You were really kind replying here despite your busy schedule. I hope you managed to read the books you had to study. I've also struggled with busy semesters, and with teachers that just don't understand where the limit is. That can be very frustrating >.<
Anyway, thanks, as always, for your kindness ^^
Merchandising:
Oh, a social stigma? That sound serious, although I can see what you mean. It’s as if society considered that you haven’t “outgrown” your childhood interests, and thus, they see you as someone immature. How unfair, honestly. The tastes of someone shouldn’t be under such pressure, even less when it’s just a harmful activity such as watching anime or collecting figurines. I could think of fairly worse ‘hobbies’ that society actually encourages; drinking alcohol and going to discos, for instance.
But, of course, as always, what is not “mainstream”, is weird. Watching anime, reading good literature, or listening classical music, for example, are seen as rather strange hobbies by casual people. In fact, in my case, at university more than once I noticed I was seen as someone weird when I said I didn’t like going out at night or drinking alcohol, and that my hobbies were Japanese anime and classical music. The reaction to that was usually a badly hidden expression of incomprehension.
But well, I simply didn’t care too much, and in fact, I managed to meet a couple of friends with very similar tastes, so I’m happy with that. If someone likes to spend their time getting drunk and doing “casual” things, it’s fine, but I prefer to enjoy good animes or reading books. This path leads to solitude, indeed, but as they say, sometimes it’s better to be alone than in bad company.
As for the economic aspect, I fully see why you can’t invest in merchandising right now. London is an expensive city, and King’s College has such a high reputation that I can imagine it’s not the cheapest of universities one could apply for ^^U
In any case, I’m sorry to hear you have to hide your interest in anime. It’s really difficult to explain people outside this culture the artistic beauty of animes and how reflective it can actually be. Evangelion would be a perfect example, but classics like Ghost in the Shell or old Gundam sagas can lead one to reflect on their themes. There are also many series based on literary works, such as Basilisk, Flanders no Inu or Gankutsuou. It’s a shame that people despise such masterpieces and think we anime fans are all like those pervert otakus who lack any kind of social and intellectual skill (My opinion on ”otakuness” is fairly complex, but I can tell you some of my impressions if you want).
Oh, by the way, I see you’ve actually watched Gankutsuou. What a nice surprise! Haha. And judging by the score, I presume you really liked it ^^ I loved the series, and the Count is one of my favourite characters. As a matter of fact, the very same day I finished watching it, I went to the closest library and bought Dumas’s The Count of Monte-Cristo, which, as you know, is one of my favourite books of all time. I’m immensely happy to see that you’ve liked the anime so much.
Spain & Azerbaijan:
Well, thank you ^^ It wasn’t that difficult to choose a beautiful photo, considering most of Baku’s pictures are quite nice. I’m especially fond of the Fortress and its walls, since it’s wonderful when a city conserves such heritage from ancient times. In Valencia we also have some rests of the city’s medieval walls: Torres de Serrano and Torres de Quart (in the latter there are impacts of cannon projectiles of the Napoleonic invasion of 1808. The walls resisted Napoleon’s attack in the first siege, but eventually fell in 1812 and the city was occupied for some months until the French retreat). Right now, only the gates are there as a reminiscence of the past.
But I see the Bakı Qalası is fairly more complete, in comparison. Without any doubt that’s a mandatory visit in Baku ^^
Thank you for the tour through Baku ^^ I see it really deserves the title of “Paris of the Caucasus”. I really enjoyed seeing the combination of modern and traditional architecture (although I prefer ancient monuments, haha), and found this picture very representative of that: Here.
The Heydar Aliyev Center kind of reminded me of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias we have here, which are basically museums and operas, with modern designs. Zaha Hadid do look more futuristic though, haha.
Another place that has caught my attention, is the Martyr Hill, as a memorial of Black January and the horror of the Soviet times. The fact that most of former Soviet Republics are now fiercely anti-communist (Poland, Hungary or Ukraine, for instance) is very indicative of how terrible that period was.
Finally, thanks for the film recommendations. I see this scene is actually quite memorable, and people still take photos of that street. Thankfully, I’ve found “The Diamond Arm” in Russian with Spanish subtitles, so I’ll definitely watch it soon. It looks like it’s quite funny.
“Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia” was a bit easier to find, also with Spanish subs, although if there are dialogues in Italian, it won’t be that hard to understand. Thanks ^^
Cuisine:
Regarding Spanish food, yes, it could be said it’s generally high in carbohydrates. Apart from what you mentioned, two essential pillars of Spanish diet are bread and olive oil (and traditionally, wine too). Depending on the region, the proportion of one or another ingredient is slightly different: in the centre of the country dishes with meat and vegetables are more common, while in the north, fish and seafood are delicious. In Valencia, rice dishes are the speciality, as well as fruits like orange. And in the south, they masterfully prepare dishes with vegetables, fruits and meat.
If you like light and healthy food, the Spanish diet is, without any doubt, very suitable for you ^^ My mother doesn’t like meat, but there are so many varied recipes with vegetables and fishes, that there’s no problem.
As for Azerbaijani cuisine, I was really impressed by the video of Shakh Plov you showed me. I didn’t understand much (although I noticed many Russian words of ingredients are quite similar to Spanish, even more than to English), but just seeing the preparation was enough to make me wish I could have one, haha. I can definitely understand why it’s your favourite dish. The combination of the flavours of so many ingredients into the lavash bread must be wonderful.
I read a bit about it after I saw the video, and it seems it’s usually served on special occasions, isn’t it? Then, it must be like paella here, which is not the kind of dish one eats every day, but mainly with the family on Sundays, for example.
I really enjoyed seeing those links with Azeri dishes you provided me ^_^ The breakfast, for example, looks great. I also see there’s a lot of lamb, as you mentioned, although it seems there are also many fish recipes, which I presume you might really like. And there was a sentence that fascinated me, as an avid tea drinker: “Everything is accompanied by copious amounts of tea with jam”, which is almost the definition of paradise for me, haha. The Tea with Novruz Pastries looks simply terrific! ^^
Honestly, the veneration of tea in Muslim-culture countries, as well as in Asia, is something I have a deep respect for. In Spain or Italy, coffee is a lot more widespread (basically due to the contact with the Americas), with lots of varieties. But I don’t like coffee, to be honest. The other option is hot chocolate, which as I think I told you on my previous comment, was introduced by the Spaniards in Europe, from America, and it soon became very popular, as well as a de facto national drink. In cold wintry days I really like having a cup of chocolate.
But! I have to admit the British did something good (warning: due to our deep historical rivalry, you’ll hear a Spanish praising British or French in very few occasions, haha. Same applies vice versa): bringing tea to Europe from their colonies. That was maybe one of the most remarkable achievements of 18th and 19th centuries, haha. Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Sir Stuart are my favourites. Truth be told, in medieval Spain, southern Muslims of Al-Andalus and Jews were very fond of tea, but with the Reconquista, that tradition was kind of lost, sadly. However, nowadays, in cities like Córdoba, it’s common to find traditional restaurants that have restored the tradition of drinking tea with jam as a dessert, very similar to what you’ve shown me about Azerbaijan.
I’m really glad to read tea is the “national drink” of your country ^^
Japanese & Universities:
Thanks for your kind words and wishes ^^ Right now I’m struggling with kanjis, since it’s quite difficult to remember them all. There are also many which are very similar to others, but with completely opposite meanings, so one must be careful not to make funny mistakes reading a text, haha.
I have some manga volumes in Japanese, and it’s not too difficult to understand everything, but I still prefer edited versions in Spanish or English. The same goes for books.
Oh, will there be a Japanese course at ADA? That sounds interesting. If you did it (now or in the future), I would be very glad to help you with anything you needed. It’s a pity that you’re so busy right now, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have some notions on Japanese in the near future ^^
Right now, King’s College is indeed a high priority, and will be much more helpful for your CV than studying in Japan or Spain. But, after you finish there, you’re free to choose your next destination. It would be great if you could apply for a Japanese university afterwards. And, personally, it would be superb to have you here if you prefer ^^ In Spain there are many careers and masters about Public Policy, Public Administration & Management, and Governmental Issues (Gestión y Administración Pública is the common name here), for it’s a very desired career. So, finding an undergraduate or graduate program that you liked wouldn’t be a problem at all, that’s for sure.
Oh, looking for "Friendship" is far from being a bother, don't worry ^^ I really like exploring book shop online catalogues and also going to phisical shops and see everything in there.
With all that said, I hope these days aren't being as stressing as last week. I really hope the pieces of classical music I shared with you the other day can be somehow helpful and soothing for you :)
Sorry for the delay writing this message (the last of the series of lengthy PMs here and on GR, haha; I hope it’s not too much and that you find them enjoyable to read. As always, please don’t feel compelled to answer to everything), I was a bit busy preparing a trip to Madrid for next weekend, and on top of that, I wasn’t feeling good due to a cold I’ve caught.
EVA:
Maybe the original sentence of “Anta nanka ni korosareru no wa mappira yo!” was too long to fit in just a few seconds; or maybe it was just too forced and aggressive. In any case, I think Miyamura did a good job making up the last sentence, since in so few words she conveyed lots of possible messages, ranging from self-loathing, sickness for coming back to life, or utter disgust towards Shinji.
Regarding Tiffany Grant, I do see that all who have watched the series in the English dub agree that she did a magnificent job voicing Asuka.
Haha, yes, I remember that video, but I watched it some time ago, so it’s been nice to see Grant’s collection again. My feelings towards it are of admiration and, being honest, some jealousy too. She’s truly Asuka’s alter-ego, it seems, and that sanctuary of her proves it very well.
That leads me to ask if you also have a collection of Asuka ^^ I’m sure you must have a nice collection, given your passionate affection towards her.
Oh, I had no idea Grant had a blog. Thanks! That defense of Asuka is simply superb, and resonates with what we Asuka fans believe. The definition she does quoting Mark Simmons is quite accurate and sums up Asuka’s character in a few words: “shrill and unpleasant enough to make the character properly unlikeable but not so over the top as to make her completely unsympathetic”. Grant also says something essential, claiming that the beauty and intelligence of Asuka aren’t the only reasons to like her, and that it’s actually because of her prideful sense of responsibility and her tragic background, that the audience can understand her tribulations and admire her bravery.
I’ll save it in my folder of Evangelion analysis and discussions, along with other articles and comments. Thank you ^^
So, you’ve also watched it in Turkish? Well, I can’t really imagine how it was. The “Anta baka” in Russian sounds quite harsh, although I can’t think of Asuka speaking it, haha.
Spain & Azerbaijan:
I’m very glad that you liked that virtual “tour” through Spain. There are many other interesting cities, all of which have a genuine appeal and where people are always very warm and welcoming. But those I mentioned in the previous message were the ones I would recommend you to visit in the future if you decide to visit us :)
Reading about Baku, it seems there are lots of fascinating places to visit, from the most technological and modern buildings, to medieval monuments of the epoch of the Seljuks or the Timurids. One of them caught my attention notably: the Maiden Tower. Not only its design is interesting, but the legends about it are extremely fascinating: one talks about the daughter of the Shah, who feared getting married with her own father, so she jumped from the top of the tower; or another story talks about the Apostle Saint Bartholomew, who was probably executed near the tower.
So far, what other places would you recommend to visit in Baku? ^^
--
Valencia:
Oh, I feel kind of flattered to hear that you have such a high idea of Valencia and that it’s your mother’s dream to visit the city. It would be a pleasure to be your guide and show you the most iconic places of the city. And not only places, but enjoying an original Valencian paella as well, haha.
