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wheregoodthingsthrive · 8 months

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Hellsing / Neon Genesis Evangelion AU

I have an unhealthy coping mechanism called smashing my interests together and hoping they stick. There is very few one-to-one character duos so don't take the screenshot redraws literally in terms of who's who. Ramblings below, spoilers for Hellsing included.

Seras Victoria was a nobody at NERV who, during an Angel attack, gets severely injured and in a rogue move, Alucard (Eva Unit-00, Baskerville) brings her into his LCL entry plug to save her. It splices her DNA though to make her part...whatever tf Alucard is. Not human but not angel. I can't decide yet. Seras then is charged in piloting Eva Unit-02, Harkonnen, under the watch of Commander Integra Hellsing, head of Nerv and occasional pilot of Eva Unit-04, Knight. Nerv's staff is made up of Walter (former full-time pilot of Eva Unit-01, Blackbird, current Fuyutsuki figure), Enrico (head of Iscariot, kinda a SEELE figure, head of the Vatican Computer), Anderson (pilot of Eva Unit-03, Paladin), Heinkel (Central Dogma technician and pilot in training for Eva Unit-06, Martyr), Yumie/Yumiko (Central Dogma technician, failed pilot of Unit-06), and newcomer Pip (captain of the Euro Division and pilot of Eva Unit-05, Mercenary) etc. etc. Round Table is in there too somewhere I just don't have the time to care lmao. Makube is there too. Alucard and Walter served in the Second Impact. The all red image would probs be from the Dawn Era and the first defeat of the Wold Angel lmao. Each Millennium member is also gonna have a corresponding Angel, probably gonna be called FREAKs or something. A lot of Eva's plot points stay the same they're just mega moved around. Seras and Pip have to do a synchronized attack cause they're silly. There are a bunch of Alucard clones in Nerv's basement. Apartment shenanigans with a lot less minors. Anderson's Eva gets corrupted by an Angel (Nail of Helena) and Heinekl replaces him. Seras somehow triggers a Third Impact equivalent following Alucard's complicated results from dealing with Anderson/Walter, not quite sure yet. Walter gets obliterated by the Angel equivalent of the Captain and comes back as a sniveling teen 13th Angel. Pip gets absolutely shredded by an Angel attack but willingly gives himself to Seras' Eva, thus merging with the LCL/psychic link. Alucard goes big and goes naked (Lilith). Idk. I'll flesh out more later, thanks for reading my nonsense <3

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tongariv · 5 months

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Real Eva 02 pilot

#trigun #vash the stampede #vash plushie #neon genesis evangelion #eva 02

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luminiera-merge · 6 months

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The Music of Evangelion 3.33

HIIII they got wiped recently but i have playlists of the soundtracks from each eva rebuild movie in the order they're played in the movie. i did the 3.33 one from memory and while there IS a site dedicated to "where does this song play in the show/film?" (tunefind) it's not great and it's owned by songtradr so i'm making one of my own.

for now, here is each song featured in Evangelion: 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo, in the order they appear in and where they play! the first three are there to show the structure. they all have links to the song too!

Bataille d'Espace [Movie Version]: EVA-02' retrieves EVA-01 in space.

God's Message [Movie Version]: Asuka is blindsided by the Mark.04 and holds on for dear life.

Quiproquo 131 (2 pianos) [Movie Version]: Shinji is wheeled to the bridge of the Wunder.

Serenity Amongst the Turmoil [Movie Version]: Misato plans her move against the Nemesis series.

The Ultimate Soldier [Movie Version]: EVA-02 is deployed.

Dark Defender [Movie Version]: The Wunder powers up.

The Anthem [Movie Version]: The Wunder reaches critical power and destroys the Nemesis series.

Quelconque 103 (piano) [Movie Version]: Ritsuko and Sakura brief Shinji.

Quiproquo 83 (2 pianos) [Movie Version]: Asuka tells Shinji it's been 14 years.

Out of the Dark [Movie Version]: The Mark.09 and Rei escape with Shinji.

3EM11_QuatreMains_E_03_mx3*: Shinji sees Kaworu playing piano, but quickly moves on.

L'Apôtre de la Lune (2 pianos) [Movie Version]: Shinji explores the ruins of NERV HQ.

Thème Q (guitare) [Movie Version]: Shinji talks with Rei-Q in her "room".

3EM14_Piano_Adlib_44*: Kaworu and Shinji meet at the piano.

3EM15_pre*: Kaworu convinces Shinji to play piano with him.

3EM15_QuatreMains_Fun_07_edit_B*: Shinji and Kaworu's first duet.

Quatre Mains (à quatre mains) [Movie Version]: Shinji's second duet with Kaworu.

