FanficRecs Good Stuff I daresay, wot.
As an early-to-late modern history student, I found the premise very interesting. I was not disappointed. I hope that in time this will come to be seen as one of the great epics of Evangelion fanfiction. Japan and Korea are not my speciality and as Germany appears to be the Author's homeland I daresay his interpretation of Germany's culture and politics is superior to mine. But from what I do know, I must say reading this has been a very interesting experience. Knowing perhaps too much about how Evas are supposed to work (according to Fan Wank) I found the premise of an early C20th Evangelion to be the only thing which stretched my willing suspension of disbelief. Well, that and the existence of an effective world-wide conspiracy in the age of the telegraph. But it's notable that those are the only issues I have with it. Everything else - and I do mean everything else - is quite well done.
Apart from the disintegration of the British Empire, actually, come to think of it. Loyalty to the Crown was very intense in Canada and Australasia, which more-or-less ran themselves. It's not hard to see South Africa going its own way, though, given the present unpleasantness there. I don't know, France going to pieces would sort of make sense - they did have a real history of (serious) government trouble - but for Britain to go seems a bit... it would take more than a near-apocalypse for the men of the British Indian Army and Civil Service let the mostly-defunct Princes any kind of autonomy, let alone fight each other over the place. Realistically, the place was run by the Indian Civil Service and not the princes by that stage. Also, I was under the impression Japanese Industry of the time was comparatively small and kind of backwards. That said, if Britain 'and' France collapsed, that would leave Japan in prime position to economically (and militarily) dominate Central-South China, Indochina and India. Anyway, apocalypses do funny things to people, and it's not really a big issue. Oh, stupid! A socialist revolution and an Irish Revolution could probably do it. It'd split the country - and the (overwhelmingly Irish) White component of the Indian Army - down the middle. Silly me.
Anyway, excuse my griping, it's a darned good fic. Especially for a demned devil-dog hun, ho-ho.
FanFicRecs Caellach Tiger Eye's review
Intrigued by the premise of this AU, I anxiously decided to try it — knowing full well that a good idea did not always make for a well-written story. Sometime it does, though, and this is one of those times. The author has constructed a very plausible interpretation of the NGE storyline occurring a century earlier. Archangel38 has Shown His Work by carefully analysing and interpreting the world powers of the time, as well as the political systems, the technological level (such that the EVA Units are miraculously plausible even in 1915), the cultural and social nature of early 20th Century Japan, and everything else — in a way which feels incredibly and surprisingly realistic without seeming like an ass-pull. The battles are described very well, in a way which not only feels consistent, but keeps the Angels from looking weak while facing lesser technology, and most importantly they don't feel like a chore to read. And the characters are very well-interpreted so far — they have elements of their canonical selves very much present, and yet are adjusted in a sense which feels correct to the time period. While only one chapter has been published so far, I was intensly engrossed by the writing style, which can draw in a patient reader like a bee to nectar. And though there isn't much dialogue yet, the world-building is, as I have said, very creative and intrinsically constructed. Not to mention being true to Japanese society of the time. I definitely recommend this one despite it still being in the early stages.
FanficRecs Great!
When I started reading the fanfic, I said to myself "this fic was written to be great!" and, as I write, has five chapters and none of them is anything but good to excellent.
First, the research made to build the setting is astonishing; after the Second Impact, the world is unrecognizable, but you still have the feeling that the world is the beginning of the 20th century, and how the Second Impact changed the society, politics, economy (they allowed women in the military, remember it's 1915).
Shinji is much more competent, being raised in a military school, he wangsts (is that a verb?) much less and it's more mature than his canonical counterpart, but, otherwise, retains the same characteristics.
So far the author has suceed where Anno failed: Rei is creepy, and her relation with Gendo is slightly different, he seems to don't know what to do when she starts to make pieces of dead Angel fly around her.
But one of the reason that attract readers is how to fight Angels with Edwardian-era weaponry? The answer: it works! If the anime could be considered Crazy Awesome, this fic has to turn it Up To Eleven! Every battle is more Crazy Awesome than the last one!
So far, the only down points are grammar (it's the reviewers who pointed it) and that Misato was Demoted To Extra, big time, but this shouldn't be reason to ignore this fic. Strong recommended!