#definitely takes cues from evangelion

[godslush]

This unusual Jupiter design was actually from a weird dream I had some time ago. The dream itself was of the realistic sort, and I don't remember much more of it other than the fact that he started off in a more human-like incognito form, and eventually transformed in a manner akin to an MCU Iron Man suit-up.

I didn't draw it for a while because I was worried I wouldn't do it justice, and at the end of the day I feel like I didn't. But I'm still very happy with the picture.

[astrophyta]

if there is any character archetype I love equally to Angsty Solemn Hoyoverse Wind Boys(TM), it is most definitely the artificial human/cyborg/robot archetype, so imagine my joy upon realizing that the option to name the vidyadhara actor in the storytelling event “High Elder MK2000” is a direct appeal to that archetype and provides some interesting commentary on the role of vidyadhara high elders not just as leaders but as beings with utility.

the ~700 year rebirth cycle is very important to vidyadhara culture and their species’ sense of selfhood, with each individual reincarnation recognized as its own “life,” bearing no memories of their past life. but this isn’t the case for high elders. although their memories of their past lives are incomplete and recovered with time through their dreams, they are distinguished from others by this ability to remember, and it is this ability that makes them useful tools, if you will, to the vidyadhara remembering their past and connection to Long the Permanence.

the latest trailblaze mission takes this notion even further by implying that the high elder’s faces are unchanging through time. the imbibitor lunae has until now always resembled the person we know as dan heng. the high elder as an individual may be “different” from reincarnation to reincarnation, but their individuality is erased by the enchantment (so they say) that causes them to retain this appearance, elevating them to the status of an “idea” rather than a person.

this can also be seen through the process of passing a high elder’s title on to a new individual, in some ways. the xianzhou luofu has “always” had an imbibitor lunae, just as the other ships have always had their respective high elders, regardless of who actually holds the title. ayanami rei from evangelion is an artificial human, making her closer to meat than machine, but her internalized dehumanization reminded me of this process of inheritance for the high elders, both between reincarnations of one “being” (cue the screenshot of all the rei clones swimming in some godforsaken NERV tank) and between beings inheriting the title:

[samasmith23]

Evangelion: You Can (Not) Marathon — (Part 8)

Neon Genesis Evangelion, “Episode 8: Asuka Arrives in Japan/ASUKA STRIKES!”

Continuing my Evangelion re-watch marathon with NGE, "Episode 8: Asuka Arrives in Japan/ASUKA STRIKES!" For my thoughts on the previous episode, click the link to the post below:

With that out of the way, let's dig in! And I'm looking forward to revisiting this episode since it introduces the character of Asuka, who was my best friend's personal favorite character in all of fictional media when I first met her back in university!

Considering what the specific contents of Gendo’s shipment are revealed to be by the end of the episode, why do I have the feeling that he’s lying when discussing having “already made the arrangements with the [Human Instrumentality] Committee” to have it shipped to Tokyo-3?

Lol! Kensuke truly is the embodiment of the stereotypical military otaku given both his earlier cosplaying as a soldier back in Episode 4, and his current geeking-out over the site of the United Nation’s fleet of aircraft carriers! What a dork!

And he acts like this throughout the entire episode BTW, even during the middle of an Angel attack!

Also, while it was certainly a thoughtful gesture of Misato to take Shinji’s classmates on basically a site-seeing tour of the Pacific Ocean given how confined their lives in the post-apocalyptic Tokyo mountain terrain must be, I’m curious if she got military clearance to bring two civilian minors on board a military aircraft carrier?

And here she is! The one and only Asuka Langley Soryu! These introductory shots of Asuka do an incredibly effective job in communicating the major defining aspects of her character through primarily visual cues. The first image of her silhouetted by the blinding sunlight as she looks down at NERV’s helicopter landing in the aircraft carrier’s deck helps informs the viewer that Asuka is an individual who thinks very highly of herself, has a superiority complex and wants to stand tall above everyone else.

These facets of Asuka's character are further communicated through the second shot of her brashly stepping onto Toji’s baseball cap as he frustratingly attempts to get it back on while on his knees. Asuka’s prideful personality is further reinforced through her first lines of dialogue, as she barely gives the struggling Toji beneath her any attention, instead immediately shifting focus to Misato when the latter states how much Asuka’s has grown since she last saw her, replying that, “Not only am I taller, but my figure has filled out as well.” This serves as an early indicator that Asuka wants to perceive herself as a fully-mature adult despite being a 14-year-old teenager just like Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke are. Essentially, Asuka places herself on a pedestal high above her peers, whom she looks down upon as mere “children.”

Anno is definitely a master-class when it comes to conveying important character details through visuals!

Shifting focus away from visual direction for a moment, I want discuss some behind-the-scenes trivia in relation to Asuka's voice actresses from both her original Japanese and English incarnations:

In the original Japanese version, Asuka was voiced by Yuko Miyamura, who has had a very complicated and strained relationship with the character over the past couple of decades. Rather infamously in a 2010 interview with SMASH (one year after the release of the second Rebuild movie, which Miyamura reprised her role for) she stated that, "At one point in time, I thought to myself that I would never act as Asuka again. For a very long time, I wanted to erase Evangelion." While in the interview Miyamura stated that this was largely due to the unwanted amount of fan attention her role as Asuka brought her (to the point where she was unfortunately repeatedly stalked and harassed at several international fan conventions), she later provided additional reasons in the back-up material for Volume 12 of the official Neon Genesis Evangelion manga adaptation by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. According to Miyamura, she found voicing Asuka to be an emotionally painful experience that "was close to bullying, [that] acting the part of Asuka was lots of fun at first," but by the end of the series the character psychologically torn down and denied a happy ending in The End of Evangelion (which is part of why Miyamura said that Anno was "finally an adult" during the production of the final Rebuild movie in 2021 since he finally gave all of his characters, including Asuka, a happy ending). But it was through meeting Asuka's original English VA Tiffany Grant that Miyamura developed a newfound love and appreciation for the character, now viewing her like one of her own daughters (Miyamura is currently a mother of two IRL). Speaking of Tiffany Grant however... her performance is one of the major reasons why the original ADV dub of NGE still holds such a special place in my heart despite its flaws! You can tell that Grant was having an absolute blast in the role since she perfectly nails Asuka’s boastful arrogance and sense of pride through her vocal performance! And Grant herself has openly confirmed this, stating in that aforementioned manga back-up material that, "When I started recording this loud, assertive character who often swore in German, I knew I was having a great time in the role and that it was enjoyable for me as an actor." While I’ve seen a few fans point to Grant’s performance in the old dub as a major turn-off, feeling that it overly emphasizes Asuka’s more rude mannerisms to the point of making her too "mean-spirited" or "unsympathetic" (although to be fair, Asuka is already pretty divisive among fans in general...), I personally felt that Grant’s performance helped make the character all the more memorable and interesting for me. And unlike Miyamura, who's historically had a strained yet improved relationship with Asuka's character, Grant has openly embraced her "'inner Asuka,' [realizing] the many ways that [she] related to this complex, flawed character," since she first voiced the character back in 1998. So much so that she was reportedly deeply heartbroken when she learned that Netflix openly refused to invite her along with the original ADV cast to reprise their roles for the new English dub in 2019.

On the subject of Tiffany Grant's frequent ad-libbing of German words & phrases into Asuka's dialogue, this is one of the more notable creative liberties that the ADV dub took that I honestly feel works to the show’s advantage! Despite the Asuka’s half-Japanese & half-German heritage being another defining aspect of her character, she only spoke a limited amount of German in the original Japanese version due to Miyamura’s knowledge of the language being incredibly limited. Conversely, Grant was already fluent in German as a second language, and therefore decided to swap out several of the original Japanese text with their German equivalents when ADV dubbed the show into English. And I personally feel this additional emphasis on Asuka’s German heritage serves to further flesh her out!

For instance, when Asuka understandably slaps Toji clean across the face after he flashes her in retaliation for slapping him (along with Shinji & Kensuke) when a strong wind briefly exposed her panties to them (the slap was the “viewing fee,” lol!), Grant angrily shouting the German equivalents to “you insolent dork!” or “what the hell do you think your doing?!”, leave a much more memorable impression on the viewer in contrast to the Netflix re-dub, where Asuka’s new VA Stephanie Mckeon instead delivers a more shrill, “How dare you!”

No disrespect to McKeon, as the Netflix re-dub was apparently one of her first voice-acting roles, but the script and direction for the new dub sadly leaves much to be desired…

Also, Toji totally deserved that second slap (and to be cursed at in German) for basically committing an act of sexual harassment. Still, his one-liner of “Here’s your change!”, as a comeback to Asuka’s “viewing fee” line makes me chuckle from a pure word-play perspective. It reminds me of Spidey’s joke during the bank fight with Doc Ock in Sam Rami’s Spider-Man 2!

Also also… dang! Asuka slaps are so powerful that she actually cracked the lens on Kensuke’s video camera with just a single strike! Lol!

Asuka’s first meeting with Shinji is absolutely perfect! I love how she’s so unimpressed, summarizing him as, “Not much to look at.” It honestly gives me a similar vibe to when Kakashi first met Squad 7 in Naruto after he had an eraser fall on his head as part of one of titular character's childish pranks!

I love how Misato initally keeps herself incredibly calm and collected when dealing with the UN Navy Officer’s impatience and intolerance with NERV’s overreaching authority while dealing with the transfer orders for Asuka’s Evangelion Unit-02. Heck, Shinji even compares Misato’s composure and demeanor in this scene to that of Ritsuko, which is quite a contrast to how he’s characterized her as both immature and slobbish in the previous episodes.

It’s also incredibly interesting to see the international politics of this universe at play, as the naval officers are understandably frustrated by the ridiculous amount of military privileges that NERV has been granted. So much so that their authority supersedes that of the UN during times of emergencies (i.e. Angel attacks), even outside of Japan’s national borders and jurisdiction. We saw similar themes at play during the previous episode with the Jet Alone incident, so it's cool to see these ideas further fleshed out in order to make EVA's world feel more alive and authentic!

Sadly though, Misato’s cool-headed professionalism is cut-short by both the UN officer’s increasingly insulting remarks, along with the sudden appearance of her ex-boyfriend Kaji.

Yup, in addition to Asuka, this episode also introduces the character of Ryoji Kaji.

Oh boy, Kaji... Kaji, Kaji, Kaji...

The way I’ve witnessed other people’s perceptions about Kaji's character evolve over the past couple of years has been incredibly fascinating, since a lot of modern EVA fans have admitted to really disliking this character, possibly even more so than FREAKING Gendo "Worst Father Ever!" Ikari! Now I’ll admit that learning about this initially shocked me at first since I personally remembered liking Kaji’s character perfectly alright when I first watched the anime and read the manga. His relaxed & cool demeanor made him significantly stand out in contrast to the rest of the troubled main cast. Additionally Kaji also served multiple important roles in EVA's narrative, ranging from his reemergence into Misato's life serving to graudally push her Elektra Complex back up to the surface, to serving as somewhat of a mentor/surrogate-father figure to Shinji by offering him some seemingly helpful wisdom, to him understandably brushing off Asuka’s childish crush and inappropriate advances towards him as a counter to her unhealthy obsession with wanting to grow-up too fast. Plus, there was that whole intriguing double/triple agent game Kaji was playing between Gendo, SEELE, and the UN. Heck, back when the Internet annoyingly thought it was in-vogue to constantly dismiss Shinji’s character as nothing more than a “whiny b*tch,” I noticed that a lot of these detractors seemed to conversely prefer both Misato and Kaji’s characters (describing Kaji as the least psychologically-damaged of the entire cast). However, I’ve recently discovered that a lot of more modern EVA fans tend to be rather creeped out by Kaji’s womanizing behavior, with some even going as far as to describe him as being borderline to outright predatory, citing two scenes in particular from future episodes which I'll definitely discuss when we eventually get around to them. The critical reevaluations of with womanizing characters from older media are not uncommon, especially in the Post-#MeToo era. We've already seen it with other beloved fictional characters like Han Solo in Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and James Bond throughout his entire filmography, and Kaji is not immune to these criticisms either. Personally speaking, while I do still think that Gendo is a far worse scumbag due to being both a neglectful father to Shinji as well as him openly manipulating female characters like Rei & Ritsuko to fullfill his own selfish-desires (even up to the point of heavily implied sexual abuse), I can definitely understand and even agree with a lot of criticisms directed at Kaji. I will at least argue that Kaji's behavior doesn't come across as creepy in hindsight as Han's or especially Bond's (seriously, there's a scene in Goldfinger that is downright disgusting in just how blatantly misogynistic & homophobic it is...), and that he does have his more noble and redeeming qualities when it comes to his relationships with Misato, Shinji and Asuka.

I love how from the moment Kaji first appears on screen, we start getting hints about his and Misato's past romantic history together! This is evident through not only Misato’s embarrassed reaction upon seeing Kaji in the command deck, but also by them awkwardly playing footsie underneath the barrack tables (implying that they’re physically in synch with each other).

And if that weren’t enough, Kaji drops this bombshell of a question when he learns that Shinji is currently Misato’s roommate, asking him if Misato is "still wild in bed" shortly after asking Misato if she's currently seeing anyone else (which does lead to one of my personal favorite Misato moments ever)!

I've honestly lost count of how many times I've used that quote of Misato's as a reaction gif on Twitter, I love it that much!

As someone who was already pretty invested in Misato's character so far when first viewing the series, this revelation made me want to learn more about Misato's past and what exactly happened between her and Kaji which led to them eventually breaking up. And the answer was certainly one which I was not expecting at the time!

Still though... while the fact that Kaji feels comfortable asking this question to Shinji, who is still 14-years-old, is really inappropriate on his part, it does at least underscore Misato's struggles to form meaningful non-sexual relationships with other people due to both her love/hate relationship with her deceased father, and her stunted childhood development & trauma as a survivor of the Second Impact.

Also, this scene in the barracks gives us some early foreshadowing to not only Asuka's obsessive teen-crush on Kaji given her horrified reaction to his earlier bombshell drop, but also to the mentor-role he'll later provide for Shinji when he rebukes Shinji's downplaying of his EVA piloting experiences as "simply luck," informing him that luck is a talent that will get him far in life. AndShinji can't help but find this to be a somewhat reassuring thought given how incredibly low his self-confidence is...

I love the contrasting impressions that Kaji leaves upon Shinji and Misato respectively. Shinji can't help but find Kaji “pretty interesting” due to his cool-headedness and wisdom, whereas Misato’s angrily replies, “He hasn’t changed at all that chauvinistic pig!”

