Unit-03 and its trapped pilot). This scene adds more to the extent of Rei’s objectification, of her being replaced. It adds on to Rei III’s comment of being ‘the third.’

Rei isn’t savage by any means but the sheer brutality of Dummy System’d Unit-01 5 episodes prior may hint at her straightforward nature.

I’d like to pitch that Ritsuko’s approach to Rei’s Dummy Data was also the product of her subtle animosity toward Rei. When she refers to the Dummy Plug as a machine which mimics human thinking, she’s talking about Rei. She also refers to her similarly in episode 23 by referring to Rei as spare parts, as if Rei herself is some soulless machine whose parts can be switched out if need be. This could also call back to Rei’s poem, in which she calls herself a vessel which holds human thoughts.

Another question remains: how does Kaworu play into this?

The MPEs (the Mass Production Evangelion series) use Kaworu’s Dummy data, meaning that there are cloned Kaworus stored off somewhere, perhaps floating with soulless smiles the same as Rei has.

Treated as spare parts.

This also implies that Kaworu is more or less reduced to an object.

What’s more disturbing is the nature of the MPEs gratuitous method of ravaging and mutilating Unit-02 and by extension Asuka.

Kaworu hasn’t ever demonstrated any degree of malice, so this can’t really insinuate a ‘Kaworu is secretly evil’ narrative. But this can tie back to a recurring theme of humans fearing and despising angels. It’s because of this that the revelation of our genetically identical nature or the fact that they can comprehend our psychology is framed in-show as kind of shocking. It is because we’re so disturbed at the angels’ existence (or anything else we don’t comprehend) that we view them as inherently savage in nature. Kaworu’s quick-to-perceive personality most likely translated itself along with the AI. This would also rule in the somewhat strategic way in which the MPEs act against Asuka, exploiting her attack patterns through surprise attacks.

Some of Kaworu’s as well as Rei’s Dummy Data are the product of universal (Kaworu) and personal (Rei) contempt by people. Let that sink in.

XIII. Kaworu’s + Adam’s True Power

The bottom of the fridge horror portion of this iceberg is something that has subtly plagued me for years. We’ve only ever caught glimpses of Kaworu’s abilities in his debut episode. I picked up on it little by little with each re-watch of the episode, with every other time his abilities dawning on me. If I wasn’t focusing on how his character fits in the greater framework of Evangelion, I was cluing in on his abilities.

One of his abilities is being able to block out light, magnetism, and subatomic particles. Some of the forces which make up the universe. This witnessed by the viewer when he realizes the whole of humanity’s welfare hangs by a thread, due to the coexistence of angels and Adam.

Adam.

Adam’s soul lies within Kaworu. Adam. Who utilized an Anti-AT Field which caused Second Impact. An Anti-AT Field, which killed off much of the Katsuragi Crew in Antarctica.

This makes Kaworu the most powerful angel in the original Evangelion series.

Eva has shown that ownership of an angel’s soul (or partially, if you’re onboard the Rei I is in Unit-00 theory) allows the person to inherit the angel’s abilities through Rei. Rei blocks off Kaworu’s immensely powerful field with one of her own, canceling out both as a result. As we know, AT Fields for people are a figurative affair. People lack the physiology to exhibit a physical AT Field because they don’t have cores like angels do. Angels’ souls when possessed by humans have a sort of ability to circumvent parts of human physiology (if you’re looking for the whole package, you should eat angel’s flesh too). Rei also shows the ability to float, implied in episode 24 and shown explicitly in End of Evangelion.

But this raises a few questions about the last messenger is the ability to block out some of the forces of the universe Adam’s powers or Kaworu’s? Another ability that continues to plague me the more I think about it is Kaworu’s AT-Field usage on Heaven’s Door to bypass its lock.

