10 Years of Neon Genesis Evangelion

smooth wombat writes "Mainichi Daily News has a lengthy, multi-part article on the history of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The article looks back at the 10 years since Evangelion appeared and how it changed the world of manga." From the article: "In a series of 26 episodes, Evangelion told the story of a 14-year-old boy called Shinji Ikari, who piloted a biomechanical combat robot called an Evangelion, which fought against mysterious extraterrestrial monsters known as Angels. But Shinji was also a regular junior high school pupil, and his school life featured strongly in the anime's plot too. As did psychotherapy and the Old Testament, which director Hideaki Anno attributed as influences while creating the series. Evangelion become a huge hit across Japan, attracting fans across generations, sparking a massive public debate over its controversial final episode -- which many criticized for leaving the work unfinished -- and sparking unprecedented merchandising sales that set the scene for the current manga market."

Congratulations!

Two of my friends collected all of these DVDs--yes, I realize there's cheaper unlicensed versions that are possibly of lower quality. One Saturday (with nothing else to do) we watched them all from morning to night.

I couldn't believe they had spent the ~$30 per 4 episodes [amazon.com] to collect this set!

If you don't care about spoilers or have seen all the episodes and movies, check out the Wiki page on it [wikipedia.org]. That has the best definitive analysis of this series that I've ever read. I know that since I am not a native Japanese speaker, I probably missed a lot of this implied meaning just by being preoccupied with reading the subbed script. I honestly always predicted something very Freudian about every relationship in the series but I think it was just because of the father figure and strange emotions that were sometimes appearant.

There's not much I can say without ruining any plot so I believe I'll hold my tongue.

Yes the episodes were good but I don't agree with:

...sparking a massive public debate over its controversial final episode -- which many criticized for leaving the work unfinished...

That's both ridiculous and preposterous! The episode completely wrapped up and

Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!

Re:Congratulations!

the whole series remastered on DVD is now 50 bucks and you can find it much cheaper. This is why I NEVER buy DVDs when they first come out, especially anime which is always extreamly overpriced to take advantage of the screaming more money than they know what to do with sex deprived otaku out there.

Re:Congratulations!

I never buy anime because I hate how there is never a single "definitive" edition -- something with all the extras of the all the previous editions.

Kindly name two examples other than Evangelion.

There is almost ALWAYS one, and only one, version of an anime TV series. What might be confusing you is that there are sometimes completely different programs based on the same story.

For example, there is a new TV series right now called "Ah, My Goddess", which is a completely different production from an earlier series (and an earlier OAV) of the same name. Each is a different show, just like how if you go to IMDB.COM, you can find about 200 different movies about the gunfight at the O.K. Corral (the best of which were probably "My Darling Clementine" and "Tombstone.")

Re:a permenant mind f*ck

Could never stand Shinji. But the point of Shinji, as I saw it, was that he's the part every geek hates about himself. I frequently wanted to punch Shinji because his continuous weakness hit way too close to home. Would I go pilot the giant robot? HELL YEAH! Would I dare even try to talk to Ayanami? Nope. I'd go to pieces. Melt into yellow goo twenty episodes early.

So I scream at Shinji for his pathetic weakness when he runs away from having to pilot Eva, because I can't scream at his weakness in dealing with Rei, Asuka and Misato...

Re:a permenant mind f*ck

The first (End of Evangelion) was basically a re-hash of the series, very little new content. The second is "Death and Rebirth" which was Hideko Anno's response to people complaints about episodes 25 and 26.

Other way round. Death and Rebirth was a clip-show of the series, followed by the first half of End of Evangelion (Air). EoE was the full alternate ending, consisting of some awesome battles followed by a brainfuck.

Huh?

I understood about two words of that. Anyone else just not that impressed with Manga and Anime in general? I feel that I'm doing an injustice to my geek heritage, but I just don't appreciate it like some do.

Re:Huh?