Qui veut faire l'ange fait la bête (piano solo) [Movie Version]: Shinji stargazes with Kaworu.

Quiproquo 140 (piano) [Movie Version]: Shinji expresses worry about the fate of New Tokyo-3.

Trust [Movie Version]: Kaworu brings Shinji outside to tell him the truth.

Long Slow Pain [Movie Version]: Fuyutsuki tells Shinji about NERV.

Quelconque 56 avec A4 (2 pianos plus) [Movie Version]: Shinji struggles to process everything.

3EM21A_QuatreMains_G*: Kaworu's piano flourish before the mission begins.

L'Apôtre de la Lune (orchestre cordes) [Movie Version]: Shinji refuses to pilot Unit-13, but is convinced by Kaworu.

Return to Ash [Movie Version]: Unit-13 and the Mark.09 descend into Central Dogma.

It will mean Victory [Movie Version]: Asuka and Mari vs Shinji, Kaworu and Rei-Q.

Betrayal [Movie Version]: Shinji locks Kaworu out and pulls out the spears.

Scarred and Battled [Movie Version]: Rei-Q frees the 12th Angel.

From Beethoven 9: Unit-13 begins Fourth Impact.

The Wrath of God in All its Fury: Fourth Impact; EVA-02' engages the Mark.09.

Kindred Spirits (Thème Q) [Movie Version]: Kaworu tells Shinji not to be sad.

Tout est Perplexe (Thème Q) [Movie Version]: Kaworu dies.

God's Gift [Movie Version]: Fourth Impact ends and Mari rescues Shinji from Unit-13.

Sakura Nagashi: Credits theme.

Peaceful Times (choeur) [Movie Version]: Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 teaser with the "Unit 08+02".

*Not available in the widely available commercial soundtrack release.

#neon genesis evangelion #evangelion #evangelion 3.0 #evangelion 3.33 #rebuild of evangelion #i'm gonna do posts for the other ones #but 3.0 is the only movie where i can remember the soundtrack order from memory #(i don't feel like watching a movie rn)#NO clue why the wrath of god in all its fury has no official upload

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duhragonball · 2 months

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Neon Genesis Evangelion 02

I’m honestly not sure if I knew beforehand about the penguin. This is one of those “wacky” anime tropes where it’s like “Uh-oh, we have a kooky thing in our show! Wokka wokka!” and I’m pretty sure it’s in so many different titles that I probably heard about the penguin and got it mixed up with some other show’s wacky animal. Anyway, let the record show that there is a penguin in this anime.

So last time Shinji Ikari got voluntipulated to pilot Eva Unit 01 in battle against an “angel”, a powerful monster that occasionally shows up in this world. All we really know so far is that the angels are hostile and only the Eva machines can stop them, if they have a compatible pilot to operate them. I guess the NERV Agency built the Eva machines, and recruited Rei Ayanami to pilot one of them, but she’s been hospitalized, so the NERV director, Gendo Ikari, has brought in his son, Shinji, to pilot another Eva unit in her place.

And he reluctantly agrees, despite having no training or prior experience. Hell, it’s not even clear he had any idea what he was getting into today. Anyway, he seems to have a gift for controlling his Eva, but the angel still overpowers him and starts kicking his ass. One of its powers is some sort of energy piledriver thing it uses to batter the head of Eva-01. Shinji can feel the damage, even though his own body isn’t physically harmed.

In the NERV command center, everyone’s freaking out because this clearly isn’t working, but there’s nothing they can do about it. Well, everyone except Shinji’s dad, Gendo. He doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other.

Then we flash forward to after the battle, when Shinji wakes up in bed. The middle of the episode just moves on, and for a while it’s unclear what the hell happened.

A bunch of big shots have a meeting in a darkened room, talking in circles about how expensive it is to fight the angels and all the projects they want Gendo Ikari to work on. I feel like I’ve seen this a hundred times. Pop Team Epic spoofed a scene like this, and this whole show reminds me of the not-funny parts of the Excel Saga manga. All these vague references to things the audience couldn’t possibly know about, and flashbacks to lines delivered earlier in the same episode. I don’t know if Evangelion was the inspiration for a lot of this stuff, or if it was just using tropes that were already familiar in 1995. Certainly the giant robots vs. giant monster thing is nothing new.

Anyway, nothing really gets settled in this scene. The authorities want Dr. Ikari to handle this crisis, and from what I can tell he already is. He’s a callous prick about it, but none of these guys seem to care about his attitude. They briefly ask why it’s so hard to find compatible pilots for these Eva Units, but we never get a clear answer. And Gendo has no reaction to their posturing, so this scene really doesn’t advance his character at all, unless the point is to show that he’s just as indifferent towards his superiors as he is to his subordinates.

