c/o Viz Comics P.O. Box 77010 San Francisco, CA 94107
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Umm, it's been, like, three months, so could you, like, shut up or something, and get to the letters?" As Genma would say, "I've still got plenty left for you." Let's start with some of those fans who have waited the longest. Huh-huh.
Dear Evangelizers,
Neon Genesis Evangelion is two very different series. sure, all along there was a mix of humor drama, but the transition was so smooth I hardly noticed. But then, episode 18, with one brutal snap, changed everything.
And then issue 6 came out. And it was... well, different. The beginning and the end threw in some pathos for good measure, but the middle was actually funny! With the popping veins, dripping sweat, and a paralyzed Shinji, I felt like I was reading No Need For Tenchi! for a few pages.
And that isn't all bad. Along the way, the series loses its sense of humor. The story just gets so heavy as it goes on (these are the same people who made Otaku no Video?) that it's nice every once in a while to go back and see the characters when things weren't quite so tense. The series is unbelievably good throughout, but sometimes the relentless intensity can get you down. Sometimes the little things, like this issue's touching final scene, can do the most.
Sadamoto's art surprises me even more every issue. For someone who has apparently done very little manga work, his storytelling technique is very welldeveloped. The expressions during the Shinji/Misato scenes captured the whole gamut of emotions, from serious to silly, and the interplay between words and pictures makes this comic one of the most interesting on the racks.
As for emotions, I went on a roller-coaster ride just in the first few pages. The issue started with that beautiful picture of Rei, possibly the best drawing in the series so far. But then, Shinji wakes up in the hospital and he didn't say the line! Come on, everyone together now!
"Unfamiliar Ceiling..."
Jason Green
Fairview Heights, IL
By the time this issue sees print, the "penultimate truth" (as Phillip K. Dick, whose The Divine Invasion was an influence on Eva, might put it) about the Eva anime series, as seen in Genesis 0:12—Rei III will be out in English from A.D.V. Films. I would say that while it's true that the final portions of Eva are very serious and disconcerting, the series never entirely loses its sense of humor. (For me, this trend begins as far back as episode #2 with the scene in which Shinji screamed when the eye [the ai, the I] of the first "other" looked back at him.) For example, Anno certainly has a little fun over Shinji's reaction to Kaoru's overtures, although their brief relationship is destined to have—to put it rather mildly—some serious consequences ("...shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"). (There have been approximately 342,009 dôjinshi speculating on what happened between them.)
Even in the final episode there is the humor of the digressive "you're in high school again..." scene. It's the sort of scene you might indeed expect out of No Need For Tenchi! (whose manga writer and artist, Hitoshi Okuda, is certainly known to Gainax, as he was featured as an up-and-coming talent in their 1991 one-shot English "mook" Mega Comics) or Ranma 1/2, though it will probably occur to you to ask who and what is being laughed at.
Sadamoto's character art is subtle and deceptively simple. With only a few lines, he is able to exactly tune emotion. Look at the three panels in this issue in which Shinji remarks, "I wish I could look at it like that." His face is wistful and wry, a state I don't associate with the anime version of the story. It's also another good example of how Sadamoto takes his own approach to the series.
Or take the example of Rei herself. Toren Smith said that as soon as he saw a drawing of Rei, he knew her image would soon be known throughout Japan. that is exactly what happened; even people who never saw or read Eva recognize her. I agree with those who speak of Rei as "beautiful" rather than say, "cute," like Asuka, (whom I can't wait for us to get to). But it's a beauty drawn with an amazing shorthand. Perhaps that made it easy to come up with her, but somehow I doubt it. (I'm tempted to make some sort of observation about Zen painting here.)
There's only one more thing to add: the presence of artist Hizuru Imai, yet another pretty soldier in the U.N. Spacy that is Gainax. A recent manga by Imai bears the price-beyond-rubies title After H Comes I. Her work is featured in several Gainax CD-ROMs, including Doll In The House WINDY. She's an artist who portrays herself as perpetually inebriated; on one recent occasion, Imai drew her manga alter-ego awakening on a couch from a drunken stupor. She looked up and said—yes, you guessed it....
