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10 Years of Neon Genesis Evangelion
smooth wombat writes "Mainichi Daily News has a lengthy, multi-part article on the history of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The article looks back at the 10 years since Evangelion appeared and how it changed the world of manga." From the article: "In a series of 26 episodes, Evangelion told the story of a 14-year-old boy called Shinji Ikari, who piloted a biomechanical combat robot called an Evangelion, which fought against mysterious extraterrestrial monsters known as Angels. But Shinji was also a regular junior high school pupil, and his school life featured strongly in the anime's plot too. As did psychotherapy and the Old Testament, which director Hideaki Anno attributed as influences while creating the series. Evangelion become a huge hit across Japan, attracting fans across generations, sparking a massive public debate over its controversial final episode -- which many criticized for leaving the work unfinished -- and sparking unprecedented merchandising sales that set the scene for the current manga market."
I couldn't believe they had spent the ~$30 per 4 episodes to collect this set!
If you don't care about spoilers or have seen all the episodes and movies, check out the Wiki page on it. That has the best definitive analysis of this series that I've ever read. I know that since I am not a native Japanese speaker, I probably missed a lot of this implied meaning just by being preoccupied with reading the subbed script. I honestly always predicted something very Freudian about every relationship in the series but I think it was just because of the father figure and strange emotions that were sometimes appearant.
There's not much I can say without ruining any plot so I believe I'll hold my tongue.
Yes the episodes were good but I don't agree with: That's both ridiculous and preposterous! The episode completely wrapped up and
My work here is dung.
I understood about two words of that. Anyone else just not that impressed with Manga and Anime in general? I feel that I'm doing an injustice to my geek heritage, but I just don't appreciate it like some do.
Excuse my speling.
Making The Bar Project
For those who want the spoilers, here's the summarized plot of Neon Genesis Evangelion.
:'( ...
Shinji: My life sucks, I want to die!
Rei:
Asuka: Stupid Shinji.
THE END.
but is it faster than an electric car?
I don't mean to troll, but I find zero appeal in the show. It falls in the category I call "psuedo-literature," a group which includes works that try so very hard to actually be quality literature, but ironically, trying so hard ruins the whole exercise. The writers for the show obviously through from the start that they were going to write a grand epic; they put enough twists and turns into the plot to get people convinced, even. If it's that complicated, it HAS to be good, right?
Wrong. The quality of a piece of literature isn't in its complexity, it's actually in the simple, easily apparent parts. The complexity adds dimensions to the simple story, but it does not add meaning itself, and often *confuses* meaning by adding extraneous material in the attempt to make "a really cool story."
So that leaves us with Evangelion, admired by hordes and spurned by people who are described by said hordes as "not getting it." Perhaps there's just not that much to get? Perhaps you're adding too much into a reading, because they left so much hanging you constructed around the work? That's not literature. Literature guides your faculties, it doesn't fool them and then expect them to expand things past the breaking point.
To wit, look at shakespeare. Generally, a couple rich people who get in trouble with someone else, and either laugh it off or die. The end. The complexity is internalized in the characters; the plot itself is simple. That is why Shakespeare is Shakespeare, and Evangelion is just another mecha anime.
Anyone else just not that impressed with Manga and Anime in general? I feel that I'm doing an injustice to my geek heritage, but I just don't appreciate it like some do.
Can't you see how NGE completely changed anime! It brought a new and inspired story line of a teenage kid with social problems battling aliens in a giant robot... innovative ideas that had never been examined before!
Err wait... I guess I'm with you, anime is just like any other genre/media, there are a few great pearls of human insight, but in general its mass marketed garbage.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Considering she's 99% cyborg, how is GITS any different than other inside-a-robot animes? It's one of the underlying themes of the series.
Just like evangelion just uses the powerful imagery of mecha as a vehicle of introspection into human psychology.
Hey, I'm just your average shit and piss factory.