We haven’t actually seen Adam’s other powers (if the angel has any) because the it’s anti-AT Field was halted via Lance of Longinus. Other than its ethereal appearance in flashbacks, we only see an incapacitated Adam in embryonic form. That’s it. We don’t know if Adam exhibits any other powers due to this impediment. If Adam does have more powers, this would add onto both the fridge horror factor of Adam and Kaworu.

Tier 4: Pre-Abyss

XIV. The “Nihilist” Lens

XV. The True Nature of Sync Rates

XVI. Unit 01+ MPE Gorging Scenes

XVII. Ancient Ruins of Arka

XIV. The “Nihilist” Lens

There’s something that implicates the whole cast. Something that goes beyond the meaning of the AT-Field, and the all-too-known Hedgehog’s Dilemma.

Eva is filled to the very brim with psychological concepts, but there’s one thing which ties this all together. It goes much larger than the desire to become validated or cycles of abuse and unresolved issues to a newer generation.

Free Will Vs. Determinism ties the entire cast together and is disturbing in its own right. It not only ties the cast together but also contributes to Eva’s meta-narrative.

Episode 16’s sequence with Leliel, Shinji, and the Johari Window gives little breadcrumbs to this psychological dilemma.  Leliel teaches Shinji about his own identity as well as slowly ushering him to a sense of self-awareness. Leliel also attempts to usher Shinji out of filtering reality with only convenient parts. Shinji argues that he can’t really be held culpable for his actions, because the one and only reality is that reality is awful, bar none. Not his reality, but reality as a whole. This deterministic stance becomes ever more blatant 8 episodes later with the appearance of Nagisa Kaworu.

Kaworu’s designation is the angel of free will. The irony of this stands in the fact that Kaworu isn’t the only angel who can exhibit free will (with some of the angels before him taking the time to try comprehending people). Kaworu’s status comes from his identity as the last messenger, bringing about freedom for one species (humans/lilin or angels) at the expense of the other. Kaworu knows his reality well and in the end, seeks to better the reality of those around him. Eva doesn’t romanticize the prospect of free will, however, because Kaworu is so aware of his own person and how he can hurt those around him that it greatly bothers him.

The metatext doesn’t just position Shinji as being in the wrong, but also the audience. Remember the point I made before about Shinji being the audience substitute? It’s further hammered home from the series’ tail end and into End of Evangelion.

“That’s just the way things are.” is a common response to things in life we feel resigned on changing, because we don’t know how to change them. This quote is a parallel to Shinji’s “humans aren’t made to float!” in episode 16.

Shinji does know how to change much of his reality, but by doing so he’d be pushed into free will. Free Will is the solution and it means holding yourself accountable rather than believe that it’s everyone else with the problem. With the idea that you can change your reality, it offers you the opportunity to love yourself.

If you love yourself, then it becomes much easier to love others.

Eva’s free will and determinism metatext hammers home the extension of empathy.

Shinji/the viewer’s greatest problem is that because we don’t love ourselves it makes it difficult to extend the love to everyone else. Shinji’s love translates as idealism. Because of his unhealthy idealism, he is hindered from understanding people.

By ascribing your beliefs from determinism to free will, it opens your mind to an entire world of possibilities, but therein lies the terror. It is because of these possibilities that Shinji and by extension, the viewer, likely fears free will. Shinji finds ways make himself validated, but with free will, the argument could be made that it doesn’t matter. There’s the anxiety-crippling likelihood that none of it actually matters, because your existence doesn’t matter. If we’re going on this bent, acts of making an adequate impression on others are acts of personal denial. In the end, these are what they are, possibilities.

The greatest terror of it all is that we don’t know.

User power-chords makes an excellent point about the inherent darkness of an internal locus of control.

User power-chords posits the idea of existential absurdity for Shinji not as a certainty but a possibility. There’s always a likelihood that our desires to comprehend the world around us, to find ultimate understanding are in vain.

