Eva Re-Take

[wombat1138]

A fair amount of the fan discussion of Rebuild of Evangelion has mentioned a possible overlap of fundamental concepts from a doujinshi series called Evangelion Re-Take by the circle Studio Kimigabuchi. After seeing several assertions that they were the best doujinshi of any series ever, regardless of hentai content (of which there is some), and that there were readily-available English scanslations online, I went looking for them.

...wow. I mean, really, wow. I haven't even finished downloading all five volumes yet (and they really are volumes, at about 100pp each) but the first few are amazing. For purposes of comparison, the sixth and last translated volume of the authorized Angelic Days manga series came out fairly recently, and I have to say that Re-Take whups its ass in every which way: art style, concepts, characterization, dramatic arc, and pretty much anything else I can think of. Okay, sure, so Angelic Days is based on a fluffy Eva-based dating sim and doesn't much rise above its origins, but still, it's an official product. Being so thoroughly outclassed by doujinshi is just embarrassing.

I've already been hearing that visually, Rebuild is a knockout. If the rest of it is substantially similar to Re-Take, we're really in for a treat. Whenever it actually gets over here argh.

Later addendum: there also seems to be a ReTake OST somehow (didn't download it, don't know what it's like), as well as trailers (???) on YouTube.

Comments

[narumi.livejournal.com]

I have the Doujin eva re-take, I was curious about it so I ran to kinokunyia and only saw vol 3, picked it up.. its.. like you said.. 'wow' :3 I want rebuild SO BADLY D: but i am literally.. like . poor till my birthday ;_; 2 months away.

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

*gawp* Which section of Kinokuniya are the doujinshi in? Not the exact part of the floor plan, since I'd be nosing around the SF Japantown branch instead of NYC, but are they shuffled in among the regular manga, in their own section nearby, with the magazines...? Every time I've poked around in there, I've generally wandered around in dazed oooOOOoooOooOoo mode and eventually gravitated toward the origami section before getting overwhelmed and wandering back out without buying anything. (There's also the extra gravitational pull of their separate pens/stationery annex across the hallway, although I never buy anything there either.)

[narumi.livejournal.com]

I actually found them next to the art books and shuffled in among a few other doijins believe it or not o.o I was like "i have tgis- i have this, an this---- WAIT WHA? O_O *grab*
I'm heading in there thursday to get a workbook for nihongo class. I'll see if they have it so i can pick up a copy for you :)

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

(yikes) You really don't have to get me a copy of Re-Take; I've got the complete set of downloaded scanslations already... which does have me feeling slightly guilty about not having bought any corresponding physical copies, but it's the eBay/doujinshi economic model all over again-- when a doujinshi, any doujinshi, gets sold for like $100 on eBay, chances are that none of the extra profit margin is going back to the doujinka, even though it'll encourage the reseller to pick up more of the same doujinka's work at the next Comiket.

*scurries out to car with two unhappy *and VERY LOUD) cats in a small cruel torturous portable oubliette for their vet appt.*

[qadgop.livejournal.com]

but still, it's an official product. Being so thoroughly outclassed by doujinshi is just embarrassing.

Over in Trekdom, it happens all the time. (If you search-and-replace "fanfic/fanfilm/licensed-but-noncanonical-novel" for doujinshi.)

[kodokunotenshi.livejournal.com]

can i ask where you found the doujinshi to download?

[wombat1138.livejournal.com]

I followed the RapidShare links from here (http://kurogane.animeblogger.net/category/manga/doujin/) (you'll need to scroll down a bit). RapidShare limits its free downloads by some sort of bandwidth formula, so while each individual zipfile may not take too long to grab, you'll have to wait 30-90 minutes before you can start on the next one. (They're high-res files that take up a lot of space, usually ay least 200kb/page.) However, since most of the installments are at least 100pp (the shortest one is "only" ~60pp), you'll be able to fill a lot of that time by reading what you've already got.

(There are also Torrent files, but I couldn't remember at the time how to Torrent stuff :b )

Also note that despite the name of "ReTake 0", it's really 3.5 in terms of reading order. "After" is the last one. While there is some hentai content, it's firmly within the functional structure of the plot.