At some point Shinji is released from the hospital, and Misato sets him up to live in this city. He wasn’t injured from the battle, but he was shaken up pretty badly. On their way, they briefly run into Gendo, who just stares at Shinji, who looks away in frustration until the elevator door closes. Soon enough, Misato learns that Shinji won’t be living with Gendo while he’s here. That doesn’t seem to bother either of the Ikaris.

So Misato arranges to have Shinji live with her, since she doesn’t like the idea of him being in a place by himself. She tells Ritsuko about this, and jokes that she isn’t planning to seduce the kid, and Ritsuko is upset at the very thought of it.

Misato was only kidding, but yeah, that’s kind of a messed up thing to kid about. It’s not even a case of the joke aging poorly, because Ritsuko takes offense in the very next line of dialogue.

On the way to her place, Misato finally explains to Shinji what this place is: Tokyo-3, a fortified city designed to repel Angel attacks. I think I can make an educated guess about what happened to Tokyo and Tokyo-2. What I don’t understand is what good the city does. It didn’t protect anything, and it was up to Shinji to defend it. Maybe it’s just easier to clean up and repair than a regular city.

Anyway, they get to the apartment and there’s empty beer cans and trash everywhere. Shinji is uncomfortable being here, he’s uncomfortable eating instant meals with Misato, and when he doesn’t immediately relax like she wants, she brow-beats him over it.

I guess that’s the point of all this. Misato’s the only person in this show so far who even tries to treat Shinji like a person, and she’s frustrated that he isn’t more like the kind of person she’d like him to be.

I mean, the additional frustration of living with an adult woman must be stressful as well, and the penguin probably doesn’t help matters.

Okay, so this is kind of a thing. At night, Shinji lies in his bedroom listening to his mixtape or whatever, and it switches from track 25 to 26. I was reading a Twitter thread that mentioned this, and how he only listens to those two tracks over and over, so I think that becomes important later. Anyway.

At last, we finally flash back to the battle, and learn how Shinji survived. Somehow, his Eva went berserk and began fighting back all on its own. Or maybe Shinji was controlling it unconsciously or whatever. The Angel is quickly overwhelmed, and it tries to self-destruct, but the Eva survives unharmed.

The NERV crew mention something about the Eva’s “true form”, which I guess explains whatever this thing is that we see beneath it’s helmet. Shinji gets a look at it through his viewscreen and they stare at each other for a while before he blacks out from terror.

Before turning in for the night Misato stops by to tell him what she feels she should have told him earlier: that he did a good thing by saving Tokyo-3 from the Angel.

I don’t know, it didn’t quite hit me until now, but yeah, it’s kind of fucked up that no one bothers to thank him until well after the crisis has passed. I mean, if Tokyo-3, the NERV Agency, and all the rest are so crucial to the future of humanity, then you’d think there’d be more gratitude towards Shinji. I think part of the disconnect here is that the Angel problem is a lot bigger than this one attack, and the characters are too busy worrying about the big picture to appreciate a single act of heroism, no matter how important it might be.

Anyway, that’s it for now. Join us next time when... actually I have no idea. I watch the next episode preview, but I couldn’t make much sense of it. I’ll find out soon enough.

#neon genesis evangelion #2024ngeliveblog #shinji ikari #gendo ikari #misato katsuragi #ritsuko akagi #pen-pen

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ancientevangelions · 6 months

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Who do you think is the best Eva pilot?

My heart tells me it should be Asuka.

My mind tells me it is Shinji.

But I also think Shinji got an unjust advantage with the whole Yui thing in Unit 01, and the S2 engine

Idk if Rei and Shinji would have fared better against the mass production Evas if they were in the same situation as Asuka

Asuka is the pilot who has the most training, she was trained in combat since she was a small child specifically to pilot Unit 02. She is the most skilled Eva pilot and for most of the series has the best synch rate.

Shinji has no combat training experience; he's a civilian until he is forced into combat by Gendo. Most of his solo battles are won by Yui's interference as Unit 01 (Sachiel, Zeruel), or Bardiel was the Dummy plug. Shinji is not skilled as a pilot; he has protagonist armour.

Rei doesn't have any skill in combat and tends to be used as a shield or a back-up to prevent Shinji from dying or other assets being lost.

Out of the original trio, Asuka is the best Eva pilot only because she was trained to be the perfect child soldier, which is terrible.