Not truth so much as close-mindedness on your part. A lot of anime has plotlines and characters that put things like 24 or Lost to shame. Watch before you judge- just because you grew up with Walt Disney doesn't mean that all things animated are for kids.
When is /. going to grow up and quit covering this nonsense. No adult CARES about these silly computers. Grow up guys.
(mod me down if you wish... that doesn't change the truth)
And they still don't know what the fuck it's about.
HitScan
No adult CARES about these silly cartoons.
Actually, Evangelion didn't start to get really popular in Japan until it was shown in a timeslot that was targeted torwards adults.
Eva is a very intricate and complex series that appeals to adults more than children.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
way too much tentacle rape you misspelled "not enough".
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
The only time we saw a recognisable interface, it looked like MS-DOS. And it had a two-letter dictionary password.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
I beg to differ. Death and Rebirth was basically the creator going "What, you didn't like my ending? FINE. HERE. Everyone dies and is miserable, you happy now?" The ending of the anime was fine as is, if you bothered to think about it. I highly reccomend ignoring the two movies that followed it.
Other way round. Death and Rebirth was a clip-show of the series, followed by the first half of End of Evangelion (Air). EoE was the full alternate ending, consisting of some awesome battles followed by a brainfuck.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
One of the more controversial things about Eva is some of the scarier linkups that (thankfully for ADV) havn't been widely reported. A few years back I was on staff with a large anime con, and talked with ADV staff about Eva. One of the things they mentioned was that they got heat from the police because both the Columbine Killers and Hale Bopp Crowd apparently were big fans of Eva, and the police stopped by to have a word with ADV.
One of the more interesting connections was also with Aum Shinrikyo. Apparently at least one of the assistant directors on Eva was a member of Aum Shinrikyo. Anno himself mentions this, and also mentions that he started writing eva right around when the Aum Shinrikyo attack occured. Aum Shinrikyo apparently also used Eva tapes for recuriting afterwords, but apparently stopped after GAINAX started complaining.
Yeah, right, troll. Your mum's a giant robot.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
Neon Genesis Evangelion was widely acclaimed, and IMO overrated. The main reason for the weird ending on first show was caused by lack of funds (did you see the drop in animation from episode 21?) Hideaki Anno, the director, and surely a person with a huge ego, didn't like the criticisms and lashed out at everyone in a Newtype interview published shortly after the end of the series. The subsequent movies and "final episodes", aside being a display of an incoherent plot, are just his revenge against those who didn't "understand" him. As for the so-called references... I firmly believe there is no "second meaning" in Evangelion. There are a lot of things thrown at the viewer, but I don't find any real sense. I suspect they were put in just to "look cool" and have people think a lot about nothing. The consequences on the anime market were sadly bad (a whole round of series with stories that made no sense) but more on the fandom, since they're now convinced that everything that looks "strange" on a series MUST be tied to "hidden meaning". Examples are in The Soul Taker, or Shojo Kakumei Utena, where there is no trace of a hidden meaning, but the extreme oddity of the situations "spices up" what could have been a pretty basic storyline.
A CC-licensed illustrated horror novel
So I scream at Shinji for his pathetic weakness when he runs away from having to pilot Eva, because I can't scream at his weakness in dealing with Rei, Asuka and Misato...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
"Considering she's 99% cyborg, how is GITS any different than other inside-a-robot animes?"
Well... She can't just pop out of her body like a pilot. If she is a Robo-mecha that pretty much anyone else is.
And gits follows a different plot line. 99.9% she is in her own body unless you count her being in cyberspace not.
In a Giant-robo movie. Most of the time the lead character does his thing outside the robot... The conversation... The drama... And then all of a sudden a big baddy arrives in the city to wreck havok and they lead character jumps in his big robot and fights the thing off and then you have the ending scene with the character usually leaving the robot.
In GITS (especially Stand Alone Complex I and II)... You are treated to very dynamic and well thought out plots. Yes there are guys in mechanized suits and the spider robots (tachikoma's) but these are done realistically and not key feature of the plot. Tachikoma's are often thought of as comic humor relief, but during many episodes these robots are contemplating deeper issues like "The Meaning of Life" and what happens to you after you die while the lead characters often kept a more serious down to earth attitudes.
