News & Updates

After the tree of life descends into a huge gaping vagina on Rei/Lilith’s forehead in The End of Evangelion, we’re treated to a minute-long sequence of single frame stills from the Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series that are scratched, painted on, distorted, and layered over top of one another in interesting ways.  All told, it’s about 1800 frames.  Naturally, very few people are willing, or patient enough, to frame through the entire sequence.  But, if you do, you’re bound to find something interesting.  Username on Eva Geeks pointed out on the forums, that buried within that epileptic mess are several stills of Evangelion figures.  Yes, that’s right, inserted into the film are photographs of Evangelion merchandise.

Now, I doubt this was a sincere attempt at subliminal advertising.  I think by this point, most reasonably intelligent people are well aware that subliminal messages are not the magic bullet of brain washing that fiction likes to portray.  And I’m fairly certain that this was not Gainax or Hideaki Anno’s attempt to get people to buy more Evangelion merchandise.  If anything, it’s just an attempt at making a film as experimental and unconventional as possible.

But what I draw most about this is that even after a decade, people are still discovering new and interesting things about this film.  I know my mind was kind of blown by this, was yours?

More images:

• Rei Figure
• Hikari Figure
• Asuka Figure

Yuko Miyamura, Tiffany Grant, and Matt Greenfield will once again be appearing at the Supanova Pop Culture Expo courtesy of Madman Entertainment.  Yuko Miyamura and Tiffany Grant, as you know, are the voice of Asuka in Japanese and English, respectively.  Matt Greenfield was the senior ADR Director for the Neon Genesis Evangelion television series, as well as the video versions (“Director’s Cuts”) of episodes 21′-24′.  He also played the voice of Makoto Hyuga in those two productions.  The three will be appearing in Sydney (June 17-19) and Perth (June 24-26).  If you’re one of my readers from Australia, New Zealand, or Indonesia (I know you guys exist!), and are going to attend, be sure to join Eva Geeks’ resident Aussie, Fazmotron, in asking them a bunch of super-nerdy questions for us.  For everyone else, be sure to check Supanova’s Podcasts section in the weeks and months to follow for audio highlights from the event.

• Yuko Miyamura’s Guest Bio
• Tiffany Grant’s Guest Bio
• Matt Greenfield’s Guest Bio

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series recently conducted Card Games For Charity 4, a donation drive to raise money for the Red Cross’ Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Fund.  There were quite a few items available for auction on eBay, predominantly Yu-Gi-Oh cards and items.  But of interest to Evangelion fans was a direct-donation component through Paypal, to select a title for a one-shot parody by Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series.  Evangelion managed to beat out the likes of Tenchi Muyo, Riding Bean, Animal Crossing: The Move, and Inuyasha in a landslide.  And no, I had nothing to do with that, I didn’t discover the charity drive until after it had all closed.  That said, I am looking forward to seeing the resulting video.

• Card Games For Charity 4 – Announcement video
• Card Games For Charity 4 – Update video
• One shot parody announcement tweet

I do this panel at conventions… sometimes it’s called “The Evangelion Omake Box”, and sometimes it’s called “Evangelion, WTF?”.  And essentially what it is is an emceed clip show featuring a bunch of ridiculous bullshit from Evangelion and it’s fandom.  Amidst the video files and audio clips, there’s this video, by an Eva Geeks user named SenorSquiid, singing Cruel Angel’s Thesis (badly I might add) whilst playing a ukulele.

As it turns out, “Dr. Shoggoth“, as he goes by on YouTube, has done a bit more than just that, including a cover of Fly Me to the Moon, which works remarkably well on ukulele.  Granted, the singing leaves much to be desired, but that’s really part of the charm.  But what I want to focus on primarily are his two original songs based upon Evangelion.  The first is called “TANG!”, which (not surprisingly) takes an absurd stab at The End of Evangelion.  The other is called “Clone Girl”, which focuses on Rei Ayanami.

They’re all pretty absurd, and kind of fun.  I recommend checking them out.

• Cruel Angel’s Thesis
• Fly Me to the Moon
• TANG!
• Clone Girl

or: Stop looking at me like that, it’s not that weird

I don’t know when exactly, but at some point, I developed an affinity for pairing Asuka and Kaworu. Now before you tell me that it doesn’t make sense, because the two never interact in the television series, let me say that I am well aware. I know that by the time Kaworu enters the story, Asuka is sedated out of her mind, and that Kaworu is noticeably absent from episodes 25 and 26. Vice-versa, Asuka is noticeably absent from the later portion of The End of Evangelion when Kaworu reappears. The only direct interaction between the two in the series is in the quartet scene in Death, and that isn’t even in continuity!

Something that I will remind you of is that Evangelion is more than just an anime series, and Asuka and Kaworu have quite a few exchanges in the expanded universe. They appear together in Yoshiyuki Sadamoto’s manga, as well as in Girlfriend of Steel 2 (Angelic Days), Gakuen Datenroku (Campus Apocalypse), and the Addition Audio Drama “After the End”, to name a few. And then there is a slew of fan generated content, including fan art, fan fiction, and last but certainly not least, doujinshi. But before we delve deeper into the how and why this pairing makes an awful lot of sense once you get past the initial knee-jerk reaction, let’s take a look at the other, more popular pairings, and why most of them, upon further inspection, don’t really make sense, or are just plain wrong.

Disclaimer: This list takes into account Evangelion, its expanded universe, and fandom. It’s a general approximation of my own observations, and is by no means definitive or backed by any real data.

