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Played during the last few minutes of Q, this explosive, darkly apocalyptic track is arguably the leading highlight of You Can (Not) Redo’s original score. But many people don’t realize that the seemingly pseudo-Latin chants are actually English verses reminiscent of the Biblical Genesis.
From the black of space I will create, earth and in my image incarnate
Heaven is to be a place of rest, earth is where the people I will test
Six days have passed, on the seventh I will render myself
To a day of rest and to contemplate, what is to be
Mankind begins its fateful journey faced by trials and tribulations
War and peace, of my presence, to this end my work is done
This world I give, for you to live
Blessed are the ones that can live in peace
Forever, and ever
fiendswithbenefits inspired
like, the level of impartiality you have to take in assessing the cast of evangelion’s morals is really precarious and pretty much impossible for an audience to ‘neatly’ rationalize without feeling at least a little uncomfortable. the range of utter grossness includes child neglect/manipulation (gendo), destructive utilitarianism (yui), collaborating with plans of global genocide for entirely selfish reasons (ritsuko and fuyutsuki), utilizing chauvinistic shields to navigate the workplace (kaji), repeated sexual intrusions of a minor’s personal space (misato), emotional belittling (asuka), casual justifications for sexism (toji and kensuke), and sexual violence (shinji). the real stinger is a lot of this comes from characters the narrative wants us to sympathize with, to root for, and to encourage in some capacity. that’s why it’s so important to understand the whys and hows of each characters faults, because in a decontextualized setting with no consideration to intent, motivation, and circumstance, everything and anything lends itself to myopia and overgeneralizing.
3.33 Kaworu really makes me want to bite through my space bar and ascend to the next direction of pure, unadulterated anger. Certainly, characterisation in the Rebuild of Evangelion series in general was almost certainly intended to piss off fans (or rather, to pander to certain demographics to showcase how incorrect those demographics’ views of “what Evangelion should be” are, but that’s another post for another time and is more speculation of Studio Khara’s motives than actual analysis/etc.), but 3.33 Kaworu/Qworu strikes me as a particularly obvious example.
Brief discussion of anime Kaworu, Q Kaworu, and the disparities therein below the cut.
around 00:01:40~ into the beginning of end of evangelion, the morning after shinji has his talk with misato by the lake.
granted, it’s never stated outright, but little in evangelion is, and the above cuts stand on their own merits. this wordless scene is pretty indicative of an huge shift re: shinji’s character development (albeit a negative one) since anno has always described shinji as someone who has “convinced himself that he is a completely unnecessary person, so much so that he cannot even commit suicide.”
some of anno’s most important cuts are brief, ambiguous, and very easy to miss. personally, this is one of my favorite ones.
“rei or asuka?” really baffles me because they’re presented as inverse contrasts in the show, and you can’t really derive any concrete analysis or understanding of their characters by taking them in separately. you have to examine them together through a comparative lens – their backstories, how they view themselves, their respective methods of coping/internalizing neglect and validation (or lack thereof). this goes for literally every single character in evangelion, but rei and asuka are most prolific for the grossest and most nauseating reasons.
when people say they like asuka more than rei for “x” reasons or visa versa, to me that’s just another gauge of how badly they missed the point.
Introduced “late in the game,” with actual motives and alignment shrouded in mystery, and serves a major role as a foil/object of interest for another character…
Maybe you already see what I’m getting at here.
I don’t really understand the disregard for Mari from the perspective you just outlined, because it also describes Kaworu. Why isn’t he similarly written off by the fanbase?
Mari may be new, and we may not understand that much about her, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a valuable and thought-out addition to the series. We have very little idea what she’s up to, but I wouldn’t confuse that with poor development; I’d argue that she has a very distinct personality and one that suggests real depth, the same way Kaworu’s speech and behavior — though we get comparatively little of it — implies as much complexity. Hideaki Anno may be wacky, and he is definitely reticent, but rushed he is not. Quite the opposite. I think he enjoys taking his sweet ass time.
I am a fan of Mari because she is passionate, funny, irreverent, and quirky. She’s possibly the only character that can go toe-to-toe with Asuka in a way that she actually respects. In fact, I see her relationship with Asuka as comparable to Shinji’s relationship with Kaworu. I’m biased as a hardcore Asuka/Mari shipper, but I’m very happy about their dynamic thus far, and excited to see where it goes.
I honestly think some Eva fans are disappointed by Rebuild’s direction come the end of 2.0/3.0 and are simply misdirecting those feelings at the glaring bit of novelty, which is Mari Makinami. I urge you to give her a chance. At least until 3.0+1.0.
can we talk about yui ikari more
can we talk about how she was a truly brilliant scientist who came up with the first functioning EVA after years and years of work plus the ultimate sacrifice?
can we talk about how she still did her duty as a freaking EVA? Nevermind how that must have affected her mental state and her worries over shinji?
can we talk about she was so important to gendo and fuyutsuki that they (with ritsuko’s help) made an entire army of clones to fulfill her wishes, and to close the holes in their hearts and to attempt to be closer to her?
can we talk about how she masterminded the entire freaking set of events in evangelion, way before any of it happened? (and smashed the attempts of SEELE at their own thing despite their ridiculous resources?)
can we talk about how she never lost hope for humanity, even seeing the absolute worst in her loved ones?
can we talk about how her final moves were to sacrifice her connection to the entire world and to float in space for eternity, just to see humanity have a chance for happiness?
we need to talk more about yui ikari more