So I liked this, but I don't vibe with Eva's portrayal.

[Second Duke Revier]

She comes off as an emotionally underdeveloped, codependent character who literally can't live without Neil. While I did enjoy the stark depiction of her pitiful condition, I'm not a fan of that characterization. Really hoping Last Hour RPG will depict her in a different light.

[Sun_S]

To add to your comment, in retrospect, I wonder why Eva never told Neil about her feelings.
Neil explains why he didn't confess to her - never wanting to see her as devastated as his dad was about his mom's condition - but Eva seems to not have had a reason. None that we hear about, at least. All we do hear is how she denies having these feelings whenever someone asks her about it (e.g. Taima in the first minisode, Neil's parents in the Beach Episode).

[The Murdering Angel]

I really, REALLY disagree. Major spoilers ahead - for anyone who's happened across this thread coincidentally, tread carefully.

Fundamentally, she's dealing with grief. Death is always vulgar, and the death of a friend is always painful. But the death of someone you have a strong romantic love for - worse yet, an *unresolved* romantic love - can be crippling. In many ways, what Neil left her was worse than nothing - because much like any drug that helps you Forget, his gift stops her from ripping off the band-aid. Real life hurts, because he's dead and nothing can ever bring him back. She has to go to the Sigmund Crop building and see his empty office, has to see all the people who pity her and offer platitudes, has to be reminded every single day that it hurts and is never going to stop hurting.

In the machine, though, it DOESN'T hurt - and that's what makes it dangerous. Eva has to deal with the fact that she never got to say goodbye for the rest of her life. She has to deal with the fact that she never told Neil how she felt - and he never told *her*. That's forever. That's every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ day of her life. I don't think that's "Underdeveloped" or "co-dependent," it's literally just avoiding grief - possibly the worst kind of grief, because it's a never-ending series of "what if" questions and she' literally in the business of giving people fake memories ABOUT "what if." Every new client is another person who gets a happy ending to their story, and she never will...unless she becomes a client.

[The Murdering Angel]

Originally posted by Sun_S:

To add to your comment, in retrospect, I wonder why Eva never told Neil about her feelings.

Spoiler tags, dude. :p

There's plenty of valid reasons but it is a deliberate choice to leave that unsaid within the story itself. But that said...who's to say she didn't? Maybe she did, and maybe he turned her down. Maybe he said "not until after highschool," which then became an ever-moving series of goalposts. Maybe he lied and said "sorry, I'm gay/asexual/just not that into you." Maybe, like most human interactions, it was a series of miscommunications - she drops hints, he seems oblivious, she gets mad that he didn't pick up on the hints etc.

If she didn't ask, or hint, or anything, there's still plenty of valid *possible* reasons. She had to have known what happened to Neil's Mother, being a close friend of his, and had to suspect that it might be hereditary - she's too smart not to have looked up his Mom's disease, if for no other reason than to understand it. She more than likely had a sense of the emotional danger of trying to move past 'just friends,' and if Neil never *acted* interested, well...getting rejected by a sick dude who could keel over dead at any minute is a pretty hard hit to the ego.

Or maybe she just had this sense of "man, he's TOTALLY not into me" and didn't see any reason to try. Maybe she really wanted to focus on her career and lied to herself that she was content. Maybe she saw her Sister's life as a great example of what she DIDN'T want. Maybe she's a victim of sexual assault and has underlying trauma that makes anything romantic or sexual seem utterly terrifying. Maybe she's a traditional anime heroine and therefore a Professional Idiot, particularly regarding romantic issues.

The point is, it's not important for the story to answer that question - there's plenty of *possible* reasons, but that doesn't diminish the underlying feelings behind it all. Sometimes people ♥♥♥♥ up, and sometimes the consequences of that are Forever. Grief's funny like that.

[Sun_S]

Originally posted by The Murdering Angel:

The point is, it's not important for the story to answer that question - there's plenty of *possible* reasons, but that doesn't diminish the underlying feelings behind it all.

My comment is in regard to OP's criticism of how Eva comes across due to the ending.
If Neil had a reason, but for Eva, none is given, then it looks as though she had none. If she had none, it weakens her as a character: At worst, Eva isn't capable of fighting for something that means a lot to her.
Now, I'm not saying she doesn't have a reason, but the story doesn't tell us about it.
Maybe it was an oversight by the author. Hm, but would Kan Gao simply forget to flesh out this part of the story? Seems unlikely.
Maybe it will be mentioned in the next game - which would annoy me because in that case, we are we left with this impression of Eva unless we play it.

[The Murdering Angel]

I hear you! I just disagree with the impression of Eva - I never felt like that when playing through the episode. But that's the cool thing about art - it can make different people feel different things. :)

In particular:

Originally posted by Sun_S:

If Neil had a reason, but for Eva, none is given, then it looks as though she had none.

That's the specific part I'm happy to agree to disagree about - I can think of, and feel, a bunch of different reasons why she didn't say anything(and again, she MIGHT have said something but gotten rejected - which would explain her occasionally harsh reactions to Neil...being Neil). I didn't really feel it was necessary to explore that specific angle of it to get the same feeling - missed opportunities of the Forever kind.

Just like many of her clients, Eva has to spend the rest of her life regretting something that can never be rectified. Does it really matter who's "at fault?" It still hurts just as much, even if she was guilty of being too afraid to ask.

We all make mistakes, and all have to live with the consequences; when those consequences are Forever, the scars run pretty deep.

But I digress - it's art, and you had a different *feeling* than I did. That's ok - because that's art.

