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Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion

I have a tendency to go into long periods of inactivity. After I finished re-watching Eva I felt a short-lived euphoria - then it vanished and I spent the following week sleeping away the days and working away the nights. This post has wound up being inexcusably behind schedule.

I read a little bit of the Berserk manga as a teen. I didn't like it at all, and stopped pretty early on. I particularly remember a moment when Guts met a nice girl traveling with a merchant caravan, and I immediately and accurately wrote her off as doomed. She was dead within a couple of chapters, with her death having zero meaning or emotional impact as far as my young mind was concerned.

Berserk's early sections are filled with unmitigated violence and horror. They become so severe, and so lacking in contrast, that the reader becomes desensitized to it. I feel (or at least felt) that it used death cheaply. Guts had barely any more reaction to witnessing the deaths around him than I had, if I remember right.

Something I appreciate about Evangelion is that it uses death much more carefully. The first time a named character dies is more than 20 episodes in. That death is extensively foreshadowed and has pronounced, but varying, dramatic consequences for the surviving characters. It naturally devastates Misato much more than it does Shinji.

If my memory of ancient history is right, I talked about the dummy plug sequence last time. That's episode 19, and 20 deals with the aftermath. It's a great episode. Shinji confronts his dad and resigns from NERV, showing backbone for a change - but when an angel trashes both Rei and Asuka as he's about to leave, he can't bear to watch and decides to return. In this way he sabotages his own personal development in order to fulfill his duty as the hero (and this is the ultimate realization of that part of his character.) He then runs out of batteries and almost loses against the angel. The complete realization of his heroic character arc is still not enough, and he's reduced to pointlessly hammering at the controls of his robot. It's only the EVA's berserker function that saves him and the rest of humanity.

This show has some amazing imagery. The fight against the space-borne angel, set to Hallelujah, has always been one of the highlights for me - the moody rain, the piercing light, and the atmosphere-altering arc of the Lance of Longinus' travel. Of course, the instrumentality sequence in End of Evangelion is the greatest realization of it. Comparisons between that part and the ending to Avengers: Infinity War are now common online, but the latter is a much less visually interesting sequence to say the least.

The mental degeneration of characters like Ritsuko and Asuka feels a bit fast. This is partially because elements of it occur off-screen, especially for Ritsuko. I've heard that Eva was originally planned to be a lot longer with a lot more angels. I think it comes out fine at this length, but that vision might have improved some areas.

Kaworu's appearance is one of the highlights. It's interesting how impactful he was on the audience for such a short-lived character. He comes almost completely out of nowhere. The primary foreshadowing of his existence is that the angels gradually become more human and make attempts to understand us. Kaworu as the seventeenth angel is the penultimate and near-complete realization of that, before the "eighteenth angel" is said to be humanity itself. What's especially cruel about Kaworu from a storytelling point of view is the impact he has on Shinji. The poor kid finally meets someone he loves who loves him back, and then circumstances force them to kill each other. It makes a good cap to Shinji's degenerative arc.

I personally never skip the final two episodes when I rewatch Evangelion. I think they're kind of fun. They were my favorite part the first time I watched it. One thing I appreciate is that the degeneration and regeneration of the animation are linked to Shinji's mental state. While he pieces himself back together, we see something akin to the animators reducing the artwork to its base components and rebuilding it from there. On the whole, the episodes make a good compliment to End of Eva that helps the viewer understand the characters a little better. It makes Shinji's guilt over Kaworu's death much clearer, for instance. There's also an example of basic functional symbolism that is much clearer and easier to understand than anything else in the series. The semi-iconic chair of torment that Shinji sits in represents his own self-hatred. That's why at the end, when he accepts himself, he stands up and knocks it over.

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion

When I watched Evangelion for the first time, I remember that Episode 13 was one of the first ones that really impressed me. I thought watching Ritsuko take down an angel was really cool and the scene between her and Misato at the end was poignant. It definitely is an entertaining and creative set-up for an episode. It's nice to see the usual method inverted and the EVAs themselves become irrelevant. That last scene is pivotal because of how it sets up the later revelations about Ritsuko's relationships with her mother and with Gendo, as well as her final scene in End of Evangelion, where the three aspects of the MAGI system come back into relevance. The cut to credits in the middle of her standing up is also quite creative.

