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The "Whiny" Card: Valid or Not?


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Lain'sHairline



Joined: 15 Aug 2014
Posts: 158
Location: Dallas, TX
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Kruszer wrote:
Well, first I want my damn copy of Evangellion 3.3 from Funimation....


Ahh the wait must be excruciating, haha. Having that physical copy is well worth it though. Mr. Green

Robin Williams was an Evangelion fan too, I had no idea until today.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11340
PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:22 pm Reply with quote
ChibiKangaroo wrote:
How is Eren's suffering and personal defects any less deep than Shinji's? Both of them have a shady, distant father who is involved in scientific stuff and uses them for military purposes. Both of them don't have a mom around, but in Eren's case we actually get to watch his personal anguish and devastation as he watches his mother ripped apart by a Titan eating her. Both of them are living in a society under siege by giant, frightful monsters that slaughter scores of people with each incursion. We are shown numerous times how this affects Eren, physically and emotionally. Somehow, Eren is "much shallower?" That makes no sense. Eren is deeper as a character than Shinji, and he's also a much better character, for the reasons I've already outlined.

I kind of got lost during the discussion so I went back to reread, and found that this still bothered me.

The relationship between father and son was very different for these two characters. Eren's dad may have been somewhat distant and shady, but he was there during Eren's childhood. He talked to Eren, took him on rounds with him, ate dinner with him. Shinji never had that, and that's all he ever wanted, for his father to acknowledge he even existed. Eren also had a mother throughout his childhood, where Shinji can't even remember his. Eren had Mikasa and Armin. Eren had family and friends around him growing up, Shinji was essentially alone. So even if they ended up confronting similar threats and traumas, it's not like they started on the same foundations from which to fight.

Asuka had an almost equally traumatic childhood compared to Shinji (although iirc she did have some good memories of her mother and her own accomplishments - I could be wrong, I haven't watched Eva more than twice and that was long ago), but her response to it was entirely different. Which I think was one of the points of Eva - examining how different personality types cope with adversity.

So while I'm not wallowing in Shinji's angst (though I admittedly enjoy angsty anime as long as the characters have good reason to be distressed), I do find the whole series compelling and interesting in how all these different personalities with their own set of traumas manage to get through it to do what they have to do, without curling up in a ball and going permanently catatonic. Smile
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casualfan



Joined: 24 Jul 2012
Posts: 333
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 3:30 pm Reply with quote
It's mostly just a cultural preference. Here People just prefer the hero type like Batman, who despite having terrible childhood, managed to become a badass. So emo whiny kid type will get a lot of negativity. Perhaps one of the reasons why Eva is so huge in Japan yet remains a niche here.
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RadarJay



Joined: 01 May 2014
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 11:01 pm Reply with quote
Yeah :/ unfortunately, in nerd-bro culture, there's a tendency to bitch about characters who aren't easy self inserts, and in general charterers who seem to exhibit deep flaws (like Mikasa and Sayaka). Anime fans just seem to be attracted to the more simplistic/ admirable side of things. You can see complaints for miles and miles about things like Eren and Usagi about being generally stupid even though they're... ya know, kids.
However, people still seem to love their character studies like WataMote and Welcome to the NHK... actually, let me step back for a sec. How DID people react to Sato and Tomoko aside from "LoL, this is so relatable and kind of funny. Dumb nerd".
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