#explicitly a NGE reference

[nostalgiabug]

Angelic Hymns Gold LP; Kanon D-Dur (Death and Rebirth) (String Quartet)

Radio Eva-01;

A Super Digital Audio Tape (SDAT) Player that once belonged to a Umbra Witch. Little is known about this witch, their name being one of the few facts. Ikari Shinji, as it is written in the Infernal script on the front. Under it is written “Tabris” , a name that once belonged to an angel

It allows the welder to summon forth the powers of hope and despair. And in the right hands a power far beyond that.

Update: It has a playlist now (Feel free to recommend some stuff)

[weaselandfriends]

hi, i had a casual question if you don't mind answering it. would you say that NGE has had any influence on your work? some examples of your writing that made me think this were primarily Terminatrix 405 from Chicago and chapter 12 "I need you." from CxC. of course, the latter is identical to the EoE title card, so the homage seems direct enough. the conclusion of kyosuke and yuria in the airlock, alone and surrounded by space, is aesthetically similar enough to the "hellbeach" (your words not mine, hah) of EoE's last scene. but a lot of that chapter seemed reminiscent of instrumentality, just with the psychosexual aspect being turned into actual text with the explicit rp. and 405's "senseless coagulation of souls" piqued my interest during a reread due to the way sage asserts her selfhood by using her memories of aurora. kinda reminded me of asuka clinging to the presence of her mother during her final battle.

of course, i'm really not trying to imply your work is derivative! it's just that you've spoken about liking EoE and it was sorta fun trying to find any similarities while reading.

PS. sorry about not having any art this time. was trying to decide between drawing murrie and hemet hanging out, or a few outfits for sister in the style of a dress-up doll game. any preference?

Eva had an influence on my work in an unusual way. I first learned of the existence of Eva in college when a group of people in my dorm were watching the climax of the second Rebuild film in the common area. Knowing nothing else about the series, what really stood out to me was how the story would keep cutting from the kids piloting the mechs to the control room where three generic-looking characters in beige uniforms would spout technobabble and give reactions to the mech fight. For some reason I really liked the vibe of the control room and wanted to write a story where the most important characters were people observing the action from afar and trying to influence it by relaying instructions over radio. This idea eventually crystallized into a novel I wrote in 2012 about Luxembourg.

I didn't actually watch Eva until after I wrote Fargo about 4 years later. While I do like it in general and think EoE is excellent, I don't think it's had as much of a conscious influence on my later works compared to what the half-glimpsed back half of Rebuild 2 had to my Luxembourg novel. The Kyosuke and Yuria scene is actually influenced by another thing I only kinda saw once in college when someone else played it in the common area, that thing being Xenosaga. All I know about Xenosaga is that there's a female android named KOS-MOS and that there are enemies that turn people into pillars of salt in reference to Lot's wife, and that was the technological-religious blend that I was specifically thinking of when I wrote that scene. Eva also blends sci-fi with religious iconography, so it's easy to see connections there as well, but Eva's bent is more cabbalistic in nature. Royce does explicitly name drop Eva in one of his spiels, though.

For me, it's a lot easier to be consciously influenced by things that I have barely heard of than things that I have seen a lot or care deeply about. You never want to feel derivative and by pulling ideas I like out of stuff I only have a basic conceptual understanding of, it feels less like I'm ripping something off, because I'm being influenced by general broad strokes rather than specific character and plot beats. Ironically, this can sometimes lead to my references being accidentally more overt than intended; multiple people have pinpointed that the x.Nihilo scene is modeled on Xenosaga, for instance.

As for art, you don't need to apologize for not having drawn something! I always appreciate your art and love to see it, but I'm also glad just to get some nice asks to answer. I'm interested in your "dress-up doll game" idea, mostly because I'm not sure what that would look like exactly. Although I also enjoy your interest in Murrie, because I think she's an interesting character herself despite her being a bit less prominent than the other two main characters of Chicago.

[insomniacowl]

Neon Genesis Evangelion analysis chapter 20: Libido and Destrudo

Professor Fuyutsuki Metaphysical biology laboratory.

In attempting to understand the story of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the concept of a soul and how it plays into the wider narrative is an essential point where various story threads converge, but due to the idea of souls being abstract at best in our world, many glosses over this as an unexplainable Novum used as a set-piece. Yet, many symbolisms and set-pieces of this series require an understanding of the role of such Novum, thus we will touch on some of them here. (By Novums, I refer to Darko Suvin’s description of ‘Scientifically plausible innovations used by SF narratives’).

