By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, July 19th, 2004
Two weeks skipped. I feel like Sadamoto…
I’ve probably been spending the time I would ordinarily spend working on the site by reading stuff in the forums. And as great as they’ve been doing, I think I’m going to spend a bit less time posting, and more time working on the site.
I’ve been neglecting the site too much lately, even though its summer, and I should theoretically have the time to work on the site. Instead I’ve been working on the Gangsta City website, and I just bought the .com portion of the GameSekai community.
And on to the other stuff….
Review of Cocoro Books’ “Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide”
Being the very first item I got supplied for review by a company, I was quite excited and eager about the opportunity to review and promote this book. I say “was” because I am no longer eager to sing any praise for the authors of this book. I thank publications director Clive France greatly for his time and assistance in reviewing this book. But unfortunately, I simply cannot say a single good thing about this book.
A month or so back I recieved proofs of the book. I was instantly aware of numerous errors. Many of them were simple publishing errors… grammar, spelling, etc. However there were other errors so incredibly ludicrous and agregious that I questioned the competancy of the writers. The faults and failures of this book can probably be summed up by the following three reasons.
1. The writing of this book was most likely rushed.
2. The writers aren’t that exceptionally skilled at writing.
3. The writers don’t know a flip about Eva, and are simply writing because they are paid to do so.
I’ll give you a small taste of a few of the errors that irritated me. And I use the term “irritated” here liberally. Actually… I think I’ll put it into context for you. I was so “irritated” with this book while reading it initially that I simply couldn’t go any further. I was too thouroghly agravated and frustrated that I tossed it in a corner for a week and refused to read it.
Ok, so here are some errors within the book. The authors suggest that LCL can melt objects. They list Kensuke as the Fourth Child and pilot of Eva 03. They refer to the AT Field at times as an “AC Field”. They at serveral points confuse Unit numbers. Ramiel is refered to as an octagon, rather than an Octahedron. The Authors confuse Central and Terminal Dogma at several points. The authors refer to the First Impact as the extinction of the dinosaurs. Etc, etc, etc.
And these are just a few of the errors from 30 or so pages of a 180 page book. And those are only the obvious ones, there are numerous errors related to understanding and comprehension. And then there are the errors of just plain bad judgement, such as stating that the key reason for Evangelion’s success was the female characters appealing to “stay at home otaku”. In fact, the psychological concepts, religious influence, references to older anime, and inner demons of director Anno were completely ignored.
Speaking of ignored… the authors obviously never read Anno’s confession letter which spelled out Shinji’s character. In fact, their analysis of Shinji runs completely counter to Anno’s (and other production members’) explanation of Shinji’s character.
I simply cannot endorse this book. It simply serves to purport bogus and debunked theories. If you’re a newer fan, you’ll simply become more confused with the Eva series. If you’re an older fan, you’ll simply be iritated. In either case, your money would probably be better spent on something else. Take it from me. I could barely get through this book because of the sheer pain it inspired.
Do not buy this book. You have been warned.
Review of Love & Pop
Thanks go out to Kino Video for providing me with a copy for review.
Many people know that Anno’s flirtations with live action began with The End of Evangelion, but many are out of the loop when it comes to what his films are really about. His first major film, Love & Pop, is probably one of the more striking. It was shot entirely on Sony Handycams. At the beginning, the shots are extremely bold. From inside microwaves, underneath, overhead, and at times, in somewhat innapropriate and dizzying angles. This first 15-20 minutes are extremely bold, and at times amateur-ish. They are at times just terrible, as they don’t look right. For example, at one point, the main character Hiromi puts on her sweater, and she has a camera arounder her waist, pointing up to her face, and she obviously struggles getting the camera over her head and the camera. After the first quarter of the film, the cuts become a bit more passive, and refined, alleviating potential motion sickness.