#neon genesis evangelion #rei ayanami #shinji ikari #asuka langley soryu

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saturnzirl · 22 days

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TOTAL DRAMA EVANGELION ✶⋆.˚

this is not necessarily a new au, I have posted about this in the past... but I just remembered it existed and decided to talk about it again!

so the total drama gen 1 cast ( including alejandro + sierra) in a neon genesis evangelion setting.

it goes along with the nge storyline, but no one takes a specific part.

chris, chef, don, blainely, josh, the tennis pros, and the police cadets are apart of the staff. (chris obviously being the head of NERV)

then the gen 1 cast are the EVA pilots.

i do believe some of the other generations should work at NERV. for example, emma and kitty would be interns or something (fun idea idk)

for the eva units, i assigned 4 for a certain unit. (there are 6 units in total, but in each unit they have letter assignments. for ex: UNIT 4-B)

here are the units and the people who are in the units lol (its a bit long)

UNIT 01: GPU

Ezekiel (EVA01A)

Lindsay (EVA02A)

Beth(EVA03A)

Tyler(EVA04A)

UNIT 02: TES

Eva (EVA 05B)

Noah (EVA06B)

Owen (EVA07B)

Izzy (EVA08B)

UNIT 03: CHP

Bridgette (EVA09C)

DJ (EVA10C)

Sierra (EVA11C)

Geoff (EVA12C)

UNIT 04: DB

Cody (EVA13D)

Harold (EVA14D)

Trent (EVA15D)

Justin (EVA16D)

UNIT 05: WW

Gwen (EVA17E)

Courtney (EVA18E)

Kadie (EVA19E)

Sadie (EVA20E)

UNIT 06: FS

Heather (EVA21F)

Alejandro (EVA22F)

Duncan (EVA23F)

Leshawna (EVA24F)

There is gonna be a lot of angst... Obviously

That's all I have right now :3

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best-evangelion-girl · 1 year

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Unit 02 is a red evangelion unit piloted by Asuka Langley Soryu, and contains the soul of her dead mother, Kyoto Zeppelin Soryu. it first appears in neon genesis evangelion in episode 8 as it's being transported to Japan before being attacked by Gaghiel. the eva is a fairly effective weapon when controlled by Asuka, and is shown to win many battles. however, after the losses against Bardiel and Zeruel, as well as the mental turmoil that it and Asuka experience from Arael, the sync rate between Asuka and unit 02 drops so low that unit 02 is incapable of movement. Kaworu Nagisa is brought in as a potential replacement, but he then uses unit 02 to enter central dogma (only to find that Lilith is stored there and not Adam) before he is killed. originally, I was gonna include the EoE fight as part of unit 02 non berserk, but people voted that unit 02 is technically is a sort of berserk state during that fight.

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Evangelion_Unit-02

the mass production evas were built in secret by SEELE as their way to enact human instrumentality. they had planned to build 12 in total, but only completed 9 before the final angel was defeated. they are shown as white winged evas with elongated mouths and no eyes. they are also all autonomously controlled by a dummy plug labeled "Kaworu". they are often called "harpies" by some English speaking community because of their bird like appearance and how they circle around unit 02 when first appearing and devour it's corpse when defeated. they are also equipped with large double sided swords that can transform into replica spears of longinus. they also all possess S² engines, which allows them to operate without power and regenerate. they play a major role in the third impact, utilizing unit 01 as the initiator, transforming their faces into Rei faces, and stabbing themselves in the chest with their spears. but after Shinji rejects instrumentality, they fall to the ground in the shape of a crucifix.

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Mass_Production_Evangelions

#best evangelion girl poll #neon genesis evangelion #poll bracket #poll competition

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wednesdaypasta · 1 year

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Asuka Langley Sohryu analysis

VERY LONG POST!!!!!!!

This essay is purely for my own autistic ass, make of it what you will lol.

Asuka is often viewed as a conceited, narcissistic and deeply flawed character in NGE. I don’t believe Soryu is truly as horrendous as others perceive her to be, perhaps that is due to my own projections or simply me giving her the benefit of the doubt, so I’ve decided to take it upon myself to truly understand every aspect of her traumas, her actions throughout the series and finally her death. I want to know what caused her to become such a self loathing yet egotistical child. every tiny detail of her personality can be traced back to specific events, she's been created with such detail and precision, it's hard not to want to delve deeper into her story.

Prior to the traumatic events of NGE Asuka had a horrific home life. She was neglected by her mother who was busy with work, leaving Asuka feeling irrelevant. This sparked an overwhelming need for attention, which followed her from early childhood right until her last breath.

Kyoko Sohryu (Asuka’s mother) was a key scientist in the German division of Gehirn. (What would later become NERV’s third branch.) She was the subject of the contact experiment with Unit-02, where during this experiment part of Koyokos soul would bond with the eva, causing severe mental damage. This led to her becoming incredibly unstable and psychotic, believing one of Asuka’s dolls was her daughter rather than Asuka. As a result of her mothers insanity, Asuka felt even more neglected and abandoned. She was replaced by a doll, not even a human, but an inanimate object.

