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A Review - EVA: R, by Maher Al-Samkari Okay. Well. Finally, the popular EVA: R has been reviewed. Before I give my account as to what to think of this fic, let me give the following information: EVA: R was one of the earlier fics that I read, and thus it became one of my favorites. However, after writing a little myself and reading more fanfiction (not to mention a good deal of English literature), I lost interest in EVA :R almost immediately. I couldn't understand it -- as my interest in Evangelion grew and expanded, the attention EVA: R received from me grew smaller and smaller. Later, I introduced a friend of mine into anime and, of course, Evangelion. Soon after I introduced him to EVA: R, which he, of course, became enwrapped in. When he asked me how I could not consider EVA: R to be one of my favorite pieces, I gave many, many answers. Yet finally, when I went to the website, read some of it once again, I caught a glimpse of what I liked about this famous story. With that said, here is my review of EVA: R. Let me start with what I do not like about the story: I will not go deep into the plot of EVA: R, since I'm sure there aren't many EVA fans alive who have not read it. To recap for those who haven't read it in so long a time, the story spins off near the end of the series, and adds new characters to the mix -- always a risky endeavor. There are also new Angels, though very little information is given about them (more information later). Not much else is changed. In short, what we have is a straightforward continuation of the Evangelion series, though little reference, if any, is given towards the series itself. First, the characters. Lyn Anouilh is a European who comes to Tokyo-3 as the official Sixth Child (but we all know the truth, don't we?). Lyn is very much like Shinji, and would lead some to believe that the only reason he is there is to act as a double so that Shinji himself doesn't go out of character. At any rate, he doesn't seem to have any of the flaws all bomb Author Created Characters (ACC's) have (for more information, see DJ Croft from Neon Exodus Evangelion). He is like Shinji -- below average in many leagues, but chosen to do a job no one else can (or would). He does, however, have one very major fault: he's almost completely useless to the storyline (plot-wise) and sometimes just seems to take up space. Like a Shinji without the introspection, Lyn is very uninteresting; he is the common man, unlike Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Misato, who are all extremes of diverse personalities. Next on the new cast is Aoi Tamashii, who is very popular, though some would wonder why. I would guess that after all the angst and depression from the original cast of Evangelion, Aoi was a refreshing change (though I think Kowaru was meant to do that already). Aoi is something near the ideal ditz. I'm sorry, but Aoi just doesn't seem to sport more than a positive outlook on life that is really just a facade for her underlying purpose (and a mwahaha to that). Still, Aoi, like Lyn, are two new characters who complement the original characters well in terms of screen time, and they do bring fresh attitudes to the rest of the fic, which is to say, overly dark. Maybe it's just me, but for most of EVA: R, a dark feeling looms over the reader, wearing him or her out. The new Angels, or whatever they are, are really just plot fillers so far (01-27-00'). They come and go seemingly randomly and the build up to each battle takes far too long. The battles are nothing especially spectacular (then again, this is fanfiction, and action is difficult to portray the same way it is on the big screen). I don't quite remember much plot being brought by these fellows, and if they are supposed to be a major part of the plot, then the only thing impressive about that aspect of EVA: R is the time it took to type all those lines in the chapters. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't remember there being much of a plot to EVA: R at all. I must have lost it in the middle of all the sidetracks that I ran into. The feeling captured by most of the story is that of the last few episodes, where the audience is waiting for the characters to hurry up with the next Angel so that the whole thing can be done with, and the lives of the characters can be further portrayed. Despite the long introspection scenes, nothing very new seems to come out of them. It seems as if the writers debileratlely chose to put some straight philosophy into these scenes, but wrote in a more-confusing-than-needed manner. It won't be long before the reader stops caring about what happens to the main characters of the story, since they slowly stray out of character, but not slow enough. Here is where the new characters come in; they act as distractions. I think the biggest complaint about EVA: R I have is that it's completely random and has no definite storyline to follow. Whereas most storylines can be compared to as a dirt road upon which he walks, EVA: R's road is more like a walk through a fun house, and eventually, one just wants to get the hell out of the place. Okay, now that's what I do not like about EVA: R. Here is what I do like: Neon Genesis Evangelion. It was never really about defeating Angels to save mankind. It was never meant to be a religious story. In my opinion and many others', Evangelion portrayed humanity through characterization. And all that came as a surprise in the last few episodes. This is not what I liked about EVA: R. Let me continue. Throughout all the randomness and plot of the series, the feeling of real living on rainy days came upon me. Like the end of the series mentions, it is possible to have fun on a rainy day. To me, Neon Genesis Evangelion was like a story told on a rainy day. Eventually, the mood of each episode became gloomy, but the interest in the characters was not lost. The feeling of finding some shelter under the falling water, the feeling of a home, or daily life, came into play while I watched the series. Thus, this carries to the one thing I like about EVA: R. The best part of EVA: R, in my opinion, are first few chapters, where the characters are a little gloomier than before, but not overly so. They are a wee bit out of character, unless one compares them to their portrayals in the manga version of the story. Soon, Lyn and Aoi are firm in our minds (and unfortunately, they already began to take more of my attention than all the original characters combined), and all that's left is for a plot to be identified -- just one, straight, plot which never falls off topic. The series got all this right, but EVA: R missed the last part widely. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen, what with the Angels, new technologies here and there, and random WAFF sequences, it's very difficult to look at EVA: R from a distance and say what it's about. The last two chapters as of January 27th, 2000, just go to prove how desultory the walk on EVA: R's road is. I hope that something meaningful to the plot comes out of Jyn, who is in the official branch-off story. Another thing about EVA: R that's pretty nice is the webpage's layout, not to mention all the multimedia that goes along with it. EVA: R is, what, a thousand pages or so long? EVA: R, even if you don't like it, must be applauded for the effort that went into it. Perhaps I should read the story again to verify that I'm not senile at age 16, but I wonder: is EVA: R the kind of story that you want to read again (and its length isn't what scares me)? The story just doesn't grip me the way it did for the first few chapters. I think it's because of its lack of direction that the original ending to EVA: R was so disappointing. From the way things look, EVA: R's prime is heading the same way. In my opinion, if you haven't read EVA: R just yet, you should, for the experience, if nothing else. It's a welcome rush of excitement. If you're lucky, that excitement will never die away. Now if only the authors would just update a little more often...
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