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Cartoon Network Acquires Neon Genesis Evangelon
The Fool writes "Anime News Network is reporting that Cartoon network will
be airing All of Neon Genesis Evangelon. You can also read the Toon Zone speculation as well as some more."
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Too bad it won't be intact at all unless it's in the Adult Swim line up.
In all it's gore, religious themes and sexuality?
Because I'm pretty sure it will be heavily censored and edited, like Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon were.
You can't take the sky from me...
Evangelion... with an i. Just like the way it's spelled in the links.
Adult Swim sure is cutting edge, be sure to invest in them- I have a feeling they're about to break wide open..
Hopefully they don't do the "Foxbot" on evangelon. For those of you who don't know Neo Genesis Evangelon is considered to be one of the "ledganday" animes.
Whilst I'm glad to see it being shown, I feel that having it on that channel won't do much good for the popular perception of animé in the US. I'd rather see it on some culture-oriented channel that shows foreign artsy films and similar, although that doesn't exactly result in an accurate perception it's a closer one than we currently get.
I am trolling
I am firmly convinced that anybody who claims to know what this anime is really about is full of shit. Seriously. The moment they start telling you about the plot and all the accompanying existential quasi-religious mish-mash, tell them they're full of BS because they don't have a clue either.
On a side note, what's the big deal again? This franchise isn't just old, it's stale. FLCL airing on the cartoon network was bigger news than this. Wake me up when they get something not over half a decade old.
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...which ending are they going to show?
I understand completely why CN shows only dubbed programs, but NGE is a prototypically abysmal dubbing job (and i apologize to the voice actors involved, but this show really made me cringe). While shinji is supposed to be unpopular, he shouldn't be utterly grating as he is in the dub.
Anyway, i wish someone would take a serious look at showing this subbed.
There are lives at stake here!
Here is an example of what you can expect to see should you decide to submit yourself to such torture.
I honestly don't think anyone should view this series in its mutilated, dubbed form on CN, not even newbies. Those of us that love the show most likely already have the boxed set, and can watch it in its proper, unedited, subbed format. Those of us that haven't seen it would be getting the worst possible introduction to the show on CN and might even form incorrect opinions about it based on that mess.
The coolest voice ever.
I personally believe that there isn't a correct interpretation of Evangelion; instead the creators just took a normal giant robot anime and threw in a random mishmash of religious symbols so people would think it's profound.
I'm not quite sure I understand why cartoon network butchers animes as they do.
Quite obviously, Cartoon network is mostly a children's network (excepting adult swim). Undoubtedly, many other people than children enjoy shows shown on CN, but it is targeted at the younger people among us. Alot of the stuff in animes such as this one (aimed at the teen crowd) isn't necessarily meant for small children. For this reason, most animes show only late at night, on adult swim.
Here's what I don't get. Why are they doing all this editing when it's on a time alottment for older people, at a time when most small children aren't up anyway? it doesn't make sense.
NGE was a great series in its time but at this point you could compare Cartoon Network to a library that aquires all the latest by Heinlein and Bradbury while ignoring Stephenson, Rucker, Richard Morgan, and others because they aren't "classic".
Really what I'd rather see is a high definition version of Gankutsuou. Or the uncensored version of Dokuro. (I'll admit it, I laughed pretty hard at episode 1-2).
Neon Genesis Evangelion is the defininitive of what the Japanese aren't afraid to do with entertainment: create something with the sole purpose of f**cking with your head.
First they take Christian themes, such as Angels and the Lance of Longinus, and twist them into something entirely different. Next they take 14 year olds, give them all psychological problems on a scale that you only can imagine, and pit them with the task of saving humanity's individuality. Finally, combine this with everybody else having complexes about being God, being worthless, and having one's existence recognized by others, and you have Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Forget the nudity, everything else is too intense for CN's demographic, and honestly, I don't feel comfortable showing the anime to others without a good sense of self. It makes you feel uncomfortable at times, and unless you can actually enjoy having your mind twisted likes a towel and twacked against the ass of Jesus Christ, don't watch this anime.
If I were a censor working at CN, I'd rather try to censor DVDA porn with clown midgets than Neon Genesis Evangelion. There is no point in trying without destroying the story. Really.
