Anime: Evangelion

I may have written about this before on the blog, but I can't find it and well it's important enough that it's worth risking a re-babble.

Evangelion (full name is "Neon Genesis Evangelion" or in Japanese: "Shin seiki evangerion") was a mid 90s Anime that is my all time favorite anime series. If you don't "get" anime, this might not be the greatest introduction. Actually if you want an introduction - I implore you to see the movie "Ghost in the Shell" (not the "Stand Alone" TV series, which was mediocre.) When you watch GotS, keep in mind that it came out four years before the Matrix did. Anyone who knows Ghost, won't say that the Wachowski brothers (though Larry has had a sex change and is now a submissive girl to Mistress Ilsa Strix, but that's a tangent for another day...) - anyways, those Wachowskis were not all that original after all ;)So, back to Eva! Now, if you already have at least a bit of appreciation for anime, I strongly recommend this series. For me, Evangelion really defines just how far apart American cartoons the Japanese anime can be. Evangelion has a generally sad tone, it's full of emptiness and loss. The exploration of faith, hope, humanity... The characters all have sad stories to tell, and though there is definitely humor in it, and the manditory uber battles (with required massive explosions), it's much deeper series, plus... I saw huge undertones of female authority, and that is just hot.Here's the backstory, and I'm leaving a lot out and it might not make sense, but if you want to fill in the blanks you can rent the DVDs or just read about it at wiki.

Our reluctant hero is Shinji, a shy, lonely, not quite near manhood yet, 13 year old boy. A the Eva (giant mechs) pilots are 13. I'm not sure if they explain why they have to be that age, but it is critical, and makes for a weird dynamic and a lot of responsibility for kids. Heck, they're saving the world piloting these Mechas! Since they're kids they still have to go to school, and Shinji is sent to live with the beautiful captain of the pilots, Ms. Misato. She likes to be a party girl, a bit of a slob (Shinji does the cooking & chores usually), she has a good heart and is very driven to succeed. She's upbeat, and doesn't understand the forlorn Shinji; so for a time she is constantly trying to snap him out of his funk. She does this by teasing him, scolding him and just even being a friend - but it really doesn't matter nothing works. Though he sure does get embarrassed by the teasing ;)Midway through the first season, the auburn haired Asuka shows up. She brings a much needed personality to the young pilots. This fraulein is full of fiery temper and confidence - plus she has that delightfully bratty insatiable need for men's attention, the kind which can only be embodied by an attractive but insecure newly minted young woman. Her ceaseless push & pull on Shinji's affection is just awesome fun to watch. She'll kiss him one minute, then scold him the next for looking at her that way.

She constantly chastises (yeah, had to use that word) Shinji for any "peeking" at her, which is imagined about 90% of the time, and invited 100% of it.

Although officially all 3 young pilots are equals, if anything they're officially ranked by when they joined the project, Asuka is such a strong will that she doesn't hesitate to bully Shinji and assume all authority over the first pilot, the emotionally broken down Rei. She is moved in with Shinji and Misato and he quickly becomes dominated by the strong personalities of the two women.

And the rest... well, I'll leave that for you to learn. Suffice to say I think Misato is THE hottest anime woman ever drawn.

BTW - this post was inspired by this excellent AMV (Anime Music Video), for the song "Engel" by Rammstein - with Asuka singing the oh so gruff male vocal parts, and Shinji singing the girl ones ;)

Fun little video eh? I suspect it shows pretty well just how dominated Shinji is. Did you take note of the moment at the 1:08 point of the video? That red suit is Asukas, so poor little Shinji was forced to cross dress, oh the embarrassment he feels! Who promptly barks at him and directs him how to do his job better (never mind that he's been doing it longer...)

For those who want more, there are a couple of full movies released after the TV series ended. Though I think they're pretty disjointed, even if you know the series. I can't imagine what they would be like as an introduction to Evangelion. There is even an actual live-action feature film listed as in development as well. I hope that goes from development to production. It sure would be cool to see the Evas rumbling around Tokyo 3 in a Transformers style CGI world.

Lastly, in keeping with rule 34, there are lots of fetishized and also straight porn fan art versions out there. Tons of it actually. I mean, you can't throw in a group of mostly teenage girls into Anime and not expect porn to result from the fan art. What... you are kidding me... you didn't know there were rules to the internet? What are you folks? Frickin' noobs!?!