End of Evangelion: THE HELL WAS THAT?

[Iwata]

Some people like it, I guess. I was enjoying it up to the point it decided to stop being a mecha anime and decided to be 2001: A Space Odyssey instead.

 

[Vhite]

Im not a huge anime fan, I only watched few animes and I always fought of Eva as something for few hardcore anime fans that can appreciate hidden symbolism over many episodes and movies or just love it or hate it thing that I would probably hate.
But wow, this is so wrong. I saw some fucked up shit but nothing has ever made me feel so bad. Its absolutely disgusting.

So where do I begin? Would any Evangelion fan help an aspiring fan on what to watch and in what order?

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Im not a huge anime fan, I only watched few animes and I always fought of Eva as something for few hardcore anime fans that can appreciate hidden symbolism over many episodes and movies or just love it or hate it thing that I would probably hate.
But wow, this is so wrong. I saw some fucked up shit but nothing has ever made me feel so bad. Its absolutely disgusting.

So where do I begin? Would any Evangelion fan help an aspiring fan on what to watch and in what order?

In order form Episode 1 through to 26 then End of Evangelion, just remember you will get confused and that episodes 25 and 26 occur during the movie.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

NGE basically split its episodes between giant monster battles and navel-gazing/emo whinging, depending on how charitable you are. The ending to the TV show completely abandoned monster battles to focus on the navel gazing conclusion, making it bizarre and hated by the fans that followed the show for the actual plot rather than the character/philosophical threads.

The movie is basically the antithesis of that - all monster battles, no emo whinging at all. But I always felt it was a Take That directed at the fanbase. The death threats sent to Hideaki were the kanji that flashed up during the show, which is weird and creepy to say the least. But I also thought that the movie stripped away a lot of the character development that the show had built up, at least for Shinji, Rei, and Misato.

That is something I noticed. The series, for what I watched of it, seemed to be about Shinji coming of age in the setting of a giant mecha show.

The film had the same depressed little shit whose story seems to get sidelined by the need to visually scar the audience.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

That is something I noticed. The series, for what I watched of it, seemed to be about Shinji coming of age in the setting of a giant mecha show.

The film had the same depressed little shit whose story seems to get sidelined by the need to visually scar the audience.

I'm guessing you stopped at episode 12 or earlier.

 

[Vhite]

Im not a huge anime fan, I only watched few animes and I always fought of Eva as something for few hardcore anime fans that can appreciate hidden symbolism over many episodes and movies or just love it or hate it thing that I would probably hate.
But wow, this is so wrong. I saw some fucked up shit but nothing has ever made me feel so bad. Its absolutely disgusting.

So where do I begin? Would any Evangelion fan help an aspiring fan on what to watch and in what order?

In order form Episode 1 through to 26 then End of Evangelion, just remember you will get confused and that episodes 25 and 26 occur during the movie.

Thanks. I just read that there are some remastered versions. Should I watch them or original or are those only cosmetic changes? Are there any other movies?

 

[Soviet Heavy]

That is something I noticed. The series, for what I watched of it, seemed to be about Shinji coming of age in the setting of a giant mecha show.

The film had the same depressed little shit whose story seems to get sidelined by the need to visually scar the audience.

I'm guessing you stopped at episode 12 or earlier.

I can only take so much whinging. Besides, I topped my record with Code Geass R2. I might have put down NGE after disliking what I saw, but R2 pissed me off to an insane degree that I lasted two episodes before tossing it.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Im not a huge anime fan, I only watched few animes and I always fought of Eva as something for few hardcore anime fans that can appreciate hidden symbolism over many episodes and movies or just love it or hate it thing that I would probably hate.
But wow, this is so wrong. I saw some fucked up shit but nothing has ever made me feel so bad. Its absolutely disgusting.

So where do I begin? Would any Evangelion fan help an aspiring fan on what to watch and in what order?

In order form Episode 1 through to 26 then End of Evangelion, just remember you will get confused and that episodes 25 and 26 occur during the movie.

Thanks. I just read that there are some remastered versions. Should I watch them or original or are those only cosmetic changes? Are there any other movies?