OK, here goes:

The Three-Minute Summary of NGE

NGE is the story of a program initiated by a secret council of powerful old men in order to make themselves immortal. The program uses genetic material from "aliens" (who are actually not aliens, but rather the original inhabitants of Earth, related to humans but not the same species) to create living "robots" that can only be operated by children who have been traumatically separated from their mothers - the bodily fluids of the mothers are used to provide an interface to the "robots". The original plan was to have the old men take over an immortal fusion of human and "robot", but this was hijacked by the lead scientist on the project who was aiming to be reunited with his dead wife (the mother of one of the child pilots). This also goes awry, and the result is that all of humanity undergoes an involuntary fusion with everybody else, but this is interrupted by the rejection of this union by the child pilot who acts as the medium for the unification, when he realises it will mean those closest to him being able to know his most secret thoughts. The ending is ambiguous as to how the whole mess works out.

Re:Huh?

Honestly, my main reason for liking Anime (some atleast, not all... it is a rather broad spectrum you know) is that it's not American TV. It's not crappy re-runs, it's not "reality tv" which sucks the perverbal donkey, nor is it overhyped "funny" shows that aren't that funny. It is what it is and it's different. The perspectives on issues are different, the way it's drawn is different, the plot and humor is different, etc. It's like drinking a glass of soda after having nothing but water for years. Sure they're both refreshing, but the soda is more interesting to your palette.

I used to watch a lot of it, I still watch a decent amount when taken in a percentage to the amount of TV/movies I watch, but in the end I it's because I end up choosing the Anime, it wasn't forced on me.

Re:Huh?

Yes, but haven't you seen a bunch of this before, too?

I liked the giant robot teens in Voltron.

It wasn't particularly well-drawn or anything, but it was different. And there were a lot of shows like that.

Now, though, anime kids with giant robots has become a genre. And the differences are smaller even than the differences between sitcoms! Dexter's lab actually spent a whole episode making fun of it. At this point, that's what it's good for.

Right now, I see three genres of anime that are on TV:
1) actual new stories
2) giant robots - same old shows, but now designed to get kids to buy giant robot action figures to play with.
3) cards/animals/toys that help people fight or fight themselves. Designed to get kids to buy cards/animals/toys because those things make the kid better at the things the characters on the show do, and therefore better people.

I can't stomach the last kind at all. The second kind is just annoying. The only ones I even consider are the first kind.

If you care: Eva is criticical of anime fandom

I really dig Evangelion. I recognize it for being a fairly uneven mess, which tends to be very repetitive. One of its biggest problems is that you sort of have to watch the whole thing, or at least most of it, to get everything that's going on -- and yet it's way too long to ask anyone to actually sit down and do that.

I also thought the original ending was pretty lame... but if you add to it the re-done, arguably "real" ending seen in End of Evangelion, [imdb.com] it's great! Really harrowing, and leaves you scratching your head with that "what the fuck?" feeling you get after seeing "2001: A Space Odyssey" for the first time. (Interestingly enough, that article includes at least one screen cap from End of Evangelion, without ever mentioning that exists and wasn't part of the original 26 episodes.)

Yeah, a lot of the religious stuff in Evangelion seems tacked-on. It's more accurately described as "pseudo-religious" anyway, because aside from stealing a bunch of names from old Christian mythology it doesn't really have much of anything to do with Christianity. That's OK, though -- it makes it interesting. I'll take a show that even pretends to make you think, as some people are accusing Evangelion of, than one that doesn't even try at all. Patrick McGoohan's "The Prisoner" is another show that comes to mind that's vulnerable to a lot of criticism, but if you watch it with an open mind it can be very rewarding.

The psychoanalytical stuff in Evangelion is more interesting than the religious stuff. A lot of people here describe it as "Freudian," but while I don't know a whole lot about the various schools of psychoanalysis, I don't know if that's strictly accurate. What it does do is try to get inside the heads of these characters in a way that is, at times, profoundly disturbing (if you've managed to pay attention through the whole show).

One thing that's probably lost on a lot of American, non-otaku audiences, though, is that much of what was going on in Evangelion was meant to be sort of a criticism of otaku culture. Early episodes of Evangelion regularly feature teasers of the next episode that promise lots of "fan service" [wikipedia.org] and seem to make it clear that it's meant to be the ultimate show for fans. But the later, more psychological episodes try to delve in to the characters' minds, many of whom have personality traits that the producers of the show thought were common in anime fandom in Japan.

The long and the short of it: That joke about Slashdot people living in their parents' basements, watching anime? That's how the creator of Evangelion saw anime fandom, basically.