(And if you came in May or November, there’s a manganime event called Salón del Manga, with lots of merchandising and events. I go there mostly to find anime DVDs/BDs at cheap prices or other kind of rare items. Valencia has some Japanese restaurants and manga shops as well, so those could be interesting places to visit too)
Russian tourists have increased quite a lot in the last years, so I’m not surprised that they have those kind of programs. Do they talk about other parts of Spain as well? As far as I know, Mallorca or Barcelona are others of their preferred destinations. But, anyway, I’m happy that Valencia is portrayed as a “must-visit” city ^^
--
Cuisine:
On to Spanish cuisine, it’s very heterogeneous, depending on the region. One of its advantages is that it has a lot of cultural baggage, and thus, it has a rich variety: from Muslim and Jewish influences, to Roman and Christian ones. Oh, and colonial influences from the Americas or the Philippines too. The climate also helps, and gives Spanish food a unique essence that other European gastronomy lacks.
I’ll share with you some of the most typical dishes I would suggest to try:
(Since you already know paella, I’ll leave that one, haha)
-Tortilla de patata (Spanish omelette) is one of the most representative dishes of our cuisine, and it’s ingredients are quite simple: eggs and potatoes. It’s a must-eat in Spain, haha.
-Jamón ibérico (Iberian ham), cured ham of the highest quality, and usually served before the main dishes, as an appetizer. It’s another must-eat.
-Gazpacho andaluz (Andalusian gazpacho), very typical of Andalucía, it’s also served as an appetizer, and always cold. It’s especially recommendable in summer.
-Angulas, it’s a type of little European eel, and in northern places, like Galicia and the Basque Region, they fry it with garlic, spicy cayenne and, sometimes, white wine. It’s flavour is very subtle.
-Pulpo a la gallega (fair-style octopus), very common in Galicia, is basically boiled octopus, usually served with spices. It can also be served with potato. I’m very fond of this dish, especially after a trip I made to Santiago some time ago.
-Rabo de toro (Oxtail). This may sound archetypal, but yes, bull is a very representative animal of Spain, and not only for bullfights, but also for gastronomy. Spanish oxtail is a superb dish in my opinion, especially that of the south, in Córdoba, for example. It needs slow cooking and the meat of it is like gelatin, but it’s very pleasant to eat, and the flavour is subtle, yet tasty and completely incomparable to anything else. With some potatoes, it’s irresistible, haha.
And as for dishes for dessert or breakfast:
-Crema catalana (Catalan cream), It combines many sweet flavours, from vanilla to cinnamon, and on top of the custard, there’s usually crispy caramel.
-Chocolate con churros (Chocolate with churros), it’s the typical breakfast of Madrid. The combination of churros with a good hot chocolate is wonderful, especially in winter. By the way, the tradition of drinking hot thick chocolate is Spanish, although the British liked it so much that they took it in the 19th century and tried to make it theirs. It’s a very traditional drink in cold wintry days.
-Torta de Santiago (Cake of St. James), another typical dish of my beloved Santiago, in Galicia. It’s basically an almond pie, made with eggs and sugar. Combined with a good Earl Grey or Darjeeling, my favourite black teas, is excellent.
Here there are more extense descriptions of some of them, if you want to know a bit more: Top 10 Spanish foods. As you may know, Spanish food is among the healthies of the world, comparable to the Japanese diet, and thanks to that Spaniards are usually the 2nd or 3rd in the ranking of longevity.
May I ask what kind of Azerbaijani typical dishes you would recommend me? I feel quite curious about it ^^
Japan:
Thanks for those kind words ^^ Have you thought of travelling to Japan in the near future?
As for my Japanese, I study it with a private teacher at home. She’s Japanese, but has been living in Spain for more than 20 years, so she’s perfect for the job of teacher. We started with the first lessons on May, 2010, so soon it will be already 8 years. Time surely flies…
Haha, to your question of the day, my answer is: yes, absolutely ^^ I’ve always liked Japanese food, and I had some previous experience having tried genuine sushi or ramen in Japanese restaurants of here (where the cooks are from Japan). But, of course, there’s nothing like going to an original sushi-ya of Tokyo. A funny thing is that, since it was so delicious and the conversation with the cook was so interesting, I kind of lost track of how many makis and nigiris I was ordering, so I ended up eating quite a lot. After that dinner, I had to have a walk to help digestion, haha.
Oh, you also played YGO? I guess Azerbaijan and Spain are not so different after all, haha. I’m so glad to hear that. The “Blue-Eyes White Dragon” is certainly a card worth of being kept. In my case, I still have my deck of that time (progressively improved over time) and keep it with nostalgia.
“The Japanese are ultra-modern traditionalists, a quiet people who thrive on noise.”
That’s the most original and spot-on definition of the Japanese people I’ve ever heard. Indeed, for a foreigner, Japan is a contradictory and undecipherable country; but for them, it’s just natural to be, for example, a serious salaryman in the morning, and to play pachinko like crazy in the evening, or drink alcohol savagely in the night. It’s also a country in which one can find the finest courtesy and politeness, but where most of isolationist hikikomori and otaku live.
That’s why I like this image so much, since it shows a perfect combination between a Shinkansen, the Fuji and a sakura tree. That’s like Japan in a nutshell.
Finally, on to your question about whether I’ve considered moving to Japan or studying there, I have to say I’ve indeed thought of it many times. Several universities have educational plans for international students, one of which is mainly about diving in the language and lifestyle of Japan. That could be an interesting idea, but I’ve heard many experiences of gaijin living in Japan, whose opinion was basically that “Japan is perfect to visit it as a tourist, but Hell to live in there.” But who knows if that’s an exaggeration or not. I’m still dubious about it, and of course, right now I wouldn’t have the time to spend 5 months or a year there.
May I ask about your case? Apart from King’s College London, have you ever thought of other destinations to study abroad? Japan, maybe? ^^ (Or Spain, if I may ask, haha)
History:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs? That’s a very admirable dream job, and it’s very curious to see how similar it’s to the one I had some years ago: I wanted to enter the diplomatic career and, eventually, try to be a consul or ambassador (I usually imagined myself as the ambassador of Spain in Japan, haha). And it’s precisely because of my interest in diplomacy that I applied for the Military & Diplomatic History course I’m studying right now. Nevertheless, unlike working in the MFA entering it via public policy studies, the diplomatic career is deeply based on experience, and thus, it’s a long way to go. That’s why I don’t see it as the most realistic among the options I have for my future. Moreover, museums like El Prado or the San Pío V would be optimal destinations for me. But, again, who knows; fate is always very mysterious.
In any case, it’s good to hear you have such an ambitious dream job. The public administration grants a safe and stable job, plus the merit of being helpful to the country. With your capabilities, I’m pretty sure you have many probabilities to achieve that goal.
--
French Revolution:
Indeed, the French revolutionaries had a very high opinion on themselves, and thought they were saving humanity. And it’s true that the theoretical ideas of Enlightenment that inspired them were highly ethical and moral, full of noble purposes. However, as it usually happens with mankind, despite the good motivations, the outcome wasn’t as positive.
I called it a “Pandora’s box” mainly because the idea of the F.R. itself was the justification of the subversion of power: if the monarch isn’t “fair” or “good enough”, let’s kill him. That was the idea, more or less. And since the bourgeoisie of the epoch was so self-absorbed and narcissistic that they considered themselves as the only righteous estate of society, they saw any kind of ruler as dissatisfying and unworthy in their eyes. The paradox of it all is how they even killed themselves during Terror, to the point that even Robespierre was executed by the guillotine. That’s very representative of what the Revolution was in the end: a fratricidal purge of rivals of all kind, based on hatred and ambitions.
As for the long-term consequences, they’re not better: the idea of revolution as a “destruction of order” became one of the cancer of contemporary history, since it was used as an excuse for tyrannical minds to subvert stability and seize power. There are many examples of sinister revolutions in the 19th and 20th century, but the most illustrative one is, I think, the USSR and Stalin. Or as Orwell called him, the pig “Napoleon”, haha: ”All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”.
--
Japanese history:
Moving on to the more cheerful matter of Japanese history, I fully agree with your definition of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The Japanese regard it as one of their most peaceful eras, and truly a “Golden Age” of culture and arts, similarly to the Heian Period in the Middle Ages.
Without any doubt, those two periods of peace were the result of what Japan is capable of doing when they have intelligent leaders that care about their population. Well, intelligent and brave, such as Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose Machiavellianism facing the most rebellious warlords allowed him to achieve victory and unify the country under his banner. Without such cold-heartedness, nothing would have changed, and the state of civil war the Sengoku Period was would have continued for decades.
But, establishing a parallelism with Europe, the Tokugawa bravely centralized the country to unprecedented levels, providing Japan with stability, something that has always reminded me of the attempts of Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV to do so in France, or Count-Duke Olivares here in Spain. Even if it was a mere coincidence, it’s curious that the Tokugawa took exactly the same kind of political decisions that the post-Westphalian European countries took, deeply influenced by thinkers like Hobbes.
Thus, I can agree with your British teacher in the sense that Japan embraced “modern” ideals and clearly succeeded in being peaceful and stable, thanks to its insularity and the firm “Hobbesian” policies of the Shogun, while struggles for power in Europe were endless. Nevertheless, the Tokugawa system was deeply feudal, with medieval traits, not unlike Europe, but the same isolation that provided Japan with prosperity, eventually made the country defenseless against Western powers of the imperialist era.
P.S.:
I’m afraid I made a very silly mistake when I recommended you Friendship and pasted a link to a Japanese version of it: BookDepository. I’m not sure why I thought it was in English. Mea culpa >.<
Searching for it, it doesn’t seem there’s any English edition of it, and that’s terrible, since it’s a really nice story. But I’ll keep looking for it, not only in online shops, but I’ll ask my father for help, since he’s an “expert” about books, and knows many rare second-hand shops where it could be found. That, if there’s actually an English translation of it…
With all that said, I hope you have a nice start of the week ^_^
Çox sevimdim ki bəyəndin :) Nəhayət artiq başqa biri də mənim kimi bu animeni sevdi :)
Təxmin edirdim ki bəyənəsən,ama həmdə qorxurdum birdən bəyənmərsən,çünki bu animeni meslehet gorduyum 2-3 insan baxib sonra pislemisdi :( Ama şükür favorilərin arasina girdi ^^
Ending mahnisi he,ən sevdiyim ED'den biridi. Mən də dəfələrlə qulaq asiram və yenə də doymuram,birde hele "setsunai omoi" ost'u. Hər dəfə ona qulaq asanda o sirkdəki qiz'in hekayesi yadima düşür,ən təsirli episodan biri idi :)
Bu arada mende kuudere'leri sevirem. Illk başlarda Enma'ni çox da sevmesemde getdikce onu xeyli sevdim.
Onu da deyim ki Jigoku Shoujo'nu dub ile izleyenler çox şey itirib. Ancaq sub ile baxilasi animelerden biridi hemde Jigoku,o Enma'nin səsini axi kim və necə əvəz edə bilər :)
Çox heyif ki Jigoku kimi möhtəşəm mistika janrinda animeler artiq demək olar çəkilmir və ya çoxx nadir halda çəkilir :( O vaxtlari həqiqətən bu janra aid animeler çox çəkilirdi indi isə ama olsa ya olmasa.
