#ellie talks evangelion

[bunnywand]

another video that got taken down and i’ve been trying to find again was of the elevator scene from the Original airing of the show, but with the dub voices.. but i can’t find it at all 🙁

(for context, a lot of the animation for episodes 21-24 was redone for the dvd releases (i think??) and the original versions are kind of hard to find nowadays)

but there’s so many fucking ~meme~ versions of that scene on youtube that it’s Rly hard to find, so the closest i’ve got is one that compares the original version with the redone version And the rebuild version, but that has the rebuild audio on top of it too 😫

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

PoE: Actual Thoughts

This is going to be my last post regarding the discourse that I was responsible for starting. A lot of people probably think I hate the movie and am Lily Orchard 2.0 because of what those like spot-the-antisemitism claim. I’ll be leaving my actual opinions on it as well as the fandom and why I don’t love it as much as I used to. Contrary to what Zionists like Emperorsfoot claim, I can think for myself and have my own beliefs.

TPoE used to be one of my favorite movies. I wrote an essay back in 9th grade encouraging people to watch it because it had great music, great animation and an emotional story one could appreciate regardless of their religious beliefs. I still think it’s a good piece of filmmaking and has its place in theological and historical discussions. James Baxter worked on some of the animation sequences and would later create iconic moments from shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe.

So what’s the problem? Well, the reason my opinion towards has soured is multifaceted. Being an anime fan has played a role in me seeing it as just another movie as opposed to the greatest animated film ever due to watching movies such as Spirited Away, Suzume or The End of Evangelion. Its fandom is another thing I dislike. Some say you can’t let fandom ruin something for you but if a majority of the people in a fandom are jerks, then it’s valid to not want to engage.

While it was wrong for me to call it “Zionist propaganda”, I have gotten anon hate from its stans including suicide bait. So many of the people in the notes of the post as well as the OP were either transphobic radtrads like griseldafury21, “vote blue no matter what” liberals like Short-wooloo or all the fandom Zionists like Prismatic-bell. YouTube comments are full of “anti woke” creationists using it to trash modern Hollywood, which is terrible but not for the reasons they claim. Liberal Zionists do use it to support their view of themselves as perpetual victims who can do no wrong. Killing people is okay as long as they’re oppressive in their eyes, whether Egyptian or Palestinian.

So maybe I do dislike it but not because I think it’s a bad movie or propaganda, but because it’s fandom has soured me towards it. One could certainly use its liberation message as a commentary on the oppression of Palestinians but that probably won’t get any support from the movie’s top fans. The behavior of the hardcore fans is what has turned me off to it, especially their concern trolling over gofundme scams. Same reason why I’ve been less enthusiastic towards Steven Universe. Still has a place in my heart and was a big factor in my anime obsession but the amount of fans who are racist milquetoast liberals has pushed me away from the fandom. I don’t single out Jews for being Zionists either. I would be disappointed if Rebecca Sugar supported Israel but I’d feel the same about Makoto Shinkai, Hideaki Anno or Dwayne McDuffie, if he was still alive, and others I admire. I judge people based on their actions and principles, not their religion or ethnicity.

So that’s what I actually think of the movie and it’s fans. Some of the songs like “When you believe” are pretty emotional and as someone with a complicated relationship with my brother, the conflict between Moses and Ramses does get a tear out of me, even if that’s not what happened in the Bible. I still have fondness for it, but many of its hardcore fans have ruined it and people’s lack of willingness to criticize any aspect is disappointing. Criticizing it or SU does not make someone Lily Orchard or Lindsay Ellis as people can develop their own opinions without influence. The Prince of Egypt is a great work of art in my opinion but it’s not above criticism and the way people use it as well as other “wholesome” media as a shield should be talked about more.

[nickeverdeen]

Nerd!Ellie Williams hcs

Nerd Ellie would have an impressive collection of old video games, especially ones like The Turning, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted

She’d obsess over in-game lore and strategy, getting super competitive in multiplayer modes

She’d be a huge fan of comic books, constantly geeking out over superheroes

She’d have a stash of rare issues and could spend hours debating the best storylines or character arcs

Ellie would have a fascination with science, but especially space and galaxy

She’d be deep into sci-fi and anime, binge-watching shows like Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, or Attack on Titan

Her room would be filled with posters, figurines, and even fan art she draws herself

Ellie would be all about board games like Dungeons & Dragons or strategy games like Risk or Settlers of Catan

She’d take on the role of dungeon master for her friends and get way too excited about crafting epic storylines for the campaigns

She’d be the type to take apart radios, consoles, or old gadgets and try to fix or mod them

She’d probably have a corner of her room dedicated to half-finished projects, complete with soldering tools and spare parts

Ellie would get super flustered when talking to her crush, stumbling over her words and pushing up her sleeves nervously

She’d try to impress them with random trivia or lend them one of her favorite comics to bond over

She’d be deep into meme culture and constantly reference them in casual conversation

She’d also be active in online fandom communities, participating in debates or creating fan art and fanfics for her favorite shows and games

Ellie would have a love for retro tech and pop culture from the '80s and '90s

She’d have old VHS tapes, cassette players, and a love for classic films like The Goonies or Back to the Future

She’d love the idea of building a retro arcade machine one day

Ellie would get super into cosplay, hand-making her own costumes for conventions or just for fun

She’d meticulously recreate outfits from her favorite games or shows, spending hours on the details, and getting her friends to join in on group cosplays

