By The Eva Monkey
on Wednesday, December 24th, 2008
Back in late November, Funimation roused suspicions by issuing cease and desists to various fansubbers and hosts of video content from Rebuild of Evangelion. It was good indication at the time that Funimation had licensed, or was in the process of licensing Rebuild. However, it was not conclusive, as it is not uncommon for companies that are merely interested in a particular title to send cease and desists in order to protect their interests.
A month has passed, and someone ingenious has found the following images stored on Funimation’s server:
http://www4.funimation.com/video/images/shows/evangelion.jpg
http://www4.funimation.com/video/images/shows/_thumbs/evangelion.jpg
I think this is fairly good indication that Rebuild has been licensed. However I’m keeping in mind that it’s not official until it’s official. Licenses fall through at the last minute, it’s been known to happen. The question remains, when will the official word drop, and when will we get our grubby hands on a domestic copy? Considering how long it took for Manga to distribute Death and Rebirth and The End of Evangelion, and how long it took for the video versions of 21-24 to make it over, it really is anyone’s guess.
Posted in: Evangelion 1.0, Rebuild of Evangelion. Tagged: FUNimation.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, December 22nd, 2008
The other night, my girlfriend and I hosted a German-themed Christmas party, and amongst the guests was none other than Drinian. While we dorked out a bit about Eva, I showed him some of my collection, and he asked me if I had the holiday edition of Evangelion. And I swear, I must be living under a rock these days, because in my prime of Evangelion geekery, something as peculiar as this wouldn’t escape my attention. I don’t know too much, just that it appears to be yet another repackaging of Evangelion, specific to this holiday season. How is it a “Holiday Special”? Well, from what I can tell, the fact that they’re only selling it this holiday season. I’m not even certain if it’s a repackaging of the Platinum Thinpak, or the full-sized Platinum release, or even if it has anything unique that we haven’t seen yet that would interest those who already have Evangelion amongst their collection. In all likelihood, this is just a title update aimed at interesting new and holiday buyers. Even so, why do I want to buy it?
Posted in: Merchandise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Platinum. Tagged: DVD.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, December 7th, 2008
Having been part of the test camp for Studio Sokodei‘s DVD remastering process, I was expecting to see their parodies served up as a direct download, or via bittorrent or a peer to peer method of file sharing. I was surprised to see that Andrew Hosking instead chose to serve up the parodies on YouTube. I think this comes as a pleasant surprise, considering how large the site has become, and it is nice to know that they’re available, on demand, to anyone who wants to see them. So in that respect, their work is more available now than it has ever been. And that’s a good thing. While I do agree with Andrew, that the best (and most preferable) way of experiencing the parodies is at a convention screening with hundreds of others, I must acknowledge that not everyone has that freedom, and it is time to open up to new viewers. This is of particular interest to Eva fans, because their (perhaps) best known work is Evangelion ReDeath.
I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that not everyone out there is familiar with Evangelion ReDeath, so let’s get up to speed. Evangelion ReDeath is a fan parody, using re-edited footage and original voice work. The plot surrounds Gendo Ikari attempting to use the song 1999 by Prince to disrupt the space-time continuum in order to become… the uber pimp. Beyond that, not too much is drastically different. The characters are not too far removed from the series, and the humor isn’t too heavily ingrained in Evangelion, so even casual fans can enjoy, even if they’re not into Evangelion. It’s a bit over a half hour, so it’s not a huge time investment. Regardless of whether you’ve seen it or not, be sure to give Studio Sokodei a visit, and check out their other works as well.
Posted in: Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, December 1st, 2008
Volume 11 of the Evangelion manga made it’s way into stores two weeks ago, and I made sure to add it to my big shelf of Eva-ness. The volume contains stages 71 through 76, which were published from April 2006 through December 2006. It seems like an awful long time since stage 76 came out two years ago this month. And the horrible realization is that Sadamoto has not produced a new stage in that two year period. Lazy manga-ka is lazy.
This volume is an interesting mix. Without revealing too much, I’ll say that it covers the beginning of episode 24 into the beginning of The End of Evangelion. That’s right, we’re into movie territory now, and so far, Sadamoto has not pulled an abstract Anno “WTF?” on us like he did with the TV episodes 25 & 26.
Like the previous two volumes, this installment offers a considerably different account of events, due to the introduction of Kaworu back in volume nine. He’s been around during the events of episodes 22 & 23, and as such, he’s had more time to interact with Shinji, Rei, and even Asuka, which makes his final moments with Shinji all the more interesting. Fans of Kaworu’s character will either love or hate this volume, as some have lovingly dubbed him “Evil Manga Kaworu”, or “EMK” for short. Some will love it because it’s a new take on the character, and some will hate it because of the difference between the manga and anime Kaworu. And I imagine some will just love to see “EMK” get what’s coming to him for being a cold hearted kitten killer.
