gdp's Comments

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Sun, 8 May 2016 01:00:57 +0000

I think the real value of Scary News Out Of Tokyo-3 was that it allowed many of us to seriously contemplate, amid all the comedy, what the actual events of NGE would have looked like to the outside world, and the effects the story might have had on people who weren't directly part of it. In my character's case (The Case of Juan Rafael "Jack" Villanueva, so to speak) you have a man who, despite his original field of study, is a hard-headed and practical type -- who has in fact been praised as a statesman for those very qualities, in relation to his contribution to putting the world back together after Second Impact... and yet he shatters like a dropped wineglass the minute things like NERV and Angels and conspiracies and the truth about Second Impact start coming down on him, things that are just too big for him to handle rationally. When the world suddenly refuses to make sense anymore -- when it won't stop confronting him with things he can't possibly face on his own terms -- he falls into angst and self-sabotaging behavior, flailing like a swimmer dragged out to sea, until Third Impact finally pulls him under. As a metaphor for clinical depression and high-functioning autism, I think it reflects some aspects of me very well... I'm very familiar with that drowning-swimmer feeling.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Sat, 7 May 2016 23:46:50 +0000

Second, here's what I experienced in Instrumentality. Followed immediately by what I experienced in Instrumentality.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Sat, 7 May 2016 11:05:30 +0000

If you mean the part about him having been a professor, I included that in the "news" article you posted for me -- maybe you skimmed over it and only your subconscious noticed. And yeah, Jack is still echoing in my head too. I think he's gone for good, though -- he won't ever be coming back from Instrumentality; like I said, there isn't enough of him left. I imagine a lot of other ex-people are in the same boat.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Sat, 7 May 2016 03:58:00 +0000

For anyone who stuck around who's been wondering what my occasional references to a forum RP were all about, here's the link one last time: They made a TVTropes page out of us.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Fri, 6 May 2016 20:30:48 +0000

Of course. Rei's been appearing to everyone in the guise of the person they most want -- or need -- to see. Shinji needed to see Kaworu, to know that he hadn't destroyed him entirely.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Fri, 6 May 2016 18:46:48 +0000

Over on our board, everyone had a lot of fun roleplaying through the events of EoE, especially after Third Impact was set off. I'm fairly certain both LibraryLass and I spent an incredible effort on our last few posts in the thread... I can only speak for myself, but I was working on it months in advance. My character's sanity had been circling the drain all through December, and he finally gave it up in the face of Third Impact with a disjointed stream of babble, song lyrics, literary references, and quotes from as many religions as I could find on the subjects of the unity of all things and the nonexistence of the self (he was a professor of comparative religion before he went into politics). Other posters sent farewell messages from locations where they thought they could wait out Instrumentality -- and it probably doesn't speak in their favor that those were their last posts in the thread. Some even went so far as to mention who Rei appeared as to them -- in one case, it was a character's long-dead girlfriend; in another, it was his mother; in yet another, a character who literally stepped out of the TV. This last one, I think, is worth quoting in the context of Evangelion as a whole; it does a remarkably good job of summing up one of the show's primary themes. "I ran, to add this to my post. Whatever defenses you think you have, it won't be enough. "She is watching, waiting for me to finish, just as I would expect of her. "You can try to wall out the world, but eventually, it will punch in through your defenses, and then you can either fight like a maniac or reach out. I can't fight any more."

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Fri, 6 May 2016 18:07:34 +0000

Your link's broken again.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Fri, 6 May 2016 17:53:21 +0000

I keep saying this: Family resemblances are a detail not usually given more than cursory attention in the making of an anime, but Gendo looks almost exactly like an older Shinji -- and there are important thematic reasons for it. Also: I don't think Gendo would have chosen the same Instrumentality as Shinji or even at all. He wanted to move his soul into Unit One/bring Yui out/merge with Yui. He might still have let Instrumentality occur. What happened to the rest of the human race -- dissolving into LCL, or something even worse -- would be completely irrelevant to him.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part II - Sincerely Yours / ONE MORE FINAL: I need you

Fri, 6 May 2016 17:42:14 +0000

I'm pretty sure Komm Süsser Tod only exists because Gainax already knew there was no way in hell they would be able to get the rights to Hey Jude. Which is unfortunate, given that some of the lyrics are really appropriate: And any time you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain Don't carry the world upon your shoulder For well you know that it's a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Fri, 6 May 2016 04:43:15 +0000

