Evangeliowned

[KeikakuKat]

Oh man, I love you guys.

I'm not a fan of Evangelion, and my brother outright hates it, so I'm sure he'll laugh at this too.

I DO own a hugging pillow of a certain character from Madoka Magica though, so I feel like I don't have the right to criticize EVA in that regard. Lots of anime have those, actually.
Still, this is funny.

 

[themilo504]

I kind of expected this comic to be making fun of the comment I made, but making fun of excessive merchandising is always nice.

Even so Last week joke was still disgusting and you should feel bad for it.

 

[wooty]

Right, thats it!! I'm buying me an Asuka love pillow. It gets cold up north you see....and lonely.

 

[1337mokro]

I think I can One Up everyone else here, if you known what it is, congratulations, you have spent enough time on the internet to lose most of your soul

If you want they have the other female types as well. Sadly ladies and gents no Shinji version.

Ok, I'll bite. What the fuck is it?

Also captcha: no means no...heh, captcha has been reading your post.

Right now I can't decide if its a sex doll or some kind of ice tray for drink bottles. Could go either way on this one.

Considering it says something along the lines of "Link connected lotion" in the left bottom corner of the box, I'd say you're closer with the sex doll/toy theory. 0_0

You are indeed very warm with the last guess.

 

[Legion]

...I don't get it?

No, seriously, I don't get what this strip was supposed to be about. I didn't see all that many people blasting the last strip because "OMG Evangelion is teh deep!" or anything. I just remember myself and a few others commenting that it relied on the oldest Eva punchline going, one you guys had already used once.

And anyways, what isn't marketed and merchandised these days? I'm not going to criticise the themes of society and chaos in The Dark Knight just because Christian Bale was slapped on a few lunchboxes. I'm not going to ignore the genius of the first few Alien films just because they spawned a media franchise. Stuff gets popular, it gets merchandised.

The fact that fans talk about how deep it is, but it's used to sell Doritos, fast food and body pillows.

A poor line of argument, but considering it is satire, and the comic mentions they aren't taking the high road, I doubt many will take it seriously. It's meant for humour after all.

Like me, you also didn't see a lot of people apparently using "You don't get it, it's deep" as a response either. The way people are reacting, I half expected to see the comments section was akin to the Bioware forums after Mass Effect 3 was released. I looked back and read them today and am still unsure on what the hell people are talking about.

Although, I do find it kind of funny that so many people are commenting about how great it is to rip on NGE and the fans, when I'd say it is very likely that Grey is actually a fan of the show himself.

 

[LysanderNemoinis]

You know, I think Grey is taking all the outrage, and I just can't have that. So, I would like to advance the theory that NGE is the Call of Duty of the anime industry. Think about it, it's a shallow work of 'art' that tries to seem deep and serious and meaningful, but it's about as easy to figure out as 2+2=4. Both never seems to die no matter how many times it gets made and remade. Both seem to be some kind of standard that all others in its genre are compared against, and genuinely interesting and better shows/games end up receiving relatively little press and praise despite their quality because they're up against this massive, overhyped, overrated drivel.

 

[Daft Time]

Oh man, this has to be one of the funniest strips from you guys. Nice work!

 

[geizr]

Yeah, same as last time, while I definitely LOVE EVANGELION, I have to 100% AGREE with Grey's point, here. Watching (and buying) the original series, the director's cut, and the two End of Eva movies was all fine and good. However, the further spates of remakes after that definitely began to feel more "cash-cow" driven as opposed to trying to push any sort of deep philosophical meaning. You get it the first couple of times; the deep meaning being Eva is loneliness and lose. The deep meaning behind the further mass commercialization of Eva is "Give me all yo' money!". As an artist, if you want to preserve the mystique and deep hidden meaning of your work (spawning innumerable mental masturbation sessions, fan-fiction, and other derivative works from others to elevate you to the status of creative genius), you need to know when to quit while your ahead (learn from Lucas and his damnable midichlorians).

 

[RaikuFA]

Personally I'm just tired of Evangelion as a topic of discussion. I mean, the jokes write themself. Harem-mecha anime with the main character being the whiniest whiner in whine town, and he's whining about driving giant robots and saving the world. It was deep and unique back in 1995, there have been dozens of anime now that have done it better.

I guess people still want to talk about it because it was a major moment for a lot of anime fans (me included) to see a show that had the sort of, in my opinion, nihilism, hatred towards humanity (especially the otaku Anno hated), and brutality inflicted on the characters both mentally and physically. Other shows may have done it better, Psycho Pass did the nihilism of society thing to a good extent and some of the gundam shows after Eva did the character perspective and trauma better, but Evangelion was the show that kicked off this wave of dark and spiteful anime and people will always talk about the big game changer.

