Evangelion, and why Hideaki Anno hates you

I did not write this. This is a transcript of a copy-pasta of a series of Anonymous 4chan (or 4chan like) image-board comments that, when spun together, weave (in my opinion) a brilliant expose on the background of the Neon Genesis Evangelion anime. As I've illustrated before, Evangelion has played an important role in my life, and this was such a well written dissertation that I did not want it to be lost in obscurity. So I transcribed it, with the aid of an , from , making only minor grammatical corrections and editing emphasized format for consistency.



If you would like to take credit for this transcript, or know the person who wrote it, please let me know.Real talk: if you never actually watched Neon Genesis Evangelion all the way through, everything you know about it is wrong. Although for that matter, even the people who watched it all the way through are wrong about it. Let's talk about the creator: Hideaki Anno, and why he's happiest when you are angry. If you like Eva, Hideaki Anno hates you. That's just how it is. If you can't wrap your mind around this basic truth you are missing out on a lot of hysterical black irony.

Looking Forward: Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

It's already the 3rd day of 2014---that was fast. 2013 was a roller coaster for me in many aspects but I am looking forward to 2014. Not only do I leave the 20's, but I plan to really organize stuffs in my life.2013 is where I struggled and not know my real path. This was also the time when productivity was a sturggle and I had to keep track of stuffs I have a hard time finishing. Anyhow, I'd like to take this opportunity to reflect and list down the aspects of both 2013 and 2014 and what I have to say. This will help me keep track of my goals this year and know what else I have to improve.



A. RELATIONSHIPS

Visual Kei Artists Rock Your Favorite Anime Songs (Again)

V-ANIME does it again!



All of your favorite band members are participating in the third installment in the V-ANIME series, "V-ANIME collection -homme-". The March 26th collaboration album, just 3000yen, features 11 cover songs with over 10 of the biggest names in V-kei. Along with special guests like JAM Project's Masaaki Endoh, you'll be able to hear the likes of Kaya, MEJIBRAY's MiA, and DIAURA's yo-ka give you their interpretation of hit anime songs.

Japan Chibi Weekend Madrid Is Coming

By JosLuis del R o Fortich



JAPAN CHIBI WEEKEND is an international event focusing on Japanese and Korean culture held in Madrid.Fans can enjoy video games, anime, manga or singing your favorite music as karaoke. There are also cosplay contests and live concerts.

1/25/14: Maverick Flare

The picture is more than fitting considering Vile is more or less the Mega Man X version of Boba Fett, right down to the attitude and armor. Oh, and it's been sunny around here too when it really shouldn't be.



This last week has been... strange. I don't know how else to put it. It practically didn't even happen at all, considering I was only at school for a day, yet it still felt like a long week. On top of that, like I just said, it's been nice nearly every day, which is out of character for the season. That's not to say we haven't had nice winters, because we have, but I don't remember the last time we had a winter where the sun persisted for so long. It's still as cold as ever, but even that isn't likely to last long. Spring will be here early, that's for sure.

A Post about Ys V: Kefin, Lost City Of Sand

Every long-running franchise has their black sheep, unorthodox entries that diverge from their respective series traditions and tropes. They usually appear early on in the series, when said traditions and tropes haven't yet been clearly defined and solidified. You couldn't stomp enemies in Super Mario Bros 2. Most of Zelda II: the Adventure Of Link was played in a sidescrolling perspective. Final Fantasy II (NES) had that weird exploitable leveling system based on character actions instead of experience points. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was, well, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Even in movies, Halloween III, for example, did not feature Michael Myers. Most of these were either immediately shunned at release or just ended up being decently received but not a favorite for most fans, aside from a small-pocket who either have genuine appreciation for these entries' inventiveness, or just want to take the contrarian opinion in order to look cool (which I'm sometimes guilty of).



Ys III: The Adventure Of AdolYs V is NOT the blackest of sheep, or the oddest of ducks, within the Ys series. That honor belongs to Ys III: Wanderers From Ys. Just like Zelda II, Ys III changed the perspective from a top-down view into a sidescrolling platformer style. But Falcom soon went back by commissioning Hudson & Tonkin House to do a more traditional top-down Ys IV for PC-Engine & Super Famicom respectively. After Ys IV, Falcom announced that they were making Ys V exclusively for Super Famicom, to everyone's surprise. And that it will be the final Ys game. Suffice to say, fans did not like this change at all. Kidfenris about the fan reaction to Ys V at the time, encapsulated with scans of the Ys V review in GameFAN Magazine written mainly by Casey Loe (Nick name "Takuhi"), with added blurbs by Nick Des Barres (Nick Rox) and Dave Halverson (E. Storm).

