cranky
1. colloq. eccentric, esp. obsessed with a particular theory
2. (esp. of a machine) working badly; shaky
3. (esp. N. Amer.) ill tempered or crotchety
take ye pick, 'kay? ^_-
The Fate of Hearts, Chapter 5
by Joshua 'Gargoyle' Trujillo <gargoyle@glasscity.net>
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/1509
The Imperial Roman Eva alternative universe. This chapter is centred
on a battle in which Caelus/Shinji plays a decisive role in turning
around. Tightly written and the action flows well, especially since
the (approx) alternating of scenes from the aftermath of the battle
and of the battle itself.
Two reservations. The first is relatively trivial being some
skepticism of the battle tactics of the Roman legions - until the
Roman troops regroup on the hilltops, it doesn't seem to match the
standard idea of Roman order of battle which rely on solid lines
of legionaires who wait for the enemy to come to them rather than
the other way round. Using javelins to disrupt the enemy charge,
legionaires then buffet their opponents with their heavy shields
and then stick their shortswords into the guts of their enemies.
But that's just one conception. Even the pple at the medieval
warfare section of the department can't agree on *the* definitive
Roman ORBAT.
The second is that much of the battle is based on the premise of
Mistura/Misato losing her cool and falling into the barbarian trap.
That was particularly hard for me to swallow - she didn't rise to
become one of the most prominent generals in this elseworld by
being a hothead. The Misato in the standard NGE continuity also
never loses her cool during operations. The author does try hard
to justify this with a description of the barbarian provocation.
I still think that it would be more convincing if the mistake was
made by one of Misato's sub-commanders and Misato got injured in
the confusion while trying to reverse the situation.
Nonetheless, it *is* the author's story to do as he will. And I
did enjoy this installment. We never did find out what Flustra
found in Shinji's room. All will be revealed in due course I
suppose. And the arrival of Proconsul Effero Sotter (Gendou) at
homebase... {ominous thunder}
It's A Rainy Day, Sunshine Girl - Chapters 1-4
by Matthew Johnston <caravan@cafe-pierrot.net>
http://www.cafe-pierrot.net/
Original fanfic about budding college artistes and their muses.
First off, what a beautiful and intriguing title! I had read
the first chapter when it was released a long while back and then
lost track of it. But was still sufficiently impressed to vote for
Caravan in the most recent Chicken Ball for best original character.
To start, I'd like to make some favourable comparisons with that
other master of the original anime/manga style fic, Ammadeau.
The main characters grew on me very quickly (within a chapter)
through a mix of invoking empathy (situations I could identify
with), fantasy (situations i have imagined about) and curiosity
(there is more than meets the eye, little hints mostly about
personal histories). They were essentially likeable (even the
'villians') and came across as very much alive.
The structure is also very much character-based and driven as
seen from relationships and conflicts. Plot enters from the
personalities and histories of the main players. And love triangles
or squares or other shapes. Almost everyone likes those. Unless
you're actually involved in one.
However, Mr Johnston does have a distinctive writing style than
easily differentiates his work from Ammadeau's upon reading. The
most explicit manifestation of that is in his use of unusual
imagery, unorthodox language use that yet seems fitting: e.g.
[Ichiro liked to think he was a Star Wars hero, a real Han Solo
type. But in reality, he was more like C-3PO. Well, maybe Han
Solo's brain in C-3PO's body.]
or
[Kenji shrugged defeatedly, and followed Caravan to the
impatiently waiting train.]
Chapter 4 ends on a cliffhanger note with readers probably
screaming 'What's going to happen to Caravan?' as well as mulling
over 'What is Renaissance's evil plan?', 'Kenji is a Priority One?'
Very much looking forward to more!
Salvage Episode 1: The Secret Platform
by Chris Jones <guilty@furinkan.net>
http://www.furinkan.net
A sci-fi anime-style original fic. My my, aren't we seeing more
of original fics around these days. ;) I liked the element of
international politics at the macro level (giving the thing a
'spook' buzz) and at the micro level (inter-national bickering
among the crew of the Davey Jones).
However I did have rather a lot of trouble absorbing the info
in the fic about the characters and the general context. It's
probably just my fried synapses but this is the third time I've
looked at it and am still having problems. I suppose one of my
difficulties is that nothing much actually *happens* - the
crew gets a message, they talk, they go to the lunar base and
then... there isn't any sort of memorable incident or event that
I can anchor my impressions in...
The other thing that troubles me slightly is that I didn't really
get the 'anime' style buzz from this. Unlike Ammadeau's Kumiko the
Demon-girl (Urusai Yatsura et al) and Project Kawaii (Project A-ko
et al) or Matthew Johntson's Sunshine Girl (AMG et al). Again,
this is probably my own fault as I haven't seen much anime-style
scifi like Nadesico or Gunbuster. For the above two authors, the
anime style fanart also helped a lot.
The Success of Two Salarymen
Two Salarymen on the Fringe
Two Salarymen Get Busy
Two Salarymen Clean Up
by Lara Bartram <lara@emunix.emich.edu>
http://www.thekeep.org/~lara/
The manic follow-up to the manic world of the Two Salarymen
where the two employees of Micronax struggle to produce their
giant robot anime and get the chicks into bed. Most of the
ideas and events in NGE are covered: why Gendou is the uber-
character who lords over Shinji, why Naoko, Kaji, Ritsuko, Asuka
and Kaworu are killed, why Gendo and Kozo plot to overthrow the
designs of SEELE, why Toji gets maimed and why Rei gets a
relatively sympathetic treatment.
Particularly brilliant was how Yui used Kaworu to threaten
Gendo and Misato as the efficiency expert (who's she's paired
with in the end is a real surprise) really had rings of Lucy
Liu in Charlie's Angels, for me at least. One of the things
that isn't really dealt with really is why there's so much
pseudo Judeo-Christian mythology in it and why Angels are
chosen as the opponents.
Maya in Wonderland
by Doug Whiddon <turk187@crosswinds.net>
A lemon about Maya in the dreamscape of Lewis Carroll. On acid. Or
something. There were quite a few great laughs along the way and
the use of footnotes was strangely apt. However, I did think that
it would have had a better impact if it were converted to a lime
to remove the explicitness which I thought didn't really serve
the purposes of humour in this story.
That's all for now!
elt