Cheesy as it sounds, people fear ambiguity because we seek a satisfying end. We don’t just seek answers. We want outside closure and inner peace, but we won’t always get it. It’s why we rationalize relationships that end on bad notes. Sometimes you worry about your falling-outs...and it hurts. You never got the answers your wanted so this pain carries, for months, sometimes even for years. Dwelling on the issue serves no purpose other than to keep that hurt with you. The best thing to do sometimes is to find your own closure, your own meaning.

No, Evangelion isn’t actually pro-nihilism, but it presents us with that likelihood. That’s what makes this aspect of the narrative so terrifying: The consideration that we find meaning in the meaningless.

XV. The True Nature of Sync Rates

The nature of injuries and having them in adds onto the innate horror --be it war or otherwise-- and themes of the Evangelion. The severity of the injury is based on how high the pilot’s sync ratio is. An average rate while sustaining damage will bring hurt to the actual pilot in the respective spot. Some examples:

Sachiel makes multiple headblows to Unit-01 and Shinji in episode 2, causing head trauma.

Ramiel’s, (5th angel), particle beam attack in episode 6, an attack so severe that Shinji needed medical care.

Unit-00 and Rei being infected by a Bardiel hijacked Unit-03 in episode 18. Toji’s condition in episode 18 stands as a large example of the innately disturbing nature of sustained injuries.

Toji’s condition becomes all the more nauseating when you see Evangelion parts and blood flow through Tokyo-3.

Toji could feel every last second of strangulation, body blow, and feel the unspeakable pain of his arm being severed.  Let that sink in.

Asuka receives the worst of these considering the nature of her sync rate being high. The higher the rate the more kept the damage is. The circumstances behind Asuka getting the worst of it goes back to the AT-Field. Asuka understood the meaning of the AT-Field, that the more you open yourself up to others, the more hurt you become. The realization dawns on Asuka as her mother from within the Evangelion shields her from the onslaught of JSSDF troops.

It’s then that Asuka finally comprehends what the Absolute Terror Field is. Despite her emotional needs being neglected, realizing she’s set up to fail, and going comatose she still goes on.

Asuka, despite everything, takes a chance and opens her heart knowing the double-edged nature of the AT Field. What happens next?

Asuka took a chance.

She opened her heart...

...and she got hurt all because she opened herself.

XVI. Unit 01+MPE Gorging Sequences

The brutality of both Unit-01 and the Mass Production Evas holds three layers: of visual horror, implied horror, and thematic horror. Unit-01, after taking Zeruel’s s2 engine into herself, proceeds to then brutalize the 14th angel by way of still gorging on it. The feeding was entirely recreational considering Evangelions don’t subsist on food to function. This was more about the sheer act of brutality for brutality’ sake.

The Mass Production Evas also fall under this category, the way in which they deal with Asuka after incapacitating her with a replicated Lance of Longinus is also sadistic and gratuitous. They also proceed to gorge on Asuka, her fate made worse through the simple fact that her sync rate is heightened.

The MPEs don’t even swiftly finish her off.  She is in a state of tremendous and unimaginable pain. They fly above her slowly, circling above her mangled Eva.

They are almost mocking her as she can do nothing, save for writhe. Asuka’s seething, repeated “I’ll kill you...I’ll kill you….” is then silenced by the MPEs spearing her down.

The brutality doesn’t end there, as we see much darker implications of the damage sustained toward the end of the first half of End of Evangelion.

Shinji bears witness to the implications after seeing the decimated remains of Unit-02 being carried off by some of the Mass Production Units. The sickening reality of it all dawns on him and he is once more exposed to the woes of war and the nightmarish aspect tied of the Evangelions.

XVII. Ancient Ruins of Arqa

We’re ending the pre-abyssal end of the iceberg with Evangelion’s original proposal.

Eva’s proposal, a far cry to the show today, had a more sci-fi angle to it. Psychological concepts weren’t exactly pitched nor was it self-aware. The angels weren’t even referred to as the angels, but as the Apostolos. Instead of the 18 we were presented with in the original show and the movies, there were 28 Apostolos.

