Andrew Huang shot to fame as a pioneer in NGE fanfiction for his 'Neon Genesis Evanjellydonut'. And well deservedly so. But as a result, the phenomenol success of Ejd has somewhat overshadowed another magnum opus which is, IMHO, simply the best in Shinji x Asuka romance writing.

'The Heart, the Soul' is the series title for, what is currently, a trio of stories: 'I Mustn't Run Away', 'In Other Words' and 'The Quiet Moments'. It is not easy to work good romance into an orthodox interpretation of NGE but Andrew has managed it by creating a believable and sustainable context within which the relationships play out. His sensitive treatment of the material and characters can be exemplified by the following extract from 'The Quiet Moments':

>   She nodded, and wrapped an arm around his torso. They lay there,
> quiescent, for a few minutes.
>
>   "Shinji?"
>
>   He looked at her.
>
>   "...don't leave me."
>
>   He leaned forward, placing his forehead against hers. "Asuka," he
> answered, after a moment, "don't _you_ leave me."
>
>   She looked at him. There was silence. Then she began to giggle.
>
>   Shinji suddenly found himself to be very confused. "Hey, wha, what's so
> funny?"
>
>   Asuka calmed herself a little. "I can't believe we just said something
> so corny." She lowered her voice in mock melodrama. "'Don't _you_ leave
> me.' It's like something out of a bad romance novel."

Every word counts, nothing is wasted. You can feel yourself in the shoes of the characters. And best of all, is the sense of irony and self-deprecatory humour. My personal favourite of the trio is 'The Quiet Moments' but that, in turn, must be read in the context of the first two stories.

The objective of this review is, as with some of my past reviews, to create more fuss around fics over which the fanfic community really should make much more fuss about and pay more attention to. Also when I read this, I couldn't help but notice how certain devices (like the
first person narration from Shinji and Asuka respectively in IMRA and IOW) and certain scene ideas can also be found in other good works of romance e.g. Strike Fiss's 'Holding Hands'. This is not to encourage formulaic, homogenous writing or even worse, plaigarism, but to point out that good fics tend to inspire and influence many other fics. Andrew himself has pointed out his debt to Terry Pratchett and non-hentai doujinshi.

Although I am generally not a fan of WAFF (which TH,TS unapologetically is) nor really very keen on Shinji x Asuka, I still submit that 'The Heart, the Soul' is beautiful, sincere writing.

SEELE-06
October 12th 2000

In every forms of art, there are those pieces we call classics. Songs or movies most people have seen (and are heavily recommended to those who haven't seen them), and which will always have a place in our hearts.

"The Heart, the Soul" by Andrew Huang is such a classic of Evangelion fanfiction.

I Mustn't Run Away: The first part of "The Heart, the Soul". If Evangellydonut pioneered humor NGE fanfiction, "I Mustn't Run Away" without any doubt set the example for NGE WAFF. Since it was written, countless Shinji/Asuka fics were written, but many still use it as a reference. It also pioneered to other aspects of NGE fanfiction: the first POV narrative (I'll openly admit it, "I Mustn't Run Away" has been my guide in writing "The One I Love Is...") and also perhaps the first use of manga-type Shinji, in other words a Shinji dans didn't spend all this time whining but could rather actually manage to stand firm and strong if it was needed from him. And in light of manga vol. 4 and 5, where finally see some Asuka/Shinji interraction, I think Andrew did a pretty good job. I wonder how this story will be different from the manga, when it reaches that specific Angel...

In Other Words: A sequel equal to the original story, although unfortunately, it sometimes tends to be shadowed by "I Mustn't Run Away", as it often occurs with sequels. Switching this time to an Asuka POV, Andrew offered us a most appealing trip into Asuka's mind, as we saw her deal with the event which occured in the first story. This story introduced the first steps of a relationship between Asuka and Shinji, with Asuka slightly relaxing her guard and gave us a nice picture of a mother/daughter relationshion between Asuka and Misato, although unfortunately short. Hopefully, future installements will expand on that. A piece just as powerful as the original one.

The Quiet Moments: The title of this story reflects it's content dead on. No Angel attack, no big angsting drama, just simple daily life moments. But then, considering the two characters involved, maybe such moments are not as common. Two weeks have gone by since the events of "In Other Words" and in that time, the relation between the two characters has settled into something smooter. It's still not passionate love, in fact, neither of them would probably even dare to think about that possibility, love, but we can see how Asuka and Shinji slowly grew more comfortable with one another. It's still shacky, it's still awkward, but it's a step. In a way, this story truly starts the story line. The first two parts mainly served as introductions, showing us the thoughts of both characters and creating a context making following events possible. Now the path is set and all needed is for our favorite couple (assuming you're an Asuka fan) to walk it. In a way, my favorite among the three chapters, should it be only for this single line: "But...it's nice to have help, when I have to be strong. Yeah."

Unless you can't stand WAFF -- or rather should I say romance? -- the "The Heart, the Soul" is a must read.