The main character of Evangelion, Shinji, is extremely introverted in a way that a lot of Japanese anime fans are. He can't connect with girls, or with anyone really. He feels his parents can't understand him, and has a bad relationship with him. Then he discovers that he can pilot this giant robot and it makes him feel worthwhile. His fellow pilots have this same feeling too; they begin to feel worthless if they are no longer able to fly the giant robots. In that sense, you could say the purpose of the larger pseudo-religious conspiracy storyline going on in the background is really just to point out, Meanwhile there's a whole big world going on out there. All the characters are just too wrapped up in themselves and their angst to see it at first. Shinji's main character arc is his discovery of himself as an individual and coming to terms with what it means to be an adult living in the world.

This subject matter isn't going to appeal to everyone. If you aren't interested in fun stories about cool-looking giant robots battling alien monsters, then the first few episodes aren't going to appeal to you at all. But if you can't get that far, then the later episodes are going to seem hollow, silly, and contrived. Basically, though Evangelion has a broad audience, if there's no part of y

Summarized Plot

For those who want the spoilers, here's the summarized plot of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Shinji: My life sucks, I want to die! :'(
Rei: ...
Asuka: Stupid Shinji.

THE END.

Re:Summarized Plot

That was a summary of a single episode. Here is a summary of the entire series:

First couple of episode: OMFG THIS IS AN AWESOME GIANT ROBOT ANIME!!11oneone

Next dozen or so episode: actually, we can stretch this out a lot farther if we make it an underage sex comedy, because there aren't nearly enough of those.

Last few episode: ok ok sorry, we'll get serious. there, look, we killed someone. isn't that cool?

Final episode: whatever. it was all a dream. we don't even care anymore.

Fans: w-t-f ??? we are going murder you!

Movie: fine, he's a movie. Just pretend that the last episode never happened and watch this movie.

a biomechanical combat robot...

but is it faster than an electric car?

Seriously...

I love anime, I run a local anime society here in Wales, I even like Evangelion....but seriously....does this REALLY need a /. article?

Thank you Evangelion

For creating a generation of anime and video game creators who

• don't finish the story they started writing
• just throw in random religious and psychological references and think they have a "deep" story
• star whiny teenage wimps as the hero of the show

Re:Thank you Evangelion

C'mon, now, be fair:

- Thank you, Star Wars, for inspiring a generation of crappy Sci-Fi space operas
- Thank you, Seinfeld, for causing another cycle of lousy sitcoms, just when the idea seemed to have run it's course
- Thank you, Doom, for all the dozens of shitty FPS that flooded the game industry in the mid-90's

All dated examples, but they've already run their course, so they're good examples. LotR will be responsible for lousy new fantasy, you can be sure; and Spiderman is to blame for all the lousy new superhero movies in theatres these days. Any classic will be imitated, badly; that doesn't mean you should stop making classics. IMHO, Neon Genesis is a really, really weird sorta classic. It's weirdness is classic, and oh-so-refreshing. I agree with theJML here; Anime is Japanese TV, nothing more or less; but when you're sick as hell of sitcoms, reality TV, home renovation shows, and music videos, discovering Anime is like reaching the New World and discovering chocolate and potatoes. It's still just food, but it's a welcome change from old salt pork and pickled cabbage.

Asuka was ten times as "manly"

...as Shinji.

Er, so I've heard.

Moderations to Show: -1 (Overrated)

I don't mean to troll, but I find zero appeal in the show. It falls in the category I call "psuedo-literature," a group which includes works that try so very hard to actually be quality literature, but ironically, trying so hard ruins the whole exercise. The writers for the show obviously through from the start that they were going to write a grand epic; they put enough twists and turns into the plot to get people convinced, even. If it's that complicated, it HAS to be good, right?

Wrong. The quality of a piece of literature isn't in its complexity, it's actually in the simple, easily apparent parts. The complexity adds dimensions to the simple story, but it does not add meaning itself, and often *confuses* meaning by adding extraneous material in the attempt to make "a really cool story."

So that leaves us with Evangelion, admired by hordes and spurned by people who are described by said hordes as "not getting it." Perhaps there's just not that much to get? Perhaps you're adding too much into a reading, because they left so much hanging you constructed around the work? That's not literature. Literature guides your faculties, it doesn't fool them and then expect them to expand things past the breaking point.