[ketherane-molybdate]

Feel like it's about time I should make at least some kinda pinned post so uh Hello! I mainly use this blog to share fandom stuff, memes, & lesbianism, but I will semi-frequently share more serious content e.g. politics & fundraisers. For this you should be aware that this is a Marxist-Leninist blog with some focus on feminism & anti-imperialism when I do talk about it, as such I don't take kindly to zionists, NATO apologists, (ukro-)fascists, sinophobes, transphobes, patriarchy simps, ableists, or any other milieu of bigots & liberals

But anyways, here's a brief rundown of my interest tagging system & some of my most used tags/special interests (things I consider sub-tags listed in parentheses):

fanart (deltarune fanart, toh fanart)

fan theory

folklore lore - just a silly tag for internet hcs about folklore & myth

deltarune (kris dreemurr, ralsei, kralsei, suselle)

disco elysium

ena

hnk - Houseki no Kuni/Land of the Lustrous

rgu - Revolutionary Girl: Utena

bes - Blue-Eyed Samurai

evangelion

dungeon meshi

splatoon (pearlina, acht mizuta)

toh (lumity) - the Owl House

steven universe

adventure time

mlp*

apex legends

dr who

star wars

good omens*

house* - the TV show House MD (not really a special interest, just talk about it some)

anthropology

birdposting

guns

ellie talks - that's me, mostly just for text posts/me rambling

communism memes - again, memes regarding communism, not mocking it

This list is probably subject to expansion, but this is all I can think of for now. I'll also definitely tag things as nsfw if I feel like they even slightly need it, but even tho I'm asexual, not everything's gonna be squeaky clean just fyi

If you made it this far, you are my de facto moot now and I love you 😙 Have a nice day!

[elliethesuperfruitlover]

okay ackshully~ (contains neon genesis evangelion and evangelion movie spoilers)

let me just talk (rant) about evangelion for a hot minute i have SO MANY THOUGHTS. (im also like a little stressed, and talking about things im passionate about helps, so here we go)

for anyone who doesn’t know, evangelion is an anime made in the late 90s that’s a mecha style anime (i think thats the proper term). im currently watching the series on netflix, and i have a lot of thoughts on it. i thought it’d be good for me to share them.

it follows the life of 14 year old Shinji Ikari, who is the son of Gendo Ikari, the head of NERV. (a company that defeats things called “angels” (which arent good whatsoever). i feel bad for him a good amount of the time because he’s being forced to do a lot of things. yes, he chooses to pilot his EVA (unit 01). however, if he wasn’t manipulated, i feel like he may not be making the same decisions. (same with rei)...and also kinda asuka. there are many times that i feel like he’s shown as extremely mentally unstable, and (i feel) borderline sewercidal. he needs therapy.

now, gendo ikari gives less than two shits about his son. he rarely ever talks to him, or spends time with him. he’s basically using his son to get his mother back (which is close to impossible). he cares more about a character named Rei Ayanami, who, as is turns out, is a clone, and is also a tortured child who needs a hug. i want gendo to choke. aggressively. i dont want him to die, but i want him to suffer. greatly.

rei is kinda shinji’s mom (she’s a clone, so her DNA and brain are altered). she has the spirit of his mom, but isn’t biologically his mom. she’s very quiet and reserved. in school, she isn’t very social, and other students rarely every talk to her. she’s constantly shown alone, or looking out of the window in classes. there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to hang out with people. in rei’s case, however, i feel extreme pity for her because she just seems really sad all of the time. she’s either doing things with her EVA (unit 00), and risking her life, CONSTANTLY, and it feels like the poor thing never catches a break.

my second least favorite character (number one being gendo), is asuka sohryu. she’s brought in a little later than the series. i like her introduction. she’s a fiery kid, and doesn’t let anyone put out her spark. and has the tendency to defend herself by any means necessary. i like that. however, the way she treats shinji is literal garbage, I HAAAATEEEE OH MY SWEET LORD. i get her backstory. i get that. and i know she feels like she has to prove herself to others, and be better than others. she doesn’t have to bring other people down though. she’s seen talking shit about rei, calling her “miss perfect”, and constantly shitting on shinji, just look it up. he gets a compliment, she has to bring him back down. i get where she’s coming from, but i just struggle a lot with it. i have caught myself many times just calling her out on her bullshit, yelling at her, yada yada. (oh, i forgot to mention, she also pilots an EVA, unit 02)

EVAS are basically giant robots that are controlled by shinji, asuka, or rei (respectfully), and are an extension of their bodies. if the EVA gets hurt, the pilot gets hurt. the EVA is also soul-like, in a way that each character may not be able to pilot another EVA. the spirit of each character’s mother, or another figure, is present in the EVA. (like how we see in one episode, when something almost falls on shinji, one of the EVAS, the one he ends up piloting, stops it from falling).

these EVAS have a main use, which is protecting humanity from these things called “angels”. as i previously mentioned, they’re not good at all. they come to earth to terrorize it, and cause destruction. some of them have different motives, for example one of them tried to infiltrate NERV HQ, and another tried taking down a project called the “magi”. they’re living (ish) beings that take many forms. they’re capable of evolution, as seen in a few episodes, and have been shown to do so quite quickly. it’s common for them to have things called “AT fields” or “absolute terror fields”. it’s like a type of shield that’s invisible until it’s attacked, or touched. it can be destroyed, if the proper amount of force is exerted.

