Neon Genesis: Evangelion 26
I think everybody's first reaction the final episodes of Evangelion is about the same: "What in the name of Saint Fuck did I just watch?" I mean, shoot, the show's protagonist's reaction is pretty much exactly that at the end of episode 25. Eventually End of Evangelion came out and an explanation was more or less given for what's going down, and I'm not here to rehash that explanation to you, because I trust you're all smart enough to do that yourselves.
I'm also not here to bother you with a detailed explanation of how Evangelion is a story about depression, and how depression makes things which seem perfectly safe hurtful and frightening to you. There's no real need to. Most everybody has heard about this aspect of Evangelion, and it's been talked to death. So, too, has its use of Christian imagery for the sake of creating an atmosphere of mystery.
What I do want to do is take just a minute to really appreciate an aspect of this show that I don't think gets discussed nearly enough. Specifically, how it works as both a brilliant affirmation and subversion of the entire Super Robot genre of anime. Numerous shows have attempted to recapture Evangelion's air of mystery, confusing introspection dressed up as a cheerful little adventure anime, but where all these pretenders to the crown fail is their lack of Eva's spine. That spine being its aim to deconstruct practically everything you know about Super Robots.
Specifically, Evangelion is the biggest contrast to
Mazinger Z. Getter Robo and Mobile Suit Gundam, and many other mecha anime run the gamut, but Mazinger Z is important because as the genre's progenitor it plays each and every one of the genre's conventions completely straight.
Consider the protagonists. Kouji Kabuto is a hot-blooded, young, idiot hero. His victories are the culmination of his fighting spirit and the Mazinger's power. The Mazinger is a gift to him from his grandfather, who'd spent his life building it in preparation for conflict with the Mecha Beasts. Shinji Ikari, meanwhile, is a troubled young man who is both a coward and prone to over-thinking things. His victories are less a result of his indomitable will and more often the result of something within him breaking. His father had spent his life building the Evas to combat the Angels. Herein we see that Evangelion dedicates itself to setting itself up as being your standard super robot show while simultaneously preparing for its deconstruction. The Mazinger Z is supposed to grant Kouji the power to be either a God or a Devil, a power which Evangelion Unit 01 also is said to hold.
A large part of the subversion comes in the form of Gendo Ikari. It was for a long time a requirement that the protagonist's father be the scientist who built his mech. Whether it's the Mazinger Z, the Great Mazinger, the Grendizer, Getter Robo, or Tem Ray and the RX-78-2 Gundam. The mech is always the lifetime effort of the good doctor, and his gift to his son. The Evangelion series are also the work of Gendo Ikari, but the large difference is that Kouji Kabuto never once expresses anger at Juuzo or Kenzo for abandoning him, nor is he jealous that Jun and Tetsuya were raised by his father in his stead. Michiru never even speaks ill of her father, whose dedication to his work so consumes him that when his firstborn son dies in a horrific accident, he does not miss a step. Even Amuro, whose relationship with his father is markedly more strained than the others cannot bring himself to speak out against his father's work on the Gundam.
The difference here is clear. Gendo's relationship with Shinji is frigid, and Shinji's jealousy of Rei's closeness to his father is apparent at the show's beginning. Shinji thinks so ill of Gendo that when informed his father burned his hands to save Rei, Shinji automatically and immediately responds "Bullshit!" The show goes to great lengths to demonstrate just how terrible a toll the Evangelion project had on Shinji's mind.
Another factor is the way the Evangelion comes to life. Count on your own the sheer number of times in a Mecha show the hero's mech comes to life to save him at the last second, or in which he addresses it as a living being. The Mazinger Z shares a definite bond with Kouji, as does Unit 01 with Shinji. While every bit as miraculous, the Unit 01 awakenings are portrayed with a horrifying sense of realism befitting a gigantic machine coming to life. Consider the difference between Shin Mazinger Z's rampage, in which it becomes a majestic demon, leaving flames in its wake, and Evangelion Unit 01's awakening, in which it crawls on all fours and howls like a beast.
Yui Ikari plays a principle role in Evangelion in spite of her absence, which is a contrast to the normal set up, in which the mothers of the heroes play almost no role at all. Where is Mrs. Kabuto? Even when present, as Mrs. Saotome was, they have no major impact, or like Mrs. Ray their impact is mitigated and overshadowed by the influence of the hero's father. Yui Ikari, however, is perhaps a far more important character to Shinji than even Gendo, and perhaps more responsible for everything that has happened than Gendo himself.
Then there are the Angels. The fascinating thing about them is that at first glance they seem a callback to the blatantly evil monsters of early Mecha shows. Except that the enemies in early mecha anime
weren't blatantly evil, and were rarely ever that hard to understand. The Dinosaur Empire, the Mycenaeans, the Zeon, whoever the villains happened to be, they were almost always presented as an incredibly human group of enemies whose motives were plain and nearly as just as the heroes' themselves. The Angels, on the other hand, are almost incomprehensible for much of the series, and lack a strong leader figure to govern them like Dr. Hell, Ghiren Zabi, Emperor Gore or the like. They're almost a force of nature, rather than a specific, organized threat.
Over the course of the series, Shinji attempts to undergo more or less the same path that all hot-blooded mecha heroes do. He rises, only to fall so that he may burst from the ashes and prove his true worth. For much of the series, though, Shinji fails again and again at doing that. When Shinji attempts to be a hero and save Toji and confront his father using Unit 01, for instance, Gendo quickly gains the upper hand both times. When Kaworu presents Shinji with an unwinnable conflict, rather than doing the impossible and finding a win-win situation, Shinji gives in to one of the two choices. What's most interesting of all, however, is that where much of the series is spent showing how the standard conventions of a giant robot anime would have terrible consequences or be moments of unfathomable horror, the show's ending is almost complete turn about. Shinji's realization that he can change, that he can find love and that he can overcome pain is his doing the impossible and finding a way out of the set parameters.
EDIT: I forgot to add this in earlier, but for posterity's sake, I'd like to further add that a large part of the deconstruction is that of the relationship between Shinji's status as a pilot and his role as a pilot. Mecha anime frequently uses the machine itself to establish the hero's identity. Hell, that's pretty much the entire point of the genre. Whether you're Domon Kasshu or Simon the Digger, your mech is your self, and Anno takes great pains to demonstrate just how that can go wrong for all three of the main pilots in the show.
In Mazinger Z vs The Great General of Darkness shares a number of similarities with Endless Evangelion. Kouji's victory of Dr. Hell and the victory over the Angels both open the doors for the invasion of an unexpected army (the Mycenaean and the MP EVAs from SEELE) against whom they (Kouji and Asuka) cannot win. The battles are interrupted by the arrival of a colossal foe whose power is equal to the Gods (The Great General of Darkness and Rei) and victory is achieved with the arrival of unexpected backup (Tetsuya and Shinji). Shinji's transferal to the role of Tetsuya is notable because the finale is almost about Shinji becoming the kind of hero Tetsuya was. The End of Evangelion is essentially the same as any other SR show: Shinji has reached manhood and comfort in his own self, and is therefore able to handle whatever the world wants to throw at him. Hence the congratulations at the end of the series.
Whether it was Anno's intent to turn things back at the end and show that there's Shonen Heart even in a lump like Shinji, or whether it was simply intended as a sign of hope at the end of a series dedicated to tearing to shreds the infectious hope so inescapable in other mecha series I cannot say. But I find that often ways the best way to end a tragedy is exactly that: with one spark of hope. Regardless, though, I definitely find myself much more appreciative of what Evangelion is now that I know what the shows it was seeking to deconstruct were like.