This episode provides a decent opportunity for a digression about the use of nudity in art. I'm of the position that nudity, like romance, is generally a good thing to include in a story. It's appealing to human beings and a part of life. But also like romance, it has to be earned. There needs to be some purpose behind the use of it, or else it's just gratuitous if not sleazy. It would generally be preferred if it was used on older characters than the one's in this show, but Evangelion sometimes succeeds and sometimes fails at using it properly. I would say that Episode 13 is one of the points where it fails. The episode would still work and make just as much sense if the pilots kept their plug suits on. At best, it makes it less likely that they would've tried to get back to headquarters on their own. The shower scene between Shinji and Kaworu is probably the easiest example of this show using nudity correctly, since it helps show the quick trust between those two.

I had forgotten how good Evangelion is about setting up its plot devices. The way I remembered it, the Dummy Plug pretty much came out of nowhere right when it was relevant. But there are actually several scenes dedicated to the process of its development and the explanation of what it does, starting several episodes before it's actually used. It's possible to infer what it does the first time it comes up, in the cross-compatibility test long before the exposition about it comes up. Likewise, it stays a part of the story even after its initial use, and re-appears in End of Evangelion as the pilot of the EVA series.

Episodes 16 and 18 are particularly thrilling. 16 is arguably the turning point of the series, signalling the change from things getting better to things getting worse. It starts off so happily. I love how Shinji becoming the best EVA pilot is handled. It makes him happy and confident but hurts Asuka's feelings and then causes Shinji to become overconfident. The way the rest of the episode depicts the stress and guilt of Misato, Rei, and Asuka, as they worry over Shinji's life, and the harrowing experience Shinji undergoes waiting for the life-support system to give out and his own death are gripping. Evangelion unit 1 bursting through the Angel's shadow is a riveting gory sequence and the shocked onlookers really serve to enhance it. I also love the way the others' reaction to Shinji's survival is conveyed. Shinji wakes up in a hospital bed to find Rei sitting in a chair and watching over him, and when she opens the door it's revealed that Asuka was watching from the other end. They both care about him but fail to express that verbally due to their own weaknesses, and the show communicates that clearly. It also shows during their confrontation while he's still in the shadow.

Shinji's relationship with his dad is poignant for the same reasons. Shinji has a strong sense of conflict over whether he wants to reconcile with Gendo in the first place, and he shyly goes about asking others about the man. I still really like how Shinji is able to emotionally confide in Kaji. It really helps to humanize the latter and make him feel like a three-dimensonial character. The advice he gives to Shinji when they're sleeping on the floor together is another re-statement of that theme about the difficulty of human relationships. It's actually not very helpful advice! I think this is deliberate. The parent-figures in Evangelion are all too flawed and caught up in their own issues to be really effective, but they make an effort.

Misato's hesitation to tell Shinji that Toji is the fourth child is another good example of that. She's unwilling because of her own good intentions. She doesn't want to hurt Shinji by breaking the news to him, but that ends up making it worse - and leaving her with feelings of guilt. Asuka is shown to share that hesitation for the same reason.

The dummy plug sequence is one of the great complex character moments of the series. Gendo comes off as very cold but he has to be because of his role as the brave leaderly face of NERV. The moment where he tries to encourage Shinji to fight the EVA-turned-angel is his futile attempt at filling the role of a father. It's almost admirable how unflinchingly he proceeds to do such questionable things following that moment. Gendo is in fact overwhelmingly in the right in this scene. Shinji's desire not to kill another human being is eminently understandable but short-sighted and impractical. Gendo is right to kill the angel and he's right to use the dummy plug. To do otherwise would have led to a horrific disaster in the form of the third impact. The roles of hero and villain kind of get reversed in the following scene in Episode 19, where Shinji threatens to destroy NERV headquarters. A great touch is that Maya acts as a neutral observer of how correct Gendo is by trying to explain his choice to Shinji. Once again, Gendo is correct to knock Shinji out in this situation. Naturally, this situation is the killing blow to their relationship. Evangelion takes the consequences seriously, and this is effectively the conclusion of their joint arc. From now on, they're moving away from one another, continuing their individual narratives in isolation. This is shown to have a tremendous emotional cost to both individuals. Shinji is still distressed over the Dummy Plug Experience in the end, and he confides about it to Kaworu. Gendo's final scene in End of Eva has him asking Shinji for forgiveness.

