By The Eva Monkey
on Thursday, October 4th, 2007
A little bit over 5 years ago, I set out to create a concise singular site of resources dedicated to Evangelion. An ambitious prospect to say the least when you’re dealing with a work that not only has an ever-expanding universe, but is already a work steeped in uncertainty and brimming with layers of detail. I never truly achieved the goal I set for myself with the site. Eva Monkey never lived up to the subtitle I gave it, “The Ultimate Evangelion Resource Site”. I still cringe inside whenever I read that horribly arrogant and inaccurately phrase. Don’t get me wrong, I consider Eva Monkey a success in a number of ways. I’m certain I was able to do a lot for the fandom by taking up my ambitions as many of the sites I read when searching for answers fell into various forms of inactivity or termination. I saw a need, and I wanted to fulfill it. And that journey was immensely rewarding and fulfilling to me. But at a certain point, you have to accept that there is only so much that you as one person can do, and that it’s time for a change.
To that end, I am hereby retiring EvaMonkey.com. I especially want to thank Carl Horn, formerly of Viz, as well as Brendan Jamieson of EvaOtaku.com. You have been a greater inspiration to me than I can convey, and it is your dedication and passion that ultimately led me to create this site. I think thanks are also in order to my girlfriend, Christina, whose infinite patience with the time I put into this site and fandom is completely undeserved. I also want to thank everyone I met along the way for your friendship and for sharing your experiences. You gave me a feeling of kinship that the immediate physicality of “IRL” life simply couldn’t afford. In particular, I want to shout out to Rachel Clark, whom I would be completely lost without; Sarah Myer, for being an all around awesome person to get to know; Xanatose, for being an enigmatic wonder that I love poking at; Travis Farren, for squealing “OMG it’s teh Eva Monkey” at Katsucon 2004; Vulkurt, for being the coolest teacher ever; Otaprince, DatDude, Seele08, Alan, Kyle, and Dan from OG, and anyone who I just can’t think of right now. And lastly, thanks to everyone who’s ever asked a question, contributed an article, or posted in the forum, without you, Eva Monkey would be nothing but a bunch of files on a server.
Now, this is not quite an end of an era. I’m not throwing in the towel quite yet. A month or so back, Rachel Clark, and a few others got together, and decided to unite our sites, time, energy, and talent together to form a new site and community, one which will hopefully achieve the goal that both Rachel and I set out to accomplish with sites like EvaMonkey.Com and EvaCommentary.Org. This new site can be found at EvaGeeks.Org. There you will find (in time) many of the same resources and features of both Eva Monkey as well as Eva Commentary, particularly the Eva Monkey Forums, which are now the forums of the new Eva Geeks site. And if you’ve ever wanted to get involved, now is the time to do it. This new site is being built from the ground up to allow any dedicated and responsible Evangelion fan to get involved, share their knowledge, theories, and ideas. Whether you’re a forum member, a wiki editor, a content editor, or a news poster, this new project is a communal effort, possibly unlike any before. This is a site by and for the fans in every sense of the phrase. While Eva Monkey will remain up in its present state for as long possible, my efforts and attention will now be channeled into Eva Geeks.
Thank you for the last 5 years. I’ll see you all on the other side
Posted in: Eva Monkey, Fandom. Tagged: Eva Geeks.
By The Eva Monkey
on Thursday, October 4th, 2007
Forum members, the board is down temporarily for some maintenance. It should be back sometime later today.
Posted in: Eva Monkey. Tagged: Forums.
By The Eva Monkey
on Friday, September 28th, 2007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y169mohV5Uo
Posted in: Evangelion 1.0, Rebuild of Evangelion, Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wowHngrWJOw
Posted in: Evangelion 1.0, Rebuild of Evangelion, Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Friday, September 21st, 2007
Just like our first look at Rebuild of Evangelion 1.0 back in July, our first look at Rebuild 2.0 is another shitty cam rip, probably with a cellphone, or the video capabilities of a still digital camera. It’s shitty, and you love it. You want it. You need it. You eat it up. You ask for more. Unfortunately for you, there is none… for now. The most notable aspect of this video, is that as you can see in the preview image, this is the first time we see the new character to be introduced in the next film. That is where things are going to be truly interesting, and judging by forum discussion, fans right now are more interested in seeing the second film than the first one. I for one am among them. Having listened to the audio, and read the reviews, the first film plays very close to the original, but all current indications are that the further installments will give us Eva fans, especially the hardened ones who have re-digested the existing series repeatedly over the last decade, something new and hopefully fresh to enjoy and discuss. Much like the time that the movies and director’s cuts were released to western fans, it’s a great time to be an Eva fan. I hope you all look forward to seeing what develops.
Posted in: Evangelion 2.0, Rebuild of Evangelion, Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Saturday, September 15th, 2007
As you may have heard, Rebuild of Evangelion 1:0 “You are (not) alone” came out in theaters on September 1st in Japan. The reports have said that despite opening on only 84 screens in Japan, the first installment in the Rebuild series of films consistently sold out, and broke records for profit per theater. Over the first weekend, “You are (not) alone” managed to earn 280 million yen, or 2.4 million US Dollars, putting it at #1 in the Japanese box office.
