5 Pros/4 Cons - Neon Genesis Evangelion

While I’m not the biggest connoisseur of anime, I watch a little here and there. Which reminds me… I gotta get that one post on Digimon Tamers finished. Before I get back to that as well as other things, I thought I would talk about something that most fans would consider to be a gem in anime. Neon Genesis Evangelion was released in 1995. It ran for 26 episodes, had two movies (technically one since the other was a glorified clip show), had an accompanying manga series, and even got revamped in the late 2000’s. Imagine someone mixes in big monster action, psychologically scarred people, and religious iconography. You’d either get this or something Zack Snyder produced… I’m joking about that last one. Even Snyder wouldn’t be this overt!

Where's Film Brain when you need him?

My first exposure to Evangelion was actually through Bennett the Sage’s thrashing of the series and its finale, End of Evangelion. That may be why I never got into it since the stuff looked bonkers at that time. It wasn’t until Netflix released all of the original show re-dubbed that I got remotely interested in it. I also ended up checking out the first manga on Comixology, and that got me even more interested. I ended up going through all 26 episodes, Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion over the last few weeks.

"It's a Video Game!" - Control

Imagine you’re a redhead with telekinetic abilities who has to stop an evil entity from entering our world. No, I’m not talking about Jean Grey, nor am I talking about Liz whenever “Frankie, The Annoying Dog” wants to act like a cat. I’m talking about Jesse Faden, the protagonist of Control, a 2019 game developed by Remedy. This was a game I saw some press for back in 2019 since it looked pretty unique. Of course, I end up waiting until 2021 to check it out. Thanks, Playstation Plus! I knew there was another reason to keep it around. It was also released on the Xbox One, the Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The game is about Jesse Faden, a young woman who has telekinetic abilities. In the story, Jesse heads to the Federal Bureau of Control, a government branch that deals with paranormal or supernatural incidents. When she gets to their main headquarters (The Oldest House) in New York, she finds that the building is constantly shifting and morphing. It’s revealed that it is a doorway to another dimension and that something on the other side is causing it to morph. The entity, The Hiss, is also possessing the building’s agents. Jesse gets the shock of her life as she’s made the Director of the FBC, and she’s forced to deal with the coming threat. She also has to find out what the FBC did with her brother, Dylan.