The story itself is not that interesting, four school girls engage in “Subsidized dating”, spending dinners and karaoke with lonely buisnessmen who’ve nothing better to spend their money on than the company of cute young schoolgirls. The main character Hiromi sees a ring in a department store and becomes determined to purchase it, resulting in her engaging in a subtle form of prostitution to aquire the 128,000 yen necessary to buy said ring. The box says, “Schoolgirls by day… Call girls by night…”. This is quite far from the truth. If you’re expecting nude Japanese schoolgirls, you ought to look somewhere else. While there is some stark sexual perversion in this film, there’s not much nudity or sex to speak of.
This film wasn’t entertaining in the traditional sense, as it was more interesting to watch in terms of cinematics and direction. You really have to be into cinematic techniques to like this film. It was highly experimental, and it shows. The film shows Anno’s flair, as he finds ways to disturb the viewer on more than one occasion.
Gainax fans will notice some similarities between Love & Pop and other Gainax animations. A masturbation scene akin to End of Evangelion, what sounds like some Pillows BG music, and most noticably, quite a few parallels to His and Her Circumstances, produced directly after the film’s release.
Would I recommend this film? To the viewer only concerned with entertainment, I would suggest keeping your money, and simply renting or borrowing. To the Anno fan enamoured by his cinematic flair, and intrigued with cinematic techiniques, I would suggest adding it to your collection. This film certainly isn’t for everyone. And I would advise some scrutiny before forking over the 20-30 bucks, as you may be a bit dissapointed. But one thing is for sure, it is definitely a must see for any Anno fan.
If you’re interested in learning more about Love & Pop, as well as director Anno, I would suggest taking a look at Eva Otaku’s page about his life after Evangelion.
Neon Genesis Tankgelion
This crazy little flash cartoon was pointed out to me by someone on the GameSekai forums. Its a spoof/crossover of Gundam Characters in the Eva intoduction. Funny, crazy, and awesome. Take a look, won’t you?
Posted in: Fandom, Merchandise, Reviews. Tagged: Books, Hideaki Anno.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, June 28th, 2004
Forum thanks
I wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their support, feedback, and comments concerning the launching of the Eva Monkey Forums. The launch truly did exceed my expectations. And I encourage any reader of the site to join up, because the forums provides me with an idea of what kind of readership is coming through the site. And the more active the forums are, the more compelled I am to provide you all with more stuff.
New Resources
This week I’ve been given permission by MDWigs to archive his collection of writings.
I went out and picked up the first three re-editions of the Evangelion manga. They’re nice, but certainly not worth replacing your old versions, unless you’re a hardcore Eva collector. I’ve also made the content found in these volumes available, including commentary by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Megumi Hayashibara, Megumi Ogata, and Yoshitou Asari. Also included in these volumes were notes from Carl Horn, including an alternate soundtrack to the Evangelion series and The End of Evangelion.
Anime Nation Affiliation
And as you can guess, I put a bit of money into this site, and I am in fact a starving college student. So I took the initiative to begin an affiliation with Anime Nation. I’m hoping through this, I’ll be able to run this site without footing over $100 a year. Yep, that’s what it costs. Not to mention that I’m frequently buying stuff like the afforementioned manga volumes to provide readers with resources. And if you by chance intend to buy the platinum edition dvds, please buy them through this site, as you’ll be getting a good deal, and will be helping me from going broke.
Show your support for Eva Monkey,
buy Platinum Edition Volume 1 through Anime Nation!
Evangelion Platinum Edition Volume 1 with Art Box
Evangelion Platinum Edition Volume 1 without Art Box
Posted in: Eva Monkey. Tagged: Forums.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, June 20th, 2004
Art by Chocomanji
Full version at Deviant Art
Eva Monkey Forums Online
I’ve long had the desire to start up some forums for the site, so that even if I had nothing to say or offer, there would always be something new for people to read, in the form of discussion. It may not look like it, but I put a lot of time and thought into the forums, and I hope any regular reader/visitor of this site enjoys them to the fullest.