Lol! Misato's words there are unintentionally reflective of how a lot of modern viewers feel about Kaji’s character nowadays. Also, she'd fit right in with Black Widow & Valkyrie on the classic cover of Avengers (1963) #83!

I love the re-occuring visual motif throughout this episode of Asuka constantly standing on higher ground in contrast to Shinji, as it perfectly plants the seeds for the complicated rivalry and relationship between these two characters. While the opening silhouetted shot of Asuka was incredibly effective in regards to conveying Asuka's inflated ego in relation to everyone else, she sets her sights on proving her alleged "superiority" to Shinji specifically as soon as she learns from Kaji about Shinji's unnaturally high-synchronization ratio with his EVA Unit.

Yup! Asuka definitely took Obi-Wan Kenobi's famous words from Revenge of the Sith to heart!

Also, although she tries to hide it, you can tell that Asuka can't help but perceive this news as a significant challenge to her pride, which leads to her commadering Shinji in the escalator so that she can show off her own EVA Unit to him. I love how she attempts to desperately excuse away his high-synchronization status as the result of a "design flaw" due to EVA Unit's 00 & 01 being test-types while her EVA Unit-02 is a combat-oriented "final production model!" It's mostly implied through body-language and mannerisms, but you can definitely tell that Asuka is overcompensating or trying to mask some hidden insecurities whenever she's attempting to show-off or boast about her skills as an EVA pilot!

I love the contrast in Asuka's reactions when she discovers that the 6th Angel, Gaghiel, is attacking the Pacific Fleet. When she first sees the Angel sink several battleships she gives a sneaky smile and head-turn while in close proximity to Shinji, excitedly proclaiming "Now's my chance," in German. However, when she's alone changing into her plugsuit inside the stairwell, she's a lot more quiet and reserved, whispering to herself, "Let's go... Asuka," inferring that Asuka pilots her EVA not only to prove her talents to others, but to herself as well! Excellent bit of character development and foreshadowing on Anno's part there!

And Asuka immediately deciding to commandeer EVA Unit-02 without asking Misato permission first is another nice touch in emphasizing how far Asuka is willing to go in order to prove herself (although Misato does inevitably approve in a hilariously childish confrontation with the obnoxious admiral)!

Speaking of the plugsuits though, I feel this is a good opportunity to mention how while many other fans have commented on how form-fitting these flight-suits for the EVA pilots are (especially for Rei & Asuka), one thing I only recently just noticed in relation to this fact was how Shinji's plugsuit has these weird rectangular-protrusions which somewhat resemble breast-plates. And considering that this episode also famously has Shinji being forced to wear Asuka's spare Unit-02 plugsuit when she forces him to hop into the Entry-Plug to watch her fight Gaghiel up close, I can't help but wonder if these factors have help contributed to the popular fan-readings of Shinji actually being a closeted trans-femme egg?

Returning to Gaghiel however, I love how in addition to this Angel having a really awesome hybrid design of a white whale, a shark, and a sting-ray, Gaghiel also represents a suspicious change in the Angel's pattern of behavior. Whereas all of the previous Angels directly targeted Tokyo-3 and more specifically the GeoFront and NERV HQ underneath the city, Gaghiel instead appears in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and is destroying several battleships in what appears to be a random yet systematically targeted manner, which Misato speculates means that it's actively searching for something. Is it EVA Unit-02 onboard the fleet, or something else entirely? And questions are further raised by Kaji's suspicious behavior, since he not only calls Gendo about this sudden attack, but Gendo sounds like he expected such an occurrence and even shipped "a spare EVA pilot" to support Asuka as backup support (once again reminding me of why I hate Gendo's guts so much as he treats his own son like cannon-fodder)! Also, Kaji fleeing the aircraft-carrier mid attack by hitchhiking a random fighter jet to Misato’s annoyance is an excellent way of allowing the viewer to begin questioning Kaji’s true allegiance…

Additionally, according to Wikipedia "the name Gaghiel (Hebrew: גגיאל), also called Gagiel, Daghiel or Dagiel, in Judeo-Christian folklore is the angel of the fish. Its Hebrew name can be translated as 'roaring beast of God', and has been interpreted by writer Will Raus as a possible allusion to its appearance, which is similar to that of a beast fighting in the water." So this Angel's whale-shark appearance is definitely fitting in that regard!

Also, Misato’s sarcastically condescending, “Hello, NERV delivery! Would you like to order data on this enemy and countermeasures to use against it,” come-back retort towards the rude Navy admiral when Gaghiel begins sinking battleships is absolutely priceless! Allison Kieth is an absolute treasure, and it’s a darn crime that neither she or Tiffany Grant were offered a chance to return for the Netflix re-dub…

Lol! The scene of Asuka scolding Shinji for his "thought-noise" interfering with Unit-02's signal, him hilariously trying and failing to think in German, and Asuka calling him a "dummkopf" before switching the EVA's language patterns to Japanese is yet another iconic gag in this series that NEVER... EVER... gets old!

Holy crap, did I almost forget just how epic and badass Asuka's entry into battle is! There's a reason why these two images of EVA Unit-02 both posing in the tarp on the battleship deck and pulling out its progressive knife have become so iconic!

I love the progressive insanity of the fight with Gaghiel! We start with the most dangerous game of hopscotch ever conceived as Asuka jumps from deck-to-deck over the Pacific Ocean to plug in her umbilical cable within the short span of one minute whilst avoiding the Angel ramming into ship after ship! And then the battle transitions to a literal fishing sport as the Angel drags Unit-02 down into the water while it's still attatched to a ridiculously long umbilical cable!

The attention to detail as Gaghiel drags Unit-02 underwater and repeatedly bounces off the sea-floor admits the sunken ruins of an abandoned city is amazing! I love how you can still see all the various submerged buildings and streets here (I wonder which city this was prior to Second Impact?)!

I like how as soon as Asuka realizes that Unit-02 is completely immobile underwater as Gaghiel is swimming directly towards them, she immediately defers to Shinji for help due to him being “the famed Third Child” (even letting out a suppressed shriek of terror when the Angel opens its jaws wide open to try and devour them)! For all of Asuka’s boasting she’s way in over her head, which continues to be a reoccurring character flaw that she struggles with over the course of the series!

And the madness of this fight is not over yet as Misato conceives of another ingenious yet ludicrous plan to defeat the Angel as she has the navy deliberately sink their remaining two evacuated battleships and time their downward trajectory just right so that that they'll land face-first into Gaghiel's maw after Unit-02 forces it open, firing a barrage of missiles via-remote directly into the Angel's core and forcing it to self-destruct! Just like the fight with Ramiel back in Episodes 5 & 6, this plan is absolutely bonkers and is a thrill to watch unfold!

So… this moment where EVA Unit-02's eye's briefly glow as Asuka (along with Shinji) desperately struggle to gather the stregnth to open the Angel's jaws before the battleships arrive at their position! While Misato later comments to Ritsuko that this was an unusual high-burst of synchronization between the EVA's and their pilots, I can't help but wonder how much of said-ratio boost was due to Shinji or Asuka? I ask because a major defining element of Asuka's character development as the series progresses is that despite her prideful and boastful nature she never actually wins a single Angel battle solely on her own, only doing so with the assistance and teamwork of others (which consequently causes her to gradually descend into a depressive downward spiral).

Also, was this an example of EVA Unit-02 almost entering bersker mode? If so... that's a neat bit of foreshadowing there!

Oh boy! Our official introduction to the Seed of Life for all the other Angels, the 1st Angel… Adam!

I honestly remember getting some serious chills when I first saw Kaji unveil Adam as a cryogenically-frozen fetus-like creature to Gendo & Fuyutsuk, although his description of it as “the first human” in some translations always confused me (the ADV dub simplifies this to instead have Kaji refer to the Adam fetus as, “the key to the human instrumentality project”).

Also, interestingly the “Fly Me to the Moon” ending credits segment has a red filter overlaying the usual animation this time around! That feels like a neat extra detail to signify Asuka’s arrival into the show!

So that was NGE, "Episode 8: Asuka Arrives in Japan/ASUKA STRIKES!", and overall it was another solid banger and a powerful introduction to Asuka’s character, establishing important traits about her character while setting up for future developments for her as the series progresses! And with that we finally have our main ensemble cast for NGE in the form of Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Misato, Ritsuko, Gendo & Kaji completed!

Next up is Episode 9!

[abandonedcyberpunkspidermech]

Okay, I saw the Contest of Champions motion comic Multi-Vers-Onality and Kabam’s announcement of Peni Parker and Spider-Man 2099 as August 2021’s champions, so I figured I’d make a post:

The comic itself is framed as Lyla (LYrate Lifeform Approximation, Miguel’s AI assistant) conducting a search for the Spider-Totem Peni Parker, which she does by looking at Peni Parkers (the PROPER pluralization) across the multiverse, and I ALREADY have plans to incorporate the eight Lyla finds before her into a fic if I get the time to write it. The eight are:

1. Earth-51778 (Home world of Takuya Yamashiro, Supidaman and pilot of OG Power Rangers/Super Sentai Mech Leopardon): This Peni Parker is an ordinary schoolgirl who moved to her NYC to live with her aunt and uncle (Not sure what happened to her parents, but that’s a story for another time) and is working on adapting to a new school, making friends, and figuring out her feelings for a boy. Oh, she also goes to school with the Evangelion kids, like in canon.

Yes, really.

2. Earth-23: You know how I said the original thumbnail was “Magical-Girly”?

Well, that’s exactly it. Earth-23’s Peni Parker is an honest-to-God magical girl, complete with a transformation sequence, a team of friends who are also magical girls, the power of love and friendship, and cute animal mascot. I don’t know why I find this funny, but I do. Maybe it’s the contrast between my perception of OG Peni growing into an Evangelion style angst fest while this one is straight out of Sailor Moon.

Moving on: The next six we only hear voices of, which I will quote and try to explain to the best of my knowledge (this is really just a “me fixating on the idea of Peni meeting multiple other Peni’s and being surprised by how OUT THERE they are” post):

1. “As the lead scientist investigating increased Kaiju presence”: I honestly imagine Earth-14512 Peni having Kaiju in her rogue’s gallery and fighting them, so… maybe this is either just a world where Kaiju are just now showing up or a future where Peni became a scientist and is looking into their resurgence.

2. “Transported into a fantasy world by a goddess in a video game”: Literal isekai plot. I’m guessing something where Peni got yoinked out of her world because the video game was a test by the goddess to find heroes to save her world, and the goddess won’t let her leave until the other world’s thread is dead.

3. “Pilot an intergalactic dreadnought”: Space Battleship Yamato with Peni Parker as the captain and Marvel characters as the cast? Or maybe alternate future where Peni became a space navy captain? SBY’s the only thing coming to mind.

4. “Hunt a clan of vampires”: Something like Hellsing, where vampires turned Peni’s family for being vampire hunters (and related to them) and forced her to kill them, so she becomes a vampire hunter to keep them from ruining anymore lives. Are there any other vampire anime/manga/LNs/VNs out there?

5. “Fight my rival in a school tournament”: Some slice of life shonen-ey high school thing where Peni has a relatively normal life and a high school rival (Harry Osborn? Addy Brock? MJ Watson?) against whom she competes. Although I have to say that, having been in high school, “school tournament” encompasses anything from card games to volleyball and from cooking to chess. Yeah, I’m guessing it’s just card games.

6. “While trying to prepare a song for the school festival”: Similar slice of life high school world except that Peni’s trying to be an idol singer or some other musician, I suppose.

And finally, Lyla finds Peni Parker of Earth-14512, and tells Miguel, who goes to visit her. And from there, the rest of the video shows gameplay of Peni and Miguel fighting.

From what it looks like, SP//dr takes design cues from the movie and comics (Overall build from the comics, blue coloration and face screen from the movies), and Peni herself has mostly her comics appearance with a few differences (hair clip on the other side of the head, hair dyed blue at the tips, green skirt instead of teal, different socks and shoes, and a gauntlet on her arm that’s definitely connected to SP//dr), but it’s still nice to see her get some media attention.

There’s also the coming MCOC events: Multi-Vers-Onality and Extra! Extra!

MVO: Mr. Fantastic has noticed interdimensional activities and the signature of a large machine in the Battlerealm (the game’s setting), and wants the player to figure out what’s happening. Also, some of the Champions (fighters) are acting like the opposite of how they’d usually act.

Extra! Extra!: A Spider-Man event requiring the player to fight MCOC’s Spider-Man characters.

I’m honestly interested in seeing what roles Peni Parker and Miguel play in these events, so much so that I bought the app earlier today. I’m Jas114 and already at level 11. That’s all for now. Sorry for not posting anything else recently. Life’s been busy. Also, I want to see how this month’s MCOC events go before doing anything else “official”.

[pumpkaaboo]

Here's chapter 1 of the Revolutionary Girl Utena/Neon Genesis Evangelion crossover I've been working on with @nerd-dot-jpeg! It's been really fun to work on so far! Full text under the cut.

“Attention, due to the special state of emergency declared for the Toukai region and the surrounding mid-Kanto area, an evacuation has been ordered. Please proceed to your designated shelter immediately.”

Utena stretched nervously, bouncing into a lunge with her left leg forward, then her right, before standing up straight and pulling her arms to the side one at a time, relishing in the weight of her thick black jacket. She grunted with exertion, then sighed, leaning back against a nearby telephone pole. “She’s late…”

For once, the city’s streets and monstrous buildings of concrete, glass, and steel were silent. No cars honked in tune with the screaming of their drivers caught in a traffic jam, no neighbors shouted at each other from their windows, and all the speaker systems that usually blared a cacophony of arguments for why Utena needed countless products she had never heard of only repeated that same toneless message in perfect sync. Not even the pigeons were around to make noise.

“Attention,” the message looped, “Due to the special state of emergency declared…”

Utena pulled her long pink hair into a ponytail. Then she took it out. She kicked an empty soda can into the air, bouncing it between her feet. She made a game out of not letting it hit the ground, before finally sending it soaring to a perfect landing in a nearby trash can. She gave herself a moment to celebrate her shot, but the excitement faded quickly, leaving only a gnawing anxiety behind. Then she put her hair back up.

“Maybe she got delayed by the Angel… I should be out there, doing something… I came all this way to help, but I’m useless now!”

With a growl of frustration, Utena sprang back to her feet and started doing lunges again.

Suddenly, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She whipped around, and met the gaze of a girl with dark skin and long violet hair that cascaded down to her waist. Her green eyes seemed to almost glow in the afternoon light, and she stood perfectly still in the middle of the intersection, the heat distortion causing her form to waver like a mirage, a trick of the light. Something about her seemed familiar, somehow.

