Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

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Laura
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Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Laura »

OHMAIGADS
I FINALLY DID IT
I finally got my Asuka shrine finished!!

For those who don't know, I've been planning on creating a shrine to Asuka since my early days, probably around 2000 if not earlier. I did attempt it once and got pretty close but it never got off the ground and it was left to collect dust when I left the hobby for like 10 years. I was inspired though and finally got off my butt! So on today, ASUKA'S BIRTHDAY, I finally got it done!! FINALLY! Oh man I can't even begin to say how happy and proud I am of this. T_T It's like a dream come true, really!

I hope everyone enjoys the site. I have a LOT more content that's half-written or in draft form that I plan on adding soon. I wanna explore her relationships with the other characters as well as some other psychological stuff. I put it on the back-burner so I could get the site up for her birthday. I'm really proud of how this turned out, I think it's one of my best works yet so please enjoy. :)
Megan
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Megan »

Awesome!!!

When I was first getting on the web and learning about anime/manga I really loved the way Asuka looked. I used a lot of self-made ugly wallpapers with her on it xD However, I have yet to watch the anime.... This has inspired me to add it on the list!

I will read it more thoroughly then :D But nice layout, and it looks like you've got a lot of content! Also, love the media addition. Media is my favorite part to make for shrines xD And favorite part to look at!!
please know that i am yours to keep, my beautiful girl.
Masao
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Masao »

Yay I'm so glad you finally got this up, I know how long you've been working on it. :yay:

I really enjoyed all the sections, especially how you discussed Anno's depression, how it affected his story, and the psychological issues are present in the series. I also really like how you covered the different Asuka from the original TV series and the new movies, and pointing out how having different names was appropriate considering how different they are.

And great layout! It's really colorful and really like the transition from the index.

also going to link from my shrines yay
THE FATE OF DESTRUCTION IS ALSO THE JOY OF REBIRTH.
Laura
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Laura »

@Megan - OMG I know right??? The character designs for Asuka and Rei really pulled me into Evangelion when I was like... 13? It's what grabbed my attention initially and got me watching the anime. I think at the time I didn't get a lot of the deeper psychological stuff, I liked it for the character interaction and the religious symbolism. Now that I'm a lot older, I'm able to get a way better grasp of the deeper aspects of the series. I definitely recommend it, especially if you're in any way interested in how we interact with others and psychological stuff in general. :)

@Masao - Thank you!! I actually have a lot more information I plan on adding in regards to Asuka's psychological aspects... Especially how people consider her to be bipolar. As someone who is bipolar, I believe she's more borderline personality... so I have a whole thing drafted up for that, I just need to finish going over it and then writing it up. :D I also really want to re-read the original manga and go over how she differs there too. I'd love to do the other manga spin-offs eventually for completion sake but omg that would take forever (and let's face it, some of them are better off not being read.. lol) Thanks for the link back too! <3<3<3 Eee~
Robin
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Robin »

AMAZING! The layout is colorful and bold without distracting from the content, and what a plethora of content this site boasts! There is love and deep thought crafting each page--it's like a fine wine, having been fermented carefully and slowly over years for JUST the right taste and bouquet. <3

Also, loving the dotted look of the font on the navigation! (My 1366 x 768 resolution cuts off half of the word "Site" on the main layout, but I can still click it, and once I'm in the content sections it's not an issue at all.) And I really like your table-like approach to arranging content in the sub-sections! It doesn't look like a giant list like most of my stuff cough cough cough, but rather a styled, easy to browse gallery of text.

Congrats on achieving this shrine's completion!! (MAN don't it feel good to finally strike a long held goal off your mental to do list??? XD)
~ a dream is a wish your heart makes ~
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Tara
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Tara »

Okay, first off, this layout and how you laid out content is incredible!! The design is so nice and really pretty! It makes navigating easy and is nice of the eyes.

Second off: YESSSSS!! I'm so glad to see more Asuka love on the internet. You did an amazing job on this! Asuka is one of my favourite fictional characters, and I can see you put a lot of time and care into this. I really enjoyed how you delved into into her psychological and emotional trauma, as well as how you explored her feelings on romance and sex so deeply. Asuka is such a complex character and you did great exploring that.
I used to practice smiling when i'm feeling sad, y'know.
dubiousdisc
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by dubiousdisc »

Congratulations on getting out a site that you've been wanting to do for so long! :D You better feel super accomplished about that!

My god, the media gallery. How did you even put that together, holy shit.

I enjoyed going through the site! You have many pages and this is an Evangelion site, yet it's such an easy read. Good job!

A few thoughts I had going through it:

Psyche: I don't know if it is relevant or not, but I wanted to point out one thought that I had while I was reading it. At the end, you write that she never learned how to control her emotions because of lack of a parental figure, and I think that's not entirely correct - I get the sense that not only she lost her mom and she felt her father didn't care, but also nobody else did - she sounds like she didn't get any help in her earlier life at all! I realize that at this point it's me inferring from Evangelion of all things, so - what do you think about that?

Romance: I really like how you tied all of that together! I wanted to say, there's one thing that immediately comes to mind and that you did say in other pages but you might want to reiterate in this one too: since Asuka's underlying motive to essentially everything she does is to be accepted and taken into consideration, another part of what pisses her off about Shinji's reaction to her is that he doesn't seem to give her that - not in a way that she understands, at least; that coupled with the fact that she seems him as weak pisses her off doubly.

