Destroy All Podcasts DX Episode 134 - Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone
Hosts: Dylan, Jeremy, Mike, Nat, Star, Zuey
This is about socially retarded teenagers, cannibalistic Ultraman, and the grand tradition of totally useless army guys in tanks impotently shooting giant monsters.
Click [HERE] to have daddy issues.
| Posted 29 March, 2010 - 03:52 by Destroy All Pod... |
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Comments
38 comments postedI didn't disagree with anything you guys said here. It got a little confusing sometimes with five speakers, but otherwise an awesome podcast!
Question: what are the differences between "Evangelion: 1.0", "... 1.01" (which I reviewed), and "... 1.11"?
I'm surprised you guys were all so well-versed in the Bible that you could explain some of those things.
I've already given my opinions on the film elsewhere, so I don't think I need to copy/paste here.
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CollectionDX Staff
I'll go into it in a little more detail in the text review of Evangelion 1.11 that I'm putting up shortly, but here's a list of differences online.
As for the Bible thing, my mom is an amateur biblical scholar and I went to a parochial school as a kid so I am pretty familiar with the subject. I did some other religious analysis on Angel's Egg back in the critical version of the podcast, [HERE] if you're interested in more of that.
But the big difference between Angel's Egg and Evagelion is that even though neither of them seems to actually understand the Christian imagery they are using, Evangelion has more to it. It has cool monster fights and the psychological deconstruction of some very damaged teenagers. Angel's Egg has... uh... ghost fish.
I can't believe you guys couldn't remember the names of the angels. It's Ramiel, the one when you were saying "the cube thingy."
Iczer-1 also references older tokusatsu/kaiju films like Eva did, mainly Atregon.
I consider myself a fan of the franchise and I can't remember the names of them lol I dont think it really matters either honestly.
Overall good show. Most people do not like the first film as it does recap the TV series almost frame for frame, but like you guys stated I think it takes the best aspects of the show and improves on them. Funny you bring up Gundam repeatedly as I really think these rebuild movies, especially this first one, are doing for Eva what the original Gundam movie trilogy did for Gundam. I find they tell the story with a different perspective and give Eva a much clearer vision and focus of what it wants to do, unlike the TV series which ended up being kinda a mess in retrospect. Not to mention they seem to smooth out all the rough edges the characters originally had (Shinji not being such a whiner etc...). Overall (especially after the second film) they seem to go into a more optimistic direction as well, which deals with another major complaint among Eva detractors I run into who object to Eva being so depressing.
All I can say is I cant wait until Eva 2.22 comes out on blu-ray, got my pre-order from Japan. Was lucky enough to see it in theaters in Japan when I was there last fall and it indeed breaks from the TV series significantly and is full of win!
When FUNimation gets around to it, I'm not going to review both the first issue and 2-disc versions of "Eva: 2.0" like I intended to with "...1.0".
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CollectionDX Staff
...but what got me really excited was the prospect of a Zeorymer podcast. I love that OVA series. It's pretty underrated and unknown today. I have considered it a kind of proto-EVA for years now.
We've already done two podcasts on Zeorymer.
Destroy All Podcasts DX Episode 10 Side A - Hades Project Zeorymer
Destroy All Podcasts DX Episode 10 Side B - Hades Project Zeorymer Finale
I suppose in a lot of ways Zeorymer is a precursor to Evangelion, but people still don't recognize how similar Evangelion is to tokusatsu like Godzilla or Ultraman. It's honestly much closer to those videos than anything in robot animation.
This is just a heads-up. Every week, as I try to download your show, your server seems to cut me off randomly. Sometimes I only get like 250kb and other times I get as much as 80% of it before it cuts off.
I do eventually get it, but it takes me about an hour, and having to click the link multiple times certainly isn't the most economic use of your bandwidth. Because it's getting cut off, I'm having to start the download from scratch each time.
I don't know if anyone else has this problem, but it seems to be an issue with your website. You might want to check it out.
I have the exact same problem. However, even though I don't fully understand the reasons why, I have a solution...
Rather than downloading DAPDX the day-of or a few days after it goes up, wait about a week. I don't know why this works, but I know that you will get the full download then. You won't be able to respond to it when it comes out by this method, but you will get it all in one shot.
(This is no longer a problem for me, though, because- as a staff member- I can see & download it before they're published to the homepage, mwa-ha-ah...)
