"Brief" is a euphamism for "lengthy"

By The Eva Monkey on Monday, September 27th, 2004

I’m very tired right now, so I’ll try to keep this brief. My computer is afflicted with a nasty case of…. something. And I’ve been slipping into some sort of state of depression. Meaning I’ve lost interest in many things I was interested in previously. And though some things, like this site, aren’t all that interesting to me in my current mental state, I’m going to still try to find time and energy to put something up on the site, even if it is minor. More consistant updates and site work will commence once my computer is in good working order once more.

Untill then, lets scrape together some stuff, shall we?

Eva Platinum Edition status.

Volume 2 was released last week, it contains episodes 5-10. It comes with a Rei cover and metallic slip. Special features are an animatic of episode 9, clean opening and closing animations, and episode 8 commentary by Tiffany Grant (Asuka) and Allison Keith (Misato). The animatic and clean opening / closing animations are nothing to rave about. The commentary with Tiffany Grant and Allison Keith has slightly more substance than the one with Spike Spencer (Shinji) and Matt Greenfield. Same deal, slightly more substance, and some fan girlish levity.

Platinum Volume 3 is to be released November 11.

Eva Manga Volume 9 coming soon

Very much to my surprise, Carl Horn himself reported to the Eva Monkey forums that Volume 9 of the Eva manga will be released in October courtesy of Viz. This requires some clarification, as it has been listed as being for release November 10th by RightStuf. This comes as a surprise as Viz has consistantly put out a new volume each summer the last several installments.

The second editions of all the volumes thus far should be available at your local Borders or other similar book store chain.

Other Random Findings

I’ve some across two interesting findings, which you may or may not have had brought to your attention. First is one of the illustrations from Volume 9 Kadokawa edition of the Eva Manga.

Second is a photograph of a sculpture by an artist named Antonio Canovo, who was of particular importance in the 18th century.

The sculpture depicts cupid embracing his mortal lover Psyche. The myth goes that Cupid was instructed to make Psiche fall in love with a beast as punishment for angering the Venus. He fell in love with her and refused his orders. Its a long story, so I’ll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that there is a vague parallel between Cupid and Kaworu. Or at least, possibly Sadamoto is trying to indicate that there is.

Next is an illustration from the End of Evangelion.

And the following is an illustration by Karel Thole. It first appeared as the cover illustration for the Italian Sci-Fi magazine Urania in the 1960s.

This illustration possibly indicates that some inspiration for the final scene of Eva was lifted from this illustration. Is it possible? Yes, certainly, after all, Hideaki Anno is know to be a rather well rounded science fiction buff, and it is possible that he, growing up on a diet of vintage science fiction, may have taken a few ideas, putting context to an abstract image such as this illustration.