In NGE, the concept of ‘Soul’ is explained to lie under the branch of ‘metaphysical biology’ and was Fuyutsuki's field of academic studies. It is mentioned only in passing when we get a glimpse of his past thus making it easy to gloss over, but it is an integral part of the world-building. Side note, in our world, ‘metaphysical biology’ is a branch of the ‘philosophical biology’ but in the world of Evangelion, it is used to explain how the lived experience and emotions of a person come to take form and is a field of scientific study.

In simpler words, it is a belief that the thoughts and feelings of an individual can take material form through the use of ‘certain’ kinds of energy. It is how we can explain the maintaining of an individual’s body in a certain shape using AT field (In a shape that is imagined by the soul [ego]).

Without the AT field, there is no form

All living things consist of its soul and have a body to ‘contain’ it, this soul originating from the room of Guf. In Lilin’s case, their souls have merged with LCL and it is the AT field that keeps the fluid in the shape required to function as a living thing. This is why in the absence of an AT field (such as when it is neutralized by the Anti AT filed waves), the bodies lose its form and revert into LCL as we see during the End of Evangelion.

What does pattern Blue mean?

Unlike the Lilins, Adam, Lilith, and the angels' bodies are not made up of the LCL but what is referred to as the wave-particle matters, allowing their bodies to exists even in the absence of a soul. This is used to explain how the White giant in the central dogma (Lilith) was able to maintain its form when the soul was split and placed in unit – 00 and Rei, and how she changed into a gigantic Rei once the Soul was returned.

Not solid, nor liquid, nor gas

wave-particle matters, according to Ritsuko, refers to a unique matter that exists as both wave and particle materializing at the same moment, this is different in our world where the wave-particle duality problem still exists and we can rightfully believe that Anno simply burrowed the term without the complexities of it. Yet it is still useful to think of this matter as a form of “light” and it is best exemplifies when we see the Rei + Adam + Lilith’s (Rei + AL) hand passing through Maya without any harm, and due to it not requiring an active AT-field to maintain its shape, we can observe the Evas and Rei + AL not reverting to LCL during the End of Evangelion's "Come Sweet Death" scene.

Rei and Humans are biological different

In chapter 10, I have posited that Lilith’s DNA is present in Rei and presented the hair of Unit – 01 and Rei being the same color as a piece of evidence, I can now state this more accurately and say that part of Lilith’s wave-particle material likely has entered Rei during her body construction process. That is the reason why the cloned bodies of Rei we see in episode 23 were able to maintain their form in the absence of a soul inside them. We will be touching upon this topic again in the future.

Libido and Destrudo

Now let us talk about Libido and Destrudo. In our world, these are terms used in philosophy and psychology and tends to refer to a similar concept (refer to Herbert Marcuse's "Eros and civilization" but also many of Freud's works). However, in the world of Evangelion, they are both “Quantifiable mental energy” and are intrinsically linked to the role of souls in producing AT field.

Since the souls’ are vulnerable to having its existence interfered by another soul, resulting in it being forcefully re-shaped, AT fields are set up to maintain physical form and prevent such mishaps. However, an AT field that is too strong can also have harmful effects.

Simply put, there is an amount of AT-field required by each living thing to maintain their selfhood, this requiring a certain amount of energy to maintain this territory of self. This energy is the combination of two types of energy that are Libido and Destrudo.

Libido: the will to life

Libido is similar in concept as eros; a form of mental energy held by all living things. Destrudo is the necessary precondition for the existence of the creation of something from nothing. While Libido is often conceptualized with sexual urges, its original scope is much larger, enveloping all forms of productive energies that includes love. Libido is sub-constituted by the instincts of Id and Ego and is represented in the Evangelion series as AT-field. Libido = AT field.

REI 00N: DESTRUDO RELEASE

The result

On the surface level, Destrudo is the antithetical concept to Libido and is more often referred to as Thanatos in the Freudian concept. It can be described as the “Attraction to death”, and “Instinct to destroy”. While it might seem like a negative concept, it is integral mental energy that works alongside Libido for the continued existence of all living things. When Libido stimulates the stress for the “continued existence” of living things, Destrudo (Thanatos) is also released to maintain the delicate balance necessary for a healthy existence and mental state. In the Evangelion series, this is referred to as the Anti-AT field. We can see that Destrudo = Anti-AT field hypothesis being supported in episode 23 when Ritsuko releases destrudo waves as she initiates the breakdown of Cloned Reis’ bodies.