Two key voice actors added to One Piece Dressrosa arc

Two famous voice actors have been recently,



* Akira Ishida as "the dashing swordsman" Cavendish

Dark Horse Previews Picks: April 2014

Unfortunately the biggest news about the company in the last month is still the revelation that "Star Wars" will be headed to Marvel next year.I'd like to think that Publisher Mike Richardson and the rest of his team have been preparing for this inevitability and have found ways to shore up revenue or are looking into new titles to replace it.Along the lines of the former school of thought, they still have yet to announce any plans for reprinting the vast library of "Elfquest" comics that have been published over the years.I know that they won't come close to filling the void we're talking about, but it's a start. Also, I'd REALLY like to add what comes after the volumes DC published to my personal library as well.So there's that. Baltimore vol. 4:Chapel of Bones HC:Talk about starting things on a high note.This volume collects two miniseries:"The Infernal Train" and "Chapel of Bones."As I understand it, the former involves Baltimore taking on witches aboard the titular train while the latter involves a (final?) showdown with his vampire nemesis.Yes, the extra cost involved in picking this up in hardcover hurts, yet this title is worth it. Conan the Avenger #1:So writer Fred Van Lente's "Conan" series has a name and it'sunderwhelming.The subtitles for previous volumes "The Cimmerian" and "The Barbarian" both make sense (and have been used before), but "Avenger?"Exactly what is he avenging?Or is this a stealth crossover with Marvel now?Title aside, I've liked what I've read from Van Lente in the past so I'll be onboard for this too.Also, this new series features art from Brian Ching.Even if he's not a household name, the man has done some great work on the "Star Wars:Clone Wars" and "Knights of the Old Republic" titles.It's good to see him back on a monthly title and I'll be looking forward to seeing what he does with Conan. Dragon Age:Library Edition vol. 1:Dark Horse has published three hardcover novellas in the universe of Bioware's fantasy RPG setting.I've passed them all up because I'm not familiar with the creators and the price/page count ratio didn't make the proposition any more appealing.Now they're putting all three in one volume, and I find myself a little curious about them.Particularly the fact that they're supposed to represent a "trilogy" of sorts.It's $40 for 232 pages, and that's not the best value I've seen but maybe if I find it on sale at a convention. The Eltingville Club #1:Evan Dorkin's on-and-off series about three gamers whose arguments always end in bloodshed finds another home at Dark Horse.I've heard good things about this acidicly funny series over the years and was prompted to check on Amazon for a collected edition of their exploits.Sadly, such a volume does not exist.I can only hope that this will be rectified sometime in the near future. EVE Online:True Stories HC:Back when the "Penny Arcade Report" was operational, I liked reading their coverage of the massively multiplayer online mining/space combat/sociological experiment that is EVE Online.Of particular interest were the stories that the players generated through their exploits in the game.That's what this volume is advertised as telling:The stranger-than-fiction story of how one man brought an end to the largest conflict yet seen in the game.I think this sounds like a fascinating story to tell, but I'm wondering how they're going to tell it.Daniel Way, writer of "Wolverine:Origins" and "Deadpool," is scripting things here and there's no indication how the story is going to be told.Is it going to be a documentary-style approach that shows us the conflict from all sides, complete with player chat logs and whatnot?Or are we getting the story as if it were a narrative taking place in the world of the game itself?I really hope it's the former, and will make an effort to find out what the case is before I plunk down my money for this. Frank Miller's Big Damn Sin City HC, The Art of Sin City HC, Sin City:A Dame To Kill For HC:So much "Sin City."You'd think they have a movie to promote or something. *rimshot*Anyway, the short version is that "Sin City" is the purest shot of Frank Miller you can get, and the last good thing he did before his downward slide kicked off with "The Dark Knight Returns."The omnibus is $100 for over 1300 pages of comics, which is a fantastic deal by any standard.However, if you don't want the whole thing and just want the one they're adapting for the movie, then the "A Dame To Kill For" -- easily the best story in the series -- will set you back $25 for 232 pages.There's also the artbook, which has no stories as far as I can tell and is therefore not interesting to me. The Massive vol. 3:Longship:This series gets a third chance to finally live up to its potential.Inside, the crew matches wits with a former comrade threatening nuclear war, a rogue faction of the U.S. Navy, and a group of Norwegian whalers.That first part sounds the most interesting since it looks like they're picking up on a plot thread from the previous volume.We won't find out until June as to whether or not this will be the volume that finally brings it all together, but I think I can stand the wait until then. Neon Genesis Evangelion:The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 14:Just suck less this time, okay?It'd be a pain to read something so bad that it has me go back and re-read the entire series to determine which volumes get sent to BookOff and which ones stay on my shelf. New Lone Wolf and Cub vol. 1:This comes to us from the realm of "sequels we didn't really need."At least, that's what I thought when I heard that Kazuo Koike was doing a follow-up to his most famous series, and best collaboration with artist Goseki Kojima.Unfortunately, Kojima died back in the mid-90's and new artist Hideki Mori is illustrating things now.Despite my reservations, I've yet to read one of Koike's long-form series that I haven't liked as the man knows how to craft interesting stories regardless of the subject.Even when that subject is a man taking revenge against God's Pornographic X-Rated Films for the death of his true love in "Wounded Man."That title was a special kind of crazy that we're not likely to see here.I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, though I guess what I'm really trying to say here is that I will be buying this first volume just to see what it's like. Star Wars:Dawn of the Jedi vol. 3 -- Force War:Not just the end of the "Dawn of the Jedi" series, but this is likely the last "Star Wars" series we'll read from John Ostrander and Jan Duursema.The writer and artist were responsible for the creation of amnesiac Jedi Quinlan Vos, the best stories (which also featured the character) in the "Clone Wars" comics, and "Legacy."Even if their work tends to be heavy on the melodrama and more than a little overwrought at times, they've told some of the most compelling stories in the Expanded Universe and were the best comics team on the franchise while it was at Dark Horse.It's certainly possible that someone could top them when Marvel starts producing their comics, but it's going to be an uphill battle for a long while at least. Star Wars:Rebel Heist #1 (of 4):Before the franchise leaves, however, we've got other little projects like this to look forward to.Matt Kindt writes this story set during the movies which involves a young rebel being teamed up with Han Solo, only to find out that the pilot's myth is much more appealing than the reality.I can only imagine that there will be some kind of heist involved as well.It being in the title and all.Given that I'm most familiar with Kindt through his work on "Mind MGMT," I can't say that I'm particularly excited about seeing him here.Still, maybe seeing him work on something that isn't a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside of a conundrum will prove to be more straightforwardly entertaining. Jason Glick
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Fictional Characters I Have Connections With