I think his argument would be this: Ab qbhog Lhv xarj Traqb jryy rabhtu gb xabj gung fur jnf fbzrguvat bs na rzbgvbany pehgpu sbe uvz. Fur pubfr gb evfx ure yvsr va gur Pbagnpg Rkcrevzrag xabjvat gung vs fur jnf nofbeorq vagb Havg-01 vg jbhyq zbgvingr Traqb obgu gb fgvpx jvgu AREI naq gb guebj n jerapu vagb FRRYR'f cynaf jura gur gvzr pnzr. Fur vagraqrq gb nffher n shgher sbe ure fba, ohg zvfpnyphyngrq ubeevoyl nf gb jung jbhyq unccra gb ure cyna jvgubhg ure gb thvqr vg va crefba.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Fri, 6 May 2016 04:37:16 +0000

I thought it might be something like "Gur gehgu vf, V arire zrnag gb uheg lbh." It's the sort of thing Gendo could honestly mean, while not acknowledging that his own actions made a lie of it.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Thu, 5 May 2016 17:06:01 +0000

Actually one of my favorite films. Somewhat somber to think that this movie was made at the last possible moment it could have been made, before digital cameras made film mostly obsolete -- it captures the end of an era.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Thu, 5 May 2016 16:01:20 +0000

If humanity is going to be destroyed by the Third Impact, then SEELE has no reason to tell the Japanese troops to take any prisoners. From our RP: "I got a terrified call last night from a UNAF contact who wanted to know if it was true that Angels can shapeshift or possess human bodies. I said, 'It wouldn't surprise me, but we haven't seen that yet,' but they kept pushing on it. 'So that means we can't tell if someone is human or not? Like, anyone you see could be an Angel in disguise?' The guy was close to tears. He asked me to pray for him. What the fuck are you telling the troops?" "Simple. They are telling them exactly what they need to be told, so that they will not hesitate in the necessary act."

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Thu, 5 May 2016 15:35:05 +0000

The Shinji/Asuka thing I can kind of understand because it's acknowledged as the fucked up action of a severely traumatized child And as mentioned above, it neatly mirrors the even more fucked up action of a severely traumatized adult -- what has Gendo been doing for the last fifteen years, after all, but jacking off over his dead wife? And yes, that is why the pilots have to be children, and specifically these children -- Units 01 and 02 won't work properly for anyone else, no matter their age, because Shinji and Asuka alone have any meaningful connection to the souls in the cores. Shinji and Asuka are the only people likely to achieve a synch ratio higher than a hundredth of a percent.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Thu, 5 May 2016 15:32:50 +0000

Traqb'f cyna jnf gb pbzovar Nqnz jvgu Yvyvgu (uvf unaq, Erv'f obql naq fbhy), juvpu jbhyq vavgvngr Guveq Vzcnpg ohg yrnir UVZ va punetr bs vg. Guvf zrnaf gung ur jbhyq rvgure or noyr gb ergevrir Lhv'f fbhy sebz Havg-01 be havgr jvgu ure. Vg vf abg xabja jung guvf jbhyq zrna sbe gur erfg bs uhznavgl, naq senaxyl Traqb jbhyqa'g pner. Ur'f fcrag gur ynfg svsgrra lrnef cebtenzzvat uvzfrys gb npg yvxr n ebobg jvgu n fvatyr zvffvba -- Trg Lhv Onpx. Trg Lhv Onpx. Trg Lhv Onpx. "NYY bgure cevbevgvrf erfpvaqrq," nf n pregnva punenpgre sebz NYVRA jbhyq fnl -- bgure cevbevgvrf vapyhqvat uvf erfcbafvovyvgvrf gb uvf bja puvyq, gur arprffvgl bs jbexvat nterrnoyl jvgu bguref, naq onfvp uhzna qrprapl.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'The End of Evangelion': Part I - Air

Thu, 5 May 2016 15:01:05 +0000

Congratulatioh wait a minute.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Neon Genesis Evangelion': Episode 26 - The Beast that Shouted at the Heart of the Worl

Wed, 4 May 2016 20:42:08 +0000

Congratulations.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Neon Genesis Evangelion': Episode 25 - A World That's Ending / "Do you love me?"

Tue, 3 May 2016 20:22:27 +0000

RE: AT Field: The actual translation of zettai ryouiki is "Absolute Territory", but I'm guessing Gainax couldn't resist the pun.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Neon Genesis Evangelion': Episode 19 - A Man's Battle / Introjection

Tue, 3 May 2016 20:13:19 +0000

The three things that conspired to finish him were the NERV-2 incident in Nevada, watching Unit-01 eat Zeruel, and getting a copy of certain secret documents; gung ynfg bar, gubhtu V arire znqr vg pyrne, jnf zrnag gb or n qrnq-zna-fjvgpu znarhire ol Xnwv.

Mark Watches : Mark Watches 'Neon Genesis Evangelion': Episode 24 - The Final Messenger / The Beginning and the End

Tue, 3 May 2016 19:43:54 +0000

I was AZ. I linked the TVTropes page about us all the way back in Episode 1, but I don't know how many people read it -- especially since it was SPOiLER TERRITORY HOLY CRAP.