Read the rest of this entry »

I am really looking forward to Anime Boston this weekend. I’ve been wanting to attend for a few years now, so I’m really pleased to be attending as a featured panelist on the subject of Evangelion, when there are already so many Evangelion-related events on the schedule.

Please join me for:

Saturday – 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Hynes-Panel A
Evangelion Is Serious Business

Saturday – 4:00 – 5:00 PM in Hynes-Panel 306
The Evangelion Omake Box

I am not involved in this panel, but if you are also familiar with Gurren Lagann, you should check it out:

Friday – 6:00 – 7:00 PM – Hynes-Panel A
Tengen Toppa Evangelion

Finally, there are a number of other things to check out, including showings of Evangelion 1.11, Evangelion 2.22, as well as panels/autographs for some names you might recognize from Evangelion, including Spike Spencer, Greg Ayres, Brina Palencia, and Trina Nishimura.

If you’re going to be at Anime Boston, please come out to my Evangelion panels, and say hello.

Mandarake just auctioned off an apparently authentic production cel from Neon Genesis Evangelion, featuring Misato from the show’s opening animation.  Bidding opened at 80,000 yen ($962), and ended at 326,100 yen ($3,923).  That’s definitely too rich for my blood, even if it is a unique, tangible piece of the show’s history.  What’s interesting about this auction is that (as I understand it) most, if not all, of the cels from Evangelion are in the private ownership of Gainax and its members, and there are only a small number of legitimate cels used in the production of the show that are floating around out there.  There are of course reproductions, but this one claimed to come with a guarantee.  Trusting it’s authenticity, I’m sure this one will make the buyer very happy.  Me on the other hand, I’ve got plenty of cool stuff in my collection.  If you’re interested in Evangelion cels, a user at Eva Geeks noticed an eBay auction for a supposedly legitimate cel from The End of Evangelion.  I can’t vouch for its authenticity, but if you’re into collecting cels, or really just want to own a part of the show (literally), you should look into it.  If you know a thing about cels, be sure to share your knowledge with us in the Eva Geeks Forums.

I was revising some slides for my upcoming Evangelion panel at Anime Boston, and I thought I would head over to eBay and check to see what it would cost to purchase a copy of The End of Evangelion.  I was astonished to find the price ranging from $23 to $150, with the average price in the 80s.  The lower prices were predictably copies still in bidding, so their final price will actually be higher.  I realize Manga Entertainment allowed their Evangelion licenses to expire, but I hadn’t realized that it had gotten so costly and difficult to acquire.  I actually feel kind of bad for owning several copies of both Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion.

So if you’re a latecomer to this wonderful series, I’d like you to know that I’m thinking of you, and I would like you to know of one particular fansub.  Now, before you berate me about piracy, I want you to know that you should earnestly try to acquire a legitimate copy of The End of Evangelion.  It is a wonderful film worth owning.  But if you simply cannot (reasonably) get your hands on a copy, there is an alternative.  Quite a few years back, a group called  Zhentarim DivX created a fansub for The End of Evangelion, which was essentially the Japanese Renewal release of the film, combined with the Manga Entertainment Dub Audio and Subtitles.  For better or worse, they even included the audio commentary track from the Manga Entertainment DVD.

TLDR: If you’re simply unable to get your hands on a legitimate DVD, and have to resort to a fansub, you should look into this one:

http://www.zhentarim.net/zx/shownfo.php?nfo=zx.end.of.eva.renewal.nfo

If you’re not really familiar with the Evangelion manga, you should probably take a seat, because you’re about to get schooled.  You see… Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, as amazing as an artist as he may be, is terrible at being a manga-ka.  He has taken multiple, long breaks from producing the Evangelion manga, which he began in 1995, before the television series had even begun.  His most recent hiatus from the manga lasted over a year, and he has taken several such long breaks from it over the past sixteen years.  That really just blows my mind.  And I feel really bad for anyone who has been reading it since its inception.  I myself have been reading it since about 2001.  It’s really amazing to compare the pseudo-longevity of the manga to the rest of the franchise.  In that time, an entire television series, four feature films, multiple other manga series, numerous video games, and a plethora of merchandise have been released.  And still, Sadamoto continues with the manga, slowly but surely.

Why do I bring this all up?  Well, he finally made a new stage.  He’s back.  And you can read it.  This is the first stage contributing to volume 13, so if you picked up and read volume 12 in English, this is immediately where you left off.  You should check it out.

Read stage 84:
http://eva.onegeek.org/pipermail/evangelion/2011-April/006887.html

My 2011 panels offering continues forward with Tekkoshocon this weekend.  I’m looking forward to coming back for my second year, so drop by and say hello to me.  In addition to hosting several panels that are relevant to your interests, I’ll be staffing in the panels department once again.  Serving as my wing-man and co-panelist on this trip is fellow Eva Geeks admin Drinian.  We’ll be dorking it up, and hopefully hitting Primanti’s before the weekend is through.

My preliminary Tekkoshocon schedule:

Saturday (Friday’s Schedule) – 1:00-2:00 AM – Panel 2
Evangelion Is Serious Business

Saturday – 5:30-6:30 PM – Panel 4
A Brief History of Gainax

Sunday (Saturday’s Schedule) – 12:00 – 1:30 AM – Live 4
Evangelion, WTF?

For fuller, more accurate schedule information, check out Tekkoshocon’s official Panels page.