Hey guys, I'm here to explain how I think I have strong connections with some fictional characters that I have seen / played over the years through my own personal beliefs. Some theories are good and some are bad and this big post should explain how I feel they represent some emotions or moments during my life. It's like they represent Persona's, only I think it's related to "Johari's Window" and "The Looking Glass Effect"!



TOMOYA OKAZAKI - CLANNAD & CLANNAD AFTER STORY (ANIME)

Japan's drastic shift towards acceptance of homosexuality -- Part I

-- Or, do not underestimate the combined power of popular culture and history.



I was looking at Pew polls the other day -- it's a wonderful repository of research on global attitudes, the best place to look when you want to know what a country is actually thinking, rather than what its politicians and celebrities are thinking. It shows the ripples of trending ideas moving through the culture-sphere, and it tells us where we might be heading.

RahXephon Episode 3 "City of Two- Welcome To Our Town" Neon Genesis Evangelion connection

Some people have stated that RahXephon was "too heavily inspired" by Neon Genesis Evangelion. Episode 3 may be a very good source of that argument.



* You have the giant anti-mech that is fierce and sentient.

TO BOOKOFF WITH THE LOT OF YOU!

I've mentioned once or twice that some comics I read were bad enough to be sold to BookOff, the Japanese used book/DVD/Blu-ray/videogame chain that also has branches in the U.S.Because that's the worst fate I can imagine for a series that either offends me so, or I can't remember why I cared about them in the first place -- not having the privilege of being part of my collection anymore.A little over a year after I made my last trip out to their Gardena branch with friends, I made another visit there yesterday.If you're interested in what I decided to part with, the list, and the reasons why, they await after the break. Nana vols. 1-16:Shojo manga from Ai Yazawa who did the excellent "Paradise Kiss."That was originally published by Tokyopop and has since been reissued by Vertical."Nana" was about two women, a flighty one looking for love and another who has rock star ambitions and chops, that meet and strike up an unlikely friendship.It was monstrously popular in Japan while it was being published, but has since been on hiatus due to Yazawa's undisclosed medical issues.I enjoyed the series up to a point, and even mentioned it back in the early days of the site.(Never got around to doing that re-read in case anyone was wondering.)Though it was an entertaining character study at first, the series lost steam after it split up the two protagonists and started wallowing in the tropes of rock star stardom.I stopped buying it before the title went on hiatus, and don't feel any inclination to find out what it was like before that happened. GTO vols. 1-14:"Great Teacher Onizuka" for the uninitiated.This was one of Tokyopop's first titles in their unflipped initiative and I had heard good things about the animated and live-action versions that were based off of the manga.The series follows a former punk who brings his unorthodox teaching style to the classroom with plenty of bathroom humor in the process.It was fun for a while, but eventually things started to wear thin.I also believe that I was between jobs when I stopped buying this, so saving money was a priority here.To put things in comparison, when I found a new job I went back to buy the volumes of Garth Ennis' "Punisher" that I missed as well as Min-Woo Hyung's "Priest."In short, "GTO" had its time with me, and then it passed. Air Gear vols. 1-12:This was Oh! Great's, of "Tenjo Tenge" fame (or infamy, depending on your perspective), other mainstream hit as he toned down his style to be more appropriate to a shonen audience.In spite of that, "Air Gear" -- about battling rollerbladers -- was great fun for a while and clearly benefitted from how he honed his artistic style on his signature title.Then things got bogged down in tournament after tournament and the fun was just gone.Regardless of what it says about me as a person, the man's undiluted style in "Tenjo Tenge" was more compelling to read about even with its excesses. Basilisk vols. 1-4:When Del Rey announced that they were starting a push to bring more seinen titles out here, I was all for it.They started with this, about two rival ninja clans fighting it out in the Edo period, and it was clear that they weren't interested in bringing over any interesting titles -- just the ones with acceptable levels of sex and violence.I never bought any more of those titles from them. Beck:Mongolian Chop Squad vols. 1-4:The series, about a kid who falls in with this wannabe group of musicians and starts learning guitar, spawned an anime that was uneven yet entertaining overall.It also managed refinements on the manga's thoroughly ugly character designs.Those, coupled with the fact that I already knew where the story was going caused me to drop this, at least until it surpassed the manga.Then Tokyopop collapsed and that was the end of that story. Diabolo vols. 1-3:Mangaka Kei Kusunoki had a series called "Ogre Slayer" that was published back in the 90's by Viz that I liked.I eventually bought both volumes years later and was surprised at how badly the stories had aged.This new series co-authored by Kusunoki only struck me as mediocre while I was reading it, so you can imagine my apathy at the idea of giving it a second chance now. Walkin' Butterfly vols. 1-3:A Josei series about a female delinquent who aspires to be a model.It sounded like it could be an interesting take on the fashion industry in a different vein than "Paradise Kiss."Unfortunately, it emphasized tropes more from shonen manga than actual storytelling.Even though its publisher also went out of business after publishing vol. 3, I was never all that interested in finding out what happened next. .hack//TWILIGHT vols. 1-3:I have acomplicated relationship with the ".hack" franchise.The anime meant to lead into the original games ".hack//SIGN" did a terrible job of that, and also gave us the worst. recap. episode. ever.