To wit, look at shakespeare. Generally, a couple rich people who get in trouble with someone else, and either laugh it off or die. The end. The complexity is internalized in the characters; the plot itself is simple. That is why Shakespeare is Shakespeare, and Evangelion is just another mecha anime.

Re:Moderations to Show: -1 (Overrated)

"So that leaves us with Evangelion, admired by hordes and spurned by people who are described by said hordes as "not getting it." Perhaps there's just not that much to get?"

Frankly, I think you've hit the nail on the head - and I think you'll probably be crucified on /. for it.

I've got to admit I wasted a few hours of my life watching Evangelion recently, after hearing so much about it from a couple friends. Here's my impressions of the series:

Start of series
Producer: "Hey, let's make an anime about mecha! That always sells!
Writer: "Great idea!"

Roughly halfway through the series
Producer: "This really isn't very good - let's turn it into a mystical/psychological story!"
Writer: "Great idea!"

Three episodes before the end
Producer: "I have no idea how to wrap this up - let's get totally hammered for the next few weeks!"
Writer: "GREAT IDEA!!"

Re:Moderations to Show: -1 (Overrated)

Start of series
Producer: "Hey, let's make an anime about mecha! That always sells!
Writer: "Great idea!"

No, more like:
Producer: Anno-san! We really like your mecha! Could you do a series with lots of mecha?
Anno Hideaki: Hai hai...if it's mecha you want, mecha you get...

Roughly halfway through the series
Producer: "This really isn't very good - let's turn it into a mystical/psychological story!"
Writer: "Great idea!"

Producer: Anno-san, WTF is all this mystical/psychological/Qabalistic crap you're throwing into the series?
Anno Hideaki: Trust me.

Three episodes before the end
Producer: "I have no idea how to wrap this up - let's get totally hammered for the next few weeks!"
Writer: "GREAT IDEA!!"

Producer: Anno! We aren't happy with the most recent shows, ratings are diving, we're cutting your funding...now finish it!
Anno Hideaki: (has nervous breakdown)

Final Episode

It reminded me alot of the end of Kubrick's 2001. Alot of weird cutscenes and other stuff that didnt flow much with the rest of the series, other than Shinji's constant whining about his meaningless life. The only thing the final episode seemed to accomplish was his breakthrough in finding meaning and definition for his life, which was completely distracted from the main plot (destroying the Angels with the Eva's). I heard that the Evangelion movie (possibly more than 1?) that he made after the end of the series cleared up alot more, but I have yet to see it/them. My brother had the whole series 5+ years ago, and I was supprised to see it just now aired on Cartoon network.

Tm

Re:Final Episode

The actual, underlying premise and plot is pretty straightforward and coherent... at least what I see. They just didn't drop it in your lap like many other stories do, and instead presented you with a "giant robot anime" facade and a lot of character development.

Spoiler warning, although this is strictly my personal interpretation of the story.

--

The underlying premise is an attempt to describe the nature of the human soul.

When you are first conceived, you have no soul. (Rei is the key to this interpretation, as this is pretty much the reason she exists IMHO)

As you grow, your soul is constructed by copying parts of the souls belonging to the people you interact with (including pre-birth interactions though the womb). Individuality and personality arises from the unique mixture of these copied portions and personal experiences. This is important to understand the ending.

The concept of the "Absolute Terror Field" is introduces as a barrier that keeps each soul separate. (Although throughout the series it is also manifested as a physical barrier). This is also important to understand the ending, as well as a few things throughout the story.

Because of the above, no single soul can ever be "complete", with the exception of the "First" - Adam and Eve (From the Genesis account of the creation of life) and, from a particular interpretation/version, Adam's first wife Lilith - Eve being the third with an unnamed second wife - who is actually the one who mankind is descended from). The creation of man caused the separation of these "perfect" souls.

Man discovers the "First Angel" - which they name Adam - In Antarctica. While trying to capture him/it, it self destructs and causes what is refereed to as "Second Impact". However, man was able to recover a portion of Adam. (And, apparently, most of Lilith)

The "Human Instrumentality Project" mentioned in the series intended to 'fix' this problem and get all of the imperfect, partial souls to recombine into a new perfect soul - and supposedly usher in the next major step in man's evolution, and becoming closer to God.