For some reason, she reminded Utena of a doll.

Perhaps it was the way her arms hung limply, languid, at her sides, perhaps it was her empty expression, perhaps it was the fact that Utena had been staring at her, frozen, for at least twenty seconds and she hadn’t blinked-

“Attention, due to the special state of emergency-”

Utena jumped, the announcement snapping her out of her trance. She glanced up at it, then back at the girl, who hadn’t moved. She took a step forward. “Hey-”

You need to get to an evacuation shelter, she wanted to say, it’s not safe here, but she was cut off by the sounds of a revving engine and the screeching of tires against pavement as a bright yellow car skidded to a stop in front of her, almost tipping over itself in the process.

The driver’s-side door opened, and a woman in sunglasses and a red military jacket leaned out. “Sorry to keep you waiting! Utena Tenjou, right?”

Utena blinked, then nodded. She stood on her toes, leaning to the side of the car to try and catch a glimpse of the girl again, but the intersection was empty save for the steaming tire tracks and smell of burnt rubber.

“Something wrong?”

“Nothing I just… I thought I saw someone.”

The woman followed Utena’s gaze, then shook her head. “Well, whoever it was, they must have left. I hope they get to a shelter in time… You should get in, by the way. I hate to rush you, but, well… unforeseen circumstances and all that.”

As if on cue, a thunderous boom rang out from somewhere in the distance, as a shockwave rippled across the city. Utena stumbled, catching herself on the car. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry I had to make you come all this way at such a time… it’s rotten luck, really.”

The woman grinned. “Don’t worry about it. I’m Misato Akagi, by the way, and I’ll be your commanding officer from here on out.”

Utena nodded, climbing into the passenger’s seat and buckling her seat belt. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Akagi.”

Misato groaned. “Please, Ms. Akagi is my wife. You can call me Misato.” She took in Utena’s poorly-disguised shock and laughed as she pulled out of her “parking space”. “Let me guess: first time you’ve ever met a real live gay person, huh?”

“I- well I mean- I’d heard of- and of course there must have been some that I just didn’t know they were- but-”

“Don’t worry about it. Just treat us like you would any other couple and we’ll get along fine.”

Utena nodded. “Got it, Ms. Misato.”

“Hey, you’re getting it! By the way, I need to make a call now that I have you, but is there anything you need to say first?” Utena shook her head. “Great, this’ll just be a couple minutes.”

Utena took this as her cue to tune Misato out and stare out the window. Just over the mountains, she could see a couple of silver dots moving through the sky.

“Hey, Ritsuko, it’s me. I have the Sixth, and we’ll make it to the car shuttle train in about twenty minutes, assuming the Angel doesn’t fall right on top of us, of course. Make sure it’s ready.” Some muffled words came through the speaker, but Utena couldn’t make them out. “Of course I don’t doubt you, I just wanted to check to be safe… oh, and make sure Ohtori knows we’re on our way, too. He’s been quite vehement about making sure this one gets to HQ ASAP. Love you too, see you soon, bye!”

Misato hung up the phone with a loving sigh, her eyes taking on a relaxed softness as they returned to the road. Utena glanced at the phone, then back at Misato. “Your wife?” she asked.

“The one and only Ritsuko Akagi, the sharpest mind this side of the Andromeda galaxy. God, I love that woman.”

I can tell, thought Utena. Now that she’d had a bit of time to get accustomed to the idea of two women being… together, she could appreciate what the romance had clearly done for Misato. She fought back a pang of envy at the adoring expression on Misato’s face. Maybe someday, when I find my prince…

They drove in silence for a few minutes, barring the occasional shockwave from the battle with the Angel raging on in the distance. A blinding light cast the entire valley they were driving through into shadow, but it was gone as quickly as it came, leaving nothing but a plume of smoke behind.

Utena shifted in her seat. “I hope the pilot’s okay…”

Misato grimaced. “It’s Saionji-san this time, he’s tough, he’ll be fine,” she said, unconvincingly. The silence, which before had been uncomfortable, was growing unbearable. “So!” Misato said, clearly in a desperate attempt to break it. “From what I’ve read in your file, we actually have a lot in common!”

“Really?”

“Yep! Antarctica, Second Impact, right?”

Utena stared. “You too? I didn’t realize anyone else…”

“As far as anyone knows, the two of us are the only survivors, and we were both kids whose parents worked there. Kind of a weird coincidence, don’t you think?”

“Definitely. Um, if it’s not too forward of me to ask, how long were you…?”

“Oh, I wasn’t in cryostasis like you were, so I didn’t lose any time. Luckily, the protective capsule my dad put me in got found floating out at sea before I died of dehydration, but as a result of my experiences, I was unable to speak for several years.”

“Oh.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. It was a long time ago, and I’m totally fine now!” Misato flashed Utena a grin. “What about you? What’s your story? If you feel comfortable sharing it, that is.”

“Um, this is going to sound kinda silly.”

“Don’t worry about it! This is a bonding exercise, anything goes.”

“Well… it was a prince.”

“Wait, what? What was?”

Another shockwave tore through the car, stronger this time, or maybe they were just closer to the source. Utena cried out in alarm, and she could see that Misato’s hands had tightened on the steering wheel.

“After the wing my parents were in collapsed, but before the big explosion, there was a prince who came to me. Like, right out of a fairy tale. He was shining, and he smelled like roses. He told me to never lose my strength or nobility, even when I grew up, and then put me in the pod and sealed it. Um, but my memories of that day are pretty fuzzy, so I don’t really know where he came from or… anything else.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it, seven years in cryostasis will do that to you.” Misato flashed Utena a reassuring smile.

Utena returned the smile, and then, emboldened by Misato’s encouragement, continued. “Well, after that, I decided that I wanted to become a prince who saves people just like he did for me, so I started dressing like a boy, and I adopted a chivalrous lifestyle… and well, here I am now.”

Misato’s eyes shone. “That’s so cool! It really gives me hope, you know, that people still choose to be brave and kind to each other, even after everything… oh, and by the way, the school you’ll be attending has a mandatory dress code, but one of the perks of being an Eva pilot is that you get to wear whatever you want, so you won’t have to fight the teachers on the whole uniform thing.”

“Really? That’s a relief.” Utena rubbed her fingers absentmindedly, protectively, against her jacket’s thick sleeve, enjoying the texture. “My last school had this crazy guidance counselor… I swear, you put one toe over these invisible lines people made up about what boys and girls can and can’t do, and everyone loses their minds.”

Misato winced. “Tell me about it…”

“Oh! Oh right, of course you’d know all about that-” Utena flailed around verbally once more, suddenly remembering Misato’s… situation. “Sorry, I just forgot-”

“Hey, no worries. I guess you could say we’re birds of a feather in a lot of ways, huh?”

“...Yeah, I- I guess we are.”

“By the way, how would you feel about-”

Whatever Misato was about to say next was cut off by another shockwave, this one even stronger than the last. But this time, instead of dissipating harmlessly, it was followed by an avalanche of boulders thrown into the air from when a nearby mountain had- oh dear god, it had exploded.

Misato shouted with alarm and slammed on the brakes, just barely avoiding a crash with the boulder in front of them. Several more impacted with the road behind them, trapping the car right where it was. A roar shook the mountains, and the pair slowly turned their gazes toward the source.

There was an Evangelion standing there in a combat stance, prog knife in hand, its metallic chassis gleaming blood-red in the harsh afternoon light, with green and gold accents shimmering like stars through the heavy smoke rising from the ashes of what used to be a mountain. And standing across from it…

“That’s an Angel?” Utena asked, horror keeping her voice from rising above a whisper. Misato gave a terse nod.

The thing was titanic , almost half the size of the mountain that it and the Eva had just wiped off the face of the earth. It had six sinewy arms and no legs or head, and a red orb portruded from its back. It roared once more from its many gaping, salivating jaws, one at each shoulder and probably several more where Utena couldn’t see, before making another charge at the Eva. The massive robot sprang into action, dodging the Angel’s hands and slashing at it with its prog knife again and again, but was repelled each time by some sort of shimmering orange field.

“I… I’d seen the videos, but…”

Misato didn’t take her eyes off the fight. “Nothing can prepare you for the real thing. I’m sorry you had to find out like this. We need to get out of this car; it���ll be of no protection for us if either of them hurls something — or, god forbid, themselves — over here.”

Utena nodded with agreement, and together they exited the car and climbed on top of a nearby boulder, hoping for a better vantage point. Utena pulled her knees to her chest. “So that’s gonna be my duty next, huh?”

“If we survive this…” Misato’s voice was barely a whisper; she didn’t seem to have noticed that she had spoken aloud. “You’ll be added to the rotation of pilots for Unit R05, yes.”

“Ah.”

They sat together in silence for a few more minutes, watching the fight. The combatants seemed to be at a sort of standstill, with the Angel unable to pin down the Eva for long enough to bite into it, and the Eva unable to pierce the Angel’s strange orange shield.

Misato’s eyes narrowed. “Saionji’s sync rate must be down, if he can’t get through that A.T. field. Argh, I knew we should’ve prepared Miki instead, but he insisted-”

The Angel got a hit on the Eva's face.

There was a moment of sudden, deafening silence.

And then the Eva screamed.

Giant steel-plated arms grasped at its head, metallic and organic screeches blending together. Blood-red spikes shot out of the chassis, fracturing it in several places. Misato cursed and whipped her phone out of her pocket, hastily pressing a few buttons. The face of an intense-looking blonde woman popped up on the screen, with a white hospital room in the background.  “He’s been the pilot for too long, psychological contamination is setting in! R05’s going berserk!” Misato shouted.

“We know that!” the other woman hissed.

“So what are our options?”

“We’ll have to shut down R05 and send D10.”

Misato sucked in a breath. “No… Anthy’s still injured! She can’t pilot in her state!”

“Do you have a better plan?” the woman shot back.

MIsato glared at her feet.

The blonde woman turned to her side. “That’s it then. Anthy, you’re being deployed.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Utena gasped in horror as a wheeled gurney came into view of the camera. There was a girl on it-the same girl she had seen in the intersection, but her purple hair was curled into a tight roll all the way around her head, and she wore a pair of round glasses, and almost every inch of her skin was covered in bandages, some of them already showing red with blood soaking through. The girl seemed to mentally steel herself, before sitting up with a soft cry of pain and slumping against the blonde woman’s side, panting.

“No!”

All eyes turned toward Utena.

“I’ll pilot the Eva! That’s what I’m here for, right? You can’t make her do this!”

Misato met the blonde woman’s eyes. “...Could that work?”

She thought for a few seconds. “If we perform a full shutdown of R05, we could buy the Sixth about thirty seconds to get into the entry plug before it restarts itself and resumes its berserk rampage. Of course, that would be thirty seconds of total vulnerability…”

“We could distract it by sending military jets to bomb it,” Misato added.

“That could work… but there’s still the risk of the Angel realizing what we’re trying to do, or a stray bomb hitting the Sixth.”

“Then let’s leave it up to her. Utena, are you sure you want to do this?”

Utena hadn’t broken eye contact with the strange girl. Those green eyes, shining with pain and fear and despair...

“I’ll do it.”

The girl’s eyes widened with shock and, perhaps, a spark of hope.

Misato closed her eyes. “That settles it, then. Ritsuko, I hope you’re prepared to line everything up quickly, because we’re going to need that time. Utena, I’m going to need you to watch R05 closely. Try to predict where it’s going to fall, because you’re only going to have thirty seconds to get into the entry plug, where its spine meets its neck. Once you’re in there, you’re going to find Saionji unconscious in the cockpit. He’s wearing a pair of triangular metallic hair clips-those are the neural interface, you’ll need to clip them to your own hair, as close to your head as possible. Got all that?”

Utena nodded, her stance tense with determination. “Good. After that… Well, from what I’ve heard, piloting an Eva is sink-or-swim. There isn’t really any advice I can give you, since I’ve never done it myself… so try to swim. Good luck.”

Misato returned to her phone and started barking orders, and Utena slid off the rock towards where the battle was raging on. The spikes piercing out of R05’s chassis had started dripping a red liquid that steamed when it hit the ground. The metal at its shoulder blades bulged and cracked, and she could see an eerie purple light shining through the fissures.

One drop of liquid hit the Angel’s hand, and its howl of pain shook the entire valley. The hand melted away completely, leaving a stump at the wrist. The spots on the ground where the melted flesh had landed turned green, and if Utena looked closely, she could see thorny vines growing out of them.

Utena returned her attention to the Angel. Maybe, without its hand, we have a chance… her thoughts were cut off when the Angel flexed its arm, and two more hands grew from the stump. Oh. It can do that. Okay. The Angel screeched from all of its mouths, and as R05 lunged at it, caught the mech’s arms with two hands each, and began scrabbling at the Eva's chestpiece with its free arm.

With a keening cry, more spikes shot out of R05’s chest, catching the Angel’s shoulders and causing it to stumble back. The Eva took a few steps backward, panting. There was a sickening crack , and Utena could see that the fissures in its back had grown a bit larger, the purple light spilling out a little bit brighter.

Misato cursed. “Its wings are about to erupt! Ritsuko, we need those reinforcements now! ”

“They’re on their way!” And sure enough, Utena could hear jet engines approaching rapidly, Something streaked toward the Angel, and an explosion rang out. The Angel stumbled forward and whipped around to face the squadron of fighter jets that were flying towards it. It let out a roar, and sprinted away from R05.

“Utena, go! ” Misato shouted as the Eva, seemingly about to charge after the Angel shuddered to a halt, then collapsed onto its side. Utena sprang into action, sprinting towards R05 before it even hit the ground and vaulting onto its wrist, before climbing up the arm. She pulled herself up onto its back and began making her way towards the entry plug as quickly as she could, taking care to avoid the red spikes, which she could now see were black at the base.

Another explosion from the Angel’s battle with the jets rang out, and Utena cried out in alarm as she fell into a crouch, clinging to one of the fissures in R05’s armor to keep from falling off. It was emanating some sort of strange energy, and Utena’s hands were starting to go numb. She pushed herself back to her feet, wincing as she tried to massage the feeling back into her fingers, and kept going.

She had just barely reached the entry plug when a shudder ran through the Eva, and it began to move its arms into position to push itself back up. Utena gulped, then twisted the release on the emergency escape hatch on the entry plug and slipped inside, shutting it tightly behind her.

