Quarantine Control #73: The Culturally F’d Three Houses Can (Not) Advance
The situation with COVID-19 around the world? Bad! Bad, bad, bad. It’s so bad, in fact, that it’s getting tough to muster up the energy to hammer home just how bad this is in the opening paragraphs every week. Each passing week also brings new people who were either in the hospital or on their deathbeds who regret not getting vaccinated when they had the chance — a vaccine that, it should be constantly emphasized, is free in first-world countries. Maybe they should have saved more allocations for poorer countries willing to get the shots but can’t because of richer countries hogging the supplies.
Geoffrey Barnes
This is the week where God’s in his heaven and all’s right with the world, apparently.
Rebuild of Evangelion (2007-2021)
Source: Amazon Prime Video
Episodes: 4 movies in total
I had my expectations in check before embarking on the quest of watching the full Rebuild of Evangelion quadrilogy on Amazon Prime Video, not that I wanted to have any expectations at all. Thanks to how the internet works and the many users on social media, it was impossible to dodge opinions on the series after so much time had passed since it started, several of which veered into spoilers without warning.
I’d known well that a good portion of the first movie, Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone would feel like a compilation of the main Neon Genesis Evangelion series’ early episodes, and that Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance would largely follow suit. (I do love these goofy-ass names, though.) I also knew that Evangelion 3.33: You Can (Not) Redo would veer into uncharted territory for the series. I’m going on and on here, but I’m not complaining too hard. It would have been nice to go in fresh, yes, but adjusting my expectations accordingly helped me enjoy the movies that much more. Talk about a blessing in disguise.
My biggest concern about the films involved whether they would be as involving, complex, and oppressive as the original series, something the first movie gives a good impression of right from the start. Anyone not in the know (which, to be fair, would be hard to believe unless they just started watching or rewatching anime recently) would think this movie series condenses the original series with the way it starts, perhaps with an ending more on par with the End of Evangelion instead of the memetic “Congratulations” the show concluded with on Japanese TV.
Despite director and creator Hideaki Anno not being in anywhere near as depressed a state compared to when he directed the original series in the 1990s, at least at an early point, the first two movies don’t change much. All the scenes where young Shinji Ikari is given little choice but to pilot the Evangelion alongside the mysteriously quiet Rei Ayanami are intact, alongside Shinji’s relationship with characters like caretaker and commander Misato Katsuragi and future friend Toji Suzuhara. Asuka is slightly dialed back compared to the original in terms of her “tsundere” qualities and relationships with certain characters come the second film, but everything any kind of Eva fan would expect is largely intact, save for smaller scenes few people will miss. The principal characters quite clearly remain representations of Anno’s personality. Condensing particular scenes notably didn’t alter the pacing too much, unlike several other anime movie compilations.
But even though I had my expectations in check, I wasn’t ready for just how big of a departure the third would be. Right from the start, the change in animation and some character design styles look less like those from the original series and bear a stronger resemblance to, say, Diebuster/Gunbuster II, in what turns out to be a semi-stroke of genius. The switch hammers home just how much time has passed between the second and third films, to give the viewer the same impression Shinji feels upon seeing the changed world and characters he used to know. But it fortunately doesn’t go in a more lighthearted direction, and maintains the feel of the original series. It’s simply different about it. I appreciated the shattering of expectations, but it’s easy to see why some vocal fans were rubbed the wrong way.
It was, thus, the task of the fourth movie, Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0: Thrice Upon a Time, to resolve many (but not all — consider the series this is) of the newfound mysteries established in the previous movies — especially the third one. This required a ridiculous runtime of over two-and-a-half hours, making it the longest movie of the four by far, to answer everything and establish a new end of Evangelion. Parts of the movie’s first half were a little slow because of heavy exposition and emphasis on character development, but that’s not to say it wasn’t interesting. The entire movie was a sight to behold, even outside the action, and its music choices are sublime.
I mentioned how “nearly” every character remains a representation of Anno’s personality previously, but that doesn’t apply to one in particular: New character Mari Makinami Illustrious. Her first impression doesn’t do the character justice, with the emphasis on Evangelion’s trademark fanservice that isn’t delivered by Misato. But the fourth movie justifies why she was inserted into this series, beyond being somewhat of an accomplice for Asuka and a genuine crazy and reckless fighter in battle despite her skill. Her purpose is easier to understand when you consider the influence Hideaki Anno’s wife, Moyoco Anno, had on him.
The films contain a copious amount of CG use, contrary to the entirely hand-drawn presentation style the originals contained. The usage of CG is fine when it makes the animators’ jobs easier, but watching all four movies back-to-back is the perfect opportunity to see how the use of it has blended together better with newer animation compared to older content. It sticks out in the older films, but is considerably better by the fourth movie. The first two films also had an issue with the newer animation standing out compared to the older animation from the 90s, though it’s nothing compared to the likes of the Zeta Gundam movies. With the latter two Evangelion movies veering in a different direction, this isn’t an issue later on.
I knew that I’d go either way on the new movies before tackling all four of them, with no chance of my thoughts landing in between. I’m glad I enjoyed them, given the time investment required. I like it when entertainment works shatter expectations and veer in an unexpected direction, particularly when they stick the landing and don’t misguidedly cater to presumed fan expectations. (I’m talking about The Rise of Skywalker here.) Even if the Rebuild series is a little more lighthearted compared to the original series, it’s hardly lighthearted per se, and still nails everything that made the old work memorable. It’s good that Anno was lent the energy to power through this, because it might be his final work of this particular nature.
