movies/tv Neon Genesis Evangelion

[CC_Maud_Pie 6,431]

Not long ago, i watched an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. What do you fillys and gentlecolts think of this anime and what is your favorite character? At first, I thought this anime would involve nothing but Transformers style fighting. Instead, it was much deeper. There were awkward moments at first but then when Shinji started having mental breakdowns, I began to think it was exciting. My favorite character is Shinji Ikari because during the show, I felt sorry for what he's gone through and I liked his mind sight on why people treat him based on what he's doing. The theme song was also amazing.

Edited December 17, 2014 by CC_FlutterMaud

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

Not long ago, i watched an anime called Neon Genesis Evangelion. What do you fillys and gentlecolts think of this anime and what is your favorite character? At first, I thought this anime would involve nothing but Transformers style fighting. Instead, it was much deeper. There were awkward moments at first but then when Shinji started having mental breakdowns, I began to think it was exciting. My favorite character is Shinji Ikari because during the show, I felt sorry for what he's gone through and I liked his mind sight on why people treat him based on what he's doing. The theme song was also amazing.

I think if the worst animes of all time and I don't understand why this show is so praised. Shinji is king of annoying characters of all time. If you really want to watch a good though provoking anime with giant robots watch Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 and Zeta gundam.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Marine_Vet_Brony

[whitetiger187 197]

I watched it. It's one of those what some like to call one of those "pretentious" animes, not to mention pervy. However I do kinda like to the whole "Life form fused with robot" thing.

[Away 2,077]

I can't wait for the Blu-Ray release, which they FINALLY announced was coming this upcoming summer.

[Hidey 2,836]

I've always loved evangelion. It is without a doubt one of the greatest shows of it's kind, as far as anime goes and animated shows in general. It is insightful and eloquent and I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

 

Many people label the show "pretentious" because of it's use of Christian and Jewish religious iconography, but I feel it's easy to look past that to see the shows merits if it bothers you, and no problem at all if it doesn't. The criticism of Shinji being "annoying" is shallow and not valid, as far as I'm concerned.   

Edited December 17, 2014 by Pink

[Draxon 214]

I watched the whole series for the first time earlier this year, and I had trouble making sense of it until I read a synopsis of the plot online.  Overall, I found it very enjoyable, and I particularly liked the development which each character underwent over the course of the series.  If I had to pick a favorite character, it would probably be Rei.  She's so disconnected from the madness, and simply carries on with her duties, whatever they may be.  I didn't grow to like Shinji at all.  There were a few moments when he shone, but then he buckled again.

 

Also, this series has one of my favorite scenes from an anime:

 

 

 

 

 

[Obsolete 681]

Big fan here. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that this show saved my life. I came to it at a time when I was lost in a fog of self-loathing, thinking it would be a nice piece of escapist fare that would help me forget the hell I was living in. Imagine my surprise when the show turned a mirror on me - confronting me with everything I was trying to run away from. Then it berated me. Then it strangled me. Then it told me that everything was going to be okay.

 

To this day I consider it the artistic pinnacle of anime as a whole. The direction and editing is immaculate throughout, the writing is nuanced, the ending takes some of the most daring narrative leaps this side of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the package as a whole is unbelievably rich and dense with meaning (even if you remove the Christian imagery). I've studied the thing for about a year and I'm still in awe.

 

Masterpiece. I can't wait for that Blu-Ray.

 

ALSO: Shinji is braver than you are. 

Edited December 17, 2014 by Rudes

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

Big fan here. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that this show saved my life. I came to it at a time when I was lost in a fog of self-loathing, thinking it would be a nice piece of escapist fare that would help me forget the hell I was living in. Imagine my surprise when the show turned a mirror on me - confronting me with everything I was trying to run away from. Then it berated me. Then it strangled me. Then it told me that everything was going to be okay.