Let us not forget that Libido and Destrudo are concepts used to explain the existence of a soul in Evangelion. One narrative conflict in Evangelion lies in the choice between the maintenance of the individualized and atomized existence or the achievement of the unified being like those of Angels through Instrumentalization; they are fighting over the size and number of Lilins’ ego (subjecthood) that should be in existence, the existence of souls is a question that supersedes all of this viewpoints. It is the soul that is used for the creation of a connection between the pilot and their Evas. What supports this statement is the production of Libido and Destrudo when they are piloting it, and the strength and balance of this energy are what is being measured during the synchronization test. We can observe this in Asuka where her ability to pilot Unit - 02 correlates with her will to live throughout the series, and we can also say that the role of the dummy plug is the imitation of the mental (thus of Libido and Destrudo) patterns of a specific individual.

Ritsuko: Salvage start!

Maya: Roger, Sending the first wave

Maya: Eva received the waves. No rejection sequence detected

Continue with the second and third wave

No rejection was detected. No Destrudo observed.

We can see these two energies being used in episode 20 when Shinji's soul was absorbed into the Unit – 01’s core and his body reverting into LCL. The salvage operation that was performed to retrieve him explicitly showed us the graph of Libido and Destrudo meter reflected on the operators' screens. Let me pose you a question here, to bring back Shinji from his current formless shape, which of the two energy should be used to bring him back? The answer is Libido, the AT field energy. It is most likely that they inserted Libido energy into the entry plug and this can be seen in the erotic sequence that we observe from Shinji's perspective.

There are two instances of the salvage operation that we are aware of. First is Yui’s case, second Shinji’s. Both instances failed, however, this was not due to the hypothesis of the Libido-AT field being inaccurate. It is because the individual did not wish to return to individual selfhood. Although for Shinji, he managed to wake up on is own accord afterward, foreshadowing his return from the primordial ocean at the end of Evangelion.

The Shinji’s Libido is depicted often and in focus throughout the series. It starts in episode 10 with Shinji’s innocent reaction to Asuka’s filtration, the young boy’s fantasy during the Onsen sequence while overhearing Misato and Asuka’s conversation, and the touching of Rei’s breast. All these instances gave Shinji a boost in his Libido level and this can be linked to his gradual increase of Synchronisation rate. This observation can also be used to help explain the reason why fourteen-year-olds are chosen to be pilots.

The hot-blooded face of Shinji

When we look at Shinji’s face during the fight with Zeruel, at the moment his synchronization rate reached 400%, we can see the effects of Destrudo energy manifesting. In this sequence, we see Shinji smiling with what can only be explained as ecstasy that is too far off from his usual self. The high synchronization rate can be explained with the rise of the Destrudo level here. Destrudo being released due to Shinji’s desire for the destruction of Zeruel means that there is also high Libido that presents to balance out the destrudo level. 

Shinji is not okay in this scene.

The metaphysical materialization of Destrudo; circa start of instrumentalization

And the result….?

The concept of Libido and Destrudo plays an integral role in our understanding of the End of Evangelion as well. At the beginning of the movie, we see Shinji having set up a strong barrier against other people (AT field), which means that his current stress for living, the Libido level is at an incredibly and irregularly high level. The sequence where he is seen masturbating to Asuka’s breast shows this dichotomy between the desire for sex against the desire to shield self from others (both being the manifestation of Libido) and it makes the viewing experience extremely uncomfortable.

Later, during the beginning phase of the instrumentalization, as the AT fields are being eroded by the Anti-AT field waves, we observe scenes that epitomizes the destructive instincts of Destrudo. The scene of Shinji choking Asuka is overlayed with the sinister smile during his battle against Zeruel and is followed by multiple bizarre and violent, yet childlike drawings (Libido and Destrudo often reach their peak during childhood and this can be observed in their drawings as well).

Unit – 01 with the Dummy plug choking Unit – 03 (Bardiel)

I will wrap up the discussion on the Dummy system here as well. The requirement for the activation of the Evangelions is the Libido and Destrudo energies, which means that the Dummy system that only imitates the mental patterns of Libido and Destrudo production does not have emotions nor logic. Therefore we can observe the animal-like fighting style of the Dummy system against Bardiel; this shows that even if the system is based on Rei's mental patterns, it has no logic nor emotions and fights on an instinctual level. Thus the dummy system is not a perfect representation of the original.

Skipping over the details here

The progressed version of the Dummy system, one based on Kaworu and implanted into the mass production models takes this further and shows us both of the actions lead by Libido and Destrudo, this was shown in graphic and explicit detail that the movie's R-18 rating allowed. The scene that caused quite a stir, when the mass production models are sexually petting and licking Unit – 02 was led by Libido. Many chucked it up to and accused Anno being a pervert, however, I see this as an important scene that serves mainly to further explain the role of these two energies released by the dummy system. There is a question often brought up regarding the grotesque design of the Mass production models, and the answer is that it was done to visually depict the unfiltered, and uncontrolled desire for Lust (Libido) and destruction (Destrudo).