Most of the plots are semi-realistic or believable enough but still "out there" enough to be considered sci-fi. That and the technobabble is kept to a minimum.
Overall I do have some minor complaints about the second series plot direction (but it maybe because the viewer is supposed to be frustrated with the current events), but it is far better than most average Giant-Robot anime.
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
How suprising ? Actually I am suprised how much this series has got flamed here. Comparisons to Starwars ? Are you joking ? Starwards is for 5year olds, please, the only deep references it has are swords and magic powers. Hellboy, oh my god, what a piece of crap that was. Honestly if your going to shoot down an animation like Evangelion at least have something better as an example of what works. Evangelion transcends ANY sci-fi I have watched since 2001(the film). Anyone who does not understand it's references or considers them as shallow, simply does not understand the show. Which is to be expected in the US, where all that counts are the number of explosions and pairs of tits.
This is one of the best series anime has to offer
No, it's not. As is repeatedly demonstrated with other genres and other media, just because something is popular doesn't mean that it's not tripe.
and it's not THAT great.
Yes, NGE isn't that great. However, it does have the ability to appeal to a wide range of people. I related to it because I empathize with Shinji; I understand the mindfuck at the end. That doesn't mean that I think it's the best or even really that good.
I also thought the original ending was pretty lame... but if you add to it the re-done, arguably "real" ending seen in End of Evangelion, it's great! Really harrowing, and leaves you scratching your head with that "what the fuck?" feeling you get after seeing "2001: A Space Odyssey" for the first time. (Interestingly enough, that article includes at least one screen cap from End of Evangelion, without ever mentioning that exists and wasn't part of the original 26 episodes.)
Yeah, a lot of the religious stuff in Evangelion seems tacked-on. It's more accurately described as "pseudo-religious" anyway, because aside from stealing a bunch of names from old Christian mythology it doesn't really have much of anything to do with Christianity. That's OK, though -- it makes it interesting. I'll take a show that even pretends to make you think, as some people are accusing Evangelion of, than one that doesn't even try at all. Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner" is another show that comes to mind that's vulnerable to a lot of criticism, but if you watch it with an open mind it can be very rewarding.
The psychoanalytical stuff in Evangelion is more interesting than the religious stuff. A lot of people here describe it as "Freudian," but while I don't know a whole lot about the various schools of psychoanalysis, I don't know if that's strictly accurate. What it does do is try to get inside the heads of these characters in a way that is, at times, profoundly disturbing (if you've managed to pay attention through the whole show).
One thing that's probably lost on a lot of American, non-otaku audiences, though, is that much of what was going on in Evangelion was meant to be sort of a criticism of otaku culture. Early episodes of Evangelion regularly feature teasers of the next episode that promise lots of "fan service" and seem to make it clear that it's meant to be the ultimate show for fans. But the later, more psychological episodes try to delve in to the characters' minds, many of whom have personality traits that the producers of the show thought were common in anime fandom in Japan.
The long and the short of it: That joke about Slashdot people living in their parents' basements, watching anime? That's how the creator of Evangelion saw anime fandom, basically.
The main character of Evangelion, Shinji, is extremely introverted in a way that a lot of Japanese anime fans are. He can't connect with girls, or with anyone really. He feels his parents can't understand him, and has a bad relationship with him. Then he discovers that he can pilot this giant robot and it makes him feel worthwhile. His fellow pilots have this same feeling too; they begin to feel worthless if they are no longer able to fly the giant robots. In that sense, you could say the purpose of the larger pseudo-religious conspiracy storyline going on in the background is really just to point out, Meanwhile there's a whole big world going on out there. All the characters are just too wrapped up in themselves and their angst to see it at first. Shinji's main character arc is his discovery of himself as an individual and coming to terms with what it means to be an adult living in the world.