now that that’s out of the way, let’s get into why this show ruins my brain. my brother got me into watching this show. as he watches a LOT of anime, and  has pretty good recommendations. (none of them have flopped) we watched all five evangelion movies, before i got to the show. now, i did happen to fall asleep watching a lot of them, but “the end of evangelion (1997)” movie really did some damage to me, mentally that is. one of the most infamous scenes from the movie is when (spoiler alert) asuka’s EVA is found pretty much gutted, and destroyed. there’s blood and organs everywhere. i ended up waking up to hearing shinji’s screams from inside of his EVA. which is, by far, one of the worst things to wake up to. it was horrifying. and they werent just “eek scary” screams. there were gut wrenching, throat deep screams. that’s just number one.

the second part that really messed me up is when a thing called the third impact happen. (the impacts are a thing caused by adam and lilith, the first humans to ever exist in this world. whenever they’re connected, disasters happen. the second impact wiped out antarctica, turning it into a sea of LCL (it’s also called “orange fanta”. it’s basically amniotic fluid, or the stuff fetuses are surrounded by in the womb) it also wiped out half of all life on earth). so, gendo ikari, because he’s a selfish bastard, ended up MAKING the third impact happen. with rei as his hamster, he uses her to initiate it. there’s this whole creepy sequence with the spear that pierces lilith (or rei, in this case). there’s a lot of imagery, and they animated an actual human eye into it. rei’s also naked (the show gives a lot of fan service, and i get that nudity isn’t inherently sexual, but it’s a LOT of nudity, especially of rei and asuka) NOW, gendo ikari basically started this thing called HIP, or the human instrumentality project. to make a long story short, he wants to make every person in the world a singular being again, so they can be reunited with lilith. it’s a whole mess, the entire world turns into LCL, and the entire sequence is so disturbing.

what makes it a lot worse is the song playing. evangelion has really oddly calm songs playing whenever really bad things happen. as soon as you hear easy going music playing, shit’s about to go down. the song just..........really fucked me up. i’ve got bad intrusive thoughts, and whenever i listen to it, i just think of what rei did to humanity happening to this world. in the scene, rei basically wipes out the entire planet, and our physical forms, and there’s just a flood of crosses (it’s how the show represents death) coming. it’s the creepiest sequence in a movie that i have EVER watched. it’s unmatched, but in the worst way possible.

you can look it up as “the third impact, the end of evangelion” and it should show up. however, i recommend to watch at your own risk. or, just look up a film description.

this entire series makes me irrationally angry, but it also brings out so many bad emotions for me. it perfectly encompasses my fears, (apocalypse stuff, death, supernatural beings, etc.) it’s so jarring to me. i’ve never been so scared while watching a series. it’s really too much for me at times, and i probably shouldnt watch it, but somehow i do.

it’s so interesting, yet it just makes me reel with nightmares and bad stuff. it’s weird.

anyways, those are my thoughts on it. im only on episode 14 of the show, so this is coming from my standpoint on that so far, as well as what i remember from the movies.

im sure my mutuals are going to be very confused, but sometimes i just want to talk about stuff to talk about it. and because i like it.

also this is somehow scratching the surface of ALL of my thoughts....so let me know if you want to hear more.

[faneliacosplay]

@8tracks: Still our song lives on. by @maidenofgaea “It is love we must hold onto. Never easy, but we try.” A Kaworu x Shinji Fanmix leaning mostly towards their TV & Rebuild incarnations. (P.s. Happy 5/3 day!!)

Wish That You Were Here Florence + The Machine Unconditionally Katy Perry Beating Heart Ellie Goulding Arms Christina Perri You’ll Never Know (feat. Renée Fleming) Alexandre Desplat Once Upon a Dream Lana Del Rey I See You (Theme from Avatar) Leona Lewis How Does A Moment Last Forever Céline Dion Annotations are under the cut!

Wish That You Were Here And I never minded being on my own, then something broke in me and I wanted to go home to be where you are, But even closer to you, you seem so very far. Unconditionally There is no fear now, Let go and just be free, I will love you Unconditionally. Beating Heart I want to make the best of what is left, hold tight and hear my beating heart one last time. Arms And I’ve never opened up, I’ve never truly loved till you put your arms around me. You’ll Never Know (feat. Renée Fleming) If there is some other way to prove that I love you, I swear, I don’t know how,
You’ll never know if you don’t know now. Once Upon A Dream But if I know you I know what you’ll do: you’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream. I See You (Theme from Avatar) Now I give my hope to you, I surrender. I pray in my heart that this world never ends. How Does a Moment Last Forever Sometimes our happiness is captured, somehow a time and place stands still: But love lives on inside our hearts and always will.

[bostova]

tag game :3

Rules: Tag people you want to know better. tagged by @thebigmook and @catgirlneuralimplant thank you both 💕

favourite colors: So the colour I like seeing the most is baby pink, it's just so sweet and I wanna surround myself in it, but my favourite colour to wear is definitely black 💗🖤

currently reading: Ah, I am in the middle of a few books honestly, I am reading Transgender Marxism, or trying to anyway. Um, also I really loved the game 'Control' so I am reading the Art and Making Of book, it's so cool. I have such a thing for concept art! 😚

last song: Hmmm, I am massively into LLNN's new album so that's been on a steady repeat recently, and also a bit of Скриптонит cause his new album is pretty good. I also started listening to Emma Ruth Rundle a few weeks ago and really like her stuff

last series: Hmmmm, I have been watching Angel with Ellie for the past few months now 😘 that's like the only series I can remember watching recently haha