The discussion has been interesting, from Japanese reports translated into English, to Japanese viewers with some English proficiency, to Westerners who happened to be in Japan to (among other things) see the film with our Japanese counterparts. It’s interesting to note that the discussion hasn’t focused too much on the first film, but rather the second film, and what’s going to happen in it from the divergence from the original story. For instance, Kaworu makes a brief appearance at the very end of Rebuild 1:0, which puts his appearance in the timeline just before episode 7, which is much earlier than in the series, or even the manga where he briefly appears in volume 7, placing him in the events of episode 20. In the second film, he is reported to awaken from a black coffin-like box, at Nerv’s moonbase (Huh?) and descend to Earth in Eva Unit 06. That just blows my mind. There’s also a new Unit 05, a new female character, a Unit 04 which will appeare in animation, and some rumors that Rebuild as a while may be a direct continuation from The End of Evangelion. For instance, Lilith’s blood remains on the moon, the ocean remains red, and apparently Kaworu has some memories of the previous Evangelion’s events. This is something I’m unsure of, and it may just be something that was lost or confused in translation.
As a general rule of thumb, I don’t engage in piracy here on Eva Monkey. Occasionally however, I have been known to host things that I feel that fans (and consequently the industry) would benefit from having access to.
Without further ado, I will be hosting the audio recording that managed to leak out. Yeah, it isn’t video, and yes, the quality could stand to be better, but it does allow you to follow along with the film. And a big thanks should go out to Ornette, for providing us with a breakdown of the film to follow along with the audio.
Of interest to a lot of people is the preview that played at the end of the film, showing off the new Evas and character. While a video isn’t available, a fan was good enough to edit together some old footage with drawings from memory to approximate the visuals. This video should be a first look for many people at the new Evas and character. I recommend viewing the file in either VLC or Media Player Classic. If neither of those works for you, or you’d just like to cut to the chase, I have an image of the new imagery for your convenience.
Finally, I’m not sure if this Beautiful World music video has anything new or useful, but it does appear to (despite some overlayed text) have higher quality imagery than other Rebuild videos floating around. And if you’re bored, there are tons of reviews and podcasts out there reporting and speculating about these films. Google is your friend, although I would like to plug Patrick Macias’ podcast, where his review (amusingly) plays out as a review of standing in line for the film, rather than the film itself. Also, there’s the inaugural episode of Fanboy Hell, in which I get conscripted as a guest at the last minute.
Posted in: Audio, Evangelion 1.0, Podcasts, Rebuild of Evangelion, Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, September 3rd, 2007
It’s always fun to find some mention of your site on a blog, podcast, site, or other form of content. And it sweetens the deal to find out about it over a year and a half later. It amuses me how bitter and unhappy Daryl Surat of Anime World Order is in regards to Evangelion, and how I certainly must embody all that he hates in Evangelion fans.
Hear Eva Monkey get lots of love from Anime World Order (MP3)
Posted in: Audio, Eva Monkey, Podcasts.
By The Eva Monkey
on Saturday, September 1st, 2007
It’s September 1st, and you know what that means? It means Rebuild of Evangelion 1:0 “You are (not) alone” is in theaters in Japan. Reviews are out, and they are a bit unfavorable, most describe it as gorgeous, but not quite up to hype. Many agree that it is only the first movie, and that things will probably get more interesting in subsequent films.
I found this review quite helpful: Heisei Democracy
Also, Kaworu shows up at the end, and the preview for the second film supposedly shows a flash of a new character and a new Eva.
Posted in: Evangelion 1.0, Rebuild of Evangelion.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, August 19th, 2007
There’s been a bunch of Rebuild of Evangelion footage that’s been released so far, and just in case you’re not up to speed on what’s been floating around, I’ve collected what’s currently out there for your convenience. Hopefully it’s not too ridiculously old news for some of you.
Posted in: Evangelion 1.0, Rebuild of Evangelion, Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Friday, August 17th, 2007
So apparently people want to know where in the hell I’ve been. So I thought I would just take the time to tell you that I’m still around, and haven’t completely dropped off the map. I began a job at the Library of Congress in their technical services department. They brought me on board primarily for A/V work. So once again, I am pushing carts, plugging plugs, and connecting electronics. The pay is alright, and it’s not too difficult minus the security, the difficulty of navigating the buildings, and the commute. I get up each day around 4am, work till 3:30pm, and get home around 5pm. By the time I get home, I have just enough energy to have dinner, do something mindless for an hour or two, and hit the sack by 9pm. So needless to say I’ve not had much time for the internet. Although you people who’ve lamented the death of the forums should be happy to know that I’ve got someone helping me get the forums back up on another server, so hopefully that will get done in the next week or two, so we can all get back to arguing over femme-Kaworu.
Posted in: Personal.
