Fly-by Existentialism

Hello! I'm Literary Eagle (she/they), and this blog is for my fan fiction, fan art, book reviews, and some other stuff. Guest illustrations are also welcome, so if you've drawn something for one of my fan fics, I would love to see it! Fandom tags: Evangelion Gundam Wing Tenchi Muyo Venom Yami no Matsuei Yuri on Ice Category tags: fan fiction fan art fan fiction illustration book review other merchandise I've done stuff for a few other fandoms as well. Click here for the full list.

[literaryeagle]

Hello friends. I wanted to show Eddie how grateful I am for our relationship, so I’ve added a rainbow ornament and a heart-shaped ornament to our Christmas tree. Do you think he’ll like them?

I’ll also give him plenty of kisses under the mistletoe, of course. <3

Bye for now, and happy holidays!

[literaryeagle]

For today’s Venom book review, here is Japan’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage movie program. As I mentioned in my review of the movie program for the first Venom film, Japanese movie theaters sometimes sell souvenir booklets that are not available in North America. They’re beautifully made, with pictures and information about the movie. For example, just look at the stunning cover art of Venom and Carnage (shown above)! And it’s even nicer in person, because there’s a slight metallic gleam to it.

The Let There Be Carnage movie program is around the size of a magazine, but with a sturdier cover. The articles include interviews, behind the scenes tidbits, and even some mentions of love and relationships between characters. It’s not available in English or French (although there are a few little bits of English text here and there), but there are plenty of nice pics, and this time they’re all in full color. Yay!

Would you like to know more about what’s inside this booklet? Keep reading for the rest of the review, plus a few more pictures!

The movie program begins with an exciting two-page spread showing Venom fighting Carnage... shown from the point of view of Carnage’s mouth! Yikes! After that, there are pages showing portraits of Tom Hardy as Venom/Eddie, and Woody Harrelson as Carnage/Cletus:

Pretty cool, right? But what’s even cooler is that the above pages open up to reveal this huge illustration of Carnage vs. Venom:

Neat, huh? The articles on the sides of that illustration talk a bit about the movie, basically introducing the story and which actors play the characters. After that, the booklet has a couple of screenshots of Eddie in the movie, and an interview with Tom Hardy that includes him describing Eddie and Venom as being a science fiction version of The Odd Couple (in other words, roommates with very different personalities).

Next, it’s time for the ladies, with a couple of pages devoted to Michelle Williams as Anne, and Naomie Harris as Frances/Shriek. Here is one of those pages:

The section after that is a column written by Supi Yutaka Sugiyama, who supervised the Japanese dub of the movie. This column once again compares Eddie and Venom to The Odd Couple, but also points out that Eddie and Venom’s fight feels more like a marital spat than a roommates’ quarrel! The Cletus/Carnage/Shriek love triangle is also brought up. Wow, so much relationship drama...

Next is a two-page spread with more screenshots from the movie, and then a Venom vs. Carnage column that talks about their history in the comics. This is followed by another page of screenshots, and then an interview with the movie’s director, Andy Serkis. In the interview, one of the first things he talks about is what drives the characters in the movie... including love!

Moving on, the section after that is called Production Notes, and it gives it a bit more insight into the making the of the movie, including stuff about Kelly Marcel and Tom Hardy coming up with the story together. This part of the booklet also says that the movie is a love story, but not a conventional one. Heh, you can say that again! Oh, and this section also includes some fun behind the scenes photos, such as this one which shows how they shot the part when Venom gives Eddie the mail:

As you can see, they used a long tool to give Tom Hardy the mail, and then special effects were added later to make it look like Venom was giving the mail to Eddie. You can also see Andy Serkis in the photo.

Here’s another behind the scenes pic, showing Tom Hardy interacting with a Venom head placed on a stack of blocks or boxes (with Andy Serkis standing behind the Venom head):

The Production Notes continue for four more pages after that, including insights from the actors, and discussion about the CGI, sets, and costumes. After that, there’s a section called “The Story So Far” which briefly recaps the first movie, followed by a column that points out some highlights of the Venom series, including Venom’s love of chocolate.