The coming parts are among the best, if I remember correctly. This show becomes really loaded with great, significant, complex moments around this transitional period. I still sometimes use it as a barometer for that. If I'm reaching the 20 or 26 episode mark in another anime, I'll think "if this were Evangelion, so much more would have happened."

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion

When I was a teenager, a "multimedia comic" called Homestuck was running online. I was about the same age as the main characters when it started, which put me in an ideal position to really like it - and it worked out. I was absolutely entranced by Homestuck. I still maintain that the original comic is impressive and worth reading, but it's hard not to be cynical about it as an overall media franchise. There was supposed to be a video game. It was funded to the tune of over 1 million dollars on Kickstarter like seven years ago, and all that has been released is a 3-hour "first installment" that came out in 2017. There have been a lot of other little projects associated with it since then, but they've all felt kind of creatively empty - at least to me. It's tempting to suggest that the creator try to move on from it.

I watched Evangelion for the first time when I was 16. Like with Homestuck, that probably helped me relate to Shinji more than an older viewer might have. I actually was not as impressed with it as I am now, the first time. I think that's partially because a lot of the characterization and themes are kind of subtle. It's easy to get distracted by the religious imagery and Freudian/Jungian influences although those are largely superficial in my assessment. Anyway, I mention Homestuck because today a new storyline went up on its website. It's a continuation of the text-only story that launched earlier this year. When I saw it, my response was "I don't want this." I imagine I would've felt the same about Evangelion 1.0 if I had been a fan when that was released, and on the whole Evangelion is in a similar position. It has become an exceptionally commercial franchise. I remember reading that the Evas were designed to make producing toys of them difficult - their scrawny proportions were meant to make it hard for them to hold together. If that is true, the effort was an exceptional failure. There are tons of Evangelion toys online. I'm thinking of buying a Shinji figure myself. Although I enjoyed the Rebuilds, I still don't think there's much point to them artistically. In any case, I try not to dwell on it when revisiting the originals.

These episodes are about as happy as Evangelion gets. You can definitely accuse the show of tonal inconsistency when you consider the wacky jokes about things like Shinji getting a boner or having to wear Asuka's plug suit in these episodes against the psychological devastation of the late episodes or End of Evangelion. I think it's only really detrimental when it's jarring. You can say episode 2 of Evangelion suffers from that, but the difference between these episodes and End of Evangelion is very deliberate. There aren't any errant dick jokes popping up in episode 23 or something.

At this stage, the characters' lives are getting better. Shinji has befriended Kensuke, Toji, Rei and Asuka, the pilots are learning to work together and getting better at piloting, and even the Angel battles themselves aren't too traumatic. This serves to enhance the feeling of despair in the later episodes. We see the characters grasp at hard-earned happiness only for it to get snatched away forever.

Even these more light-hearted angel fights are creative and praiseworthy. I love the splitting angel battle set to music with no background audio. The silent shot of Misato giving directions on the bridge especially stands out to me, and having a timer in the corner the whole time is a great touch. The underwater and lava battles are great atmospheric sections too. I love how the former takes place above a sunken city but none of the dialog mentions it - it's just subtle background worldbuilding. Asuka's slow descent into the volcano is really tense and gripping. It helps give the viewer a sense of respect for her courage. The shot of acid dripping from an angel's eye is another excellent little detail. In that battle, I like how the power-outage transforms NERV headquarters into a completely different place as far as combat logistics go. The Evas have to tear off their own restraints and arduously climb upward on limited power when normally they'd be easily removed and quickly launched. All of these things help communicate how stressful the job these kids are tasked with must be, even when the fights themselves are relatively non-traumatic.