NERV and the EVAs were essentially a front for the whole operation. (I still haven't been able to pin down exactly how the Angels themselves work into it. Maybe they're pissed that man has stolen Adam and want him back?)

At the end (This is in EoE), Rei rejoins Lilith - from which she was directly created. Lilith's/Rei's soul is thus completed, and begins the "Third Impact" by neutralizing the AT fields of all life on the planet, which removed the barriers keeping the souls apart.

Rei's soul then becomes the nexus of this event, in which all souls are being recombined into a single, "perfect" soul. But Rei was created by Gendo Ikari without a soul of her own. His plan was to impress enough of his soul into Rei so he could be at the center of the event, which is why he was always so protective of and spent so much time with her. Ultimately, it was Shinji's soul who had the most influence, and so he became the center of it all.

In the end, all life on the planet was essentially destroyed and Shinji (with his now perfect, complete soul) effectively becomes God. The last two episodes are basically about him thinking about his life, having dialog with the other character's, reflecting on everything, and eventually deciding he would like to continue existing along with everyone else.

Pretentious? You bet! But the whole giant robot thing was actually very superficial to the actual story. Inserting EoE before the last two episiodes really, really helped put it all together.
=Smidge=

10 years...

And they still don't know what the fuck it's about.

One of the more controversial things about Eva

One of the more controversial things about Eva is some of the scarier linkups that (thankfully for ADV) havn't been widely reported. A few years back I was on staff with a large anime con, and talked with ADV staff about Eva. One of the things they mentioned was that they got heat from the police because both the Columbine Killers [wikipedia.org] and Hale Bopp Crowd [wikipedia.org] apparently were big fans of Eva, and the police stopped by to have a word with ADV.

One of the more interesting connections was also with Aum Shinrikyo. Apparently at least one of the assistant directors on Eva was a member of Aum Shinrikyo. Anno himself mentions this, and also mentions that he started writing eva right around when the Aum Shinrikyo attack occured. Aum Shinrikyo apparently also used Eva tapes for recuriting afterwords, but apparently stopped after GAINAX started complaining.

How did it change the world of Manga?

The anime got critical acclaim/notice for being so weird, timing, and all it's judeo christian references. The manga isn't finished yet, and does not follow the anime strictly. Really the anime was pretty poorly written, the creators are definitely clever and creative, but it was clear they didn't have much plan for the series and just got lucky (in america at least.)

Anime came first, was written and directed by otaku-loved crazyboy hideki anno. The manga is written and illustrated by the character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. The relation between the two is pretty loose. The manga is actually being written well, if slowly.

Overrated

Neon Genesis Evangelion was widely acclaimed, and IMO overrated. The main reason for the weird ending on first show was caused by lack of funds (did you see the drop in animation from episode 21?) Hideaki Anno, the director, and surely a person with a huge ego, didn't like the criticisms and lashed out at everyone in a Newtype interview published shortly after the end of the series. The subsequent movies and "final episodes", aside being a display of an incoherent plot, are just his revenge against those who didn't "understand" him. As for the so-called references... I firmly believe there is no "second meaning" in Evangelion. There are a lot of things thrown at the viewer, but I don't find any real sense. I suspect they were put in just to "look cool" and have people think a lot about nothing. The consequences on the anime market were sadly bad (a whole round of series with stories that made no sense) but more on the fandom, since they're now convinced that everything that looks "strange" on a series MUST be tied to "hidden meaning". Examples are in The Soul Taker, or Shojo Kakumei Utena, where there is no trace of a hidden meaning, but the extreme oddity of the situations "spices up" what could have been a pretty basic storyline.

Imagine the torture...

... of having to say "Mustn't run away! Mustn't run away!" for 10 years.

Wow , American's who can't appreciate non US art ?

How suprising ? Actually I am suprised how much this series has got flamed here. Comparisons to Starwars ? Are you joking ? Starwards is for 5year olds, please, the only deep references it has are swords and magic powers. Hellboy, oh my god, what a piece of crap that was. Honestly if your going to shoot down an animation like Evangelion at least have something better as an example of what works. Evangelion transcends ANY sci-fi I have watched since 2001(the film). Anyone who does not understand it's references or considers them as shallow, simply does not understand the show. Which is to be expected in the US, where all that counts are the number of explosions and pairs of tits.