(Which my friends and I turned into "dub hacked//SIGN," but that's another story.)Surprisingly, the first series of games for the Playstation 2 actually turned out to be pretty good as did the follow-up anime which emphasized comedy over drama.It was that series which this manga was spun off from, and I'm hard pressed to remember anything specific about it.So making the decision to sell it off was easy.Though I may go back to the first PS2 games at some point, the second series they did, ".hack//G.U." was AWFUL and something that I woudn't wish on my worst enemy. Children of the Sea vols. 1-2:This was a series about mysterious happenings in the ocean with a plot as threadbare and uninteresting as the art was fantastically detailed.People love the art in this series.If someone ever starts telling you how much they like it, be sure to ask them what they thought about the story as well. Jormungand vols. 1-2:The only thing these two volumes managed to convince me of was that this title was the poor man's "Black Lagoon."Fortunately, that series started up again last year and if we're lucky, a new volume may be in the cards for 2014. Batman:Cacophony:Kevin Smith's first crack at the Bat with his buddy, artist Walt Flanagan.I got this for free at a Christmas gift exchange one year, knowing full well its terrible reputation when I got it.That reputation wasn't entirely undeserved, but it still wasn't all that great.Smith also states in the afterword that he doesn't think this is even his best "Batman" story -- he was saving that for the even more maligned "The Widening Gyre."You know, where it was revealed that he had a "bladder spasm" during one of the iconic moments in "Year One?"So, guilt by association and the fact that I couldn't imagine ever reading this again led to it leaving my shelf. Star Wars:X-Wing -- Rogue Squadron & Fortune and Glory:I actually liked these titles and the only reason I got rid of them was because I re-bought them down the line after finding newer editions in the half-off bins at Comic-Con."Fortune and Glory" was particularly great as it details Bendis' first adventures in Hollywood prior to hitting it big at Marvel.It's easily one of the best things he's ever written. Mondo Urbano:You'd think that a graphic novel about rock and roll, published by Oni Press, with art (in part) by "American Vampire's" Rafael Albuquerque, and with a cover blurb from Stephen King would be a can't miss read, right?That's what I thought too.Unfortunately it turned out to be a confusing mess that wasn't even worth the half-cover-price I paid for it at Comic-Con. Judge Dredd:The Day the Law Died:I also had "The Apocalypse War" to sell as well, but they wouldn't take that for some reason.Anyway, the reason I was selling both titles is because they're redundant with the "Complete Case Files" editions I already have. That's not everything.As for Bleach vols. 1-31, Neon Genesis Evangelion:Campus Apocalypse vols. 1-4, Limit vols. 1-3, Attack on Titan vols. 1-2, Sickness Unto Death vols. 1-2, Superman:Earth One vols. 1-2, From the New World vol. 1 and Kick-Ass, the reasons why I wanted these gone have been documented elsewhere on the site.Also I realize that most of this list is exclusively manga.I don't know what it is about the format, but I think the lower production values on the majority of them compared to the space they take up makes it easier for me to decide that they need to go.It sounds dumb, but the color and general shininess of most American comic collections makes it harder to write them off simply because they feel more valuable.Now that I think about it, though, there's probably several that I should've taken with me yesterdayOh, and there was one title that I granted a stay of execution as it were.I will go back and re-read Excel Saga vols. 1-5 to see if time has been kinder to it.The anime was a personal favorite and led directly to my purchase of the manga, but I do remember the quality dropping off towards the end of vol. 5.However, this title was also localized by Carl Horn before he became CARL HORN in my mind after everything I've learned about him since.Will I start collecting the rest of the series, or will I be taking it with me on my next trip to BookOff?Watch this space next year. Jason Glick
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Attack on Music: Is Shingeki no Kyojin's First Opening Iconic?

Once upon a time, I tried to tackle a multi-post blog series analyzing the music of anime openings. That fizzled out for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that I lost sight of what I was originally arguing. However, my argument from the first post is pretty easy to conceptualize. There, I noted that a handful of older anime, such as Sailor Moon, Cowboy Bebop, and Neon Genesis Evangelion have opening songs that have permanently embedded themselves in the consciousness of anime fans, even those who haven't really watched those series. By contrast, I said that newer anime don't have songs that quite reach that level. Lucky Star and The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (the ending, obviously) come close, but would those songs be as well-known as they are without the dances?