I like the early handling of Misato's relationship with Kaiji. They do a good job portraying the conflicted feelings she has toward him. It's pretty subtle - she usually disdains him but will have small moments where she's shown to be happy to see him. I also appreciate that there's more to Kaiji than just a womanizer character. He takes the time to talk with Asuka and Shinji as a kind of uncle-figure and makes significant sacrifices as a player in the main plot.

I noticed some foreshadowing that I hadn't picked up on before. Gendo's "humanity is its own enemy" line relates to the main theme and has echoes in the battle between NERV and the JSSDF in End of Eva. In the car-ride scene with Shinji and Misato, Shinji remarks that he doesn't understand why it makes Asuka angry when people praise his piloting. This is another example of the difficulty of understanding someone else and forming relationships. It's also an early manifestation of the character flaws that will undo Asuka later on.

Both of the Shinji/Gendo interaction scenes in episodes 11 and 12 are really important. I like to argue for Gendo as a semi-heroic character, but it is hard to justify the way he speaks to Shinji over that phone call. What's going on is that Shinji is using the school assignment thing as a pretense to try and talk to his dad. Whether Gendo understands that or not, he shuts him down for being frivolous. I suppose he does have a point, because he's probably occupied with a lot of very stressful work. This is an example of why Shinji can relate to Misato when she talks about her own father. That relationship is not too developed, since it doesn't get much more time than a couple conversations in these episodes dedicated to it. What it has going for it is that it allows her to relate to Shinji and develop their relationship and that it still contains some of the complexity I like to praise in Eva's parent/child relationships. Misato talks about how she hated her father during his life and laughed in his face when he seemed hurt, and how after he sacrificed himself to save her during the third impact she came to regret that. She also acknowledges that he was weak and afraid of relationships rather than thinking of him as evil.

Just one episode after the rejected phone call business, we have the scene where Gendo praises Shinji for his piloting skill. This piece of dialog, and the subsequent one where Shinji says that "maybe hearing those words is why I pilot the EVA," are excellent because they make artistic use of inconsistency and the difference between a character's words an actions. Shinji goes on to prove that ultimately his motive for piloting is his personal morality - he refuses to let others die in front of him. He sacrifices his relationship with Gendo for that during the dummy plug sequence. But he doesn't understand that himself. This is a small example of how detailed Evangelion's characters are. Shinji is torn between those two motivations. You can also talk about his conflict-avoidant personality and desire to be needed in general as factors in his decision to pilot the EVA. He doesn't just have single one-dimensional motives like a poorly written fictional character would.

EDIT: I forgot to talk about Jet Alone. I want to defend this episode a little bit because it is sometimes understood as filler. I don't think that's quite right. What's important about Jet Alone is that it contains a lot of discussion about the flaws of the Evangelion as a weapon and the immorality of NERV as an organization. Jet Alone seems to solve problems like the EVA's low battery-life, the pain it inflicts on its pilots, and the uncontrollable Berserk mode. It could never be developed into a proper substitute, however, because there is no way for it to generate an AT Field. The AT Field effectively requires a soul. The first time that thing was deployed against an angel it would get annihilated and its Gundam-like Nuclear power-source would explode, causing monumental collateral damage. The EVAs themselves would have done this if they were powered this way, considering how often they get beaten down throughout the series. The reason NERV has to sabotage Jet Alone is for PR and funding. It works out especially well when a NERV operative and an Evangelion end up being used to subdue the supposedly out-of-control machine.

Evangelion is pretty smart about using the mechanics of the EVAs for its narrative and fight scenes. Other mecha probably wouldn't be practical weapons in reality, but the whole AT Field business makes an EVA necessary for fighting Angels and a deadly weapon in general. Asuka can decimate the JSSDF forces in End of Evangelion for this reason, and they target her power source as a way around it. Although there are some methods of breaking through an AT Field besides corroding it with another one, they are either highly impractical (Operation Yashima) or unavailable for the majority of the series (Lance of Longinus.) It gives a narrative justification to taken-for-granted elements of the Mecha genre and then associates those elements with the mental degeneration of its characters. This is what justifies the interpretation that it's a genre deconstruction.

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion

My Evangelion review is probably my greatest regret when it comes to this website. I was using a sort of super-minimalist reviewing style where I just briefly mentioned what I considered to be the most important things. That's quite a contrast to my current style, and I'm inclined to regard it as lazy.