This subject matter isn't going to appeal to everyone. If you aren't interested in fun stories about cool-looking giant robots battling alien monsters, then the first few episodes aren't going to appeal to you at all. But if you can't get that far, then the later episodes are going to seem hollow, silly, and contrived. Basically, though Evangelion has a broad audience, if there's no part of y
Breakfast served all day!
An interesting thought. I've mentioned already that I think of Shinji as an archetype of what geeks hate in themselves. But that's my own impression of Shinji, as a foreign geek watching Evangelion in isolation.
Looking at him in the Japanese cultural context from which he came, might Shinji be on the borderline of becoming a hikikomori ? Look at his position: his father is distant and entirely consumed with his work, he himself has great difficulty coping with the unrealistic pressures placed upon him both by his family and by the system, and he's almost completely unable to deal with social situations...
He's run away more than once, and he frequently shuts himself up in his room, then further cuts out the outside world with headphones. He's getting worse with time. Now there are two ways it can go; either Shinji comes out and rejoins society, or he shuts himself in for good. Except, of course, that the critical point is Third Impact, and if Shinji turns hikikomori then he doesn't so much shut himself off from the world, as liquidate the entire species... Personally I'd prefer the happy smiling CONGRATULATIONS! ending.
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
In fact, they weren't robots at all. Labeling them as such is actually very misleading and contradictory to the plot. If I were to label them anything, cyborg is probably the closest word I'd use to describe them, and even that's not really very accurate. I can't say further without spoiling anything for folks who may or may not have watched or read anything related to the series.
The Evas are very, very important to the plot. They aren't just some mechs that were added in just for the coolness factor (though they certainly do add that). There is a very lengthy background concerning their creation, origin, and ultimate purpose. The fact that most people will watch maybe the first handful of episodes and then dismiss it as nothing more than a "mechs kill shit" series leads to the wrong ideas about what this series actually is. The Evas aren't just used for killing humanity's enemies. They're used in both political and personal agendas, and oddly enough, the Evas, well, damn, almost gave something else away.
I made it a point to watch the entire series several times to try and pick up on things I missed. End of Evangelion pretty much confirmed a lot of my suspicions about the true motivations behind the simultaneous projects going on, almost all of which were connected somehow. Granted, it went almost a bit too far with the "what the hell?" mindfuck aspect near the end of the movie, but it was an interesting picture and merely one person's interpretation of Judeo-Christian themes.
So, to dismiss this series as "just another giant robot anime" is pretty short-sighted, in my humble opinion. I'll admit that it takes a while for it to really get started, but when it does, it runs full-on.
"Apparently so, but suppose you throw a coin enough times. Suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
You can't go judging all of anime based on just one series.
Despite its problems, there are some interesting elements in Eva. It's just unfortunate that the execution of the show leaves...something...to be desired.
The show did run out of time and money - something that happens quite often. After all, Eva was being marketed as a TV series product - not as a piece of art.
Eva wasn't even the first show that the studio had problems with regarding money or time... The story goes, that one of their earlier works was a direct-to-video series called Gunbuster (which STILL hasn't been released on DVD in the US. GRRRR!) ran out of time and money. So, they took a risk and released the final episode in black and white. This time they got lucky. The dark look of the epiosde worked well and helped underscore the desparation the characters faced.
In the case of Eva, they weren't so lucky. The main writer had suffered a nervous breakdown, and the TV stations were demanding that the show be wrapped up on time.
At any rate, you should not - and can not - judge all of anime by just one or two series. You must remember that anime is not a single genre intended for a single audience. Just like with American TV and movies, there are different genres and different audiences.
And despite what you may think, there are plenty of good stories being told via anime. Unfortunatly, there's also a lot of garbage out there. But if you keep an open mind and keep looking, I'm sure you'll find something.
I would put forth Cowboy Bebop as a show you should look into. It's perhaps one of the best titles for introducing the potential that the medium can accomplish. It's not a kid show, but isn't hyper-violent and graphic like Akira. While it does incorporate some sci-fi elements, it's really just a human drama that deals with a wide variety of issues while not being "too Japanese" in its philosophies or actions. And, finally, it has an excellent English voice-over.
