Evangeliowned

[Ishal]

As someone who is not by any stretch an anime fan ( But I've seen some of the big ones like FMA:B ) I have a question. Just how much does marketing effect anime? I know there are certain anime shows that exist to pander like High School of the Dead, but in a broad sense is it really that driven by merchandise?

 

[Imp_Emissary]

Those slippers are adorable Grey. Well done on the art today Cory.

As for the topic......I don't care enough. It's not that I don't care, but I just don't care enough. Probably why I didn't quite "get" the comic at first.

 

[Kargathia]

Mind you, its an interesting thought; can something be both deep and meaningful AND a commercial franchise at the same time? Rei, Asuka and the Evangelions are anime icons now, and it would be remiss of any company not to cash in that; especially since Evangelion merchandise is popularly responsible for basically resurrecting Studio Gainax. I myself contributed by buying (at vastly inflated prices), Evangelion action figures.

In this case I don't think the rampant commercialism undermines any of Evangelion's messages, whatever you think of them, but now I have this funny idea that perhaps in the show, part of Nerv's operational budget was from this merchandise and the thought of Shinji shilling a happy meal is just comedy gold.

Well played, Grey, well played.

Judging by how every single "deep and meaningful" piece of work that isn't covered by copyright has been blatantly used for advertisement purposes at least once... yea, you can.

Just consider Carmina Burana's Oh Fortuna. It arguably is one of the better pieces of music Orff has written, but that hasn't stopped anyone from using it as (free) dramatic background music.

Oh, and let's not forget the mousepads with the 3D tits "wrist cushions"

Spoiler

I have not much appreciation for anime, a decided reluctance to buy merchandise of any kind, and a positive hatred of obvious pandering, and yet... I'd buy that mousepad. It's just that wrong.

 

[Joe Byron]

I feel like any food branded with Eva would taste like tears

 

[Ishal]

As someone who is not by any stretch an anime fan ( But I've seen some of the big ones like FMA:B ) I have a question. Just how much does marketing effect anime? I know there are certain anime shows that exist to pander like High School of the Dead, but broad sense is it really that driven by merchandise?

Anime is crazy big in Japan, it is in the same sense that big blockbusters in the US have merchandizing. When Star Wars episode 7 comes out, how much do you want to bet Burger King will have characters on the packaging? Or McDisgustings or Taco Bell?

The fast food chains had Star Wars stuff plastered all over everything when Phantom Menace came out, I see no reason why it won't be the same again, you're right. I just never really watched anime as a hobby like a lot of my older friends used to. I just saw what was on Toonami and adult swim. I wondered how much the anime industry marketed to the Otaku culture.

This comic was pretty funny though. I hear all the time that there are deep meaningful anime shows out there, and I'm sure there are. However, when someone says one of those shows is something like One Piece I can't take them seriously. Its got like 400 episodes now... (yeah its deep if it takes that much to tell a story) but I get that filler arcs take up the space. I don't know anything about Evangelion other than its about some kid with problems in a giant mecha fighting giant monsters called "angels".

 

[VoidWanderer]

And here, I always thought Evangelion was all about Puberty...

Weird eating habits, societal pressure to be someone you aren't sure who yet, changes in your physical form, changing of your perception (noticing girls/boys) sexual undertones in... everything.

So people are getting excited and upset of preteen going through puberty.

How... squick

 

[anonymity88]

Oh, and let's not forget the mousepads with the 3D tits "wrist cushions"

Dear mother of God. >_>

 

[OtherSideofSky]

This in easily the best thing you have ever done. It was not only funny, it was funny at the expense of Evangelion fans. You can't put a price tag on that.

 

[RJ 17]

Oh, and let's not forget the mousepads with the 3D tits "wrist cushions"

Dear mother of God. >_>

"Deep and meaningful."

I'll say!

 

[DTWolfwood]

Touche sirs Touche! XD

still need to see the 3rd movie Dx

 

[Madara XIII]

*Incoherent screaming of Evangelion fans in the distance*

Aaah... The sound of justice.

And justice is a wonderful thing to behold. Hehehehe
"I love the sound of Butthurt in the morning"


Behold Justice at its finest:

<youtube=IeGNzErIlLc>

 

[Soak]

I love the slippers - classy, really!
The counter-argument is also good, but the slippers still top it all

The other stuff shown around here, razors and mousepads and whatnot... yeah, no words to describe this awkwardness.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

YES YES YES YES! This is perhaps the most brilliantly mean Critical Miss EVER! I nearly roared out in victory when seeing this.

Spoiler: My reaction to the strip

 

[medv4380]

Why would anyone not like the last Eva comic. It was funny, and timed well with a re-emergent Eva crazies.

Personally I'd only criticize it for for implying that sex didn't occur, but since all sex in the original occurred off screen you're always left with the audience interpreting what happened. Misato and Shengi probably had sex after her boyfriend died, but off screen like when she had sex with her boy friend they flipped to a picture and a watch. Then there was that scene in the hospital in the movie that my wife, and I, would rather forget.

There was also never any deep meaning to Eva. It's a fairly shallow fan service story peppered with conspiracy theorist lingo. The ending to the series and original movie is nothing more than a sharp left turn coupled with psychology psycho babel. It also gave weight to the rumor that the creator may have been associated with the weird end of the world cult.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

You can`t be serious. People took offense to a group of people on the internet making fun of Evangelion? Mocking the franchise has always been a running gag among the anime community!

 

[Fifty-One]

Oh, and let's not forget the mousepads with the 3D tits "wrist cushions"

I feel sorry for the HR person who has to call an employee into their office for this.

 

[Gordon_4_v1legacy]

I honestly have NO idea who Shinji is supposed to be portraying, seriously spineless daddy issues V.S. Giant mecha Pilot is not even remotely a contest, I'll give him being freaked out about the whole thing for maybe the first five minutes or so of battle but after his first victory he should have been all in on that shit not whining and wimping out at every available opportunity and that's just the mech side of the equation. there's what 4-5 girls in the series that try to get with him or at least give him the opportunity and he is just utterly clueless about them and any progression he makes at all as a character is immediately reverted to pre-eva shinji at the very first opportunity or with no reason at all in a jarring shift that would drop the transmission out of most cars

Emotionally unstable 14 year olds make poor substitutes for soldiers, who knew?

I agreed with the strip. You really just want to throttle that kid by the end of the series. It's not even the fact that he has multiple chances of doing every character in the show. He's a goddamn baby. Trust me I went through more trauma by that age than that kid could ever imagine and still had functioning hormones and balls to do things that needed to be done. I'm sorry to say I really never found any character on that show appealing as a personality. They got an A+ for concept and production(mostly), but the characters were poop. God I think I empathized with the dad more than anyone.

You saw your mother absorbed by a semi-sentient bio-mech and were without ceremony shipped off to someone who did not care about you, by someone who did not care about you, only be brought back into his fold to do the job that frankly should have been left to someone who'd been trained for it? You know like a commando or something.

Damn son, I commend you for such strength of character. It's just a shame humanity has this irritating habit of being different so some folks get better as their situation gets worse and others...well, don't.