I watched Lain and GitS before I watched NGE, and by that time NGE looked relatively simple, almost looking like a pale imitation of what the others were trying to pull off, despite it coming before either of the anime series (although GitS was a manga at the time).

So basically, it's cause you saw the stuff that had the dark and brooding stuff that EVA had before you saw EVA.

Thats pretty much how EVA is. Brooding before it became cool to brood. Basically, EVA is a hipster.

 

[OniYouji]

It is a little headscratching that, at its heart, Evangelion has always been a fairly deep show, diving into discussions about the human condition and whatnot...and then they go ahead and market the hell out of it. Granted, it seems more that this isn't exactly Anno's idea, and that Gainax just saw money and exploited whatever markets they could find. It says a lot about Japan's culture when it has about as much merch for Eva there as there is for Star Wars in the US. This of course despite the fact that it really isn't all that commercial...

Still, when you ignore all the merchandise and product placement that spawned from it, it's still a great story. It's just hard to defend something that has been plastered all over...well, everything.

 

[BX3]

The next 2 questions are coming from a guy that really doesn't like Eva and also feels like it's alleged deepness is a construct of it's fanbase.

1.) Can someone point me in the direction of the people that cried foul in the last strip or talked about how deep the show was in response to it? Because I didn't see them.

2.) In what way does the marketing have shit all to do with the content of the show, exactly...?

These are honest questions, because I'm genuinely a bit confused.

 

[Rakor]

As I recall, the project of the original evangelion was pretty much The Producers. As in grabbing a crazy guy to write an anime they know will flop so they can rake in insurance or w/e. And all the religious references were just there to look cool. Then it turned out to be cool.....

I am reminded of this big book of religious interpretations of See Spot, See Spot Run, Run Spot Run....

 

[idodo35]

japan is wierd...
also why is the cpacha bowncing? is it just happening to me or is it a thing now?
oh and the comic was great and what not...
but seriosly why is it bouncing like that!?

 

[l3o2828]

Maybe they complain because 99% of the time, you're just not funny or clever in general.

You Can [Not] Get Laid got a chuckle out of me though.

 

[idodo35]

I think I can One Up everyone else here, if you known what it is, congratulations, you have spent enough time on the internet to lose most of your soul

If you want they have the other female types as well. Sadly ladies and gents no Shinji version.

Ok, I'll bite. What the fuck is it?

Also captcha: no means no...heh, captcha has been reading your post.

Right now I can't decide if its a sex doll or some kind of ice tray for drink bottles. Could go either way on this one.

Considering it says something along the lines of "Link connected lotion" in the left bottom corner of the box, I'd say you're closer with the sex doll/toy theory. 0_0

You are indeed very warm with the last guess.

im scared now...

 

[SaturdayS]

What does marketing have to do with story?

 

[emeraldrafael]

because where's the fun in being rational and maturely debating this like civilized men and women. XD

To be honest I never particularly got into the show but I did like the movie on adult swim not too long ago. maybe cause the first time i watched it I didnt care as much but it did clear it up and felt more streamlined. Still thats hysterical.

EDIT: and is this something like the second or third (not counting this strip) time you've poked fun at the series, or am I thinking of another artist?

EDIT 2:

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

sadly I've seen the ones of completely naked girls and even worse, the ones where the cushions are ass cheeks. I cant imagine someone actually using one in a place where everyone would see, but eh different strokes.

 

[Kururu999]

1.) Can someone point me in the direction of the people that cried foul in the last strip or talked about how deep the show was in response to it? Because I didn't see them.

That's because they don't exist. Grey/Cory just like stroking their own egos.

 

[Purple Dragon]

Every time I start to get really into the crazy shit in Evangelion, I am reminded that the characters are as old as my kid sister.

Plus I don't think you can pretend the ending was "meaningful" so much as..... desperate. Like trying to complete a square meal with just 3 dollars at the AM/PM, and the best you can do is a hotdog and a candy bar.

Yes the original ending was a bit of a trainwreck, but I think the End of Evangelion Movie was still brilliant.

 

[Bevvie]

snip...

Although, I do find it kind of funny that so many people are commenting about how great it is to rip on NGE and the fans, when I'd say it is very likely that Grey is actually a fan of the show himself.

Just want to point out that you are 100% spot on here, without a doubt. It is possibly the only anime he has watched consistently even though I have tried to get him to watch others. In fact pretty sure with the latest episode he couldn't wait to watch it the next day with me, and instead went and got his own and watched it that night.