Neon Genesis Evangelion

[Lykren]

I just finished watching the last episode. A friend recommended it to me six years ago and I only now got around to watching it.

I found it to be an intriguing blend of genres, cultural references, tantalizing metaphysical speculation, and analysis of whatever it means (if anything) to 'grow up'. Since it did have such an awful lot of ambition, I'm not certain that they got it all to hang together in a cohesive fashion, and consequently I'm not sure whether it's worth it to give it another go sometime in the future. Satisfying comprehension of an artwork generally only comes for me after at least a few viewings/readings/listenings etc, which is why it's important for me to resolve the question of whether I want to watch it again.

Anyways, if anyone has anything to say regarding NGE speak up! I'm on the fence about it and so would love to hear some outside opinions. Thanks!

[Frostball]

I absolutely love the anime. Definitely one of my favorite shows of all time. I hear what you're saying about it's ambitions, and it's failure to perfectly bring them all together, and there may be something to that. I've also heard many people criticize it for being pretentious, but people say that about things like Ulysses, sooo..

So yeah, I absolutely love it. I don't have too much to say. It certainly blew my mind when I saw it at 16, especially the end of Evangelion and The End of Evangelion (those who know, know that this sentence actually made sense.) I absolutely love Osuka, Rei is great, Shinji is... necessary. The way these children steadily devolve into insanity throughout the series is great. It may not be perfect, but I enjoyed the heck out of it every time I've watched it.

"You idiot!" -- Osuka

"I musn't run away, I musn't run away, I musn't run away, I mustn't run away....." -- Shinji

Oh, and the opening scene of The End of Evangelion, when you hear the heavy breathing, see naked Osuka lying on the floor of the hospital, and as soon as you figure out what's going on: priceless.

[Frostball]

Actually I worry now that you haven't seen The End of Evangelion, which isn't a part of the main series, since you haven't mentioned it. If you haven't seen it, please do! The last two episodes of Evangelion proper are a mind ****, and awesome, but they don't really tie the show together very well. The End of Evangelion picks up where the show left off, and also becomes rather insane. Actually it starts off insane and gets worse. Anyway, I recommend it, it's practically required watching.

[Lykren]

I haven't watched End of Evangelion but I guess I will soon. Thanks for the advice. The series did certainly wind up in an odd place by the last two episodes. I did like it though.

[Clopin]

End of Evangelion is the best thing the series produced I think. I like the series too but it's not like every episode is a masterpiece and I find the japanese humor sort of irritating.

[Clopin]

Good themesong though.

[Calidore]

I think I've read that Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno either had recently had or was having some psychological issues during the course of creating the anime that manifested itself in the change in tone during the series. See Dave Sim's comic Cerebus for an extreme example of this. End of Evangelion is essentially a remake of the last two episodes by Anno again, though opinions seem divided on how much it helped.

Trivia: Hideaki Anno provided the Japanese voice of the main character in the new Miyazaki film The Wind Rises.

[Aylinn]

I never liked NGE enough to watch all episodes, but I remember it always sparked discussions, as it uses Christian symbols, like crosses, etc., so people were analyzing what they may mean and years later the director admitted that he put them there, because he thought they look cool.

[Lykren]

I must admit it seemed like the Christian imagery didn't form part of an organic whole. That it was thrown in there just 'to look cool' seems plausible.

[Lykren]

Okay, just watched End of Evangelion. It was interesting, though I was only really interested by the last 30 minutes or so - you know, the trippy part :D It was certainly even more ambitious than the series, and perhaps a little bit bombastic, but still worth watching I think.