2008
Anime and friends
After I was done with "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "End Of Evangelion", I saw the world differently. As I looked at the bright sun, the world around me started to evolve and uncover itself. I became to see the brighter side to things, and see a new alternative to my life. That my life can be functional, positive, and meaningful. The summer of 2008 was an excellent summer for all comic-book geeks. "Iron Man" turned out to be a fun and accessible film for both geeks and people who don't even read comic-books. Robert Downey jr. made one of the greatest comebacks I have ever seen. "The Incredible Hulk" was a solid action flick, that gave me all the hulk smash that I could imagine seeing on the big screen. It was just a dumb action flick, with a good performance by Edward Norton. And then there was "The Dark Knight."
"The Dark Knight" was one of the best, and most powerful experiences I have ever had in a movie theater. I saw it 5 other friends of mine, and it was an excellent commentary on terrorism. It basically showed what America would look like if a terrorist like the Joker truly existed. Heath Ledger died that year, and my mother and I mourned his passing. We didn't know him too well, but I grew up watching him grow as an actor. So to see somebody around my generation die, right as their career was blooming, was very depressing to me. And my mother liked him as a sweet kid, since he was young enough to be her grand child. But his performance in "The Dark Knight" healed those wounds, since it was one of the most terrifying and iconic performances in cinematic history.
I started to enjoy New York City a bit more in 2008, and wanted to make new friends.
I learned a lot about "Evangelion", and it's creator Hideaki Anno. He suffered four years of depression, and had a nervous break down when he was making "Evangelion." And it shows during the second half of the series. It felt good to know that the creator of "Evangelion" had the same problems that I go through.
And not only did he persevere, he became one of the most successful and controversial artists in the medium of anime. If he could do it, I knew that I could do it. Which is a cliche statement, but it's true.
During the summer of 2008, I visited San Antonio TX for two weeks, and I was really bored out of my mind. I had a great time playing video games with my friend Michael, and seeing his family again. But there was simply nothing for me in San Antonio anymore. I wanted to go back there, and find a reason to move back there. But I didn't find anything.
I remember having dinner with Michael's sister and her husband. And I told them that there is nothing for me in San Antonio. I realized that I needed to go back to New York City, because it is my real home now. She seemed happy that I discovered that about myself, and that my dreams were waiting for me in the big apple.
During those two weeks, I got see "Wall-E" with Michael and his family. It was a good film, but I disappointed with the amount of humans that were in the movie. They felt unnecessary, and were extremely annoying. But I was engaged with the love story, so it turned out to be a really good experience. I saw "Evangelion" all over again. And after reading many different theories and interpretations. I learned that towards the end of "End Of Evangelion", Shinji and all of humanity in instrumentality, became a liquid substance called LCL. And when Shinji rejected instrumentality, and was brought back to his physical human form.
And well, "End of Evangelion" is just the ultimate mind boggling experience. And I agreed with Eva Yojimbo's theories on the series and the film. That there are different visual motifs like the hand motif, the eye motif, the train motif and the color motif. The hand motif can be interpreted in different ways.
Like a way of giving comfort, or guidance to somebody. The eye motif can be interpreted differently as well. The train motif is very common in asian cinema, but I never really noticed it until I saw "Evangelion." The trains can represent either Shinji's hell, or salvation. You'll notice that when he runs away, he isolates himself on a train and whatever is around him, shows how he is feeling.
Like in episode 4, when he is riding on the train, he is distant from everybody and feels empty. And the color motif has to do with the colors Red and Blue. Red means the harsh reality of our existence, while the color blue is synonymous with bliss or joy. This interpretation echoes both finales. "Neon Genesis Evangelion" ends with a more optimistic ending, with a blue coloring.
While "End Of Evangelion" ends with a red coloring.
I was astounded by Yojimbo's interpretations and theories. And many other interpretations by different fans as well. Like me, they seemed to love "Evangelion" and have dissected it on a daily basis. I went to Evageeks.org to express my love for "Evangelion", to write about my own opinion of the series, and how it was such a life altering experience. And so far, Evageeks has been a great site.
There are some intense discussions here and there, but nothing to break everybody apart. "Evangelion" is the type of art that brought us all together.