At Kyoko’s most deranged she pleaded Asuka to die with her in a double suicide, to which Asuka, in an act of desperation to be loved, agreed. Her mother instead hung herself alongside the doll. Asuka was so replaceable to her own mother that she wasn't even worth being killed. In later life Asuka grows to feel utter contempt and disgust towards her own weakness; she was completely vulnerable and desperate to be loved, so much so that she would have died. She’s extremely black or white. If he can’t be loved, she should die.

The Asuka we are first introduced to doesn't seem to carry much of this weight at all. She’s bright, bubbly, feisty and fun. Her presence brings a much needed lift to the show with dance routines, montages and general playfulness from both her and Shinji. How can such a broken character appear so confident? Asuka uses her ego as a safety net, she wants to appear as confident (if not bordering on narcissistic) as possible to hide the fact that she is very much still an insecure child. If she doesn't appear vulnerable, no one can hurt her. Her confidence will project onto those around her and she will be the most loved girl in Japan, right? She is the best Eva pilot by far, they need her. These thoughts are enough to keep her not only alive, but living.

Obviously this doesn't keep up, as we see Shinji strike Asuka’s nerves more and more with every episode that passes. Shinji is the counterpart to Asuka, everything that he lacks, she will overcompensate with. His nonchalant, pessimistic, self pitying attitude is everything she hates. But shinji isn't all too dissimilar from Asuka at all, his ego is absolutely huge; if he isn’t happy, why should anyone else be, he's not loved so everyone should die. Everything that Asuka pushes onto herself, Shinji pushes onto others. This causes a very expected clash between the two. Part of me believes that Asuka potentially sees in Shinji what she could have become if she had not been chosen to pilot unit-02. Someone merely existing, an insecure child whining at any given chance about doing this, that and the next thing. Someone ‘useless’. Asuka demands to be used at any given chance for recognition and validation, even at the prospective cost of her life/sanity.

While Shinji is the embodiment of the internal threat of her deep rooted shame, insecurities and fears, Rei represents the external threat that she can and will be replaced. Rei is the golden child, she does as she’s told, she fights well. This can be proven in episode 22 after Asuka has yet again been defeated by an angel, her sync rates drop. This comes as a massive blow to her fragile ego. To make it worse, Ritsko notices Asukas mental disturbance and orders Rei to shoot the Angel, leaving Asuka literally in her shadow. This is when the mindrape (i hate that term but i can't think of anything better to describe it as) occurs, leaving Ritsuko no choice but to start looking for a replacement pilot. Rei ends up saving her by using the spear of longinus. This absolutely destroys Asuka, how could she be shadowed, let alone saved by someone as spineless as Rei? She's being replaced yet again, bringing her back to square one in regards to her Mothers horrific passing. At this point both Shinji and Rei are performing better than her, proving her to be useless. The very thing she berated Shinji for from the beginning.

Kaji and Misato also play some of the most important roles in Asukas life, being her only acting guardians. Kaji is the only person we see Asuka actively regress back into a childlike state with. Her pleas to be recognised and loved by him are overwhelmingly upsetting. Screaming that she is an adult, that she wants to have intercourse by him and be viewed as somewhat of an object is a desperate cry for help. She wants to prove that she’s no longer an insecure child, but her ways of doing so only prove that more. While Kaji never made advances on her, he equally enabled it to an extent. I believe that sex is what Asuka perceives as the most adult thing she can comprehend, so she yearns for it with an adult figure to not only prove to him but herself that she is no longer the sobbing infant at her mother’s dangling feet. Kaji seems somewhat aware of her past, which may be why he never put his foot down with her. He knows that the harsh rejection of her advances would cause the spiral that eventually came due to her sync scores dropping. Pleading for intimacy may also be (in her mind) one of the least shameful ways for Asuka to beg for validation. We never saw Asuka in this state with any of her classmates, leading me to believe that she uses Kaji as he is somewhat of a parental figure to her, as fucked up as that is. She needs him to validate and praise her as she never got that from either of her parents, but would never hurt her pride by saying that blatantly therefore relying on sex to get her point across. When it’s revealed that Misato had previous relations with Kaji, this obviously hurts Asuka’s ego to an extent. She views Misato as a fully fledged woman who, like Rei, is capable of what she is not. Asuka’s battle with the constant sexualisation of herself is one of the most misunderstood parts of her character. A lot of people seem to believe it was used as fucked up fanservice, but i wholeheartedly think it’s a very jarringly real way to portray how neglect and abuse can affect a young girl, regardless of how uncomfortable it is to watch firsthand. It rounds out her backstory fully and adds a whole other level of depth to her character for individuals to identify with.

