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A Review - Rei's Birthday Present, by Chris Burke Hallejuah. I mean really. The first fic that I have seen which throws a curve at Rei's depth and is so far coming out the other side in a beautiful follow-up. Rei's Birthday Present, by Chris Burke, is a serious story to consider for any Rei fan. The story starts rather simple and confined and works its way outwards from there. It is Rei's birthday, and luckily Misato and Shinji take note of this fact and give her a present -- a puppy. By the end of the first chapter, the audience may have their feelings set for how this fic will go. Believe me -- it's far more grand than one would typically believe. What Rei's Birthday Present gives is a perspective of Rei's persona from the views of the four main characters of Evangelion (Shinji, Asuka, Misato, and Rei herself), along with some other small dealings, relations, and affairs on the side to fill up any feelings of dreary, trite material. Okay, so what are we dealing with here? Well, in short, it's a simple plot with deep explorations; and analyzation disguised in a little creativity and flow. What was surprising to me as I read Rei's Birthday Present was how while I was reading certain parts of the story that should have been more boring (i.e. Rei's perfunctory actions towards her unexpected gift), I was not bored at all. The writing is simple and easy-going, and thus the feeling of the fic as a whole is easy-going. What this does is capture the essence of a happy and open day in the grim world of EVA. The writing style has a few other pluses. For one thing, it isn't repetitive, thus perserving the fresh feeling that it started out with until the end of each chapter. Furthermore, the vocabulary is universally comprehensive, and not debasing to any reader in any way. Another way to see it is that no meaning that is meant to be caught by the reader is blatantly vouchsafed by the author -- things are presented well enough that the meaning of things come through without added hints from the author. In other words, you will not see something like this in Rei's Birthday Present: *gasp* Shinji did such a thing for <censored>? The depth of his love suddenly burst into <censored>'s mind, causing her to love him ten times fold now that she [and the audience] fully understood that Shinji really loved her. *gasp* *swoon* *sigh* (Fushigi Yuugi, anyone?) There are already too many movies, television shows, stories, and inevitably, fanfiction that gives that type of intellect-insulting comentary. Instead, Rei's Birthday Present leaves it readers thinking and smiling wistfully after they catch on to what something means or what someone did. This brings me to another topic in Rei's Birthday Present: character. With the exception Asuka, the characters' actions are invariably in character. The only small doubt I have about Asuka's character is how her thoughts are drawn out for the reader to see. She seems slightly more considerate than someone who just watched EVA may believe. For more experienced EVA readers, however, this little discreptancy will probably be missed or most likely ignored. At any rate, Miss Ayanami Rei is patiently kept in the persona of the First Child, speaking minimally and thinking narrowly, even in a parochial manner at times. Mr. Shinji Ikari, with considerably less screen time by the end of the third chapter, is kept quite in character except in the first chapter -- he is the one who proposes making up to Rei in some way for her obstensible boredom in a previous event. I can see Shinji apologizing, but it takes a little stretching to see him repaying in some manner. I don't know -- perhaps I've watched the series too many times and see nearly all the characters in a black light. Plot. This is the one thing that Rei's Birthday Present lacks the most. Only at the end of chapter three do we begin to see something of a nimbus beginning to form possiblities for a deeper plot in the story. As yet, Rei's Birthday Present is in it's baby stages, so one can only hope for the best as the story ripens. The last complement I can assert to Rei's Birthday Present is that I would classify it as a romance fic, not a WAFF fic. The small hints at affection from the story are far more effective than any kiss I've seen from any other fic so far (with the exception of the kiss from Children of an Elder God, but that had a totally different, even opposite, effect altogether). As mentioned before, this story's romance angle is slow, and thus has less room for mistakes in that each step of any romance path to be taken will be better thought out than a WAFF fic which is more spur-of-the-moment written. Finally, it should be said that Asuka fans should not dismiss this fic. Not only is Asuka not an uber-bitch, but the way things look, an Asuka/Shinji romance angle can be seen forming as well. Yes, the thought dialogues in Asuka's mind might be very important, indeed. Of course, personally, I'm hoping that all this introspection of Rei's character is not a just a setup for the anti-thesis of a romance that will be illustrated as "better" between Asuka and Shinji. I can only hope; the truth is up to Mr. Burke, of course (and hopefully, when he reads this review, he will not deviate even a millimeter from his original plan for Rei's Birthday Present). His given response to this particular section of the review was this: You say "I'm hoping that all this introspection of Rei's character is not a just a setup for the anti-thesis of a romance that will be illustrated as 'better' between Asuka and Shinji." I'm not sure what you mean... Are you hoping that I don't ditch the possible Rei-Shinji angle in favor of the Asuka-Shinji angle? Well, I may be a Rei-head, but actually I don't favor either Asuka/Shinji or Rei/Shinji over the other (he doesn't deserve either of them! ^_-). And to be as enigmatic as possible, I'll just say that by the end of the story, you might love me, you'll probably hate me, but possibly both. ^_^ In conclusion, a recommended fic. Now, if only Mr. Burke would write a wee bit faster (at this point, only chapter three is out). I shouldn't talk, I write even slower. |
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