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Very LTTP: Neon Genesis Evangelion

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M

Megalosaro

Banned
I love mecha anime. It's my favorite genre of the medium. It's hard to be a fan without hearing about this show. Hell,I majored in Japanese and it's one of the few shows that was brought up in my studies due to how important it's impact was when it came out.

That said, I've always avoided it due to some of the stuff I've heard about it. I always thought it would be "2deep4me" and edgey for the sake of being edgey. But since my two Gundam shows that were currently running ended, I decided to fill the void with this show.

Since it's damn near impossible to watch this show 100% unspoiled due to just how popular it is, I do know some vague things. 1 - Apparently Shinji is the worst anime protagonist (according to the fandom, at least) ever. 2 - There is some sort of connection apparently between the Eva pilots and their mothers. 3 - The show ends in a very rough fashion. 4 - The last two episodes suck.

Now I'm only 5 episodes in. I try to watch one episode a day. Today I watched two. So far Shinji isn't as bad as I expected. He's been kind of boring so far if anything, but this last episode showed signs of life in him. There is some other stuff regarding his character that I'll get into in a bit.

2 - Can't really comment on the Mother/Pilot connection yet. But it became obvious there was some sort of connection when they revealed the cockpit was called the umbilical unit.

Regarding the ending, from my understanding this show was inspired by Ideon. I have some ideas on what that means where this is heading lol.

But yeah... so far, I gotta say I'm enjoying it quite a bit so far. The theme song (which I've known about for years and is one of the reasons I decided to finally give in) is pretty awesome. The artwork is fantastic, though I'm not (nor ever have been) a fan of the mecha designs (or angel designs for that matter). Both the character designs and environments are top notch.

The music is fantastic. It's very subtle in it's useage, but sounds great. It's Yoko Kanno, right? Does she do the music for the Rebuild movies as well? Good stuff there. I especially love the Preview song.

Regarding themes: A big theme so far seems to be alienation/isolation. Shinji seems to be completely alienated in all of his relationships. His relationship with his (only?) parent is utter shit. He has no friends. And he has some pretty big sexual issues (more on that in a bit).

Rei, who just now started getting focus in the series, also seems to have isolation issues. There also seems to be some sort of weird daddy-issues thing going on where she's into her father figure (Gendo).

I'm pretty interested to see where they're going with that.

Sexuality also seems to be a pretty big theme so far. Usually I'm not into "pervy" stuff in anime, but they actually seem to be doing something interesting with it here. In fact, I can't even really say it is "perverted", despite Misato's insistances that she will provide more fan service in the next episode.

Shinji has some pretty big pent up sexual frustration issues going on. They were really on the nose with it in the episode where he ran away and watched a young couple make out at a movie theater. Then you have Misato. She gravitates between a (shitty) parental figure while also encouraging Shinji to view her as a sexual object, causing him to be confused. Maybe I'm reading too much into that though. Once again, some 2deep4me stuff probably where I'm over-interpretting.

Favorite character so far? Probably Gendo. He's done jack shit so far, but he looks boss as hell doing it. Interested to see where they take him.

Favorite scene so far? In episode 3, there is a scene where Shinji is in class and he gets a message asking if he's the eva pilot. He replies "yes" and the whole room erupts. I'm having a hard time pinpointing why that scene stood out to me. I think it was the way the tension and atmosphere was portrayed.
 
V

Vesmir

Banned
You're in for a ride. Watch the last two episodes to realize that people who like it are full of crap, then watch and love End of Evangelion. Edit: Glad to know you are on the same boat.

Someone is going to tell you not to watch the Rebuild movies. Don't listen to them.
 
G

Guess Who

Banned
The music is Shiro Sagisu, who actually hasn't done a lot of other anime soundtracks. Aside from Eva he's probably most famous for Kare Kano and, uh, Bleach?

Without saying too much, you're still very early on - after episode 6, brace for some filler, and know that the second half is much better than the first. And also, watch End of Evangelion when you've finished the TV series.
 
E

Envelope

sealed with a kiss
Vesmir said:
You're in for a ride. Watch the last two episodes to realize that people who like it are full of crap, then watch and love End of Evangelion. Edit: Glad to know you are on the same boat.

Someone is going to tell you not to watch the Rebuild movies. Don't listen to them.
Click to expand...

rebuild sux
 
J

- J - D -

Member
After finishing the main series and the End of Evangelion movie, give it some time before jumping into the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. I'd say wait 10 years before starting Rebuild. It works out better this way because the 4th film might actually be released by then.
 