The Apostolos designs stand as testament to how far of a departure the proposal was to the final cut. They look far more menacing than the more amorphous, much softer defined, beady-eyed angels we’re used to. To top it all off, the Apostolos were the de facto villains of Evangelion’s prototype pitch. The Apostolos in the Proposal, toward the end, proceed their onslaught as a group rather than the series’ one by one. Toward the series’ end, the 12 strongest Apostolos begin their assault on North America, annihilating the continent in its entirety.

Only 12 of the creatures laid waste to a singular continent.

Episode 24: "Now, the Promised Time"

Rei breaks down. Her secrets are revealed. At last awakened, the twelve strongest Apostolos descend from the Moon. Both Eva Unit-06 and the American continent vanish completely. Humans acknowledge their helplessness in the face of the Apostolos' crushing power. The promised time, when people will return to nothing, approaches. A human drama in the depths of despair.

Episode 25: "Arqa, the Promised Land"

The laboratory holds the ancient ruins of Arqa, which have become key. In order to stop the twelve Apostolos, the United Nations' head members annul the Human Instrumentality Project and resolve to destroy the Apostolos. Shinji's father objects. Shinji and the others stay at the laboratory for Rei. A drama of people conflicting over incongruous objectives.

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Resources:Neon_Genesis_Evangelion_Proposal_(Translation)

The aforesaid creatures were so powerful in the original pitch that Human Instrumentality and the ancient ruins of Arqa would be the way of stopping the onslaught.

Tier 5: The Abyss

XVIII. Split Second Misato Death

XIX. Humans Are The Villains in Eva

XX. The Ultimate Paradox

XVIII. Split Second Misato Death

As the last and most explicit aspect of original Evangelion, it would only make sense that EoE specific content would take its place in Tier 5. End of Evangelion is a 90 + minute tour de force with disturbing imagery back-to-back. Split Second Misato Death refers to one of the most unsettling images sprinkled all throughout the movie. Here are a few of the many examples of EoE’s building up on Evangelion’s ugliest parts.

Everyone cites the infamous hospital scene not even 5 minutes into the film as the first proof, but user power-chords has pointed out, Shinji has actually attempted suicide (refer to the ‘Free Will v. Determinism’ part of the iceberg.)

After Misato is mortally wounded and sends Shinji off in an elevator not long after, the JSSDF blow up that part of NERV. A few people have pointed out the most disturbing facet of this scene: through freeze-framing that you can actually see Misato’s body during.

The JSSDF scene partway through End of Evangelion in which NERV personnel are summarily annihilated.

For those missing the small detail of Shinji’s attempted suicide ,Shinji’s depressed state is made more clear when the JSSDF locate him. When they do they attempt to kill him execution style. Shinji doesn’t move.

“I don’t want to die…!” during the JSSDF’s assault, Asuka is awoken from comatose state. She is protected by her mother via an AT-Field by Unit-02. She gains back her self-preservation after this realization, and multitude of images play. One of them is an extremely gruesome close-up of Asuka’s face. (extreme body horror warning, proceed with caution)

The Komm Susser Tod scene beginning with Shinji strangling Asuka in harsh coloring, Naoko’s same action toward Rei plays right after. A few disturbing child drawings follow after, predominantly featuring death. (seizure warning, body horror warning)

End of Evangelion’s flooring nature comes from the fact that it builds up on the subtly horrific and makes these terrors explicit. Whatever existed beyond closed doors becomes now available for us to see,

XVIII. Humans Are The Villains in Eva

At the penultimate point of the abyss lies a horror as old as much of time. Of the humane being more disgusting than the monsters.

That we can be monstrous.

This fact becomes known with the appearance of the JSSDF as dispatched by SEELE, methodically mowing down NERV personnel with little to no weaponry of their own. We’re treated to NERV’s personnel in their hallways, some forced with the moral dilemma of leaving their own to die while surviving or helping their own while both end up being gunned down. 