The desire for life and love and the desire for destruction and instrumentalization are hidden set pieces of this series and are easy to overlook and ignore. But we must not forget that it is depicted in canon and plays a significant role in the ongoing narrative, yet there tends to be very little discussion of this set piece. I hope that this chapter has been useful in aiding your understanding of the series further.

This chapter ends the section on the organizations and angels. Starting from next, we will dive into the discussion of each character and the roles they play in the narrative. The first batter is Kaji Ryoji.

  TBC Chapter 21: Kaji Ryoji Lies and Silence

[girlenjoyer]

hiii valentine!!!!!!! can u tell me about kaworu nge i love tht gayboy n i wanna know more about him..

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I COUDLI GO OFF BAOUT HIM FOR HOURS. ok well, well, well , um, um aha, so he is the product of adams flesh and human dna mixed! which is why hes more humanoid than the other angels. hes not human so he finds them so fascinating! and when he is. well. alive for the first time everything is so new to him, and he slowly learns to feel, stuff like anger and compassion and love are things that were so new to him! love especially is a big thing he deals with in the eva manga, as well as being blunt and not quite aware of when he hurts peoples feelings. there arent different kaworus every kaworu has the past kaworus memories in them, including how he dies! kaworu is very very sweet and was originally planned to have a black cat! he can float cuz its one of his angel powers, but he doesnt rly have anything aside from that so its not like hes op or something. he’s the fifth pilot and wouldve been the fourth if they hadnt recruited touji before him! heres a fun fact from the wiki:Gainax renders his name in Romaji as "Kaworu," not "Kaoru" as would be given by most romanization schemes. The reasons for the difference in the naming have not been explicitly detailed by the series' creators; one theory is that the name is based on the original kana of the name Kaoru Genji from some anime or manga idk.. he is the oldest pilot in the original anime, 15, unlike shinji, rei and asuka who are all 14! kaworu does not consider himself human despite having a human form and, essentially, being half human- and he refers to humans as lilin, as something bizarre that surprises him. and he really appreciates humanity and its implied he likes to learn abt them!!! i think hed be a big fan of anthropology!!!! he also obviously knows a lot abt music and claims that its one of the best things that lilin created! aside from learning how to play piano himself. again from the wiki: he appears comfortable in his identity (far more than Rei), and also warmer and more emotionally open. However, he does show a detachment from human protocols and shares Rei's tendency to speak in universal rather than personal terms!!!!!! ^_^  also something so annoying is that  sadamoto claims he wrote his relationship with Shinji on the manga as similar to a primary school student to an older, middle school one that would leave a strong impression on the former, prompting him to seek his admiration, not romance?? which makes no sense because trhe whole timein the english translation kaworu talks about love (and talks abt it while awtching romance on tv) and takes the chance he gets to put his mouth on shinjis while hes hyperventilating? and uses it as an excuse to kiss him^??

big spoilers ahead

 it is implied that there are many kaworu clones, but hes a different case than rei, because he learns to express his emotions and what they mean and doesnt bottle them up (but its implied he feels more than he shows, especially when talking to shinji because he doesnt want to upset him, such as having horrible memories of dying and leaving shinji over and over again in 3.0, when he trys to comfort shinji) and in the song sakura nagashi the lyrics are abt shinji grieving after kaworus death in 3.0, and in megumi ogata (shinjis voice actor)s cover, the instruments played are piano and cello- instruments that kaworu and shinji play respectively. 

[hitokayamaguchi]

That post wasn't saying that CCS and S.M are BL, just that they both include homosexual scenes that aren't censored, so the excuse that something has to be labeled as a BL or GL anime to show explicit homosexual characters is flimsy.

“THESE ARE EXPLICITLY MARKETED AS BL THOUGH. YURI ON ICE IS NOT.”

This is exactly what one person on that post said. It was said after the CCS, Sailor Moon, NGE, Revolutionary Girl Utena and No.6 comment. It is referring to all of these series as being marketed as BL, when in fact none are BL. 2 of them aren’t even M/M couples yet are commented as being marketed as BL. None of these are in the yaoi or yuri genres either and they show “explicit” content. So this commenter clearly isn’t sure what they’re talking about. 

My reaction in the tags was for the comment I quoted above. I agree that saying that it has be labeled as yaoi or yuri to show “explicit” content is extremely flimsy. To not show the kiss and to make things seem a bit coy are simply creative choices that the creators of YOI chose. Because all of these series that were used as examples in that post aren’t labeled as yaoi or yuri and show kisses and admit their love for one another.