For a series as frequently debated as Evangelion, I think a more argumentative approach was probably needed. That is, rather than stating that Evangelion has intricate themes and three-dimensional characters, I should have set out to prove that using specific examples from the show. I don't know if I was capable of that at the time, but I feel ready to take a crack at it now, and I've written up a rather massive (4500 word) review for End of Evangelion which analyzes multiple scenes from both the series and the film. I'll probably sit on that for a while with the aim of improving and if possible shortening it.

I've been re-watching the series mostly because I felt I needed it. I've been in a bad mood lately so I think it will be helpful to sit down with something that I really love. I'm going to record some thoughts on specific scenes on here, as I go.

I've just finished watching episode 6, which is stellar. It's full of characterizing moments, intense action, and satisfying adversity. What I especially love about this episode is how hopeless the battle against the fifth angel feels. Shinji immediately gets near-vaporized the second he deploys and spends half the episode in the hospital. The angel's over-powering offensive capabilities and defenses annihilate traditional weapons and it starts burrowing toward Terminal Dogma with about 10 hours left for humanity. There's a great exchange of dialog where Ritsuko calls Misato's plan reckless and Misato responds that it can be executed within the time available and has the best chance of success (something like 8% according to the MAGI.) Shinji understandably expresses hesitation to pilot the EVA against it again and when he ultimately agrees, he and Rei are left together before the mission to talk about how little they have in the world and how low their chance of survival is. The "why don't you try smiling?" exchange at the end is a really nice moment of relief after the tension of the rest of the episode and shows the build of the relationship and the individual progress of both characters involved.

I still maintain that Evangelion has the best fight scenes in any anime. The battle in episode 2 is particularly great in this stretch. Well-animated, sufficiently dark to match the tone and associated drama, full of high-impact gore and violence, and long and uninterrupted enough to achieve a good sense of flow. I think the quick cuts to the bridge really work. They help convey the feeling of tension without interrupting the actual fight much. The element that really elevates Eva's fight scenes and makes them the best is how story-relevant they are. The traumatic nature of the battles and the pragmatism that NERV fights them with are key elements of the character arcs. The frequent feeling of hopelessness mirrors the constantly degrading emotional states of the cast.

"Shinji is a pussy" and "Shinji, get in the robot" are two big cliches associated with discussion of this show. The first one is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned. In Episode 1, Shinji is presented with the demand to pilot a giant metal monster he has never seen before or been trained on. His hesitation is completely rational and understandable. I think people get too caught up in their own knowledge that he's the hero of a TV show when they judge him in that scene. He agrees to do it in any case when he sees the injured Rei being brought in to do it instead, which is the early expression of his heroism. The following scene does an excellent job of reinforcing how justified his hesitation was. He can't even walk in his Evangelion, and then he trips over and lies helpless and justifiably terrified as the angel closes in on him and starts tearing him to pieces. In episode 6, he experiences the feeling of being burned alive by a particle beam and his heart nearly stops, and he mopes for a few minutes when he regains consciousness before getting up and trying again. Have a little patience, guys! I doubt I'd be as resilient as him in the same situation.

Eva has a lot of pretty good dialog and is great at showing rather than telling. Kensuke is kind of a foil to Shinji because he's the kid who is really enthusiastic about the idea of the EVA, like a lot of viewers seem to wish Shinji was. The scene where he and Toji escape from their shelter to film the battle and then get caught up in it is a great example of the serious attitude Eva takes toward its military-like affairs. The contrast between those two kids joking around and breaking rules at first and then crying out of fear when they're really in danger is good tonally-consistent characterization and helps to add to the genre deconstruction idea people talk about with Evangelion. There's a very nice exchange between him and Shinji a little later:

Kensuke: I wish I could pilot the Evangelion just once.
Shinji: You shouldn't. I think your mother would be worried.

A lesser show, and a whinier character than Shinji, would've responded to Kensuke's statement with a long rant about how stressful and dangerous piloting the thing is. Shinji's line here communicates that general idea but is much more understated and makes him look sensitive and concerned about others rather than edgy.

