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We're in the 21st century, when schoolgirls, in a twist, become badass flying cyborgs and shoot nuclear missiles out of their backs.

Yes, and the young boys have those robots come out of their foreheads instead.

I think this Monitor Man is cooler.

All bow before FLCL.

Anyone?

Words mean different things to different people, all depending on context as well. Terms can be a depressing or negative, and still also be used with pride by the group it refers to (see "fag", "nigger", etc.). And as someone else pointed out, we aren't talking about houses here, either. A subculture can use words how it wants. Don't be a language fascist!

Its not all supposed to make sense.

This is kind of the problem with 'high-concept' animation. Lain is very disorienting and has anything but a happy dynamic between the characters. Really, you just don't get to know the characters in Lain (not even Lain herself). This is a different kind of disorientation you receive from watching Evangelion. Evangelion is, on several levels, going out of its way to depress its viewership. You get to the end of the 26 episodes and all you can feel is loss and alienation. Hideaki Anno wrote this after years of depression, reportedly, and it shows. But a failure to make us feel good about ourselves is what makes this kind of unsatisfying. And many viewers are discontent with the somewhat arrogant 'high-concept' response of that as a successfully delivered message. It's not that they refuse to 'get it,' they just don't all believe getting slapped in the face by the artist is a good way to spend your money.

That Evangelion's conclusion fails to thrill and entertain is probably not its biggest detractor. By far what turns people off about this is the absolutely abhorrent characters put in charge of saving the world in Evangelion. While most of them on the surface have decent 'hero' facades, they are all deeply broken on the inside. Shinji mortally despises his father. Misato is permanently emotionally scarred from the trauma of surviving the Second Impact. Shinji's father is cruel and unfeeling towards his only son. The other two pilots do not reach out emotionally to anyone. Everyone else is part of some paranoid agenda to destroy the world.

The plot progression is one where the awesomely scripted robot action decays to the low-level corrosion of the character types in the series. The transition happens about halfway through the series, and it is jarring. "Hey! Where'd the cool robot fights go?" And all this in a series where the ultimate message is one of futility and failure? The ending is just plain gratuitous to these points, especially after the release of the final films (I felt worse after watching them than after watching the 'normal' endings). I hate to spoil the ending for anybody, but you won't feel any better watching it than watching all of Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil,' for comparison.

I don't argue that anime needs to have a happy ending to be engrossing and acceptable to the mainstream. It's just that calling Evangelion the 'greatest anime ever made' both oversells Evangelion and undersells the remainder of the Anime industry.

Try these, if you think I'm lying. Cowboy Bebop delivers a gritty and dark message, but it's plenty fun for all involved. Metropolis, the 'Brazil' of the anime world (although the source greatly predates Gilliam's work) also wanders into the brittle realm of the cheerless mechanization of life. But it's better than Evangelion at doing it. People who declare Anno's work the pinnacle of Anime really do need to watch more Anime. Odds are, all they've watched is Evangelion. It would be particularly enlightening to them, if they get the opportunity, to check out what Anno's been doing since Evangelion.

Its not all supposed to make sense.

This is kind of the problem with 'high-concept' animation. Lain is very disorienting and has anything but a happy dynamic between the characters. Really, you just don't get to know the characters in Lain (not even Lain herself). This is a different kind of disorientation you receive from watching Evangelion. Evangelion is, on several levels, going out of its way to depress its viewership. You get to the end of the 26 episodes and all you can feel is loss and alienation. Hideaki Anno wrote this after years of depression, reportedly, and it shows. But a failure to make us feel good about ourselves is what makes this kind of unsatisfying. And many viewers are discontent with the somewhat arrogant 'high-concept' response of that as a successfully delivered message. It's not that they refuse to 'get it,' they just don't all believe getting slapped in the face by the artist is a good way to spend your money.

That Evangelion's conclusion fails to thrill and entertain is probably not its biggest detractor. By far what turns people off about this is the absolutely abhorrent characters put in charge of saving the world in Evangelion. While most of them on the surface have decent 'hero' facades, they are all deeply broken on the inside. Shinji mortally despises his father. Misato is permanently emotionally scarred from the trauma of surviving the Second Impact. Shinji's father is cruel and unfeeling towards his only son. The other two pilots do not reach out emotionally to anyone. Everyone else is part of some paranoid agenda to destroy the world.