At the end of Evangelion we have a broken, soulless and decayed Asuka. She is no longer the abrasive, confident and overbearing character some of us (guiltily) adored. Only a miracle could bring back the determined character we know and love. Thrown into unit-02 for safety, Soryu is left comatosed only for her mothers voice to wake her. Kyoko can be heard saying the words ‘You’re alive!’ several times. This implies that the maternal part of Kyoko's soul was the one trapped inside unit-02, and is now cheering Asuka to fight, to live! However, another voice joins in, begging Asuka to ‘Please die with me!’. Both these voices mix together, thus suggesting that the insane Kyoko and Maternal Kyoko have merged together inside the Eva. Regardless of her mother chanting to die with her, the voice telling her to live on shines through and provides the motivation to have one of (what I consider) one of the best battles in cinematic history. Asuka comes to the realization that she was never truly alone. Her mother was always watching over her, watching her pilot the eva. Everything she had ever longed for was truly validated in that moment. She fought with a might that we had never seen before, she truly gave it her all. It feels so incredibly bittersweet to see her truly at her happiest, screaming out ‘mama!’ as she brutally tears mass unit eva’s to shreds, smashing their heads in, ripping off limbs etc. The whole scene is so authentically Asuka Langley Sohryu. The sheer shock, the horrifying events unfolding while she has a wide grin on her face. She was actively risking her life knowing she has the validation she has craved since he was a toddler. Everything I have spoken about in this essay truly comes together in this heart wrenching scene; her screaming about useless shinji, her crying out for her ‘mama’, her overbearing confidence in herself. Even in her last moments she was determined, not to prove to anyone else but herself that she was useful. She says through gritted teeth and a struggling breath ‘I’ll kill you’ thus proving how she was genuinely set on being seen till her very last moments on earth.

I firmly believe that Asuka is one of the most well thought out and genuinely complete characters I’ve ever seen in fiction. While she is not the most ‘likeble’ she provides a very important role in making Neon Genesis Evangelion the show we know and love. Anno has done a fantastic job of creating a character that is so easy to hate yet so easy to relate to. As previously mentioned, some of this may be projection but I truly do feel she is a character anyone could pick apart and find some sort of self in.

#long reads #long post #evangelion #eva #neon genesis evangelion #evangelion analysis #evangelion essay #asuka langley #asuka

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samasmith23 · 1 year

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Evangelion: You Can (Not) Marathon — (Part 5)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Episode 5: Rei, Beyond the Heart/Rei I”

Continuing my Evangelion re-watch marathon with NGE, "Episode 5: Rei, Beyond the Heart/Rei I"! For my thoughts on the previous episode, click the link to the post below:

With that out of the way, let's dig in!

So here’s something that I’m rather curious about. We’ll learn later on in the series that each of the EVA Units are possessed by the souls of the pilot’s dead mothers, Shinji’s mother inhabiting Unit-01 and Asuka’s mother inhabiting Unit-02. While it’s never confirmed exactly whose soul inhabits Rei’s Unit-00, many fans have speculated that it’s inhabited by the soul of the first toddler Rei clone from Episode 21 (i.e. the one strangled to death by Ritsuko’s mother Dr. Naoko Akagi).

If we go with that interpretation, then I’m curious as to who exactly Unit-00 was trying to punch behind the glass when it went berserk during the activation test? Was it Ritsuko since she’s the daughter of Rei I’s murderer? Or was it Gendo since he was sleeping with Dr. Akagi and is manipulating the current Rei to help fulfill his own version of Human Instrumentality?

Also, while Gendo does appear to show legitimate concern for Rei’s safety (far more than he ever has for his own son Shinji) by burning his own hands to open Rei’s ejected Entry-Plug, the viewer is also given a subtle indicator to the fact that said-concern is not exactly benevolent as he when Rei tells him that he’s alright, he simply gives the cold response of, “I see.”

So NERV uses a cross-shaped object to in the place of an Entry-Plug in order to keep Unit-00 from going berserk again after the failed activation test? Interesting…

Two things about the scene where Shinji notices Gendo’s burnt hands:

-1) I love how Misato immediately encourages Shinji to drop his facade of saying he was looking at “nothing,” and to instead be honest, as it’s a continuation of the resolution of Shinji & Misato’s character arc from the previous episode! -2) Shinji’s usage of the word “bullsh*t” when reacting to Ritsuko’s description of Gendo risking his own safety to protect Rei actually marks the first instance of one of the more colorful 4-letter curse words in the original ADV/Manga Entertainment Dubs of EVA (said-swearing is completely absent in the Netflix re-dub). And similar to future instances, Shinji’s more extreme swearing here is strictly reserved for intense emotional moments rather than being gratuitously spread out, as it helps convey Shinji’s shock and disbelief at the idea that his douchebag father would actually risk himself to protect another child.