They are more cosmetic than anything (most of the changes are in the later episodes when they were running out of money) some parts may make a little more sense and some minor plot holes being filled

Spoiler

a shot of Unit 0 missing it's head being replaced with it turning into a small GNR then exploding is the biggest change I remember

Don't worry if you can't find the remastered edition but I would recommend it over the original.

There is a remake (or a continuation of the first series) being released, the first 3 movies are out. See them last.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I can only take so much whinging. Besides, I topped my record with Code Geass R2. I might have put down NGE after disliking what I saw, but R2 pissed me off to an insane degree that I lasted two episodes before tossing it.

So it was episode 12 that you stopped at?

I honestly do not blame you, if you can't stand whining than NGE isn't for you.

One of the reasons I like it is that no matter how bad my life gets, it isn't as screwed up as Shinji Ikari's.

 

[Vhite]

Im not a huge anime fan, I only watched few animes and I always fought of Eva as something for few hardcore anime fans that can appreciate hidden symbolism over many episodes and movies or just love it or hate it thing that I would probably hate.
But wow, this is so wrong. I saw some fucked up shit but nothing has ever made me feel so bad. Its absolutely disgusting.

So where do I begin? Would any Evangelion fan help an aspiring fan on what to watch and in what order?

In order form Episode 1 through to 26 then End of Evangelion, just remember you will get confused and that episodes 25 and 26 occur during the movie.

Thanks. I just read that there are some remastered versions. Should I watch them or original or are those only cosmetic changes? Are there any other movies?

They are more cosmetic than anything (most of the changes are in the later episodes when they were running out of money) some parts may make a little more sense and some minor plot holes being filled

Spoiler

a shot of Unit 0 missing it's head being replaced with it turning into a small GNR then exploding is the biggest change I remember

Don't worry if you can't find the remastered edition but I would recommend it over the original.

There is a remake (or a continuation of the first series) being released, the first 3 movies are out. See them last.

Thanks again. Ill get right into it.

 

[Agayek]

As discussion, what the hell did you think of EOE when you saw it? Were you more accepting of is going into the film as a fan of the series, or were you press ganged like me into watching it and being utterly lost?

If you didn't watch the series, of course you wouldn't understand the movie at all. The whole point of it was to end the series properly, instead of the "we're out of money, just throw some text on the screen" ending of the original series.

I thought it was pretty solid, all things considered. It was weird, but one of the primary driving points of the show is "everyone is completely fucking broken, now we're gonna make it worse" and all the various psychological trauma associated with that. I could definitely see why people don't like it, and I've never felt the need to re-watch it, but for what it is, it's pretty good.

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

Yep. That is the appropriate response to watching EoE.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Ah yes, one of my favourite movies of all time.

I'm not going to say I understood it the first time or the times after that, but eventually it is capable to understand most, if not all of what's going on and what it all means. I like how mind-fucky it is and how indescriminate it is and unrelenting in its portrayal of it's characters and the apocalypse.

Well, seeing as you haven't watched the series, what in crikey fuck did you expect?

But yes, I love it. I remember watching it for the first time oh so many years ago and having my brain and heart severely lashed in the process. I went from being really confused and wanting to look behind the curtain (the series ending), to being in horrifying shock and awe when the curtain was finally lifted entirely (EoE's ending).

I love it for it's animation. I love it for being one of the few movies that depicts the end of the world. And I love it for having the balls to expose its characters down to their nitty gritty core.

It also has the most badass fight scene of any animated movie, period. Leapfrog skull crush, indeed!

Eva lovers unite! Form of... Penis Imagery!

I'd like to stress something here to everyone in this thread as well. The religious imagery means jack shit, Hideaki Anno (the creator) himself even admitted this and said it was merely for visual flair.

And yes, to everyone else here... the series can be understood, it just takes a little time and effort.

EDIT: Also, another note to everyone here. Anno didn't make EoE as a reaction to fans and to intend to piss them off, EoE's plot is close to what episodes 25 and 26 were originally going to be.