We talked about some of our favorite moments in the series, and the best episodes. To me, the best episode is probably a tie between "Hedgehog's Dillemma" and "Splitting of the Beast." "Hedgehog's Dillemma" is the greatest display of visual characterization I have ever seen. But "Splitting of the Beast" impacted me on a more personal level, because it reminded me of the great friendship that I have with my mother. That no matter what, she'll always be there for me, to protect, and to help me during the toughest moments in my life.
That's basically what Shinji's mother does for him. His mothers name is Yuri, and her soul lives within the Evangelion known as Unit 01. So when Shinji seems to be in trouble, and looks like he's about to die. She always come to his rescue, by going into berserk mode, and destroys whatever is trying to kill Shinji. This is one of the most fascinating episodes. And on repeated viewings, it continues to impact me emotionally.
I learned about the AT fields as well. Their not just a force field that Angels and Evangelions use during battle. AT fields are things that humanity uses to protect themselves from being hurt. The reason that nobody can be truly intimate with one another, is because of our AT fields within our own hearts. Once we break down the AT fields, we become one entity, which starts instrumentality, and live in an eternal state of peace. Like Shinji, that's a world that I wish for.
A world where everything is united.
But it doesn't exist. And since it's a fake world, it shouldn't exist. Because reality is just so much sweeter. When I feel pain, I feel human. The Bible even shows that pain is a good thing. Without the pain that Jesus had to endure, we would not have our salvation. So that concept in "Evangelion" is nothing new, but it is based on genuine truth.
I learned that "Evangelion" could also be seen as satire. In a way, it constantly picks on mecha animes. Shinj takes on the cliche female role, while the female characters have the traditional male roles. Shinji is shy, introverted, and whines alot. While Rei is the strong, silent type. Misato is the leader, with an attitude. And Asuka is the loud, macho character. These three female characters, should be male characters, but I guess Hideaki Anno wanted to be more unconventional.
Shinji's sexuality is up for debate. In the beginning of "Evangelion", he masturbates to Asuka's comatose body. Which was a stab at hentai fans. Asuka represents the life less bodies of anime girls, and Shinji represents how sick and demented some hentai fans really are, for masturbating to the hentai. Hentai is basically porn for anime fans.
Now I'm not a judgmental person, and everybody has their taste. I guess falling in love with an anime character is less stressful and drama free, then being with a real woman. But if this interpretation is true, then I agree with Anno. It's just not healthy to be in love with an imaginary character in an anime, and isolate yourself from the real thing. But back to Shinji's sexuality.
In episode 24, Shinji has an attraction towards Karowu. Who seems to be gay, and Shinji falls in love with him. Now is Shinji bi-sexual? Or did he simply fall in love with somebody, who happened to be of the same sex? Let's face it, Shinji didn't have a lot of love. And the people who seem to like him, or love him didn't show any affection. So the minute somebody shows him affection, it makes sense that he would fall in love with that person.
I don't think Shinji should be classified as gay, straight, or bi sexual. He simply needed somebody who loved him unconditionally. And Kaworu fulfilled that need. Sadly, Kaworu turned out to be an Angel, who was about to start third impact. Which meant that Shinji needed to kill him, in order to save humanity from dying. But instead, Kaworu sacrificed his life, because he loved humanity and realized that we needed to live on. So he allowed Shinji to kill him, which destroyed Shinji psychologically.
Kaworu was the only person that Shinji loved, and he killed him to save the world. Who wouldn't go insane?
More satire is actually displayed during the first episode. Where Shinji is the cliched teenage boy who is called upon to pilot a mecha and save the world. Except in "Evangelion", Shinji refuses to pilot the mecha and whines about it. That's taking a cliche in anime, and subverting it to create a breath of fresh air. Which is something that Anno does throughout the entire series.
Now I don't consider "Evangelion" to be satirical, but I could see how somebody could come away with that interpretation. Personally, I feel that "Evangelion" is an allegory of deep depression and anxiety. This is an interpretation from Eva Yojimbo, and many other fans. I completely agree with this interpretation. It makes sense, since it fits with how the anime evolves into something chaotic and pessimistic during it's second half.
As I was reading these different interpretations, I decided to look for anime events. Or some place where I can meet other anime fans, or people who love "Evangelion" as much as I did. So I typed in anime viewing, or anime events in google. And I stumbled upon Metro Anime.
The first time I went to Metro Anime was in September of 2008. When I arrived at it's location around 33rd and 5th avenue, I met Adams. He started Metro Anime and has been an anime fan for 20 or 25 years. He was a nice man and definitely knew the history of anime.