I mustn't run away!

I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away! I mustn't run away!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Whiny shinji.
I remember one of the highlights of my trip to the states (from the UK) in 2001 was going round the dvd and comic shops looking for NGE on DVD, and i spent all my traveling money on the complete set as there were no plans to release it on dvd in the UK. The first 2 DVDs having 4 episodes which was ok, but 3 on the rest was a little steep, considering the last 2 episodes being a wonder in no-budget production.

I also picked up the first DVD of serial experiment lain, but thats another story...

10 Year of Trying to Get It (or Not)

Evangelion is actually what got me back into anime. I grew up on Battle of the Planets and Robotech and I was glad to actually have some anime that messed with my mind more and actually had a descent dubbing/subtitling going for it. I like Akira too but that never made much sense until they got around to dubbing/subbing the full version of the movie.

I just picked up the platinum thinpak at Christmas time (for only $40 and its the US release) and I throughly enjoyed watching it all the way through again. Its one of those things you have to experience, not sit around pontificating about some hidden meaning that isn't there. Now, I just need to pickup those movies; its been quite a while since I saw them because I saw them when the fansubs first hit over here.

The Evas weren't "just robots".

In fact, they weren't robots at all. Labeling them as such is actually very misleading and contradictory to the plot. If I were to label them anything, cyborg is probably the closest word I'd use to describe them, and even that's not really very accurate. I can't say further without spoiling anything for folks who may or may not have watched or read anything related to the series.

The Evas are very, very important to the plot. They aren't just some mechs that were added in just for the coolness factor (though they certainly do add that). There is a very lengthy background concerning their creation, origin, and ultimate purpose. The fact that most people will watch maybe the first handful of episodes and then dismiss it as nothing more than a "mechs kill shit" series leads to the wrong ideas about what this series actually is. The Evas aren't just used for killing humanity's enemies. They're used in both political and personal agendas, and oddly enough, the Evas, well, damn, almost gave something else away.

I made it a point to watch the entire series several times to try and pick up on things I missed. End of Evangelion pretty much confirmed a lot of my suspicions about the true motivations behind the simultaneous projects going on, almost all of which were connected somehow. Granted, it went almost a bit too far with the "what the hell?" mindfuck aspect near the end of the movie, but it was an interesting picture and merely one person's interpretation of Judeo-Christian themes.

So, to dismiss this series as "just another giant robot anime" is pretty short-sighted, in my humble opinion. I'll admit that it takes a while for it to really get started, but when it does, it runs full-on.

RahXephon

If you want a series similar to Evagelion, I suggest checking out RahXephon [wikipedia.org]. In my opinion it's vastly superior to Neon Genesis in almost every way. Better artwork, better story (and more understandable), less annoying characters and some decent humor. Oh, and giant frickin' robots. Where would anime be without giant robots? RahXephon also has a lot of symbolism and mystery, and a lot of things that really set it apart from NGE. I shouldn't give anything away. I'm only on episode 20 myself...

Negativity misses the point of the article

There's a lot of "Eva sucks" posts here at the moment. They're right of course; Eva featured some pretty awful characters, crashed and burned on the ending etc. But the point of the article isn't that Eva was a fantastic work of literature. Rather, Eva was the genesis of a new form of shows, unafraid of losing the children's audience in the pursuit of creating something wonderful. Whether Eva itself accomplished this is moot; the point is that it inspired a broad following within the author's community to create new and wonderful things.

Think of it this way: without Eva, FLCL couldn't have been made.

Current Manga Market

IMHO the current Manga market has less to do with "Old Hardcore Otaku" series and more to do with Men introducing their Girlfriends to things like "Cardcaptor Sakura" as a way to ease them into the truth about their Hentai stash.
After anime series like "Sailor Moon" and "Cardcaptor Sakura", both of which are based off of Manga, got market share the much lusted after and hitherto nearly non-existent female comic book market was open to conquest.