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CollectionDX Staff
I was having trouble downloading even older shows. On the other hand, it might just be that it's easier to download the show later in the week, when there isn't so much traffic.
I recall that Penny Arcade was a similar issue with people downloading their podcast; it turned out to be some kind of load-sharing issue, where the system would switch from one machine to another and people's downloads got cut off.
Neko-girl Rei, huh? Cute.
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CollectionDX Staff
I was thinking more like "give me a damn break..."
True.
But- hey!- at least they didn't give us what they did over on deviantART.com. Eww.
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CollectionDX Staff
Hmm...who's in the mood for Hazelnut Kitty-Kakes? I heard they taste fresh & sweet in this time of season. So sweet that it's a guilty pleasure.
-R78
"...So sweet that it's a guilty pleasure."
So's Rei all bandaged up. =\ (What is up with that, anyways!? I just don't get that particular fetish.)
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CollectionDX Staff
"She's hurt, I have to protect her!"
Moe is gross.
...that we made it all the way through the podcast without discussing the moe roots of Rei's character. But then, as Zuey pointed out, we pretty much figured that A) we already knew all that and B) the people we were talking to knew it, too.
Ya know, now that you mention it, you're right- I AM surprised you didn't talk about Rei and moe. Not that Asuka doesn't get some too, but Rei seems to hog all the attention.
BTW, is Mari getting any moe attention yet, or is she still just the newcomer (keeping in mind that some of us haven't seen "Eva: 2.0" yet)?
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CollectionDX Staff
I think that other than Dylan and maybe Jeremy, none of the DAPDX crew has seen the second movie yet.
I haven't seen the second movie yet either. Only Dylan! I did watch Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion, though.
"Ew. Moe is gross."
So is Rei's father & he likes snacking on his Gummi Girls & Kit-Kakes in private, for the cake defines his wife's body, & the gummi defines his wife's blood b/c it's chewy.
-R78
"Moe is gross."
Tell me about it. It's the one thing that turns me off of most recent stuff nowadays. Nobody wants to tell the really good stores anymore when all they've got is what sells effectively to those who probably need psychiatric help.
I don't have any control over the hosting or download errors or anything, I just make the podcast and upload it. I have forwarded your comments over to Josh though -- hopefully he can get something done about it.
I'm going to look into this, see whats up. We may need to do some server fine-tuning.
Josh
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CollectionDX Admin
I hope that Reicat image is permanent.
I wish I could find a compilation from "Jyuken Sentai GekiRanger" of all the times the Jan called Master ShaFu "neko"; he does it practically every episode. I would have posted that either in this review or the Which cat? poll.
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CollectionDX Staff
Having bothered watching EVA back in the day, it's interesting to hear how it is being adapted into these movie versions, and thankfully not the mental gab-fest that I was subjected to towards the end of the series if they're focusing more on action and the battles in question.
Technically, there were three movies produced for Evangelion back in the 90's. The first was "Death", which covered the first 24 episodes of the show in whatever slap-dash method needed. The second, "Rebirth" is basically an early release of what is basically the first part of the third film so you can skip this altogether, and finally, "The End of Evangelion", made basically to clench the thirst of every fan out there who wanted to see the closure in perfect detail (and nothing like the way episodes 25 and 26 were on TV).
It would be interesting to see how the closure of the new movies would be for one of Gainax's most challenging projects, though I often felt they've gone through highs and lows many times (and obviously the moe stuff pays the bills for them).
And yes, people who read too much into whatever meaning is in this series need to get their primordial heads out of the asses. I often wonder if the confusion over this paying homage to giant robot shows is just moreso the problem that people just don't really watch the tokusatsu/kaiju films much as they should to realize the similarities (can be more the live-action over animation aspects if that were the case).
I haven't heard the podcast yet, but I just got done watching the dub part of the movie, and its alright for the most part. But, the new VA for Ritsuko sounds so... plain. Sue Ulu made Ritsuko so freaking interesting and hot, I love that voice of hers and I grew up on on the Evangelion dub, so when i think of Ritsuko I think of her voice. But with this girl, I dont think she sounds that bad and I really think it does fit Ritsuko character, but it just sounds like shes two dimensional without Ulu sexy voice of hers to back her up.