The biggest reason why forums have never been attempted is because I wanted to wait till I established myself enough so that people would want to be a part of the forums for this site. At least I think there are people who would want to. The forums are to be an extention of the site, and a means of reader interaction. And a means of allowing people who visit the site to offer their own words and thoughts, and in so doing, help shape the site.
A big thank you goes out to everyone who’s put up with my prattling and obsessive behavior regarding this site and the whole project in general. Especially big thanks go out to Chocomanji, Xanatose, and Arcadian, for their support, comments, and for simply putting up with me and my site stuff over the last 1-2 years.
Posted in: Eva Monkey. Tagged: Forums.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, June 14th, 2004
“Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide” Proofs Recieved
I got proofs of Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide in the mail today, and I’ve been going over them all day. I’m not quite ready to break down the book for you, or make any comments about content or quality. That may come in a day or two, or perhaps next Monday, depends on what I decide to do with it. For now, I’ll simply say that its good to see an English language guide to Eva.
Eva Monkey Forums
I’ve had an interest in running a forum here on the site, and allowing readers to participate in shaping the site by being a part of the forums. While the forums are up and running, they’re not quite ready. It will definitely be ready to go by next Monday’s update, so check back then.
Posted in: Eva Monkey, Merchandise. Tagged: Books, Forums.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, June 6th, 2004
Post Anime Mid Atlantic Stuff
Well, its been a week since I got back from Anime Mid-Atlantic, where I was involved in three, count em, three panels. First and foremost, Evangelion Q&A, as well as Live Action Anime (which I did jointly with a friend of mine), and a Sentai/Tokusatsu Q&A panel (which I assisted the aforementioned friend with). The convention as a whole was rather boring and uneventful, but nevertheless, I returned from the convention utterly brain dead and incapable of doing any work, hence why I skipped last week’s update. Hopefully I can make up for it this week.
Now that summer is here, I hope to be in full swing working on this site, offering you cool stuff. The only thing of note to speak of at the moment in terms of the site is that you may now comment on news posts. I don’t know why you would want to, but by some chance you would like to point something out, say if I got a detail wrong or whatever, the option is there, just look below the time stamp.
Eva Comics Author Interviewed
I had the opportunity to conduct an interview with Rhine, author of Eva Comics. The interview adresses the comic, as well as fan fiction, and his interest in Evangelion. Read the interview here, and be sure to check out the comic as well. Rhine has also written quite a few Evangelion fan fics, which you can read on FanFiction.net. Appropriately, EvaComics is also the featured site for the week.
New Essays Added to Archive
Amanda Wells was kind enough give permission to archive her Evangelion essays originally posted on her site Noise in My Brain. The Believe it or not, the Evangelion essays are just the tip of the ice berg. Check out the new essays in Written Statements, and be sure to check her site for many more essays and rants on various topics of fandom.
Eva Otaku Updates
Brendan over at Eva Otaku gave his site a nice facelift. There’s just something I like about his minimalist approach at fan site design. He added a blog to the page, as well as another question to the FAQ, which I will be updating here at Eva Monkey accordingly. The new question pertains to Misato’s line in The End of Evangelion, and explains why it is a false translation. Quite an excellent break down of it, a must read if you ever were curious about the relationship between Adam, Lilith, Lilim, and the Angels.
Tiffany Grant Revises Previous Statement
Tiffany Grant revised a previous statement concerning the Live Action Evangelion Project into a full fledged article, and added it to her professional writings on her personal homepage, which has been updated as well. Give it a read, its entitled “Notes About the Live Action Evangelion Movie”.
Carl Horn to work with Dark Horse
It was announced in April that Carl Horn, an editor at Viz for some years, has parted with the company in favor of Dark Horse. Mr. Horn has been the editor of the Evangelion manga since it first began publication in the US. I would like to take the opportunity to wish him luck at Dark Horse.
Though he may not be aware of this site, I would like to say a few words to/about Mr. Carl Horn.