2-ci sezona başlamagin yaxsi oldu,iyi seyirler. Men hele 2-ye baxmagi bu yaxin aylarda edəcəm. Birinci həm qorxurdum ki bu möhtəşəm sezondan sonra növbətilər zəif olar,elə olsa çox pis olardim və çox heyfslənərdim. Həmdə birdə belə animeni nə vaxt görəcəm,istəmirəm tez baxib qurtarim. Ama yaxin zamanlarda başlayacam,ondan əvvəl ilk sezonu rewatch edəcəm,hər şeyi çox xatirlayiram ama yene baxmaq isteyirem,nə qədər olsa bezmərəm bəlkə))
Əsas mən sənə minnətdaram ki bu animeni izledin) Hə bu janrlarda əsasən zövqlərimiz oxşayir :) 2-ci sezonda xoş seyirler)
A museum is certainly an optimal place for shy people like us, so whenever the time to work comes for me, that would be my very first option. I’m still a student, though, so those are merely my wishes for the near future.
May I ask what kind of job would be your optimal option? Studying public policy would allow you to work in the public administration, wouldn’t it?
Regarding History, I see your interests lean towards the contemporary era. That’s really interesting, indeed. Of the 19th I’m very fond of Bismarck’s period, imperialism and diplomacy up until the two great wars. After 1945, the History was pretty much dead and I find nothing of that period is interesting anymore, haha.
Hearing that you’re interested in Revolutionary France makes me want to ask you something: Have you read The Count of Monte-Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas? It’s one of my favourite books so far, and it takes place during the Bourbon Restoration (1814~1815), when Napoleon is defeated, monarchy is restored in France, and there’s finally peace and order in Europe. I bet you would find it very interesting, and not only from the historical point of view, but for its plot: an epic story about revenge, the loss of innocence and self-improvement.
Personally, of that epoch I prefer the Restoration to the Revolution itself. Given my sympathy for monarchy and statu quo, I see the French Revolution as an utter failure in History: a bloody period of terror, violence and anarchy that had to be finished by the same kind of governor the revolutionaries abhorred back in 1789: Napoleon, an “emperor” with authoritarian powers.
It’s quite ironic, and yet, it’s the natural consequence for that. In ancient Rome it happened exactly the same: the anarchic and chaotic period of the civil wars only came to an end thanks to powerful leaders, Julius Caesar and later on Caesar Augustus, the founder of the Empire. And, personally, I see what happened in France as pretty much the same kind of cycle.
At university there was a professor who was a fanatic admirer of the Revolution, and precisely because of that, I could see all the terrible flaws and mistakes of that period. Far from “a bliss to Europe” (as he called the revolution), I think the F.R. was more of a “Pandora box to Europe”.
We could say I lean towards the conservative opinion of Edmund Burke, in regard to the revolution and its achievements.
Moving on to Japanese history, I also find the Tokugawa Shogunate as one of the most interesting periods. However, if I were to say a favourite one, I would say the Sengoku Period, with all its political intrigues, war between clans, the ambition of daimyos and the arrival of the first Europeans, bringing Christianism and powder weapons (of course, the Japanese were only interested in the latter, haha). Warlords like Nobunaga Oda are extremely fascinating figures, in the way they managed to put an end to the reigning chaos and reestablish order, even if ephemerally. Only when Tokugawa Ieyasu, sly as a fox, instituted the Shogunate, peace came back to Japan.
The political aspects of the Tokugawa period are very interesting too, and I bet that you’ll find them fascinating, given your interest in public policy. The Shogun was very clever taken advantage of the weakness of the daimyos after the war to centralize the country, and like Caesar or Napoleon, that’s another good example of how a strong power can end chaos and provide peace and order to the people. Just like Thomas Hobbes or Nicholas Machiavelli claim in the Leviathan and The Prince, respectively.
Apart from those periods, I also have a special interest for the Heian Era, when the Emperor still had some relevance in Kyoto, and peace allowed culture to flourish. It’s interesting to note that the imperial faction during Meiji Restoration claimed that Japan had to forget about Shoguns and go back to “the good old times when the Emperor ruled”, in reference to the Heian period. It’s curious, because their ideas were fundamentally medieval, and yet, it was the imperial faction that which allowed Japan to leave feudalism and embrace modern technology and ideas of the 19th century. The Meiji Era was full of paradoxes like that, and that makes it all the more interesting, don’t you think?
Murakami:
I do see you’re certainly passionate about Murakami, and I really admire such kind of passion in a person. I think your enthusiasm for his works are like my fervor for chivalric literature: you love it or you hate it (for some, me included, King Arthur’s legends are the epitome of European values of knighthood and nobility, while for others, they are just some old boring stories).
I sincerely appreciate your recommendations, and will begin reading his books as soon as possible. Thank you very much for those explicative pages. I see he has some short fictional stories, so those could be interesting ways of entering Murakami’s universe (I really enjoy Japanese short fiction, and perhaps Akutagawa is one of the most representative of that kind of literature). But following your recommendation, I would like to consider 1Q84 as my first book as well; even more knowing that the title is actually a reference to Orwell’s 1984, a novel that I really loved reading. Reading the summaries of it, I see it somehow resembles Orwell’s book, doesn’t it? If the plot and pace are similar, I think I’ll really enjoy reading it.
Japanese literature:
I fully agree with your opinion on Thousand Cranes. Similarly to how you described Murakami’s works, this novel depicts messy relationships, frustrating decisions, and pain, in general. It’s very human, showing raw emotions that clash with the traditional moral of the time. And, as you said, one can learn quite a lot from tea ceremony, with all its elegance, subtleness and hidden aspects.
One of my recommendations was actually going to be Kawabata’s Senbazuru, but I’ll have to think of others, haha.
So, one of my favourite books, and definitely one I would like to recommend you, is Friendship`( 友情 Yuujou), by Saneatsu Mushanokôji in 1920. It’s a rare little book, which not many people know, but that one usually loves when reading it. It’s main premise is, as the title says, the friendship between two young men of letters. The both of them have a noble spirit and believe in high values, until a woman appears between them and changes everything. Can a friendship based on noble values resist selfishness and love? That’s what the novel is about: the clash between ego, love and comradery.
It’s hard to find it, for it’s not really popular at all. Ironically, it seems the Spanish edition is more common to find than the English. In any case, here it is, in case you're interested: BookDepository.
It’s a nice short novel which can be read in just a couple of days.
The following books I'd like to recommend you are by Shusaku Endo, one of my favourite writers. He was raised in a Catholic family, so many of his works revolve around Christianism, from the historical and philosophical point of view of a Japanese. And that’s very interesting, because in his historical novels he combines his Catholic culture with his Japanese mindset, something very rare to see elsewhere. That’s why I would say he’s maybe the best author to read about how Christianism entered Japan in the 16th century, interacted with Japanese traditions, and eventually failed to convince them.
Shusaku, when narrating his stories, shows the objectivity of a historian, being equally critical towards missionaries and towards the Japanese authorities to explain why Catholicism failed to enter Japan. However, besides the historical aspects, his novels are strongly philosophical and human, in which we can see his characters going from a blind faith in religion to utterly crumbling down in desperation.
Another interesting aspect is that he explains very well the first encounters between Europeans and Japanese, in which Spain had a very relevant role. Many of the characters of his novels are Portuguese and Spanish in the 16th~17th centuries, which, as you know now, is one of my favourite periods in Japanese history.
So, with all that said, my recommendations are his two most famous and admirable works:
-The Samurai. This is maybe the best of his works. It’s a historical novel based on the real events of the Keichô Embassy of Hasekura Tsunenaga and his fellow samurai, in which Endo makes the characters face many philosophical dilemmas while accomplishing their mission.
Personally, I find that embassy is maybe one of the most fascinating events of the history of diplomacy, for it was the second time Japanese people visited Europe (the first one was some years before: the Tenshô Embassy). Hasekura and his samurai are sent to Madrid and Rome to ask for military help to the King of Spain and the Pope, since Catholics are being brutally chased down and executed by the Tokugawa authorities. Thus, the expedition of these samurai (who, at first, were not Catholic, and were in fact quite reluctant to understand why an emaciated man like Jesus was admirable in the eyes of the Europeans whatsoever) leads through the Pacific and the Atlantic, visiting New Spain (Mexico), Spain and Italy, and then going back home.
The journey is not only an odyssey in terms of distance, but an introspective adventure as well. For those samurais nothing will be the same: they’ve learnt a lot about Christian religion, and some of them embrace it, despite their initial dilemmas. That’s why, knowing they’ll be prosecuted in Japan, many of those samurai refused to go back there, and ended up living in Spain (there’s still a village called Coria del Río, in which part of the population has the surname “Japón”, as they’re descendants of those samurai. It’s like a small Japanese town in Spain, haha). Others, Hasekura included, bravely decide to go back home, with all their new knowledge and experiences.
Shusaku Endo combines history, diplomacy, religion and philosophy so masterfully, that the novel couldn’t be more complete and rich in content, in my opinion.
-Silence. This novel is less historical than philosophical. This time, the main character is a Portuguese missionary who travels to Japan knowing that the Tokugawa have banned Christianism. He has a strong (even fanatical) faith in the beginning, and doesn’t care about the consequences; he even says that martyrdom wouldn’t be that bad. However, when he sees the reality of Japan and the suffering of the Kirishitan (the Japanese Christians), he begins to have an existential crisis, and his faith begins to weaken. He, who at first arrogantly accused the Kirishitan of being weak and told them not to give up Christianism, even under torture, eventually faces the consequences of that fanaticism, and crumbles down psychologically.
Silence is a lot darker than The Samurai, yet very enjoyable, and makes one reflect on religion, political interests, personal ambitions and beliefs, etc. In short, a good definition of the theme of the novel would be that “we’re not as strong as we think we are”.
Finally, not to overextend this comment, I’d like to recommend Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan. Lafcadio Hearn is what we could call a “bridge” between Japan and the West. He was a Greek-Irish journalist who was sent temporarily to Japan, and there he opened his eyes to the sophistication and elegance of the Meiji Era. His admiration for the country grew up so much, that he decided to forget all about his job, and begin a new life there. He even married a Japanese lady and received the name of Koizumi Yakumo.
His works about Japan are mostly of two types: compilation of old tales, such as Kwaidan and In Ghostly Japan; or journey diaries, such as my recommendation of Lafcadio Hearn’s Japan, in which he describes his experiences in Japan: from his initial surprise, seeing all kind of exotic things, and impressed by the language, to his efforts to understand the Japanese people and become one of them. That’s why, even though it’s from the 19th century and Japan has changed quite drastically, through Hearn’s books and diaries people like us can share his emotions of fascination towards Japanese culture and traditions, and understand how much of a “culture shock” it is to be there.
I would say Hearn is one of the finest ways to understand the Japanese mentality for a non-Japanese. At least, his books are fairly more entertaining than a serious study as The Chrysanthemum and the Sword is.
For now, I’ll leave it here, although I have some other Japanese-related books I’d like to talk you about in future comments. However, with your suggestions of Murakami and my recommendations of Mushanokouji, Endo and Hearn, I think we have plenty of interesting things to read now, haha.
It’ll be very enriching to recommend more books to each other. And not only about Japan, but learning about Azerbaijan culture through your recommendations would be fascinating for me. I can suggest you some books about Spain history and/or literature too, if you feel interested.
Oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you that I signed up in GoodReads and took the liberty of sending you a friend request there. It would be a great pleasure if you accepted it ^^
Such interesting topics needed a long response. I just hope you can forgive me for this massive text wall ^^U
Please don't feel compelled to reply to everything, even less if you're busy or tired because of university.
At the risk of wiriting way too much and bothering you (I hope I don't >.<U I'm sorry if I make you spend too much time reading all this) and before posting the second part of my response, please allow me to expand a little bit my previous commentary of the Last Scene, with a couple of analysis.