It becomes apparent that SEELE has been gradually, intentionally chipping away at NERV’s Defense Budget, getting rid of the (little) competition they have after the defeat of the Last Messenger.

There’s a degree of contempt and casual sadism that comes with how they kill the personnel. In one instance, a NERV worker surrenders to the JSSDF, before being killed off in execution style in the distance (one headshot plus two extra shots for good measure).

When you look back at it, this sort of sheer, unabashed brutality wasn’t felt about the angels. Human attitude about the angels is largely fearing, anxious. This attitude accentuated itself through a sometimes nervous soundscape. Of observing these weird, ghastly creatures as they creep and swim. And the feeling’s mutual. The problem is that we don’t know.

But here? We do know.

When the JSSDF move in, the anxiety of angels graduates to the full-force dread of creatures that have killed before. The greatest enemy to humanity has always been with them all along, forcing them to a catch-22. The dread falls on Maya because she understands this perfectly. NERV has only ever shot at targets rather than living flesh…

...and SEELE knows this.

SEELE’s slow, but sure suppression of NERV’s budget is kicking a man while he’s down, but the man in question is a child instead. The JSSDF have more than enough firepower, calling it overkill goes beyond an understatement.

The JSSDF demonstrate the lack of remorse further with the discovery of Third Child, Shinji Ikari. One of the members presses the barrel to Shinji’s head before Misato steps in and kills the members.

The JSSDF isn’t the only damning evidence of how ugly members of humanity can be, however.

Humanity’s on-occasion grossness shows itself in small ways throughout the series, in dislike and conscious emotional distance for individuals, or beliefs of the angels being unintelligent and/or savage. Other times it manifests fiscally, in orchestrating more ethical approaches to stopping certain destruction to go seemingly haywire in order for NERV to receive more funding. This all due to a rival company of NERV challenging the very idea for its usage of child soldiers.

The worst of this damning fact is that many of the morally repugnant members exist on a higher echelon of society. There are Gendos running around, doing as they so please and they’re the tip of their echelon iceberg.

XIX. The Ultimate Paradox of Evangelion

“Anywhere can be paradise as long as you have the will to live.”

We’re treated to these words as Shinji finds himself on shores surrounded by an isolate hellscape, with Asuka next to him. The strange and altogether horrific nature of End of Evangelion has gotten fans  believing on End of Evangelion’s endgame was in certain, nihilistic. But Eva dipping its hand in the likelihood of meaning in the existentially meaningless isn’t even the ultimate terror of Eva’s self-aware universe, nor is it the tendency for man to become contemptible towards itself.

Evangelion greatest terror is the paradoxical nature of free will.

Yui’s words to her son as she drifts off into the ever-expanding cosmos, her status as a deity realized, is that paradise is universal. EoE assumes this unconventionally positive approach to a whole series worth of characters’ woes. The issue is: finding paradise is ultimately conditional.

Free Will’s paradoxical nature is what gives credence to the ongoing Free Will vs. Determinism dilemma. People can use their free will to take away yours entirely and this is most evident with Rei. Her existence is the result of a man’s unhealthy attachment to his wife, her lack of self-preservation the result of being conditioned as a multi-purpose vessel; her desire to merge with Lilith to become an omnipresent mother-figure was not hers. The nature of disallowing free will exists on a spectrum, as people can use their free will not to take away the whole of others’ freedoms, but to disallow them proper emotional growth. The adults around Asuka weren’t around for her during the series, leading to her eventual downfall.

Unit-01, throughout much of the second part of EoE holds the power to give or deny people’s physicality due to her status of having both Fruits of Life (the s2 engine held by angels) and Wisdom (from the Lance of Longinus merged with the Eva earlier on). This gives Unit-01 her deity status and while within Lilith-Rei, Shinji realizes that not everyone would be there in his life, that he can’t be in the center of others’ lives. It’s for that reason why he denies people’s physicality (“They can all just die.”), which turns people into LCL.