The plot progression is one where the awesomely scripted robot action decays to the low-level corrosion of the character types in the series. The transition happens about halfway through the series, and it is jarring. "Hey! Where'd the cool robot fights go?" And all this in a series where the ultimate message is one of futility and failure? The ending is just plain gratuitous to these points, especially after the release of the final films (I felt worse after watching them than after watching the 'normal' endings). I hate to spoil the ending for anybody, but you won't feel any better watching it than watching all of Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil,' for comparison.

I don't argue that anime needs to have a happy ending to be engrossing and acceptable to the mainstream. It's just that calling Evangelion the 'greatest anime ever made' both oversells Evangelion and undersells the remainder of the Anime industry.

Try these, if you think I'm lying. Cowboy Bebop delivers a gritty and dark message, but it's plenty fun for all involved. Metropolis, the 'Brazil' of the anime world (although the source greatly predates Gilliam's work) also wanders into the brittle realm of the cheerless mechanization of life. But it's better than Evangelion at doing it. People who declare Anno's work the pinnacle of Anime really do need to watch more Anime. Odds are, all they've watched is Evangelion. It would be particularly enlightening to them, if they get the opportunity, to check out what Anno's been doing since Evangelion.

Its not all supposed to make sense.

This is kind of the problem with 'high-concept' animation. Lain is very disorienting and has anything but a happy dynamic between the characters. Really, you just don't get to know the characters in Lain (not even Lain herself). This is a different kind of disorientation you receive from watching Evangelion. Evangelion is, on several levels, going out of its way to depress its viewership. You get to the end of the 26 episodes and all you can feel is loss and alienation. Hideaki Anno wrote this after years of depression, reportedly, and it shows. But a failure to make us feel good about ourselves is what makes this kind of unsatisfying. And many viewers are discontent with the somewhat arrogant 'high-concept' response of that as a successfully delivered message. It's not that they refuse to 'get it,' they just don't all believe getting slapped in the face by the artist is a good way to spend your money.

That Evangelion's conclusion fails to thrill and entertain is probably not its biggest detractor. By far what turns people off about this is the absolutely abhorrent characters put in charge of saving the world in Evangelion. While most of them on the surface have decent 'hero' facades, they are all deeply broken on the inside. Shinji mortally despises his father. Misato is permanently emotionally scarred from the trauma of surviving the Second Impact. Shinji's father is cruel and unfeeling towards his only son. The other two pilots do not reach out emotionally to anyone. Everyone else is part of some paranoid agenda to destroy the world.

The plot progression is one where the awesomely scripted robot action decays to the low-level corrosion of the character types in the series. The transition happens about halfway through the series, and it is jarring. "Hey! Where'd the cool robot fights go?" And all this in a series where the ultimate message is one of futility and failure? The ending is just plain gratuitous to these points, especially after the release of the final films (I felt worse after watching them than after watching the 'normal' endings). I hate to spoil the ending for anybody, but you won't feel any better watching it than watching all of Terry Gilliam's 'Brazil,' for comparison.

I don't argue that anime needs to have a happy ending to be engrossing and acceptable to the mainstream. It's just that calling Evangelion the 'greatest anime ever made' both oversells Evangelion and undersells the remainder of the Anime industry.

Try these, if you think I'm lying. Cowboy Bebop delivers a gritty and dark message, but it's plenty fun for all involved. Metropolis, the 'Brazil' of the anime world (although the source greatly predates Gilliam's work) also wanders into the brittle realm of the cheerless mechanization of life. But it's better than Evangelion at doing it. People who declare Anno's work the pinnacle of Anime really do need to watch more Anime. Odds are, all they've watched is Evangelion. It would be particularly enlightening to them, if they get the opportunity, to check out what Anno's been doing since Evangelion.

Evagelion's bombastic, sarcastic use of theme music in some scenes (Worthy is the Lamb, the Ode to Joy) is another place where The Prisoner's influence (especially that of "Fall Out") is apparent. (The Prisoner came well before Kubrik's Clockwork Orange, let alone Reservoir Dogs.) More generally, both shows took a popular genre of TV action serial and subverted it into a statement about the human condition, full of weirdness, symbolism, and angst. HIDEAKI Anno probably owes Patrick McGoohan a beer for that one.