N

Nickle

Cool Facts: Game of War has been a hit since July 2013
I watched it for the first time a few weeks ago, and thought that it deserved the praise it gets. The thing that impressed me most (apart from the weird ending) was the sound design. The animation can get pretty rough at times, but they make up for it with incredible sounds that really immerse you in the world.

I'd also say that 5 episodes is way too early to judge the show, it becomes a whole different beast in the last 10 episodes. I didn't even realize that episodes 25 and 26 were originally supposed to be the finale, it was just so convoluted. Also, EoE is definitely the true ending, so don't treat it as a separate thing.
 
M

MRrogermoore

Member
I think its a little overrated, i got into it because i loved the eva units desings and animations. dialogue heavy episodes usually bored me cos i got tired of hearing Asuka bitch and moan. hated how all the kids were Clichéd as fuck. overall it was kinda boring, but i get why people love it soo much.
 
V

Ventara

Member
Make sure to post your impressions once you've finished it. The first few episodes were enjoyable for me, too, but it was downhill from there. The show continued to devolve into that psychological stuff and I saw that none of the characters were getting better (worse, in fact).

I've been thinking of rewatching it, though. So many people enjoy it, so it must be something that I'm missing.
 
B

B.K.

Member
I wouldn't say Shinji is the worst protagonist ever. The thing you need to remember is that everyone on the show are horribly broken, screwed up people.
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
Grimløck;160182172 said:
the main character's such a pussy.
Click to expand...

Yeah he is, but I think that's the point. If there is one thing I like about certain anime, it is that directors like Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hideaki Anno aren't afraid of making characters that are intentionally unlikeable.
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Also, on the note of End of Evangelion, do NOT watch it if:

A.) You are at a very depressed point in your life (although I sometimes hear that EoE actually helps)

B.) Right before bedtime. There's some shit in there that can mess you up on first viewing.
 
kaiju

kaiju

Member
The original ending was a trip, I will give it that. EoE is where it's at though.

The battles between the Eva's and the Angels are epic. Wish they got more attention.

Can't stand Shinji either, but Asuka is one of my favorite characters in all of anime.

c7718b32d2d80cd4625b378311f6e999.jpg
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
TheVampire said:
Make sure to watch the movie End of Evangelion as its the proper ending to the tv show.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm definitely planning on watching End of Evangelion. I also plan on watching Rebuild. And no, I don't plan on waiting ten years before watching those.

Is 4.0 going to be the final movie?
 
M

MMarston

Was getting caught part of your plan?
Megalosaro said:
Is 4.0 going to be the final movie?
Click to expand...

Yes, but Anno apparently got into another depression and has yet to start production on it at all. So that's probably gonna take another 4-5 years which is a shame since he was on a 2-3 year interval streak with the other Rebuild films (aka 4.0 could've come out this winter).
 
X

X-chema

Neo Member
Best anime series for me, but remember, once you had finished with the series and EoE movie you are gonna waste 10 years searching on internet some explanations and hidden bits of information released only in gamesor other media to begin to undestand WTF you have watched
 
B

Billy_Pilgrim

Member
I'm not much of an Anime fan, but Evangelion is absolutely fantastic and required watching imo.

I absolutely love the throw backs to christian apocrypha. It is legit awesome.
 
Chuckie

Chuckie

Member
My favorite anime. Loved it from episode 1. It definitely gets different (and imo better) in later episodes.

While I did like the two final episodes, I don't consider them the 'true ending'.
The awesome End of Evangelion is.

And afterwards you'll spend hours on the internet looking up theories and explanations :p
Search for the Red Cross Book. It was a pamphlet sold with End of Eva in Japan. It contains a lot of useful info.

Rebuild 1.0 en 2.0 were ok. I was happy with more Eva, even though it was inferior to the original series. Then 3.0 happened. I still don't know what the flying fuck that was about.
 
M

More Fun To Compute

Member
The main character was supposed to be female like the other pilots but the creators realised that they were using female lead characters so much that it had become like a crutch to them or something. The reaction from some of the audience about how he doesn't act manly enough to the point of making them angry is due to Gainax messing around with the conventions.
 
M

Megalosaro

Banned
Episode 6

This was a pretty straight forward action episode. It was pretty cool though. The scene where the cannon sucked up all of Japan's energy looked great. I especially loved the shot of Japan going dark.

One thing that was odd was the shot of Toji and that other kid playing video games in their room. Weren't they evacuated to a shelter? Not a big deal though.

Not sure why Rei is as popular as she is. She hasn't really done much yet. But it's still early. I'm sure i'll see something that will prove show why Megumi Hayashibara's career skyrocketed after this.

