Episode Notes

We are back once again with our discussion of episodes 7 through 13 of Neon Genesis Evangelion. These may be what are generally considered the lightest, most slice-of-life/monster-of-the-week episodes of the show, but Niamh and Connor know what this show is and is going to be, so this episode is still plenty dark. Niamh being her most messy Misato when fae recorded this probably didn’t help.

We start our discussion with the revelation that Connor is also a Misato x Ritsuko shipper, then get into the way the comparative cheeriness of these episodes feels intentionally hollow and like the illusion of happiness you create when you’re depressed, Eva’s deployment of tropes from “lighter” genres like romantic comedies, the duality of Misato and the ways in which she is actually not like Niamh, the subordination of all characters to Shinji as the self-obsessed depressed protagonist of the series and how this starts Connor and Niamh’s one true fight on Eva that we will never fully resolve, the forced feminization of Shinji, bringing in Misora Hibari as a point of reference for Asuka as an impersonator of Misato, the psychoanalytic theory of abjection as put forth by Julia Kristeva and its relation to Eva, the possibility of communication and connection between individuals, the developing characterization of Rei, Gendo’s position as the antagonist of the series, the divided subject of the MAGI system, more on the divided opinion of Connor and Niamh on whether or not Anno is a hateful little shit man, trying to talk around the end of the show and The End of Evangelion, and putting off some theory bullshit for next time.

Also we kinda end up talking more about Asuka and Misora Hibari after we finished recording the podcast proper and that all made it into the post-ED outtakes section so uh… it’s a little more than just goofs this time, you might want to stick around for at least some of it even if you usually skip the outtakes.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

“Misora Hibari and the Girl Star in Postwar Japanese Cinema” by Deborah Shamoon, published in Signs vol. 35 no. 1

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

“Kanashiki Kuchibue” performance by Misora Hibari

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Alcohol / Alcoholism
Abusive relationships
Mental illness
Misogyny
Sex work
Rape
Sexualization of young girls
Pedophilia

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Welp, here we go... I hope you aren’t interested in hearing two people talk a bunch about the lore of Neon Genesis Evangelion because that’s not at all what we’re interested in. But if you’re here for people talking about trauma, the indoctrination of toxic masculinity, and the nature of the fractured self, Connor and Niamh have got you covered.

We start out with Niamh describing the time fae went to pick up Shinji in faer car and use it to launch into discussion of mechs as bodies, how Evangelion draws extensively from the groundwork and themes laid out by Gundam and other earlier mecha anime, the overapplication of death of the author, the complicity of the US in the way that young girls are sexualized in Japan, Niamh trying to remember a galaxy brain meme, the difficulty of critically dealing with harmful tropes or topics like the sexualization of young girls in a work of media without falling into the problem of having to replicate it in the process, the conditioning of toxic masculinity, an actual breakdown of our read on Misato in general, how the animation of Evangelion contributes to the feeling of isolation, the significance of the codified cultural ritual of “tadaima” and “okaeri” for the meaning of Shinji and Misato’s relationship, how the series employs humor to continue to further its darker thematic elements, the employment of male nudity in the series (especially regarding Toji’s butt), the horror of combat in Evangelion, the fumbling missteps of Evangelion trying to discuss teenage sexual desire, the mingling of sexual desire with greater questions of identity and self, the textual effeminacy of Shinji’s design and tragedy of Rei's design, and Connor putting off really getting into his psychoanalytic theory bullshit and narrative theory bullshit.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

“Misora Hibari and the Girl Star in Postwar Japanese Cinema” by Deborah Shamoon

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Captive bolt pistols used in animal slaughter
Intense violence
Child soldiers
Sexualization of young women
Rape
Sex work
Racism
Suicide
Sexism / cissexism / the conditioning of toxic masculinity
Child abuse
Sexual abuse
F-slur

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Do you want to become one with us? To be of one mind and body? It’s a very, very comforting feeling. Email us anytime. Come dive with us into Neon Genesis Evangelion. Just relax and release your soul.

