On Tue, 5 Nov 2002, L.S McGill wrote:

First off, let me complain that there's not a next chapter yet.  Grr.
You've had me glued to a monitor for two weeks now reading all of this.

Sadly, I cannot devote my every waking moment of my life to writing
fanfics :)

Second, let me state up front I've never seen Neon Genesis Evangelion.  If
someone wants to tell me where I can download episodes, I can correct that,

There's a commercial release of it.

but I'm coming to this completely ignorant of who these characters are or
how they're *supposed* to act.  And in all honesty, you've probably forever
ruined the chance of me not feeling vaugely dissapointed when I finally do
see NGE, because they won't be these characters, or this story.

Cool.  Glad to be able to warp you forever :)

I can't say that for certain here, but I'm willing to bet NGE had no where
near the depth you've given the characters here.  From what little I've read
of NGE fics, I seriously doubt Gendo is the quiet hero he's portrayed here
as, at the least.

Most of the EVA characters remain ciphers in the original, or have fairly
marginal development.

And yes, I do see Gendo as a hero.  Despite all his coldness, he's driven by
one goal, and one goal only.  The survival of the Human race as a free
species.  For all he courts SEELIE and technically serves them, it has
become increasingly obvious he's out to save mankind from the Elder Gods by
any means needed.  He's sacrificed everything else for that goal, even his
own wife and son, but for the goal he seeks, he had no choice.  Like any
true Lovecraftian hero, he's become possessed of too much knowledge to
remain... *human*

Yep, exactly.  A big theme of Lovecraft was that true knowledge of how the
universe works destroys your humanity, because only by ignoring the truth
of a cold, mechanistic universe could we maintain the culture and
humanitarianism that makes us human.

 >

That's where a lot of the admiration I have for this work comes in, the mix
of Lovecraftian horror in a modern setting.  Yes, humanity has become jaded,
and technology make those *undreamed of mysteries* a lot less mysterious,
but you've managed to capture a lot of that horror, while still keeping the
humor typical in so many anime.  The constant uses of prophecy help set that
tone well.

One big reason we made our characters more sympathetic than the anime
versions was to give them room to go downhill. :)

So does the death of various characters we've come to know, like Kensuke.

We shocked a lot of folk killing him off.  Then Kaji too.

It's the line about Hope being the one weapon the Elder Gods couldn't fight
that really drove the point home.  HPL's work was about hopelessness, the
inevitability of the Elder Gods victory over a weak and ignorant mankind,

The Outer Gods.  The Elder Gods are the gods of the Dreamlands, who are
relatively friendly to mankind.

I also like the way it seems that Mankind is being tested by the Outer Gods,
to see if they are worthy of surviving where so many others have failed, and
see if they can keep their humanity in the face of overwhelming power that
has corrupted such mighty and intellegent beings, leaving them as unable to
control their basest instincts as the lowest animal.

I assume you meant the Elder Gods here.

That was Adam's failure with Rei.  She controlled her animal self and stayed
human.  And had she not failed to control the urges of the Violator, and
felt remorse for her failure to do so, would she have had the strength to do
so?  For all her inhumaness, I think Rei may end up the one who learns the
most about being human.  I do hope Asuka gets over herself soon and realizes
Anna is in love with her, and that she is "protesting too much" about having
had sex with a girl.  The longer she keeps Shinji dangling, the more
complicated she makes everything.

For Asuka, it's more the 'I was raped' rather than 'I had sex with a girl'
as the issue at hand.

And yes, I do think that the Sixth Child is the key, because if all the
Children have loves, then they become far stronger against anything that
Cthulu or Narlythotep can pull.  Hikari and Touji, Anna and Asuka, and Rei
and Shinji are what I see.  Six EVA  for a Seal of Solomen verses five for a
pentegram.

Now there's a nifty mental image :)

And I am curious as to what Akane is up to.  It's hard to figure if she's a
cultist, or just curious, but she's definately up to something, and I don't
yet know if it's a good thing or a bad thing.  I'm not really sure Misato
and Makoto are a match made in heaven.  But I definately think Maya and
Ritsuko make a cute couple.  Maybe Asuka will learn something from them.

More trouble for them to come :)

By the way, if you haven't guessed, Rei is my favorite from this story.
She's the ultimate outcast trying to fit it.  She has everything I used to
like so much about Illyana Rasputin, a truly dark side she has rejected, and

Ahh, yes, I remember Ilyana, before her continuity was completely
destroyed.  ^^;;;

constantly has to fight against, yet the very struggle not to give in has
made her far more human in ways than anyone gives her credit for.  She chose
to stay in her cell after the Violator, and she has chosen to try and seek
forgiveness.  And, as usual, Asuka is being a spoiled brat.  While, yes, it

I think being unhappy about having been raped does not make one a spoiled
brat.

Humm.  Well, that's my opinion anyway.  If you continue the way you have so
far, whatever the outcome, I'm sure I'll enjoy it.  It's been far too
wonderful so far.  I don't get to enjoy stories this good often, so I hope
the continuation will come soon.

Well, it took us a year to get this one out, but I hope the next one will
be faster.



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