This first one is one I wrote during a conversation with an Asuka-hater fan who exculpated Shinji for everything he had made. He even called Asuka “red devil”, while considering Shinji was the “victim”. Thus, I had no other option but to respond to him, in defense of Asuka. The main theme of it was Shinji’s selfish attitude, but I also commented some things about how the kiss scene can be actually related to the Last Scene, in terms of parallelism and similar behaviours.
(*) About Shinji’s selfishness, and how the kiss scene can be related to the Last Scene:
CesukeZ said: He knew Asuka was similar to him, after he saw her tears while saying “Mama” in ep.9, but he never tried to become an emotional support for her. Take the kiss scene as an example: Asuka, who uses the memory of his mother to make him accept, firstly waits for him to take the initiative; he doesn’t move; she proceeds with it, and Shinji is excited with it (oh, human contact! yay!), but doesn’t move; Asuka is waiting for something else and waits... waits... waits... until Shinji, almost suffocating, pushes her. He just cared about what he felt, but didn’t even think about Asuka’s emotions at that moment. He’s a teenager after all, curious about the opposite gender and craving affection; but he’s not willing to give anything, just taking it.
Another good example would be the Last Scene: Shinji, out of madness, brutally strangles Asuka (for whatever reason, be it to prove her existence, to kill her, or as a hallucination from Instrumentality), to which she unexpectedly responds with compassion. But what does he do next? Just curl up and cry like a baby. He's received kindness from the last person he could have expected to receive it, and all he can do it to cry? Even though she's made the effort to reach out to him, he, once more, thinks just of his own pain, and cries. Well, then there's no wonder why Asuka shows such coldness in the end (that and, obviously, the nauseating memory of him "showing her some affection" in the hospital). It reminded me of how she says "No" in the Kitchen scene, seeing Shinji as the pathetic being he is. She's no less pathetic to a certain extent, but at least she was strong enough not to shed a single tear, although she had reasons to.
I don't blame him for crying in that apocalyptic beach after all he went through (Kaworu’s death, Third Impact, Instrumentality, etc.). But, seeing it from Asuka's POV, he was there, like with the kiss, completely passive. She took the initiative (with the kiss, and on the beach caressing him), and all she received was nothing: Shinji standing there like a statue in the former; and Shinji curling up and crying in the latter. He didn't show her any kind of affection or support; it was all just "Me, me and only me" and that would explain why Asuka feels so bitter, very rightfully (after the kiss she regrets having kissed him; and in the beach, she says “How disgusting” probably referring to him).
In contrast to Shinji's avoidant personality, Asuka was considerably more "active" trying to get closer to him, although erratically. She even dared asking Shinji for a kiss, most likely out of frustration/teenager curiosity. She even visited him in the hospital when he was injured. But, what did Shinji offered to her? Nothing at all. Asuka did her best to show some sort of "kindness" towards others (even to Rei, her Nemesis). But no one gave her anything. Not even Hikari, her best friend, could manage to help her; and, of course, NERV's only purpose was to use her as a pilot, regardless of her emotional angst. She's indeed a tragic character, whose aattitude didn't help her become closer to the others either.
That’s why Kaworu was like a dream to Shinji: he offered him an impossible kind of love, in which he would receive but not give. Pure happiness, but not real. Such kind of relationship simply cannot exist in reality, and thus Kaworu died.
And, even with all that in mind, he dares accusing the Trinity of Women of being “ambiguous” with him, and even told them “to be nice to him” if they ever wanted something in exchange. He is undoubtedly selfish, and in EoE, becomes immoral and despicable. That’s why, feeling so much related to Asuka as I feel, I can’t help but to despise him. I don’t exculpate Asuka for her faults, but Shinji is far from being innocent whatsoever.
The second one is a little analysis by Bagheera on EvaGeeks forums, talking about Asuka’s reasons to be bitter at Shinji in the end, and why it’s reasonable to consider that ‘Kimochi warui’ was to show such resentment.
(**)Asuka’s bitterness:
Bagheera said: How could she not be bitter? Even the most charitable view of her has to acknowledge that she has ample reason. To hell with her final words, she was raped, abandoned, cast aside, and ultimately dismembered while everyone's hero Shinji did absolutely nothing to save her. And let's not forget he then went the extra mile and masturbated over her comatose body. Yes, she made things worse for herself. Yes, there was nothing he could really do. But no bitterness at all?
Come now. She's a girl, a human being, not a saint. She'd have to feel bitter after all that. Instrumentality might give her the chance to put it in perspective and give him a second chance, but anything beyond that just ignores the show's events and what they mean to her.
At best, she can blame Shinji for not helping her fight the harpies sooner. But listen to her lines over the comm system when she is. She doesn't sound bitter. She sounds angry, yes, but everything we know about Asuka gives her reason to sound angry. Indeed, whenever she is angry at Shinji, it's usually not for the reason she says it is. When they kiss, and she subsequently runs to the bathroom, she's not angry because she kissed him, she's angry because Shinji stood limp and didn't even try to embrace her.
His behavior reflects guilt and teenage hormones, not love. He never showed much regard for her at all over the course of the series, and that holds true up to the final scene of the show.
He still wasn't there for her. He's the one who got better sync scores than she did. He's the one whose Eva responded to him. He's the one who didn't comfort her after Arael tore apart her mind. He's the one who disgraced her in the hospital room. He's the one who didn't rescue her when the Eva series tore her apart. He's the one who let her mama die.
But really, none of that's the important part. He's also the one who didn't pay attention to her. He's the one who didn't respond to her kiss. He's the one who wouldn't hold her. He's the one who didn't understand what she was saying to him. He's the one who gave up!
None of this is rational, or fair, but that's not the point. It's still true, and it's how hatred works.
If Instrumentality is a panacea the whole point about opening up to others, about life being pain but still worth living, goes right out the window. Asuka proves that that's not how it worked with her final words.
Our conversation includes so many and so varied matters, that I've splitted my response in two, so that it's more comfortable to read. I hope you don't mind that I post these separatedly.
EVA:
The Last Scene is indeed the most ambiguous and debatable element of all Evangelion, and good proof of it is that even its name is a matter of debate. Some people, due to the timing in which the title ‘I Need You’ is shown, think that’s the name of the ending scene. But that’s actually the belated title of the second half of EoE. Of course, that’s something shippers don’t like to acknowledge, so it’s a bit difficult to convince them.
In short, ‘I Need You’ complements the other three ending titles of chapters 25, 26 and 25’, in which is a perfect depiction of Hedgehog’s Dilemma: Do You Love Me? > Love is Destructive > Take Care of Yourself > I Need You. Human relationships are difficult and painful, but still, we can’t live without others. It’s an optimistic message, but very harsh if one considers that Anno was sending it to depressive and isolated people: “no matter how much others hurt you, you must endure pain. Fantasies won’t save you. Forget escapism and face reality as it is”. That’s what I think Anno was trying to convey in the end, and his experience with depression helped him quite a lot.
(By the way, here’s reddit article about the complementation of the last title cards: Complementation of the Title Cards. It’s a great deal better explained than what I said, haha.)
On to my views on the Last Scene and ‘Kimochi Warui’, I also struggle to find only one explanation for it. As you said, depending on how you see it and how you translate Asuka’s line, it can be directed to Shinji, to herself or to humankind in general.
However, Yuko Miyamura did give us some clues, when she described how she made up that infamous line: ” Concerning the final line we adopted, I'm not sure whether I should say about it in fact. At last Anno asked me "Miyamura, just imagine you are sleeping in your bed and a stranger sneaks into your room. He can rape you anytime as you are asleep but he doesn't. Instead, he masturbates looking at you, when you wake up and know what he did to you. What do you think you would say?" I had been thinking he was a strange man, but at that moment I felt disgusting. So I told him that I thought "Disgusting". And then he sighed and said "... thought as much." He said. "I thought as much."”.
That doesn’t explain much apart from the fact that she was thinking of the hospital scene when making up the line. Does it mean Asuka is only referring to that specific scene when waking up and saying it? I don’t think so, and I do agree with you in the sense that there might be many elements behind Asuka’s words: disgust towards Shinji, the world, Instrumentality and even herself.
In any case, considering how Asuka looks at Shinji so glacially and says the phrase in the coldest voice possible (as Anno told Miyamura to say it), I think it’s very likely that it might be referred to Shinji specifically.
What’s somehow clear is that Shinji had lost the little sanity he had left by EoE, and considering his relationship with Asuka was full of misunderstandings and contempt in the end, he chose to eliminate her when he saw her in that beach.
He chose to live in a world with pain, but maybe he didn't expect the first human being he would meet would be precisely that who hurt him so much. Perhaps, Shinji regretted his decision, and wanted to actively eliminate Asuka (i.e. a source of pain). But when Asuka touches his face, he realizes he's not that strong, and thus, he crumbles. (*)
Some say that he just wanted to “feel” Asuka’s presence by “placing his hands on her neck”, but that’s hardly believable, since seeing how he pressures her neck makes clear that he was about to kill her.
All in all, that scene is the most accurate depiction of reality and human interaction with its dilemmas: there might be understanding (caress), but there's also pain (strangulation, Kimochi Warui). Not everything in life is happy or painful, but that’s how reality is.That’s why I would say Asuka can be seen as a source of uncertainty in the last scene: the uncertainty of real life, in which there might be happiness, but also rejection and pain.
Also, the fact we see just the two of them coming back may have to do with Anno’s message: if utterly broken people like Shinji or Asuka are willing to come back to reality, then actually anyone can do it too. Shinji is the representation of avoidance and isolation, while Asuka would rather be extreme individualism and loneliness. If people like those can exit from a depression (i.e. Instrumentality), then any of us can too.
In any case, after Instrumentality, A.T. Fields are up, and thus, Asuka's Wall of Jericho as well. Therefore, unless Shinji manages to prove her he can help her in any way (which he didn't throughout the whole series/film), and unless Asuka's pride forgets about what happened between them (especially the hospital scene: "how disgusting", but not only that; she has many reasons to be bitter towards him)I find it quite unlikely that they will fully reconcile. Maybe to the point of being friends, but definitely not lovers as shippers believe. (**)
In the end, the Last Scene, as I see it, is rather simple. The way the film opens, is the way the film ends. But in the latter case, it was the preferred world. Guilt, pain, shame, hatred, insecurity, were found in the new world, just as the old; it was not love that washed onto that beach, but alienation. We are not being fed a happy ending that strays from reality, but a journey, and perhaps a contemptible vicious cycle that creates counterexample.
At least, that’s the idea that comes from reading these interviews with EoE’s co-director Kazuya Tsurumaki:
‘Amusing Himself to Death’ Why does Evangelion end violently, and somewhat unhappily?
Kazuya Tsurumaki:People are accustomed to sweet, contrived, happy endings. We wanted to broaden the genre, and show people an ugly, unhappy ending.
‘A Story of Communication’ At the end of this movie, Shinji seems to have reached a sort of settlement regarding troubles of the heart. KT - Well, my personal view is, "Do we really need to complement these troubles of the heart?" Regardless of whether or not we are complemented, have troubles, or find our answers, interpersonal relations exist, and the world goes on. I thought the last scene meant to say that life goes on.
In the end, Evangelion was a story about communication -- at least judging from that last scene.
KT – That was the intent from the start of the TV series. That was what I tried to produce from episode 2 onward.
Since he was the closest collaborator of Anno while making the film, I want to believe that he knows what he’s talking about, even though it’s obvious that Evangelion is Anno’s work, so only he has the definitive answers to everything.
--
On a slightly different note, I see you have Tiffany Grant on your list favourite people. I haven’t watched NGE in English, but my good friend from Alabama has usually told me Grant’s performance as Asuka is very natural and professional. Also, she can speak German, so that gave her some advantage compared to Miyamura, it seems.
