awoken from trails of flame

21↑ | EN 中文 ok, 日本語勉強中 | they/them multifandom | NOT spoiler/leak free

[hibernatingflame]

📌 Tags

#fandomflame: general fandom tag #loreflame: media analyses & theories #memeingflame: shitposts & jokes #hcflame: headcanons #oshipostingflame: oshi things #translatingflame: CN ⇔ EN #creatingflame: fanwork #miscflame: misc. & others

⚠️ NOT spoiler/leak free (will tag)

Fandom list (non-exhaustive)

multifandom. check list for currently more active fandoms.

yapper at heart. i post about animanga, music, games, oshis, cd collecting, etc.

Asks & DMs: OPEN

moderately active. open to mooting.

👤 alias: 萨卡/Saca/サカ

[hibernatingflame]

(in)correct genshin

Wanderer: always trust your intuition over your mother’s cooking instructions

[hibernatingflame]

i’ve seen people describe this EVA-01 palette inspired keyboard switch, HMX Eva, as having a strong but gentle thock — to me it sounds like a clacky thock and imo the clack part is evening out the deepness of the thock — and my first thought was “like a mother? oh-“

in all seriousness, i like that for a switch named after the Evangelion, its sound profile seems to reflect more on the core of the Eva (ie. the pilot’s mother’s soul) than the pilot. while “gentleness in strength” also describes Shinji’s personality to an extent, it better fits the traditional traits associated with maternity and motherly love.

(or maybe i’m just overthinking it here and i just like the fact that *to me*, i thought about Yui first when i heard the sound profile description)

[hibernatingflame]

when i remember i got into Eva because of Hikaru Utada, it makes me think my encounter with Eva might have been fated after all.

i grew up listening to Hikki’s music, so when i heard Beautiful World, i just had to check out the series it was attached to. then i realised Eva was *that* (in)famous anime i kept hearing about but wasn’t interested enough to watch when i was younger. i decided to give ep1 a chance and the rest was history.

in turn, i searched back and caught up with Hikki’s discography. though given my tendency to chase nostalgia, i would have revisited artistes of my childhood music at some point, even if i wasn’t otaku. even if i wasn’t an anime fan, i would probably have found Eva through Hikki anyway. and because i tend to pick media to consume based on the ost, i would likely still watch Eva and fall down the rabbit hole in the end, because i like Beautiful World.

in the words of a certain angel, maybe i was born to watch neon genesis evangelion (lol)

[hibernatingflame]

if the evangelion is an organic living being under the armour, does that make the evangelion a clothed titan? or does it make a titan a naked evangelion? does it make the armoured titan an evangelion???

AND evangelion is your mother = titan is your (Eren’s) mother?!?!

(this is a joke. don’t take it seriously)

[hibernatingflame]

between kawoshin, Kaworu seems more like the type to look younger than his age. he’ll be rocking his mid 30s looking like a fresh college graduate while Shinji looks accurately like a 35 year old. when they go on dates, certainly there’ll be people judging them for being an “age gap couple”, until Kaworu not-very-subtly makes a joke about Shinji being in no position to self-depreciate about ageing, because how dare Shinji call himself old with no consideration for his older husband’s feelings

[catmintnepetas]

4️⃣7️⃣ rolling girl

[hibernatingflame]

there can never be too many types of instrument covers of cruel angel’s thesis

[kittystar39]

is that a vending machine?? also holy crap that guy's voice!

[hibernatingflame]

a vending machine it is!

the guy singing in the video is Mori and the other is Sakuma! they’re a vocalist duo i absolutely adore and recommend. they’re not very well known on EN-speaking internet so go check out their yt channel. it’s a jpop/anisong cover gold mine + their creativity and humour transcend the language barrier (☆v☆)

[hibernatingflame]

evangelion is one of those looks-like-depression media that if you’re the specific target audience and you consume it at the right time in your life when you need it, it might kick your depression instead (/lh)

[hibernatingflame]

[post-eva 3.0+1.0]

in modern day, i think Kaworu would actually be the one to fall down the audio tech rabbit hole, faster and deeper, despite Shinji being the one associated with earphones and music players.

i imagine Shinji using hand-me-down earphones that probably came with the sdat player for most of his teens. he’d listen to them so mindlessly in his depression, the only thing could he care about is if the volume is loud enough to drown out his surroundings. this would carry on into his adulthood despite him overcoming his depression because his audio taste is so warped (man hasn’t heard good audio in his life) yet the boomy quality of dirt cheap earphones (for modern day) sounds comfortably familiar.