Release Schedule

[S1E1] Intro: April 30, 2020
[S1E2] Eps. 1–6 + manga chs. 1–19 (vols. 1–3): May 14, 2021
[S1E3] Eps. 7–13 + manga chs. 20–26 (vol. 4): May 28, 2021
[S1E4] Eps. 14–20 + manga chs. 27–51 (vols. 5–8): June 11, 2021
[S1E5] Eps. 21–26 + manga chs. 52–74 (vols. 8–11): June 25, 2021
[S1E6] End of Evangelion & manga chs. 75–End (vols. 11-14): July 9, 2021
[S1E7] Question Bucket: July 23, 2021

Works Cited

“Misora Hibari and the Girl Star in Postwar Japanese Cinema” by Deborah Shamoon, published in Signs vol. 35 no. 1

“Kanashiki Kuchibue” performance by Misora Hibari

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Chapter 1 of Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature by Erich Auerbach

Content Warnings for the Anime and Manga

Violence, blood, death, and gore
Body horror mechs
Abusive parents / abusive relationships / emotional, physical, and sexual abuse
Nudity and sexuality, including the sexualization of young girls
Alcohol and alcoholism
Mental invasion / rape
Sexism
Toxic gender roles
Unreality
Mental breakdowns
Suicide
Decapitation
Strangulation
Animal death (manga especially)
Flashing images

Content Warnings for the End of Evangelion

Most of above but more intense. Specific scenarios to call out:

A character masturbating over the unconscious body of a girl
An older man grabbing a young woman’s breast and then his hand entering her body, evocative of sexual abuse
Flashing images
Gore and violence is overall turned up a little from the show, although there are also intense scenes in the show

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

It’s Question Bucket Time!

As always, we start out by wrapping up our series discussion, including some discussion of The 08th MS Team’s reference to the Vietnam War and whether we think there’s anything even there or if US viewers just jump to Vietnam because it is our jungle war but not necessarily Japan’s jungle war, why we chose The 08th MS Team despite knowing a lot of people are down on it, the value of talking about things you have mixed feelings about and debating with someone else about different reads, more homie kissing, what kind of albums each member of the 08th MS Team would press. Also, Niamh manages to talk about Icelandic sagas for a bit because fae is extremely that bitch.

We then talk about Connor’s non-anime thing, The Commercial Album by the Residents. We talk a bit about trying to engage with music even when it doesn’t come to you quickly, the history of the Residents as a band and art collective, the racist ethnography of Nanook of the North, the tension between conceptual foundation for an album and the actual experiential quality of listening to an album, Niamh being a bit of an asshole, and the possible influence that the Residents might have had on music that came after.

After that, we discuss Niamh’s non-anime thing, Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale, but then kinda just be bummers about how neither of us can identify with this sweet and idyllic portrayal of childhood, but also the ways this game still rings true to some of our experiences with media and card games as kids. We also talk about the differences between sugar-coated, gritty, and bittersweet.

We also quickly answer a few questions about tokusatsu (we hate it), magical realism (we love it), and what recent anime we would send through a wormhole to the ‘90s to change anime discourse forever.

You can write into future Question Buckets at [email protected] and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

Brennu-Njál’s saga (a.k.a. Njála)

Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða

Nanook of the North

Suicide by Suicide

“Monster Mash” by Bobby "Boris" Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers

“Come On Feet” by Quasimoto

Silent Shout by the Knife

My Father’s Arms are a Boat by Stein Erik Lunde and Øyvind Torseter

Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was by Sjón

Danzig Trilogy: The Tin Drum, Cat and Mouse, and Dog Years by Günter Grass

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mention of abusive relationships and child abuse
Discussion of the difficulties of childhood, neglect, and trauma
Mention of alcohol in the post-ED section

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh are under new direction (maybe this joke will land in the description?) but are back to discuss the final half of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

We start with a discussion of the show’s hot springs episode, how the change in director may have changed the handling of various aspects of the series, the relationship between Shiro and Aina, Aina’s attempts to assert herself against her abusive brother, the potential discrepancies between Shiro and Aina’s political positions and worldviews that never really get explored, how the series tests Shiro’s idealism, our feelings about our first look at ground soldiers on the Zeon side, the incredible new content of Miller’s Report, mechs, Niamh’s rewrite of The 08th MS Team, the failure of Shiro to enacted his pacifism in the face of his own death, how the Apsalus runs on Windows, how Aina and Shiro fail to break from their existing frameworks of understanding war as being fought and won by individuals, the two different endings of the series, how the series deals with new types, the bleak reality of the final episode, but also potentially the sliver of hope within it, and more.

