"Eva" continuation fics seem to follow a similar formula: a few years or so after the end of the original series, where Third Impact was prevented, everyone has moved with their lives, living a rather happy existence. Shinji's married to Asuka, Toji's with Hikari, and just about everyone else has more or less gotten what they wanted or deserved.

So if you're looking for that here, look elsewhere. "Symphony" gives us a different sort of continuation of "Evangelion" where we don't necessarily get a happy ending for everyone.

The story plays out as a sort of "Where are they now?" tale, beginning with Toji and Hikari bumping into Shinji for the first time in years. The trio then plans a makeshift reunion with the rest of the cast--those who are still alive, anyway--so they can see how everyone's doing. Things seem to start off okay, at first, but when they finally manage to track down Asuka, they learn the hard way that not everyone got a happy ending after going through what they did.

Much as I like continuations that has everyone happily married or paired off and living a peaceful life after the collapse of NERV and the defeat of the Angels--something they deserve, after all--reading this was a fresh breath of life. It certainly proves the old sayings "Life stinks" and "You don't always get what you want". Shinji is a prime example of this. Even though he has a somewhat successful life and career, you can see that he isn't happy. And as he encounters his
former comrades, his mood just gets worse until he finally does snap. Snyder does a great job depicting how everyone is and what they're doing, whether they got a good life or a bad one. And trust me when I say that the ending will throw you off in such a way you won't expect it.

The only downside is that we don't get the whole picture. While we find out what happens to Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Toji and Hikari, etc, we never find out what happens to other characters such as Misato or Ritsuko. It is obvious that they may have passed on, perhaps even in the way they did during "End of Evangelion", but Snyder doesn't even mention them. Misato, at the very least, was a major part of Shinji's life, and even if she were dead, he would remember her or even at least
mention her. After all, a continuation fic can't be called so unless we find out what happens to everyone.

Snyder puts out some of the more interesting fanfics that are out there that are full of drama and his latest one is no exception. Even better, he pulls off an old trick of taking an old idea and making it seem fresh, something few are able to do. Definitely a great read, worth keeping and generating anticipation of the next project.

Until Instrumentality is need again...

SEELE-05
July 20th, 2000

This work had been previously reviewed by one of my esteemed monolithic colleagues but I have finally hauled my lazy ass around to read it. I was deeply touched and very impressed by it.

The story could probably be seen to represent some of the author's views on the Technology of God and the interaction of reproducible science and faith in and of the unknowable.

The structure of how the story was told was particularly effective in conveying the plot and characters in a suitable context and in short (and thus quickly read) and well written (describing the feel of each setting) installments. Almost like six degrees of separation, we have the ordinary and happy world of Touji and Hikari meeting the ordinary but bleak world of Shinji. We travel the old-new world of powerful organizations and deadly power plays which is inhabited by Kensuke and Maya. The austere, enclosed concrete world that where Gendou has been incarcerated. The remote, musty place of Asuka's self-imposed exile in the abandoned Bavarian countryside tainted by the faint edge of madness. And the silent, haunted city of Ayanami Rei.

A quote to illustrate:

"The worst of it is...there was never any question in my mind that I wouldn't tell you guys. I felt like I deserved it. I felt like I had pushed her away for long enough and not known what to do that I was asking for something like this to happen. Well, it did. I don't hate her for it anymore. It's just a big empty spot in my life."

They were all three seated on the cobblestone road, staring at the lithic sea that made it. Above them scattered clouds, borne on a gentle wind, blocked out the sun now and again. In the empty street, none of the usual sounds of cities could be heard.

"Shinji, you're a complete mess," stated Touji.

"Yeah. I know."

Just look at how the surrounding environment causes the conversation to resonate with *that* much more power! A wonderful feature that occurs throughout the text of how dialogue and scene reinforce each other. The Shinji-Asuka narrative and the silent tragedy of Rei affected me particularly strongly.

This story filled me with a deep sorrow but is dark in a quiet way unlike the creeping horror and madness of 'Evangelion: Damnation' by the same author, the sadness here is that of a sense of loss, of waste, of being unable to let go, of being unable to be let go of. I have been driven by the siren song of this story to write this review and perhaps, now, it can loosen its melancholy grip on me.