Two years ago, creating a site like this was the furthest from my ambitions. Then came Otakon 2002, where I attended the Evangelion panel put on by Mr. Horn, and Ms. Tiffany Grant. Though it wasn’t what inspired me to be an Eva enthusiast, it did inspire me to want to learn more about Evangelion, as well as cherish the opportunity to continue to hold Evangelion panels at that same convention, and do the exact same thing that I myself enjoyed attending before, only now on the other side of the table. Whether he knows it or not, he has been one of the voices that has guided me to being where I am today, and for that, I thank him, and wish him luck in his endeavors at Dark Horse.
Status of the Evangelion Manga
Volume 8 of the manga has been out in the US for a bit now, and Viz is being quite agressive with releasing the second editions of the Eva manga. The second editions of the first two are out, and the dates for the next few are as follows, provided the dates from RightStuf are accurate.
Volume 3: Jun 9, 2004
Volume 4: Jul 10, 2004
Volume 5: Aug 9, 2004
At the rate they’re going, the second editions for all the volumes thus far should be out be the end of this year. Their quality is ok, not as nice as the original Kadokawa volumes, but that’s to be expected of most manga adaptations in the western market. I’m just glad they cut the price by a third. However I am a bit annoyed that they clipped almost a quarter inch on both sides. The Japanese volumes are 5 by about 7 inches, the new Viz editions are 5 by 7.5 inches, meaning the comic is still slightly scaled up, and clipped on the sides. Its a minor deviation, but still noticable, and depending on how conscious you are to how faithful an adaptation of the original is, its either negligible, or a minor annoyance.
As for the Manga in Japan, the Limited Edition of volume 9 is out, and the standard edition should be out now, or out soon. I’m a bit dissapointed with the artist, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who has somehow managed to skip making a new stage of the comic for SIX MONTHS STRAIGHT. Sorry to break out the capitalized and bolded font, but it needed some additional emphasis. While we’ve managed to get a new volume over here each year for the last 4 volumes, I suspect after the english version of number 9, we may have to wait a while for volume 10. Hell, Japanese readers will have to wait, and have been waiting. There are some rather disouraging rumors that Sadamoto is tired of Eva, and that he wants to stop doing it, and that he doesn’t want to go on for another 2-3 years to finish it. After working day in and day out on the Eva manga for ten years, I can understand, but nevertheless, he has an obligation to the fans, and he’s not making good on his responsibilities. Hopefully they’ll offer him a raise or something to give him some incentive to get to work on the manga.
So what replaces the Eva manga when there isn’t any? Evangelion omake comics by various artists. And they even got collected into a volume in Japan, and if we’re lucky, Viz might take a gambol and bring it over here to the US.
Evangelion Platinum Edition Volume out late July
In case you haven’t heard, the first volume of the Evangelion Platinum edition will be released July 27 by ADV Films. The new volume will feature remastered video, 5.1 Japanese audio, and a new English Audio which is 5.1 as well. The volume will contain episodes 1-5. Special features included are clean opening and closing animation, episode 1 commentary by Matt Greenfield, and episode 2 commentary by Matt Greenfield and Spike Spencer.
Sega Saturn Evangelion game on PC DVD
One of the old Sega Saturn Evangelion games (don’t ask me, I don’t know Eva games that well) is being put out in a remastered PC DVD edition. Sega Japan’s page for the game boasts a few screenshots and a 320 x 240 trailer in Windows Media Player format.
Love & Pop coming to the US
Hideaki Anno’s first live action film “Love & Pop” will be distributed in the US by Kino Video. Viz announced distrobution several years ago, however it faded into obscurity, until just recently when Kino Video bought Viz’s live action library of licenses. Love & Pop was released in 1998 and told a story of teenage prostitution. I’m working on getting a review copy of the film so that I can give you some details about the movie first hand. For now, you can check out the details on Kino’s Love & Pop page.
