Niamh keeps saying fae’s Nova and we’ve all just been waiting for this stupid brat to finally show up. We’re discussing episodes 21–30 of Magic Knight Rayearth!

We start the conversation with Niamh reading through this document fae made on the origins of the new character’s names for season two, then dive into topics such as the uneasiness around the way the girls immediately take on the role of magic knights again; how Rayearth is finally really a mech show; the problem of straightness vs. queerness in season two and Hikaru as a polyamorous character; the pacing of season two; how the series is further developing the themes of the show around patriarchal systems and the inability of people to conceive of themselves outside of the systems in which they live; how the show is setting up themes of relationships, jealousy, guilt, and the impositions of heteronormative culture; and finally some stuff around Hikaru, Nova, and the Pillar System that has been signaled pretty heavily in these first 10 episdes but maybe some viewers would miss. Sorry if that last bit kind of feels like spoilers,episodes but it’s all in there and we ended up thinking it’s better if we can just acknowledge that these things are happening so we can talk about them more!

Anyway, write into our Question Bucket at [email protected] and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

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Possession & brainwashing

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Connor, Niamh, and Honorary Third Ghost Diver Autumn are back again to discuss the second half of the first season of Magic Knight Rayearth. It’s a mech show now?

We get into the gradual tonal shift as the series progresses and grows darker; the color coding of characters around red, blue, green, white, and purple/black; Caldina’s character as another mode of femininity and as a person swayed by the love of the Magic Knights; Hikaru and blood and its thematic resonance for the show as a whole; the recurring themes around free will, possession, and mind control; the themes of love and the limits of love to protect you from harm; the queer-coding of Inouva; Connor’s attempt to stop being so mean to Niamh’s beloved dumb bishie, Ferio; the metaphorical usage of the Pillar system of Cephiro to talk about gendered expectations in patriarchal cisheteronormativity; and the tragedy of Princess Emeraude and Lord Zagato and how it ties together all the themes so far and also leaves open the door for far, far more in need of exploration in season 2.

Join us next time, for the first ten episodes of season 2 of Magic Knight Rayearth, episodes 21–30!

As a note, the post-ED backmatter for this podcast episode includes some Madoka Magica spoilers.

Anyway, here’s the Rayearth car names document for season 1 if you need it again.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

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Sexualization of women

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This podcast is named after the Rolls-Royce Ghost Diver.

We start out with Niamh reading through this nice little document fae created before diving into the discussion of the episodes. We touch on topics including the comedic tone of the early episodes and its use of JRPG tropes; how the girls are gay; the triangulation of Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu onto class distinctions, forms of femininity, and also the three hosts of this very podcast; Hikaru’s need for unconditional love, Umi’s fraught relationship with her parents, and Fuu’s struggle with self-hatred; the nature of Cephiro as a world of will and how it relates to themes of wish fulfillment and destiny in magical girl anime; the transition of girlhood to womanhood as a core theme of Rayearth; stories about getting high; the construction of types of masculinity in Rayearth; images of motherhood; and the core conflicts being set up for the three girls.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

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Autumn’s Happy Pride tweet

Niamh’s Ultimate Combination AMV

Mind control / possession

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Hold on to that dream

Dive into Magic Knight Rayearth!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

Export Audio Network: exportaud.io

[S1E1] Intro: July 23, 2021

"Deviant Male Identities in Japanese RPGs: Heterosexual Heroes, Gay Villains" by Juan F. Belmonte, presented at the 2016 Different Games Conference

Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity by José Esteban Muñoz, especially chapter 6 "Stages: Queers, Punk, and the Utopian Performative"

Violence

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Welcome to Ghost Divers, a true crime podcast or something I guess.

We start by looking back a little at our long journey with Neon Genesis Evangelion and talk a little about how our personal experiences informed our readings of the show and, especially, the movie. We then answer questions about reading Eva through Anno’s life, our least favorite Eva spinoffs, dismemberment and abjection, Toji’s hair color in the show vs. the manga, what astrology signs image meme Eva characters would create, kissing the homies goodnight (redux), Asuka as a Twitch streamer, how Gendo should just fuck off actually, and experiencing media too young.

For our non-anime things, Niamh brings When the Pawn… by Fiona Apple and we talk a little about it, but honestly also talk a lot about critical approaches to media in general. We then move on to Connor’s pick of A Brighter Summer Day and talk a little about how the film constructs space in relation to history and politics.

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

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Abusive relationships

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What's done is done, it feels so bad. What once was happy now is sad. We’ll never record again, our podcast’s ending. I wish that I could turn back time, ‘cause now the guilt is all mine for ever suggesting we’d do Evangelion.

Okay, so Connor and Niamh like to joke about how we get into a big fight about End of Evangelion because we are never going to fully agree on this film. Specifically, we both have the same basic read on what the film is trying to do, but will always be divided on our final read of the film. But like, we actually are still friends and we’re both really looking forward to you all watching Magic Knight Rayearth with us and listening to those episodes.