Haters: Hee hee. I think that day you weren't in the chat, but there was one day in which there had been a conversation in which I was explaining that I don't really like Asuka much because she reminds me way too much of what I was like when I was her age, so, while I understand her character and I respect and like the way she's written, as a character in herself it becomes painful to watch her fail. Of course, I probably don't fit in the "haters" because I don't hate her - to truly hate her I'd have to hate myself - but this might give some insight as to why would someone simultaneously understand her character and have trouble watching her.

Again, congratulations on making this! :D
Sophia
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Sophia »

I feel like this is heresy, but I have never ever seen any bit of Evangelion - one of those things that was always on my list, but the list keeps getting bigger. I so very much appreciated the clarity of this shrine. Of course the layout is gorgeous (and seemingly quite fitting for an in-your-face girl, with the large background), but I really appreciated the even-handed thoughtfulness in how you explained each part of the show, its psychological roots, and how Asuka's personality is shaped by these dramatic factors in the way that ANY person might be. I can't bring much to the table in terms of engaging criticism, but the impression I felt everywhere was how careful, like, full-of-care, this was / is. Even your response to those dang haters seemed measured, not dismissive in the least. (And my brief contacts with Evangelion fandom is that ... there's some heat involved.) At the end of that, you note that you hope all the love you've put into the remainder of the shrine (and the arguments therein) serves as a counter to the Asuka-hate. Now, that seems totally sensible and reasonable ... but I ain't no sensible girl, and my only wish was to hear more and more about why this character meant so much to you in particular. I am very much interested in the further commentary of the relationships. Maybe I'll finally get this off my list!

In short: beautifully done!

RAY GUN SUE
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Lethe »

lmao Megan's comment is hilarious. <3 <3

First off, congratulations on releasing this shrine! You're right, your layout is definitely something to get excited about. I really love how the landing page is different from the rest, and it makes quite an impact. (Hehe enjoying zooming out and in to see it in its entirety.) The footer is my favourite thing about it!! (I'm always too lazy to make anything elaborate for site footers, plus I have no idea whether I can even pull it off, so it's nice that I can enjoy them on other people's sites instead. *-*)

As always, I think you're great at introducing people to the subject matter in various ways: Your intro and profile pages are solid, and like Masao, I'm glad you included the note about creating from depression from the get-go as I think that's important to know.

I have a somewhat detached relationship with NGE in the sense that I am not as passionate about experiencing any of the source material, while reading NGE essays that examine its psychological themes (and how they're conveyed through symbolism, storytelling and directing) is one of my favourite things to do. Due to that, I'm not as well-informed about some "technical" aspects of NGE. For example, I probably never understood what the "synchronization rate" (and its relevance to the story and themes) was about, so I'm glad that your shrine explained it so well!

Honestly, I think the biggest surprise for me on Esprit is how much I ended up liking the EVA-02 page, which might as well be me my favourite page on the shrine so far (just because I think it's difficult to come up with it and write about it). NGE doesn't so much put the focus on its mecha elements as it utilizes them by weaving them into the story to enhance what it actually means to focus on (the psyche). The synchronization rate and A.T. fields are examples of that. Still, if someone is not interested in mecha elements at all, one such series might be intimidating to get into. On that front, I think your EVA-02 page does an excellent job at making those mecha elements easy to grasp and interesting to read about! I just love that enjoyable mix of basic explanation (EVA), spoiler insight/background (the truth behind the thing), story parts (movie ending), and just how you embedded it into the technical parts of the series as a whole (the other EVAs, battles, rebuilds) as well as Asuka's characterization. I had clicked on that page expecting to be confronted with technical stuff, but you went so far beyond. :star:

The other big surprise was seeing that there wasn't just ONE page dedicated to the voice actors behind Asuka, but TWO - and I think these are some of my favourite voice pages on any shrine ever. I'm slightly biased because I've read that long piece of what Miyamura Yuuko said about Asuka, which, in turn, is one of the loveliest things I've ever read coming from a voice actor (just some very fascinating and raw character analysis; I'm so glad you quoted an excerpt from it)... But you added so much more too, and focused not so much on the people or the characters they've voiced, but specifically their relationship to Asuka herself. IT'S SO LOVELY.

THE PETIT EVA GALLERY IS THE CUTEST THING. I like how you split up the rest of the gallery by "amount of people" too, it's something that strikes me as very old school. (I know for a fact that somewhere in the depths of my HDs, my ooooooooold folders from around 2003 are sorted precisely like that LOL. "solo", "duo", groups".)

I've found a few typos that I thought I'd let you know about!
Show/HideSPOILERSPOILER_SHOW
INDEX: Langely -> Langley
INTRO: angel -> Angel
PROFILE: Chlidren -> Children; "primarily to can learn Japanese kanji" -> primarily to learn Japanese kanji/primarily so she can learn Japanese kanji


I'm looking forward to the rest of your shrine, especially Asuka's relationship with the other characters, since the way characters engage in relationships and how their issues manifest in those interactions is such a crucial part of NGE. :music:
Both despair and ecstasy are part of the elements that compose a person.
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Re: Esprit - Sohryu Asuka Langley (Evangelion)

Post by Anise »

I'm going to look it all through at some point soon but my first thought it DAYUM that layout! I also like that you have sections for her voice actors.
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