Media Case Study on Evangelion

[The Triforce Fighter]

Hey guys,

I need to read some books that discuss some of the problems the characters from Evangelion face for my Media Coursework. Web articles will do just fine but they need written by actual qualified people according to my teacher. They do not have to refer to Evangelion itself (although it would be good if they did) and hopefully not to hard to get my head round as well = P
If you can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.
Plus any books that talk about anime/manga representation or the industry itself could be quite useful as well...

Thanks!

[The Eva Monkey]

Hey guys,

I need to read some books that discuss some of the problems the characters from Evangelion face for my Media Coursework. Web articles will do just fine but they need written by actual qualified people according to my teacher. They do not have to refer to Evangelion itself (although it would be good if they did) and hopefully not to hard to get my head round as well = P
If you can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it.
Plus any books that talk about anime/manga representation or the industry itself could be quite useful as well...

Thanks!

As far as books go, there are actually hardly any at all. The Unofficial Guide to Evangelion is awful, The World is Watching is ridiculed, and The Notenki Memoirs (despite it's cover and tagline) says next to nothing about Evangelion. Anything else that appears in a book tends to be brief and doesn't delve into much detail.

There have however been quite a few articles and essays written over the years. Some of the better ones are probably in Mechademia, but they're not readily available for free or online.

Over the years, I've gone through some effort to collect articles and essays. Some are by fans like you and I, so I don't know if they qualify as sources for your project.

http://www.evamonkey.com/em_writings.php

Alternatively, there is the Anime/Manga Web Essay Archive, which has a lot of Evangelion stuff as well.

http://www.corneredangel.com/amwess/titles/nge.html

You might find an awful lot of link rot on there, so employ Web Archive for maximum success.

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php

Hopefully that should get you going in the right direction.

[cyharding]

The only thing in English I could think of is that Susan Napier did discuss Eva in her book Anime from Akira to Howl's Moving Castle.

[zuka]

Napier also discusses Eva in an article I've referenced a few times. It's available here if you've got access to JSTOR, but I'm sure you could find the full text elsewhere if you Google hard enough.

If you need any theory relating to anime in the West in general, an academic by the name of A. S. Lu is a great place to start.

Wiz dat said, good lurrr

[Eva Yojimbo]

Outside of a few exceptions, I think academia and NGE have yet to be properly introduced, at least in the western world. One fascinating thing about NGE is that it has all of the qualities typically appreciated in high art and aesthetics, yet it's still largely unrecognized except by enthusiasts who are typically seen as being no different than Star Wars or Star Trek nerds. Yet, a lot of what we do around here is absolutely no different than what happens in, say, literary criticism, theory, and scholarship.

Anyway, EM posted most of the sources that I read when I was learning about the series. To this day, the most enlightening thing I've read on NGE in such a format was Hiroki Azuma's Anime or Something Like It, which influenced many of my own theories regarding NGE, especially the more cinematic aspects.

[The Eva Monkey]

Other thoughts:

If you have the time, you can also reach out to a few people.

Charles Dunbar
http://www.studyofanime.com/
http://twitter.com/Studyofanime

Alex Leavitt
http://www.alexleavitt.com/
http://twitter.com/alexleavitt

Both of whom have have hosted panels on the subject of Evangelion, both of whom are involved in the academia. I believe both are pursuing higher degrees with anime as a component. They might be able to point you to some resources.

[braveheart]

this one's serious stuff

[The Triforce Fighter]

Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction, now I have a valid excuse to read about Evangelion in my Media classes
I'll check with my teacher to see if I can use a few of the blogs as well. It would be a shame to waste all those good sources.

Anyways thanks again guys, and if you think of anything else don't hesitate to post it on here or PM or whatever = P