Asuka Langley Soryu lay in wait in the underbrush for her target. She had been stalking her quarry for days now, picking just the right opportunity when she was all alone and miles from help. And that opportunity was now before her.
“EAT THIS, ARSCHLOCH!!!” she cried, her halberd’s blade digging deep into Asuna’s shoulder long before the young woman could draw a weapon. Asuka quickly drew the halberd down a grisly path to and through Asuna’s heart. Within moments Asuka pried her weapon free, and the young woman fell lifeless. “To think I was gonna dirty my whip on you.”
Asuka bent down an retrieved a silvery necklace bearing a large silver coin–engraved with STS in a brutally minimalist script, now stained with blood–from Asuna’s corpse. She gazed at the silver coin a moment, then withdrew her own identical gold coin and tapped the two together. The silver coin dissolved, and Asuna’s corpse burst into flames. “Mission accomplished,” Asuka smirked.
Meanwhile, miles away Misty was on her way out when she noticed her own golden coin flashing a brilliant crimson. “She,” Misty began, then cut herself off as though afraid she might jinx it, “I guess so.” A tear of joy or two welled up her in eyes, which she quickly wiped away, lest anyone see.
Also meanwhile, miles away Misaki Matsuya was laying down to bed. She hadn’t received her own coin yet, the jury still being out on her right to join, but a wave of ecstasy washed over her. She couldn’t put her finger on way granted her such a joyful physical reaction, but … the world seemed more right now. The stars seemed brighter, and her pillows seemed that much softer. She heaved a contented sigh, as though purging her own demons out through her breath, and drifted off to sleep.
[STS is such a stupid joke I didn’t want to include its meaning. And just think about what you just read.]
radicaryan asked:
It’s not weird at all! (Also even if it was there are so many far worse types of weird than that, and I mean on my hellblog alone. 😅) Anyway, I’m going to give you the short and relatively incomplete answer.
Hoo boy. Evangelion and me go way back. It was the first anime I got really obsessed with; I think I was 14 when I first saw it. I keep going back to it every few years, expecting to not like it anymore, but nope! Still my favorite anime. I’ve no delusion that it’s perfect and the fandom can be really messed up, but it’s still my #1. Rebuild is okay I guess, but the only one that did anything for me was 3.33 because it felt like the original series.
I love the animation. Aside from having that old-school 90s anime look, some of the Angels’ (giant monsters are never just called giant monsters, yo) designs are incredible (and admittedly some are instead Ramiel). I absolutely love how the Eva units have this distended, not quite human look … when I was younger I thought they looked like a women’s Olympic gymnast team that crashed in the snowy mountains and had to resort to eating lost hikers to survive (I was a twisted child).
I love the tone of it. I love how pragmatic it goes (why yes, the ace pilot who trained for nearly a decade would attempt suicide if she was showed up by some guy who just started a few months ago). More than that, I love how the show manages to set this tone of incredible bleakness but also optimism (and how End of Eva basically says, “yeah, fuck the optimism, tear it all down, it all comes tumbling down” etc. etc. while still ending with faint hope). I love how it actually feels tense and uncertain even without killing off very many characters at all (outside of the movie, I mean).
I love the fight scenes. Thet get progressively more brutal until the movie has one of the most grisly deaths in anime. I’m not a gore hound at all, but I miss when protagonists could get the shit kicked out of them and weren’t guaranteed an easy win. Also the stuff feels downright visceral/savage; these are eldritch beings fighting to the death. Love it.
One thing in particular I love is it’s one of the only shows I can think of that portrays depression so relatably. For one thing, there are at least 7 different characters that have depression, and they each deal with it differently! Also I can relate to some of the stuff each of them does. I’d be lying if I didn’t say it’s great that the series has reached this mythological scale, to the point that interpretation takes this “sure, why not” tone.
I love that it feels enjoyably bad in places (and not just Ramiel). I still get a kick out of all the stuff they do to avoid animating lip flaps (which apparently is so very expensive) … though admittedly that made the dub incredibly strong since lip flaps aren’t nearly as big an obstacle.
There’s a lot it does that I hate. There’s so much fucking fanservice that sometimes I think I know a fictitious 13yo girl’s torso better than I know my mom’s face … though I do love that the show has this “what am I DOING???” moment about halfway through and then goes out of its way to make any nudity fandisservice. I hate how the series indirectly pushes the fandom to fight over which 14yo girl is more fuckable (and I hate that so much of the fandom bought into it … I can’t blame people for not believing that I like the chara. in my header for her personality and how she deals with the trauma she endures). There’s more as well (and a lot more I love), but overall I love it.… huh. I didn’t even really comment on the characters. Well, I don’t need to double this post’s length … yet.
Ah you’re watching nge? I love that anime. The way they just [unit01clenches fist] [kaworu splat noise]
Well, technically, Asuka is 13 for most of the series.