 

To this day I consider it the artistic pinnacle of anime as a whole. The direction and editing is immaculate throughout, the writing is nuanced, the ending takes some of the most daring narrative leaps this side of 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the package as a whole is unbelievably rich and dense with meaning (even if you remove the Christian imagery). I've studied the thing for about a year and I'm still in awe.

 

Masterpiece. I can't wait for that Blu-Ray.

 

ALSO: Shinji is braver than you are. 

Im glad the show helped you out but I would have to disagree that show is a master piece of anything.

[Obsolete 681]

Im glad the show helped you out but I would have to disagree that show is a master piece of anything.

 

*shrugs*

 

We must have wildly conflicting views on what constitutes a masterpiece, then. Eva excels in every area I value in media. It doesn't in yours. I suppose we'll never agree.

 

By the way, those Bennett the Sage reviews you posted up there, in my humble opinion, fail as criticism since they say nothing insightful and repeatedly fail to judge the work on its own terms. He proves how puerile his opinion is when he rambles at length about how Asuka isn't a "badass," as if that means anything. Still entertaining enough, I suppose.

 

Mind you, I have seen respectable negative criticisms of the show (from the likes of JesuOtaku). Bennett's just isn't one of them.

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

*shrugs*

 

We must have wildly conflicting views on what constitutes a masterpiece, then. Eva excels in every area I value in media. It doesn't in yours. I suppose we'll never agree.

 

By the way, those Bennett the Sage reviews you posted up there, in my humble opinion, fail as criticism since they say nothing insightful and repeatedly fail to judge the work on its own terms. He proves how puerile his opinion is when he rambles at length about how Asuka isn't a "badass," as if that means anything. Still entertaining enough, I suppose.

 

Mind you, I have seen respectable negative criticisms of the show (from the likes of JesuOtaku). Bennett's just isn't one of them.

 

I think Bennett's points on the show are true and agree with JO criticisms on the show. The animation of the show is just fine it's just that everything else about the show in my eye fails and is nothing I would want to watch again.

[Obsolete 681]

I think Bennett's points on the show are true and agree with JO criticisms on the show. The animation of the show is just fine it's just that everything else about the show in my eye fails and is nothing I would want to watch again.

 

Admittedly, I haven't seen JO's review in a long while, but her reservations had more to do with the show's philosophy than anything else (she read it as being too solipsistic, if I recall correctly). Since Eva is so open ended, I find it hard to flat out say she's wrong. I simply have a different reading on it.

 

I still must insist that Bennett says little of value. Saying Shinji is unlikable in the movie and pointing to that as a flaw holds little water for me, since he's not supposed to be likable. Indeed, a lot of the things Bennett criticizes are things I consider strengths. 

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

Admittedly, I haven't seen JO's review in a long while, but her reservations had more to do with the show's philosophy than anything else (she read it as being too solipsistic, if I recall correctly). Since Eva is so open ended, I find it hard to flat out say she's wrong. I simply have a different reading on it.

 

I still must insist that Bennett says little of value. Saying Shinji is unlikable in the movie and pointing to that as a flaw holds little water for me, since he's not supposed to be likable. Indeed, a lot of the things Bennett criticizes are things I consider strengths. 

I think going out of your way to make one of the worst characters of all time in Shinji is not a strength what so ever. Not to mention that very prevy scene when he standing of the girl in the hospital bed.

[Obsolete 681]

I think going out of your way to make one of the worst characters of all time in Shinji is not a strength what so ever. Not to mention that very prevy scene when he standing of the girl in the hospital bed.

 

Eh. "Worst character of all time" implies the character is shallow or poorly written. I don't think Shinji is either. But we're crossing over into the realm of subjectivity here and there is no way out.

 

And if you're disgusted by what Shinji did, then yes, that's the point. The scene was actually conceived as a criticism against otaku and their tendency to objectify female characters, or so the saying goes. If you reacted the way the director intended, is it really a failure?