I love the contrast between Shinji’s perception of Rei versus Toji & Kensuke’s perception of Rei during the gym pool scene. While Toji & Kensuke are acting like a bunch of perverted horny idiots, objectifying Rei by talking about her physical anatomy, Shinji is instead asking questions about just exactly who Rei is personality-wise, wanting to know more about her as a person since despite her being a fellow EVA pilot she’s completely silent and isolated from the rest of her peers and yet seems to have a more visible bond with Gendo than Shinji himself does.

And as anime YouTuber GoatJesus pointed out in his "Rei Ayanami Analysis" video, Shinji’s non-gazey perspective is further supported by the framing of the camera through Shinji’s POV when looking at Rei sitting by the pool. As a director, Anno purposefully avoids objectifying Rei in this scene by utilizing camera angles which frame her from distance instead of resorting close-up shots of her physical features.

Essentially, both Anno the director and Shinji the character are refusing to satisfy the perverted male-gaze that’s personified here by Toji & Kensuke.

The way Anno places the viewer directly in Shinji’s shoes during this scene is absolutely phenomenal! Just like Shinji, we’re invited to ask further questions about Rei when we see her and Gendo happily interacting with each other, especially since neither Shinji nor the audience is able to hear what either character is saying to each other. If Rei is so emotionally withdrawn from the rest of her classmates and even her fellow EVA-pilot, then why does she seem so open and happy around Gendo? And why does Gendo seem to be more open and caring towards this random mysterious girl than he is to his own biological son?

Lol! The way poor Pen Pen passed out stone cold upon consuming Misato’s terrible cooking literally just had me burst out laughing!

On the subject of Misato’s bad cooking though, the way Ritsuko suggests that Shinji move out and, “Not let a bad roommate ruin his life.” As well as Shinji’s reply that, “I'm used to it by now,” this exchange seems to subtly infer that despite Shinji & Misato deciding to be more open and honest at the end of the previous episode to try and overcome the Hedgehog’s Dilemma, they’re still living in a relative dysfunctional living arrangement.

It makes me wonder if whether or not by Shinji “coming home” and Misato “welcoming him home,” they were actually purposefully inviting each other to inflict further pain as a coping mechanism to avoid isolation instead of expressing their true feelings in an honest and healthy manner. So does that contradict my previous interpretation of the final scene from Episode 4, or are both interpretations simultaneously valid?

That’s part of the beauty of Evangelion being such a complex and multifaceted open-ended series, as there’s no single universal interpretation of events and seemingly contradictory character behavior and motivations can simultaneously co-exist and inform each other.

Alright, the famous scene where Shinji first encounters Rei in her apartment! I’ve already spoken at length before about how I feel effectively this scene actively subverts the typical fan-service cliches that you commonly see in anime, and that reading still holds true upon rewatch!

For starters, I love how the first and most immediate attention to detail in this scene is on the condition of Rei’s living quarters themselves, as Shinji discovers them to be incredibly dirty and unsanitary. Not only because of the recently used blood-stained bandages on Rei’s bed and nightstand, but also because of the dozens of unopened letters in her mailbox and visible shoe-prints on the floor (in Japanese society it’s customary for people to take their shoes off at the front door before entering).

Additionally while Shinji does end up accidentally walking in on Rei naked as she’s just existed the shower, she’s more visibly concerned about the fact that Shinji’s wearing Gendo’s old pair of glasses instead of her own modesty, and silently rushes in to pull the glasses off of Shinji’s face which causes him to lose his balance and accidentally fall on top of her and his hand to unknowingly land on her breast.

Whereas in most anime this would be framed in a comedic light, with the female character angrily lashing it out and beating the crap out of the male character for his accidentally assaulting her, Rei’s reaction is instead a silent deadpanned stare before asking Shinji, "Will you get off,” in a monotone voice (which voice actress Amanda Winn Lee conveys phenomenally well in the ADV Dub).

Shinji’s obviously embarrassed and ashamed about the accidental encounter while also being confused over Rei being seemingly undeterred by the event, to the point where she completely fails to notice his attempts to give her the replacement NERV ID badge that he originally came by her apartment to deliver.

In addition to subverting uncomfortable sexist anime tropes, I also love how Rei’s unusual reactions instead invite the viewer to ask further questions about her character? Like... why is her apartment so dirty and noisy? Why does Rei only seem to show visible emotion whenever it’s related to Gendo, considering that she cared more about protecting Gendo’s glasses than her own modesty (plus her later slapping Shinji when he says he has zero faith in his scumbag father in front of Rei)?

Speaking from personal experience, when I saw this scene for the first time all I could think of was just how many questions I was then having about what exactly was going on inside of Rei’s head, as her status as a complete enigma made me very fascinated by the mystery of her character and want to learn more about her!