“Unofficial Guide to Evangelion” details coming soon
I have proofs being sent to me of the Unofficial Guide to Evangelion, being published by Cocoro books. I should have them by the time you read this, and I should have it read and reviewed shortly thereafter. I personnally know nothing of this book, and presumably neither do you. I’m hoping its worth it, and I’ll be sure to let you know ASAP what it contains, and how good (or bad) it is. Here’s to hoping its a good read. For now, here’s Cocoro’s own description of the book:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
The Unofficial Guide
Who killed Ryoji Kaji?
What actually happened at the Second Impact?
Does Ritsuko Akagi really love Gendo?
Why does Shinji strangle Asuka?
How long can an Evangelion operate for?
Director Hideaki Anno’s extraordinary creation has proved to be one of the most influential anime works of the last decade. Anno has used the medium as no one has before – as a means for personal expression and for exorcising private demons. However, the TV show and subsequesnt feature films have left many hardcore anime fans scratching their heads in wonder.
Neon Genesis Evangelion: The Unofficial Guide sets out to answer the numerous questions that this complex and endlessly fascinating story has raised. From the material world of New Tokyo-3 and the mechanics of the Evas to the spiritual significance of the battle to destroy the Angels, this book unearths the little-known facts and tackles the big subjects of what has been described as an animated masterpiece.
Posted in: Uncategorized. Tagged: Eva Otaku.
By The Eva Monkey
on Monday, May 24th, 2004
Spiel
I challenge anyone to try and do something like this. I really do.
While I have thoroughly enjoyed creating this site, it has also been difficult. Being a student, and having my own personal affairs to attend to, I’ve found it difficult to find time to seriously work on this site. College is quite adept at tracking down and KILLING your free time. Thank god for summer. Its giving me oppotunity to work on this site again, which is great, because I’ve neglected it for too long.
And again, I challenge anyone to burn the midnight oil creating a resource or work of some sort, that is both accepted and denied, praised and ridiculed, for nothing more than personal satisfaction. It a bit poetic in a way.
All I have more to say is that summer will be one big mass of development. I’ve got some things I intend to attempt with the site, and summer will be an excellent time to implement.
Randomness
I was watching TV late last night, and I was flipping through HBO, and I caught the very beginning of One Hour Photo, which was quite convenient, as I needed to see it for its inclusion of an MP Eva figure.
In One Hour Photo, Robin Williams plays Sy, a photo lab employee at a “Savmart”. He has this compulsive fixation on this one particular family that frequents the store, and on one occasion he runs into the son, who has a MP Eva figure from the store’s toy department in hand. Sy asks him what he’s got, he replies (this is paraphrased mind you) that “Its an Evangelion (pronounced A-van-jelly-on), he’s a good guy, he flies, he’s got a silver sword, and he’s sixty feet tall”. Later on Sy buys it and tries to give it to the boy, who declines, so he keeps it, and after a dream sequence where his eyes gush blood everywhere, he awakes to the figure sitting on his nightstand.
I’ve mentioned this before, and its not that important to the plot of the film, but I thought I would mention it again.
News
This weekend (May 28-30) I’ll be attending Anime Mid-Atlantic 4 in Richmond Virginia. I highly doubt I’ll be running into anyone, but if you just happen to be a reader who will be attending, and be interested enough to track my ass down for whatever, I’ll be holding Evangelion Q&A Saturday at 2PM. More than that, I’ll be around a few other panels and such, such as the Sentai panel, and possibly the Live Action anime panel, offering my knowledge of the Eva live action project.
Posted in: Conventions, Personal. Tagged: Anime Mid-Atlantic, One Hour Photo.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, May 9th, 2004
Site Updates
I don’t have anything in the way of site content to offer this week. College life has been rather unpleasant lately. I’m looking forward to bidding farewell to the semester and exams, and returning to work on the site in a slightly greater capacity than the newsposts of late consisting primarily of random Eva and Gainax stuff.
And while I’m on the subject of not doing squat, I’d like to say that if I didn’t return an email, IM, never got around to sending you something, etc, that I’m sorry, and please feel free to tap me on the shoulder in a week or two if I don’t get back to you in that time.
