Still listening to the unabridged audio version of Robert Jordan's Lord of Chaos in the Wheel of Time arc. Would've finished it months ago, but Daughtry's new CD put a bit of a crimp in that. But then again, Jordan does put his trademark intro at the beginning (such as there are any in The Wheel of Time...) of every novel, tee hee. :Ewink:

More NationStates than is healthy... I recommend it for those needing a pretend 'chia-country' to call their own. Plus, the forums have something for just about everyone, be it RP or debate or whatever; just so long as you can handle trolls or n00bs on your own though, since Obi Wan's words regarding Mos Eisley Spaceport tend to apply. :Hdead: I'll restart the thread on it that the hackers wrecked when I can...

At the moment, Haruhi's show; which ranks up there with Evangelion and Excel Saga in my top 3. Love Hina comes in second-to-last since I just finished the show proper and will watch the rest of the movies I bought very soon.
But before any of that, however, any day now I'll be adding Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion to finish my initiation into EVA otakudom first. :Hvhappy: Priorities are just that after all...

Is this open? :? I'd be interested in taking Watanabe if he's available.

You're quite right. Exaggerating maybe on the degree of melodrama since Gundam does better than most as you point out. But clearly plot is given preference over character in the average mecha show; the exact opposite of Evangelion's style, especially in the later episodes.
When I was browsing Tiffany Grant's site months ago and listening to NPR's review of Eva, their handling of the arc did the best they could without going well into spoiler territory, but their view of the end tended towards the "delusional Shinji" theory that a more "normal" mecha show would've used for its ending context. I'll grant that it might (barely) be workable if one takes the JSSDF's orders during the movies into account and assumes Shinji is just accepting his inevitable execution when all is said and done; but IMO that requires trivializing or disregarding the testimony of several major characters during the ending eps. Not to mention the theory itself sets up the thus-intrigued viewer for an arguably worse disconnect once the more mystical/philosophical/WTF elements really begin showing up after Zeruel's trouncing, since it deliberately makes the series sound more "typical" than it is. (Plus this theory actually achieves the rare feat of making EoE sound optimistic by comparison... :shock:)
On the topic of EoE; is Revival going to be released here in the US like the platinums were? I'm seriously divided over whether to get the long-available D&R/EoE DVD set now and run the risk of duds (I've heard Manga had many defects with these...), or wait until the definitive cut arrives with (hopefully) better quality control.

Nickelback--Savin' Me. (BIG plans for this one in an in-progress and probably several upcoming fics. )
Gabriela Robin--Stamina Rose (ditto...)

I wasn't unduly confused either :wink: ; but I can easily see where people might be because of Evangelion's highly stylized (and later emergency-rationed) production values. The Instrumentality scenes during the original Eps 25-26 are the most troublesome, since the impression a fan walks away with from these depends entirely on how they interpret several highly ambiguous statements from characters whose very (in episode) existence, much less credibility, is open to question.
Examples fromm Ep.26: What world is Shinji saying he can exist in, if any? Does the proverbial "rainy day," which the ghost of Ritsuko says Shinji can still have fun on near the end, refer to Third Impact or simply life's inevitable if (hopefully :shock: ) less-extreme gloomy times? Is the parallel world Shinji witnessed a true alternate universe, or just his own wishful delusion? (I'm an Angelic Days manga fan so I tend towards the former...) Whether or not the Instrumentality Project can be seen as successful in the series' ending, in terms of achieving the new existence SEELE/NERV/&c planned for Humanity (itself a thorny topic...), depends on the answers a fan puts to these questions. EoE is more explicit in having the Instrumentality fail; abjectly, albeit with the stated-yet-unresolved possibility of life returning to the devastated Earth at some future point.