last movie: I watched Rebuild of Evangelion 2 last night for the first time, I really dig the direction it's going in, so I am excited to watch the rest of the films, though I've heard some Things about 3.33 👀

sweet, savoury, or spicy: ALWAYS sweet, unless I feel like crisps! My favourite thing though, is savoury things that are also sweet, like chocolate covered pretzels 🥨🍫

currently working on: Well right now I am in the middle of moving to the city, and I have a big job interview on monday that wants me to write a 10-minute presentation as part of my interview! Those two things are taking up a lot of my time. Though I was talking to Melanie earlier about making music, and that has got me feeling creative 🥰

i tag @wyndryga @hotbreastedmilf @transsorceress @maletofuta @mominatrixxx @lea-trava aaaaaand @julia91

[heartnosekid]

i have two posts i will link here and here! they're basically a stimboard of my favorite stimboards i’ve ever made and a moodboard of my favorite moodboards i've ever made. i will go into depth for a moment here and talk about each board and how long they took me really briefly.

stimboards:

lolly - lolly is probably in my top five favorite villagers, she is just so sweet so i wanted to capture her essence in a board. this board took me no time at all really, i was determined to get it done and i had a fire in me to create lol, so maybe twenty minutes at most.

green jelly - this one of three (purple, pink, green) jelly stimboards i made. i just found them visually pleasing and i specifically really loved the specific minty green this one had. out of the three jelly boards, this one took me the least amount of time, probably about 20 - 30 minutes.

adult ellie - ellie is one of my favorite characters of all time, and i had just finished playing the second game for the first time when i created this board. i wanted it to be less of a stimboard and more of an aesthetically pleasing take on the essence of ellie herself. i tried to include all the things that were most important to her identity, like drawing, playing guitar, tattoos, and listening to music. this stimboard took me maybe 30 - 45 minutes to create, as i had a very specific vibe i wanted to create to fully encapsulate ellie.

sakura with subtle nonbinary flag themes - this was a request from an anon, which i did with fervent vigor lol. i LOVE sakura, and this request for a subtle enby themed sakura board? um of course i love this board lol. i don't recall working on it very long, just staring at it a lot after posting! hehe

clear blue heart soap with key in the middle - this image pleases me a lot and i wanted to make a board for it plain and simple lol. it took me maybe an hour to create, as i had to crop some gifs and search a bit longer to find that exact hue of blue.

grey zacharie with smoke - someone actually requested this and i was sososososo grateful cuz zacahrie is a huge comfort character to me!! also here is a photo of me cosplaying as him a few years ago hehe (almost face reveal) plz do not insult the mask, it is handmade and i am not crafty by nature and this is the only cosplay i have ever done lol

this board took me maybe 30 minutes to create, and the mask took three hours! :3

kaworu nagisa - preeeetty sure this was a request, but anyone who knows me personally knows i love kaworu so very much, he was one of my first anime crushes even before i watched evangelion. the board took maybe 15 minutes to create, was very simple, i had a very gifs already saved up for this specific board so i was ready to create it when the time came hehe.

glasswing butterfly - this one was also a request! so, this one took me maybe a total of 3 hours to create. i kind of struggled finding the exact right shades of brown and white and also a combination of clear as well, but i am very pleased with the outcome! time well spent, i'd say!

coraline with no food - this was requested by @nectardew! this was a wonderful request and one of my all time favorites because coraline is very near and dear to my heart. my mother read me the book countless times when i was younger, at my request, and i always felt the story was very dear to me. i especially related with coraline's loneliness and desire for another, more fantastical life. but, to anyone that's read or seen the film adaptation, the general message behind all of coraline (at least this is what i got from it as a child) was to appreciate what i had, and to understand everyone has difficult, different lives and we all deal with it differently. it also taught me that not every beautiful face is going to treat you kindly. this board took me no time, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. one of my absolute favorites for sure.

moodboards:

revenant x bloodhound - this was requested by my dear friend @lokixfaith! this one of my favorite moodboards because isa effectively introduced me to revhound (my otp) and also had me create one of my favorite pieces of content ever lol. it didn't take me long to make however, maybe twenty minutes.

halloween nostalgia - pretty sure this was requested by an anon, but basically i am just a sucker for anything halloween, and if you pull my childhood late 90s early 2000s halloween nostalgia strings, of course it'll make my favorite boards list lol. this board didn't take very long, 30 minutes at most!

loba - this was my first apex legends moodboard! i made it on whim when my blog was still young, and it became one of my favorite boards i've ever made! it took me maybe ten minutes to create. i was on a roll with her aesthetic. lol

pastel babycore - an anon requested this! i love the pastel babycore aesthetic and i like the photos i chose in tandem. it definitely took less than 25 minutes to create.

care bears with clouds - requested by an anon! i love anything care bears and clouds feel very dreamy and the cloud imagery in the care bears movies and cartoons made it very easy for me to capture its essence. it took maybe 45 minutes to create!

