Monthly Archive for September, 2006Page 3 of 3

Evangelion 2: Electric Boogaloo

6 Comments |
September 7, 2006
| Film, News

What’s with all of the remakes? Kanon is almost here (27 days and counting!), a new Kiminozo project is in the works, Shuffle (of all things) is getting a Director’s Cut, and now, more Neon Genesis Evangelion?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say Evangelion is special to me as an anime fan - it’s sort of what got me rolling in the wrong direction, after all - but it’s been several years since I last watched the show, and will likely be just as many years yet before I watch it again. Out of sight, out of mind. Still, I can’t help but feel a little excited about this announcement.

I’ve always gotten a kick out of Shinji’s “alternate reality” from the end of the TV series, which was later expanded upon in the Girlfriend of Steel manga and games, a clever repurposing of the Eva franchise that I’ve always hoped to see animated at some point. Unfortunately, GAINAX never delivered on that front, and instead milked their cash cow with one remastered release of the original series after another - something that never really interested me, to be honest, since I’ve always thought the budget, arthouse, “splice the film together with duct tape” feel of the original production is a big part of what makes Eva special. Now, however, GAINAX is promising new material, giving me new hope the Girlfriend of Steel continuity may finally be animated in some form.

Or not. It’s not clear at this point what GAINAX intends to do. Will these new films take place in the original continuity? Will it be the Girlfriend of Steel continuity? Some amalgamation of the two? Something entirely different? I don’t know. Deep down, however, I think I’ll be satisfied no matter what continuity they choose. Even after all these years, I feel the Eva universe and the characters who call it home deserve a second look. My fondest memories of Eva are found within.

Of course, if this new project is indeed an expansion on the original continuity, I offer my condolences to all of the Eva fanboys out there who thought they finally had the show figured out.

Poor Thing

11 Comments |
September 3, 2006
| Television

Awww… you’re gonna make Asu cry!

When in Rome… Or Not

20 Comments |
September 3, 2006
| Miscellaneous

You know, when English-speaking anime bloggers, journalists, and fans refer to Japanese industry personalities, I find they generally do so in given name first, family name second order. I guess that’s the proper way to do things. Here at Hop Step Jump!, however, I pretty much always write names in proper “Japanese” order: family name first, given name second.

Why? I can’t do it any other way. That’s all there is to it. When I see a name I know in writing or hear it in conversation, I always expect the family name to come first. Flip it around, and I might not even recognize who you’re talking about - not without stopping and thinking for a moment, at least. Obviously, certain highly recognizable names (e.g. Maaya Sakamoto, Yoko Kanno, Hideki Anno) are excepted, so much that I’ll write them in reversed order simply because that’s what people are accustomed to. But, for all other names, it’s always family name first.

I have a particularly difficult time understanding people when they reverse a name in spoken conversation. For some reason, the reversed versions of many Japanese names don’t “sound” right to me - it’s like the rhythm is so screwed up that I can’t make sense of the individual syllables, or figure out where one name ends and the next begins. Say “Shimizu Ai” as “Ai Shimizu”, for example, and I’m likely to hear “oishii mizu”. Ai-chan is indeed delicious, but I don’t think she’s a glass of water.

Force of habit, I guess. When I was working in Japan, there were probably only two people in the entire country I ever addressed by given name: a certain female coworker and the President of the company. And, in the case of the female coworker, I still generally addressed her by family name when at the office. The last time I saw her, she was here in the States on vacation, and, given the setting, I felt it was best to address her by her given name… sans honorific. And you know what?

It was WEIRD.