For those out of the know: The Prisoner is not Prisoner: Cell Block H . The Prisoner is a British TV show from the 1960s. ITV is a UK commercial TV channel. The Prisoner is a one-hour show with 17 episodes. The Prisoner is the Greatest TV Show of All Time, Ever. (So far, at least. :) )

I don't really agree with all the people who say they'll kill it... They won't kill it, thay'll do to it what they've done to everything that came before, *edited to protect the insecure*, and leave it in a ditch to die.

What the hell is the story anyway?? They put it in the midnight run, how many kids are gonna be watching it at midnight?

Our society fills the airwaves with all this anti-drug, anti-drinking, anti-smoking, anti-damnneareverythingelse, kids aren't stupid, they DO understand these concepts. I have neices and nephews who are thoroughly amused by sillyness like trying to pretend that the characters are drinking TEA when they are OBVIOUSLY loaded. (Tenchi series)

Or the painstaking task of painting out Heyami's (SP?) cigs in Blue Sub 6 (only to screw it up in silly ways).

And someone please tell me what is wrong with the concept of death? Why can't they say DIE, DEAD, DEATH or anything like that?? What in the hell?

No... I'm not going to continue, I fear if I continue, my head will explode. I think I'll go watch FLCL (Sorry, Japanese only), something that will NEVER be shown on CN. (Never never never never, if you've seen it you know what I mean. CN's style of editing would leave less than a commercial break left of material for each ep, wait... HA. They'd probably air all 6 eps in a half-hour spot)


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"Look. Endsville is burning." -Mamimi, FLCL

Well you can already order it from Gainax' web page, it's available on DVD with English subtitles. IMHO the best way of viewing Anime, the original Japanese dub usually is so much better than the English Manga Corp. dubbing...

The Gainax english website is here
For the goatse.cx-afraid people here's the link in clear text:
http://www.gainax.co.jp/menu-e.html

You can find the FuriKuri site under "Works".

this article tries to explain the whole thing. Both "nadia" and "laputa" (that share a good deal of plot and characters) came form an idea originated inside Studio Ghibli, when ANNO Hideaki was still working there, before creating GAINAX. Now, the folks at Disney are re-using some of the same ideas; this time, at least, they are acknowledging MIYAZAKI Hayao's work (he was the one who came up with the idea in the first place). When someone asked them if they where referring to TEZUKA Osamu with their "Lion King", they answered like "tezuka who?". And Tezuka was a great fan of Walt Disney.

ADV is not releasing them is Manga Entertainment because Gainax and ADV have bad blood between them. ADV IMHO will never get another Gainax's show.

I have been and continue to be impressed with the quality and selection of anime that ADV releases in the US. Adding this classic to the mix is yet another example of ADV's excellence. I have so far enjoyed just about everything that I have seen come from them, from Evangelion (which, IMHO, they did a pretty good job with the dubbing) to the Kenshin OVAs (a.k.a. Samurai X...no flame wars about the title change, please) to Nadesico (which, IMHO, the English dub is actually better than the original Japanese dub).

Keep up the good work ADV. And please, please, please, please, PLEASE get the rights to the US release of FLCL.

Disclaimer: please, no dub vs. sub debates and other various flame wars from this. This is my opinion. It doesn't have to match yours. ^_^

And it's relatively inexpensive compared to other Japanese releases, JPY2700 for episode 1, JPY3700 for episode 2.

Battle on, Otaku.

If I was an anime addict and the movie wasn't released in the USA, I would by it off the internet from a sight in Japan.

Actually, this example is somewhat backwards. The studios wouldn't mind at all for you to import their $60 dvd's. I don't think Gainax's dvd release of Neon Genesis Evangelion is even region locked; you can order it directly from them for around $52/disc. I just hope you can understand japanese and don't expect any extras. In fact, they usually come in standard jewel cases.

The studios are much more worried about japanese consumers importing american dvd's. No worries about them understanding english either. Traditionally, american dvd releases of anime contain the video stream, english language and the original japanese language audio streams, as well as english subtitles and often even spanish subtitles. There are usually other extras as well, all in a handy keepsake case for a MSRP of $29.95 which usually drops to below $20 when ordering online from, for example, DVD Express. Not to mention the awesome deals on box sets. Look up Tenchi Muyo! and Fushigi Yugi at DVD Express for examples.

This is the reason Bandai (AnimeVillage.com) has a policy to wait at least six months after a japanese anime DVD release to produce the american one. I suppose if a title is never going to be released here in america you may want to import it from japan, but that problem is disappearing as anime becomes more popular over here.

Anyone interested in anime on dvd can check out Anime on DVD.