As far as I've seen, anime series in recent years just haven't had songs that reach those well beyond those who actually watch the show. Even compelling series like Puella Magi Madoka Magica have forgettable opening songs, so it's not necessarily the popularity of an anime that also makes everyone know its opening song. For a while, I figured that the time of popular opening songs preceding the anime was over.

Pacific Rim

This is one of those films that I both really wanted to see, but I also really didn't want to see. I know that sounds like I could very well be cybil, but I'm not. (Oh, yes, he is, and I can prove it!) I think the biggest reason I wanted to see it was because of my fondest for anime and the mecha genre. THE BIG O, NEON GENESIS EVANGELION, the MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM franchise, GURREN LAGANN, EUREKA SEVEN, CODE GEASS, ESCAFLOWNE, GARGANTIA ON THE VERDUOUS PLANET, VALVRAVE THE LIBERATOR, and so on and so on. Plus there's TRANSFORMERS, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, THE IRON GIANT, and SUPER SENTAI.

I think robots are cool, okay? Robots fighting inter-dimensional monsters or aliens or modified human beings are even cooler.

However, the classic movie fan side of my brain figured that the movie would probably be incredibly stupid with a terrible no named cast. So I ended up not seeing the film in theaters.

Top 20 Seiyuu

It's been a while since I've posted my Now it's time to let the fangirl loose.



I was planning on giving reasons for each person, but I realized they'd all be the same: vocal versatility, wide variety of roles, etc. So instead I singled out a role that particularly stood out to me and talked about that.

Robot carnival

You all know that I'm a big fan of robots. (If you didn't know that, then you do now.) Growing up as an introverted science fiction fan, robots were naturally all over the place, and there's something both inspiring and terrifiying about often-humanoid machines who may or may not improve upon our lowly human species.



When I was very young, cartoons were my primary exposure to robots. (That, and of course the Star Wars droids.) Transformers led the pack, but of course I also watched shows like Mighty Orbots, Voltron, and Robotech. I think I saw bits of Tranzor Z and Gigantor back then, too. Yes, I know those aren't the original names or formats of those series, but like everyone else, I didn't discover that until much later in life. When we were kids, everything was just "cartoons" regardless of its point of origin.

Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Make Sense

I feel like Asuka is Anno and Shinji represents the fans.



It was by complete accident that I found out that was playing Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo on the big screen last Saturday night.Is this a thing that happens regularly there?They really need to advertise that shit better.If I hadn't been randomly looking around Fandango, I would have missed it entirely.

Fandom as Identity: A Few Thoughts

Anime and Manga fans are a passionate lot, we make cosplay of our favorite characters, write fan fiction, write reviews and critique of Anime and Manga we watch and engage in discussions about them with other fans. But is this an identity? First some other questions need to be asked and answered such as "are you allowing this to be your only defining characteristic in lieu of real personality?" "Does you're identification with something become way too personal?" In that you are taking any criticism of you're favorite series as a personal affront these are the dangers of making Anime fandom you're sole identity. Other problems can include the inability to differentiate between fantasy and reality which taken to it's logical extreme is pathological and delusional, such as the person who wants to "marry" their Wifu. Or thinks that it's their right to inflict themselves on others, these are simply problems with Fandom as identity. I see nothing wrong with identifying strongly with a character or series good Art and fiction is supposed to allow us to see what it's like to be a different person or have experiences we wouldn't otherwise. Two series that show this sort of identification for me are Watamote and Neon Genesis Evangelion, I feel a strong sympathy for both Tomoko and Shinji, that being said if some on criticizes Evangelion because they feel it's philosophically bankrupt or because the second half seems incomprehensible those people are entitled to their point of view. Where I as a fan of that series get irritated is when people criticize it simply because they find Shinji "whiny" or "Emo" and it's used as some way to make themselves feel like the "big man" alpha male type. It's a lazy reductionist view point that also doesn't take into account the seriousness of mental illness in Shinji's life as he's pretty much got depression and I wouldn't get as mad except for the fact that depression is something I as well have struggled with for years. Also the "Stiff upper lip" mentality accomplishes nothing except causing men to withdraw deeper into a skewed and in some ways sinful misappropriation of masculinity and manhood. That's an aside though, fandom as identity isn't harmful in it's self it only becomes harmful when it is allowed to be used as a way to overcompensate for you're own personal short comings. Or it's taken out of a grossly stereotypical and quasi-racist appropriation of Japanese Otaku culture, this second one is seen in the people who proclaim themselves "Otaku" without having any knowledge of the term's origin or assume that Japan is some sort of mystical romanticized "other" which frankly reeks of orientalist thinking. Or out of some reason for those that are privileged due to race or class, want to feel like they also are somehow one of the "other" because they like Naruto or Bleach, it's nothing more than a self-serving martyr complex couched in "identity politics." Reading Manga and watching Anime does not make you a persecuted minority like African-Americans, Women, the mentally ill or the developmentally disabled (among others). You are a consumer of a product people who consume Royal Crown Cola over Pepsi and Coca-Cola, are not a victimized group nor are for the most part those who read Manga and watch Anime. While there are examples of "persecution" these are the exception not the rule, and while I don't want to blame the victim sometimes it is very much the person's fault if you go out of you're way to make a spectacle of yourself don't be surprised when others hold you up for ridicule because you decided to be "up front" about it. From personal experience I find it's less non fans that are the most mean as they will mostly look at you're interests with a kind of bemused bewilderment or gamely try to hear you out or just not get it and give up, it's the fans that perpetuate the "true" fan vs. Casual fan falsehood or fans that feel by tarring down what you like so they can feel better or casting moral aspersions on you for liking something. Now yes there are some truly reprehensible things in Anime and Manga Angel Cop is grossly Anti-Semitic, and the amount of incest fetish material is legion, things like these need to be called out for being bad non-art in short go after the medium and the message behind it not the consumer who enjoys these things as they are as much a victim of being sold a false concept of entertainment and sexuality. However one does not go around making assumptions about why someone likes something a personal example I can share is I'm a big Strike Witches fan and there is a lot of Fan Service in the series. But I tend to enjoy it for the character interaction and the overall story line. I'd bring this up or it would get brought up in forums and I'd say I'm a fan and people would make the automatic assumption I was a Lolicon and cut me off and not let me explain myself. I've said it once and I said again if fandom is going to survive it needs to be willing to have open, frank, and honest communication instead of condemnatory sermonizing, in conclusion taking on Anime fandom as an part of you're identity is fine just don't let it become the only thing that defines you.
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Making Sense Of An Anime List Of Vocabulary