However, I have only watched Evangelion in Spanish and Japanese. 4 times, if I’m not mistaken. The first ones in Spanish, when I was young (I first watched it on TV being 14 years old, very appropriately, haha), and the other 2 times in Japanese, being older.
Have you watched it in several languages?
Azerbaijan:
I see it’s certainly controversial and somehow problematic. I think that, while language diversity is enriching for the culture of a country, it’s disastrous for its unity and politics. Countries like France, strongly centralized, have only one regulated language (French from Paris, as they call it); others, like Canada or Spain have to struggle with minor languages inside the country (French in Canada, and regional languages like Basque and Catalan here), which can cause political problems.
The case of Azerbaijan is very interesting, since the Bolshevik occupation is involved. It seems the elites from Soviet times have now transformed into a Russian-speaking establishment (the ‘intelligentsia’ you’ve mentioned) with some more opportunities.
Even so, I’m glad to hear you have knowledge of the both languages (even if your friend “forced” you to be fluent with Russian, haha).
That’s a very unique case, indeed, although I guess other former Soviet republics have the same problem. Ukraine, for instance. That, plus the atrocities of the Soviets (during WWII and the later occupation of East Europe and countries like Azerbaijan) are part of the reasons why I abhor the USSR so much. I have a natural aversion towards communism, we could say, haha.
May I ask if the gap you said that exists between Azeri and Russian speaking population implies that there’s any kind of political or social turmoil whatsoever? Moreover, if you don’t mind me to ask this, I also wonder how the situation of religion is. I mean, from my rather ignorant point of view about Azerbaijan, I presume that Azeri-speaking families are closer to Islam, while Russian-speakers lean towards Orthodox Christianism. Is that a problem at all, or the laicism of the State prevents any kind of problem regarding religious beliefs?
In a country like Spain, with a Catholic history and culture, and a population which is majorly Catholic, there are no problems regarding religion; but even nowadays, there are many countries in which religion is still a source of unrest and conflict. I know Azerbaijan is usually cited as an example of a perfect laic country, but having neighbours such as Iran and Turkey on the one side, and Russia on the other, makes me think that the influences of Islam and Orthodoxy may be there. And since you talked about that gap between Azeri and Russian speakers, I thought there could be a sort of connection with religion as well.
It’s not that I’m much of a religious person (although I have a strong Catholic cultural baggage), but I’m very interested in the history and current situation of religions. We live in supposedly secular societies, and few Western states have an “official religion” anymore, but without any doubt, religion is still a major element in the world, even if it’s conveniently “hidden”. For example, Japan claims to be completely laic, but Shinto-Buddhism is omnipresent (even in anime), and according to the legends, the Emperor is a descendant of the Shinto gods that created Japan. Great Britain is another funny example, for its modern laicism is in conflict with the curious fact that the Chief of State, the Queen, is the Head of the Anglican Church.
History cannot be left apart, no matter how much politicians try. Even France, the epitome of atheism, has a large Catholic basis and culture, and the history of the country is deeply related to Catholicism (as a matter of fact, the birth of France is usually said to be the conversion to Catholicism of the king of Franks, Clodoveus I).
I think cases like Russia and Spain nowadays are really interesting in regard to religion: in the former, despite the dark period of the USSR, Putin has given back the Orthodox Church the influence it has always had historically. And in the case of Spain, while there’s of course freedom of belief, the Constitution does acknowledge the “special relationship between Spain and the Roman Catholic Church”; not in vain the birth of Spain, similarly to France’s case, is based on the conversion of a king to Catholicism, (Reccared I in 589), and later on, the Spanish Empire was known as the armed arm of the Pope, haha. Those are elements we can’t forget. I think our case is interesting, because Spain is neither a full laic country like France, nor a confessional country like Greece or Denmark; it’s kind of a third way in which modern laicism is combined with a historical-cultural respect towards religion.
Finally, going back to the language, pardon my ignorance on the matter asking this, but I have to say I’m really curious about it: is Azeri language close to Turkish? And is there any other influence on it, such as from Arabian or Russian? The reason why I ask this is because, as far as I see, Azeri alphabet uses Latin writing instead of Cyrillic or Arabic calligraphy, doesn’t it?
For what you said, I guess the Azeri language was written using Cyrillic alphabet during the Soviet time, and that Russian largely influenced it.
Spain:
Yes, Ibiza is very popular among youngsters of all Europe, but not for the best of reasons, I may say. I mean, even though the Balearic Islands have a very rich cultural and historical heritage, Ibiza has become a sinister place of immorality, with cheap alcohol, discos, perversion of all kind, etc. It’s very sad, honestly, and Ibiza inhabitants have to struggle with that every day, especially in summer, when most foreigners go. And the funniest thing of all is that we could hardly call those people “tourists”, since they don’t visit the cities or invest in restaurants and hotels, but spend just a little on cheap flights and apartments, so that their impact in local economy is almost nonexistent, despite the many troubles they cause.
So, my first recommendation is not to go there, haha. At least not to Ibiza island. Nearby ones, like Mallorca, are indeed a great deal better places to see.
As for Barcelona, it’s indeed a very interesting place, since it combines the typical Spanish culture and gastronomy with the regional Catalan traditions, so the city has many things to offer to the visitors. Nevertheless, I’ve never liked it too much, personally, for it’s always so crowded with tourists, and the Catalan people aren’t the nicest one could meet, so, all in all, I think there are fairly better cities to visit in Spain apart from Barcelona. Using modern jargon, we could say that, to a certain point, Barcelona is largely “overrated”, haha.
That’s why, if you ask me about a purely traditionally Spanish city, I would say, without any doubt, Córdoba or Toledo. The both of them have all you could wish for: good typical food, history and museums everywhere, medieval cathedrals and mosques, and a deep Spanish essence.
Honestly, I have a special affection for Toledo, since its cathedral is one of the most beautiful of Spain (it combines all styles from Gothic to Baroque), and the city is still proud of its heritage as the imperial capital of Emperor Charles V of Habsburg. Toledo is like a city-museum, I would say.
But Córdoba is no less, especially with the impressive Mosque-Cathedral of the times of the Umayyad, and its beautiful columns. Entering there is like going to a mystic dimension where Baroque iconography of Jesus and the Saints is combined with Koranic verses on the walls.
Then, there’s Madrid, another must-visit place. Personally, I prefer it to Barcelona, not only since it’s the capital city, but because of all it can offer. For example, the Prado Museum and the Royal Palace (which is the largest of all Western Europe, by the way) are of an unparalleled beauty and interest. Or the impressive monastery-palace of El Escorial, near Madrid, is also worth being visited (the monastery's library and the Mausoleum of the Kings are truly breathtaking). Moreover, precisely because it’s the capital, one can find food and articles from all regions of Spain; I’m especially fond of its libraries, especially second-hand ones, in which there are fascinating books for very cheap prices.
Finally, other good options would be Santiago in the north-west, with its magnificent cathedral and traditional Celtic and medieval atmosphere. Or also Valencia, where I live, in which there are many old and new monuments to see,. The gastronomy of both cities (which are in the opposite sides of the peninsula) is the most delicious of Spain, in my opinion.
Santiago has the most succulent seafood and fishes, And here in Valencia we’re proud of being the birth place of famous paella, which I’m sure you must have heard of before (by the way, given how terrible they make it in other regions, I would advise you to never eat paella unless you’re here, haha).
Trip to Japan:
Haha, yes, we could say it’s the Holy Land for otakus. My opinion of the trip was very positive, although I lowered my expectations before going there, so that I wouldn’t get disappointed. I’ve heard of cases of otakus who expected to be in Heaven when going to Japan, but then realized it’s just another place of Earth, with its eccentricities, virtues and vices. So, to avoid feeling that way, I tried not to think of this as the trip of my life, but just as a special journey. That strategy proved to be really useful, haha.
Just as I expected, there were places which really impressed me and others that were not as great as I thought; but in general, everything was very interesting.
For instance, the underground of Tokyo (which is mandatory to use if one wants to move freely in the city) was very intuitive and in the end, it was quite easy to go even to distant places. Moreover, as it’s usually said, the Japanese are very clean people, so it was very pleasant to have a walk, or to go to public restrooms. They are also very courteous, and I met really friendly people who asked me about Europe, and who were surprised that I studied Japanese; I was usually referred to as “gaijin-san” (Mr. Foreigner, haha).
(On to the term gaijin (literally, “foreigner”), there's a very uncomfortable controversy with its usage, since it reminds of the times of sonnô jôi and, in certain circumstances, it's used to show the hidden xenophobia and racism of the Japanese society. However, in more amiable situations, such as the one I was when they called me gaijin-san, I saw it as a show of affection and politeness, rather than contempt.
In fact, it was in a sushi restaurant I went to have dinner alone and the cook was in front of the customers, just as it is in traditional sushi-ya (that's not where I went, haha; it's a random picture I found, but it's very similar to the place I went) While preparing the sushi and maki I ordered, he asked me in English (or better said, Japanese Engrish, much more difficult to understand than common English, haha) some things, and was very pleased when I replied to him in Japanese. Then, he began calling me gaijin-san, and talking about some of his trips to Europe. In the end, not only the cook, but also some of the customers next to me, said "adiós" when I was leaving. It was quite embarrassing, haha, but it proved that they were far from showing animosity when using the term gaijin.)
However, not everyone was as open and nice, and I also met those introvert and anti-social Japanese people usually talk about: those who don’t bother looking at others while walking or being in the metro, and who just care about the screen of their mobile phone.
As for shrines, temples and museums, it was certainly interesting to visit them, although some of them were utterly crowded with tourists (especially the Shinto shrine of Nikko, where the Tomb of Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa is), so that the romance of visiting them was minimum. Others, like Yasukuni (both the shrine and the Army Museum next to it) or the Edo-Tokyo Museum, were not as crowded, so that it was more pleasant to visit them.
Finally, the shops of Akihabara were as impressive as I thought. DVDs, BDs, manga, figures and doujins everywhere. What I didn’t like was the accessibility of hentai, and I felt consternated when I saw a mother with her son seeing a shounen manga shelf which was next to a section of fully pornographic doujins. I think the Japanese have assumed that such a naughty part of manganime culture exists and think of it as a natural thing, but the fact that it is so blatantly accesible, even to under-age children, is quite disturbing.
On a positive note, something that surprised me about Akihabara was how YuGiOh seems to be still alive and popular. I really love YGO cards and duels, and the anime series is a very important part of my childhood (also Pokémon and Digimon), but iIn Spain it’s pretty much a “dead” franchise, and very few shops actually. But, in Japan, there were plenty of “card trade shops”, with large showcases full of collectible cards. Most of them were YGO cards, in Japanese and English, although there were also others from franchises such as ‘Magic’. I spent a whole afternoon in one of those shops, seeing all the cards, but I didn’t buy any in the end. I felt tempted to acquire all the cards of my deck in Japanese, in order to have a JAP version of it, but the prices of some of them were prohibitive, haha. What I did buy were some packs of card sleeves, one of which had a design of Saber, from Fate/Stay Night.
To sum up, Japan is a country of lights and shadows, with admirable and reprehensible aspects. I think The Chrysanthemum and the Sword by Ruth Benedict, sums up this apparent contradiction very well, and the title itself couldn't be more suitable to show this duality of behaviour. Along with the other books I wanted to recommend you, this one is really worth reading it, especially before going to Japan.