 

[not_the_dm]

Snip

Just a pet peeve; the imagery used isn't from western religion, it's from middle-eastern religion. The european religions were dead (baring the religion followed by the Sami until the 18th Century) by the end of 1417. The polythesistic religions of south america still survive through some of the tribes and only a few in north america still follow the animistic traditions of thier forefathers. But besides from that, nice deconstruction and explination.

 

[Flamezdudes]

Shinji is actually the most level headed of all the characters.

Even if that is true, that's obviously VERY relative.

How many level headed people do you know masturbate over their comatose partners?

Asuka isn't his partner.

And by coma-tose, I think he means that Shinji is more of what a natural response should be from a 14 year old boy in the context of a mecha anime and the shows own context itself. Also, by that point in the series, Shinji was almost completely broken mentally.

 

[Casual Shinji]

And yes, to everyone else here... the series can be understood, it just takes a little time and effort.

Honestly, I don't think I ever really want to completely understand it. The reason it's still so engaging more than a decade later is because you can never get a total grip on what's going on. No story that tackles the meaning of humanity/life/existence can ever be fully understood, even by the writters themselves.

Also, NGE is kinda like a rorschach picture, and everyone can have their own interpretation of it. Again, that's what makes it interesting.

 

[Flamezdudes]

And yes, to everyone else here... the series can be understood, it just takes a little time and effort.

Honestly, I don't think I ever really want to completely understand it. The reason it's still so engaging more than a decade later is because you can never get a total grip on what's going on. No story that tackles the meaning of humanity/life/existence can ever be fully understood, even by the writters themselves.

Also, NGE is kinda like a rorschach picture, and everyone can have their own interpretation of it. Again, that's what makes it interesting.

Yeah, thats right, everyone can take their own interpretations from it and what it all means. I meant plot wise when I said "understanding" it, but in gathering a "meaning" from it, anyone can take their own.

My own interpretation of what the general idea of the moral of what the series in trying to tell is that, life can be difficult and painful sometimes but it's worth living for the good times and people can hurt you sometimes, but it's worth reaching out for others in the end as you can obtain happiness sometimes.

 

[Lunar Templar]

I didn't get what ever 'deep thing' NGE was supposed to be about, spent to much time wish the entire cast was dead

kinda takes me out of it when i ate every one in the show and i'm forcing my self to finish for the sake of finishing

 

[JudgeGame]

NGE is a show made by and for depressed people. If you are not depressed I'm pretty sure this show does nothing for you except maybe offer lulz but no promises. The original ending of NGE was filmed on a shoe-string budget and in a very straight to the point manner (both quite literally) because the creators lost funding or something and they had to wrap it up in two 20 minute slots. The result is in my opinion a near-perfect ending for a unashamedly imperfect show. It is also really fucking weird (the first in the long list of the infamous "GAINAX endings"). 99% of people hated the ending because it basically didn't bother explaining how any of the events in the story wrapped up and instead focused completely on Shinji's internal thought process and final epithany. In other words, there was no epic giant mecha fight.

I think people can find a lot to critisize in the original ending but most of what I've ever heard was sort of dumb. It's that kind of thing, a love it or hate it thing. I don't think there will ever be a final word on whether that ending was genius or stupid.

For a ridiculous number of years, a large number of fans have been begging GAINAX (who is now a giant in the industry with cash and sponsors to spare) to fix the ending. Anno never had any intention of doing this and the insinuation that there was something in the ending that needed fixing was a deep insult to himself as an artist. Myself, I side with him because the original ending is no more and no less than Anno pouring his heart and soul on-screen, so insinuating the result could be flawed was basically a direct criticism towards Hideaki Anno: the person.

After years of wait, Anno finally decided to fix the ending and by fix he meant filming his middle finger and exposing all its glory to millions of fans world-wide. Ending if Evangelion is an explicit FUCK YOU to anyone who didn't like the original ending. It's basically the factual events after the second to last episode with all the personal meaning Anno originally put in ripped out. The result is depressing, disgusting, perverse and ugly. It's probably exactly what Anno intended and I hate it.

PS: The subsequent films and TV series are almost 100% cash grabs because NGE fans are a bunch of morons who will watch and buy anything in a plug suit, with tits and precariously unhinged.