Kind of surprised Asuka hasn't been introduced yet. She's featured so prominently in fan discussions, yet I'm already a decent chunk into the show, yet no sign of her yet. And it doesn't look like she'll be in the next episode either.

Edit: I just decided to check out the english dub of the first episode. Holy fuck. I'm not one of those "super nippon seiyuu glorious" types. If a dub is good, it's good. But this isn't good. This is god awful. It sounds like amateur hour or something.
 
M

munchie64

Member
Megalosaro said:
Edit: I just decided to check out the english dub of the first episode. Holy fuck. I'm not one of those "super nippon seiyuu glorious" types. If a dub is good, it's good. But this isn't good. This is god awful. It sounds like amateur hour or something.
Click to expand...
Eh can't expect too much from the early episodes of a 90s dub. At least the translations are fairly accurate unlike some of their contemporaries. The cast gets better as the series goes on. However if you want a really good English Eva dub, the Rebuilds are where to look. Some of the cast is the same, but most are different. I like them quite a bit.

Also Asuka is soon, prepare for greatness.
 
M

manipulate

Member
Shinji's a refreshingly different and very well done character. I always wondered whether people dislike him because they're trained to expect these godawful bags of shounen tropes as MCs

Episode 12-14 onwards is where NGE becomes GOAT. Prior to that it just kinda seems like some "monster of the week" show.

I'm ambivalent about the English dub. I like Shinji, Asuka and Rei, though

Edit: YES the music is really really good. Perfect atmosphere
 
C

co1onel

Member
I just finished this show for the first time the other day. The last two episodes were absolutely awful. It completely disregarded the storyline up to that point and instead opted to let anno spew his philosophical beliefs straight to us. There are ways to tell a story and get the message across without telling is directly. Luckily EoE did just that, and was a much better ending.

As far as the show up to the ending, it was very much up and down. The individual angel fights got repetitive awfully fast, and some of the arcs like Toji's felt really unnecessary to the story.
 
M

munchie64

Member
co1onel said:
I just finished this show for the first time the other day. The last two episodes were absolutely awful. It completely disregarded the storyline up to that point and instead opted to let anno spew his philosophical beliefs straight to us. There are ways to tell a story and get the message across without telling is directly. Luckily EoE did just that, and was a much better ending.
Click to expand...
Tbf if they didn't run out of money we would've got something similar to EoE anyway. But it works better as a movie with a decent budget, so it kinda worked out in the end.
 
F

Fj0823

Member
Megalosaro said:
Yeah, I'm definitely planning on watching End of Evangelion. I also plan on watching Rebuild. And no, I don't plan on waiting ten years before watching those.

Is 4.0 going to be the final movie?
Click to expand...

The official title is 3.0+1.0 and its still in pre production.

The .0 movies are their own story, like Brotherhood is to Full metal alchemist. Right now we have 2 movies focused on action, which hardcore fans hate for not being 2deep4me enough, and the third movie is hated for taking your expectations crushing them and proceed to mindFuck you with symbolism and cryptic dialogue.

I personally love them, they have amazing visuals, great designs and they make you theorize to fill in the blanks, which is a
trademark of the series

Space battle in 3.0 was the shit
 
M

manipulate

Member
co1onel said:
I just finished this show for the first time the other day. The last two episodes were absolutely awful. It completely disregarded the storyline up to that point and instead opted to let anno spew his philosophical beliefs straight to us. There are ways to tell a story and get the message across without telling is directly. Luckily EoE did just that, and was a much better ending.

As far as the show up to the ending, it was very much up and down. The individual angel fights got repetitive awfully fast, and some of the arcs like Toji's felt really unnecessary to the story.
Click to expand...

I'm actually pretty confused by this - the second half of the series is so out there, I'm not sure how anyone could say it was repetitive
 
D

DoktorEvil

Banned
Watch the 26 episodes, then EoE, then go take a long walk outside and ponder.

It's not a good Mecha show, but man when it becomes something else entirely is why the huge appeal is there.
 
B

Banana Aeon

Member
I love Evangelion to the core. I sneak in a rewatch every single year.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did my first time through.
 
S

Sky Interloper

Member
The first time experiencing Eva is both an amazing and a weird time. Especially those last episodes and the movie.

You're still early, so I'll refrain my comments. As many people have said, the series feels like a completely different one at the end, so enjoy the ride. If you have the possibility, try to watch EoE and the last two episodes back to back; being honest, it is an interesting exercise.

And forget about Death & Rebirth, as it is pretty much a recap of the anime. It only becomes worthwhile if you let some time pass before watching End of Evangelion, even if the credits are gorgeous IMO.
 
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