"Ah! Another Asuka/Shinji fic...Yummy!"

This is what I always think when I start reading a new fic that begins with the name "Asuka". I'm rarely wrong on this belief. I know too when a fic is going in the good direction or not. And this fic is in the good one... For now. :)

We'll start with this fic's little problems... No, this fic's little problem, make it single. The only thing I have against this story is that each chapter is way too short. Not in kilo-bytes, of course but in what actually happens inside. The author takes his time to describe things and how the characters react. It's obviously not a fault, since we (almost) all like when everything's detailed, but as I say, there's not enough "storytelling". Each ending part makes the reader absolutely want to know what'll happen next. The reader is still thirsty of this... hmmm you want to know more about the story itself...?

It could have been more original: Asuka is punished by Misato for hurting Shinji really badly, sending him to the hospital. Sure, it's far better than nothing, but I think I can remember a fic where this kind of thing occurs. However, I'm not so sure of myself, and I may be wrong on this. Needless to say that Asuka is really pissed off by Misato's decision to make her stay in
her room without anything to do, just think about what she did to Shinji... End of part one.

"What!!? Already!!!?" screams the crowd.

I told you there wasn't enough story in each chapter! ^_^ But, what's coming next is far more interesting. I can't really ruin the story for you, but Shinji's going to suffer from something I personally know a lot about. He'll become blind. I won't tell you how, you'll get the surprise by yourself, but he's going to be blind. As I said, I'm interested in this because I'm myself almost blind, and the author really makes Shinji act like someone blind. As the author himself stated in his notes in chapter two, he doesn't take the subject lightly at all, and even if all this isn't really medically accurate, we're here to relax, and this fic does a great job about
it.

What about the writing style, the OOC-o-meter(tm) and all that stuff now? As you probably guessed, the fic's written in prose format. That's why there is so much description ^_^. As for OOCness, be reassured, there is none at all. None I could think of, anyway. It's always difficult to judge OOCness in a fic, since it's a creation from someone who isn't you, and then, has different opinions and views on the series than you. However, in this one, I can safely say that there isn't really anything OOC, and the characters are really acting in a believable way.

In conclusion, this is a good read indeed. If you like Shinji/Asuka stories, this one seems very promising. Well, we can't *yet* say it's an Asuka/Shinji fic, since nothing happened yet between the two. But I'm sure the author is preparing some nice surprises for us readers... :)

Until instrumentality is needed again.

SEELE-02
February 14th 2000

Since I'm not as obsessed with Asuka as my colleague, what grabs more my attention with this fic is Shinji's fate. In 'normal' life, Shinji already tends to generate more angst then most known anime characters. How, if you consider the position he finds himself after chapter 2...

I'm intrigued.

I really am.

Depending on how the author develops things, this story could become a full fledge darkfic, it can suddenly become a romance fic, or something in between. And is this conspiracy I smell in the air?

The theme is not quite unique. It's been done recently in EVA-R'. However, the perspective in this story (mainly the fact that Shinji is the one concerned, and not a new created character) opens interesting possibilities.

I hope to see more soon.

My colleague also mentioned the chapters being too short. I have to disagree. I personally like the length of the chapters. They seem to move more swiftly and I think they provide quite enough. And I like the small cliffhangers they creates. It just makes the reader more eager for the next part.

This one has promise.