Supplemental materials include the usual fare, plus a postscript by Sadamoto that kinda sorta borders on homo-erotic. Don’t ask, just give it a read. It’s about Kaworu after all. Also included is a lengthy postscript by all around cool guy Carl Horn. It address a handful of things, like the differences and merits between the anime and the manga, as well as anime and (evil) manga Kaworu. And for good measure, it makes mention of Rebuild of Evangelion, EvaMonkey, EvaGeeks, and touches on the post-second impact conflict between India and Pakistan that, considering recent events, borders on eerie. Check it out!
Posted in: Manga, Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga).
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, October 6th, 2008
I was hoping that Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0 would make it to theaters this year, as was previously expected. Quite a few of us in the fan community were speculating for a while on whether or not they would be able to put it out by year’s end based upon the timetable of the first film. Time slipped by and there was no release date nor footage to give us indication that the film was coming to completion. There was indication on blogs authored in moonspeak that the film had been delayed, and those mentions have been corroborated by the official Evangelion website that cites 2009 as the release date and includes the official poster art for Rebuild 2.0, entitled “You can (not) advance”. Notice anything familiar about it? Lazy Gainax is lazy. Oh, and the word is that it’s going to be early summer 2009. I’d like to start taking bets that by the time the series of films is completed, licensed, dubbed, and released to DVD, it will be 2015, and we can all chuckle nerdishly to ourselves at the Japanese of the mid-nineties and what they thought the near future would be like. I’m also taking bets on how long it will take for someone to make a monopoly joke out of the second film’s title.
Posted in: Evangelion 2.0, Rebuild of Evangelion.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, September 29th, 2008
From Japanese sarariman trading thoughts on Rei over long drags on cigarettes, to now infamous discussions of the gender of angels on particular English-language Evangelion forums, there has been no shortage of discussion on Evangelion since the first stage of the manga hit newsstands on December 26th, 1994.
Occasionally that discussion gets recorded and turned into an MP3, and a web page coerces you to put it in your iPod (or other similar competing product), and you listen to it, and live vicariously through the speakers. If you are the sort that partakes in these podcasts, you should know that I have collected quite a few over the years, and have assembled a page of these Evangelion podcasts so that you can listen to them and enjoy the delicious commentary. And if you enjoy the discussion, be sure to look into other installments by these podcasters.
By the way, it’s entirely coincidental that I appear as a guest in several of these.
Posted in: Audio, Podcasts.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, September 22nd, 2008
At this year’s Otakon, I picked up this old comic book style magazine called “Mangazine” published by Antarctic Press. What I found interesting was not that it featured Evangelion, but that it featured Evangelion and was from May 1996. Whenever I come across something from the early days of Evangelion fandom (in English), like Carl Horn’s Speaking Once as They Return: Gainax’s Neon Genesis Evangelion, or Lawrence Eng’s In the Eyes of Hideaki Anno, Writer and Director of Evangelion, my ears instantly perk up. I take notice and scour over it, expecting to find new or insightful information. This is not always the case, but there’s something about the early days of the fandom that is very intriguing to me. The article found within this magazine, entitled The Nerv of Gainax: Neon Genesis Evangelion, may not be the most insightful article written about Evangelion, but it has a very unique feel to it, partially due to the fact that at the time, Evangelion was very new to American anime fans, and the writing reflects that. There are a few details that I found particularly interesting, for example, the writer indicates that episode 19 & 20 were supposed to be reworked similarly to 21′-24′, and that part of the pressure put on Gainax was preemptive constraint that spilled over from an incident with another program on the network. The descriptions of the who, what, and where also contain a few interesting bits, and in general, the article is a fun trip back to the early days of anime fandom, complete with all the whimsical charm you would expect.
Posted in: Uncategorized.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, September 15th, 2008
I’m short on time this week, so I’m going to follow suit with a simple, yet hopefully interesting post. The attached image is the current toppage illustration over at Gainax’s official website. It was created by HEX ANTISTYLE, which has also designed quite a few Evangelion T-Shirts for Gainax. Suffice to say they’re considerably more stylish than the majority of the Evangelion T-Shirts that have been produced domestically. I’ve noticed that like the above image, it’s common for their works to reference past artists. The above image references The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, and also appears on this one shirt which also references Salvador Dali and Philippe Halsman’s In Voluptas Mors (NSFW Contains Nudity), an image you might also be familiar with from the iconic poster for the film The Silence of the Lambs. If you’re the type that is adept and prone to importing Japanese goods, I recommend taking a look at what has been designed thus far.
Posted in: Merchandise.
By The Eva Monkey
on Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Given just three more weeks, and it would mark not only the fourteenth anniversary of Evangelion, but also one year since I discontinued Eva Monkey. It was not a decision I came to easily, having run this site for an extended period of time. But I needed time to move onto other things and grow as an individual. While I have done that a bit, I realized just how much I’ve missed the Evangelion fandom, not to mention running this site. It depresses me to see how traffic has languished, and it confuses me to see how high my site still manages to rank in Google despite that. Seriously, how can you stop running a site for almost a year and still manage to stay in the top results in Google?