An oft-missed point

One thing alot of the "eva sucks" posts are missing is that the series was *supposed* to be a franchise for kids. Really, they just wanted to make toys from it. But somehow Anno got ahold of it, and while the deepness of it and whether certain things are superficial or add to the mood and atmosphere is debatable, it certainly broke the mold for... pretty much everything. It wouldn't of been notable at all except for the changes made, and it was a mishmash of design, so I give it props for what it does well father than where it supposedly slips.

Certain aspects of it are really amazingly cool, and I think the live action eva movies have great potential. I have almost no faith that potential will be fufilled, but the concept art looks great and I wish I were in charge of it. Make Shinji less of a whiny pussy but still downtrodden (perhaps knock their ages up to, say 17 or 18?), make some parts less corny but still funny, a little dialogue editing to clarify what is going on and why it happend and make characters seem believable and reduce the immature angstiness, a little work on certain action scenes, and it could be freakishly kick ass and epic. It's ideas like this that make me want to go into the film industry (yeah, that's right, I DO think I could do a better job than most movies, although it would be a while before I could seriously try to). I probably wouldn't start with this though...

It is very much a love/don't get/hate series. I rank it up with Cowboy Bebop, but consider Bebop better because of its universal appeal. Bebop is not everyone's favorite of all time, but I don't know anyone that has seen a good amount of it and doesn't like it.

On a side note, I also really like Haibane Renmei (yeah, I'm a guy, say whatever but I like it. Fuck you.), Cowboy Bebop, FLCL, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, and Miyazaki's work.

For the record, I hate long and popular series ESPECIALLY DBZ, Inu-yasha (DBZ for girls! Better when it was called Fushigi-Yugi!), and Naruto. GITS and SAC have some cool stuff but aren't really good.

Anime sucks as much as American movies and TV, but has its gems too, and combine both gem piles together and you've got a nice selection. I really don't like much of it at all, but what I do like stands up to anything from Hollywood or on cable.

Daily daily news

'Mainichi Daily News'? So that's 'Daily Daily News', then? Bit like 'PIN number', that one...

Neon Genesis and Intelligence Design

Ok. I like the series when I first saw it 10 years ago. I picked up the DVDs two months ago and spent a weekend and watch it again. Just so happen that I was doing some readings on Intelligence Design. I felt that there are some implications of Intelligence Design embedded in the series. Well, regardless, the series is pretty entertaining for manga fan.

The "Not everything sucks about NGE" theory.

A lot of people seem to have gotten caught up with the bashing of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and it really doesn't look like they've considered the time which the series comes from.

Before the run of Neon Genesis, the primary icons of Japanese anime (series like Dragon Ball, Gundam, Urusei Yatsura, Astro Boy, Transformers) were based around characters who innately had strong moral groundings from the start of the series and featured little character development over their runs. Instead, most of the focus in previous titles was on growing intensity of situations within the characters' worlds (for example, Goku in Dragon Ball faced progressively stronger opponents in increasingly ridiculous conditions, while as a character he didn't develop his strong sense of justice).

Much like the few highly-acclaimed titles before it (namely Akira), Neon Genesis was entirely different to the current Anime market. Shinji, Asuka, Rei and the supporting cast relied on themselves and each other to tackle physical and emotional obstacles, and oftentimes failed. In addition, Shinji started as a weak, self-pitying individual who was forced to grow and adapt to his situation; he was far more identifiable with the audience than other leads in the previous twenty years of Anime. Contrary to the many righteous characters of previous series, he was spiteful, reserved and perverted - something that was pretty much unique given the time. Graphically, the series isn't stunning but you've gotta appreciate the fact that the series is so introspective and focused on humanity and interaction between typical Japanese characters.

As for people who question the value of an article celebrating 10 years of NGE, I implore you to realise that the series has been extremely influential in Anime for this past decade, in that it set the stage for new series to pay more attention to the concept of 'self' and the development of characters rather than circumstances.

So yeah. If you ran a NERV logo up a flagpole, I'd still salute it these days.

Missing the point

I think people are missing the point here a bit. The significance of Evangelion goes a long way beyond it being a reasonably good anime series. If that was all that it had going for it, then it wouldn't have been as popular for as long as it has been.

