This is all a way for me to just be saying that I highly recommend Utena if you enjoy the themes of NGE!

That said, I've watched NGE like three times at this point to try and understand it better, and I do like some of the things it's done! I just also hold media that is fun AND engaging AND deep in higher regard. It isn't *all* fun, but I felt more touched by Utena because it's more relatable

Because their release timeframe and some of their themes are somewhat similar, it's hard not to compare the two in my head, and be a little sad that I hear waaaaay more about Evangelion - my time with Utena was absolutely delightful and by the end of it I don't *need* to read analysis to understand

I think it's obtuse and odd and I appreciate that. It's *definitely* art, and engaging with it makes me think about reality differently for sure. I also just got off of watching Utena, which was a lot more fun and interesting and emotionally engaging, and often had me grappling with similar themes

Real talk: all y'all into TF, being caged for an extended period combined with people bullying and domming you into a submissive puppy sure does a number on you. I've notice I'm automatically expressing myself more with dog noises rather than words and very much toy-brained

Hey you

Omg I’ve wanted to see Gattaca for forever. How was it :3

I get this feeling when I play music. Just me and the pretty sounds and "I did that? That's so pretty..." and there doesn't need to be anything else. I could enjoy this moment forever

Also if you’re able to just like… have a dinner like you usually do and folks and over, that’s very different than going to a thing or stressing your body out(which is why the alcohol is exhausting)

My experience is that this tends to be highly related to the sort of engagements that you do, more so than who you do them with. If all the engagement is is relaxing and not going outside your comfort zone, it’s a lot easier to do! If it involves alcohol, it’s always exhausting :(

Everything Everywhere All At Once :3

I find it interesting and i like the themes it is playing but, I just don't think it felt relatable haha

I can't believe a movie about doing taxes is maybe the best movie ever made

Evangelion's whole shtick just makes me angry, and seemingly part of the point is that people aren't shounen characters who we can view as heroes, but I don't think that Shinji is a particularly real-feeling character in the first place - it just feels a little too contrived for me, how its shown

Oh yeah, I love Ghibli stuff for this reason. It focuses on complex feeling and is more archaic about all of it, but I think that it tends to give some amount of direction, while also evoking feelings that feel resonant with what is portrayed with what i just watched.

...looking into it like it's a piece of Vonnegut's or Ursula K. Le Guin's stuff, who are both phenomenally good at distill an idea into a rather short story

This is a weird and wordy way for me to say this, but I can't really get into it without spoiling it a whole bunch! I'm waiting waiting for more context to the kind of story it is trying to tell so that I can think more critically about how it perceives its own characters, while also...

It's fun and enjoyable to read, I think, and it seemingly has some messages that tend to be really resonant in this capitalist hellscape of a time, but I have thoughts about how good it is about actually exploring the philosophy of it's messaging, or if it's just using the message as an aesthetic

As someone who has read the books... this kind of tracks, honestly.

Want to be moved by a thing they can't quite define easily. I think something that can move you in a complex and deep way is often something to be lauded, especially if the complex thing isn't confusing. See: Everything Everywhere All At Once Sometimes, I think things try and don't hit the mark!