But, I really dont like Kenske VA all to well, I miss the other guy who basically talked nerdy through his nose, not that high pinch "im a wimp" sound. That other guy was awesome.
I've read other comments online that agree with you on the new VA for Ritsuko.
As to Kensuke's, I'm glad nasal boy was gone, but the new VA they have now isn't as energetic as the character needed to be.
Hopefully these will both be corrected in 2.0...
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CollectionDX Staff
I still liked the other VA for Kensuke, again its that whole "growing up on eva dub" thing. Come to think of it, that guy did some cop in the Burn Up dub as well, which i had a good laugh at, the same anime that i have to assume Tiffany Grant started out on. I also happen to think in some ways that they didnt use the same script when it was first dubbed, so they had a little fun adding and changing some things here and there, which to me i thought were pretty cool but in some areas it was like "why change that?"
Maybe Sue Ulu can be found and bribed to come back to do Ritsuko voice again, her fans demand it.
While we're talking about the original VAs, I say Tristan MacAvery(sp?), Allison Keith, & Tiffany Grant nailed their characters the most solid of them all. Rei is always soft and quiet, so it ain't hard to voice her, I'm assuming. While Amanda Wynn did fine in the series, I thought she sounded more like a kid than the new VA, Briana Palencia, does.
If there was one voice I wish hadn't returned, it was Spike Spenser! I cannot stand his Shinji, it was just too nasal, too whiny; it always sounded like he was on the verge of his voice cracking from puberty or his nose was perpetually stuffed.
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CollectionDX Staff
Isn't Spike Spenser like 30 and still going through puberty.
He is the more well known Shinji voice, kinda like Grant as Asuka. Grant loves her Asuka, so no way she would ever leave that role unless shes dead.
Speaking of Spenser, hes coming to Animazement this year, like he was last year, and the year before that...
Many moons ago, I had an opportunity to listen to an ADV audio interview with Spenser in it that was recorded shortly after the series was finished, but before "D&R" came out. While he has a good vocal range & emotes well enough (I haven't heard him in any other roles yet), I just didn't like his choice for Shinji.
Unless Rebuild Asuka isn't half-German anymore (don't tell me!), I'd be very surprised if Grant came back; I was stunned with Spencer and Keith-Shipp as it was!
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CollectionDX Staff
The reason why I say I would not be surprised if Grant reprises her role as Asuka is the fact that when I said Grant loves Asuka, I mean SHE REALLY LOVERS HER, to the point of having a Asuka themed ROOM!!!
In one of the extras on the Platinum DVD set, there is a video of her going through every single Asuka merchandise at that time and talking about it regarding where it came from, how much it was and other things. So I would be shocked if she didn't take the role again.
Of course on the same video, she showed a pick of this guy with a red I'm guessing late 1990's Ford Mustang with the front license plate reading "Eva-02". I have to give credit to that guy.
O_o;
She did what-? Wow...
I need to start covering TV series DVD boxed sets, so I can have an excuse to pick up the Platinum Edition at last.
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CollectionDX Staff
Id figure for an Eva fan, you might know this.
Its on the one of the last 2 disk, im pretty sure. I got the Platinum used on ebay for 40 bucks last summer (great deal, especially since the guy stated he only watched disk 1 and thats it, everything else except the tin was in great shape) so its been about a year since i saw the whole series. Im content with what i have, i dont need to over spend on every freaking dvd set they release (i mean, its the same series ive seen like 4 or 5 times already) so if you are going to get it on DVD, do Platinum.
Im guessing Eva has been released and re-released 4 times or so in the past decade, the earliest was that boxset for like 150 bucks for the time when DVD were starting to boom, then they moved to re-releasing the final episodes as "never before seen unedited footage" and did somethings, then a re-release of the series on dvd, then Platinum.
What needs to be re-released is the Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion dvds since those have been outta print for some time (scored my copy of End of Eva for 3.99 at my blockbuster down the road last summer).
And not to go too off topic, but does anyone remember or know who made those Evangelion figures in that tube or clam shell case that you could find in every freaking Eb Games and Babbages between 1998 and 2000/2001 ish? Ive been meaning to find some of those but after 2000 or 2001 they just vanished. I remember wanting one at the time, but i didnt want to fork over money on some anime robot series i didn't know anything about. Yea, stupid me I know right. I miss the old Eb Games stores.