Edited December 17, 2014 by Rudes

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

Eh. "Worst character of all time" implies the character is shallow or poorly written. I don't think Shinji is either. But we're crossing over into the realm of subjectivity here and there is no way out.

 

And if you're disgusted by what Shinji did, then yes, that's the point. The scene was actually conceived as a criticism against otaku and their tendency to objectify female characters, or so the saying goes. If you reacted the way the director intended, is it really a failure?

Yes I considered it failure protagonist needs to have some redeeming quality to them ( they don't have to be perfect or even good people) by that Standard Shinji is a failure.

[Obsolete 681]

Yes I considered it failure protagonist needs to have some redeeming quality to them ( they don't have to be perfect or even good people) by that Standard Shinji is a failure.

 

And here we come upon an irreconcilable difference between us. Redeeming qualities are nice, but there isn't any rule that says that a protagonist absolutely must have them. All I ask is that they're interesting to watch. I don't need them to be my friends and I don't want to live vicariously through them.

 

Fair enough if you think differently, though. 

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

And here we come upon an irreconcilable difference between us. Redeeming qualities are nice, but there isn't any rule that says that a protagonist absolutely must have them. All I ask is that they're interesting to watch. I don't need them to be my friends and I don't want to live vicariously through them.

 

Fair enough if you think differently, though. 

They don't have to be friends but they have to give a reason why we should care about their story.

[Obsolete 681]

They don't have to be friends but they have to give a reason why we should care about their story.

 

I do think you should be more careful when deploying the word "we."

 

Plenty of people cared. I certainly did, because I could relate to the mental illness being depicted.

[Marine_Vet_Brony 317]

I do think you should be more careful when deploying the word "we."

 

Plenty of people cared. I certainly did, because I could relate to the mental illness being depicted.

I will use the royal we.

 

It's cool you felt sympathny to him. I could not. The whole the time I just wanted to punch him over and over again.

[Obsolete 681]

I will use the royal we.

 

It's cool you felt sympathny to him. I could not. The whole the time I just wanted to punch him over and over again.

 

Can't really argue against you wanting to punch him, so fair enough. 

[duidamasterXD 9,627]

 

 

ALSO: Shinji is braver than you are.

 

Tell him to meet me by the basketball court after school and we'll see what happens. And he ain't allowed to bring his mom

 

With regards to some of the above discussion, I'm willing to overlook a great deal in the way of character flaws so long as the show is self-aware and intentional in how it uses them. That's the thing about Eva. Most characters are very human broken in some form or other, but everything that people hate about them has an explanation and is used somehow in fleshing them out as people and moving the story forward. Shinji and Asuka are big balls of fear and self-loathing. Misato teeters between a confident leader and a hedonistic womanchild. Kaworu is a flawless, sexy, 10/10 husbando Mary Sue, essentially. And if you can learn to tolerate those things, you can start looking at how they're used to tell a pretty great, if somewhat bizarre, story about learning how to live with oneself and others.

 

I don't have any big story about what Eva means to me, but I do think it's worth checking out. I'm rewatching it now with a friend of mine

[Shift 4,272]

Evangelion, while i'm not a big fan of the genre, is an amazing deconstruction. It had great characters, great plot, and I love how all of the characters all seem to just be human and not be just anime characters.

 

The only part I didn't like was the ending.

[Steve Piranha 29,440]

Watched it for the first time years ago, but since it’s on Netflix, decided to give it another go. Unlike other shows in it, I’m finishing surprisingly fast. I’m in the 20th episode already. Only 4 to go 

Spoiler

EPISODES 25 AND 26 DON’T EXIST 

 

[Vefka 1,499]

I love it! It's typical pery horem anime in the beginning and it gets so much deeper and darker towards the end. And the film with true ending is just something

Rei is my waifu

[Fluttershutter 2,539]

It was one of the first anime I watched and I loved it.

[schizo 85]

I watched it quite recently, a few months ago iirc and I thought it was pretty great.

Even if I didn't understand it that much..