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Neon Genesis Evangelion AKA the worst anime ever

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J-Roderton

Member
I dunno. I don't watch a ton of anime, but Eva is one of my favorite shows/movies I've ever seen- and I was pretty late to the party as of a few months ago. I have most of it on DVD and bluray now and rewatch bits and pieces ever couple of weeks.
 

orioto

Good Art™
I can get that it's annoying when you got people telling you you're a dumb shit when you don't like this or that cult thing. But acting like you're the smartest hipster by saying things like "yeah i'll tell you man, citizen kane is actually an overrated movie, trust me" is way worse :p

Evangelion is so many things it's not even funny.
_It's technically amazing for an anime at that time (even now).
_It's really fresh and unique in term of dialogs, and realistic characters.
_It's a brilliant modernization of mecha shows
_It's a brilliant speech about japan and how kids have too much pressure and grow too fast in the modern world
_It's a pretty intense reference fest, echoing years of animes, codes, and playing with them
_It also conveys messages about anime production and the difficulties of that industry
_it's about religion of course, but also about child/father relationship, lack and importance of mother figure..

Anyway i'll stop.
Oh it's also friggin' out of this world in term of editing. Like.. there is nothing like that, not only the pure editing, but the rythm of everything, the use of rythmed dialogs, creating tension. Some sequences are entirely thought as musicla pieces. i'm not speaking about the amazing classical pieces for the Asuka or Kaori fights, but other non musical scenes where the sound acts as a heart beating. I mean, i actually did a lecture on that single subject, in front of a guy who directed "les cahiers du cinéma" in the 70's cause he had a class about musical rythm in movies.

Oh and there is the story board, which is a fuckin' piece of art in itself, something that should be in a museum.

Evangelion is basically the biggest scifi fiction created since 2001 space odissey, and it was treated as such in Japan, having some prizes that no anime ever had before (only books). There was also some books about it, sociological books about it, written by searchers.

And the music ? Should we talk about the music ??
 
Anyway i'll stop.
Oh it's also friggin' out of this world in term of editing. Like.. there is nothing like that, not only the pure editing, but the rythm of everything, the use of rythmed dialogs, creating tension. Some sequences are entirely thought as musicla pieces. i'm not speaking about the amazing classical pieces for the Asuka or Kaori fights, but other non musical scenes where the sound acts as a heart beating. I mean, i actually did a lecture on that single subject, in front of a guy who directed "les cahiers du cinéma" in the 70's cause he had a class about musical rythm in movies.

Oh and there is the story board, which is a fuckin' piece of art in itself, something that should be in a museum.

Evangelion is basically the biggest scifi fiction created since 2001 space odissey, and it was treated as such in Japan, having some prizes that no anime ever had before (only books). There was also some books about it, sociological books about it, written by searchers.

And the music ? Should we talk about the music ??

I haven't seen another anime with better cuts than Evangelion. Hell most movies aren't cut as well as Evangelion.
 

Gun Animal

Member
OP is one of those people who thinks all fiction should be feel-good wish fulfillment. Nobody is gonna change his mind. especially when NGE was built to mock and upset people like that as much as anything.
 
Among the most overrated anime I've encountered.

I was dissapointed many years ago, and honestly doubt that would change now. I should try the new movies.
 

Manu

Member
I don't think Eva is overrated at all, it's just that we've seen so much stuff derivative from Eva in the last 20 years that it takes away some of the special things about it.

It's like saying Watchmen is overrated if you read for the first time it in 2016. It certainly wasn't when it came out.
 

dpunk3

Member
OP must have taken a page from Shinji's book posting this thread.

Didn't like it? Neither did I, but I let it go and moved on. I didn't bitch about it to the internet who, mind you, don't care.
 

Gun Animal

Member
I don't think Eva is overrated at all, it's just that we've seen so much stuff derivative from Eva in the last 20 years that it takes away some of the special things about it.

It's like saying Watchmen is overrated if you read for the first time it in 2016. It certainly wasn't when it came out.

it's the Seinfeld of giant robot animes
 

sibarraz

Banned
He is tedious because we don't need several minutes of almost every episode, and 2 full chapters watching his inner babbling. That's why EoE is superior, he still whines but there is focus on other characters and plots that make the story not feel like a drag.

Joffrey as a character is just the typical caricature of a villain yet he contributes so much more to the story than Shinji and makes it more thrilling overall.

Joffrey is just "Let's pull all the traits of your typical villain so you will hate him" I wanted him to be defeated but he didn't add any complexity to the series per se

Cersei relationship with him added layers, Jaime is a character that adds a lot of layers too since he must be one of the most real characters in the series, just like shinji
 
I'll accept overrated, because yeah, Eva absolutely is, but it's far from the worst. Far, far, far from.