And not a moment too soon, for an instant after the hatch was sealed, she was suddenly vertical, flung forward into empty space. Then she hit some sort of uncomfortably warm liquid, and didn’t even have time to gasp for breath before she was submerged. She coughed and sputtered, but after a few seconds, realized that she could breathe in the liquid almost as easily as air. It was orange, and transparent, thicker than air or water but not gelatinous, and it smelled like salt, with a faint hint of something acrid and sickly sweet. Fighting down a wave of disgust, Utena swam deeper into the entry plug, towards where she could see a chair suspended in the liquid.

Sure enough, just as Misato had said, there was a boy floating there, unconscious, his dark hair swirling around him like a kelp forest, with the triangular neural interface clips attached close to his scalp. Utena gingerly undid the clasps, then with both clips clutched in her hand, shoved the boy (Saionji?) up away from the seat. She settled into it, and somehow, the chair seemed almost made to fit her narrow frame.

Alright, R05 , Utena thought, it’s just you and me now. Moment of truth. With a deep breath, she affixed the clips to her own head.

She was enveloped by the scent of roses.

A heartbeat later, she was nearly bowled over by a wave of sensation and pain. The walls of the entry plug around her flickered , and suddenly displayed the scene of the battle, as if she were seeing through R05’s eyes. She could feel the spikes protruding from the Eva's body just as though it was her own, along with waves of pressure pounding at her shoulder blades.

Utena couldn't suppress a cry of agony, and she curled up in her seat. She could see R05’s movements jerk to a halt as it adjusted to this new connection. Emotions tore through her, somehow more intense than they were normally. Pain, confusion, fear… familiarity? Something about this, about being so close to this monstrosity of steel and fluid felt… right , somehow. Forcing herself upright, Utena reached out and stroked the wall of the entry plug.

“Hey, it’ll be alright,” she said, in the most soothing voice she could muster, “I’m new here, and I don’t really know how to do this, so we’re going to have to work together, okay?”

The Evangelion had stopped moving. It stood at attention, and even though Utena knew on an intellectual level that it was just a robot, it almost seemed… hopeful? “I know it hurts, I’m so, so sorry. Please, just work with me here and it’ll be over soon, I promise.”

Utena felt a ripple of some emotion — was it acceptance? Relief? — and then, suddenly, the pressure at her shoulder blades receded, and the limbs of the Eva became her own. Utena smiled gratefully. “Thanks, bud. Now let’s go kill an Angel.”

Together, they turned their attention back to the fight. Two of the planes had crashed to the ground already, a third was missing with no sign of where it had gone, and the Angel stood on four of its arms, the other two flailing wildly into the air, occasionally extending far past where its bones should allow and requiring a plane to make a hasty dodge to avoid it. “We need to get it to leave those planes alone. Can you do that?”

As if in affirmation, Utena felt her attention directed towards R05’s wrist. A small gun was embedded there; not strong enough to do any real damage to the Angel, but enough to distract it enough to give the planes enough time to retreat. She lifted R05’s arm and fired.

The shot hit the Angel right at the edge of one of its mouths. The thing stiffened, and turned towards them. “Hey wait, how does it see us if it doesn’t have any eye- AH!” Utena’s sentence was cut off by a scream as the Angel charged them, slamming into R05’s chassis and knocking them both back. One of its shoulders collided with the Eva’s forearm, and she gasped in pain as its swordlike fangs dug in. It’s not real , she tried to convince herself desperately, as she felt the fibers of her muscles severed and teeth grinding against her bones. It’s just feedback, it’s not your pain…

But it was R05’s.

Machine or not, R05 felt pain.

A newfound determination welled in Utena’s chest. I can’t let this continue, she thought. I’m fighting for both of us, now.

She clutched the prog knife in her free hand and drove it upward. It crashed into the orange forcefield, sending splinters of pain up Utena’s arm, but she kept pushing. She felt a pulse of energy shoot out from R05’s core, and suddenly, the knife’s blade slipped through the field, right into the monster’s shoulder.

The Angel howled in agony and released her, but Utena didn’t retreat, instead springing back to (her? The Eva’s?) feet. She grasped the knife in both hands and brought the blade down on the orb in the Angel’s back again and again, until she felt something crack underneath the point. She dug the knife deeper, and the orb suddenly lit up, brighter than the sun—

She and R05 were thrown back by the explosion, they hit the side of a mountain, their heads impacting painfully against the rock, stars danced before their eyes—

It smells like roses, Utena thought.

Then there was nothing but darkness.

[animebw]

Short Reflection: Evangelion 1.0- You Are (Not) Alone

How does one judge a piece of media that’s almost exactly the same as another piece of media that’s come before?

Sure, the anime world is no stranger to remakes. FMA 03 vs Brotherhood, HxH 1999 vs 2011, the old and new versions of Fruits Basket, all the different interpretations of Fate/Stay Night... there are plenty of anime properties that have been made anew and reinterpreted for new generations of fans. And there’s plenty of interesting conversations to have surrounding what these different versions were going for, how well they succeeded at their goals, all that good stuff. But the first Evangelion Rebuild movie isn’t just any ordinary remake. It’s a near shot-for-shot recreation of the first six episodes of the original TV show. If you decided to start Evangelion with the Rebuilds and put this movie on, you’d get a nearly identical experience to if you decided to put on the show. Sure, I know future movies will move the story in a new direction and fully cement this series as its own unique take on Eva, and that’s where the really meaty discussions are sure to begin. For now, though, our starting point is almost entirely composed of imagery, sequences, dialogue, and ideas we’ve seen in this exact order before. How do you judge something like that on its own terms? Should I judge it on its own terms? Is it even possible? How different would my experience with this movie be if it was my introduction to Evangelion and I was experiencing all these moments for the first time.

For now, I can’t answer those questions. Perhaps my opinions will evolve the further I get into the Rebuilds. Until then, though, all I can do is talk about how this movie affected me now, reliving old memories in a slightly different context.

If I’m being honest, there’s something almost uncanny about Rebuild 1.0′s slavish devotion to recreating the first six episodes. It’s not just the scenes themselves that are the same; it’s how they’re shot, how they’re edited, which music cues are dropped when. Hell, even the animation itself feels lifted wholesale from the show at times, as if they literally just traced over the cuts from ten years ago and redid them in a new engine. That alone creates this fascinating stylistic contrast; you’ve got these very 90s keyframes and animation techniques, but now they’re in widescreen with smooth digital lighting effects and the occasional high-quality CG assistance for some of the more complex mechanical tech. This is probably the closest we’ll ever get to a 90s-style anime made with modern animation technology, and that itself is pretty cool. I’d even argue the overall effect is so seamless that it’s just as beautiful and evocative as the show. But it’s definitely weird re-experiencing an aesthetic that was very much of its time updated for modern technology. I spent so much of the first half-hour of this film experiencing what I can only describe as a reverse uncanny valley, trying to wrap my head around how well this twenty-year-old visual storytelling still conveyed its meaning in this new context. There should’ve been so much whiplash from fitting the styles of different eras together, and yet it just... works. And that was somehow more unnerving than if there had been a disconnect. What wizardry did you employ to make it so seamless, Anno?

Of course, this movie isn’t literally just the exact same shots as the show. If it were, it would be over two hours long and the pacing would make no sense. There are a few cuts, a few additions, a few re-ordered sequences to make the story flow better as a cinematic narrative. And I could honestly spend the rest of this review talking about how those minor changes affect the experience overall. Some moments I desperately love are lost to cuts, but I can understand why they needed to go; as much as I adore the end of episode 4 where Shinji and Misato stare at each other across the train tracks, that kind of emotional catharsis plopped right in the middle of this movie would slam the brakes on Shinji’s arc and ruin the power of seeing him finally stand up to his demons in the final act. Some moments I feel should’ve been left in; Kensuke and Toji’s subplot is so stripped down that they barely register as characters, which makes their big inspirational speech to Shinji near the end ring hollow unless you know them from the show. Most of the additional scenes are welcome; I like the extra time with Misato and Ritsuko’s relationship, and introducing Shinji’s mental train conversations and Lilith earlier on helps the show’s slow progression of abstract, cosmic weirdness feel more natural. And when the final battle rolls around, the animators really get to cut loose and showcase the full power that modern technology can bring to Eva-on-Angel conflicts when they’re not just reusing blueprints from a decade prior. If that’s a sign of how hard the action is gonna go once these movies come into their own, color me excited as fuck for what’s still to come.

What really hurts, though, isn’t losing any one big moment or subplot. It’s losing all the tiny, incidental moments that are peppered throughout the show. Moments like Shinji teasing Misato when they first meet, or Ristuko joining them for dinner in their cramped apartment, or Shinji finding refuge with Kensuke out in the wilderness for a brief night of comfort. As brutal a show as it was, Evangelion always contrasted that darkness against the simple, ordinary lives of its characters, the scattered moments of humor, sweetness and light that made us care about their fight against the darkness. These are the moments that make Evangelion, and I just wish so many of them hadn’t been cut from this movie. I understand the time constraints; there was no way a 100-minute film could keep every last detail from 150 minutes worth of TV. But even just five more minutes to keep some of these details in, even just one more scene in Misato’s apartment to make it feel like home, even just one more scene with Kensuke and Toji to make their big finale speech hit home, would have made a world of difference. Honestly, I think the pacing overall works really well cinematically, building to a natural climax point and shifting just a few details around to give Shinji a single continuous arc en route to that finale. But those extra five minutes could have pushed it into “This could’ve been initially conceived as a movie and I’d never know the difference” territory.

You know what, though?

More than anything, watching this movie just drove it even further home how much Evangelion fucking owns.

See, I bring up the changes and cuts and additions because talking about what’s different is the most obvious thing to talk about in a product that’s otherwise mostly the same as something you’ve already talked about. But for the 80% of the time where 1.0 is just Neon Genesis Evangelion again? Folks, it was like nothing had changed at all. There I was again, getting swept up in the drama, gasping at the brutality, biting my nails in terror for Shinji’s safety and well-being, devolving into an emotional mess over his growing connection with Rei, howling with fury at Gendo’s cruelty, marveling at the visceral way Anno directs action, even cringing at the same overt fanservice that still hasn’t grown on me after all these years. The coat of paint may have changed, and some details may have been shuffled around, but this is still the same haunting, gut-wrenching, breathtaking, extraordinarily beautiful franchise that broke the world of anime open back in 1995. Not even literally repeating itself is enough to take away its power. If anything, it just makes it even clearer timeless Evangelion is, how its storytelling and conception of humanity transcend the context of their time to speak to audiences of any era. Evangelion could’ve come out for the first time ten years ago, five years ago, yesterday, or decades into the future, and it would still hit just as hard no matter what. It’s a shining star that will never truly fade, a story that will forever remain just as jaw-dropping, just as agonizing, and just as revolutionary no matter how much time passes since it was first released.

So in the end, maybe Rebuild 1.0 is nothing more than a rehashed starting point that begins to set the stage for the real changes to come. But so what? That starting point is every bit as electrifying now as it was when I first laid eyes on it, an eternal reminder of the unmatched power of Neon Genesis Evangelion. I may not like all the little changes it made, but I will never grow tired of revisiting the beginning of anime’s undying masterpiece. So as we prepare to see how these Rebuilds will chart their own course moving forward, let’s raise one last toast to the moments that started it all... and look forward to the new heights this old foundation will take us to. With all that said, I give Evangelion Rebuild 1.0 a score of:

8.5/10

God, I’m so happy to be back with this franchise. See you next time for 2.0, where we (hopefully) get to really see why this story was worth rebuilding in the first place. See you then!

[the-lightning-strikes-again]

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the writers in VLD season 8 was the one who wrote the end of Evangelion (you'll probably have to look it up to see what I mean)

Hi, anon! Thanks for the note! Yeahh I know what you’re talking about with Evangelion, and how nihilistic its ending was...tbh, a lot of mecha shows I know are rated higher than TV-Y7-FV just by virtue of the content and social issues involved in mecha genre...Some of them make VLD look pretty tame, lol. I certainly agree that the larger mecha genre likely influenced the production team for VLD. Its EPs, for example, were huge Macross and Robotech fans:

“Macross/Robotech was probably my biggest influence. Beyond the amazing visuals it was the first animated show that I watched that had an ongoing/serialized story and characters that grew with the series. The stakes and drama seemed so real because when characters died they stayed dead and there was this whole emotional/social journey that was going on beyond all the explosions and mecha fighting. The bad guys of the series were not played as your typical bad guys. There was a whole grey area and moral ambiguity to their motivations. It was groundbreaking in so many ways. As a kid the show felt so gritty and real.”

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2016/06/04/voltron-legendary-defender-showrunner-joaquim-dos-santos-on-staying-true-to-the-source-material/#4679915b7c2d

And they even admitted in another interview just how heavily season 7 was informed by Macross: https://screenrant.com/voltron-season-7-magic-influences-interview/amp/?__twitter_impression=

And then, of course, the production team admits to taking a lot of cues from GoLion, the original 1982 Japanese base to Voltron, especially in regards to drama and its thematic tensions:

“Once you knew, okay, we’re doing Voltron, what was the first thing that you did? Did you watch all of the episodes? Did you brainstorm? How did the process start?

Montgomery: I know the first thing I did but I can’t say it because it’ll be a spoiler. Beyond that we remembered what we loved, we definitely felt like we had to go back and rewatch the source material because we remember what we love about the show but very few of us remember the legit story points.

What we found was that there was a lot of story missing in the original and it wasn’t quite the show that we thought we remembered it being. So what we ended up doing was we went back and watched the very original, GoLion which is the Japanese version and that one has a much more figured out story because they obviously weren’t trying to cobble something together from footage from another series, they were just making a story.

Problem is? That story was a lot darker than anything we could really do here in America.

Dos Santos: Especially in the ’80s when animation was a whole lot more safe and there were a bunch more regulations than now. Honestly I don’t know if audiences were as sophisticated then as they are now. Those themes from GoLion are something we were able to infuse in terms of their more sophisticated nature into our show. They definitely wouldn’t have gotten across in the ’80s.”

Source: https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/voltron-legendary-defender-producers-talk-creative-process/

But GoLion was rated, like several other mechas, TV-14. For reasons, lol.

Ultimately, I think Voltron as a franchise is just having a major identity crisis because it was brought to America in the 80s on an identity crisis of how to “sanitize” dark show content like GoLion to sell toys to children.

Maybe it’ll figure itself out one day? But someone will have to sit down and really think about what makes the Voltron franchise unique compared to all of these competing mecha franchises. VLD tried to get there I think by openly acknowledging its fantasy aspects and more Arthurian legend vibes...Joaquim Dos Santos himself identified the genre of Voltron as “a sci-fi space opera vs a fantasy period piece” in the Forbes article linked above. And that seemed like a pretty accurate take for the 1984 show, even down to how he positions the two genres as in conflict with each other. VLD definitely takes this forward with its greater attention to magic, ancient legends, etc. But VLD seems to have tripped by trying to force Voltron to be more like non-Voltron shows.