Ost ucun təşəkür :)) Gözəldi, 2-ci deqiqe'sinden sonra isə daha yaxsi olur :)
Ümid edirem dediyin kimi senin ucun yaddaqalan anime olar))
He anlayiram,Universitet zamani mende'de vaxt yox idi,indi ama hele ki vaxt tapiram :) Bele qiş sezonu biraz güclüdü məncə
Məsələn Sora yori mo Tooi Basho,Madhouse studiyasinin çəkdiyi anime. Antarktidaya səhayət etmək istəyən 4 qizdan bəhs edən anime. Çox sevdim bu anime'ni,3 episod ərzində xeyli güldüm,personajlar,onlarin xarakterləri və onlarin necə deyək,açilişi əladi. Hekaye'si de maraqlidi,qizin anasi bir vaxtlar antarktidaya gedib ve sonra itib,geri qayitmadigina görə,qiz ora gedib ona tapmaq isteyir. Potensiali güclüdü.
Darling in the Franxx'da aid ümidlərim çoxdu,ilk episodu Evangelionu xatirlatdi. Məncə bu anime təəcübləndirməyi bacaracaq. Violet Evergarden'de var hele,favori demezdim heleki. Animasiya ve qrafika nece'de gözəldi,inana bilmirem ki serial formatli anime'de bele gözəlik görə bilərdim. Ama hekaye cehetden heleki çox da maraqli gəlməyib.
"Kokkoku" da izlemek isteyirem,mistika janrinda olan animeler tez-tez görmürük,ama mangasi'nin az reytingi biraz qorxudur :D
Ümumi götürsək bu sezon slice of life janrini sevənlər üçün əsasən çox möhtəşəm sezon'du,həmən tipli animeler çoxluq təşkil edir
The pleasure is all mine, you don’t need to thank me anything ^^ I’m very happy to be able to have this conversations, and see how many traits we share. It’s always heartwarming to meet similar people with shared personality, interests and opinions; so it's me who has to thank you very sincerely for having talked to me at first.
So, since our conversation revolves around so many diverse themes, please let me split it in spoilers, so that it's more comfortable to read. That way it won't be a massive text wall, haha.
EVA:
Don’t worry about the anti-Shinji comments. As I said, it’s not that I completely hate him, but I can’t help but to feel a strong disgust towards him, and thus, abhor the idea of seeing him with Asuka after all that happened in the series/film.
I fully agree with all you said and I thank you very much for having read my humble anti-shipping article. I wrote it one year ago, out of frustration after several encounters with shippers. I have a special aversion against those who claim that their shipping arguments “are canon” or the “absolute truth”. Such arrogance, fanaticism and simple-mindness pairing Asuka with their perverted self-insert is something I find extremely loathsome.
It’s as if morality has disappeared from the world. And, honestly, I wonder who of those fans would like to be paired with someone who has just tried to sexually assaulted them and then tried to kill them in an outburst of anger and selfishness.
Shinji defenders always claim how miserable and tragic he became near the end, and how similar he’s to Anno (as you said, it’s been stated that he was under a depression while making Evangelion). And I perfectly understand that to the point of feeling pity for Shinji until EoE. After all, Kaworu’s death made him lose almost all sanity. However, no matter how insane he was, that cannot possibly justify such aberrant acts as his in EoE. And it’s there when I started to despise him.
I would say I find Shinji very relatable, yet extremely unlikable. Some say people don’t like him because he’s like us, and by hating him we just close our eyes to our own flaws. But that’s a simplistic and absurd way of exculpating him from his acts. I mean, while it’s true that his tribulations in the series are relatable and we can see in him the Hedgehog’s Dilemma we all suffer, it’s also true that, in EoE, nobody with a minimum of sanity could relate to him anymore; not after what he does to Asuka or how selfishly he behaves.
As for what you say about Asuka being accused of “abusiveness” and being “violent”, you’re very right stating that, in the end, it’s actually all the opposite: we get to see Asuka is able to show understanding and compassion, while Shinji is the true violent one who did cross the red line. In the last scene that can be seen perfectly, although the both of them go back to their usual roles very quickly: Shinji starts to cry (which, given the context, is understandable, but I still see it as an act of selfishness, and as a reminiscence of the kiss scene. If you want, I’ll elaborate this more in the next comment), while Asuka glares at him glacially and says her famous line ‘Kimochi warui’, “How disgusting”, clearly referring to him. And very rightfully so.
In general, I do think Anno did a good job portraying Hedgehog’s Dilemma through the characters he created, and the case of Asuka and Shinji is a very extreme, yet clear, way of showing that dilemma. He could have chosen subtler ways of depicting it, for we all suffer of it in our daily interactions with people, according to Schopenhauer; but in Evangelion he chose to show it directly, and that’s why there’s so much tension and raw emotions that get to make us feel somehow uncomfortable (not only with Asuka and Shinji, but with Misato's case too, for instance). But there’s such a remarkable amount of hatred, disgust and disappointment in their relationship, that their dynamic becomes utterly dysfunctional and toxic towards the end, up to the last scene.
In EoTV and EoE Anno left everything ambiguous and open, up to the audience imagination, maybe because he wasn’t sure of what kind of closure he could give to his characters. That was an excellent idea, in my opinion.
Azerbaijan:
The description of the country really sounds appealing, and I see the Azerbaijani culture is indeed very rich. As you said, from here we have the simplistic idea that “Islam controls all of those countries”, but I see Azerbaijan may be an exception to that prejudice. I have great interest in Russian culture (mainly in the pre-Soviet old imperial times), so it’s fascinating to hear you receive so much influence from it.
You mentioned you get to study English and Russian there. Of course, it’s obvious your English is perfect, but how about Russian? Have you studied it too? That’s a language I’ve always wanted to learn, but my increasing interest in Japan made me lean towards learning Japanese, instead of Russian.
In any case, back to Azerbaijan, as you said, perhaps one day I should visit it to know it better. I’m not a big traveler myself, and most of the trips I do are to other parts of Spain (Madrid and Toledo are must-visit cities here), but I’ve been to other European countries, and last summer, to Japan. It’s funny, because my trip to Japan was the second time I travelled in plane, so I wasn’t used to such long flights (12 hours from here…); it was extremely tiresome, but worth it, undoubtedly.
Do you like to travel? If so, please allow me to thank you for your kind words, and offer you to visit Spain in the future too. It would be an immense pleasure to introduce you to my country.
As for what you said about our shared reputation, that’s really curious. We Spaniards do have such reputation of being extrovert and talkative, although I’m a bit of an exception to that, haha. Anyway, it’s true that, compared to other Europeans, we’re way more hospitable and welcoming. It’s very paradoxical, however, to see how much our reputation has changed from older times: until the 19th century, Spanish people were seen as prideful, serious, yet very courteous people, nostalgic heirs of the ancient imperial times in which Spain ruled Europe and America. It seems our reputation has been almost inverted nowadays, but we could say I’m closer to those old Spaniards than to the current extrovert ones, haha.
I’ll be looking forward for anything you want to tell me about your country ^^
If you’re interested, I’ll tell you more things of mine as well.
History:
I’m very glad you’re also interested in History. That's another shared trait we have, haha.
Thanks for asking. I finished History at university a couple of years ago, and I’m currently studying a course of Military History & Diplomacy. That course will last until September, and from October I’ll study another post-university course, radically different from the former. It will be about holy art and architecture (“holy”, in reference to Catholicism) and the conservation of religious art in museums, cathedrals, etc. With that course, I could apply for a job in a museum, in the future.
We could say that I’m studying the military/diplomacy course mostly out of interest and curiosity, while the holy art master will be more “serious”, meaning that it will open many doors for my future. Personally, I think working at a museum or a library would be the optimal option for someone like me; most of people who study History end up becoming teachers, and a few become investigators. But the combination of History and Arts that museums is fascinating in my opinion; and for me it's a great deal more appealing to work in such a silent calm place than other options.
On a slightly different note, may I ask which period of History do you like the most? In my case, my favourite period is the Early Modern Ages, and more specifically, the 16th~17th centuries, in which the Spanish Empire was born and struggled to keep its hegemony in Europe and the Americas. It’s the epoch of the famous tercios or the Golden Age of our literature.
I also like the Middle Ages, especially from the literary point of view. I’m a big admirer of King Arthur legends, as well as chivalric stories in general (Amadís de Gaula, Tirant lo Blanc, or a more modern example: The Lord of the Rings).
And well, of course I’m interested in Japanese history too. I see you like Murakami’s works. Unfortunately, I haven’t read much of him, although my father has; if you recommend it, maybe I should consider reading his books. The authors I’ve read thr most are Kuwabata, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Shusaku Endo and Eiji Yoshikawa. Oh, and Lafcadio Hearn too, although he’s not Japanese.
Oh, the King’s College? That’s a great dream, indeed! And very ambitious too, in a very positive way, of course. I really hope that your efforts to achieve that dream bear fruits and that you can go to study in London. And if your internship is accepted, you'll live so close to here, that you could come and visit Spain one day, haha.
I wish you the best of luck with it!
Finally, as for replying fast, please don't worry. There's really no rush, and as you said, university is challenging and your dream is worth the effort. Anytime you reply will be fine, don't worry.
Hə,Jigoku Shoujo'da ost'lar möhtəşəmdi. Məsələn ordan ən sevdiyim ost'dan biri - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zY3HeMF-Jc
Sawano hə,onu hec tanimamaq olar. AOT ost'lari dogurdan möhtəşəmdi. Guilty Crown'a baxmasam'da o ost'a qulaq asmişam,çox təsirlidi :)
Higurashi məndə hazirda On-hold'adi. 11-ci episoda kimi baxib fikirlesdim ilk once Visual Novel oynunu oynasam daha yaxsi ola. Çoxlari fikir vermişəm deyib ki oynu anime'den qat qat gözəldi və çox geniş'di. Onu qurtaran kimi anime'sine mutleq qayidacam ^^
Hə məndə fikir verdim :D He tebii ki,ama biraz uzun olacaq))
Jigoku Shoujo hə,mənim üçün çox önəm daşiyir. Ama təbii hər kəsin çox sevə biləcəyi anime deyil,mistika və horror sevənlər bəlkə mənim kimi çox bəyənərlər yəgin ki. Əsas mövzü qisas alib və ya almamaq di. Hər episod hər ayri insanin hekayesi və həyatlarindan bəhs edir. Çox da yüksek reytinginin olmamasi məncə ona görə ola biler ki episodlar eyni tipli görsənə bilir,çünki demək olar ki bütün episodlar eyni sxemdədi-bir insan başqasinan qisas almaq istəyir,sonra bir sayt haqda öyrənir,orda lazimi insanin adin yazir,və Enma da ona seçim verir.
Bir çoxlari bəlkədə 3-4 episod baxib drop edirlər ama anime getdikcə daha gözəl olur. Qisas tematikasin'dan başqa ayri bir hekaye liniyasi'da var,hansi ki ilk sezon boyu paralel olaraq cərəyan edir. Hələ Enma haqda'da ayrica episod olacaq,və həmən episod mənim ən çox sevdiyim anime episodlardan biridi. Bir sözlə mütləq baxmaga dəyər. Mən insanlarin fərqli talelərini izləməyi çox sevdim. Hekayelerin çoxunda təsirlənmək olar,personajlara bəzən çox yazigin gəlir,bəzən haqsiz yerə bir insanin cəhənəmə getməsinə pis olursan. Hec bir anime'də bunun kimi belə çox çarəsizlik və bir çox fərqli emosional təsirə malik olan anime' görməmişəm.
Bu arada bu animedəki musiqilər eşitdiyim ən gözəl anime Ost'lar'dan biridi. Necə də möhtəşəm ost'lar var,animenin mistik atmosferinə tamamilə uygun'du. Musiqi bu qədər gözəl olmasa idi,anime çox şey itirərdi. Sonra birde Animasiya'da öz ili üçün yaxşidi.