As it is, dubbing generally has improved a lot in recent years as there has been more money to put more time into the dubs. One of the reasons that a lot of dubs in the 80's were so bad is that a) the talent wasn't there, and didn't have as much experience and b) the money wasn't there for doing really proper studio work. More recently, dubbing studios have been able to create environments much closer to how it is done in Japan, which helps everyone.
Evangelion, being a show that was dubbed years ago, isn't going to be a particularly good example of this. But going back to experience, it's worth noting I think that some of the people who did voicework for Evangelion have definitely improved with experience.
Well, to me that sounds like a great starting point for a good book, cartoon, animation or a movie: to make an impact, to really affect the reader/watcher. It doesn't really matter if the subject feels elevated or deeply disturbed after the experience.
The owls are not what they seem
Genesis Evangelon
... please apply KY to all flames....
Thanks to the classical Greek I studied in college is translated: "creation good news"
Genesis=creation, beginning, origin
Evangelon=(eu)good, (angelion)=messege, news
In case anyone was interested that is
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
I would say the Christian imagery and themes are more a way of for the writers to insert something cool and somewhat mysterious for the typical japanese viewer. It's only in the US and other countries with a Christian background that things appear to have a significance that they don't.
You see this is in the West all of the time with writers borrowing elements of Egyptian or Eastern religions/mythologies to provide something mysterious.
The whole existential angst and questions about being accepted isn't really new. Any teen drama is filled with characters trying to get recognized by others and having doubts about their self-worth.
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it
I personally believe that there isn't a correct interpretation of Evangelion; instead the creators just took a normal giant robot anime and threw in a random mishmash of religious symbols so people would think it's profound.
;)
How superficial.
[SPOILER?]FYI , it's the apocalypse, leading up to the rapture, as told through a japanese giant-robots(with twist)-piloted-by-teenagers show.[/SPOILER]
Also, they might have been taking a lot of acid when they wrote it. Mushrooms maybe... something that induces hallucinations and the belief that you can make whole segments of an animation show without animators
You can't take the sky from me...
Really, the choice of Christian elements was pretty arbitrary. For the most part, you could have just changed the names of a few things and the Judeo-Christian references would be gone. The few remaining references were mostly crosses and/or crucifixes. That part of the series was hardly profound at all - in fact, it appeared to demonstrate a superficial understanding of Christianity on the part of the writer/director. The only notable part of that storyline is the "Man Trying To Become Like God" theme, which isn't strictly Judeo-Christian.
Admittedly, CN/AS does censor the "Jesus" from "Sweet Zombie Jesus!" in Futurama. But I don't see the imagery in NGE as approaching that level of "blasphemy", simply because the imagery is confusing and really doesn't drive any particular offensive message home.
On the other hand, NGE makes a real impact, as you say, in its representation of mental illness. It examines the sort of mental illness that many Slashdot readers may have - most notably, depression - which has a tremendous internal impact upon the sufferer, while the sufferer's friends and family aren't aware that they need help. For this theme, the writer/director drew on his own experience with mental illness, and included themes related to what he learned during the course of his therapy. (If you like this concept, CN/AS is currently running Paranoia Agent, which shares the theme of mental illness but takes a somewhat more external view compared to the crushing closeness that NGE gets the viewer to its characters.)
I think most Japanese think of Christian, especially Catholic, imagery as lending a little exoticism the same way as Hollywood does in horror movies. They don't think of it as any more profound than most of us think religion in the remake of the "Amnityville Horror" is profound.
Basically there is two different endings in Evangelion: there are the original last two episodes of the 26 episode TV series, and two films that 'replace'/augment them. The two different endings seem to actually depict the exact same events, just in two very different ways. Though honestly, it isn't entirely clear to me if they literally end at the same point, but 99% of them depict the same events. The creators intend for you to watch the TV series (including the TV ending) first, then the two films (they haven't retroactively eliminated the last two TV episodes or anything).
The confusion is over the quality and (more importantly) fan reaction to the different endings. Towards the end of Eva's TV run the animators at Gainax were having budget, censorship (due to the show's increasing popularity), and even severe psychological issues, leading some fans to suggest that the last two episodes aren't what the creators actually wanted, or that it somehow is untrue to the episodes that came before them. Apparently there was a big fan backlash in Japan against Gainax because of the ending, leading to them creating the two films as a 'new' ending.