(Probably a moral lesson in here about the importance of staying true to yourself)

So whoever can further define how to make Voltron genuinely special as a franchise will hold the keys to the kingdom for the next reboot. Maybe that’s a more appropriate question, at the end of the day:

How do you make Voltron stand out against other mechas? What kind of content does that involve? What is the true heart and purpose for this franchise that makes it so special compared to Evangelion, or GoLion, or Macross, or Robotech? And how can that heart and purpose be carried through each and every episode? 

Hm...

[recentanimenews]

Why "Bad" Dubs Are Good

When it comes to translating and adaptating anime, most people don't even know where the process begins or ends. Enter the world of dubbed anime. From the mid 1980s up to the early 2000s, dubbed anime experienced a transformative boom via the transition from video-only releases to cable syndication. Back in the day, you walked six miles in the snow to a sketchy video store to get your Neon Genesis Evangelion tapes supplied by only a handful of distributors.

  Among these early birds were the dubs produced by licensor Manga Entertainment, which included the original VHS tape release of Oh! Production’s classic Devilman OVA dubs based off the popular horror manga by Go Nagai. Other notable early dub projects included Cyber City Oedo 808 which delivered perhaps the crowning achievement in anime dubbing history (warning: explicit language). All of these dubs have one thing in common: they deviate so much from their original scripts, they may actually be some of the best dubs ever made. They're so "bad" they redefine what we think of as good.

   Devilman OVA (1995)

  Let’s go back to 1995—Manga Entertainment had acquired the first Devilman OVA, The Birth, and had enlisted the voice talents of Alan D. Marriott as Akira Fudo and Adam Matalon as Ryo Asuka, two young men caught in the middle of some very angry and lewd demons. The dub was released on VHS tape and was definitely the sort of thing you wouldn’t see on front shelves at video stores.

This was a time before Pokémon, where anime was still a niche genre with a dedicated, but significantly smaller fanbase. For context, Fox Video had only just released My Neighbor Totoro’s English dub in 1993. Even earlier than that was the notorious 1985 home video release of Warriors of the Wind, a Frankenstein'd “adaptation” of Nausicaaä of the Valley of the Wind that promptly led to Studio Ghibli adopting a “no cuts” policy in future film dubs. Any future competent dubs were going to have to be better than that.

  Artwork for Warriors of the Wind

The 1995 Devilman dub sat in-between this awkward era, a time where a “no cuts” was the established policy for Studio Ghibli movies, but adult-oriented anime was left to fend for itself. A story entirely about evil demons, horrification transformation, nudity, and heavy violence couldn’t be heavily edited or censored without destroying the final product. Hence, the 1995 Devilman dub is but a handful of dubs that take a wildly different approach to “adaptation” while still surprisingly remaining true to the source material’s intent. It remained true to the spirit of Devilman's intense themes and tone, but with its own truly biting twist.

Committing to the Bit

In the 1995 Devilman dub, as Akira and Ryo are being attacked by a demon crashing through a window, Matalon (Ryo) yells “f#%kin’ a run for it” in the less-than-impressed voice of a nineties young adult who just finished watching Clerks. While in the Japanese dub Ryo seems genuinely caught off guard, Matalon’s delivery of Ryo’s adapted lines sounds like something from The Evil Dead. The Devilman OVA dub did well enough to dovetail into a second volume, which continued this trend of believable yet totally different dialogue. Devilman’s awkward mid-nineties dub might be considered an early “gag dub” in the same way many consider the infamous story of Ghost Stories’ 2005 ADV release ten years later. When it comes to “committing to the bit,” this series adapted by Steven Foster truly challenged what it meant to be a “good” dub.

Ghost Stories

Despite being a commercial flop in Japan, the Ghost Stories dub found a much different audience with its definitely-not-for-broadcast adaptation. However, unlike the the Devilman dubs prior to it, cultural changes such as the rise of adult animation like South Park made potty-mouth cartoons slightly more acceptable. For example, Ghost Stories’ purple-haired schoolgirl Momoko is a reserved and quiet character in the original, but is transformed into a bizarre born again Evangelical Christian in the ADV adaptation. While this joke obviously wouldn’t make much sense in the original, the straight performance of the adapted script flies with these changes without pause. A dub that should be “bad” for the sake of technically being incorrect, in fact, excels in strange new ways that the original never could.

Although the Ghost Stories dub took full advantage of its artistic liberties, the spirit of the original characters and plot remain the same, albeit with a snarky bite maybe influenced from an era of MTV and Beavis and Butthead. For what’s now considered a “boom” in anime dubs and license acquisitions during the early 2000s, Ghost Stories took the risk of deviating from the norm and wildly succeeded. Like adapting a book to a movie or album to a musical, anime dubs too were finding their footing into a quickly growing market.

Broadcast Dubs and Donuts

As anime gained more mainstream acceptance (more notably with series like Pokémon and Sailor Moon meant for younger audiences,) this liberal use of colorful language drastically slowed down. However, the question of “how is anime accessible” still remained, resulting in a wide range of localization efforts from different licensors aiming for a demographic sweet spot. While many anime fans remember Brock’s strange description of “donuts” while obviously holding a rice ball, other less blunt localizations prevailed.

Broadcast dubs like Digimon notably changed little content, but made several script changes such as adding jokes and dialogue where there was once silence. While obviously different, these adaptations are still enjoyed as products of their time and lauded for the incredible hard work of the voice actors and script writers involved. These series, syndicated alongside the Americanized version of Super Sentai aka Power Rangers on Fox Kids, exemplify how much localization depends on the audience and the context in which they’re watching it. Digimon: The Movie—a Frankenstein combination of three different Digimon OVAs for theatrical release—even included a meta joke about the Power Rangers for good measure to drive the point home.

"Japanese donuts"

  While not as crude as the pioneering dubs coming from licensors like Manga Entertainment, these 2000s dubbed television anime clearly took a page from their predecessor’s adaptation handbook. This is obviously how we ended up with an extended Big Lebowski reference in the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX English dub. Rather than argue over “subs versus dubs” maybe we should judge our anime dubs by the number of jokes about capitalism.

So Bad It’s Good

Why do dubs like Devilman and Ghost Stories work, versus botched projects like the Warriors of the Wind movie? Anime fandom in the west was far smaller compared to today and it was much more difficult to know if your dub was technically accurate. “Gag dubs” as they’re occasionally called, aren’t so much “bad dubs” as they are a method of adaptation and localization—a challenging task that most translators find difficult on their own without outside help.

  Anime with strong visual cues, like ghosts and demons, can clearly tell a story without much exposition given a surface-level understanding of fiction tropes. This is how we get jokes about politics and Walmart in what was once a kid’s show about solving spooky mysteries. But much more often, the owners of the source material dictate the tone of any adaptations: funny, serious, or in the worst case scenario—losing the original scripts altogether (hello Samurai Pizza Cats).

   “Oh sweet Pipimi, is this really what you wanted?” “OH YAAS QUEEN”

  While most anime might not be fit for a drastically ambitious dub, dubs for recent anime such as Pop Team Epic continue this long tradition of changing the script for better comedic effect. Pop Team Epic throws in a healthy “yaas queen” from Pipimi (Luci Christian) and includes riffs that might’ve not worked in Japanese, but are a perfect fit for its loose and quirky dub. But the English dub stays true to the source material and is also recorded twice with different female and male voice actors.

  A truly purist approach might not always get the best delivery from a voice actor—Japanese grammar structures are almost entirely inverted from English’s and a rough translation can make a smooth dub performance difficult. Simple techniques such as changing the tone of jokes and a line delivery can quickly make a series more approachable. Anime, after all, is for everyone no matter how familiar they are with the genre, Japanese culture, or obscure sentai references only your uncle understands. 

  Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about jelly-filled donuts anymore.

Do you have a favorite anime dub? Let us know in the comments!

  ------

Blake P. is a writer who loves his cat. He likes old mecha anime, computer games, books, and black coffee. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more. His newsletter is Boy Toy Box.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ramajmedia]

One-Punch Man: Every Anime Series Parody & Reference

One-Punch Man delights in parodying and referencing other anime series and stereotypical genre tropes, and here are the most notable examples. Bursting onto screens in 2015, One-Punch Man was touted as a refreshing take on the battle anime genre, mixing genuine high-octane action with hilarious gags and riffs on other popular franchises. As Saitama's story has progressed, the more serious elements have arguably become more pronounced, but ONE and Yusuke Murata's manga and the resulting anime adaptation still make time to rib their contemporaries.

While some of the references are overt visual gags, others take thematic cues from other famous anime properties. However, One-Punch Man is perhaps better described as deriving humor from the cliches of Shonen-style manga, deliberately subverting the genre and fans' expectations. With some of the best examples of this coming early in One-Punch Man's debut season, it could certainly be argued that this element played a large part in the early popularity the series enjoyed.

Related: What To Expect From One-Punch Man Season 3

There are two major Dragon Ball parodies in One-Punch Man, the first of which comes in virtually the first scene, firmly setting the tone for things to come. The first villain viewers see Saitama take down is Vaccine Man, who Dragon Ball fans will immediately recognize as a blue version of Piccolo. With the same sharp facial features, head antennae and muscular physique, Vaccine Man is a dead ringer for the Namekian and, interestingly, both characters share the same English voice actor. Vaccine Man's origin is also a parody of Baikinman, the germ-based baddie from Anpanman.

In One-Punch Man season 2, Saitama takes part in the Super Fight martial arts tournament, which feels like a deliberate play on the World Martial Arts Tournament arcs that were a key part of the Dragon Ball franchise. One-Punch Man even follows the same story structure, showcasing individual bouts, with the tournament's finale ruined by the arrival of a major new villain.

Some viewers have speculated that Boros, the final villain of One-Punch Man season 1, is partially inspired by the Super Saiyan trope, with the villain simultaneously increasing in strength and hair definition as his fight with Saitama progresses.

In addition to Vaccine Man, another monster in One-Punch Man's opening episode acts as a parody of a rival series. Thanks to his scientist brother, Marugori is transformed into a super strong giant that terrorizes multiple cities, trampling them under his feet. With a sinewy body and hardened white skull, Marugori is a clear nod to the Colossal Titan in Attack on Titan, which One-Punch Man hilariously makes light of by having the giant accidentally squash his brother instead of Saitama.

Similarly to Vaccine Man, the English voice actor for Marugori is actually the same as Attack on Titan's Eren Jeager, providing a further connection between the two series that may or may not be coincidental.

Related: Attack On Titan Basement Reveal: The Edians' Origin & Marley

While the S-Class hero Flashy Flash has yet to feature heavily in the One-Punch Man anime series, his backstory and abilities have been explored in the manga and bear a striking resemblance to Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto. Like the ramen-loving Hokage, Flash is a ninja who graduated from a mysterious hidden ninja village. Some of Flash's elemental techniques also wouldn't look out of place in Naruto's world. Turning the parallel on its head, however, the ninja village in One-Punch Man is revealed as a torturous place that keeps children captive, perhaps commenting on Naruto's use of children as mercenaries. Flash is notorious for massacring his fellow villagers, which could be a reference to Itachi Uchiha's arc in Naruto.

One-Punch Man's resident martial arts master, Silver Fang, is a close physical match for Zeno Zoldyck in Hunter X Hunter, and the fact that both characters are masters of their respective art forms and have outlandish facial hair only solidifies the connection. In One-Punch Man's first season, Saitama and Genos come up against a transforming villain known as Carnage Kabuto who, upon entering his final "Carnage" form, is immediately reminiscent of Eva Unit 1 from Neon Genesis Evangelion, right down to the purple and green color scheme and massive horn.

More: One-Punch Man Season 2 Looks Worse Than Season (But The Story Is Way Better)

One-Punch Man Season 3 is currently without a release date. More news as it arrives.

source https://screenrant.com/one-punch-man-anime-parody-reference/

[mvssmallow]

Cloudy With A Chance

Part 15: …of skin.

Masterlist

When Hanbin asks him to stay the night, he knows he shouldn’t think anything beyond the actual literal interpretation of the statement.

He’s just going to stay the night.

Like a sleepover, he guesses.

Hanbin takes their jackets to hang on the designated hooks by the door before shuffling past into the apartment. When did he even get a designated hook? Has there always been two?

There’s no answers though because he’s alone, standing in the dim hallway by the front door and only vaguely registering Hanbin moving around on the other side of the wall. He toes off his Nikes and pushes them next to the Winnie The Pooh slippers that are neatly lined up next to all their other pairs of shoes. He’s been absentmindedly jamming his feet into them for weeks but it suddenly dawns on him: Hanbin never actually wears them.

Because they’re not his.

They’re mine.

He got them for me.

Why haven’t I noticed this until now?

Maybe he’s had a lot of experience in dating and fucking around but This? He’s never experienced whatever the hell This actually is. It’s completely foreign territory. Do regular people buy each other house slippers? The last (and only other) person to do that was his mum and that was way back when he was eight years old.

There’s a quiet cough to his left. Hanbin is looking at him with a mixture of shy curiosity and concern. He knows he must look crazy, standing in a dark hallway and staring at a pair of Winnie The Pooh slippers on the floor but if Hanbin thinks it’s weird, he doesn’t say anything about it.

“So um, do you want the first shower? I’ll get some things for you.”

He nods as he slides his feet into the familiar red and yellow fabric. “Uh, yeah okay. I can go first.”

He follows Hanbin down the corridor until they reach the entrance to the one and only bedroom in the apartment. He’s been sent in there once or twice, mainly to grab a phone charger or jacket, but he’s never stayed long enough. Something always stops him at the threshold, like he’s still waiting for the formal invitation, so he just leans on the doorframe and watches Hanbin potter around the room pulling towels and t-shirts out of drawers and setting them down into two neat piles on the bed.

He gets the thought that this is probably the real Hanbin; at home, in a safe familiar environment and doing random domestic things that don’t have any stress or pressure attached to them. It makes him feel weirdly happy and ridiculous at the same time.

“Jiwon?”

“Huh?”

“I said: which one did you want?” Hanbin gives him a frustrated look as he holds out two pairs of pyjama pants. “Dogs or Spaceships?”

“Um, which one are you wearing?”

“Whichever one you won’t. So pick.” Hanbin says impatiently.

“Spaceships.”

There’s relief on Hanbin’s face, even if he’ll never admit to it. “Lucky you, just dodged a bullet there.”