It's a well put-together mecha anime with an interesting setting that had a gigantic impact on the industry, for better or for worse.

Is it 2deep4u? Outside of the last couple of episodes, it's actually a fairly straightforward monster of the week show. There's symbolism, sure, but untangling it is usually pretty darn simple, if it really means much at all (Rule of Cool is in effect). The meat of the show can be found in the show's direction, and it can actually be interesting to go through episodes frame by frame (End of Evangelion begs for it, especially the rapid fire bit soon after the song plays), but I'm a gigantic nerd.

Still the greatest summary of Eva ever made.

Oh god is that fucking Gintama? What haven't they parodied? Next thing I know there's going to be a Gintama Zeta Gundam parody.

I remember some dude showing up that was pretty much Kai's Zeta design. It's been a while, though. I've been meaning to watch Gintama again.
 

Cwarrior

Member
Op is right,eva has nothing good going for it, it just appeals to weeboos deluded enough to believe animu can be teh Deep.
 

nkarafo

Member
So you are only reviewing the main character and the story.

That's funny. You are watching a cartoon mainly for the story?

What about the animation? What about the visual design? What about the action scenes?

Also, what about the music and the supporting characters?


Even if the main character is annoying and the story doesn't make sense (in what Anime the story makes sense anyway?) the rest of it still makes it one of the best series ever. This is coming from someone who hates 99% of modern anime because of the shitty animation quality, bad design and annoying characters (not just the main one).


I still can't understand what people liked in this anime, am i missing something?!
All of the above.
 

sibarraz

Banned
I think it's easier to appreciate Evangelion if you got into anime before Evangelion, or at least have pretty good knowledge of anime of that era. It really was a watershed in terms of TV anime.

How where the animes on that era? I actually watched some of them because they bring it in here and I watched them as a child (some of them) so obviously I will have some bias towards some series, but also, I doubt that I saw the most representative animes of the era since ompanies will bring products that could sell in the west
 

Manu

Member
Op is right,eva has nothing good going for it, it just appeals to weeboos deluded enough to believe animu can be teh Deep.

image.php
 
Yea NGE sucks. Shinji's the worst protagonist I've ever seen. And the ending was just dumb. I only read the manga though so I don't know if the anime was any different.
 
OP has bad taste confirmed :p

Evangelion isn't about giant robots, evil corporations and crazy monsters and religious symbology. It's about being young and broken, the pitfalls and hazards of growing up and dealing with the world you've been thrown into, learning about yourself and your relations to others, so on and so forth etc and such.

You're not supposed to LIKE Shinji, he's not some wish fulfillment character, he's a shit whinebag that doesn't know how to deal with life and the people around him, just like LOTS of 14 year old kids from broken homes with bad parents and worse life skills. Evangelion is about accepting your flaws and being able to open yourself up to others and show those flaws, whether accepted or not.

At least that's what I tend to get out of it, but like any truly inspiring piece of art is not about what i get out of it but what you personally get out of it. I think the problem is that you wanted a story but what you got is something that needs to be mulled over. The story is pointless, it's why the last 2 episodes of the series leave just about everything open ended.
It's about the journey and the introspection, not the destination.

Or I could just be super wrong...
 

Despera

Banned
I can get that it's annoying when you got people telling you you're a dumb shit when you don't like this or that cult thing. But acting like you're the smartest hipster by saying things like "yeah i'll tell you man, citizen kane is actually an overrated movie, trust me" is way worse :p

Evangelion is so many things it's not even funny.
_It's technically amazing for an anime at that time (even now).
_It's really fresh and unique in term of dialogs, and realistic characters.
_It's a brilliant modernization of mecha shows
_It's a brilliant speech about japan and how kids have too much pressure and grow too fast in the modern world
_It's a pretty intense reference fest, echoing years of animes, codes, and playing with them
_It also conveys messages about anime production and the difficulties of that industry
_it's about religion of course, but also about child/father relationship, lack and importance of mother figure..

Anyway i'll stop.
Oh it's also friggin' out of this world in term of editing. Like.. there is nothing like that, not only the pure editing, but the rythm of everything, the use of rythmed dialogs, creating tension. Some sequences are entirely thought as musicla pieces. i'm not speaking about the amazing classical pieces for the Asuka or Kaori fights, but other non musical scenes where the sound acts as a heart beating. I mean, i actually did a lecture on that single subject, in front of a guy who directed "les cahiers du cinéma" in the 70's cause he had a class about musical rythm in movies.