Now, to answer some questions. To Daniel Smith of Reston, Virginia: sure, we have a catalog! Just call (800) 394.-3042. and be sure to ask Mr. Brown about his Shaolin boxing. As far as I know, there was never any official manga adaptation of the 6-episode Gunbuster OAV series, but you could always make a dôjinshi of your own! There were, though two volumes of Cyber Comix which were to various Gunbuster "side stories," both serious and parodic. This tankôbon (graphic novel) magazine, published by Bandai during the late '80s and early '90s, featured a lot of work by friends of Gainax, including Yoshito Asari and Hiroyuki Utatane. And yes, one of the manga was by Utatane.
Thanks also to Raymond Morton Kim, a.k.a. Jellomonkey, once of Chicago, now of Riverside, California. Thanks also to Mary Ann R. Gutierrez of San Gabriel, California, and to Jessica Nuss at P.O. Box 875, Los Olivos, CA 93441, who would like to hear from other manga fans. The Italian edition of Evangelion (in which Shinji must think Rei's last name is "Scusami," because that's what he's always saying to her) has a pen-pal section called "Marduk Report." Thanks to Leslie Mills of Fredericton, New Brunswick Canada, and to Sara Hasz, who wants to hear from Eva fans at 2904 Plaza Leonardo, Bonito, CA 91902. Ms. Hasz got into Eva (and now her whole family's into it—that's pretty intense) through one of Kotono Mitsuishi's other anime series, Sailor Moon Super S.
I should perhaps say at this point that my own thought processes tend to resemble those of Usagi "All I wanted was a Pepsi!" Tsukino. Actually, we don't have any Eva specials planned, but as far as for your question about whether Eva fan fiction is out there, it certainly is—and the site you suggest for checking it out, Jay Harvey's incomparable "Anime Turnpike" (www.anipike.com) is a good place to start finding them. Thank you to Matthew Whiteley for your e-mail. Yes, Animerica is planning to do a major article on Eva, and I hope you don't mind waiting too much, because we're planning an interview with Yoshiyuki Sadamoto himself. Thanks aloso to Jack Wallen and to Leon "Hakaider" van Hoodonk, who wrote a great letter, or I'm a Dutchman.
Thanks to George Nguyen, a.k.a. Toji Suzuhara—write him at 13131 Silver Birch Dr., Tustin, CA 92780—an' be polite-like, else he'll dust ya behind da Auto Mall. Actually, I made that last part up (I hope I have room to print Mr. Nguyen/Suzuhara's art, as well as everyone else's, in future issues). Thanks to Katy Kramp, who may still be stealing Eva from her sister. As for an Inu-Yasha letters page, the best way to encourage one is to flood it with letters!
Thanks to Matt Hershberger of Mentor Ohio: Gainax's other anime works are the film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (1987, Manga Entertainment) (the subtitles version is a little easier to understand); the three-volume OAV series Aim For The Top! Gunbuster (1988, Manga Entertainment); the TV series Nadia/The Secret of Blue Water (of which only the first eight episodes are available here) (1990, Streamline/Orion Home Video); and the OAV Otaku No Video (1991, AnimEigo).
Gainax's next anime project, also to be directed by Hideaki Anno, is scheduled for this fall. It's a TV series adaptation of Masami Tsuda's shôjo manga Kareshi Kanojo no Jijoo ("His And Her Situation"), a story about high school freshmen in contemporary Japan. A "golden girl" faces painful consequences from her clique when she makes the mistake of being honest about her feelings and becomes involved in a relationship with a boy in her class. I should have known Kaoru Nagisa would lead to this kind of thing, but, actually, as a fan of Keiko Nishi and Miracle Girls, I'm very intrigued by Anno's new direction. What is a Gainax shôjo series going to be like? We're going to find out!
And thank you also to Andrew Kwong of North Oak, Ontario, who was concerned that the plot of the Eva manga might be altered to suit an English-speaking audience, I can assure you that this does not happen.
By the way, someone suggested that the song "Superman's Dead," by Ontario band Our Lady Peace, might be a good theme for Shinji and Asuka. I could sort of see that, except for the line "an ordinary waist." No one in a Sadamoto manga has one of those.
Out of space, and not caught up. "Did you know that you speak in parentheses?"—Mel Lazarus, Miss Peach. It only remains to thank once again that mysterious millennial scholar who seems to attract attractive young students—Dave Rokubungi. I mean, "Fleming." And if for some reason you haven't heard about this yet, check out Eric Clapton's new record, Pilgrim. The cover painting is done by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Yes, that Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Yes, that Eric Clapton.
Carl Gustav Horn