“Why did you even ask?” He laughs.

He knows the Dog pair are Hanbin’s favourite but he’ll play along, not wanting the mood to get awkward and tense because Hanbin has figured out that someone knows a lot of personal things about him now.

“I was trying to be polite.” Hanbin shrugs and folds the Spaceship pair to add to the ‘Jiwon’ pile on the bed. “Do you realise how much stuff you leave here? I found two shirts and a hoodie in my laundry last week. Oh and those jeans with like 20 engine grease stains on them. I don’t even know how they got in there.”

He hmmms in reply, somewhat mesmerised by the way Hanbin just seems to know what he needs without asking, like he’s done this a million times before.

T-shirt. The thinest one possible.

Pyjama pants. The most worn in pair.

Boxers. Not too small.

Towel. The largest one.

Toothbrush. The softest one.

The whole thing grabs at his heart, like a warm fist squeezing with just enough force to leave a mark but not a scar. Enough to remind him that he’s truly alive but not enough to kill him (yet).

“Sorry about the Disney toothbrush, my sister likes them. She’s going through a phase.”

“Yeah because what would a grown man be doing with all this Disney?” He says, pretending to be serious.

Hanbin rolls his eyes and walks over to shove the pile of clothes into his hands. “Go shower, you’re all gross and sweaty.”

“You act it like you don’t love it.” He says with a smirk, closing the bathroom door just as Hanbin thinks of a retort.

“I don’t!” Comes the indignant voice from the other side of the door.

There’s apple shampoo and body wash that reminds him of the ocean. His towel has Hanbin’s name on the tag and the toothbrush has The Little Mermaid’s face on it. It’s only a shower but it’s overwhelming in a way; being in Hanbin’s apartment, smelling like him, wearing his clothes, it’s all just Hanbin Hanbin Hanbin all over his skin and everywhere he looks. He doesn’t really know how to feel about it but figures cold water will fix whatever thoughts his stupid mind is about to give him.

When he’s done, he stands in front of the bathroom mirror and wonders if the way he feels on the inside translates to a change that can be seen on the outside. He hopes not. There’s no way he’s got enough energy to deal with Hanbin freaking out tonight, even if it’s in a good way.

The bathroom door is barely open when he feels Hanbin brushing past him. “If you used up all my hot water, I’m making you sleep on the couch without a blanket.”

Wait. What? He wasn’t sleeping on the couch in the first place?

The door to the bathroom clicks shut and once again, he’s alone in a dim corridor, this time staring at a closed door, still trying to answer impossible questions and definitely not thinking about what Hanbin is doing on the other side. But right on cue, the fog creeps back in, it’s the one that gives him flashes of Hanbin’s mouth and neck and….

Oh My God, stop it Jiwon.

He shakes his head violently, as if it’ll somehow dislodge all the unhelpful thoughts (it really doesn’t).

At least he’s got something new to distract himself with now: what to do about Hanbin’s bedroom. He leans against the doorframe again, feeling vaguely apprehensive about just walking into a place that’s so private and so protected. Though, he reasons, the door was left wide open and Hanbin never actually told him to wait anywhere else.

Letting out an uncertain breath, he crosses the threshold into the room. There’s no rushing in and out this time. He can just stop and look.

It’s neat, like the rest of the apartment, and the beige walls are punctuated by the odd photograph and old art reprints (he recognises the water lily one). There are pockets of chaos where Hanbin has left notebooks, pens and research papers in a small piles on the ground, like crumbs leading to his desk-a big solid wooden black structure with Hanbin’s silver MacBook laying across it. There’s also a phone plugged into it’s charger. A battered copy of Murakami. A small potted fern by the window that overlooks the street between the apartment blocks. And a diary with meeting times and phone numbers of people to call on Monday. On first appearances, it’s a table that belongs to a responsible working adult but it’s all the little things he notices that say the most about Hanbin:

Like the faded Mickey Mouse stickers on the desk lamp. And how Evangelionnights are always highlighted in his diary. And how Thursdays always get a small “J-Late Shift” noted in the corner. Or how there are photo frames on the desk but all the photos are of his little sister and the family dog. There’s a black Batman notebook laying open on the table, the flyer for tonights Mic Night is already stuck on one of the pages, that makes him smile. He picks up the copy of Murakami and flips through it, stopping only when he gets to the crumple movie ticket that was being used as the bookmark.

The Secret Life Of Pets.

He can’t believe Hanbin would save something like that. Especially when it was from the same night that they had their first big fight. He’s surprised by how sentimental it makes him feel. Like someone just came out of nowhere and pushed him off a cliff. He doesn’t want to get dramatic about it but he feels like he’s in the deep end of the ocean, so deep that his feet don’t even touch the ground anymore.

Oh My God, what the hell is wrong with you? You turn into a poet? Get a grip, loser.

But there’s nowhere else to look, it’s either the table or the bed. And that bed isn’t just a bed. It isn’t really just a place to sleep. He knows it means trust and safety and it’s the one place where he will wait for an actual invitation. The plain cotton sheets aren’t exactly what he was expecting (or are they? he’s not sure) but they look soft, lived-in and comfortable. There are three pillows, two white ones to match the sheets and one with the Bat symbol all over it, squashed underneath the other two, like a puppy hiding at a dog convention.

You’re going crazy Jiwon. You’ve actually lost your damm mind.

Okay. Okay. The safest bet is to just avoid looking at anything else in the room so he wanders over to sit on the window sill and scroll through the rest of the unread messages on his phone. A lot of congratulations texts but there’s one message from a number he doesn’t really recognise….asking him about Hanbin. He doesn’t realise how hard he’s frowning until a voice startles him back to reality.

“What’s wrong?”

He looks up, taking in how young Hanbin looks when he’s not at work or dressed up to go out. Just wet hair, t-shirt and old dog pyjamas. It’s his favourite version. He’s just decided.

“No nothing, just checking my messages. A whole bunch of drunk ones I can’t read.”

“Oh yeah? You should let me read them for you. I get badly written texts every morning.”

“Hey! I skip vowels to save time, there’s a difference.” He points out.

“And yet you’re always late.” Hanbin says with that damm dimple smile.

There’s a pause then. He thinks about asking which side of the bed he gets to sleep on but instead, he just watches Hanbin go from drawer to drawer, folding shirts that are already folded. It goes on for few minutes until he’s sure that yep, Hanbin is definitely stalling and avoiding getting anywhere near the bed.

“Hey, you wanna sleep now? I’m kinda tired.” He says it as casually as he can, not knowing how far things might go, if they go anywhere at all.

Hanbin doesn’t meet his eyes. Not really. Just looks up once…twice….then stares out the window behind him. “Oh. Yeah. Okay.”

They both get to the edge of the bed and if he thought they had awkward moments before, they’ve definitely broken the world record now.

“Um. So. Which side do you sleep on?” Hanbin asks, staring at the pillows the entire time.

“The one closest to the door. That okay?”

“Yeah, it’s okay. You can have it. If we get attacked, you can die first.”

“Is that why you keep me around?”

“Obviously.”

They both chuckle to themselves before gingerly climbing into the bed. He waits for Hanbin to settle in before turning off the lamp on the bedside table. The darkness seems to put Hanbin at ease because his voice suddenly floats into the empty air above them.

“Are you disappointed by how tonight turned out?”

“No, not really. I kinda knew Mino would win. I’ve been out of the game for too long.”

He feels Hanbin rolling over. “No I mean like, are you disappointed by how we turned out?”

He turns to face the direction of Hanbin’s voice, he can’t see much but he feels those eyes on him. “No. Why would I be disappointed? Got into your bed didn’t I?” He laughs, trying to relieve some of the tension in the air.

“You know what I mean. Are you disappointed? And don’t lie. Just tell me.”

“I’m not! I’m not here for that. I mean, okay, if you wanna do that then I’m definitely not going to say no but it’s fine if you don’t. Seriously. I’m not disappointed. I never even thought I’d get this far to be honest.”

“Really?”

“Yeah really. It took me, what, three months to kiss you? We’re not exactly going for a land speed record here.”

“But does it annoy you? Waiting? I’m not doing it to piss you off. I just….I don’t know. I’m just waiting I guess. I don’t even know what for.”

There’s a heavy sigh that follows. One that he’s used to hearing and used to staying quiet for.

“It’s not you okay? It’s not that. It just doesn’t feel like the right time. It sounds so stupid out loud. Like I’m waiting for this cliche perfect time. I’m not. There’s no such thing as the perfect time. I’m know that. So….basically, I’m just sorry okay? I’m so bad at this. I don’t even know what I’m saying. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

He finds the edges of Hanbin’s t-shirt under the sheets and uses it to pull the other body into his chest. “Come here. I am completely fine with it, okay? God. Give me some credit. I do actually have other thoughts in my head apart from that.”

“That sounds like a lie.” Hanbin says with a sad laugh but shifts closer against him. “But thanks for lying.”

“I’m not lying!” He exclaims. “Okay…..I’m lying a little bit. But you’re really really, unfairly, hot. It’s not normal Hanbin. Some idiot at the club actually asked me if I could hook you guys up and I swear to god, I almost punched him in the face.”

“What?” Hanbin asks with a laugh. “Did you?”

“No, of course not. I wanted to though.” He groans after that, realising how stupid the story is. “Ahh, can we just blame everything I just said on alcohol?”

“It’s okay. I kinda had a bit too much at the club too.”

“Next time you get wasted make sure I’m around okay? You shouldn’t trust these rapper guys, they’re all kinda shady and probably just out to get you.”

“Bit late with the warning aren’t you? I’m already in bed with one.”

He buries his face into Hanbin’s neck. “Yeah and he’s really fucking happy to be here.”

“He sure about that?”

“Yeah he’s sure.”

There’s plenty of things he loves about this crazy guy in his arms; the unpredictability, the almost crippling shyness juxtaposed with the occasional sharp burst of confidence, how surprisingly practical and smart he is….the list goes on and on but if he’s going to be shallow about it, he really loves how Hanbin is just that tiny bit smaller than he is. Like someone just photocopied the original version and made it 5% shorter and thinner so he could fit neatly into Kim Jiwon’s body.

It’s one of the first things he notices after Hanbin falls asleep first, face pressed right up against his chest and one fist bunch up in his t-shirt. He’s sure that June and Yoyo are laughing about how sappy and lame he’s gotten with age but he’d take this over meaningless faces any day.

*****

He rolls over slowly, the hand that was on his back doesn’t move, just drags against his skin and settles against the left hip bone that juts out because his pyjamas pants are so low slung and a size too big.

It tickles and makes him squirm against Jiwon’s shoulder.

“Ah!”

There’s a low pitched chuckle as Jiwon’s hand leaves his hip to rest on his chest. There are lips pressed against the back of his neck and he feels the words more than he hears them.

“Sorry baby. Go back to sleep.”

It comes out even deeper and rougher than it did at the club last night, making his hair stand on end and all the blood in his head drain south.

He tries, he tries really hard, to sleep again but it’s impossible, especially because Jiwon’s hand never leaves him alone.

It starts off just resting on his chest, keeping him anchored in place, but soon enough, he feels it’s heavy weight dragging down the front of his body, fingers catching every rib and bump along the way until they finally stop at his right hip bone.

There they stay, the warm fingertips just softly drawing circles against his skin and every so often, working their way up under his t-shirt.

It’d be fine, comforting even, if he wasn’t already completely worked up inside. His breathing is erratic, suddenly too loud, and he panics when he realises that Jiwon is definitely not asleep at all.

It’s at the 9th or 10th rib when Jiwon suddenly shifts closer and he feels it. The unmistakable, unavoidable and completely insistent hard pressure of a cock against the back of his thigh.

The accidental contact has him gasping out in surprise but his body grinds back on it, completely out of his control. The deep raw groan that comes out of Jiwon’s mouth will probably haunt him forever.

“FUCK.”

It wasn’t really a word but a long drawn out sentence, pressed right into his skin, so thick and heavy with want that he thinks he can actually feel the letters sinking in like a tattoo.

“Sorry. It kinda just…”

“It’s okay. I….I don’t mind.” He interjects, not wanting to hear an apology right now. He’s not sure if Jiwon is surprised or asleep because there’s no response for a few seconds. He gets anxious in the silence and ends up rolling onto his back until he’s half caged under Jiwon’s right arm and staring up at the most endearingly confused and conflicted face he’s ever seen.

He reaches out to touch it. “Hey? It’s okay. Umm, you can keep going if you want?”

Jiwon looks down at him and either Hanbin’s mind has lost itself or he’s having a stroke because he swears he can see the moment those eyes change from confusion into dark hunger.

“Do you…want me to?”

“Yeah I want you to.”

The kiss that comes completely overwhelms, overpowers and immobilizes him. He’s pressed into the mattress, drowning in the warm depths of Jiwon’s mouth, completely powerless and not even caring. His fingers dig painfully into Jiwon’s tattooed forearms. There’s a grunt or groan in his ear but he’s not sure if it’s from pleasure, pain or both.

He’s glad they’re already in bed because he’s getting dizzy from either hyperventilating or not breathing fast enough. By the time Jiwon’s hot mouth sucks at his neck, he’s ready to just black out and go to Hell.

“Fuck babe….fuck…”

He can hear Jiwon muttering to himself like a madman who has lost all sense of control. This will be the most important thing he learns about Jiwon today: that he has no filter or restraint in the mornings. And right on cue, that hard cock grinds against his ass.

There’s a deep guttural groan mixed in with his desperate cries. It doesn’t even sound human. Maybe because it’s not.

“You sound so good.” Jiwon murmurs into his ear. “I wanna touch you. Can I touch you?”

“Yeah…okay…” He breathes out, not entirely sure what’s really coming but wanting it either way.

Jiwon sits up abruptly, taking off his t-shirt and throwing it on the floor before just kneeling over him. He wants to say something, like how they always seem to in a movie, but he can’t think of anything so he just stares at all the dark lines etched across miles of perfect golden skin.

Jiwon smiles at him, reaching down to brush the hair out of his eyes before tugging at the hem of his t-shirt.

“Do you want this off? You’re gonna get too hot.”

He nods but holds onto the shirt. “I’m not…I don’t….”

Look anything like you.

“It’s okay. It’s okay.” Jiwon says gently, coaxing the t-shirt out of his fingers before pulling it over his head and throwing it on the floor.

He drags his arm over his eyes, not really wanting to know what Jiwon’s face looks like right now, seeing him half-naked for the first time. He half expected Jiwon to pull his arm away, demanding eye contact before saying something lame and cliche.