Review yazmagi hələki yaxşi bacarmiram ama overall gördüyüm ən yaxşi animeden biridi deyə bilərəm mənim üçün. Davam sezonlarina hələki baxmamişam,çünki ilk sezon çox ideal sonlugu var idi,qorxuram davam sezonu zəif olsun,ama bir gün baxacam
Tam əminliklə deyə bilmərəm bəyənəsən bu animeni ya yox,ama gələcəkdə məncə bir şans ver hec olmasa. Sadece biraz çaliş gözləntilərivi çox artirma :))
You’re very welcome. It’s really a pleasure to have interesting conversations like this.
Seeing through Asuka’s façade is indeed something not every fan can do, and as you said, she receives a very unfair treatment from part of fandom who oversimplify her. In normal conditions, if taken at face value, of course Asuka can be a bit “annoying” behaving like she does, and anyone could think she’s just a bratty teenager on a bad day. But she’s very far from being normal whatsoever, and the tragedy of her childhood is something one cannot ignore when analyzing her character.
In my opinion, be it a coincidence or Anno’s skills as a storyteller, I think Asuka’s design couldn’t be more realistic. Her age, nationalities and even appearance define her so well and so believably, that it feels as if she was indeed real:
-Age: it’s not a coincidence that she’s 13~14 years old. That’s maybe one of the most problematic times for a teenager, since the body and mind begin to change very fast. It’s the transition between being a child and a young adult, with all it implies: hormones, frustration, new interests (emotional, sexual, etc.), and so on. And if it’s already difficult for a normal teenager to survive that period, the case of someone as broken as Asuka is, with all her self-esteem and insecurity issues, being 13 years old becomes a nightmare.
So far, she’s a child craving for her Mama’s affection, but who wants others to see her as an independent adult capable of defending herself alone. And that would explain her rather obsessive crush on Kaji, since he’s the “manly father-lover” that could protect her with his strong arms; and he’s an adult, so being with him would make Asuka a full woman too. But, of course, it was doomed to fail as we perfectly know.
With the next one on the list, Shinji, it doesn’t go much better than with Kaji, since he’s little more than an effeminate pervert boy (a random Japanese boy the audience of that country can feel related to) with very similar issues, but radically different ways of coping with them. Asuka sees him as a “kindred soul” that could understand and save her, but her expectations are constantly met with disappointment and disgust, and even if she tells him to “man up”, all Shinji can do is hide inside his shell.
So, despite her (clumsy) efforts to be saved, neither the manly Kaji nor the clueless Shinji get to understand or do anything, and thus, all Asuka can do is to suffer alone and try to fight desperately. In short, we could say that Asuka is kind of a damsel in distress without any white knight in shining armour to save, so she’s forced to fight fiercely like a valkyrie to survive. Weak and strong at the same time, that’s Asuka.
-Nationalities: I think it’s not a coincidence that Asuka is Japanese, German and American. Talking to a good friend of mine the other day, we commented some things about this matter: Asuka’s personality seems to be a perfect combination of the traditionally conservative ideology of a Japanese girl (during NGE she seems to have a clear idea of what a man and a woman have to do, and thus, her obsession with finding a worthy “manly” man that could save her), but, at the same time, she also has the traits of a Westerner girl, trying to be seen as an independent adult, even defying Misato, or attempting to seduce Kaji.
Furthermore, I would say Anno wanted to convey two ideas by making Asuka a German/Japanese/American: from the point of view of Shinji (which is the POV of Japanese audience) not only is she incomprehensible for being a teenager girl, whose body and behaviour differ quite a lot from those of a teenager boy, but on top of that she’s utterly undecipherable for being a foreigner, a gaijin, whose cultural background is completely different from that of a Japanese. Thus, Asuka ends up being an unclear character in the eyes of the Japanese cast (Shinji, Rei, Touji, Kensuke, etc.), which makes her relationships with them a great deal harder, with lots of misunderstanding, disappointments, tension, etc.
Needless to say, her appeareance is very important too: contrary to the black-haired Japanese cast, she’s redhaired, aggressive and extrovert (superficially, of course; later on we know she’s even more introvert than most characters). Also, compared to Rei, their hair and eyes colours are inverted, meaning that they are complete opposites.
That’s why, all in all, when Asuka appears in episode 8, Anno tells us clearly that this character will change everything by showing us she’s utterly contrary to all the characters we’ve seen up top that point. Ironically enough, Anno just played with us, and in the end we got to see Asuka’s traumas disastrous downfall: firstly, we were shown a vigorous independent Valkyrie (or Amazoness) and later on we get to see she’s actually a vulnerable little princess.
More than once have I dealt with Asuka haters, and one thing I usually say defending her is that Asuka never ever behaves immorally or has a despicable attitude. Alright, she can be “noisy” or be aggressive, but that’s not her true self, and he intention is not to hurt others so far. However, in the series, there are examples of characters who do behave immorally, we could say, such as Gendou or even Shinji. As a matter of fact, the former didn’t mind to destroy all humankind via Third Impact just to meet with Yui again. And Shinji… well, this would require more time I guess, but so far we could consider some of his last actions as utterly immoral and reprehensible (hospital scene, the two strangulations, his selfishness dealing with Asuka and others, etc.), and clearly hurtful to others.
(My complete opinion on Asuka's relationship with him is here: 'How Opposites Don't Always Attract'. I hope you agree with some of my humble statements. It would be a pleasure to hear your opinion on it, if you want to read it ^^
Personally, it's not that I hate Shinji at all, but I can't stand those who pair him with Asuka, since in most cases it's people who self-insert as him and want to see their "avatar" winding up with the "hot redhead girl", utterly ignoring how much they hurt each other, or how despicable and unforgettable his actions to her in EoE were. In short, I just think Asuka deserves much better than someone like Shinji. They both need stable partners after EoE events to heal their wounds, I think.
We could say I'm an anti-shipper crusader, haha)
Ironically enough, many of those who blame Asuka for being “bratty” or “a bad person”, relate so much to Shinji (or better said, self-insert in him), top the point of justifying his acts no matter what. They think that strangling someone to death is alright, but that yelling at someone deserves a severe punishment. That logic is completely beyond my understanding, haha.
Final fight:
That’s a very interesting moment, indeed.
I would say it’s the climax of Asuka’s character arc. It’s the culmination of all the validation Asuka has been looking for: she’s recovered from Arael’s mind-attack that left her void and suicidal and now she’s alive and “doesn’t want to die”, as she says. Moreover, finally, she’s proving to be the best EVA pilot, with Shinji nowhere to be seen, and Rei out of combat; there are no rivals for her, and the MP EVAs seem to be defenseless against her fierce strike. And last but not least, Asuka realizes the secret of EVA’s soul: her mother was inside it, looking after her. Asuka thought that Kyoko despised her, but the truth was that part of her mother’s soul was inside Unit 02 and had been supporting her all the time.
These are all very important facts for Asuka, almost cathartic. Sadly, the tragedy of it is how ephemeral this catharsis was, for the MPs kill her mercilessly. But, like a hero of ancient tales, Asuka gets to die gloriously, after an epic fight in which she reunites with her lost mother and gives her best piloting the EVA. I think, for a character like Asuka, it was the most suitable death Anno could have thought of.
As a side note, I’ve always found the contrast between the harsh fight and the elegance of Bach’s music to be very beautiful. Apparently, it makes little sense, although I have an opinion on it, even if it's a bit of an overanalysis: an aria is usually the overture of an opera, and the first half of EoE, when NERV is assaulted and everyone dies and becomes LCL, could be seen as the prelude of a big opera, i.e. Third Impact & Instrumentality.
(That, or Anno just thought Bach’s Aria was beautiful and put it there without any further reason, haha)
Sorry I ended up writing so much. Talking about Asuka is one of my favourite topics, and sometimes my phrasing style is unnecessarily Baroque and long ^^U
That's a very successful attempt at writing Spanish, don't worry. I think your English is very clean and natural, and if you didn't say you're from Baku, I would have thought you're British or American, haha. If you want, in further comments I'd like to know more about Azerbaijan, since I've always found it a very interesting country from a political, cultural and geographical point of view. It's sort of the crossroad of the Middle East, Russia and Europe, isn't it? It looks like the country is close to Muslim culture, but even so, it attempts to approach Russia and Europe in many ways (so far, I can think of the Formula 1 GP of Europe being held in Baku, as an example of such approach).
Thank you very much for your comment. I'll accept your FR very pleasantly ^^
I'm glad you agreed with my opinion on Asuka. She suffers of a terrible reputation due to her "abrassive" behaviour and many haters accuse her of being a terrible character. But what they fail to understand is that Asuka is not a "bratty tsundere" as they call her, but that she's in fact a very realistically portrayed teen girl with a traumatic background. It's usually forgotten that she's 13 years old, her mother killed herself and her father abandoned her; moreover, she joins a military organization that treats her like a pawn, and has to fight some metaphysical monstrosities to save the world.
I really doubt anyone could be mentally healthy in her situation or behave rationally. To her natural hormones acting inside her, one must add all those traumas, pressure, desperation, loneliness, violence and fear, and the result of that cocktail is really frightening.
One thing I think about it is that those who hate her are exactly those who couldn't possibly talk to a girl in real life. And Asuka is very close a real woman with her tribulations, but since you're a girl, I'm sure you know it better than me, haha.
In any case, it's very funny to hear people ranting against Asuka, while praising Rei for being "shy and cute"; that's very indicative of what otaku fandom has become: people afraid of relations who relate to Shinji and Rei through NGE series, but utterly fail to understand the message Anno conveys in EoE: life and interactions are painful, but they're worth the price. The caress and 'kimochi warui', the dichotomy of reality: suffering and compassion. But, those fans, far from acknowledging that, just blame Asuka for being realistic, while prefer a submissive doll like Rei. It's a bit exasperating.
Anyway, I'm happy to see you're also an Asuka fan who understands her true self and appreciates her for that. It's really a pleasure to meet you.
Again, thanks for your kind comment. Muchas gracias.
All Comments (14) Comments
Anyway, thanks, as always, for your kindness ^^
Merchandising:
Spain & Azerbaijan:
Cuisine:
Japanese & Universities:
Oh, looking for "Friendship" is far from being a bother, don't worry ^^ I really like exploring book shop online catalogues and also going to phisical shops and see everything in there.
With all that said, I hope these days aren't being as stressing as last week. I really hope the pieces of classical music I shared with you the other day can be somehow helpful and soothing for you :)
EVA:
Spain & Azerbaijan:
Japan:
History:
P.S.:
With all that said, I hope you have a nice start of the week ^_^
Təxmin edirdim ki bəyənəsən,ama həmdə qorxurdum birdən bəyənmərsən,çünki bu animeni meslehet gorduyum 2-3 insan baxib sonra pislemisdi :( Ama şükür favorilərin arasina girdi ^^
Ending mahnisi he,ən sevdiyim ED'den biridi. Mən də dəfələrlə qulaq asiram və yenə də doymuram,birde hele "setsunai omoi" ost'u. Hər dəfə ona qulaq asanda o sirkdəki qiz'in hekayesi yadima düşür,ən təsirli episodan biri idi :)
Bu arada mende kuudere'leri sevirem. Illk başlarda Enma'ni çox da sevmesemde getdikce onu xeyli sevdim.
Onu da deyim ki Jigoku Shoujo'nu dub ile izleyenler çox şey itirib. Ancaq sub ile baxilasi animelerden biridi hemde Jigoku,o Enma'nin səsini axi kim və necə əvəz edə bilər :)
Çox heyif ki Jigoku kimi möhtəşəm mistika janrinda animeler artiq demək olar çəkilmir və ya çoxx nadir halda çəkilir :( O vaxtlari həqiqətən bu janra aid animeler çox çəkilirdi indi isə ama olsa ya olmasa.
