Dark Souls, but It's Shinji Ikari

Shinji and Lu Mingfei are fundamentally different. Shinji is fearless and will fight the whole world while crying. Whether it's the old or new theatrical version, Shinji is cowardly, conflicted, and cries, but in the end, he dares to take responsibility.

Is this something I can say? Shinji's personality isn't suited to web novels, or rather, people these days aren't really willing to read about an awkward, unrelatable kid who's powerless and unwilling to change. Everyone's experience has moved from the emotional wall of the Eva era to a lonely, rock-and-roll-like state of self-isolation.

If the original EVA is like black coffee, and Dark Souls is like shampoo (chocolate with a stale, unpleasant taste), then this book is like dark chocolate. It's supposed to be a lighthearted, dessert-like experience, but it's surprisingly bitter. However, this book doesn't lose its dessert-like quality despite the strong bitterness.

A 14-year-old boy, orphaned from a young age, witnessing his mother's disappearance, is then tasked by his father, whom he hasn't seen in 10 years, with piloting a terrifying machine to fight monsters that even nuclear bombs can't destroy. And, essentially, you should know he's just using you. A normal person would have jumped ship long ago.

Qidian is awesome; there's no risk when you pay, but there's risk in subscribing; I even need real-name authentication to read a novel.

Even for readers who are only familiar with one of the two themes, I think this is a good book worth reading. Having read through the previous book, I can say that the author has written very well, both in terms of Eva and Dark Souls. Compared to the previous book, the plot is much better arranged, with many unexpected twists and turns, allowing the complex forces and factions in Dark Souls to…

How do you know that porcupines don't usually retract their quills? That's just wishful thinking.

So roughly how many chapters of EVA are there? I plan to wait until then to read it.

I don't know why, but this one is clearly of higher quality than the previous one, yet its initial sales performance wasn't as good. It might be due to limited exposure, or perhaps Dark Souls just isn't very popular anymore—besides Dark Souls 5, it's practically the only other game with that kind of buzz. Hopefully, things will improve after it's released.

The author probably wrote this novel out of personal interest. It's too selective with readers. Although I only read two chapters, the writing style is alright. The subject matter isn't wrong, but from a money-making perspective, it's too niche. There are too few readers who have a deep understanding of the world background of EVA and Dark Souls.