Oh and there is the story board, which is a fuckin' piece of art in itself, something that should be in a museum.

Evangelion is basically the biggest scifi fiction created since 2001 space odissey, and it was treated as such in Japan, having some prizes that no anime ever had before (only books). There was also some books about it, sociological books about it, written by searchers.

And the music ? Should we talk about the music ??
Yes, we should.

One of my favourite tracks is Decisive Battle. It's an interesting take on this James Bond track, but a brilliant one at that.

It's not just the original series that has good music, the rebuild films had some great tracks as well:

From Rebuild 2.0
The Final Decision We All Must Take
Fate
Destiny

And of course from Rebuild 1.0
Angel of Doom

Lastly one of my favourites from 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btJwBbtOhJk

Shiro Sagisu knows how to make epic music that's for sure.
 

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
Oddly enough I remember the masturbating and that angels want to destroy us because we probably deserve it.

I suppose it's time I revisited the series. I never saw the movies.

End of Evangelion has probably the best battle sequence in the entire series.
 

DarkKyo

Member
Yes, we should.

One of my favourite tracks is Decisive Battle. It's an interesting take on this James Bond track, but a brilliant one at that.

It's not just the original series that has good music, the rebuild films had some great tracks as well:

From Rebuild 2.0
The Final Decision We All Must Take
Fate
Destiny

And of course from Rebuild 1.0
Angel of Doom

Lastly one of my favourites from 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btJwBbtOhJk

Shiro Sagisu knows how to make epic music that's for sure.
Let's not forget God's Message(3.0)
Made the opening to 3.0 SO MUCH MORE EPIC.

I'm also in love with this track from 2.0
It's a shame it's so short...
 

DocSeuss

Member
EVA uses a lot of Christian motifs haphazardly. That's not to say there's no value in interpretation because interpretation is, or rather should be, separated from authorial intent. But it differs from Utena in that the symbolism has no specific direction, whereas Ikuhara did have a relatively strong vision that Utena's visuals all reinforce from the swords to the flowers to the cars.

(Although no one knows what Miki's stopwatch is supposed to be and I think Ikuhara doesn't either!)

EVA is more like a work of abstract art relative to Utena, which is ironic because Utena is visually and narratively much more abstract.

Not "should be," "can be." The point of Barthes' Death of the Author is that we can re-purpose works, not that we should specifically ignore the author's point. This is a mistaken interpretation of Barthes.

People seem to be dissatisfied that the symbols don't 'mean anything' as if aesthetics don't matter. This is an anime that's all about feeling stuff. You gotta be receptive to it. It's not about thinking through stuff; the symbols have an aesthetic quality which supplants their purpose.

By using them for their aesthetic value, Anno himself is applying Death of the Author properly--he's re-purposing someone else's art for his own ends. He's not going "this is what it all means," he's taking that aesthetic quality and using it to create a unique emotional experience.

The idea behind the symbols don't matter, it's the feelings they generate. That's how he's always directed.

I completely forgot the plot for Evangelion.

Aliens are trying to merge with the mother of all mankind to destroy humanity. Humanity grows robots from dead alien remains. For some reason, kids are the only ones able to pilot it. A bunch of dicks want to turn the human race into primordial soup for perfect unity. The kid's dad just wants his wife back. Stuff happens. The government tries to shut the project down and kill everyone. The kid doesn't want to be used by people any more, and as humanity is transformed into primordial soup, the mother of all mankind gives him the choice to remake humanity in his image or die. His choice is left unclear during EoE, but Rebuild implies he chose to rebuild humanity.

Any questions?

At least that's what I tend to get out of it, but like any truly inspiring piece of art is not about what i get out of it but what you personally get out of it. I think the problem is that you wanted a story but what you got is something that needs to be mulled over. The story is pointless, it's why the last 2 episodes of the series leave just about everything open ended.
It's about the journey and the introspection, not the destination.

Or I could just be super wrong...

You had most of it right, but they ran out of budget and had to remake the final two episodes as the two halves of End of Evangelion, which is why the ending is so weird. They literally ran out of money.
 

Haly

One day I realized that sadness is just another word for not enough coffee.
Not "should be," "can be." The point of Barthes' Death of the Author is that we can re-purpose works, not that we should specifically ignore the author's point. This is a mistaken interpretation of Barthes.
Fair.

The person I was responding to was asking about Utena and I feel Ikuhara and Anno take two different approaches to symbolism and I wanted to highlight that difference, although I won't deny I don't like EVA much so my bias colors my posts.
 
Yeah, I don't like it either. No story, and I hate all the characters, which doesn't help.

I liked the movies though. I guess something meaningful happened in them, at least.
 
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