2-ci sezona başlamagin yaxsi oldu,iyi seyirler. Men hele 2-ye baxmagi bu yaxin aylarda edəcəm. Birinci həm qorxurdum ki bu möhtəşəm sezondan sonra növbətilər zəif olar,elə olsa çox pis olardim və çox heyfslənərdim. Həmdə birdə belə animeni nə vaxt görəcəm,istəmirəm tez baxib qurtarim. Ama yaxin zamanlarda başlayacam,ondan əvvəl ilk sezonu rewatch edəcəm,hər şeyi çox xatirlayiram ama yene baxmaq isteyirem,nə qədər olsa bezmərəm bəlkə))
Əsas mən sənə minnətdaram ki bu animeni izledin) Hə bu janrlarda əsasən zövqlərimiz oxşayir :) 2-ci sezonda xoş seyirler)
History:
Murakami:
Japanese literature:
Such interesting topics needed a long response. I just hope you can forgive me for this massive text wall ^^U
Please don't feel compelled to reply to everything, even less if you're busy or tired because of university.
This first one is one I wrote during a conversation with an Asuka-hater fan who exculpated Shinji for everything he had made. He even called Asuka “red devil”, while considering Shinji was the “victim”. Thus, I had no other option but to respond to him, in defense of Asuka. The main theme of it was Shinji’s selfish attitude, but I also commented some things about how the kiss scene can be actually related to the Last Scene, in terms of parallelism and similar behaviours.
(*) About Shinji’s selfishness, and how the kiss scene can be related to the Last Scene:
The second one is a little analysis by Bagheera on EvaGeeks forums, talking about Asuka’s reasons to be bitter at Shinji in the end, and why it’s reasonable to consider that ‘Kimochi warui’ was to show such resentment.
(**)Asuka’s bitterness:
EVA:
Azerbaijan:
Spain:
Trip to Japan:
Violet vizualda 10/10,Kyoto görünür çox xərcləyib.
O,xoş seyirlər onda,yaxsi ,tam baxan kimi paylaşarsan :)
Ümid edirem dediyin kimi senin ucun yaddaqalan anime olar))
He anlayiram,Universitet zamani mende'de vaxt yox idi,indi ama hele ki vaxt tapiram :) Bele qiş sezonu biraz güclüdü məncə
Məsələn Sora yori mo Tooi Basho,Madhouse studiyasinin çəkdiyi anime. Antarktidaya səhayət etmək istəyən 4 qizdan bəhs edən anime. Çox sevdim bu anime'ni,3 episod ərzində xeyli güldüm,personajlar,onlarin xarakterləri və onlarin necə deyək,açilişi əladi. Hekaye'si de maraqlidi,qizin anasi bir vaxtlar antarktidaya gedib ve sonra itib,geri qayitmadigina görə,qiz ora gedib ona tapmaq isteyir. Potensiali güclüdü.
Darling in the Franxx'da aid ümidlərim çoxdu,ilk episodu Evangelionu xatirlatdi. Məncə bu anime təəcübləndirməyi bacaracaq. Violet Evergarden'de var hele,favori demezdim heleki. Animasiya ve qrafika nece'de gözəldi,inana bilmirem ki serial formatli anime'de bele gözəlik görə bilərdim. Ama hekaye cehetden heleki çox da maraqli gəlməyib.
"Kokkoku" da izlemek isteyirem,mistika janrinda olan animeler tez-tez görmürük,ama mangasi'nin az reytingi biraz qorxudur :D
Ümumi götürsək bu sezon slice of life janrini sevənlər üçün əsasən çox möhtəşəm sezon'du,həmən tipli animeler çoxluq təşkil edir
So, since our conversation revolves around so many diverse themes, please let me split it in spoilers, so that it's more comfortable to read. That way it won't be a massive text wall, haha.
EVA:
Azerbaijan:
History:
Finally, as for replying fast, please don't worry. There's really no rush, and as you said, university is challenging and your dream is worth the effort. Anytime you reply will be fine, don't worry.
Sawano hə,onu hec tanimamaq olar. AOT ost'lari dogurdan möhtəşəmdi. Guilty Crown'a baxmasam'da o ost'a qulaq asmişam,çox təsirlidi :)
Higurashi məndə hazirda On-hold'adi. 11-ci episoda kimi baxib fikirlesdim ilk once Visual Novel oynunu oynasam daha yaxsi ola. Çoxlari fikir vermişəm deyib ki oynu anime'den qat qat gözəldi və çox geniş'di. Onu qurtaran kimi anime'sine mutleq qayidacam ^^
Jigoku Shoujo hə,mənim üçün çox önəm daşiyir. Ama təbii hər kəsin çox sevə biləcəyi anime deyil,mistika və horror sevənlər bəlkə mənim kimi çox bəyənərlər yəgin ki. Əsas mövzü qisas alib və ya almamaq di. Hər episod hər ayri insanin hekayesi və həyatlarindan bəhs edir. Çox da yüksek reytinginin olmamasi məncə ona görə ola biler ki episodlar eyni tipli görsənə bilir,çünki demək olar ki bütün episodlar eyni sxemdədi-bir insan başqasinan qisas almaq istəyir,sonra bir sayt haqda öyrənir,orda lazimi insanin adin yazir,və Enma da ona seçim verir.
Bir çoxlari bəlkədə 3-4 episod baxib drop edirlər ama anime getdikcə daha gözəl olur. Qisas tematikasin'dan başqa ayri bir hekaye liniyasi'da var,hansi ki ilk sezon boyu paralel olaraq cərəyan edir. Hələ Enma haqda'da ayrica episod olacaq,və həmən episod mənim ən çox sevdiyim anime episodlardan biridi. Bir sözlə mütləq baxmaga dəyər. Mən insanlarin fərqli talelərini izləməyi çox sevdim. Hekayelerin çoxunda təsirlənmək olar,personajlara bəzən çox yazigin gəlir,bəzən haqsiz yerə bir insanin cəhənəmə getməsinə pis olursan. Hec bir anime'də bunun kimi belə çox çarəsizlik və bir çox fərqli emosional təsirə malik olan anime' görməmişəm.
Bu arada bu animedəki musiqilər eşitdiyim ən gözəl anime Ost'lar'dan biridi. Necə də möhtəşəm ost'lar var,animenin mistik atmosferinə tamamilə uygun'du. Musiqi bu qədər gözəl olmasa idi,anime çox şey itirərdi. Sonra birde Animasiya'da öz ili üçün yaxşidi.
Review yazmagi hələki yaxşi bacarmiram ama overall gördüyüm ən yaxşi animeden biridi deyə bilərəm mənim üçün. Davam sezonlarina hələki baxmamişam,çünki ilk sezon çox ideal sonlugu var idi,qorxuram davam sezonu zəif olsun,ama bir gün baxacam
Tam əminliklə deyə bilmərəm bəyənəsən bu animeni ya yox,ama gələcəkdə məncə bir şans ver hec olmasa. Sadece biraz çaliş gözləntilərivi çox artirma :))
He çox sagol,mənim üçün də həmcinin xoşdu :)
Seeing through Asuka’s façade is indeed something not every fan can do, and as you said, she receives a very unfair treatment from part of fandom who oversimplify her. In normal conditions, if taken at face value, of course Asuka can be a bit “annoying” behaving like she does, and anyone could think she’s just a bratty teenager on a bad day. But she’s very far from being normal whatsoever, and the tragedy of her childhood is something one cannot ignore when analyzing her character.
In my opinion, be it a coincidence or Anno’s skills as a storyteller, I think Asuka’s design couldn’t be more realistic. Her age, nationalities and even appearance define her so well and so believably, that it feels as if she was indeed real:
More than once have I dealt with Asuka haters, and one thing I usually say defending her is that Asuka never ever behaves immorally or has a despicable attitude. Alright, she can be “noisy” or be aggressive, but that’s not her true self, and he intention is not to hurt others so far. However, in the series, there are examples of characters who do behave immorally, we could say, such as Gendou or even Shinji. As a matter of fact, the former didn’t mind to destroy all humankind via Third Impact just to meet with Yui again. And Shinji… well, this would require more time I guess, but so far we could consider some of his last actions as utterly immoral and reprehensible (hospital scene, the two strangulations, his selfishness dealing with Asuka and others, etc.), and clearly hurtful to others.
(My complete opinion on Asuka's relationship with him is here: 'How Opposites Don't Always Attract'. I hope you agree with some of my humble statements. It would be a pleasure to hear your opinion on it, if you want to read it ^^
Personally, it's not that I hate Shinji at all, but I can't stand those who pair him with Asuka, since in most cases it's people who self-insert as him and want to see their "avatar" winding up with the "hot redhead girl", utterly ignoring how much they hurt each other, or how despicable and unforgettable his actions to her in EoE were. In short, I just think Asuka deserves much better than someone like Shinji. They both need stable partners after EoE events to heal their wounds, I think.
We could say I'm an anti-shipper crusader, haha)
Ironically enough, many of those who blame Asuka for being “bratty” or “a bad person”, relate so much to Shinji (or better said, self-insert in him), top the point of justifying his acts no matter what. They think that strangling someone to death is alright, but that yelling at someone deserves a severe punishment. That logic is completely beyond my understanding, haha.
Sorry I ended up writing so much. Talking about Asuka is one of my favourite topics, and sometimes my phrasing style is unnecessarily Baroque and long ^^U
That's a very successful attempt at writing Spanish, don't worry. I think your English is very clean and natural, and if you didn't say you're from Baku, I would have thought you're British or American, haha. If you want, in further comments I'd like to know more about Azerbaijan, since I've always found it a very interesting country from a political, cultural and geographical point of view. It's sort of the crossroad of the Middle East, Russia and Europe, isn't it? It looks like the country is close to Muslim culture, but even so, it attempts to approach Russia and Europe in many ways (so far, I can think of the Formula 1 GP of Europe being held in Baku, as an example of such approach).
I'm glad you agreed with my opinion on Asuka. She suffers of a terrible reputation due to her "abrassive" behaviour and many haters accuse her of being a terrible character. But what they fail to understand is that Asuka is not a "bratty tsundere" as they call her, but that she's in fact a very realistically portrayed teen girl with a traumatic background. It's usually forgotten that she's 13 years old, her mother killed herself and her father abandoned her; moreover, she joins a military organization that treats her like a pawn, and has to fight some metaphysical monstrosities to save the world.
I really doubt anyone could be mentally healthy in her situation or behave rationally. To her natural hormones acting inside her, one must add all those traumas, pressure, desperation, loneliness, violence and fear, and the result of that cocktail is really frightening.
One thing I think about it is that those who hate her are exactly those who couldn't possibly talk to a girl in real life. And Asuka is very close a real woman with her tribulations, but since you're a girl, I'm sure you know it better than me, haha.
In any case, it's very funny to hear people ranting against Asuka, while praising Rei for being "shy and cute"; that's very indicative of what otaku fandom has become: people afraid of relations who relate to Shinji and Rei through NGE series, but utterly fail to understand the message Anno conveys in EoE: life and interactions are painful, but they're worth the price. The caress and 'kimochi warui', the dichotomy of reality: suffering and compassion. But, those fans, far from acknowledging that, just blame Asuka for being realistic, while prefer a submissive doll like Rei. It's a bit exasperating.
Anyway, I'm happy to see you're also an Asuka fan who understands her true self and appreciates her for that. It's really a pleasure to meet you.
Again, thanks for your kind comment. Muchas gracias.