So I decided to bring the site back. While it’s not especially important, today, which marks the eighth anniversary of the fictional event we all know as “Second Impact”, will just have to do. Past readers will notice some things will change considerably from what Eva Monkey was in the past. I don’t intend to focus on deep analysis, or focus on trying to explain all the intricate minutia of Evangelion. I don’t intend to chronicle the entirety of the Evangelion. I don’t intend to maintain an episode guide or a characters guide. No one cares about that anyways. Instead, I intend to serve you up a small portion of news and fandom on a periodic basis. My overly optimistic plan is to update each Monday. We’ll have to wait and see how well that pans out.
That being said, I’m glad to be back, and I’m eager to get back into the thick of this monster that I simply cannot be rid of. If you have any comments, suggestions, or feedback, feel free to hit me up at
theevamonkey@evamonkey.com. If I stick to my plans, I’ll have something up on Monday.
Posted in: Eva Monkey.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, June 29th, 2008
At Katsucon 2004, some friends and I hosted a panel on the subject of psychology and sociology in anime. It was a topic we were short on expertise and credential, but still managed to provide a sufficiently engaging open forum for people to discuss anime on a higher level than usual. To this day, I still view the panel as a flop, but there was one very special aspect of it that I’m still glad for. At the end, just before we cleared the room for the next panel, we reiterated who we were, and when I stated that I was from EvaMonkey.com, a voice from the front of the room squealed in excitement something like “Are you serious…? OMG, it’s teh Eva Monkey!”.
This is how I met Travis Farren.
I’ve met quite a few people through conventions and the Evangelion fandom. Some more interesting than others, but none quite like Travis. It’s an obvious statement to say that someone is unique. Everyone is. But in Travis’ case, he was about as unique as you could be. He was a person who I palled around with at conventions, talked with over messenger, email, and occasionally over the phone. Despite the fact that I was only in his physical presence as many times as I can count on one or maybe two hands, I enjoyed every chance I had to interact with him.
Needless to say, I was excited when I saw his name pop up on my phone Wednesday morning while I was settling in at work. Travis was like that, he would call at the most unexpected times, and ultimately, it wouldn’t matter what the message would be, just that it was coming from him. But when I answered, it wasn’t his voice on the other end, it was his mother’s. She told me that Travis had passed away, and that she thought I should know.
I was in disbelief for a brief moment before my stomach dropped. She told me that he and a friend had been jumping from a footbridge into the James river, and that Travis had had a seizure while swimming back to shore. You see, Travis had developed epilepsy in his junior year of high school, and the adrenaline rush from the jump and the change in temperature had triggered the seizure.
I expressed my condolences to his mother, and then we hung up. I eventually found myself in the main conference room to be alone, as I had started to cry a little bit. My boss came in to wire some cable, and he asked me if I was okay. I explained to him, and he told me that I could cut out if I needed to. I did what I could on one particular project, and made arrangements to leave.
I went home, packed some things, and made the five hour drive down to Roanoke in time for the second viewing. It was a very strange and uncomfortable experience, as I didn’t know the family and felt very out of place. It took a little while, but I managed to find his mother to express my condolences and thank her for telling me. It was at that point that it all came out and I wept uncontrollably.
I didn’t understand at the time why it affected me so much. It was not until the funeral the next day that I realized how truly special Travis was to everyone, including me. He really was the light of everyone’s life, and what a shame it was for that light to be extinguished at such an early age. He was only twenty years old.
While I was raised catholic, and it shows, I’m not a religious person. So when someone dies, to me that’s pretty much the end of it. All that is left is memory, and the things left behind. I’m not comforted by a belief in an afterlife where we can be together with people again who have passed before us. But a part of me struggles with a belief in things happening for a reason. And this is one of the truest cases of this.
Early in the month, Travis messaged me saying that he had a Red Cross Book laying around that he no longer wanted, and that he was going to sell it to get some cash to buy Metal Gear Solid 4. He asked me how much it was worth, and if I knew anyone he could sell it to that would appreciate it. You see, he didn’t simply want to eBay it, he wanted that book to mean something to someone. I replied that I would like to have it, as I had not gotten my hands on one yet. We both gasped at the blasphemy that The Eva Monkey, master of all things Eva, had no Red Cross Book amongst his expansive collection. We agreed upon a price, I paypalled him the money, and he shipped the book off to me. I got it about a week later, and he tossed in an extra little photo-holder-type-thingy, and a note which was true to his character. Two weeks later, he passed away.
He wanted that book to mean something. And he didn’t mean it that way in the time, but part of me feels like he gave me that book for a reason. For that was the last exchange I ever had with him, and now it means so much more than just an uncommon book. It’s my last memory of Travis. And I’ll always cherish it.
Goodbye Travis, I’ll miss you.
Posted in: Personal.
Back in late November, Funimation roused suspicions by issuing cease and desists to various fansubbers and hosts of video content from Rebuild of Evangelion. It was good indication at the time that Funimation had licensed, or was in the process of licensing Rebuild. However, it was not conclusive, as it is not uncommon for companies that are merely interested in a particular title to send cease and desists in order to protect their interests.