I beseech this hellsite for a(nother) anime recommendation.
some of my favorites: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Madoka Magica, s-CRY-ed, The Vision of Escaflowne, FLCL (not Progressive, that was okay I guess kinda maybe meh)
some of my more recent favorites: My Hero Academia … and that’s pretty much it (Devilman Crybaby was a guilty pleasure at best, and Darling in the Franxx did NOT cut it for me) (though I’d add in the netflix Castlevania series, but I guess that’s technically not anime)
Some Other Stuff
-I haaaaaaaaaaaate fanservice
-I usually stick to sci-fi and to a lesser extent fantasy, and I usually stay away from slice of life, etc.
-I don’t mind darker stuff; if anything, I prefer it
-sex, violence, blood, gore, etc. are fine, even in extreme amounts, as long as it’s not done just to be edgy or for fanservice or something
-I only have a netflix account, but my piracy-fu is strong and I can get a paid account from this place or that to boot
-Dubs only. I spend 10-14 hours a day at work reading text off a screen; I don’t need to continue doing that when I get home.
-Did I mention that I really really hate fanservice? Because I actually stopped watching anime for a while because of it.
-Did I mention dubs only? Because my vision’s going so I don’t know how much longer I’d be able to do subs even if I wanted to.
Why I Don’t Art
artist: *draws breathtaking masterpiece of a magnificent OC or a fantastic depiction of an existing character with a wondrous background*
artist: “Oh lol that was really bad I really rushed it and it turned out so bad it was just a doodle and I got really lazy with the background lol.”
me: *sees this*
me: *picks up pencil*
me: *stabs self in the heart repeatedly with pencil*
me: *puts down pencil*
me: “There. That was a more productive use of my time than trying.”
It’s funny, because I was just thinking about this post.
My point was that I see no point in even trying to learn because the entry bar is far too high. I’ve seen too many artists make great stuff which they themselves deride as shit. I’ve seen single posts get more notes than every post I’ve ever made on my four blogs combined that the artist dismisses as shit.
Um … why? Why is that shit? HOW is that shit? I guess every blog I’ve ever made is so beneath shit, so fucking worthless, such fucking garbage that … well, that’s where the pencil stabbing comes in.
But back on topic, there is no safe way for me to spend months if not years doing something that is demonstrably inferior to shit, and that’s unfairly assuming I’d ever make something better than that shit. There’s really no point in even trying, and the thought makes me uneasy in ways that only self-harm can calm me down.
I’m thinking about posting some stuff I’m written, but 1) it’s probably shit, and 2) I don’t want to discourage any beginners.
Why I Don’t Art
artist: *draws breathtaking masterpiece of a magnificent OC or a fantastic depiction of an existing character with a wondrous background*
artist: “Oh lol that was really bad I really rushed it and it turned out so bad it was just a doodle and I got really lazy with the background lol.”
me: *sees this*
me: *picks up pencil*
me: *stabs self in the heart repeatedly with pencil*
me: *puts down pencil*
me: “There. That was a more productive use of my time than trying.”
90% of the artists on this hellsite: “I hate this picture/story/whatever I just made. It’s bad, I’m so disappointed in it. I might take it down because of how bad it is or say that to fish for praise and oh my God it won’t even break 2,000 notes it’s so bad nobody look at this thing I painstakingly tagged and released at a specific time to maximize exposure. I can’t believe I’m still doing art if it’s this bad and oh by time way you can commission me even though I’m constantly dumping on my own work.”
me: *waving the trashy scifi short I wrote that got 0 notes above my head like that scene in The Lion King if Rafiki was trippin’ balls, yo* I LOVE MY MISSHAPEN IDIOT SON!!! <333
EDIT: This post has more notes than my misshapen idiot son (who I STILL LOVE SO VERY MUCH!!! <333). Also, I can’t believe I didn’t make mention of all those pOoOoOoR kiddie porn artists. I really dropped the ball there.
What I Said: “Could I get your number?”
What I Meant: “I compulsively text memes to my friends. I consider you a friend, and thus wish to subject you to this fate as well.”
What I Said: “Let’s go back to my place.”
What I Meant: “I have a big-ass TV with surround sound and it gets lonely watching movies and anime alone. Also, I have cake.”
What I Said: “Let’s get drunk and see what happens!”
What I Meant: “I have Evangelion Platinum Edition and I know someone with Perfect Platinum. I have blu-ray rips of End of Eva, 1.11, 2.22, and 3.33. Also, I have absinthe. Are you ready for the most magnificently, sumptuously mentally scarring night of your life???”
In celebration of this post getting 100 notes (the first time anything I’ve ever posted hit triple digits), here are two more.
What I Said: “You up?”
What I Meant: “I know it’s late, but there’s something bothering me, and it’s not the kind of thing that I could discuss with just anyone. I know I can be a pain in the ass and I know it’s late, but I just need to get this off my chest.”
What I Said: “Would your friends like to join us? ;)”
What I Meant: “5e does a lot to atone for the sins of 4e while also recapturing a lot of the old glory of 1e and 2e while still being forgiving and simple enough to welcome new players. In that spirit, I’ve got a homebrew campaign that I’ve been working on that I think you’d like, but ideally I like having three or four PCs in the party. It’s okay if you or your friends haven’t played before; I’d be a first time DM, so it’d be a learning experience for all of us. Let’s do this!”
hedgehoganonymous