Shinji gives allows people the ability to come back from Instrumentality after realization arises that without other people, there’s no way to tell if Shinji, himself exists or not. Kaworu and Rei also give him the reality that with people back, pain will become an inevitability once more. With all the souls gathered by Lilith-Rei, they are released after her death.

With the souls of those cast into Instrumentality dispersed, those turned into LCL now hold the ability to come back from Instrumentality if they so choose.

While the idea of anywhere being paradise rings true, it’s not entirely satisfying to say that EoE is unconventional in its uplifting message to the viewer. Evangelion is at its core a cautionary tale. It warns the viewer into extensions of empathy and openness that others would properly live. This goes double for those with power. Without that compassion, we’ll have Asukas, Misatos, Ristukos, as well as Reis, those in the world whose downfalls come from emotional absences, neglect, objectification, and forced baggage. We would have Shinjis, those wanting to be at the nexus of others’ importance because they were deprived while young.

Kindness is a powerful thing and the lack of compassion present in all of Eva implicates most everyone. It leads to yet more abusive cycles, with the only thing breaking that cycle being a hand for those in need.

XX. Conclusion

What more can be said over this juggernaut which is a host to a bevvy of darkness? Evangelion is testament that anxieties and horror don’t need to start out as blatantly shocking or visceral to make an impact years down the line. They also don’t need to be out in the open to initially hook you either. You pick up on a few anxieties as well as horrors and you realize deep down, there must be more, which drives many of us to engage in this often times unabashedly dark source material.

Some of us are doing it later in the throes of adolescences, others are doing so well into their 20s, possibly dipping into their 30s. Point is, it draws in a lot of us and for a lot of us, it doesn’t ever let go.

Some of its charm could be chalked to the visceral ways in which characters interact. Even after years of re-watches, I’m still learning new things about the child soldiers, and I’m quite sure there’s others finding small details. There’s also the possibility of Eva’s approach to terror. I think Evangelion “humanized” its horror. It didn’t make horror a universally human feeling, but made it so that the true big bads looking to cause apocalypse weren’t actually the eldritch. Many of the angels are more or less lost kids looking for their mother (I still think Ramiel’s “singing” in episode 5 was it calling for its mother!).

With those newer details after 20+ years, there will be more added to the iceberg. Hell, there should be more added to the iceberg. This iceberg is the tip of an even greater iceberg. I’m still learning about their adults and their desires as well, how cyclical their actions are. For others, the draw-in factor lies in its low budget. Personally, it’s all of these for me: the low budget helped cement these darker aspects of the series due to horror and the genre’s overall relationship with limitation. It works best on limitation and had Eva worked with a much higher budget, I don’t think the content would be as effective, or perhaps it’d be much more difficult to make it so.

Evangelion is such a well-done, deceptively compact series that each lens a fan assumes has its own interesting rabbit hole. Your circumstance shapes the experience, and this too involves how you navigate the series’ menagerie of terrors.

I’d also like to thank the reader for getting through the largest rabbit hole in Evangelion. I’d also like to thank you for getting through the whole of this meta from a fan who slowly began to resonate with the characters as the years went on!

[danwhobrowses]

WWE Crown Jewel 2022 - Quickfire Review

So it was a busy day for me on Saturday, so I opted to watch the Saudi Blood Bowl 22 the day later.

Not exactly excited for the event, given the main event but we shall see if the wrestling was at least good.

Spoilers for the show

I scrubbed through the Pre-Show BTW, no matches, just promos for the matches and packages for Charlotte and Owens, nothing too big to tout about.