"hazey" - this board was inspired by a pinterest board of mine, linked here. it's supposed to be a summarized board of all the settings and textures that made me feel safe as a child. it took me maybe 5 minutes because i had the board already created on pinterest before creating a board for tumblr hehe

zagreus - this was requested by an anon! and well i had just watched my friend play through all of hades and loved every darn second of it, so it was easy and fun to create this board for zag! it took me only a few minutes, maybe 10, mostly cuz i was just inspired.

pastel tsukiyama shuu with some flowers - back when i read tokyo ghoul, tsukiyama was always my one of my favorite characters. i mean what can i say i just love characters that are very blatantly homosexual, it's liberating. however, this board was requested by @lokixfaith! the board took me maybe 10 minutes to create, after applying all the filters to the photos to create the overall vibe.

intimidator bloodhound - this was actually the first board @lokixfaith requested from me, oh good memories. i loved creating this board, and the fact they made it their header on their blog made me even happier! it took me maybe 30 to 45 minutes to create, as i wanted to nail the aesthetic and had to switch out a couple photos in the making of it.

[megatentious]

My lengthy defense of the most hated Persona game

Here’s my grand defense for the most hated game in the series: Persona 1, AKA Revelations: Persona. I know it’s too late to try and rehabilitate the game’s reputation on the internet, but I’m hoping that by rambling in modestly structured form for a bit, at least some folks might be able to look at Persona with a fresh perspective. It would be cool if everyone could try to understand what the game did so well and why it resonated so strongly with me and 2 or so other people. If you are the kind of person that thinks games age and become archaic, then I probably don’t have any hope of reaching you, but still, try to put yourself in the right mindset and approach the game on its own terms, and maybe you’ll discover something quite special.

So, Persona. Persona does very interesting things with choice. As the first Megaten rpg released in America, the negotiation system was a revelation (har har), providing the choice to talk your way out of battles and into rewards is a natural D&D element that never got a foothold in countless videogame conversions of the game, and in the first Persona these elements are at their peak. With every demon having four moods, four series of animation and four sets of voiced sound effects, the expanded options really let you get into the headspace of the demons you’re conversing with, unlike traditional SMT’s more spare binary system. Getting into the thick of things with complex sets of reactions (Joy + Interest, that’s what’s up) makes for a fun simulation.

The theme of choice is also really built into the game’s fabric, it’s the reason why in old usenet postings, Persona was recommended to folks who were fans of Gold Box games, during a time when RPG labels were more porous and that sneaky “J” hadn’t yet latched itself omnipresently to the term. Choice here also extends to the fifth character in your party, a friendly way to promote replay value without new game plus, and certain choices locking you out of giant chunks of the game, an unfriendly way of getting you through the game again. In a world though where developers are desperate to ensure that gamers experience all content (so many buzzwords!), the chutzpah of Persona being willing to lock you out of huge swathes of the game is something I actually admire.

It’s easy to underestimate the impact of the modern day setting in a post Persona 3/TWEWY/Alpha Protocol world, but dungeons that were hospitals and police stations and high school students snarling “EAT THIS” with MIGs in pitched street battles felt revelatory. Exploring the comically low-rent polygonal city (is this another reference to the abstracted icons of SMT1 and 2 world maps?) was actually fun, as ridiculous as waiting for traffic to pass might seem. There are also many complaints about the first person perspective dungeons, even though the rest of the game is third person, but the setting variety is nice and many of the wall patterns are quite evocative (Deva Yuga looks like Persepolis!)

The game also does PSX-era philosophizing in a tasteful and generally thoughtful way, while contemporaries were drawing from Evangelion, Persona looked to Zhuangzi and Jung. Not very high-falutin, true, but at least middle brow enough such that my 14 year old Sophie’s World reading self was entranced. The game has something neat to say about loneliness and identity and the way we construct the world around ourselves (all hinted at in the moody intro. The story is very nice and very Kaneko, even if he’s overestimating the literary quality in this interview, I’m very fond of it and it is my franchise favorite.

Here’s where I alienate the remaining people who might have been on board with me so far: if you ignore the loss of the Snow Queen Quest, a 20 hour alternate version of the story that takes place in a series of SMT:If... like towers, Revelations: Persona is actually the superior game. “Lunarvale,” a hodgepodge of America and Japan cobbled together by localizers attempting to mask the game’s origins, is actually more weird and interesting than the Mikage-cho that appears in Persona PSP. This bizarre mashup, combined with a nonsense translation attempt, somehow manages to better fit the lurid dreamscape vibe the original developers were going for. I can’t undersell how one-of-a-kind and wonderfully unsettling the game’s atmosphere is in the PSX version, and this is helped along of course by the sound.

Here are excerpts from some things I wrote on the music in this game:

Revelations: Persona has the best soundtrack in the franchise, possibly the best soundtrack ever made. In raw quantitative terms it's ridiculous, 113 songs and 3 hours of music without being looped, and all without doing Persona 2's trick of repeated (but still awesome!) remixes. Two majorly sweet leitmotifs for the two major quests, employed creatively and thoughtfully, four fantastic composers on four discs, cohesive and thematically coherent when by all rights it should feel disjointed as fuck, this is a generous OST!

Hidehito Aoki (R.I.P.) composed the dungeon music, which is exquisite. Lengthy songs that are moody, elegant, just plain beautiful and get you PUMPED! The iconic Deva Yuga Monochrome: School Revisited Dream-like, synthy, catchy, beautiful, quintessential Persona sound. Pandora's Den (Deepmost Area): The climax at 1:12! Ice Castle/Black Snow The twists and turns in this one, so effing good. Sebek Music, Karma Palace 90's music is the best!!! Misaki Okibe's range is ridiculous, she composed some of the most memorable, interesting tracks in the whole game. Reverse Dream World: You think you have this song figured out in the first few seconds, but stick around to see where it suddenly veers off to around :30, hilarious and awesome. Theme of Nemurin's Love: The intro! The power of a simple lovely melody, a little Uematsu-esque. Augustia's Wood: The save music, so memorable, I love the grumbling. City 2 Accident: Do you remember wandering the streets in the town, disoriented, listening to this gorgeousness, thinking about how Lunarvale suddenly seemed so scary, like an unsettling dream? Bar Attacked by Harem Queen: A bit of jazzy beauty. And most important of all of course, Misaki Okibe is the composer of the Pharmacy Music, featuring vocals by one Hidehito Aoki of all people. Satomi Tadashi Drugstore Song In our heads forever, teaching us about item use since 1996. 