In our discussion, we focus in particular on the beginning and the end of End of Evangelion and the manga and how these two endings to the series figure separation and otherness in different ways and reach different conclusions about the possibility for human connection and touch on topics like the potential figuring of a bioessentialist view in the show and movie of the fundamental divide between men and women as the core of the human condition in the show and movie versus the manga, how the manga employs the image of hands to differently figure the relationship between humans in a way that touches less on heteronormative understandings of human relationships, the Buddhist and daoist interpretations of Eva, the ending of the movie and its parallels with Adam and Eve and the related myth of Líf and Lífþrasir emerging from the world tree after ragnarök to repopulate the earth, how necessary the intense extremes of the movie are for the message, a diversion into discussions around content warnings, our frustrations with the depiction of Misato in End of Eva, differences between the movie and the manga around Gendo and Shinji’s ability to meet the expectations of the heroic shōnen protagonist, some of the weird differences between the printed tankōban volumes of the manga in the US and the scanlations on genesis-evangelion.com, how not everyone in a story should necessarily be redeemed (and perhaps some characters should not be redeemed), and our final readings on Rei and her breaking from Gendo’s abuse.

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 Friday, July 16, 2021. You can write into ghostdiverspod@gmail and follow us on Twitter!

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

Lastly, if you want to listen to Niamh talk about movies for generally less time then fae spent talking about this one, check out faer newish podcast Ornate Stairwells at exportaud.io/ornatestairwells.

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Alcohol

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We are joined by our first-ever guest on Ghost Divers, Brad Nelson, to discuss episodes 21 through 26 of Neon Genesis Evangelion! They are the person who first got Niamh into anime, so it’s very poignant and meaningful that they are definitely the first-ever guest on the podcast and didn’t at all get usurped by some brat who just decided to join to talk about Final Fantasy VIII on a complete whim.

We also get the most into the manga so far around our discussion of Kaworu, so buckle up for a deeper dive into manga chapters 52–74

We start our discussion with a look at the way the series often employs lore dumps to create more questions than answers, how incredibly gay Ritsuko is for Misato, the discrepancies in how various characters perceive and understand each other and how the narrative itself becomes unreliably tied to specific perspectives, suffering in Evangelion and the tensions between Buddhism and daoism and how Niamh’s worldview has changed since fae first watched the show, Asuka as an unwilling school idol, the elevator scene and how it draws out the tensions between Asuka and Rei and their inability to connect over their shared struggles, how Misato continues to offer physical touch as comfort because it’s what she herself needs when she is hurting, Gendo’s grooming of Rei and her attempts to break from his abuse, the romantic and sexual connection between Shinji and Kaworu, the differences between Kaworu’s depiction in the show vs. the manga, our varying reads on the differing depictions of Kaworu’s death and what it means for Shinji, the stylistic presentation of the final two episode of Evangelion, the misogyny of Anno and his potential gendered trauma, and of course Connor and Niamh continuing to duke it out over End of Evangelion.

Speaking of, just is next time for our discussion of End of Evangelion and the conclusion of the manga!

As a note, the audio bleed on Connor’s headphones was really bad this episode and Niamh had to do a lot to try to eliminate it, so sorry for the dip in audio quality on this one. At least you don’t have to endure it for nearly 5 hours…

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

You can also check out Brad’s newsletter at http://hologramofthesenses.substack.com

“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

Death of a child

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

We are back again and ready to dive into the back half of Neon Genesis Evangelion with episodes 14 through 20.

We start by looking at what actually turned out to be a fairly interesting clip show episode and use it to spring into a discussion of the shift towards greater interiority and the developing undercurrents in the second half of the series; the growing characterization of Rei; Misato and Kaji as a (not always well handled) brat4brat relationship and how it factors into our read of Misato as well as Asuka as a “female impersonator” of Misato; our read on Kaji as an interesting but often creepy character; Eva’s ongoing construction of divided subjects; the psychoanalytic elements of the series and Connor’s theory bullshit about Kristeva’s ideas about abjection; the abjection of queerness; the role of ego in sync rate and pilot performance; the solidification of the show’s thematic elements in order to develop further in the finale; the misdirected desire for comfort that must be resisted to reassert selfhood and allow the potential for further life; our continuing kicking of the Mimesis can down the Ghost Divers road; and an extended discussion of one of our favorite sparsely animated scenes.

Next time we will be joined by guest Brad Nelson to talk about episodes 21 through 26!

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

The Show: @ghostdiverspod

Also as a fun note: About a week before this episode was released, Connor finally subscribed to the Patreon in order to listen to Niamh’s new movie podcast with Autumn called Ornate Stairwells! You can check out the public feed for Ornate Stairwells at exportaud.io/ornatestairwells or listen to the episodes early by becoming a patron yourself at exportaud.io.

I mean, not episodes of Ghost Divers early, just episodes of Ornate Stairwells early. I’m not putting any more pressure on myself to edit stuff early, and I think this podcast works best if you know exactly when to expect new episodes.

Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection by Julia Kristeva

Discussion of grooming and sexual abuse

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

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

“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

Alcohol / Alcoholism

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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

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

Captive bolt pistols used in animal slaughter

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