Evangelion - An Incomplete Critique.

[Wuyabi]

My first exposure to the Evangelion franchise was, if I'm remembering correctly, in 2002, when a friend purchased some old videotapes for me on the cheap. Already, I had heard... things. Bad things. That the series as a whole, once hailed as the greatest deconstruction of shonen anime, was really a guided tour deep inside the mind of a director suffering from a massive nervous breakdown. All the Christian "symbolism"? Purely decorative. (This one I can actually cite as fact, and not mere opinion. Check out page 76 of the April 2011 issue of Otaku USA Magazine, they quote both assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki and the director, Hideaki Anno.)

I watched the first couple of episodes and wasn't impressed. Why is Shinji so angry at, and yet so eager to please, Gendo? Research I've done on the series makes Shinji seem silly for acting that way: Spoilers! Highlight to reveal: So Shinji's father abandoned him, and was responsible for the death of Shinji's mother? Shinji was a toddler at the time. Why didn't Shinji just form a fatherly bond with his teacher, or make new friends? Why does Shinji simper in front of Gendo, as if Gendo deserved his obeisance, instead of demanding the respect from his father that he, Shinji, deserves as a defender of the world? End Spoilers!  

[Wuyabi]

My second exposure was the tail end of the Adult Swim airing of Neon Genesis Evangelion, specifically, episodes 25 and 26. They were everything I ever hated about anime, a disorganized frenzy of pseudo-profundity, an out of control flight of ideas, a gleefully spiralling manic-high with a side of word salad.

Wait. Hold on. I see those tomatoes you have in your hands there.

Please, just hear me out for a second. Okay?

Okay.

Speaking of tomatoes, let’s talk about The Big O for a bit. I liked that show. It had style, humor, and it was what Dark City wanted to be but could never quite pull off. "But Big O didn't have a real ending!" you say! Maybe not... but it had character arcs. The characters grew and changed by the end of it. They grew better, they grew worse, but they certainly didn't remain static.

Can you honestly say that this is true of original series Shinji?  

[Wuyabi]

Now, I'm up to episode 13 of the original NGE series, and I've noticed something. Spoilers! Highlight to Reveal: Misato tells Shinji that he needs to care less about what other people think, implying that this is a way he can learn to trust in himself and become a stronger, happier person. At the end of the series, instead of doing that, Shinji declares that he is defined solely through how others perceive him, and since they perceive him as a coward, he is perfectly content to remain one. Spoilers! What the heck kind of ending is that?! A main character cannot be static! Where's the character arc, where's The Hero's Journey? Joseph Campbell is spinning in his grave! And if I disliked the series so far, why am I still talking... and why am I still watching?

Fanfiction, my friends. Constant surfing on TVTropes, as well as mention of the movies, sparked my reinterest, but it was the wikis listing of outstanding fanfiction that caught my eye... particularly one little crossover called "And If That Don't Work."

The character growth of the Children is very inorganic, and the author may have been better served focusing on and building up the hows and why the characters become what they become before getting all sciencey and cheerily violent.. but Spoilers! yippee-kai yo-kai-yay! Team Fortress 2! Team Fortress 2! I haven't even played the game and I love all of the characters! All of them! And, though I can see Dr. Insano of the Spoony Experiment contibuting his genes for science, I can't see him doting on Asuka, or putting up with her behavior... End Spoilers! Similiarly, what sparked my interest in more 'original flavor' fics are the epics "Aeon Natum Engel" and "Aeon Entelechy Evangelion." Spoilers! Remember how, in F.E.A.R. 2, Alma Wade was stated to be "the mother of the Apocalypse?" Now recall that in some languages, Alma means "soul"... End Spoilers!  

[Wuyabi]

So, I spoiled myself a little for the movies, generally considered to be a more positive take on the series.... I couldn’t help it. Now, I had to watch the whole series, movie included, at least to familiarize myself with the universe. Spoiler! It's especially important because the Rebuild series isn't just a reboot. It's a sequel. End Spoiler! And given my disappointment with the initial series, it oddly makes me anticipate seeing Rebuild more.  

[GLJordan]

yeah it pretty much stinks. basically it is so important because it was one of the first to do this but like watchman just doesn't hold up over time. thought rebuild was more a retelling than a sequel  

[ZimbuTessen]

I lost track of what series was real and what wasn't. All of those doujin I bought at every convention started to fog my mind. Highlight for spoilers: Was Shinji really the last Angel? I read one series where he in a sense becomes God, and destroys the world, and he and Asuka are together in the end, hence the cover of one of the End of Evangelion? Anyway, the new girl seems a bit too fanservice-y. Though I've stolen the whole "Smell obsession" for my rp character. End Spoilers.  

[Wuyabi]

ZimbuTessen

I lost track of what series was real and what wasn't. All of those doujin I bought at every convention started to fog my mind. Highlight for spoilers: Was Shinji really the last Angel? I read one series where he in a sense becomes God, and destroys the world, and he and Asuka are together in the end, hence the cover of one of the End of Evangelion? Anyway, the new girl seems a bit too fanservice-y. Though I've stolen the whole "Smell obsession" for my rp character. End Spoilers.

Spoilers: The last angel is, canonically, all of humanity. And in Rebuild 2.22, Kaworu, having just been introduced in this continuity, tells Shinji, "This time, I will make you happy!  

[Wuyabi]

Just finished the series and EoE... still wanna see the new movies, but Anno never got past his hangups on Camus and Freud, and seemed to take joy in being deliberately obtuse. I've decided something, too. I like Asuka. I like Rei. I dislike Shinji. Asuka and Rei's issues are understandable, organic, and it's the same with Ritsuko and Misato, too. I don't get Shinji. I just don't. He keeps running away, and getting dragged forward, instead of taking a step forward. He's completely reactive, instead of active. There's no character arc, and it's clear that by the end of EoE, his issues still aren't resolved.