Also, don't forget that we will be recording the Question Bucket soon. The deadline to write into our Question Bucket for this series is April 24. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

@ghostdiverspod
@foxmomnia
@rabbleais
@GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

We didn’t really cite any works for this series!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Brief mention of a gas attack massacre
Sexualization of female characters
Abusive relationships
Self-harm (especially in the post-ED section)
Brief mention of rape
Mechs as coffins
Drugs & Alcohol
Abusive Drug Administration & Alcoholism
Murder & Poisoning
Self-sacrifice
Medical trauma
Trauma around names

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh break the Shinigami curse that killed their first attempt at recording this episode and successfully scribe a podcast episode using the new Record Press technology.

We start off by talking about how really we’re just talking about Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team in order to let Connor rant about the first Mobile Suit Gundam and then get into what is probably the most we are probably ever going to do synopses on this podcast. Connor gives a lot of context from older Gundam and like… kinda spoilers I guess?

We do get very out of scope quickly as we talk about Gundam broadly but eventually, Connor does rein us in to talk about how The 08th MS Team is specifically pulling on and immediately developing existing tropes in the franchise, our initial impressions on Shiro and Aina’s relationship and how it relates to Newtypes as a concept, Niamh’s rewrite where Shiro is replaced as the main character by Karen who is explicitly trans and dating Aina, the sexualization of Kiki (and young girls in general in anime and beyond), how combat is handled and depicted in The 08th MS Team and how it points to thematic readings of the instrumentalization of human bodies and lives, different types of mecha, if the series is actually doing anything meaningful with sexuality, the canon ages of different characters, the gender happening, and more!

Niamh also had to try very hard to not just spoil things throughout this conversation.

Write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

@ghostdiverspod
@FoxmomNia
@rabbleais
@GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

We didn’t really cite any works for this series!

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Discussion around the sexualization of young girls Brief discussion of sexual assault and abuse

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

“I’m gonna live! And I’ll marry Aina!”

Dive into Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team!

Follow us on Twitter!

@ghostdiverspod
@foxmomnia
@rabbleais
@GarfReadAloud

Release Schedule

[S2E1] Intro: March 19, 2021
[S2E2] Eps. 1–6: April 2, 2021
[S2E3] Eps. 7–12 + Miller’s Report: April 16, 2021
[S2E4] Question Bucket: April 30, 2021

Works Cited

We didn’t really cite any works for this series!

Content Warnings for the Anime

F-slur in the subs for episode 1 (dub says “pansies”)
Sexualization of young girls
Nudity and sexualization of women in general
Sexism
Issues around disability
Implied intent to rape (episode 8)
Violence and death
Depiction of war crimes, including gas attack massacre (episode 7), missile strikes, etc.
Abusive relationships
Claustrophobia, machines of war as coffins
Alcoholism

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

In what is most certainly the rowdiest, most chaotic episode yet, the Ghost Divers are joined by special guest and person who is hosting this podcast on their network in the first place so how is Niamh ever going to say no to them, Autumn Blake!

But before Autumn hops on the call, Niamh and Connor start out with just the regular amount of rowdiness and chaos and get right into the Cro High questions. We start out talking about some of our favorite bits from the show, get waylaid by Niamh’s laundry tips, and then dive into the gender happening in Cro High, vibes you get as a trans person about whether or not a creator would hate you, Takashi Miike’s Dead or Alive trilogy, Cro High’s potential debt to Utena, our favorite cuss word, finding a shared sense of humor with others, etc.