More alienating for readers who have gotten this far: the “whitewashing” character designs were all improvements, Kazuma Kaneko redrew everything himself and it’s easy to tell that a lot of thought was put into the redesigns. Finally, Mark is also >>>> Masao, everyone’s always yelling about the jive-talking but to me he came across as quite smart and savvy. I dunno, maybe this is just a Flavor of Love/Outsourced minorities just wanna see themselves effect operating here, leave me alone you guys! So yes, the franchise’s current fanbase might not be fond of them, but the cast is comprised of characters that are meant to be iconic and not friends you wish you had in real life, a cast that, FFVI-like, is meant to evoke broader themes and not follow the typical arcs of many RPGs these days. Check out the classiness of Yuki’s design, and allow me to quote some more stuff on how Tsuchiya, master of the character theme, nails it for each party member.

The sign of a good character theme is when you can extrapolate from instrument choice and melody to personality. Here Tsuchiya is the man, no one does it better this side of Uematsu. I hear these songs and I've got a perfect picture in my mind of each cast member. It's what I think of when I think of "videogame music" ha, here are my personal favorites, I could listen to these endlessly. Mary/Maki: Cheerful, just a hint of melancholy in the notes, love that slap bass. Yuki: Starts a bit slow, but soon we learn that Yuki's cool but determined. Alana: The song tells me she's brassy, energetic, fun. Chris/Reiji: Dangerous, exciting, a bad-ass delinquent. Ellen/Elly: Classy, elegant, confident.

Some also rag on the dungeon design, but it seems unfair to expect centerpiece labyrinths along the lines of Strange Journey or Etrian Odyssey in a game going for something completely different. Nevertheless, you’ve got tricky mazes with dead ends that test resource allocation skills and provide a sense of accomplishment. Encounters are tough and require thought, careful consideration of when to flee and negotiate is imperative for dungeon survival. This is something that gets lost a bit in the PSP remake as the encounter rate is increased but battles are a bit easier. Exploiting elemental weaknesses isn’t as elegant as in later games, but with a ludicrously high 14 damage types breadth supersedes depth. And there’s even a positioning system to consider that the developers decided to drop from later games rather than refine. In the end, surviving the dungeon and beating the boss is an RPG staple that just plain works, although yes you will probably grit your teeth at some of the loading times.

And finally, you don’t have to take my random word for it. Parish really liked it too! How’s that for an appeal to authority?

For series buffs, it’s fun to trace this game’s historical lineage, as one of the earlier spinoffs of Shin Megami Tensei, it's easy to spot the mainline series influence: the occultism of the opening ritual, the hospital as first dungeon, the first person perspective for dungeon travel, BLUE POINTER MAN, and the omnipresent danger of demons in town and dungeon alike. Revelations: Persona is drawing from a rich and storied history, but manages to recast SMT traditions in interesting new directions. Again, the atmosphere is really unbelievable and something I haven’t come across in other games. It’s more than a simple curiosity and it doesn’t deserve dumb dismissal or sneering derision for its flaws. Revelations: Persona is a real marvel, modern games ought to draw more inspiration from its lessons, and the game belongs in the RPG canon, there I said it!

[bunnywand]

omggg.. finally re-found a silly evangelion video i used to have in my favourites playlist on youtube years ago, but that got taken down at some point 😆

i vaguely remembered it was called like "badly animated evangelion intro" or s/t, so i tried searching for a bunch of variations on that, and finally spotted the thumbnail for it while searching "poorly drawn evangelion intro" which i think *was* the title of the video i saw now i think of it.. altho this is obvs some sort of japanese re-upload of it?? 🤔

i mainly remembered it for this horrible frame of fuyutsuki near the end, but here's a couple of my other fav frames too 😝

[therealkn]

David’s Resolution: Day -3

Day -3 (December 29, 2018)

It Happened One Night (1934)

“Do you love her?” “A normal human being couldn’t live under the same roof with her without going nutty. She’s my idea of nothing!” “I asked you a simple question! Do you love her?” “YES! But don’t hold that against me. I’m a little screwy myself.”

I had decided on this resolution just after Christmas 2018, and I decided “Screw it, let’s get an early start on it.” One of my Christmas gifts was a jigsaw puzzle that showed a bunch of old movie posters, so being in that old movie mindset after finishing the puzzle with my mom (who loves jigsaw puzzles), I decided to watch an old movie. And I picked this one.

This was basically the film that made Frank Capra the name he is today. We remember Capra as one of the big-name filmmakers of the Golden Age of Hollywood, with films like this, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (which was later remade as an Adam Sandler film in 2002...), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (one of many awesome movies to come out of the “golden year” of 1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (one of the all-time classic Christmas movies). And this film, like those, is also classic. And really good.