But that's just one perspective on the quality of Evangelion's TV ending. It's shouted so often by some very loud people that newbies to the series sometimes think it is some law or definite settled issue. So unfortunately a lot of fans who found the TV ending too bizarre or not filled with enough fanservice tell a lot of people to just not even bother with the last two episodes, which is a shame. I personally felt the TV ending was practically perfect, capturing entirely what the series was actually about - which is not giant robots, crazy religious imagery, and aliens, but the characters and their relationships (and on another more important level, our own relationship to the world and those around us). The TV ending does an excellent job dealing with this stuff. It's raw, it's brutally honest, it's even more experimental than the rest of the series is, and it doesn't give any clear answers (ie you have to figure it out for yourself what it exactly means). The films have some extremely entertaining scenes in them and some wonderful animation, but they are filled with an overabundance of things that were merely fun windowdressing in the series (like the religious imagery). IMO it's too focused on what the fans apparently wanted, partially at the expense of the creator's desires. It's almost like they confused the dessert/candy with what the real meal was. There is still some of this depth, but the ratio between candy/meal is far too slanted for the former. They also overexplain what exactly happens, which makes you lose some of that wonderful quality the series has in that the viewer questions their own values and perspective (though the film does have some of this too, I think it is a little too arty and pretentious for its own sake). I found the films to be admittedly enjoyable, but fairly weak/uneven by the standards of Evangelion (though the last few minutes are amazing). And it doesn't help that the US release of the last film has a killer translation error that can really confuse viewers...
Further confusion comes from the fact that there are multiple versions of the films. AFAIK in the US there is only one version of each film released, but in Japan there were quite a few. That's probably why some people get the feeling there are three or even more endings. But there aren't really any major story changes in the different film versions. It's interesting to read about or watch after you have seen it all, but it's nothing to worry about until after you see the series and two films.
And I am not happy with this news, largely because the Eva English dub is pretty bad (partially because the Japanese dub is so perfect). The inevitable censorship will suck as well. Please, just buy/rent/download the DVDs...
There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
This page seems to imply that SAP is a third channel independent of the mid or side stereo channel.
I think you mean:
Fryyy me to za muun
An ret me pray amonda staasu.
Ret me see what spling is rike
On Jupitaa an Maazu.
(I won't bore you with the rest of my transcription of the ending song.)
Samarai Champloo is pretty new I think. Eva is a *full* decade old. The original gundam is freaking ancient, but I guess they aren't showing that.
For the record, EVA *has* aired on cartoon network before. It aired the first episode dubbed as part of some Giant Fighting Robot theme day on toonami. It also aired the whole series in australia.
I see three major problems with airing this show.
1. The dub is atrocious. For those who have watched cartoon network before, you know that they refuse to air anything in subtitles, even after midnight. Although, now that I think about it, everything on adult swim currently has a pretty good dub. The cowboy bebop dub is actually better than the original japanese. Maybe they will make this one exception, or redub the show, but I doubt it.
2. There is a lot of sexual innuendo, sex, and gay sex in eva. I don't know how they are handling such things now, but in the old days, they would edit *everything out* even if deleting the relevant scenes made the show make no sense. Somebody who is willing to stay up late and watch adult swim should tell us what they have done recently with the homosexual characters in samarai champloo. Particularly, the guy from holland in episode 6.
3. The ending sucks. Here, let me spoil it for everyone. Gainax runs out of money. Seriously. They start out by finding clever excuses to hold the same frame for a long time, but by the last two episodes, they have given up and they are just animating some rough sketches, not even bothering to color things in. They try to convince you that they are just being artistic and deep with their sketches, but... no. They are just broke.
They do pull together enough money to do a couple of cool, fully animated scenes. I particularly liked the the alternative world bit, where everyone is happy and healthy.
4. There is an alternative ending with extremely high production values that they should show instead. A movie, called End of Evangelion replaces the last two or three episodes. It features some really bad ass fight scenes and is overall, a pretty good ending to eva. Unfortunately, it also has some really disgusting stuff in it. Frankly, I hope cartoon network airs this, and I also hope they censor the hell out of it. It would be nice if they kept the most obvious bit of nudity. The *big* nudity issue (can anyone crack my code? I don't want to spoil it for people who haven't seen it). There are some things, like the disgusting scene between shinji and asuka that starts out the movie that should be removed. Removing that would not be censorship, it would be good editing. No one I know liked that scene or felt that it added anything to the movie.
