Also, I just finished the series before I posted that. I have not seen either the current episodes of Rebuild nor End of Evangelion, though I plan to watch them.
Poll: Why did people hate the ending of "Neon Genesis Evangelion"?
- Thread starter Austin Howe
- Start date
The funny thing is that the reason why most people hate the characters is the exact reason why I like them.SenorNemo said:
Everyone in NGE is selfish, and squarely out for their own happiness and peace of mind. And you never see that in anime. It's mostly "Let's work together" or "My friends are my power" in those particular shows, but not in NGE. And the characters feel more like real individuals because of it. I'd say the only non-selfish characters in the show are Kaji and Pen Pen.
Oddly enough you hit the nail on the head in your discription of Asuka and Rei. That is basically what they are in a nutshell, and what they're supposed to represent in the show.
Rei is a fantasy figure: She will do what ever she's asked to do regardless of the personal consequences. But that's the thing; She'll only do anything if she's asked to. Apart from eating, sleeping and taking general care of herself, she won't move a muscle. In episode 8 (I think) Asuka confronts Rei and asks, "Lets be friends", and Rei responds, "I will if I'm ordered to". And in that same episode we see Asuka and Shinji failing miserably at their synchronized dancing, but when Rei takes Asuka's place both she and Shinji sync up perfectly. And this is because Rei has no will of her own.
Asuka is a *****, or to put it differently, she represents the reality of woman. She's all the things that scares the shit out of Shinji when it comes to women; She's loud, obnoxious, insulting and hurtful. She also has her periods, which is seen by most men as one of those uncomfortable woman issues. I mean, name me one female anime character that's ever menstrated? But because of this she's also the only woman in Shinji's life that forces him to change instead of mollycoddling him like Misato does.
This is why Rei and Asuka hate eachother as much as they do, because they are eachothers polar opposites.
I didn't like any of the characters to begin with, the end just made me aware of how confused I was and how much I hated Shinji.
I haven't seen much of the Evangelion franchise, but I suspect that one reason the last two episodes are slammed by it's detractors is because they felt Anno pulled a bait and switch on them.
To give an example, let's pretend that Jaws is given the Evangelion treatment. The movie plays normally until the part where Hooper and Quint talk about their experiences with sharks, in which case, the conversation suddenly turns into a discussion about muffins. Quint and Hooper mention there love for strawberry muffins while Brody dislikes them, preferring chocolate muffins. The last half hour or so has Hooper and Quint trying to convince Brody that it's okay to like different muffins, all the while various people, including the ones the shark gobbled up, also chime in on their opinions. Eventually, Brody tries a strawberry muffin and likes it so much, he breaks into a upbeat Broadway style jig about why he likes them, while various line dancers, singers, Quint, Brody and the shark join in. At the end, Brody, enlightened by these events, hops aboard a spaceship and flies off into space. Roll credits.
To give an example, let's pretend that Jaws is given the Evangelion treatment. The movie plays normally until the part where Hooper and Quint talk about their experiences with sharks, in which case, the conversation suddenly turns into a discussion about muffins. Quint and Hooper mention there love for strawberry muffins while Brody dislikes them, preferring chocolate muffins. The last half hour or so has Hooper and Quint trying to convince Brody that it's okay to like different muffins, all the while various people, including the ones the shark gobbled up, also chime in on their opinions. Eventually, Brody tries a strawberry muffin and likes it so much, he breaks into a upbeat Broadway style jig about why he likes them, while various line dancers, singers, Quint, Brody and the shark join in. At the end, Brody, enlightened by these events, hops aboard a spaceship and flies off into space. Roll credits.
It took me two tries, but then I understood the ending as portrayed in 25/26. It's quite perfect, really, as the focus is on the troubled characters in the series (Shinji, Asuka in particular), and the ending resolves this. That was the whole goal of the story, everything else is just background noise. Call it a dream.
I have seen EoE and the other movie too and hated them. They portray the characters in a completely different way. Shinji turns from a troubled teenager into a wet, perverted dishrag. The others get mangled in a similar way. I don't feel any inclination to watch these movies again as they don't belong in the same universe as NGE the series.
As for the Rebuild movies, I have seen 1.11, which is a quick rush-through of the story so far with big gaps and added components in some places. I have also seen 2.22 (few days ago) and I felt disgusted with it. The story has been mangled beyond recognition. Nothing makes sense any more. The ending had me face palming at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. They changed basic facts about the Instrumentality project, as well as Shinji's priorities. It was like watching NGE getting raped in front of my eyes.
Not a pleasant experience... I'll stick to the series and be happy, thank you very much
I have seen EoE and the other movie too and hated them. They portray the characters in a completely different way. Shinji turns from a troubled teenager into a wet, perverted dishrag. The others get mangled in a similar way. I don't feel any inclination to watch these movies again as they don't belong in the same universe as NGE the series.
As for the Rebuild movies, I have seen 1.11, which is a quick rush-through of the story so far with big gaps and added components in some places. I have also seen 2.22 (few days ago) and I felt disgusted with it. The story has been mangled beyond recognition. Nothing makes sense any more. The ending had me face palming at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. They changed basic facts about the Instrumentality project, as well as Shinji's priorities. It was like watching NGE getting raped in front of my eyes.
Not a pleasant experience... I'll stick to the series and be happy, thank you very much
I didn't really hate the ending to Neon Genesis Evangelion's original series. I just get bored of it, especially since it doesn't fit right. Now if we were to include it to the End Of Evangelion movie then they kinda fit in when Shinji is absorbed by Unit 01. Think about it, it seems to revolve around the inner conflicts of the characters and their relationship with Shinji as well as Shinji's unstable mental state due to the Post traumatic stress and when placed in that spot in the overall Evangelion story it feels right and slightly makes it less boring.
Anyone read the mangas? Is the ending of that that better?
Anyone read the mangas? Is the ending of that that better?