Questions to some forum members

[Waffle Wars]

I've been mostly a lurker here for the past two years and, after reading so many threads, I have a few questions to ask some of you guys...

- Blockio: are you into EVA for the same reasons you like Gundam? Are they remotely alike? I'm thinking of watching Gundam someday.
- Kendrix: do you really like Rei's ending in Girlfriend of Steel 2 or is it a joke?
- BernardoCairo: Evangelion or Dragon Ball? And are you an Harry Styles fan now?
- Axx°N N: Would you rather sit through 24 hours of Rebuild content or starve for three days?
- JoelcrNeto: where do you find so many cool images?
- C.T.1290: what's up with you and Asuka?
- ElMariachi: did 3.0 + 1.0 grown on you over time? It seems like you haven't been as bothered by it lately.
- kuribo-04 the unanswered question... Are you from Spain or Germany?
- Mr. Tines: have you tried getting your family to watch Evangelion with you?
- FreakyFilmFan4ever: favorite Kubrick movie?
- Gendo'sPapa: did you miss checking 3.0 + 1.0's box office when it went out of theaters? It almost felt like a weekly ritual you did back then.
- FelipeFritschF: was the wiki something that brought you inner satisfaction at the time? Is that why you put so much effort into it?
- Szmitten: have you considered writing a book about the production history of Evangelion?
- AWinters: Did you complete your project?

[Blockio]

Blockio: are you into EVA for the same reasons you like Gundam? Are they remotely alike? I'm thinking of watching Gundam someday.

It's an interesting question, and not one I immediately have a thorough answer to.
The two franchises definitely cover common ground by virtue of both being mecha; to name just one, the underlying discussion of the physically invincible combat avatar contrasted to the physically and psychologically very much fragile pilot is one of the key essences of the genre (or rather, the entire supergenre that mecha, tokusastu, magical girls and a few others belong to, but that's far beyond the scope of the question), and Eva, obviously having come out after a pretty significant portion of Gundam, does take inspiration from it in a good share of places, but the way the two go about exploring their themes is quite different.
If I had to put a name to it, I'd say that the main thing that draws me to either is to see how the characters react to and deal with the much larger than life (metaphorically and literally) circumstances that they are being thrown into, and the strong focus on the intermediary of the mecha as an extension of their bodies and sometimes minds adds a certain spice to the whole and, let's not kid anyone, seeing it in action is just cool in a way that few other things are; but as technically accurate as that description is, it is also very frustrating in that it doesn't really define anything, just by replacing some nouns in the second half of it extends that to basically any piece of fiction that has some form of fighting in it, and both Gundam and Eva do have something much more particular about them that draws me to it.
So no, unfortunately I can't really answer that question right away; I'll think about it some more, if and when I have an answer, I will come back to this.

Not to hijack the thread completely for the sake of Gundam, but while I cannot precisely recomment doing the same as I did and watching almost all (or even just a majority) of it, there are definitely a couple of shows that, if mecha-adjacent stories are at all your thing, I do rather highly recommend checking out

[Axx°N N.]

Axx°N N: Would you rather sit through 24 hours of Rebuild content or starve for three days?

I'm less than one digit away from being officially overweight according to my BMI. So gun to my head, I should probably starve.

However ... when the other option is something I intend to do at some point anyway, and allows me a dessert break...

I haven't watched the new bonus features, and I assume I can choose what said content is ... but actually, is there even 24 full hours of Rebuild content? Would it have to queue in a Kaworu-esque loop?

Either way, the real answer is this: depending on my mood, either option could be way more preferable. But that's in the moment just before it commences, and along the way future me is bound to at times appreciate and resent my choice.

[JoelcrNeto]

JoelcrNeto: where do you find so many cool images?

I search on Twitter and/or pixiv using keywords related to Evangelion, such as character names, EVAs, etc. and pick the ones I like the most. I also have some favorite artists and I go straight to them. The same logic applies with other franchises that I particularly like.

Some images I find accidentally, sometimes on Pinterest; then I use an online tool to look up the source (the artist) to get the work in the best possible quality and also give them the proper credit.

I recently had a bad experience looking for fanart tho, as I'm repulsed by AI-generated illustrations, and unfortunately ended up accidentally finding some.

[BernardoCairo]

BernardoCairo: Evangelion or Dragon Ball? And are you an Harry Styles fan now?

To answer your first question, while I recognize that Evangelion is the stronger story, I personally prefer Dragon Ball. Don't get me wrong, I love NGE. It touched me in a way that I cannot describe. However, Dragon Ball has a special place in my heart for what it represents to me (and it's also really funny, creative and well illustrated). They're my favorites, of course. Their differences are what captivate me. Evangelion is more in line with who I am and Dragon Ball what I strive to be. It's hard to explain. I never thought I'd be comparing the two, even introspectively.
I'm much more invested in the Evangelion community, though. And I got crazier about it during that time gap between Shin's debut in Japanese theaters and its subsequent release on Amazon Prime worldwide. I have spikes of interest in Evangelion, whereas Dragon Ball is more consistently on my mind at all times.

As for your second question...

SPOILER: Show

Yep. He's great and his three albums are top notch musical content (especially the first and third). But my profile picture is more of a joke than anything XD!

[Mr. Tines]

Mr. Tines: have you tried getting your family to watch Evangelion with you?

My wife watched it along with me when I first watched it. Her main reaction was that they killed off the only good character about 3/4 the way through.

[kuribo-04]

kuribo-04 the unanswered question... Are you from Spain or Germany?

Haha! I'm from Spain. Was born there. I consider myself to be Spanish too.
But I'm 1/4th German too (like Asuka lol) and have spent maybe half my life in Germany (a lot of travelling between both countries).

[AsukaisLiterallyMe]

Blockio: are you into EVA for the same reasons you like Gundam? Are they remotely alike? I'm thinking of watching Gundam someday.

Insightful post...

Personally, nobody asked me, but I watched Gundam for the politics.

What do they look like when you have weapons of precise AND mass destruction?

My memories are wonky, but I definitely didn't get all I wanted from the Gundam shows I watched but enough to consider it a theme.

EVA is more about the psychological aspects, and eventually, the metanarrative.

Gundam 00 is probably the one that got closest to what I wanted Gundam to do all my life; and technically bits and pieces of the first UC Gundam.

[C.T.1290]

C.T.1290: what's up with you and Asuka?

Well, long story short, I just didn’t like her personality all that much. I had honestly hoped that she would change or grow out of that, but we never got to see that. She just rubbed me in the wrong way. But that didn’t gain me any favorable circumstances, as I’m sure you may have noticed. I got banned after that, and was let back on here a few years ago, and hadn’t made much posts about her as you can tell, and for good reasons as I am well past that. I don’t plan on repeating the same stuff again. Apparently, there was so many things I might have got wrong about her, so maybe I should be more open on the possibility that she may be a better character than I had thought her to be.

Edit: I should also add that this is a rather embarrassing thing for me to talk about here, since it just reminds of how much I was a dumbass during my early years on here.

[ElMariachi]

- ElMariachi: did 3.0 + 1.0 grown on you over time? It seems like you haven't been as bothered by it lately.

Not at all, I still disagree with its plot, themes, setting and how it handled most of the characters.
It's just that, well, I've already said pretty much everything I had to say, and thus don't spend most of my week-ends on this forum talking about it anymore.