enter Kaworu, the music-loving angel nerd. for the funnies, i would like to think he was only enduring Shinji’s (technically G*ndo’s) earphones in 3.0 but anything for the crush y’know. when Kaworu gets a taste (listen) of modern technology, his eyes (ears) gets opened and he’s instantly hooked on IEMs and quality headphones. chase the bass clarity, the treble sparkle, the technical details of his beloved instrumental pieces. he makes it his mission to wean Shinji off the god-awful dollar store earphones. and i suppose this is how their audio shop dates are going to look like:

Shinji, trying his 5th IEM in one sitting: i think i still can’t really hear much of a difference between these and my old earphones… (^^;) Kaworu, exercising the patience of an angel: i see. the pair you just tried has a v-shaped tuning with a bass boost and supposedly makes basslines sound clearer. you might have heard overlapping qualities with your old earphones but don’t worry, listening takes practice. it doesn’t hurt for us to come back again (^w^)

…it’ll take Shinji a while. but Kaworu is a yapper and a patient, loving partner. and in the meantime, Adam bless Kaworu’s ears whenever he has to share Shinji’s earphones.

[hibernatingflame]

there can never be too many types of instrument covers of cruel angel’s thesis

[hibernatingflame]

things that can be said both during sex and to your keyboard:

“you’re beautiful”

“you feel so smooth”

“i love the sound you make when i press here”

[hibernatingflame]

has anyone found the Asuka Rei Misato vocal ver of Fly Me To The Moon unsettling? as in of course it sounds great, it was beautifully sung, but it also sounds haunting.

during the instrumental break, Asuka, Misato and Rei say the following:

and the soundstage makes it such that you would hear their voices first centres in the middle during the singing, then all around you during the speaking.

reminded me of that scene of Shinji in instrumentality, envisioning naked Asuka, Rei and Misato embracing him; was that how Shinji felt in there? not to mention Misato actually says the “become one” line here too.

to the audience, that scene was supposed to be uncomfortable, despite what Shinji thinks. because it’s literally Shinji trying to comfort himself (negatively) with visions of the closest people in his life coddling him. yet those visions are also prodding into personal problems he’s been running away from. recipe for cognitive dissonance huh.

and that’s why i think this recording is clever — fanservice to some, Shinji instrumentality simulator to others. though i strongly believe the latter is the creator’s true intention.

most expressions of affection feel good to receive, even if it’s unreal or toxic. but once you gain clarity and observe some context, there’s truly nothing romantic about it at all.

[hibernatingflame]

why are first names in Eva are written in katakana instead of kanji? imo it’s not only a stylistic choice but likely a reflection of Japanese society’s loss of identity and purpose during the 90s.

kanji mostly provides specific context and definition, and most names use kanji to embody meaning. on the other hand, hiragana and katakana are more ambiguous. in a somewhat dystopian post-apocalyptic world like Eva’s, people are seen as resources, replaceable cogs, even disposables, just like SEELE and/or NERV intended. in a way, the meaning a individual’s existence as a person is stripped from them starting from the name they’re given.

katakana is also often used for non-native Japanese loadwords. in a supposedly Japanese society Eva is set in, giving the Japanese characters katakana first names also seem to imply they’ve been alienated from their national identity.

moreover, hiragana is the script children are taught first when learning the language because it’s the easiest and most basic. the choice of characters having and using “easier” non-kanji first names into adulthood could imply the stagnant state of emotional maturity (or immaturity) most of the characters are trapped in throughout the narrative. this stagnant mindset was apparently common in irl Japanese youths during the economic recession around the 90s.

[hibernatingflame]

(rubs hands eagerly)

good day world, i have crack theory: Tachyon is Hange if they were an umamusume, reasons being:

mad scientist archetype

yellow outfit/yellow as official colour

purple as kinda official colour (Tachyon casual & Hange s4 merch arts)

brown hair

amber/red adjacent eyes

brutally stopped from pursuing their passion and due to circumstances

unable to fight/compete alongside their friends to the end

i want them to meet and get along and their interaction is going to look like

Hange: a horse-human! i have to study them!

Tachyon: what a peculiar like-minded fellow. they’d make an interesting subject for my research.

[hibernatingflame]

Neon Genesis Evangelion Episode 9:

瞬間、心、重ねて

Both of You, Dance Like You Want to Win!

[hibernatingflame]

i realised a tad late that anonymous donations to lgbtqia+ charities are a relatively safe way to support the community for those who cannot show their support openly