But he doesn’t. There’s just a kiss against his arm and a soft, “You are fucking amazing…”

A warm hand runs slowly down his chest again, every centimetre lower causing his heart rate to spike faster and faster until all the blood is thundering in his ears.

There’s a pause as the fingers reach the band of his pyjamas. “You want this off too?”

He bites his bottom lip, blushes hot but nods anyway.

It’s suddenly cold as Jiwon’s pulls the pants off him and for a few seconds, nothing happens. He doesn’t have to see to know that eyes are raking over his body. He definitely doesn’t want to know what Jiwon thinks now. He feels completely naked- literally, figuratively, emotionally…whatever else there is left to feel.

That warm mouth is at his neck again, fingers now rubbing roughly at his overly sensitive nipples.

“Ahh…..fuck. Jiwon! I need to-”

His left hand goes to grip the base of his hard cock but Jiwon catches his wrist.

“No. Don’t do that baby.”

“But I want to!” He whines loudly, without caring how desperate he sounds.

“I know you do.” His hand is replaced by Jiwon’s firm grip, it’s solid and possessive, confident even it the way it holds him. For the second time, he feels powerless under the intense gaze that burns into his skin and the strong hands that can break him apart if they wanted to. He thought he’d be scared but the fear……the fear comes hand in hand with the danger and that just gets him even harder.

He’s leaking in Jiwon’s hand as it works up and down, tight but slow. The entire room is filled with wet obscene sounds mixed with his desperate cries and Jiwon’s sympathetic murmurs.

“Jiwon….Jiwon…..I need to I need to…”

“I know baby. Just a bit longer. I want to watch you like this….”

He groans loudly in frustration. “No! I can’t!”

The hand grips him tighter then and starts a faster, rougher and altogether ruthless pace that has him gasping for air.

“So…good….” He half sighs-half moans. “You’re so good.”

The heat builds up inside his belly way too suddenly, causing him dig bruises into Jiwon’s arms and cry out again. “Jiwon! I’m going to-”

“You want to cum?”

“YES”

Jiwon sucks at his neck even harder. “Cum for me baby.”

The release tears a disgustingly depraved moan out of him as he cums all over Jiwon’s fingers and gets swallowed back into that hot mouth again.

When he’s come back down to earth, he’s completely spent and heavy but light at the same time. There’s not a single thought inside his head that doesn’t start and end with Jiwon’s name.

****

He watches Hanbin cum all over his fingers, loud and unrestrained. Lips bitten raw, so red and swollen that he can’t help drawing them back into his mouth.

When he’s done, there’s a long blissful sigh as Hanbin collapses against the mattress, breathing heavily and letting his eyes adjust to the light again.

Despite everything that just happened and the fact that his hand is coated in cum, all he really wants to do is gather Hanbin in a blanket and take him somewhere where they can be exactly like this forever.

Hard as fuck and you’re getting sentimental again. What the hell, Jiwon?

He grabs tissues from the bedside table and cleans his hand to distract himself.

It’s quiet for a few minutes and he’s wondering if Hanbin’s fallen back asleep. But he hasn’t.

“Jiwon?”

“Yeah?”

Hanbin is snuggled against his side, hand idly inching towards the hard cock straining in his pyjamas.

“Do you want me to-”

“Only if you want to.” He says, trying to keep his voice even when it’s anything but.

“I want to. But….can you close your eyes too?”

There’s a million protests inside his head because if there’s one kink he’s already discovered, it’s that he loves to watch and watching Hanbin cum is better than watching porn. But at the same time, he’d be stupid to fuck this up now. “Yeah okay.”

He pulls off the spaceship pyjamas and lays back against the pillows, eyes closed but feeling Hanbin’s heavy gaze on him.

The hand that grips the base of his cock is maybe experimental at first but the longer it’s there, the firmer the grip gets. And what comes next has him swearing so loudly that the neighbours probably heard it.

Wet, soft and heavy. It’s the unmistakable feeling of a tongue dragging across the head of his cock.

“AHH FUCK! What the fuck….”

His hands find Hanbin’s hair, pulling at it with rough desperation that he’ll apologise for later but if he was expecting protests, he wasn’t getting any. All it does is makes Hanbin swallow down more of him, inch by aggravating inch.

“I knew it. I knew it. I fucking knew it.”

The hand at the base of his cock starts moving as the hot tongue glides and swirls around him, filling the room the sound of wet hunger.

He thought he’d be able to hold on for longer without the visuals but Hanbin’s mouth is either the gateway to Heaven or Hell because the climax builds up way too fast and way too unexpectedly.

“Babe…babe! Fuck…..” He tugs at Hanbin’s hair in warning but another hand reaches up to push it away.

He cums in Hanbin’s mouth with a loud string of fucks and 5 months worth of frustrated groans before falling back against the pillows, vision hazy and dark as he sees bursts of stars behind his eyes.

When he’s vaguely coherent, he watches as Hanbin sits up, eyes still heavy and dark, lips red and swollen, hair a mess, and wiping his mouth like the cat that got all the cream.

It’s almost enough to get him hard again.

“What the hell…..you could’ve done that the whole time?”

Hanbin has the audacity to blush faintly as he lays back down against his chest. “I don’t know. Was it okay?”

“Was it okay?” He asks in disbelief. “Yeah babe, it was okay. If you call making me black out okay.”

“Is that good or bad?”

He hugs Hanbin against him and kisses the top of his head, thanking whichever God let him have this whole ridiculous thing. “It’s good baby. It’s all good. Everything about you is good.”

“Thanks for staying.”

“Thanks for letting me.”

****

The next time he wakes up there’s still a birdsong in the air. The sheets are still warm. Jiwon’s skin is smooth and soft under his fingers. The afternoon sun casts a golden light into his bedroom.

He lays there, just listening to Jiwon breathing as his fingers trace across the tiger and rose tattoo. He finds the crooked one, the one Jiwon never wanted to get fixed because it reminded him of them.

He gets it now. He gets it.  

He doesn’t believe in perfection, true happiness might be a myth and contentment might not even exist but right there and then, he’s pretty sure he’s laying in the middle of all three.

[smashpanda]

Ani-Me #13: Groovin’ To That COWBOY BEBOP (Ep. 1-13)

Welcome to Ani-Me! The Series Where You Make Me Watch Anime! To be clear, you aren’t making me do anything because I have enjoyed every bit of this so far.

And surprise, nerds! Look what I’m doing! Haha, I actually had this whole fun plan to do the anime poll and then Ozymandias-style be like “I already WATCHED THE WHOLE SHOW!!!” But it would take too long to finish watching all of it (it’s been a busy as hell month). Besides, I got half way through the show and decided that was definitely enough space to really dig into how I was feeling about the start. So without further ado, it’s time for…

Today’s Entry: COWBOY BEBOP (1998-1999)

So, I’m doing this because I felt like I needed to have reckoning with this show.

That’s because I actually tried watching it once before. This was about 10 years ago. An old friend thought it was positively insane that I had never seen it before. He wasn’t the first to sing its praises either. Even at the time I was open to the idea and gave it the old college try for a bunch of episodes, but… it didn’t take. I think I was mostly crashing up against the proverbial rocks of all those tangible details I was not prepared for. Which were really just the kinds of things that had kept me out of anime for so long. Like the facial contortions being so different from western animation. Or the way this particular story seemed to fixate on cool posturing in a way that likely would have more appealed to me during my teenage years. Heck, I was even wondering why there was a romantic, emotional pop song at the end (again, I had REALLY not seen a lot of anime). Then there was that very complicated issue of “fan service,” because I was watching with someone who was like WHY ARE HER BOOBS ALL OVER THE FUCKING PLACE!?!?! Simply put: they were really not having it. Plus the fact that we were watching the dubbed version, which felt like it played into a number of sexist tropes. So much of this was the problem with my initial experience.

But I imagine anime fans are so fucking tired of these kinds of complaints from outsiders, no? Hell, even just a year into this column series, I’m tired of them, too. But here’s the thing: these complaints are the common obstacles for outsiders and some are not without merit. And as much the casual dismissal from outsiders about anime can rankle, it’s also important to remember how it is for the outsiders - to realize how much of that anime-fan tiredness manifests online in the forms of equally-casual dismissals (mostly from toxic white dudes) for “not getting fan service,” etc. Point is, misunderstanding and excuse-making can go in a lot of directions. And honestly it was all part of the system of why I think I stayed away from anime for so long?

Thankfully, everything’s about timing.

So much of this column series has been about throwing myself in the deep end, getting used to the cinematic language, knowing the filmmakers, and growing comfortable with the cadence of a particular form. But honestly, I think so much of it has to do with just being much older, too. Basically, I calmed the fuck down. The previous things that bothered me are still there, but it just feels like so much less of a big deal. Even “the rules” of what I tend to believe about storytelling are so much more expansive. As they say, finally “I’m not young enough to think I know everything.” Along with that, there’s the popular online joke that something “hits different,” but coming back to Cowboy Bebop after a decade… it hits different. Like I said, timing is everything. Which brings us to another reason I really wanted to do this now…

So John Cho goes to my grocery store a lot.

A little while ago I saw him in full Spike hair and it was rad as hell.

So I’ve also been thinking a lot (read: too much) about how to cover Anime TV. Ideally, I like the idea of doing one giant essay about a series, but sometimes 1) overall thoughts don’t take on essay-like form the way they did with, say, Evangelion. And 2) that sometimes takes out the fun of talking about little things in each episode. But at the same time, I don’t want to feel the need to do the FULL RECAP thing with every episode, which sometimes bogs down the more important thoughts / gets repetitive (I felt like I ended up doing that with a lot of Korra recaps). So really, it’s going to be a case by case basis. And for Cowboy Bebop, I decided on a sort of “fly casual” approach with no plot recapping - just the evolution of my thoughts along with some other random passing ones. And it will all likely crest into big overall thoughts that will come with the end of the series.

Cool? Cool.

1. ASTEROID BLUES

“Oh, this is good, isn’t it?”

I said this to myself while watching and I simply cannot explain the difference the subs make for me personally when it comes to this show. Like I know the dub has a lot of fans and history, but everything about hearing the show in Japanese just plays stronger to me. The rhythm, the cadence, and most of all the timing of jokes. There’s just this way each of their voices better line up with the droll affectation of the show. Combine that with me finally being used to a lot of anime’s particularly cinematic language? The show just plays so FUNNY now. Like I’m laughing out loud four times an episode. But that’s not the only thing that’s changed.

When I tried watching a decade ago, there was also this funny thing where I was having a very different relationship to the cinematic affectations of the late 90’s. Like how much of this episode reflects the El Mariachi / Desperado machismo that defined a certain kind of posturing coolness. Back then I worried a lot about that specific brand of indulgence. But now it all feels so silly and playful (as if, at the time, I wasn’t so much reacting to the worry of that coolness as how much the me of TWO decades would have eaten it up). Like I was the perfect age when this show came out the first time.

But I think that’s the real thing that hits me now with the episode: how playful it all feels. Like the absurd shot of the woman leaning on the counter to drink beer, the cat drinking all the crap on the ground, the sole motive of wanting beef, and Spike fitting a whole sandwich in his mouth. It takes none of these things seriously - except when it takes them seriously, of course. The episode’s structure is really built around the two bait and switches. The first is the fun fake pregnancy where it turns out that’s where she keeps the vials. And the second - tragic, with her death. Fast. Brutal. Forlorn. From minute one it’s sort of spelling out the tonal nature of this show: the fast loose hijinks > serious comeuppance > the Sisyphean process of bounty hunting without success… But hey, at least they got that beef.

It’s an apt metaphor.

2. STRAY DOG STRUT

In my original go round, I remember this being the episode liking this enough to stick with it longer. But now it plays even better. It’s kind of a classic fun and games episode, with the great set-up for the dog reveal - and the classic “lose but kinda win” ending a la Santa’s Little Helper (along with the dramatic irony that the dog is worth millions). I think I actually referenced this two columns ago, but there’s this kind of “kafka-esque’’ funny edge to the show. That “there is hope, but not for us” sentiment that populates a show of lovable losers trying and failing to navigate life’s absurdity.

But what I also like is that it’s not from a complete lack of competence. The gag where they both look up from the aquarium and Spike’s already got the gun drawn? That’s perfect stuff. Same goes with Spike absent-mindedly missing Abdul because he has shit on his foot. Both help establish this incredibly enduring character that thrives on both confidence and a genuine lack of awareness (which is often how he is able to pull a fast one on the audience, too).

The episode also helps clarify the show’s setting of an American Cultural Diaspora, filtered through the lens of Japanese culture. Could the Abdul stuff read as problematic? Oh absolutely, but the Game of Death / Way of the Dragon reference is also so singular to Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s influence that I’m not sure how much intention exists from the creators outside of it. And for an episode that delivers hijinks like Spike stealing the “just married” car and the incredible sound cue / animation of the corgi slapping onto the hood of his ship… I can’t help but smile.

3. HONKY TONK WOMAN

Ahhhhhh Faye Valentine. It’s funny, I wont say that I’m “used” to fan service at this point, nor really have any interest in excusing its extreme nature… I’m just sort of not letting it stop me from engaging everything around it? Does that make sense? But once again, I can’t explain just how much original language helps her character specifically. Megumi Hayashibara has this kind of wonderfully bored, disinterested tone that fits the characterization better.

The other thing that really hit with this episode was the James Bond-ness of the series (I mean in this gambling-centric episode drrr). But it’s the riff on the silhouettes in the opening titles, the pastiche of cool, and again, I keep coming back to that late 90’s disaffection that falls in line with Bond’s unruffled ethos. To wit, there’s a reason young men like disaffected characters, of course. In that it’s just as much of a power fantasy as so many other things are. They have all these budding, confused emotions and life feels so uncontrollable, so it becomes easy to grasp onto characters who play it cool, who show suaveness and are unbothered by the ups and downs going around them. Of course they want to be like that.

Which would normally be a possible “indulgence problem” if this show wasn’t also so keen on taking the piss out of Spike and company. That’s the thing: it’s just so damn playful at the same time. Unlike something Bond-esque, it’s always looking to make Spike the punchline. And the twisty, confusion-laden plots of chip-swapping and rubes and one one-ups-man-ship? I cackled constantly. And I have to say the fight in this one is so, so good. And the last line?

“Bye” … chef’s kiss… is… is that thing the kids still say?

insert grandpa face

4. GATEWAY SHUFFLE

It’s probably weird that THIS is the thing that most stands out to me, but it’s weird how much Twinkle reminds me of “Mom” from Futurama, right down to her large adult sons. I also like how much the episode plays with the dramatic irony of Spike and company being totally oblivious idiots (which will be a running gag), especially them on the verge of killing themselves with the virus. Also also, it establishes the sheer volume of problems that Spike fixes with sleight of hand. Also also also, there’s the fact that this episode is where Faye joins the team for good, thus setting up the fun larger team dynamics.