This movie, however, falls into a category of movies that a lot of people know one scene from and literally nothing else. A lot of people only know this movie as “the one where Claudette Colbert pulls up her skirt and shows some leg to hitch a ride”, and to be fair, it is one of the most memorable scenes in the movie, enough that countless people have done parodies/homages/etc. to it over the decades. There’s plenty of other movies like this: I put the 1959 Ben-Hur with Charlton Heston in that category, as well as From Here to Eternity and Scanners. So what’s the movie actually about, then?

Here’s what it’s about: Colbert plays Ellie Andrews, a spoiled socialite who’s tired of dealing with her father, Mr. Andrews, and his controlling/overprotective behavior. He’s especially unhappy because Ellie has eloped with airplane pilot King Westley, and he’s so pissed off at this that he’s actually trying to get the marriage annulled. Granted, he wants it annulled because King Westley is more interested in the money than in Ellie, but try explaining that to a woman who wants to spite her father by doing what he hates. And that’s why she decides to literally jump ship, leaving her father’s yacht and swimming to shore so she can go cross-country to be with King Westley.

And then we meet our other star of the show: Peter Warne, played by Clark Gable, a recently-fired newspaper reporter who meets Ellie on a bus travelling from Florida (where Ellie’s father’s yacht was) to be with King Westley. He soon figures out who Ellie is and the two end up cutting a deal: he’ll help her travel to be with her beau, and in return she’ll give him exclusive rights to tell the story in the papers. What follows is one hurdle in their travels after another as they bicker and snipe at each other all the way, and love blossoms between the two, while Ellie’s father is desperately scouring the country in hopes of finding his runaway daughter.

There’s not really a whole lot to spoil, since it’s a mid-1930s romantic comedy, so it’s pretty clear that these two stars are gonna get together in the end. Seeing how it happens is the interesting part, and Gable and Colbert have great chemistry together. They play off each other well, and it feels very natural, none of it’s contrived or forced. It makes me care more about them because you go “Ooh, this will be interesting to see.” instead of “Oh joy, this shit again.” when you see them sticking to formula. Then again, you could say this movie helped establish that formula, so seeing how it was originally before so many imitated it may be part of the reason I feel this way.

It’s interesting to watch old movies from a modern perspective, and I find it fascinating to see where tropes and ideas originate. It Happened One Night basically introduced, or at least popularized, things we’ve seen in many romance and road movies since. For example, there’s the issues that lead to Ellie and Peter taking different modes of transportation (from bus to hitchhiking to walking), which would later be experienced by Steve Martin and John Candy in Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Or the idea of separating a sleeping area by hanging a blanket on a clothesline to act like a “wall of Jericho”, something that would be repeated in later works like the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. There’s others as well, but I’ve seen a lot of things that did what this film did and it’s hard to filter out more specific examples.

That said, watching old movies with a modern perspective can be a problem because in some way you’re comparing this movie with what came after it and you can end up going “Why is this film a big deal?” It’s what TV Tropes calls “Seinfeld is Unfunny”: the phenomena of something being innovative, groundbreaking, revolutionary, etc. in its time, but as time passes and people take what it did and improve on it, build on it and all that, the original ends up seeming like it’s stale and dated and derivative.

A word of advice for people who watch older movies: to get in the right mindset to appreciate the movie and to avoid the “Seinfeld is Unfunny” effect, just tell yourself “Fuck everything that came after this. Don’t compare it to what came after it. Compare it to what came before it.” At least don’t compare it to what came after it or you’ll just disappoint yourself by thinking it’s not as good as what came afterwards.

Actually, it’s interesting to have something like a road movie in 1934, right in the middle of the Great Depression, since this was a time when not everyone owned a car, so buses were a principal form of transportation. Trains were too, but those were more expensive to ride. The movie also gives a little glimpse of what life was like in the Depression. This was a time when ten dollars could get you through a cross-country trip (I know, crazy, yes?), when motels had community showers and the rooms were all detached like little cabins, and when newspaper editors all sounded the same for some reason.

This actually reminds me of something I really liked about the film, and it regards two characters in the film: Ellie’s father Mr. Andrews, and the newspaper editor who was Peter’s boss. Both characters are introduced as somewhat belligerent and have their reasons to be, but over the course of the film, both are shown to actually be good people. Mr. Andrews is clearly worried sick about his daughter running off and like I said, it’s established that his major problem with Ellie’s marriage to King Westley is that King is basically more interested in her money than in her. He even tries to “buy off” King and compensate him for the annulment.

As for the editor... at first he’s your typical 1930s newspaper editor in the movies: fast-talking, not willing to take lip, and not really a sentimentalist. The first time we see him, he’s arguing with Peter over the phone and ends up firing him over the phone. As the film goes on, Peter talks to the editor about the Ellie Andrews story and that he’s following it, even convincing his editor to pay him right away for the story so he can get married to Ellie because he’s in love with her. His editor is initially dismissive at Peter saying he’s in love, but it’s suggested that after he reads Peter’s story, he realizes that he really does love Ellie and, when Peter feels like he’s lost Ellie and returns to his editor, drunk from his sorrow at losing Ellie and returning the money to the editor, the editor gives him some money and tells him to come back once Peter’s sobered up so they can talk about hiring him again. I just like seeing these tired tropes get twisted and seeing more dimensions to these stock character types, you know?