After that, there’s a two-page spread of Venom and Carnage in action, a credits page, a page of awesome fan art submitted by various artists for a contest, and a column called “Spoiler Alert! Read after watching the film.” As you can probably guess, this Spoiler Alert section discusses the mid-credits scene where Eddie and Venom get transported into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The booklet ends with a page advertising some Venom, Carnage, and Spider-Man merchandise. Oh yeah, and the back cover shows the movie poster, with a beautiful metallic gleam similar to the front cover. Very cool!

Overall, this is a lovely movie program that makes a really nice souvenir of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. It’s awesome that Japanese movie theaters sell stuff like this! Was this movie promoted in unique ways in your area? If so, I would love to hear about it!

[literaryeagle]

Hello friends... Uh-oh, that is a red one! Don’t worry, I’ll protect Eddie from this scary decoration by eating it! I’m sure he’ll thank me under the mistletoe later. <3

Bye for now, and happy holidays!

[literaryeagle]

For my 72nd Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 5, which was published in Japanese by Kadokawa and is also available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment. I have the English version, so that’s what I’ll be using for this review. (EDIT, May 2024: Seven Seas Siren has now released an audiobook of the English version! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka.) As explained in my reviews of the first four volumes of Evangelion ANIMA, these books are a collection of all the chapters of Ikuto Yamashita’s alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series. It’s a rather bizarre story, featuring plenty of Eva battles, as well as lots of wacky ideas. Evangelion ANIMA 5 is the last volume, so we’re now at the action-packed conclusion of Yamashita’s tale!

I don’t want to reveal the whole plot of this volume because it would spoil the ending, plus I would like people to support the official English release if they’re interested. Instead, this review will mainly focus on the art and the quality of the English version, but keep in mind that there will still be a few story details shown in the pics and such. Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

Keep reading

[literaryeagle]

I’m reblogging this because I have an update. The English version of this book is now also available as an audiobook from Seven Seas Siren! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka. That means all five volumes of Evangelion ANIMA are now available as English audiobooks. Check them out if you like audiobooks!

[literaryeagle]

For my seventy-first Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 4, which was published in Japanese by ASCII Media Works and is also available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment. I have the English version, so that’s what I’ll be using for this review. (EDIT, May 2024: Seven Seas Siren has now released an audiobook of the English version! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka.) If you’ve read my reviews of the first three volumes of Evangelion ANIMA, then you already know the drill… these books are a collection of all the chapters of Ikuto Yamashita’s alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series. It’s… a pretty weird story, full of Eva battles and wacky ideas.

I don’t want to reveal the whole plot, because I would like people to support the official English release if they’re interested. So instead, this review will mainly focus on the art and the quality of the English version, however keep in mind that there will still be a few story details shown in the pics and such. Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

Keep reading

[literaryeagle]

I'm reblogging this because I have an update. The English version of this book is now also available as an audiobook from Seven Seas Siren! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka. Check it out if you like audiobooks!

[literaryeagle]

For my sixty-fourth Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 3, published by ASCII Media Works. This is the third volume in a series of books that will collect all the chapters of Ikuto Yamashita’s alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series. (I already covered the first volume and second volume in previous reviews, so be sure to check out those posts first!)

This book is not available in English or French, but there are some interesting pictures (the first four pages are in full color, and then the rest of the book’s illustrations are printed in black-and-white). Just keep in mind that Evangelion ANIMA is a light novel, not a manga, so the majority of this book is filled with Japanese text rather than pictures. (EDIT, September 2020: This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Yay! However, once again some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see. Also, one of the English pages mistakenly says that Crimson A1 is Asuka and Eva-01’s fused form, instead of Asuka and Eva-02’s fused form. Still, it’s great to have an official English release!) Anyway, here’s a piece from one of the full color pages:

The Japanese text in the above image says “Son of Gendo!!”. Yes, the boy with the ponytail (on the upper half of the page) is Shinji, and Rei Quatre is sitting behind him. As for the lower half of that page, the illustration there shows Rei Trois and Kaji. That’s right, Kaji is alive in this story, but he has been brainwashed by Seele. Yikes!

