bitofhope

Ultraman in particular may have been a big trendsetter in using Christian imagery for flavor in Japanese science fiction media at the time.

My take is that the meaning of the Abrahamic references in Eva goes a little bit deeper than just random aesthetics. Most of the allusions fit their mythological counterparts neatly enough, that clearly some research went into them and the references aren't just random. I don't think the series is trying to comment on Abrahamic religion, though. The references are considered and deliberate as worldbuilding devices, but ultimately just there for flavor.

And yeah, jury's still out on whether in-universe they're really invoking biblical figures and concepts or if someone at NERV/SEELE/GEHIRN was simply feeling a bit pretentious with their code name scheme.

Evergreen reaction image.

The gov is currently just another faction of the fash infighting.

Dear acausal robot God, that was cathartic. Refreshing to see a mainstream journalist see through techbro weirdo uwu smol bean antics for what they are, especially after so many credulous puff pieces.

This includes the Guardian (twice), the Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer, CBC News, Business Insider, Bloomberg, and Dallas Magazine, among many, many others. My industry peers very clearly want me to know about these people—a lot about them!

I knew that a couple of outlets had done profiles of them lately, but I didn't realize they were attention whoring this hard. Maybe their thing isn't a breeding kink after all, but exhibitionism.

I also didn't know about the child abuse, though I could have seen it coming without subjecting myself to two Grauniad bits on these fuckers^1^.

And then there’s the slap. The most notable aspect of the Guardian’s May 2024 profile—which, again, profiled them twice in the same year—was a moment when Malcolm slaps his son in the face, in public, after the then-2-year-old accidentally bumped into a table, leaving the boy “whimpering.” To her credit, reporter Jenny Kleeman didn’t let this go, forcing the couple to defend this punishment.

1: Don't even know if "fucker" is appropriate here given these bougie failchildren are apparently opting for IVF for the actual baby making part.

Send her my thanks for her service! o7

Also it borrows a lot of imagery from esoteric judaism and christianity, but mostly for the sake of aesthetics or very surface level symbolism, a bit like a western show might use buddhist symbolism just for the sake of being a little bit exotic.

No worries. I do agree ransomware industry might not have taken off or at least might have taken off a lot slower if the victims had to make a gold mule video game character or mail cash or precious metals through seedy relay addresses to pay the ransom. So I'll habe to credit cryptocurrency, if not necessarily blockchain per se, for that dubious achievement.

I know, that's why I'm giving them this one.

I think you'll find Guangdong did a lot of the actual building.

Oh no, it's a very serious (in context of a psychological tragedy sci-fi anime with bionic mecha fighting lovecraftian kaiju) paramilitary national (or maybe a supranational) goverment body affiliated with a shadowy cabal of conspirators.

Its logo is also quite heavily featured on the unscalable mountains of promotional merchandise for the franchise, so it's an easy thing to name drop if you don't know or remember much from the show but want to feel like you're making a deep cut reference because you remember the name from a coffee mug you have or something.

NERV is the organization that runs the eponymous mech suits. It's a bit like if someone asked about the Simpsons and he just replied "Springfield!" like yea that's a thing from the show, but couldn't you think of a quote from a character or something?

Ok, maybe cryptocurrencies made those a little bit easier than doing the same thing with MMO money or having to mail physical goods. I can even go out on a limb and credit the blockchain itself for them, even though the design kind of makes transactions inherently more traceable than some possible aleternatives do.