Gainax Stuff
It was just announced that Gainax is making another Gunbuster OAV series. The original Gunbuster series was one of Hideaki Anno’s first directorial works, and as such, it may very well have Anno behind the wheel. This is excellent news, as it is already known that Anno will be directing Re: Cutie Honey for Gainax, and he very well, and most likely will be behind the wheel of Gunbuster 2. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Anno. And hopefully this new project will spur an American anime distributor to put out a decent DVD of the original Gunbuster, perhaps adapted from the Director’s Cut just released in Japan.
Also of note is that two new Gainax animations began airing in Japan in April. Kono Miniku mo Utsukushii Sekai (This Ugly and Beautiful World), as well as Boukyaku no Senritsu (Melody of Oblivion). Keep an eye out for these two, as they may shake things up in the anime community. Knowing Gainax, its quite possible. Still no word on what the new project “Grapple Gear” is all about.
Also, if the Ikari Shinji Ikusei Keikaku game interests you at all, you can check out some character designs on the official website.
Random Spiel
There has been some discussion lately over the Gonzo series “Bakuretsu Tenshi”, in terms of its character designs, and some of its plot. The plot looks like a blatant rip off of Cowboy Bebop, in the mercenaries for hire department, as well as the music. Most people’s concerns, however, have been in regards to the character designs. Jo and Meg, pictured above, seem to be very blatant rip-offs of Rei and Asuka from Evangelion, or at least, that’s the concensus online. The character Jo is as if you took Rei, and made her a bad ass who is despondent rather than stoic. While Meg is like a much more ditsy, and slightly less grating version of Asuka. I’ve seen the first three episodes of the show, and I can say that it shares very little in common with Evangelion, save for a few character designs.
The only other blatant parallel I can observe is the character Tachibana. His design looks very similar to Shinji Ikari, or possibly Akito Tenkawa (Martian Successor Nadesico) or possibly Naota Nadaba (FLCL). Whatever the case, it definitely goes back to Shinji Ikari of Evangelion, as Akito Tenkawa is very much a Shinji clone, as Nadesico blatantly draws from Evangelion, and Naota Nadaba is very much derived Shinji, as Evangelion is one of numerous sources of inspiration used by Kazuya Tsurumaki, who was the assistant director of Evangelion. In terms of plot, Tachibana shares a lot in common with Akito of Nadesico. Whereas Akito came aboard the Nadesico to serve as a cook, Tachibana joined the mercenary group to be a cook.
If you’re interested in taking a look into this series, I would suggest browsing around on mIRC, or checking out the fansub group Lunar Anime. It would be interesting to see if any more parallels and references are made as this series progresses. By the way, Bakuretsu Tenshi has mechs too.
Posted in: Uncategorized.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, May 2nd, 2004
Eva News
If you were interested in purchasing the Limited Edition Volume 9 Eva manga, then I would suggest preordering it soon, via either Anime Books, Anime Nation, or search around for another vendor. I purchased mine via Anime Books, and though it was a little pricey, I would suggest doing the same, as this is a limited edition collectible, and it may very well go out of print quickly, and be difficult to come by. Its being released May 4th, so if you intend to preorder it, due it soon.
If you would like to see some product shots of this item, click here.
Featured Site
What happens when an Evangelion/Sadamoto/Anno/MacHall/Anime fan makes a Webcomic in his spare time? You get Gangsta City. How can I describe it? Random. Yeah, Random. But Random in a good way. The staff are all highschool kids, and for some odd reason, I feel kind of nostalgic when I read it. This comic features quite a few Eva references and gags, so even if you’re not a big webcomic fan, you might want to browse through and find the Eva relevent ones.
Featured AMV
This week’s AMV, is a unique one, in that it isn’t actually an Evangelion AMV…. rather, its an Evangelion Fan Fic AMV. Yeah, its an Eva AMV, but it plays upon the themes set out by the fan fic “The One I Love Is….”. Check it out for the full enjoyment, but it isn’t neccessary, its still quite a good AMV on its own. Its titled “The One I Love Is….”, after the fan fic, and its set to “Iris”, by the Goo Goo Dolls.