The opening episodes are full of little humanizing character moments. Shinji exchanges banter with Misato, gets excited by the spectacle of the geofront and Tokyo-3, shyly goes along with Misato and announces "I'm home" when stepping into her apartment for the first time, gets teased by his friends about his attraction to Rei, and parallels his dad by burning his hands to rescue her after the battle with the fifth angel. Even the ridiculous "toothpick scene" shows that he's self-conscious and easily teased. Imagine someone like Squall Leonhart in the same situation for a testament to how "emo" Shinji actually is. Squall probably would've just scoffed at Pen-Pen and gone on with his bath. For all the complaining about how depressive he is, he actually shows a lot of emotional range and spontaneous happiness.

The direction in this show is really great. The opening scene of the third angel traveling underwater, the juxtaposition of quiet atmosphere with the danger and monstrousness of the angels, the framing of the fight scenes with cuts to the terrified operators on the bridge, the use of muted dialog and unusual episode structures - it's really a masterwork of creative setups and structure. One scene I really love is the one where Shinji sits in the cockpit of his EVA and watches Rei cheerfully speak to his father. I love the quick cuts between his uncomprehending face and the pair of them talking and smiling. I think it's greatly enhanced by the fact that we don't get to hear what they say, and by the background ambience of mechanical humming and workaday dialog between technicians on the intercom.

Evangelion is centrally about the difficulty of human relationships and the emotional cost of their destruction. Episode 4 is the earliest one that really deals with that in depth. Shinji doesn't run away from NERV because he's scared of fighting the angels. He runs away because he's terrified of rejection from Misato. It's her chewing him out that really breaks him down. The first time he leaves he's not that serious. He needs some time away and after a train ride decides to go back. But the next time Misato confronts him, when he says that he'll keep piloting because people like Rei, Misato, and Ritsuko are counting on him, and when that makes Misato angry, that's when his will really gets destroyed. He's trying to make Misato happy by saying things like that, so her response is confusing and emotionally agonizing. On her end, Misato is trying to look out for Shinji by helping him find his own purpose and keeping him away from the EVA when he has motives that will make piloting even more dangerous. Her good intentions end up backfiring when her words hurt him so much that he nearly runs away. It's a good example of how positive intentions can still hurt others in human relationships, a theme that returns again and again throughout the series. Shinji doesn't arbitrarily decide to stay after he resigns from NERV and nearly gets on the train. Kensuke and Toji coming to say goodbye is an important factor in that decision. Having them act friendly toward him is a powerful motivator for a kid like Shinji, and helps him remember that Misato cares about him too. The scene where the train vanishes and Misato sees that Shinji's still there, while Shinji himself discovers that Misato came to see him off, is a huge moment of emotional triumph for both of them. Eva is pretty subtle about that! It doesn't use any triumphant score or long-winded cheery dialog to communicate it.

I'll go ahead and mention a few niggles while I'm here. There are some awkward drawings in the show, which you can catch pretty frequently if you pay attention. I'm also not sure I really buy Shinji's motivations when he ignores Misato's orders and keeps fighting the fourth angel. I think that part of the scene is a little bit stilted. I can see why people find this show melodramatic or dislike it's characters, but I think its flaws, though present, are tiny in the face of what it gets right. And maybe I'm too soft on kids, but when I watch the early parts I always just want to give Shinji a hug.

Anime Relations: Sword Art Online

Six years ago I posted a clumsy review for the then-new first season of Sword Art Online. I'd like to leave my old review unchanged as a reminder of how inept I was back then, but I've just finished rewatching it and would like to share my updated opinion on it.

I'm going to keep my score at 3/10. I think I would lower it to a 2 before I would bump it up. It definitely wouldn't be worth a 2/10 if it wasn't for the terrible handling of sexual assault, which is the most glaring flaw.

It's definitely a good-looking show, both in terms of pretty backgrounds and cute character designs. The animation itself sometimes leaves a bit to be desired though. It must be hard to have a lot of movement with all those fancy lighting and shading effects.