Want to see more? Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

Keep reading

[literaryeagle]

I’m reblogging this review because I have an update… This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Hooray! However, some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see. (The English versions of the previous volumes had the same problem, so I really wish they would fix this issue already.) Also, one of the pages mistakenly says that Crimson A1 is Asuka and Eva-01’s fused form, instead of Asuka and Eva-02’s fused form. But other than that, it’s nice that Evangelion ANIMA is being released in English. ^_^

[literaryeagle]

Reblogging yet again because I have another update. The English version of this book is now also available as an audiobook from Seven Seas Siren! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka. Check it out if you like audiobooks!

[literaryeagle]

For my 62nd Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 2, published by ASCII Media Works. This is the second volume in a series of books that will collect all the chapters of Ikuto Yamashita’s alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series. (I already covered the first volume in my previous review, so be sure to read that post first!)

This book is not available in English or French, but there are some illustrations to enjoy (the first eight pages are in full color, and then the rest of the book’s pics are in black-and-white). Still, it’s important to note that this is a light novel and not a manga, so the book mostly consists of Japanese text, and only a few of those pages include pictures. In fact, this volume has even fewer images than the previous one, so you may want to take that into consideration if you can’t read Japanese. (EDIT, March 2020: This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Yay! However, once again some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see.) At any rate, the illustrations that are present still do a nice job of showcasing some of Yamashita’s ideas concerning upgrades and weapons for the Evas, including some of the wacky stuff. What kind of wacky stuff, you ask? Well, for example, a strange incident causes Asuka and Evangelion Unit-02 to merge into one being…

…resulting in an Evangelion nicknamed “Crimson A1” that looks like a giant Asuka wearing Eva armor and high heels! Oh, and did I mention that she can fly? Yeah, wacky. Want to see more? Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

Keep reading

[literaryeagle]

I’m reblogging this review because I have an update… This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Hooray! So far my only complaint is that some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see. The English version of the first volume had the same problem, so I really wish they would fix this issue. But other than that, I’m glad that Evangelion ANIMA is being released in English. :)

[literaryeagle]

Reblogging yet again because I have another update. The English version of this book is now also available as an audiobook from Seven Seas Siren! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka. Check it out if you like audiobooks!

[literaryeagle]

Hello friends! For the holidays, we made a miniature cabin out of candy and chocolate! It looks a bit messy because Eddie had to keep stopping me from trying to eat it while he was adding the icing... oops. Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to Eddie under the mistletoe later. <3

Bye for now, and happy holidays!

[literaryeagle]

I found another deck of Yuri!!! on Ice playing cards by Great Eastern Entertainment! Wow, I can’t believe my posts about the other two card decks were way back in 2019... where does the time go?

[literaryeagle]

For my sixty-first Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion ANIMA 1, published by ASCII Media Works. I already explained a bit about Evangelion ANIMA back in my review of Evangelion ANIMA Visual Book, but here’s a quick refresher: It’s a light novel from Ikuto Yamashita (the mecha designer for Evangelion), and it’s an alternate ending to the Evangelion TV series where Instrumentality doesn’t happen, so the characters go through a different adventure with lots of action and fan service. This light novel was published as a series of short installments inside various issues of Dengeki Hobby Magazine, and although a number of the illustrations plus two of the chapters got compiled into Evangelion ANIMA Visual Book, there haven’t been any books dedicated to gathering all of the story’s chapters together… until now. Yes, the Evangelion ANIMA 1 book that I am reviewing today is the first volume in a series that will have all the chapters! Finally!

This book is not available in English or French, but there are some pictures (the first eight pages are in full color, and then the rest of the book’s images are printed in black-and-white). However, please keep in mind that it’s a light novel, not a manga, so the majority of this book consists of pages and pages of Japanese text, and only a few of those pages have illustrations. (EDIT, November 2019: This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Yay! However, some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see.) Still, the few pics that are provided give an interesting look at how the characters and their Evangelions have changed. For example, Shinji is 17 years old and has a ponytail, and Rei III has a few clones with whom she can mentally connect (including one who has the body of a little girl instead of a teenager!). Here’s the first page of the book, which shows some of the characters:

At the top of the above image, you can see four small portraits. The characters in those portraits are, from left to right: Rei Quatre, Rei Cinq, Rei Six, and Kensuke. And then below that is what appears to be a school photo that includes Toji and Shinji in the upper row, plus Asuka, Rei III (AKA Rei No. Trois), and Hikari in the middle row, and a bunch of unnamed classmates that have their faces partially covered by “Low Priority” labels.

Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

Keep reading

[literaryeagle]

I’m reblogging this review because I have an update… This book is now available in English from Seven Seas Entertainment! Hooray! Some of the illustrations are noticeably darker in the English version, which makes the details harder to see, but other than that I’m enjoying it so far. ^_^

[literaryeagle]

Reblogging yet again because I have another update. The English version of this book is now also available as an audiobook from Seven Seas Siren! It’s narrated by Tiffany Grant, the original English dub voice of Asuka. Check it out if you like audiobooks!

[literaryeagle]

I got a few more buttons from The Jimporium a while back, but I didn’t get a chance to post them here until today. :)

[kamenridersuper1]

Help Save Len Kaminski!, organized by Susan Peterson

Len Kaminski, writer for several major comics publishers, is in dire need of your help. In his… Susan Peterson needs your support for Help

Hi, I know this isn’t what I usually tend to post, but I thought this was important to share. Long time comic book writer Len Kaminski, most notably the author behind venom: the hunger, is currently without stable housing or income and is looking for a new place to live. The gofundme attached goes into more detail about his situation. I wanted to help spread the word since he’s one of my favourite comic book writers and it’s really fucked up to see that this has happened to him, so if you’re able to, please donate or at least spread the word

[literaryeagle]

Hello friends! We just finished decorating for the holidays. Eddie knows that fire is bad for me, so instead of real candles he got ones made of pretty beads. Isn’t that thoughtful of him? I’ll have to give him extra kisses under the mistletoe. <3

Bye for now, and happy holidays!

[literaryeagle]

I love yurushito! can we see more pics from the yurushito book you recently reviewed (the angel profiles specifically!) thanks!

Hello! I'm glad you love Yurushito. The Angels look so cute in that art style! ^_^

My book reviews are meant to have just a small sampling of pictures, to help people make purchasing decisions. That means I won't be scanning other pics from the book, however you can find more images of the adorable characters on the official Yurushito website.

I hope that helps. Thanks for your message, and have a great day!

[literaryeagle]

For my seventy-fifth Evangelion book review, here is Evangelion no Yuru~i Nakama Yurushito desu. (It’s Evangelion’s Soft Companion Yurushito.), published by Groundworks. This 96-page paperback is a new book that came out a few weeks ago! It commemorates the 10th anniversary of the Evangelion Store’s mascot and product line known as “Yurushito” (Soft Angel, or Weak Angel). The Yurushito product line features cutesy renditions of the Angels (especially Sachiel), and sometimes other Eva-related stuff as well, such as Evangelion Unit-02 in Beast Mode, the Mass Production Evangelions, Jet Alone, and some of the Seele monoliths. Oh, and in case you’re wondering if Kaworu is included since he’s an Angel, unfortunately there is no cutesy version of Kaworu in this book. I guess it’s because Kaworu is already cute and appears in so many other product lines.

This book is not available in English or French, but there are plenty of full color pictures... and they’re adorable! The dust jacket is also removable, and the alternate cover art hidden underneath is a charming pattern featuring the Yurushito characters, printed all in green (a full color version of the pattern can be found inside the book, near the end). The Evangelion Store also has a limited edition release of this book that includes an acrylic stand, however I didn’t get the limited edition because I don’t have enough room for collecting acrylic stands, heh. Anyway, would you like to see some of the cuteness that can be found in this book? Keep reading for the rest of the book review, plus a few more pictures!

The book starts with a charming intro that shows the Yurushito characters gathering for a group photo, and after that is the Table of Contents. Then the next section is “Yurushito no Nakamatachi” (Yurushito’s Circle of Friends), which has brief profiles for the characters. Here is one of the pages, which shows Zeruel, Sahaquiel, and two Angels from the Evangelion New Theatrical Edition (AKA “Rebuild”):

The Angels look so cute in that art style! By the way, as you might have noticed from the book’s cover and what I’ve talked about so far, this book uses a mixture of characters from the original Evangelion TV series and the New Theatrical Edition. This section of the book tends to use their New Theatrical Edition designations when applicable. For example, in the TV series Zeruel was the 14th Angel, but in the New Theatrical Edition they were the 10th Angel and their name wasn’t mentioned, so in the above image you can see that they’re called “10th” instead of “Zeruel”.