Utter Randomness
How would you like a snazzy Evangelion desktop? I didn’t make it, but it kicks ass. I like it, I use it.
If you happen to be a German speaker, you might be interested to know that the third episode of Neo Pokemon Evangelion is out. And once again…. I would appreciate it if someone with German proficiency could fill me in on what its all about.
Speaking of fan parodies, you may by chance be familiar with the ever enjoyable Evangelion ReDeath by Studio Sokodei. For a long time people have been trying to get their hands on a copy of this parody, but the group has not distributed it due to quality issues, and they announced in January that they are remastering it from DVD, re-doing some stuff. Hopefully they won’t wait for ADV’s Platinum Edition and will stick with the standard DVDs currently out. I’ll be certain to keep an eye out as to when they will distribute this parody.
Posted in: AMVs, Fandom, Manga, Merchandise, Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga), Video.
By The Eva Monkey
on Tuesday, April 20th, 2004
Eva News
I have something more to add to the post I made yesterday concerning the release date for a Renewal of Evangelion Vol 1 DVD. At the time, AnimeOnDVD stated they knew nothing of it, and it seemed to be some sort of misunderstanding. Turns out that bit of info slipped out ahead of schedule. ADV Films is indeed bringing Renewal of Evangelion over. Now, before you get excited, be sure to take a deep breath and read the press release.
It would seem that ADV opted to bring over the Renewal editions of the series and director’s cuts, and ignore the movies, which are held by Manga Entertainment. This is not technically Renewal of Evangelion, but the majority of Renewal, repackaged, and retitled the “Platinum Edition”. I would like to think that this is a good thing, but it will only further reaffirm people’s belief that ADV are a bunch of “money mongrels”, to quote Kojiro Abe. My better judgement tells me that this is something that they’ve had in works for some time now, and have simply decided not to announce, in order to make more money off of the Director’s cuts. Granted, all companies do this, but I think Eva fans deserve better than to be drug through reissue after reissue of the same basic thing.
Site Updates
I recently had my account upgraded to a different server, so if you see stuff missing or not working properly, its because I haven’t gotten the site completely uploaded yet. Its taking me some time, the site is composed of over 1,700 files, and uploading that sheer volume of files is no small feat. Please be patient, it should be completely finished in a day or two.
Posted in: Merchandise, Neon Genesis Evangelion, News, Platinum. Tagged: ADV Films.
By The Eva Monkey
on Sunday, April 18th, 2004
Agravated webmaster rant
I wanted to avoid adressing anyone in particular through the site, but I recieved a comment on my personal journal in regards to my site, and as it exists in the public domain, I will post it here, so that people will understand where I am coming from with this.
You can claim to have the “ultimate” site all you want, but you still have no real content, and until you start actively participating in Eva discussions and putting forward your own original idea out to the Eva community you are going to receive neither notoriety or respect from the long term fans who really count. Comparing yourself to Brendan Jaimeson is a joke, until you’ve proven yourself in fully-fledged analysis and discussion of the show you don’t even come close to the likes of him, or Rachel Clark, or Michael Wignall, or Patrick Yip or Olivier Hauge. So most of those guys have dropped out of the scene, but they are still remembered for their contributions to Eva fandom, hell they helped to develop a lot of the currently accepted Eva lore. Please forgive my little rant, and if all you are trying to do is benefit the Eva community then I commend you, however if you are striving for fame of some sort then I suggest you stop becuase your doing it all for the wrong reasons. Just my two cents.
–“Watanabe”
First and foremost Watanabe, I would rather you not read my journal. It is personal and not something I really want readers of the site to read. Secondly, what you were reading was written mostly out of frustration, and doesn’t accurately represent my intentions.