Evangelion

Photo Credit:

Even more anime!!!



Last Exile

Space Dandy debuts at #1 for Toonami. Go Shinichiro Watanabe!

According to , Space Dandy and Bleach led the ratings in the Adult Swim block with 1.153 and 1.084 million viewers respectively watching and a 0.8 rating. Space Dandy was #1 for the 11:30 pm slot for ages 18-24 and 18-34. Naruto Shippudden and Sword Art Online ranked #1 in their respective timeslots, 12:30 and 2 am among men 18-24.



I think this is overall good for anime. I feel that if they see that Space Dandy is a hit, they may marathon Cowboy Bebop and Wolf's Rain again. They may also show Gundams like 00, Neon Genesis Evangelion and other intellectual sci fi shows, rather than just showing pop like Shippudden and Bleach. Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann may also be a priority, since big name directors in the US may get the exposure thanks to Shinichiro Watanabe breaking through. not to mention Digimon and Summer Wars creator.

My Top 10 Films of 2013

10. FILM: Man of Steel; DIRECTOR: Zac Snyder; CREATED BY: David S. Goyer ; ORIGINS: Comic (1933)



I debated adding this film to my list, and if I had created a list of the most disappointing film of the year this one would have been at the top. However it was by far the best comic book film created in 2013 as Marvels offerings Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark Word just did not live up to the amazingness the was The Avengers. And let me not get started on The Wolverine which was just a complete mess. However, despite not living up to my own personal hype, this film looked great on screen and was very fun to watch, which is the least you could ask for with a trip to the pictures.

Film 2013

2013 has come and gone, and left with it a wonderful host of films for us to pour over.It has been a big year for features with fantastically strong female performances, with Kate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, L a Seydoux, Ad le Exarchopoulos, Judy Dench and Greta Gerwig all making the most of their starring roles.Dedicating focus to one primary character has been great, it has allowed for a return to a cinema of individual struggles: whether they are physical, from Bullock's space adventure (Gravity, Alfonso Cuar n) to Robert Redford's 'old man and the sea' fight inJ.C. Chandor's gritty All is Lost; to the fragile psychological battles involved in expressing sexuality (Blue is the Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche), individuality (Francis Ha, Noah Baumbach), and guilt (The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer).



[Kate Blanchett in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine]

My Diverse and Ever-Changing Taste in Anime

My taste in anime has changed a lot over the years. In 2006, I started out watching series like Ouran High School Host Club and Haruhi Suzumiya. But lately, I've been into series like Oyasumi Punpun and Aku no Hana, which are both dark and psychological series compared to the former.



Currently, I'm diving into Neon Genesis Evangelion, which is considered to be one of the most influential and controversial anime of all time. It's an anime to be seen by all, or else you really haven't seen anything yet. Evangelion takes place in 2015, where war machines called Angels, have appeared in Tokyo for the second time. Only a handful of teenagers are capable of fighting them, all born 14 years ago. Together these teenagers work with NERV to destroy the Angels before more harm comes to Tokyo.

A New Project for 2014: A to Z Anime Reviews

(FROM TOP RIGHT, COUNTER-CLOCKWISE) A-KO, B-KO & C-KO



A new year brings new opportunities and I came up with an idea last week to bring semi-regular content to the blog for 2014: an A-to-Z anime review project.

#Thanatos128, Expanded Upon

So, in case you've been living under a rock (or, like many people, aren't exactly aware of my other skills), I make music as well as blog about others' productions and such. That's why I'm able to say "Dear Internet Rappers" and not come off as an elitist prick...by that much. Anyhow, yesterday, I decided to announce about the first single from my next project, the aptly-titled "Thanatos (Stories Through Music)," along with some promotional art (seen below).