However, some of the Angels are given amusing nicknames instead of numbers. In the above image, the 3rd Angel (the skeletal one that can levitate) is called “Janpu mo dekiru yo”, which means “Can also jump”. As for the 7th Angel (the one that looks like a drinky bird), their nickname is “Igaito taoremasen”, which means “Surprisingly doesn’t fall over”!

Moving on, the next part of the book is devoted to 4-frame comics about the four seasons. For example, one of the winter comics is called “Guruguru” (Wrapping Around), and it shows the Yurushito characters sharing one very, VERY long scarf. I found these comic strips to be mostly cute rather than funny, but that’s not a bad thing. The comics are very soothing and wholesome!

After the comics, there is a memories album featuring photos of Sachiel... more specifically, they’re photos of someone in a Sachiel costume, or sometimes photos of a Sachiel plushie. These photos show Sachiel doing various activities such as attending Evangelion Store events, posing in front of landmarks, and frolicking in nature. Check out this photo of Sachiel posing with a huge Evangelion Unit-01 located in Kyoto:

The next section is about a trip through all 47 prefectures of Japan. It’s full of art depicting Yurushito characters enjoying something famous about each place they visit. For example, the illustration for Kyoto shows Sachiel dressed as a maiko (apprentice geisha), and the image for Chiba shows Sachiel as a peanut. Very cute!

After that is an artwork section full of delightful promotional art, including collaborations. Here’s a piece from one of the pages:

In the scan shown above, the picture at the top is for a Godzilla vs. Yurushito collaboration. It shows the Yurushito characters fighting Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah! As for the picture below that, it shows Rei Ayanami with a Yurushito Sachiel plushie. I love it!

The section after that is “Kyou no Yurushito” (Today’s Yurushito), and it collects some of the Yurushito posts that have been made on Twitter over the years. The pics in this section show the Yurushito characters having all kinds of fun such as eating noodles, and dressing up for Halloween. There’s even a picture of Ramiel, Shamshel, and Sachiel going to the movie theater to see Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time...

Next is a goods archive, which shows photos of various Yurushito merchandise. So many cute things! I wish I had enough room to collect all of them! So far the only Yurushito merchandise I have (besides this book, obviously) is a paperweight of Sachiel posing like Auguste Rodin’s sculpture Le Penseur (The Thinker). Here’s a piece from one of the pages, which includes a photo of the paperweight I’m talking about:

By the way, in the scan shown above, you can see a plushie that looks like a yellow fish, with Sachiel in the fish’s mouth. That fish is actually a shachihoko, a creature from Japanese folklore that is part tiger and part carp. Pretty cool, huh?

The book comes to an end with a cute epilogue called “Mata ne” (See you later), and a couple of appendix pages that you can use to make pochibukuro (a small, decorated envelope for giving New Year’s gifts).

Overall, Evangelion no Yuru~i Nakama Yurushito desu. is a delightful book, full of adorable illustrations. My only complaint is that a number of the pages had multiple pictures crammed together, so the pics had to be very small on those pages. But other than that, I really enjoyed it. If you’re an Evangelion fan who likes cute things, it’s worth checking out! Just keep in mind that the book is focused on the Angels (especially Sachiel), so if you’d rather get a book featuring the Lilin characters or the Evas, you might want to skip this book and go for something else.

Anyway, if this book looks interesting to you, please support the artists by purchasing it if you can! Check if your favorite source for buying Japanese books has it, and if not then ask them if they can order it for you. ^_^

Well, that’s it for my seventy-fifth Evangelion book review. I have plenty more Evangelion books to discuss, so keep checking my blog for new reviews!

[literaryeagle]

I got some more stuff from The Jimporium! This time, I ordered two nifty enamel pins, plus some more buttons. :)

[literaryeagle]

Hello friends! You’re just in time to see the Christmas present I got for my precious host, Eddie. This movie is a romantic comedy, so I’m going to watch it with Eddie under some mistletoe. <3

Anyway, I’d better wrap this gift before Eddie sees it. Bye for now, and happy holidays!