Remember kids, When offered to pilot the giant mecha the answer is always "yes", not "waaaaah waaaaaaah, daddy didn't love me". Freeking whiney little waste! Daddy just offered you a GIANT MECHA, this should more then make up for all the time he missed Little League while he was busy SAVING THE WORLD! Did Rick Hunter shy away from the Veritech when it crashed in his neighborhood, never!! Did Wildstar dodge the draft and cry when he had to serve on the Yamato, nay, he volunteered!! This is how good decent Anime characters should act.
If you want a series similar to Evagelion, I suggest checking out RahXephon. In my opinion it's vastly superior to Neon Genesis in almost every way. Better artwork, better story (and more understandable), less annoying characters and some decent humor. Oh, and giant frickin' robots. Where would anime be without giant robots? RahXephon also has a lot of symbolism and mystery, and a lot of things that really set it apart from NGE. I shouldn't give anything away. I'm only on episode 20 myself...
Electric Monkey Pants
The actual, underlying premise and plot is pretty straightforward and coherent... at least what I see. They just didn't drop it in your lap like many other stories do, and instead presented you with a "giant robot anime" facade and a lot of character development.
Spoiler warning, although this is strictly my personal interpretation of the story.
--
The underlying premise is an attempt to describe the nature of the human soul.
When you are first conceived, you have no soul. (Rei is the key to this interpretation, as this is pretty much the reason she exists IMHO)
As you grow, your soul is constructed by copying parts of the souls belonging to the people you interact with (including pre-birth interactions though the womb). Individuality and personality arises from the unique mixture of these copied portions and personal experiences. This is important to understand the ending.
The concept of the "Absolute Terror Field" is introduces as a barrier that keeps each soul separate. (Although throughout the series it is also manifested as a physical barrier). This is also important to understand the ending, as well as a few things throughout the story.
Because of the above, no single soul can ever be "complete", with the exception of the "First" - Adam and Eve (From the Genesis account of the creation of life) and, from a particular interpretation/version, Adam's first wife Lilith - Eve being the third with an unnamed second wife - who is actually the one who mankind is descended from). The creation of man caused the separation of these "perfect" souls.
Man discovers the "First Angel" - which they name Adam - In Antarctica. While trying to capture him/it, it self destructs and causes what is refereed to as "Second Impact". However, man was able to recover a portion of Adam. (And, apparently, most of Lilith)
The "Human Instrumentality Project" mentioned in the series intended to 'fix' this problem and get all of the imperfect, partial souls to recombine into a new perfect soul - and supposedly usher in the next major step in man's evolution, and becoming closer to God.
NERV and the EVAs were essentially a front for the whole operation. (I still haven't been able to pin down exactly how the Angels themselves work into it. Maybe they're pissed that man has stolen Adam and want him back?)
At the end (This is in EoE), Rei rejoins Lilith - from which she was directly created. Lilith's/Rei's soul is thus completed, and begins the "Third Impact" by neutralizing the AT fields of all life on the planet, which removed the barriers keeping the souls apart.
Rei's soul then becomes the nexus of this event, in which all souls are being recombined into a single, "perfect" soul. But Rei was created by Gendo Ikari without a soul of her own. His plan was to impress enough of his soul into Rei so he could be at the center of the event, which is why he was always so protective of and spent so much time with her. Ultimately, it was Shinji's soul who had the most influence, and so he became the center of it all.
In the end, all life on the planet was essentially destroyed and Shinji (with his now perfect, complete soul) effectively becomes God. The last two episodes are basically about him thinking about his life, having dialog with the other character's, reflecting on everything, and eventually deciding he would like to continue existing along with everyone else.
Pretentious? You bet! But the whole giant robot thing was actually very superficial to the actual story. Inserting EoE before the last two episiodes really, really helped put it all together.
=Smidge=