Now, here's some more nitty-gritty on this shrouded-in-mystery first single. The song, in a snippet form (read: one verse) on my last album, and revolved around "rebirth through death," a common concept in religion, spirituality, and all that good stuff. It's also partly a basis of my "Songs For... Trilogy." This concept in some ways appears in the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, which serves as inspiration for the S4 Trilogy among other SOTB-related projects. For those unfamiliar with the series, . In short, it's a lot of psychological mindfucks boiled into one series (the creator was dealing with some psych issues himself). With humanoid armor suits. And teens awakening and shit.

The Top 5 of Anything for 2013

Are we done with Top (Insert Number Here) lists for 2013 yet? No, there's one more. Or, to be exact, a bunch more, in one epic post. This one. Yes, it's time for the annual Top 5 of Everything, our own little tribute to the year just past, celebrating the random good stuff we experienced throughout the year.



Explanation: , I asked our staff here at Nerdist to answer the question: "What were your Top 5 of the year?" That's not necessarily the Top 5 movies, or books, or comics or TV shows or any one thing in particular. It's just what ranked for us as the best or most memorable things of 2013, whether they be experiences or events or really good meals or games or personal or otherwise. Might as well make it an annual tradition here, right?

The Very Best: Like Nothing Ever Was

Today I made the conversion over to a new layout on this site to signify the beginning of a new year and also the broadening of the scope of this blog.



Reviewing my old posts, I realized I've never really made a post about what anime I've found to be the very best - my all-time favorites.I imagine this makes it a bit difficult to understand my background and motivations.

Anime, The Atlantic, and Space Dandy

The Atlantic on the release of Shinichiro Watanabe's latest anime Space Dandy, and if you know me, you know how hyped I am for the show. The article itself gives a brief overview of the show, but also seeks to contextualize anime in terms of (Western) consumption and place Watanabe with Andrew Sarris' auteur theory, etc.



While I appreciate the author's interpolation of theory, I do have a few qualms with the piece. Many of these stem from the broadness of the article itself, as it stretches to be a crash course on anime, its history, its genres, and much more. While I appreciate any kind of mass exposure towards anime, and to good anime at that, I'd like to add some nuance to her argument.

The 10 Best Movies of 2013

Of all we've assembled this year, few were harder to nail down and were less divisive than deciding on our top 10 films of 2013. However, after American Gladiator-style foam Q-Tip fights, careful deliberation, and a good night's sleep, we're pretty pleased with the results. Jessica Chobot and theteam rounded up , but we decided to open the playing field a bit. This was a fantastic year for film. In fact, there were too many good films to put on this list, so many that we didn't even get to see everything this year! I know, right? Some of your favorites didn't make the cut, some of my favorites didn't make the cut, yet here we are nonetheless. Let's just agree that there are plenty of films worthy of celebration in 2013 and these are but 10 of them.



10. THE WIND RISES

FLCL

Episode 1 of FLCL (Fooly Cooly) opens with Naota and the first of three girls, Mamimi, hanging out under the bridge. She is talking about baseball, and Naota is doing his best to give her as little attention as possible. Upon asking why she stays there, she begins to get affectionate with Naota, to his displeasure. She says she does that to him because she will overflow, and doesn't imply what that means (but it could be amazing). This glimpse into the sexual tensions of the early teenage years and puberty is a lot of what FLCL is about. The story revolves around Naota, a 12 year old boy and his interactions with women, aliens, and giant robots (and the crazy events that ensue).



In a monologue, Naoto stresses how nothing interesting happens in the area where he lives, and begins to talk about the strange factory that ominously lets out steam at the same time every day. As he and Mamimi walk over the bridge they were under, a strange girl with pink hair zooms in on a Vespa and runs Naota over. This is Haruko. The zaniness the series is known for begins here. The strange, spastic Haruko is in hysterics after hitting Naota, and to Mamimi's displeasure, kisses Naota to revive him. The animation for the entire scene varies greatly. It goes from a traditional anime style to slow-mo CGI. They even break the fourth wall and cutaway to a bus, where the characters are actors and talk about how they have to hold their breath for slow motion scenes. The varying styles of animation make this show fun to watch, and this scene offers a prime example of it. After Noata wakes up, Haruko hits him in the head with her guitar, leaving a large red bump. She speeds off. Haruko's entrance in the series signifies the beginning of Naota's interest in girls, a feeling he has been repressing for a while. He is hit without knowing when it would have happened, just as it would anyone in their teen years.

FLCL

"I saw God the other day. By the river, on a rainy afternoon. He helped a kitten that was left all alone. It's a God that only I can see. A black-winged angel that came down from the heavens just for me." From Mamimi's opening monologue (poem?) we can kind of see what direction Firestarter is going to take. Episodes 2, 3, and 4 of FLCL all focus on one of the three women in our main character Naota's life. While Naota is still the heart of the show, this episode turns its primary focus to Mamimi. She is perhaps the most troubled and disturbed character in the entire series and that is never more immediately apparent than in this episode.