That depends entirely on your general taste in multimedia entertainment. If you enjoy action flicks, I would recommend starting with 'Cowboy Bebop'. Great show with a tremendous soundtrack, and the English dub is spot-on teriffic. You don't even have to watch it in Japanese and read subtitles if you don't want to.
If you prefer something more thoughtful, I'd recommend 'Grave of the Fireflies' (Historical drama), or even 'Spirited Away' (Think 'Alice In Wonderland' but with Japanese cultural Iconography instead of British).
If you prefer Romantic Comedy, something like 'Love Hina' might be a good choice, although it's a long series and kind of goofy at times. I also really enjoyed 'Chobits' (story exploring relationships between people and thier computers in modern society) But the main character is a bit of a twit.
Whatever you choose, don't let anyone tell you you HAVE to watch it in Japanese. Mostly the English dubs are carefully done and well casted. In the case of Cowboy Bebop, I felt the English cast did a much better job than the Japanese cast did. But that's just me. Enjoy your exploration of the world of Anime, it's sure to be interesting!
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Huh? Okay, I'm trolling here but did you even read what you just said? It's no wonder CN changes Anime. That description sounds godawful. I was mildly curious about what this show was until I heard it was the apocolypse told through robot-piloting teenagers. I've watched my fair share of cartoon's as an adult, but calling that plot "entertainment" would be a stretch. Zero chance I'll ever watch an episode of this now. I know this will get modded down because not likely Anime is sacreligious here and calling BS on something with an obviously stupid plot isn't very popular in this hive mind.
Hentai does exist, and can be generally used to describe any anime that would be rated NC-17 or X because of nudity and sexual themes. That said, some animes will flash the occasional boob, panty shot (some more than others here), and not be considered hentai by the anime world. It's up to you to decide what you're comfortable watching. Despite what 'they' may have told you, most anime is not for kids. At all.
:) )
Good anime series: (Haven't read other replies to this as they are below threshold, so sorry for repeats. Also, having now completed the list, I'm not sure how much of the japanese culture you'll learn from these. Most of them take place in settings that clearly aren't, or aren't supposed to be, Japan.)
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Naruto
Noir
Vanguard
True Lunar Chronicles (Tsukihime)
Monster
Ghost in the Shell: Stand-alone Complex
Bleach (though I personally stopped watching at ep. 13. you may agree with me there or stick with it
Good Movies:
Vampire Hunter D (and sequel, Bloodlust)
Metropolitan (older animation style)
Cowboy Bebop (hopefully you'll grab this as soon as you finish the series)
I feel as though there are many many shows I haven't been able to remember that were really good also. Good luck with exploring the world of anime yourself. Other advice I have for you: Watch everything you can in the original Japanese with English subtitles (subs). To give you an idea, my friends and I once set up a show playing with subtitles, turned the sound down, and played the sound of the dubs over that. It was very funny, yet sad, how they did not AT ALL match. Wasn't even the same show. Characters might be saying something like "I feel as though I have been looking through a foggy glass the whole time. Thank you for rescuing me." and the English dubs would be like "Nice dress! Did I ever tell you you're cute???"
Anyway, done with that rant.
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the animes Cartoon Network shows on Adult Swim (such as Trigun) and which I believe they'll be showing NGE on are not censored at all or if censored, only very little because I can't really tell the difference.
Only gripe I'm going to have is that it'll probably be dubbed and most american voice acting is not up to par if you get my drift.
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Which episode? "Simpsodoki: Legend of the Overfiend", where Lisa gets violently tentacle-raped by Principal Skinner (who turns out to be a hideous monster from another dimension)?
erm eyes darting left and right where do I get a copy of that?
From my understanding, the producers ran out of money for the ending and so tossed to together stuff they were able to afford in order to have a final episode at all. The way the two movies tried come up with an ending but failed suggests that the creator didn't really have a clear idea of what he wanted and was adding things because they sounded cool earlier in the series.
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it