Brock Lesnar def Bobby Lashley (Pinfall) You can forgive Lashers attacking Lesnar immediately after how Brock cost him the US title, attacking the knee and multiple spears to start with, Lesnar kicked out of course, but Lashley kicked out of the F-5 too. Crowd turned on Lashley after that, but after a long session of the Hurt Lock, Brock won by having Lashley fall on his back for the 'surprise pin'. It's kinda a shame because of the strong start, but it was a poor finish made to keep Lashley looking strong - who attacked Brock after - I suppose this counts as a double turn, unless we're just gonna say Riyadh is 'bizarro world'.

Women's Tag Team Championship Damage CTRL [Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky] def. Asuka & Alexa Bliss (c) (Pinfall by Kai on Bliss) - NEW CHAMPIONS! I know the women are supposed to be full covered but Damage CTRL's attire choice looked like low-qual flightsuits XD Seems that the show is doing promos between entrances too, this time we got an interview with a Bray Wyatt showing on the screen that Alexa noticed, as she talked about being 'prepared for this'. Alas, they were not; the wrestling was great which is unsurprising given all four women's caliber but again the finish sucked, Nikki Cross - whose return a few weeks ago made a point of being on neither side - interfered and hit Alexa with a Twisting Neckbreaker from the top turnbuckle as the ref was stopping Iyo and Asuka's brawling. It was another cheat finish but also an objectively dumb decision to hot potato the already weakened titles.

Steel Cage Drew McIntyre def. Karrion Kross (via Cage escape) Scarlett benefits from the fact that she already is used to wearing full body latex suits, also what is stopping Drew from bringing a sword into the cage? The match was a bit slow, like I know it's a cage match but still there wasn't anything that stood out for a long while, once again Drew looked like a goof being distracted by Scarlett before a Claymore, allowing Kross to hit the Kross Hammer, he tried to climb over but Drew used it as a superplex, Drew almost crawled out the door but was maced by Scarlett (would've thought he'd be more wary of her), he rallied to stop Kross from escaping again. Scarlett locks the door so Drew tries to climb, so she unlocks the door to try and drag Kross out first, but Drew drops to land out with plenty of time. It was okay, cage escape never feels like a payoff victory when you have these kind of guys in, but there will be a rubber match.

The Judgement Day def The O.C. (Pinfall by Balor on Styles via Coup de Grace) Cole's not the only one who wants to get a closer look at Rhea Ripley, but Cole did well to further the point that Beth vs Rhea will likely happen in the future. This match was always gonna be sour for me because of the NEVER Openweight title stuff, I know NJPW's business can be iffy but I doubt Karl wasn't informed of a title defense before crawling back to the place he previously slated. I don't like that we keep harping on about Rey when it comes to Dom, I get it of course but still, Dom won't escape Rey's shadow if they keep mentioning his father. Dom and Anderson were the feeders for the match, Balor and AJ saved for the final act where the tag klaxon went off. With Dom distracting, Rhea interfered to stop the Phenomenal Forearm so Balor could hit his Dropkick/Coup de Grace combo for the win, not much difference really, Karl could've easily just laid down for Hikuleo in this case.

Braun Strowman def. Omos (Pinfall via Running Powerslam) Edward James was curiously without MVP when he entered, but was still holding the advantage over Braun to start, they seemed to be trying to sell the story that height = weight and because Braun is smaller he couldn't lift 416lbs, even though Braun has lifted Big Show and Mark Henry before (not at the same time), that played to the finish as he lifted Omos for one Powerslam for the 3 count, he had a few hits in but often they were countered, so it didn't do Omos much good in the end. Like Brock/Lashley it was one of those matches where they tried to make the loser stay strong but instead made them look dumb.

Undisputed WWE Tag Championship The Usos (c) def. The Brawling Brutes [Ridge Holland & Butch] (Pinfall by Jimmy on Butch via Avalanche 1-D) It was good to note early that Jey had an injured wrist. The Usos almost went for a walk out but ol Sundance jumped them. Dutch got some power play by lifting both Usos at once. The Usos did fight back and hit the Double Splash but it was broken up, the wrist came into play as Sundance did the finger break spot, but Jey kicked out of the White Noise and Jimmy broke the count on the combo move. A blind tag led to Jimmy countering the top turnbuckle attack to hit an Avalanche 1-D. It was a good match, could've gone up a level though if they had more time, since the injured wrist was legit I can see why it didn't come into play too much.