I chose to review episodes 2, 4, and 6 for two reasons. Number One: They are my favorites. Number Two: They are much less accessible and take a much harder look at the characters. These episodes are a lot heavier on character and pretty light on the wackiness (understatement) the series is known for. Firestarter beings with Mamimi's aforementioned Rei Ayanimi-esque monologue, and we then start to get a picture of how people perceive her character. Naota seems to care about her and value her friendship, other people seem to reject her and make fun of her. There are several mentions of Mamimi being bullied and ostracized by other characters throughout the episode. It's easy to see why she chooses to skip school and isolate herself from everybody just from Ninamori's initial assessment of her. However, it's is also kind of easy to see why other people dislike Mamimi. She is WEIRD. She continuously sexually assaults Naota and doesn't seem to have any connection to reality (which, to be fair, is sort of subjective in this show).

Introducing: Maggie (Manga Reviewer)

As an adult, I spend a lot of time looking back: things I regret, things I wish I could live again, things I wish had happened to me, and so on. I'm only 22 years old, so I still have a lot of life to live, but it's a constant habit of mine to remember. One memory that asserts itself from time to time takes place in middle school, circa 2004, and has troubled me ever since because one of my classmates was being bullied for liking anime. Our teacher had stepped outside the classroom to make copies of a worksheet, and our hormonally unstable classmates took that opportunity to taunt one kid for his childish interests. At the time, I felt a turbulence of emotion-empathy for the poor kid, because I shared the hobby that made him a victim of bullying; relief that I wasn't the one being bullied; and finally, the feeling that persists even now, confusion. Why did watching cartoons and reading comic books make him a target for social hazing?



Years later, I still don't have a complete answer to that question-something to do with mysterious human behavior, groupthink, and fearing what you don't understand-but remembering that experience has made me realize a few things about life, the universe, and everything. I'm currently a university student and I still like anime and manga, although my tastes are a little more refined. Anime and manga grow with you over time-they encompass a range of ideas, tastes, and age groups-and have something for everyone. I still like a lot of angsty teenage series that capture the lazy days of adolescence (BECK), the frustrating social challenges (Paradise Kiss, The Wallflower, No Matter How I Look At It, It's Your Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!), and the inexplicable randomness that comes from growing up in a world that's hard to understand (FLCL, Kill la Kill). But I can also appreciate the more underrated, abstract series that attempt to say a little more about society (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Psycho-Pass, Skyhigh, Journey to the End of the World), as well as those feel-good series that give you hope for humanity (Fruits Basket, Kimi wa Petto).

Medicom Real Action Heroes Presents NGE Evangelion 2.0 EVA-02

Woah! We've been slacking the whole 2013! Sorry about the MASSIVE delay in content on Fitted Life, but no worries, we've been working behind the scenes to welcome 2014 with new and impressive content. So to get the ball rolling, we present to you Medicom's Real Action Heroes EVA-02.



This particular EVA is piloted by the fierce Asuka (Shkinami) Langley from the reboot NGE movies series. The EVA is highly detailed and we are overly impressed by Medicom's attention to detail towards this brilliant mecha.

Arcane Specials: Top 20 Anime Openings Of All Time

TOP 20 ANIME OPENINGS OF ALL TIME



Happy Holidays ladies, peoples, and animals! It is I, the Arcane Reviewer, here to bring you another extra treat this week. Earlier this week I gave you guys a little extra review from me to you but I still had to do something to make up for no Wednesday review right?Well I've decided that I will give you lovely people my favorite anime openings of all time. Now before I begin I will say that this is my list so If you dislike it well I'm sorry but this is my own personal taste. But if you feel like you have a better list then please make your own and share it with me, that could be very fun to see. So now lets get this show on the road with number 20!

Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Shinji Ikari Raising Project vol. 13

"Plot development?In MY The Shinji Ikari Raising Project?"Is part of what's said on the back of this latest volume in the series which I've referred to in the past as my guiltiest comic book reading pleasure.The problem is that there actually has to be some kind of plot first before there can be any development to it.Yes, Shinji is kidnapped (or rather, "deliberately misplaced" as we eventually find out) and is put under SEELE's mental control to attack NERV's Magi system.This leads Rei and Asuka to confront his avatar in more of the virtual reality shenanigans this title loves to employ. Does anything significant come of this event?Unless you count Rei and Asuka's plugsuits getting ripped to show off their breasts AGAIN and Shinji falling on them in extremely suggestive fashion AGAIN, then the answer is an emphatic, "OH HELL NO!"I know I've given a pass to these antics before, but that's all this volume has to offer as far as comedy goes.There's nothing to the comedy in this particular volume except Shinji's stupid pratfalls and the nudity and awkward situations that result from them.Sidelining Gendo from most of the action here also feels like a mistake as well.Even Carl Horn's adaptation lacks the comedic zest of his previous volumes, though there is still several funny lines throughout the script here.I might have been more forgiving of what I got here had Plot Development not been hyped as one of its major selling points.This series may have been very entertaining in spite of itself for quite a while, but everything on display here makes it feel like it's well past it's sell-by date at this point. Jason Glick
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The show goes on. #2014

2014 is 2 years after the end of the world which didn't occur in 2012.

2014 is 100 years after World War I which started in 1914.

Also the year where people will believe 2pac will come back alive because of some Machiavelli bullshit but that shit is less believable than the 2012 hoax and Y2K scare put combined. He got shot...end of story.