Then Autumn joins for our discussion of Final Fantasy 8 and things immediately escalate into a rollicking discussion touching on NORG, which Gundam characters would kiss the homies goodnight, which FF8 characters would kiss the homies goodnight, which Eva characters would kiss the homies goodnight, Niamh’s FF7 OTP, the era of PS1 JRPGs and why they could be weirder back then, how you used to be able to just make bad games and movies, memories of watching friends play Final Fantasy games, the overwhelming adolescence of FF8, more of Niamh’s OTPs, the merciless systems of FF8, breaking JRPGs, the era of guidebooks, etc.

We eventually move on to talking about Gaylord Phoenix, 100 Crushes, and queer alt comics in general, especially around themes like the inadequacy of language to talk about queerness and different approaches to trying to talk about this inadequacy anyway, revisiting queer books from the year you came out, Connor’s ongoing role as Niamh’s token cis straight white dude friend, the value of libraries, how to try to get into queer comics, etc.

Anyway, go buy the unofficial official shirt of Ghost Divers:
https://shop.grapevine.is/products/milf-short-sleeve-unisex-t-shirt

You can write into future Question Buckets at [email protected] and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod
Niamh: @FoxmomNia
Connor: @rabbleais
Autumn: @Autumnal_Coffee
Garfield Read Aloud: @GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

I don’t read theory not even Marx I have never even heard of Hegelian dialectics.

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Brief mentions of self-harm
Mention of bedbugs
Discussions vaguely around transphobia
Just lots and lots of swearing in this one
Including Niamh saying the f-slur a bunch because fae reclaims it
Sexual references
Mention of bodies being destroyed
Alcohol

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Niamh and Niamh’s Cohost discuss episodes 14 through 26 of the first season of Sakigake!! Cromartie High School.

We take a slightly more synopsis-laden approach this time to try to ground ourselves in the rapidly escalating and (d)evolving world of Cro High, bounding off of topics like Cro High’s use of manzai forms, the literalization of the punchline, the stretching and decontextualization of recurring jokes, Yamaguchi’s failure to fully understand the humor of the show in which he is a character, and our conclusion that the show is ultimately mocking us personally as a podcast that is trying to analyze it.

Niamh also thinks fae's really fuckin funny with the editing on this one.

Also, don't forget that we will be recording the Question Bucket soon. The deadline to write into our Question Bucket for this series is March 13. You can write into ghostdiverspod[at]gmail and follow us on Twitter!

@ghostdiverspod
@foxmomnia
@rabbleais
@GarfReadAloud

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Brief Discussion of Shock Violence (Regarding Adult Swim)

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co

Episode Notes

Connor and Niamh can’t remember the name of a song that’s stuck in their heads, so they try to distract themselves by discussing episodes 1 through 13 of the first season of Sakigake!! Cromartie High School.

We start out with the first and really only bit of theory bullshit by talking about the yakuza and yankii genre convention of the giri-ninjo conflict and how it relates to the comedy of Cro High, which we then use to launch into how much Cro High actually operates as a genre parody vs. absurdism, Kamiyama as a protagonist, the process of adaptation from manga to anime, the character of Yamaguchi as the comedian who tries to metatextually analyze the comedy of the show in which he himself is a character, the all-encompassing scope of the comedy of the show, the show within a show that is Pootan, the way Cro High continues to develop expectations in order to subvert them, and more.

Niamh also has an (at this point no longer secret) announcement that faer comedy video art series Today’s Garfield Read Aloud has returned as a Twitter account, @GarfReadAloud.

Write into our Question Bucket at ghostdiverspod[at]gmail and follow us on Twitter!

@ghostdiverspod
@FoxmomNia
@rabbleais
@GarfReadAloud

Works Cited in this Discussion

“The Yakuza Film: An Introduction” by Keiko Iwai McDonald, published in Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History

“On Ninkyo” by Sato Tadao, published in the journal Shisō no kagaku (Science of Thought)

Content Warnings for this Discussion

Mention of Alcohol (After the outro when Niamh and Connor are joking around)

Find out more at https://ghost-divers.pinecast.co