[Second Duke Revier]

My criticism is one of characterization; while it may "make sense" for Eva to grieve over Neil, throughout the series she simply hasn't got any characterization besides being the straight laced foil to him. In light of that, her depiction here does come off as that of an underdeveloped character, as there's not a lot of material supplied about her and what material is supplied comes off as incongruent with her characterization here. I mean, what about her TtM, FP or even IF selves implies that she'd be one to absorb herself in make believe to get over her grief?

You could say that it's a gap intentionally left by the author, but that isn't much of a defense, as it brings up a bunch of questions about the decision, and in turn leaves this work lesser than it could've been. It's actually a criticism I had with minisode 2, where it indulged so much in creating shadowy mystery and shock value through big gaps that the core Christmas Carol-style story fell apart. But at least that one could be excused, as it was meant to be a sidestory to TtM, and was short and free, besides.

[The Murdering Angel]

Originally posted by Second Duke Revier:

My criticism is one of characterization; while it may "make sense" for Eva to grieve over Neil, throughout the series she simply hasn't got any characterization besides being the straight laced foil to him.

I typed up a longer response, but realized a lot of it sounded contradictory for the sake of being contradictory. In the interest of being concise: I do think you have a valid point that Eva didn't get enough 'behind the scenes'/behind her motivation screentime in the earlier games. However, when you ask what about her previous selves implies she'd lose her marbles, well...I guess it's a feeling more than anything "logical" I could point to. She's immersed in other peoples' tragedies on a regular basis, but doesn't strike me as someone who had a ton of grief in her earlier life - and likely never developed healthy habits for coping with it.

So...she kinda went from zero to sixty in no time flat, and NOBODY handles that well - and nobody knows how they'll handle a given situation until they're in it. It's a bit of a trope in media for the stoic ones to be the ones that crack the hardest, but at least in this case it felt - to me - appropriate. I didn't question why someone in her situation would handle it badly - everybody can be susceptible to it, but most people don't get a super nifty way of avoiding their grief(remember, she's not doing this to get over her grief, she's doing it to AVOID her grief).

I digress, I think you have a good point - and I would never call the series perfect. It loves to steep itself in banality and cringe as a way of drawing the runtime out(and breaking up the tragedy), and it left more than a few things off the table - of which, I agree that Eva's general lack of characterization is the most egregious.

[OperatorHunterM]

Originally posted by The Murdering Angel:

Originally posted by Second Duke Revier:

My criticism is one of characterization; while it may "make sense" for Eva to grieve over Neil, throughout the series she simply hasn't got any characterization besides being the straight laced foil to him.

So...she kinda went from zero to sixty in no time flat, and NOBODY handles that well - and nobody knows how they'll handle a given situation until they're in it. It's a bit of a trope in media for the stoic ones to be the ones that crack the hardest, but at least in this case it felt - to me - appropriate. I didn't question why someone in her situation would handle it badly - everybody can be susceptible to it, but most people don't get a super nifty way of avoiding their grief(remember, she's not doing this to get over her grief, she's doing it to AVOID her grief).

I agree with both of these points.

OP is right that Eva wasn't given a lot of characterization or enough back story over the course of the series. I think originally though, Eva and Neil were observers who both were unhealthy emotionally. They both had ways of staying detached of their clients. Being apathetic in Eva's case and using humor to dodge issues in Neil's, made them more effective at their jobs.

One of the beautiful parts of this series is while the main characters see and judge others lives and make adjustments as they see fit, it's only when tragedy hits them personally, do they realize how difficult it actually is to process. The ending puts them in their clients shoes and makes them better people.

So I was fine with the way Eva was portrayed, even if a complete shift.

Last thing I want to say is that the romantic undertones between Eva and Neil felt abrupt in the Beach Episode as well. But honestly this might just be MY perspective of shipping them over the years. :p There has never been a lot of romance between the two and just a solid friendship

[Second Duke Revier]

Were either of Eva or Neil depicted facing personal tragedy prior to this game? Closest thing I can think of is him trying to read his mom's memories in IF, as they were a personal gift he couldn't access with his current technology. But otherwise, it was mostly Neil having strong reactions to the big revelations, so less of a personal tragedy, more him having strong opinions about resolving the cases.

[OperatorHunterM]

Originally posted by Second Duke Revier:

Were either of Eva or Neil depicted facing personal tragedy prior to this game? Closest thing I can think of is him trying to read his mom's memories in IF, as they were a personal gift he couldn't access with his current technology. But otherwise, it was mostly Neil having strong reactions to the big revelations, so less of a personal tragedy, more him having strong opinions about resolving the cases.

Oh no, no I just meant the Beach Episode, Prior to that there didn't seem to be any personal tragedies. xD

[nightwing]

Hello all, there is an official comics called "the bestest dancers" that might help understanding about the character of Eva and her relationship with Neil

[Second Duke Revier]

I read it. It's okay, but doesn't really add much dimension or depth to Eva, and tbh it's a "weaker" part of the canon anyway, considering it's an optional sidestory for IF. Not to say it has no relevance, but it's hard to say how much of it is "real", especially considering the whole bit about the simulation machine.

[Kefala]

My understanding for why she never told him was that "he kept himself distant". When I read that line, it made complete sense to me that she's never confessed. Confessing to someone you see every day is scary and risky, unless you're sure they reciprocate. And it seems like she got avoidance vibes from Neil that he didn't.

[Katatonik]

You have no idea how a death of a person, especially someone that they care about can change him/herself.

Or maybe as simple as it's her character. She is a cool woman and only realize her feeling after they thing she cares about has gone.

Even more, it's a trope of a shy girl being scare to confess and prefer being confessed.

[Photiel]

In my opinion, Eva may act tough or get real tough. However, the death of someone so close(no matter how close they are) is a huge hit and even the tough can crack down.

Being tough at the beginning and recovery speed is a different thing, too.

Not to mention that how real it is.(With this series, I tend to make it a spectrum instead of an 'all or none'.)