Also, the fact that Rei’s apartment is located in what appears to be a noisy industrial complex filled with completely identical generic buildings (combined with her emotionless almost robotic mannerisms) serves an excellent bit of visual foreshadowing to Rei’s true identity as a artificially-engineered clone born in a laboratory!

I love the bookending close-up shots of Gendo’s different pairs of glasses at the beginning of each Unit-00 activation test scene!

So… that sighing expression that Rei gives while still inside of the LCL of her Entry-Plug after Gendo halts the test to have Shinji go fight against the newly detected 5th Angel, Ramiel? Is it meant to convey a sense of disappointment that Gendo said she was yet not ready to go into battle yet as an EVA pilot? Because he assigned that task to Shinji who previously doubted his father’s abilities as a commander (which Rei took offense to)? Or is it symbolism of her finding peace within the proverbial womb of the Evangelion and the primordial soup of all life that is liquid LCL, foreshadowing the other side of Rei’s true identity as the reincarnated soul of humanity’s progenitor, Lilith? Again, so many possible interpretations and layers of symbolism…

Speaking of Ramiel though, I FREAKING love this Angel’s design as it looks so wildly different in comparison to either Sachiel or Shamshel! In contrast to the previous two Angel’s more organic appearances, Ramiel has an almost otherworldly inorganic appearance and makes this ominous mechanical humming sound as if it were a literal UFO (there’s a reason that I’ve always referred to this particular Angel by the nickname of, “the Flying Fortress”)!

In regards this specific Angel's name, according to Wikipedia, "Ramiel (Imperial Aramaic: רַעַמְאֵל, Hebrew: רַעַמְאֵל Raʿamʾēl; Greek: ‘Ραμιήλ) [refers to] a fallen Watcher (angel) not to be confused with the holy angel "Remiel” who is an Archangel in the apocryphal Book of Enoch. Ramiel [Watcher] mentioned in [Chapter 7], is one of the 20 Watchers (angels) that sinned and rebelled against God by mating with a human woman and creating an offspring called Nephilim."

Dang! What an intense cliffhanger to end this episode on with Ramiel immediately blasting Shinji and Unit-01 with a deadly laser beam the moment they emerge from the NERV GeoFront!

So that was that was NGE, "Episode 5: Rei, Beyond the Heart/Rei I," and overall it’s definitely another strong entry in the series upon rewatch!

Next up is Episode 6!

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jinruihokankeikaku · 1 year

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Changes were made to the Rei Poem between Eva Original and the version of Episode 14 that aired.

In Eva Original, the poem goes as follows:

"Mountains. Skies. Seas. The skies glowing with sunset. Red. The color red. I hate the color red. Flowing water. Blood. The smell of blood. A woman who does not shed blood. Human beings, made of red earth. Human beings, made of shed blood. Human beings, made of man and woman. This is a city. Something people made. This is Eva. Something people made. What are people? Things God made? Are people things that people made? What lies in me is life. Life. The soul's container. The Entry Plug. The soul's seat. Who is this? This is me. What's 'me'? What am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? I am me. This object's who I am. The fom that makes up who I am. The me that is visible to the eye. But I feel as if I am not who I am. It's very strange. I feel as if my body's melting. I grow unsure of who I, myself, am. My boundary lines are vanishing. I sense...somebody else. Who's there? Out there? Ikari-kun? Captain Katsuragi - whom I know. Doctor Akagi. My classmates. Eva-02's Pilot. Commander Ikari? Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?"

In the recording script, the poem is as follows - "Mountains. Heavy mountains. Things that take time to change. Skies. Blue skies. Things invisible to the eye. Things visible to the eye. The sun is something of which there's but one. Water. What feels good. Commander Ikari? Flowers. A lot of identical things. A lot of things unneeded, too. The sky. The red, red sky. The color red. I hate the color red. Flowing water. Blood. The smell of blood. A woman who does not shed blood. Human beings, made of red earth. Human beings, made of man and woman. A city. Something people made. Eva. Something people made. What are people? Things God made? Are people things that people made? What lies in me is life. A heart. The heart's container. The Entry Plug - that is, the soul's seat. Who is this? This is me. Who am I? What am I? What am I? What am I? I am me. This object's who I am. The form that makes up who I am. The me that is visible to the eye. But I feel as if I am not who I am. It's very strange. I feel as if my body's melting. I grow unsure of who I, myself, am. My form is vanishing. I sense somebody else. Who's there? Out there? Ikari-kun? I know these people. Major Katsuragi. Doctor Akagi. My classmates - all of them. Eva-02's Pilot. Commander Ikari? Who are you? Who are...you? Who are...you?"

#Ayanami Rei #Eva Original #The Evangelion Annotation Project

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