Raw Women's Championship - Last Woman Standing Bianca Belair (c) def. Bayley Well the writing was on the wall after the Women's Tag match. Bayley stuck with the Damage CTRL flightsuit and was the first to bring out weapons - almost hitting the crowd with it. A Chair and Ladder each couldn't grant Bayley the equalizer she was seeking, a feigned ankle injury and using the ramp doors was unique though, as was trapping Bianca inside the steps and hammering her with the Kendo like a Whack-a-mole. After a spinebuster on the steps, Bianca regained the advantage up the ramp until hit with a Bayley-to-Belly, so Bayley locked her in a box, which she burst out of with a prompt from Bayley, so next the match took a note out of AEW's playbook with the Golf Kart, Bayley tried a dive but Bianca fought back and drove off with her on top, however, Bayley completely missed the table when thrown off, so they did a powerbomb for the 9 count. Bianca missed the 450 on a pile of chairs so Bayley set up a Roseplant on the chair but Bianca hit a KOD, she sandwiched Bayley between the ladder and wedged it under the bottom turnbuckle to trap her for 10. The match was perhaps the unsurprising best so far, but I am let down that WWE had Bayley lose 3 times, it really deflates Damage CTRL's status.

Bray did a promo after in the site where Goldberg destroyed his mystique as he gave us a promo about how he became the Fiend to excel beyond his family achievements but he wants to be Bray Wyatt. Uncle Howdy showed up on the tron noting that he will 'give in' again and wear the mask once more. Nothing offensive but also nothing new.

Undisputed World Championship Roman Reigns [w/Paul Heyman] (c) def. Logan Paul (Pinfall via Spear) Eurgh. Logan came down in a podium, once more not having a different attire while Cole tried to gas up his farsical and clearly fixed Mayweather fight (you think Mayweather would back off when he was on Jelly Legs? Match was only for the $$s). The entrances for both men lasted like 15 minutes. It was already disappointing that Roman didn't just Superman Punch him, going for collar-and-elbow tie ups and waistlocks, which apparently is a 'clinic'. I feel like it was a slight as well that Paul used a Buckshot for 2, after Reigns called out KSI and Mr Beast Paul also hit a Gutwrench Suplex, a Blockbuster (which apparently is treated like the most difficult move in the world), a 'Superman Punch' and a Standing Moonsault. The 'Lucky Punch' payoff was followed up with another 'Superman Punch' for a 2-count, so he got Shane McMahon syndrome vlogging a splash onto the Announcer's table. Out come the Bloodline who brawl with Logan's guys so Jake Paul can come out and chump out the Undisputed Tag Champs. Paul hit another Lio Rush-esque Frog Splash for 2 before Solo came out to confront Paul, but when the Usos cornered him so Logan dived at them, ran into a Superman Punch and a Spear to finish.

I know Paul is putting in work, but again he should not be in this spot, the fact that he's being treated as a threat to Reigns and getting more offense than many other and greater wrestlers than him is a mockery. Sure he can do a Standing Moonsault, that's about the most impressive thing he did, but he's done 3 matches in over 7 months and not developed, he has a babyface delusion and the match ended up being overbooked just to get his brother involved too.

Overall Crown Jewel is frankly, skippable. Just pretend last week's Raw didn't happen and you're in the same spot, the women pulled off the better performances overall, but the overbooking and/or interference really did harm the show. Many a match was unncessary, especially since only the Last Women's Standing Match held a candle to Rey vs Gunther on Smackdown's taping or OC vs Shibata on Rampage, at the very least it passed the time but it ain't 'must see tv'.