The story is quite the mess. I kept notes as I watched and found myself writing more negative things every episode. The rules of the MMO games are very poorly defined, and tons of things are based on plot convenience rather than natural developments. The way Kirito wins his fights against both villains are very unsatisfying. It completely lacks subtlety and moral complexity. The characters are flat and two-dimensional at best. There isn't nearly enough adversity and it feels very manipulative.

I found myself dreading the appearance of the AI daughter character, and I think that part is the most manipulative. I hate how she instantly starts calling the kids Mama and Papa and how she's formed past the awkward newborn stage that would've seen Kirito changing diapers in his cottage in SAO.

The worst part about it is that a lot of opportunities to explore interesting ideas end up wasted. It would've been cool to see Kirito suffering from muscular atrophy or re-adjusting to the slower pace of society, but the story is always skipping ahead so that it doesn't have to bother with this apparently tiresome details.

The game based setup always gets in its way. In the latter half, when the characters were trying to act as if their battles were dramatic, the fact that they were only risking EXP in a video game was always in the back of my mind.

I did find the tsundere-ism and cousin incest elements less obnoxious than before, though. Oddly enough, I consider that a sign of my maturation.

Anime Relations: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Angel Beats!, Boku dake ga Inai Machi

I'd like to write for a moment about some specific moments from anime I've reviewed over the past few years, which I've been thinking about a little bit over the past few days and feel deserve particular mention, but that I missed in my original reviews.

In Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (as well as the other series and the manga:) The brothers Elric meet a state alchemist who created a talking animal, but he's worried because he hasn't been able to produce positive results lately and might lose his status. It turns out his previous success came when he transmuted his wife and a dog, and then he does the same thing using his daughter.

I hate this storyline. I think it's a great example of inappropriate and poorly-written darkness. It just doesn't make sense for an otherwise-sane person to resort to something like that in response to concerns of finance and status. Part of the reason he would be so afraid is because losing his status would make it harder to support his family - and possibly cause them to think less of him. But he loses absolutely everything when he kills them for it anyway. It's the action of someone being manipulated by a sloppy storyteller rather than a rational human being, and the sociopathy of the actions don't match the cause of the pressure. It would make more sense if he was kidnapping other people to do it rather than using his own family. If he had been portrayed as a blatantly evil nutbar and was doing that it wouldn't be so bad. It's the mixture of the psychological pretensions and the stupidity of what actually happens that irks me.

In Erased: Satoru has just awakened from his coma and is sitting in a wheelchair. He hears that he has a visitor, looks up, and sees the fully-grown Kayo standing before him - he saved her after all.

What a great, emotionally-impactful little moment. Even just thinking about it now makes me start to feel choked up. Around the time I put up my Erased review, I told a friend that I would've given it a 9 if it were consistently as good as its best moments. I was thinking of scenes like the one where Satoru takes Kayo to see the tree and the birthday party, but this is another one I didn't appreciate enough at the time.

In Angel Beats!: Yuri and her siblings are held hostage by a group of thugs who demand that Yuri find expensive objects to give to them. She runs all around the house trying to find things and struggling to carry them, but her unsatisfied captors execute her siblings one by one. Also, Otonashi and a train's worth of others become trapped in a tunnel. Otonashi convinces people to band together and administers medical assistance, saving the lives of most people involved, but collapses and dies himself right as the rescue team arrives.

I was pretty conflicted on both of these parts when I watched Angel Beats! the first time. I felt they were a little too on-the-nose, and Yuri's captors are a bit too evil for my usual tastes. But thinking on them now I feel like they're just right. I think Yuri's story could actually happen in real life, although the number of people who would act like its villains are very few, they could exist. What's important is that both of these scenes contain a sense of poetic cruelty. The heroes' valiant and difficult struggles eventually go unrewarded, and Otonashi dies when he's crushingly close to freedom. When combined with the strong character-relevance that these two different backstories end up having, I think they're really praiseworthy.

Well, that's all for this time. I don't think I'll adjust any of the scores according to these single moments, but it was nice to talk about them. If I do change my scores for any of these, it will probably be bumping up Erased. A 50% does seem pretty harsh for that one, but now I'm thinking about the Chocolate Bar Divorce and the lame final confrontation again and I think I'll stay strong for the time being.