Eva Monkey may not be the “ultimate” site, I admit that. It is ultimate in its intention to archive and serve the community with a significant source of information. Having a term like “ultimate” associated with the title of the site is something I wanted from the beginning. Having the layout and structure take future content into account, as well as the title helps motivate me to work on the site. It makes me think “I have to flesh the site out progressively and fill it out soon so that I live up to it”. It helps motivate me to live up to the precendent I have made. Whether you think its arogant or not is something I could really care less about. And don’t think you’re the first to criticise either the title or lack of content in some areas. On the contrary, I get it quite a lot.
I don’t claim to be Brendan Jameison, I may compare myself to him, but only because of my respect for his work. When I was a new fan of the show, his site helped me learn more about Eva. His theories shaped my understanding of the show, and he is to some extent a model for me, so it is difficult not to compare myself to him sometimes. Would I like a little slice of fandom? Yes, of course, and whether you think I deserve it or not, its too late, I have it. I’ve run into readers at cons, some of whom I have talked with at length, who commend me, and send me little tidbits of stuff here and there. And the site recieves a damn impressive amount of traffic, and I couldn’t be happier. I crave praise from people for what I have done, because it helps motivate myself to continue with the project. There are times when I consider giving up, because of criticism, and for the fact that I spend a lot more time than I should on it. But the praise I recieve reaffirms my desire to continue, and I see nothing wrong with wanting that praise.
I avoid arguments of analysis. I am not that good at writing on the fly, especially when it comes to arguments and reasoning my case and theories. And when it comes down to arguing with someone like MDWigs, I try and avoid it, as I have neither the time nor the energy to argue over something, especially when I am at an extreme disadvantage in terms of arguing a case. I wish that were not the case. Besides, an argument does not interest me. I prefer to field questions from the community according to my understanding, and offer people resources, particularly the ones I have in the Written Statements section. That is where most my energy goes. I like collecting those resources for the rest of the community.
Which brings me to what I am trying to do. I am trying to create the site I had searched long and hard for a number of years ago. And as I have said numerous times, the Eva community is decentralizing as many sites and resources become unavailable. Someone has to fill the space and offer the community with an archive of information. That is what I am trying to create, a place where someone can find anything they could want. Essays, articles, commentary, guides, and more. Not simply a fan site, a community site, or a site to adress theories, Eva Monkey is the place I’ve custom tailored to be of interest to every Eva fan, from casual to hardcore. I want to promote Eva as much as I can, and service the community. I like being able to attend cons for free and get free stuff on occasion, but I don’t do what I do for the perks, or the fame. If you want to consider it selfish or conceited to want to have the best Eva site on the net because you desperately want to meat Hideaki Anno, whom you deeply admire and credit to some degree for still being alive, then yeah, consider me a supreme attention whore. I really don’t care. But I am in fact tired of explaining my intentions, which is why I will say it here. If you don’t like the fact that I spend my time, money, and energy, trying to create a place for people to learn more about something they love, then don’t read the site. If I offend you, I’m sorry, it was never my intention to upset or insult. Sometimes I fly of the handle, as do we all, don’t take it personal, especially when its an entry in a journal which is meant to be a cathartic expression which I entrust to my closest peers, and not the people who traffic this site.
Eva News
Lately I’ve been a bit busy with some personal affairs, so I’ve had little time or effort to forum hop, and search around for stuff of interest or note. The only thing I really have to adress at the moment is the rumor concerning Renewal of Evangelion.
A recent post to AnimeOnDVD saw a release date for the first volume of Renewal, which you can see here. There’s a comment on the mainpage of the site concerning Diamond’s post, and needless to say they have no clue what it means. The only thing I know for certain is that it is highly unlikely ADV, or any other Distro would keep quiet about securing something like Renewal, and if it were coming, we would have heard prior to a street date being let out. It is my belief that perhaps this is merely just a stocking of Japanese region 2 copies, and not any form of subbed/localized copy.
On a wholly different note, the next episode of Neo Pokemon Evangelion is out, so if you speak German check it out. And please, someone send me an explanation as to what in the hell its about, I know no german whatsoever.
Posted in: Eva Monkey.