The third-act misunderstanding, by the way, is also well-done in this film. It plays very naturally, never feeling like it’s sticking strictly to formula and all the character interactions and emotions feel genuine, complete with more bickering and what may be one of the first instances of a runaway bride in film. Mr. Andrews, after meeting with Peter and realizing that Peter really does love his daughter and doesn’t care about the money (he didn’t even know that Mr. Andrews had put out a $10,000 reward for information on her whereabouts), even helps get the two together in the end, which is great to see.

I would recommend this movie. Ignoring the fact that it’s a classic that birthed a lot of things we’ve seen countless times in countless works afterwards, it’s a very solid romantic comedy with great chemistry between its leads, some really funny jokes and memorable moments, and a standout film from one of the Golden Age’s finest directors.

Next time: Robert Mitchum is a scary motherfucker.

[staarknaked]

Ask Meme Thing

Rules: Answer 20 questions and tag 20 blogs to get to know them better!

Tagged by @daeshikoba

Nickname: Kay, Rylen

Gender: eeeh depends on the day honestly, I’m gender fluid but have never changed my pronouns.

Star Sign: Pisces

Height: 5′7″

Time: 13:20

Birthday: March 19

Favourite Bands: mmm. Major Lazer, Prozzak (on and off but truly forever honestly), Royksopp, imagine dragons, years&years

Favourite Solo Artist: Ellie Goulding, Zella Day, Troye Sivian, I have so many most of who I listen to are solo artists tbh.

Song stuck in my head: If we were in the jungle - Prozzak

Last movie I watched: Black Panther

Last thing I googled: uh, Asuka from Evangelion 3.0 cuz I’m making the body suit for anime north

Do you have any other blogs: ahahaha yeah I do.

Do you get asks: nope.

Following blogs: 375 apparently

Followers: I just hit 400? It’s that tales of suspense comic set. I think it’s hilarious I got a surge in followers pretty much when I started shitposting.

Nationality: Canadian yo

Favourite colours: burgundy, pink, gold, green

Average hours of sleep: yeeeaaah, if I have to go to work at least 6. Other than that literally anywhere from 4-12 because I’m a shitshow.

Favourite song right now: uuuuuh like 3 of the new Prozzak songs I heard on Saturday

What am I wearing: sweats and a t-shirt with a kitten on it and also horrendous kitten socks

How many blankets do I sleep with: a sheet, a wool blanket, a duvet, and a quit.

Dream job: uh, probably something that involves very few people and lots of cats.

Dream vacation trip: The Yukon? I’m going on a cruise this fall that’ll take me there though so also Iceland.

Favourite food: Potatoes probably. They’re so versatile.

Uh so I have actually a ton of mutuals that I never talk to, and a ton of people who have been following me forever, and a bunch of new people so literally anyone who feels like doing this please so and tag me that you did it.

[comicadventurescast]

9. Planetes

Hello, fellow fans of sequential art!

This week we continue what seems to be an ongoing manga trend on Comic Adventures by discussing Planetes by Makoto Yukimura. Get ready for a podcast that is... out of this world!

  Things we talk about:

Problem Sleuth by Andrew Hussie

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris

My Hero Academia by Kōhei Horikoshi

Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis (art by Darick Robertson)

The Invisibles by Grant Morrison

Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The plays of Anton Chekov as translated by David Mamet

Neil deGrasse Tyson (please tweet me!)

A Vision of Escaflowne

Ghost in the Shell by Masamune Shirow

Mare Internum by Der-shing Helmer

Neon Genesis Evangelion by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

The Martian by Andy Weir

  Find us online at:

twitter.com/thecomiccast

twitter.com/widewildblue (Melissa)

instagram.com/widewildblue (Also Melissa)

twitter.com/AndrewDLarkin (Andrew) 

And check out our Patreon! 

  For extended show notes, visit our blog! Questions or comments? Email us at comicadventurescast@gmail.com. Comic Adventures is a project of Let’s Make Comics, a Chicago-based comics collective, and produced by Andrew Larkin and Melissa Sayen.

Click here to download

[bunnywand]

the latest addition to my evangelion collection, the “newtype 100% collection” art book!! (feat. a random assortment of pages i flicked thru) 😁

[bunnywand]

if i had to guess, as someone who’s vaguely familiar w/ how reddit posting works, i’d say the nge subreddit probably has some sort of automod system that lets posts thru as long as a) they’re not anything Too egregious, b) the user is a member of the subreddit + c) the user has some sort of post history??

..but seeing as a) i hadn’t joined the subreddit til after i tried posting + b) i’ve never posted on reddit b4.. i think my post has got stuck in some sort of “awaiting mod approval” purgatory, where it’s waiting for an Actual mod to check over it 🫣

anyways, here what i was trying to post abt, my uk edition of the “perfect collection” from 2004 that arrived 2day 😁

as far as i can tell, it’s The first uk release of the entire show in one box, and (if it’s the same as the us version) with the Original video and audio, before they remastered and redubbed it for the “platinum collection” releases, which is p cool?? 😲

and it seems to be So incredibly rare and obscure, that apart from a couple of articles i found from 2004 saying it was coming out here, i haven’t actually been able to find any other information or photos abt it online?? 😵‍💫 which is why i tried asking abt it on the subreddit but.. i guess i’m still waiting for those answers now.. ☹️

[bunnywand]

why's it taking my post (a question abt a genuinely interesting and obscure piece of old merch i've found) taking so long to get approved on the nge reddit, when every day 5 million posts like "UM. just finished watching this show and didn't understand anything, were the creators SMOKING on DRUGS?! 🤪" seem to go thru no problem 😐