Angela Moseley
For most of last year and some of this year, it was rough working at a logistics and shipping company. As a worker who moves boxes for eight hours a day, my job is considered essential and working from home is impossible. In recent weeks, I’ve seen a drastic turnaround terms of the volume of work and the number of hours I have to put in per day. Things feel almost normal, as people take vacations and shop more in stores. Of course, it’s a false sense of normal as cases are rising again and mask mandates are back in some places. I dread what the fall season will bring if people don’t get their act together.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)
Source: Nintendo Switch
Episodes: 1 video game
Recently I wrote about Fire Emblem: Three Houses for Geek Babble. Since I really haven’t been watching much, I figured there’s no harm in retreading Three Houses. Fortunately, I’ve put in more hours since that last write-up.
My biggest problem with FE: Three Houses are the changes made to the game overall. The addition of an officer’s academy and playing the role of a professor is quite different from previous titles. On paper exploring day-to-day life, a la modern Persona games is a cool addition. In theory it even works well because Fire Emblem’s Support system is similar to Social Links in Persona. Games like Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE showed these two systems could blend together well. That said, the real draw of Fire Emblem for me is the tactical turn-based battles. In earlier games you bounced from battle to battle with some story or dialogue in between fights. In Three Houses, the early story is exploring the monastery with some great fights sprinkled throughout the game. All and all, I found roaming Garreg Mach to be a drag until the story picked up. Until then, it was difficult to care about any of the characters besides Claude (seeing how I went with the Golden Deer as my house) and Jeralt.
The key aspect to navigating Garreg Mach (much like modern Persona’s high school life) is time management during free days. Do you spend your time strengthening the bonds between your students? Do you work on increasing your skills as a professor? Or do you just ignore all that and grind out optional battles and paralogues as they arise? Doing any of these activities is an asset for the battlefield. For the longest time I felt woefully lacking in understanding the changes that Three Houses brought. I felt like I was failing even as I continued to play. Then it all clicked with me one day, though I probably could have saved myself hours of anxiety by seeking out a guide.
I finally worked out a time-management schedule that allows me to focus on getting tasks done as a professor, training my students, and allowing me to get to the parts of the game I enjoy most. Go to battle when rare events or paralogues show up on the calendar, explore the monastery when events of interest are happening, and rest on days when nothing noteworthy is happening. As for teaching, it took 45 hours for the system to click with me after dialing in Auto-Instruct for way too long. Just teach students what they are good at and experiment with class changes to mix and match various skills. I never thought it would be possible to have a lance-wielding mage, but seeing battle mages in Fire Emblem is actually pretty cool.
The real meat of Three Houses is the story. It’s a shame that I had to suffer so much boredom as a professor in order to get to a point where the game really takes off. Characters that have death flags will unsurprisingly die. (Note: If anyone says “I’ll tell you everything I’ve been hiding from you right after this mission,” they’re probably going to die.) Stories of empires and corrupt theocracies never get old and this newest Fire Emblem strikes all the right notes.
My first “what the fuck just happened?!” moment came when a character turned out to be working with the antagonists all along. For the majority of the game they had been attending the officer’s academy and dialogue with them never indicated any discontent. At the same time, it might be possible that I missed all clues of the dramatic reveal because it literally comes out of nowhere or it is because I didn’t join this person’s house, i.e. take their story route and missed chances to talk with them. Anyway, their donning of evil armor and declaring war feels like straight up shock value. Since I’m a little more than halfway done with the game (at nearly 60 hours in), I’m betting their motivations will make sense by the time the credits roll. Also, this is great incentive for me to go back and play through the game on another route or two.
Despite my complaints, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is an excellent game. My only regret is that I didn’t dive harder into it back when it released in 2019. If I had, I’d probably would have played all three story routes, plus the DLC house. Well, better late than never.
Joseph Daniels
I’m not about to claim that my mentioning Mike Richards’ The Randumb Show in last week’s column helped remove him as host of Jeopardy!, largely because everyone mentioned it. But it sure is interesting timing that, after everything else that was said about him, it was this last thing that caused him to lose his hosting position.
It’s too bad he’s still in charge of the show itself. That is totally F’d.
Speaking of things that are F’d…
Culturally F’d (2015)
Source: YouTube
Episodes: 75 plus extras; a few episodes appear to be missing
The furry fandom is a topic of much controversy in nerd culture. There’s something weird, I guess, about people who like to dress in animal costumes and who prefer their fiction to contain 100% more paws and tails.
And there’s also the sex. Somehow it’s a lot more acceptable to write Kirk and Spock having sex than to write Simba and Nala doing the jungle boogie.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ve likely come across mentions of furry here and there, or of furry material being discussed or reviewed. The recently released second season of Beastars is a great example of a story that’s incredibly furry. There’s also Zootopia, the Breath of Fire series of video games, Final Fantasy IX, several races available in Final Fantasy XIV, Bojack Horseman, and even furry adjacent stories like Sweet Tooth and the old Jimmy Stewart movie Harvey.
If you wanted to know a bit more about the origins of furry or about various topics of consideration pertaining to the fandom, this is a good one stop shop, so to speak.
That said, you might want to skip ahead a couple years unless you want to see some pretty rough videos presented in a very non-professional manner. Despite how they looked in the beginning, there was clearly effort put into their early videos, and they learned as they went. Later videos had more polish and better presentation than their first ones. Their topics are still interesting, even if there’s a bit more cringe in how they were presented in the beginning.
The videos are also very short, so you could consume them a couple at a time if you wanted before moving on Geoff and Angela’s recommendations this week.
It’s tough to think of anything to say here anymore, outside the need to get vaccinated despite the level of misinformation out there. That is, assuming you’re from a country that has them widely available. Thinking about how people in first-world countries are neglecting the riches provided to them while poorer countries ready and waiting for vaccines still can’t get them is enough to make a sane person angry, so we should all appreciate this luxury while we have it.
About The Author
dcstaff
The collective will of the Damage Control staff combined into a single article.