Other people arrived, and put together the sound system, a big screen to view the anime. And this showing lasted for 6 hours. One of the animes that stood out for me was "Miname-Ke", which was an amazing slice-of-life anime. And I loved "Bamboo Blade."
After getting done with an anime, we would take 10 minute breaks. During those breaks, people were telling me about the New York City Comic-Con, and the New York Anime Festival. I really wanted to check out these events, and meet other anime fans. So the next couple days, I bought a 55 dollar weekend pass to the New York Anime Festival, and then I joined the New York Anime meetup.
During this time, the New York Anime Festival was a very young anime con. 2008 might of been it's second year. And while it had many problems, I still had a fascinating experience. I got to see cosplayers, youie and yuri fans yelling at each other, anime fans screaming for their favorite animes and celebrities. It was a fantastic weekend, and something that I want to experience every year.
I got to see the love and dedication of my fellow anime fans. There was a connection, and a common love for the medium that can't really be describe. We might disagree on the animes that we love and hate, but we're all united with our love for the medium itself. And to this day, I feel nobody can take it away from us.
After that event, I was ready for the New York Anime Meetup. I had dealt with thousands of different fans, which was a challenge, because I don't love crowds. But like Randal from "Clerks", I love gatherings. So while I get anxious around lots of people, I can still enjoy great events like Comic-con and New York Anime Festival.
So almost two weeks go by after the Anime Festival, and I take a trip to the New York City Anime meetup. It's usually located at the Skylight Dinner on 34th and 9th avenue, and I was both excited and nervous to meet new people. I saw a group of people that looked like they were anime fans, but I couldn't tell. So I waited outside until one of them said hello. Finally, one of them noticed me and asked me if I was there for the meetup, and I said yes.
I introduced myself, and I started discussing and debating about different animes. We talked about "Dragon Ball Z", had a moment of silence of "Toonami", and talked about other animes. I told everybody that I was a big fan of "Evangelion", and that it got me back into anime.
This was the first time where I met my homeboy name Jay, who liked "Evangelion", but wasn't much of a fan. He a bigger fan of "Gurren Lagaan." Which was an instant classic during that time, and it is one of the most entertaining animes that I've seen.
After our discussions, we decided to go into the Dinner. And after about an hour, it was packed. There was probably 70 anime fans in that one dinner. I spend most of my time talking to Jay and other fans around me, but I couldn't talk to everybody. It was crowded, and a lot of sensory over-load. But I had a great time. That night, I made four new friends, and talked to different anime fans. I even had a conversation about "Sailor Moon", which was one of my childhood favorites.
I met the organizer named Sal, who was an albino. I shook his hand, and he kinda looked like Master Roshi from "Dragon Ball Z", but I didn't think of it at that time. I met the assistant organizers named Jackie, and Willow, who seemed nice and welcoming.
As some people started to leave, I met a guy named Jonnelly, who was a big "Transformers" fanboy. He lived, slept, dream, and ate "Transformers" like nobody I had ever seen before. He use to be the organizer of the "Transformers" meetup and organized them at the old Virgin Mega Store on 14th street, at Union Square. I might of seen his meetup a couple times, but I didn't know about meetup.com until I heard about it through Metro Anime.
During the anime meetup, we all talked about "Evangelion", "Sailor Moon", "Dragon Ball Z", "Gurry Lagaan", and many other anime titles. After awhile, everybody decided to leave the dinner and go to a Karaoke Bar called "Wicked Willies."
I didn't go inside, because Jay didn't have his ID, so he couldn't go in. And I wanted to walk around a bit more. So I decided to hang out with Ant, his friend, Jay, and Jonnelly. That night was hilarious. We talked to an old man who claimed to have played with Jimmi Hendrix, and that it was "electric." He was really drunk, but the way he delivered the word "electric" was priceless.
After awhile, Ant and his friend called it a night. While Jay, Jonnelly, and I stayed out until 3 or 4 in the morning, playing Pool. I think it was the first time that I stayed up late in the City. When I'm awake at night, I'm usually up at home, watching TV, or playing on the computer. This time, I was actually hanging out with people, and doing social things. It was a good time, and I hope to never forget it.
After that, I wanted to go to more meetups and get closer to everybody. Not knowing that there would be plenty of drama along the way.
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