After 5 long years of waiting, we’re thrilled to announce the return of the Eva Fan Geeks Commentary. As with the original, commentators will not be able to edit the commentary directly. Post your episode 05 comments in this thread, and the best will be selected by the editors for inclusion in the commentary.
Evacommentary.org was originally started in 2004 by a group of dedicated EvaGeeks from Anime Nation Forums to serve as a compendium of information to be shared by all Eva fans. You can read a more detailed history of the commentary, its original members, and its scope here.
Sometime in 1999, after Neon Genesis Evangelion finished and during the pre-production of KareKano, Evangelion’s directory Hideaki Anno appeared on a TV show on N.H.K. called “Welcome Back for an Extracurricular Lesson, Sempai!”, which features Japanese celebrities revisiting their old stomping grounds and teaches a class in their old primary school. In this episode, Anno returns to Ube, a factory town in Yamaguchi Prefecture, to teach kids about animation.
Along the way, he talks a bit about himself, about Evangelion, about art, and about the town he grew up in. This is particularly interesting when one considers that he has just come from a dark time in his life, especially right after the success/controversy caused by Evangelion. One of the first things he admits in the show is how he is deathly afraid of children, as he is about to walk into a classroom filled with them and meeting them for the first time. From time to time, it seems like Anno is being quick with his replies to questions, yet sometimes it’s clear that he’s enjoying himself.
The November 2010 issue of Young Ace (Kadokawa Shoten) includes a new Mari Makinami Illustrious (ver. 2) “Special Appendix” figure. The figure was announced back in the April 2010 issue and some adverts included it with the August 2010 issue, which for some reason didn’t pan out. Instead it was bundled with the just released November 2010 issue. Similar to previous “Special Appendix” Kaiyodo Evangelion figures, they’re pretty small and kind of cheaply made, but you can’t expect much when it’s bundled with an $8 magazine (658 yen without tax). It’s limited so if you want one, ask your importer or go to your favorite online store (if you’re not in Japan). There has previously been a “Special Appendix” figure of Rei, Asuka, and Mari (thus the “ver. 2”).
While it may have been vastly overshadowed by the release of Halo: Reach, the first volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion: Campus Apocalypse was also released today, and can be purchased from a multitude of online vendors, as well as your preferred brick-and-mortar book store. I found mine in stock at Barnes & Noble in the very touristy Baltimore Inner Harbor with the greatest of ease. If you’re unfamiliar with this quirky four-volume series, check out the Eva Geeks wiki entry for Campus Apocalypse. Also, please take special note of the closing contents of the volume, as our good friend Carl Horn is once again including Misato’s Fan Service Center, which you can write to at [email protected].
The upcoming anime by GAINAX, “Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt“, has a trailer posted online.
The show revolves around 2 angels (for real) named Panty and Stocking (no joke) that were kicked out of heaven for bad behavior under the pretext of ghost hunting. The show will premiere on October 1st and will air on numerous TV stations in Japan.
Originally mistaken for the show that is to be based on the Dantalian no Shoka light novel, which is set in 20th century Britain, it was later clarified that these are, in fact, two different shows. Panty and Stocking will be directed by Hiroyuki Imaishi, famous for Gurren Lagann and Dead Leaves, with character designs by Atsushi Nishigori, who also did the designs in Gurren Lagann.
Studio GAINAX launched its first of a series of Lectures on creating Anime. Director Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL, Diebuster, Evangelion) is the first lecturer and talks about storyboarding, the stage right/left rules, imaginary lines between characters, character continuity, and elements within a scene.
The transcripts of the first 2 lectures by Tsurumaki have been posted on the lecture series site: Part 1, Part 2, and a Glossary of terms. Although the transcripts are in Japanese, they are straightforward enough such that a robo-translation (e.g. Google or Babelfish) yields at least something that’s coherent enough to follow.
In the stage left/right section, he mentions how in the first episode of Evangelion, Sachiel moves from right to left, but during the first engagement between Eva-01 and Sachiel, Sachiel is to the left and the Evangelion is on the right.
The GAINAX Shop is selling a “TYPE-GENDO Evangelion Sunglasses”, replicas of the ones that Gendo Ikari wears in the Evangelion anime. For a mere 9,450 円, you can be a proud owner of a pair of nickel chromium framed sunglasses with 100% acrylic anti-glare lenses (orange color). You can optionally install prescription lenses into the frames.
Cospatio, a company specialising in Cosplay, has designed 2 plugsuits that resemble those worn by Asuka and Rei. They are highly detailed, made from polyurethane nylon and rigid plastic polypropylene. They are a limited edition cosplay item and will set you back ¥553,350. For more photos and more information, visit the website links below (all in Japanese).
So, this years SMASH! (Sydney Manga and Anime Show) was really fantastic, and according to the SMASH forums, they sold more tickets then they ever expected they could. The new location, Sydney Town Hall, reached capacity early in the day, and the organisers were forced to stop ticket sales, much to the misfortune of anyone who turned up late. Fortunately, next years SMASH will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre on the water at Darling harbour, which is a much larger venue.
Funimation announced today that it has acquired Evangelion 2.0 from NTV. As of yet, there’s nothing on Funimation’s Evangelion site about 2.0, but the DVD and BluRay release is slated for 2011. There will be more updates as information is made available.