Is it weird that I don’t have much more to say about this one? It sort of reflects the way some Bebop episodes just feel slight in a way, which isn’t to say they aren’t fun or don’t have good gags. It’s just sort of the nature of this show, sometimes. Cause you’ll get an episode like this and then the next time you’ll get… Well, you’ll get an episode like…

5. BALLAD OF FALLEN ANGELS

“Who is this Sephriroth mother fucker?!?!?”

Such is the way I noted the entrance of Vicious. Given the overlapping timeline, I’m guessing there was something about long gray haired evil dudes with big swords in the water? Either way, the far more obvious influence on this one is John Woo. There’s the gunplay. The cathedral. The operatic posturing. It all brings me back to a place and time so vividly. That place and time being a teenager in the 90’s with a camcorder, boy, I can’t tell you how often we ran around with toy pistols diving off to the side and putting it in slow motion (we could never seem to find doves, but were always on the hunt for a group of pigeons to run through). This instinct also highlights the potential problems with these tropes. It would be SO easy for this to be nothing more than juvenile posturing / copying an en vogue aesthetic, but - as I’m learning is common for this show - Cowboy Bebop kind of hits this different note entirely…

Mostly thanks to the score. Because it all comes back to that ending with the haunting chorus of Green Bird, which gives me an array of complex feelings (along with it being a song I’ve had in my head for weeks now). On a pure aesthetic level, the scene is perfect. The pure combination of image, sound, and symbolism to hit an emotional response so squarely. A decade ago I felt this moment was more about hiding the story in a way - as if teasing backstory instead of even showing it - which isn’t entirely wrong, but now it feels more economical than anything, merely touching a lot I can have patience that will be dealt with . And more important than the specifics is understanding what it means to Spike emotionally - how much Vicious is part of his life and lost love and injury and pain, the cycles of opera and birth death rebirth death that all fit the same lyrics to the song…

“Spring has come

Worms are showing their faces

Little birds are eating them

Spring has come

Children are going to school

Farm dogs are giving birth to puppies

Spring has come

Women are looking in mirrors

Egg pies are baking”

In short, I understand why it’s a classic.

6. SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

It’s here I realize that writing about Cowboy Bebop is a bit counter to my general instincts. For I’m someone who likes digging into problems because it helps me understand things. With Korra or Falcon and The Winter Solider or something, I can stop, dig into the structural problems of a given episode, talk about approach, and feel like everyone was coming out the other side with a bigger understanding. I get that sense of purpose. But what’s odd about this show is everything is incredibly sound on the writing front. Every weekly “session” gives us a contained, thoughtful, playful little story with little differing nuances (it actually reminds me a lot of the Lone Wolf and Cub story structure, which yes, I’ve read all of by the way). And it’s no different with this episode (which also reminded me a bit of the ventriloquist dummy episode of Buffy?). There’s even so many really great things that stand out. Like this is the first episode where Faye really clicked for me (the gag where she casually eats the dog food is an all-timer). I also loved the kid getting Last Crusade-ed at the end.

But the “what makes us care” is a whole other ball of wax. Because this was the last episode I watched in my initial trial a decade ago. There wasn’t any big reason I stopped, just that simple lack of interest. And I think it speaks to the trouble of telling stories about disaffected characters. The whole idea is that they’re often hiding pain or interest or backstory or whatever else. Then the idea is you’re slowly supposed to peer in (and I’m far enough into the show to know how they do that). But if you’re not really all in on a character’s emotional journey from those critical starts? Sometimes it’s hard to work up that investment. If I was watching this as a teenager in the 90’s? I would likely have a whole different feeling because I’m watching in more of an aspirational sense. But watching an episode like this, from where I am now? I understand why it’s easy to feel a lack of connection, even when the boy is giving all the tears about the release of death… It feels like an emotion on display, a thing I’m looking at, but kept a distance from - and thus a harder thing to certainly feel.

7. HEAVY METAL QUEEN

For shits and giggles I watched this one with dub. It’s interesting because it instantly reminded me that part of the reason I like subs so much is it needs your undivided attention. With the dub? Suddenly my eyes could wander, sometimes to twitter sometimes and then I’d realize I missed something and rewind a second. In that capacity the subs are actually allowing for more distraction? Which is why 1) I worry that most shows seem designed to be watched with someone half paying attention and 2) I tend to watch things sans phone as much as possible. Look, it’s not that this multitasking activity is “bad” inherently. I love listening to podcasts as I cook or clean. It’s just with cinema it’s so easy to do and miss out on what I really want to be doing. Which is being enveloped in a story.

Anyway, I’m more or less good with this episode. I wish I had more to say than that. But once again I feel like I’m coming out of an episode with an “okay, that was solid” feeling. Perhaps because also plays into 90’s dated-ness in a way where all the things that should feel modern feel just so… heteronormative? I dunno. It’s like VT feels like a character I should be adoring, but with 20 years she feels like a half-measure. And even at the time, it’s really hard to get past the dude in the sombrero ogling the waitress who looks like lady liberty. Like, the gross metaphor is utterly clear, and not in a way where it’s countering it on any level. But there’s always those moments of elation, like Spike firing his space gun to better direct himself back - that make the show still feel special.

8. WALTZ FOR VENUS

So this is the first episode I unequivocally loved.

Perhaps it’s just because it does some of my absolute favorite writing things. Like, hurray! They finally got paid! But true to understanding their ethos, it happens almost immediately in the opening, thus setting up proper expectations for what is to follow. And then it does my absolutely favorite thing, which is make you absolutely care for a character you hate without realizing that’s what it’s doing. Roco at first comes off as annoying, jealous, brash, etc. But with time and perspective, the eagerness ends up being motivated. And the way it all crests into him using the “like water” teachings of Spike’s supernatural reflexes? Perfect moment!

And then he gets fucking shot.

I literally screamed NO in my living room. But that’s what good writing does, it takes you through journeys subtlety then knocks you on your ass with whiplashing emotion (I also realized this entire beat, right down to the thumbs up in the middle, happens in Mad Max: Fury Road). And what’s more is that even on death’s door stop, all his eagerness and wonder could be summed up in that youthful question: “Hey, if I knew you earlier, would we have been friends?” Gah, it’s just gutting. And so absolutely perfect in its dramatic articulation.

With this kind of competent writing on the “fun / plot” level, it’s also funny how much I remember the little details that the show is so good at. Like the use of the Hagia Sophia on Venus. Or the way the rich guy shouts to save himself and then gets his toupee knocked off.

… And then there’s those super gay panic 90’s details like shoving the gun in gay man’s throat that make my skin fucking crawl. As good as things can be, those ugly shadows loom large.

9. JAMMING WITH EDWARD

I love that they finally get around to explaining why earth sucks and everyone is in space in episode 9! This is also one of those episodes where the cyberpunky-ness of a rogue A.I. would play more fresh back in the late 90’s? By now it’s just hard to grab onto, given how many times we’ve seen this plot done again and again. But thankfully, the show has the complete dignity to continue its tradition of being playful instead of serious, in that MPU is a little freaking weirdo whom I am glad escapes.

I sort of don’t know what to make of Ed yet? I like certain affectations and weirdness, but I’m hoping it crests into something interesting. Otherwise, most of my notes cater around very specific reactions to moments. Like how Nazca lines were just in my trivia league! Or how the episode had huge Android: Netrunner vibes! Also a Summer Wars-like internet world! And great quotes like “there’s nothing made on earth that’s good” and paying it off with the cheap missile firing a dud.

But I also just want to mention lines like, “I hear that that hacker is gay hahaha” which I want to come back to because I don’t think is just a “Japanese culture” thing. That’s a “90’s gay panic” thing. And what’s important to talk about with these moments is that I don’t handwave them now as being dated and in the past. Because they weren’t “the past” for me. They were what I lived in. And revisiting it all from where I am now makes me FURIOUS. That’s because they were all part of a gay panic culture of the 90’s than gave me so many internal complexes and fears about being bisexual (I didn’t understand that’s what I was, really, I was mostly terrified I was gay and thought it would literally get me killed) and bunch of other stuff. It was just brutal. And I spent that entire decade around all this kind of media being like “hahahhahaha no big deal, right guys?” and I didn’t realize inside it was just tearing me apart - in the worst sense of making me deeply afraid in myself. It wasn’t the past, it was hell.

Anyway!

10. GANYMEDE ELEGY

I was wondering when we’d get to a Jet episode. So far he’s been the kind of character I don’t know much to make of. He mostly exists to be a no-nonsense foil to Spike’s irreverence. But even in this episode, a lot of his gruffness comes off as harmless, but then there’s the “be strong for her” ggRrrRRrrr pRoTeCt wOmAn philosophy just rubs me the wrong way. Though I think there’s a lot of valid reasons people gravitate toward characters like Jet? Even if I hesitate to get all pop-psych with it, I think characters like this remind a lot of people of their dads? I dunno, more curious what others think.

But Jet’s backstory completely fits it with what I’m now calling the C.B.M.O. (Cowboy Bebop Modus Operandi) in that it presents a forlorn, almost classical noir backstory - doesn’t go too deep with it, leans heavy on the pastiche, but at least has the dignity to be fun in the process. And by the time we get to the ending, the final confrontation with Alisa and Rhint still plays emotionally valid, which I think is all you need in this show (including strong thematic gestures of literally throwing the watch AKA your past into the ocean).

But also once again, what’s more burned into my mind is little moments and decisions. It’s trying to light the lighter with the bad memory cooked up in your head. It’s underlining the dramatic irony of tragedy with cutting lines like “this must be because i have good karma.” Also that end song totally sounded a lot like Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose.” Also we got gem lines like…

“I live and wander with a group of weirdos now”

I do, too… I do, too.

11. TOYS IN THE ATTIC

Let’s get right to the plum gag: bahahahahahhahahah the alien being an advanced form of leaving lobster in the fridge is just SO AMAZING. I was cackling like mad.

And honestly, I think the lead up with the entire episode was pretty damn great. It just has a completely different energy, not just in regards to playing with the sci-fi / horror tropes (which it’s not laying it on thick or anything), it’s just this fun verve. You feel it in the energy of how everyone hangs out. Like Faye completely taking Jet for all he’s worth in the strip poker game and his “honorable” reaction (this side of Jet’s gruffness I like a lot more). Which all just serves as the perfect dramatic irony of the encroaching, otherworldly horror. It also sideswipes these great little lines about how humans “quickly forgot the lessons they just learned.” And once again we get an episode where all the highs are in the little details, like the little beat where the alien good wiggles again before it’s fully melted. Even the episode’s overlaid vignette structure about lessons (which could be trite when applied in gauche fashion) instead only exists as a distracting bit of artifice that is only really leading to a sublime gag: “You shouldn’t leave things in the fridge… that is the lesson.”

Five stars. Would rent again.

12.-13. JUPITER JAZZ - PART 1 AND PART 2

I feel like it makes sense to write about these two episodes as a single entity.

First off, I have to say how much I like the pacing of them. Most of the sessions of Cowboy Bebop are lean, mean, and economical, which is all part of the fun. But even though the show has its moments of rest / down time,” it’s often rushing through conflict and rarely milking the drama in a way that lets you sit with the tension. Which just means I rarely feel like we ever have a real chance to just dig into a longer story pace. Which is of course what we finally get in this mid-point two part epic that brings us back to Vicious. Which, of course, we all suspected would happen (I say this like we’re all watching the show live for the first time, haha). But now that we’re finally getting into the story itself…

I’m not sure how crazy I am about it? Like, it’s all coming back to that problem of “how much do I really care about all these characters?” I like them and stuff. Really, I do. And it’s really nice to get moments of genuine emotion, like when Spike gets legitimately angry at being called Vicious. But there’s just this thing where I can’t get the emotional investment in the show to really drive that constant want of engagement. There’s fallibility, but so little genuine vulnerability. So it’s not really the kind of show you “lean into.” Which is all part of the ongoing cool disaffection. But hey, isn’t that just how noir operates?

The thing most people don’t understand about noir is that all that disaffection and hidden emotion always bubbles up by the story’s end, often in the spectacular ways of coming undone. Like, the vulnerability explodes by the end. But with a TV show slowly dolling that out like four times across 26 hours? Yeah, that’s not what the noir structure was built for so it just makes it harder to engage. Particularly when characters like Vicious still feel like cyphers in a way. Same goes for the way Julia feels like that haunting ghost. Like we learned “more” about them, but I don’t feel “closer” if that makes sense.

And it also doesn’t help matters that these episodes do some of my least favorite story tropes. Like when a female character is like, “I’m a girl who can take care of myself!” which seems to position them as not being the damsel, but then the male character saves them anyway, which just makes them EXTRA good at rescuing the kind of super-capable women who think they’re above damsel-ing! The fact it does so on the sly that feels even ickier than that. Same goes for yet more homophobia in the episode. And speaking of LGBT+ treatment…

I have NO idea what the heck to think of Gren? Like did they really say that Gren just got a hormonal imbalance from insomnia from going to prison??? Wut??? I don’t want to google things until I’m done with the show but needless to say I’ll be reading from trans / non-binary writers on the subject because I’m having huge flashbacks to The Crying Game discourse that so radically shaped more 90’s-ness when it comes to this stuff. Speaking of which, of course the character dies. And it’s amazing how many people don’t even recognize the problems of this trope, or even that it IS a trope. The reason the “kill your gays” trope exists is because it’s always written by straight people trying to grab other straight people’s sympathy (look, see now you care about this character because they died and that’s sad!) Meanwhile it only teaches LBGT+ people that they are doomed and should be afraid and that their “sacrifice” only exists to teach the straights lessons or whatever. Again, we’re just back in 90’s tropes that I internalized and have come to resent in much more meaningful fashion.

And yet, despite all the things that stick in my craw, this show always has these little things that seep right into my brain and stay there. Like that moment where Lin dies and Vicious clarifies, “he protected the rules,” which is just a forehead-slapper of a perfect line. And then the last little variation on the end title that really hits you: “Do you have a comrade?” Oof. These little things are what makes me ultimately care about the show. It’s not the drama. It’s the little ingenious moments that stick in there and keep rattling around in my brain.

Speaking of brain rattles, this also finally brings us to why I also felt comfortable stopping halfway through the show to write all this down… The other night I felt inclined to start listening to the soundtrack and it was all just there in my brain already, set in stone.

Point being, I’m in.

<3HULK