Neon Genesis Evangelion

i'd say he's an almost normal animal, from the little we see of him.

Even when considering that he does such things as, to quote the Evageeks Wiki, "watching television, reading newspapers, taking baths in hot springs, eating human food and drinking beer, and it seems to be subtly hinted that he has a near-human understanding of events around him"?

in my defense it's been a long time since i watched eva.

tbh i always felt pen-pen to be really weird and out of place in the show. you could remove him and pretty much nothing would change.

Pen Pen isn't that bad but he also an old trope what with him being the team mascot.

Just finished watching the [=2nd] Impression visual novel's episode about Mayumi Yamagishi.

MAH FEELS. ALL OF MAH FEELS.

That was so touching I'm on the verge of crying over here. Seriously.

Starting now, she's the best girl. Nobody else can compare to her: not Asuka, not Rei, nor anybody else. She's much deeper of a character than I ever imagined! Hell, her mere presence in the cast was enough for Shinji to almost pull a Rebuild 2.0 ending:

Too bad she left the cast afterwards to avoid violating continuity.

She left? Where to, and why (from an in-universe POV)? I mean, Mana Kirishima went away because her life was in danger from both Gendo (no way he's going to let a spy off the hook after trying to infiltrate Nerv) and the Japanese government (probably because she knows too much about their dirty laundry involving this infiltration attempt, as well as the Trident project's more unethical aspects regarding pilot training).

According to Kensuke, her dad pulled strings at the UN to get her transferred out of the school and away from Tokyo-3.

As for her mom, Mayumi has a Train Carriage of Hell psychoanalysis scene where she has a flashback of a chibi and glassless herself, an adult woman lying on the ground and a man's hand holding a large knife; judging from that, her mom was murdered, Mayumi witnessed it and didn't repress the memories like Shinji did with Yui's "death".

edited 16th Oct '14 2:55:34 AM by amitakartok

... Her dad is a UN official?

No idea. Heard something about him being a rich businessman but I have no idea whether that's canonical or not.

By the way, I updated Mayumi's character sheet here. Did you know she has an Image Song sung by her voice actress?

edited 16th Oct '14 3:01:34 AM by amitakartok

No, I didn't.

In-universe, Shinji, Toji and Kensuke have a band and she sings at their request. Toji goes completely gaga-eyed at her voice.

By the way, the guitar solo in this is Toji's handiwork, taught to him by Aoba.

Nice.

On another note, I really hate those Zero Context Example entries on the character pages. What do you say we start fleshing them out, starting with Mayumi?

Sounds good but I don't really know what else to add to her sheet. The game is almost all spoken, unsubtitled dialogue outside battles and I only understand about a third of it.

Mayumi almost sounds like Maya, actually.

"Add to her sheet" implies that we're adding new tropes to the list. I was just suggesting that we write actual descriptions for the entries that currently only consist of the trope's Wiki Word. We need to explain to the hypothetical average reader, who is likely unfamiliar with the work in question, why/how she qualifies for the tropes in question.

Let's start with Beauty Mark. I think there's a Japanese cultural significance to having a mole under one's lip, right?

edited 16th Oct '14 5:10:47 AM by MarqFJA

I have no idea. I didn't add an example for that because the mole is clearly visible on her picture, as is her glasses and haircut.

The Cute Bookworm part does need to be expanded, though; she repeatedly says throughout the episode that she loves books and even Shinji parrots it back at her at least once. She even mentions books during her monologue concerning everyone betraying her, indicating that she's using books for the same purpose Shinji uses his cassette player: escapism and avoidance of interaction with others.

edited 16th Oct '14 5:22:08 AM by amitakartok

edited 16th Oct '14 5:37:16 AM by MarqFJA

Seriously... she's a Megane because she wears glasses. What else is there to explain why she qualifies for that trope?

I don't want to sound offensive or anything. It's just that I have a thing against Captain Obvious and the Self-Demonstrating Article. Especially the latter; that one's a plague that should be exorcised with fire and brimstone (not that I'm in a position to do that, mind you; it's just my opinion).

She's not exactly like Shinji; I don't know why but she feels... different from him. It's just a gut feeling, though.

edited 16th Oct '14 5:42:46 AM by amitakartok

Literally, "glasses girl"—one of the classic "sweet girl" stereotypes in anime. Cute enough without going overboard or posing the threat that a more conventionally beautiful girl might, the meganekko is usually pleasant, smart, and clever. And something about the fact that she needs glasses seems to imply an endearing vulnerability that makes her far more accessible to the average guy. After the Yamato Nadeshiko, she's the second-best girl that a boy can bring home to meet his parents and probably the more realistic of the two. Naturally, as with any stereotype, the meganekko can be inverted or subverted, but the vast majority in anime are sweet, smart and — when found in a major role — usually more than a challenge for a male lead to keep up with. Occasionally she's an unpopular character within the story, but not with the fans.

So... To put it simply, we should note whether she has any of those traits that are commonly found in this character type. If she doesn't have them, or else has enough of their opposites, then she would not be a played-straight example, and may instead be an aversion or subversion. Or something else entirely if the details allow it, like a Deconstruction. Or Zig-Zagging Trope, if it's a confusing/seemingly-endless mass of multiple trope-plays.

edited 16th Oct '14 5:51:12 AM by MarqFJA

Right, right. Confused the two tropes.

Anyway, why don't you take a look at her?

Ugh, the horrendous English "translation" of the Japanese captions. How am I supposed to understand what they're saying?

Bah, whatever. I'll just settle for the nice-looking graphics... which feature a lot of recycled shots from the anime. Guess they didn't have a big budget for this game.

Whoah, this is probably the first time I ever see Twice Shy in action. Adorable.

... What the hell is this battle system?

edited 16th Oct '14 6:15:06 AM by MarqFJA

Keep it in mind that this VN is from 1997. You can't really expect the graphics to be spectacular.

Of course not. The non-recycled content in that video, however, seems more or less on par with the TV anime's better days, to the point that I am rather sad that there isn't more of it.

So, back to Beauty Mark. I had consulted the Japanese culture thread on the topic, and received these two sources. Apparently, in Chinese and Japanese cultures, a mole near the lower side of mouth is a predictive sign of propserity and never-going-to-get-hungry. As there is no obvious connection with Mayumi's character, I'd say that her case is the simpler version of the trope where strategically placed moles are used for a subtle form of exotic beauty factor.

edited 16th Oct '14 2:15:22 PM by MarqFJA

You could watch the whole episode, if you want to see more of it.

Also, I just watched the good ending of Iron Maiden. Mayumi's ending was happier.

i'm surprised this series doesn't have an analysis page

So someone apparently asked Anno as to whether production for the last Rebuild film has started. His response?

"No comment"