The fact is that Evangelion changed the whole market. It proved that you could be successful by focusing on characters, and more importantly dealing with mature, adult situations. This is not to say that there weren't a number of serious anime series that predated it - Gundam comes to mind as an example - but Evangelion truly was a revolution in terms of style in the medium. Add to that the fact that it was pretty much the first thing to make a killing by merchandising the characters, rather than having a huge amount of robots to build model kits from (the Bandai approach) and you realise that, while it may not be that good, it was one of the most significant milestones in the development of just about every aspect of modern anime, both the good and the bad. It may be a bit of a right-place-at-the-right-time thing - if Evangelion hadn't been there, something else certainly would have come along.

Unfortunately both ADV Films and Gainax have flogged the series mercilessly. It was the first production by Gainax to have actually made a profit, and I think at this point re-releasing it in box sets over and over is about all that is keeping ADV afloat after their drunken license-everything-we-can anime binge a few years back and the general failure of their Anime network.

Re:manga sucks

Then go for Manga, not Hentai.

Re:GITS

Considering she's 99% cyborg, how is GITS any different than other inside-a-robot animes? It's one of the underlying themes of the series.

Just like evangelion just uses the powerful imagery of mecha as a vehicle of introspection into human psychology.

Re:Please no more cartoon news

Not truth so much as close-mindedness on your part. A lot of anime has plotlines and characters that put things like 24 or Lost to shame. Watch before you judge- just because you grew up with Walt Disney doesn't mean that all things animated are for kids.

Please no more computer news

When is /. going to grow up and quit covering this nonsense. No adult CARES about these silly computers. Grow up guys.

(mod me down if you wish... that doesn't change the truth)

Re:Please no more cartoon news

Oh oh, we might as well get "Tonight Show" on cnn cancelled, comedy network abolished, hollywood closed.

Its another form of ENTERTAINMENT man ! And quite impressive and sometimes quite hilarious one indeed !

Maybe it is their "Work too much, be in good diciplinline, tradition" heritage, but japanese can really crack themselves and the audience up with what they do as entertainment.

Some of the mind-bending laughter i had over my whole life were from animes.

You would do better to take a more positive view and try out some of the more prominent anime titles.

Re:Please no more cartoon news

No adult CARES about these silly cartoons.

Actually, Evangelion didn't start to get really popular in Japan until it was shown in a timeslot that was targeted torwards adults.

Eva is a very intricate and complex series that appeals to adults more than children.

Re:manga sucks

way too much tentacle rape you misspelled "not enough".

Re:Yes, but...

...do the computers they use in the anime run Linux?

The only time we saw a recognisable interface, it looked like MS-DOS. And it had a two-letter dictionary password.

and on the other side...

flyyyyyyy me to the moooooon and let me siiiiiiiing amongtst the staaaars

Re:GITS

This is just yet another person in a giant robot suit anime.

Yeah, right, troll. Your mum's a giant robot.

Re:let me be the first to sing...

SHOUNEN NA SHINWA NI NARE!

Re:GITS

Media is so redundant these days. I mean, why did they even make Saving Private Ryan when The Longest Day had already been filmed? Why even write Paradise Lost and Paradise Found when the Divine Comedy had already been written?

I'm not saying that Evangelion is a timeless classic, but it's no Voltron. If you get nothing more out of it than "person in a giant robot," you should probably stop watching anything more complicated than romantic comedies.

Re:9 years too many

This is one of the best series anime has to offer

No, it's not. As is repeatedly demonstrated with other genres and other media, just because something is popular doesn't mean that it's not tripe.

and it's not THAT great.

Yes, NGE isn't that great. However, it does have the ability to appeal to a wide range of people. I related to it because I empathize with Shinji; I understand the mindfuck at the end. That doesn't mean that I think it's the best or even really that good.

Re:9 years too many

You can't go judging all of anime based on just one series.

Despite its problems, there are some interesting elements in Eva. It's just unfortunate that the execution of the show leaves...something...to be desired.

The show did run out of time and money - something that happens quite often. After all, Eva was being marketed as a TV series product - not as a piece of art.

Eva wasn't even the first show that the studio had problems with regarding money or time... The story goes, that one of their earlier works was a direct-to-video series called Gunbuster (which STILL hasn't been released on DVD in the US. GRRRR!) ran out of time and money. So, they took a risk and released the final episode in black and white. This time they got lucky. The dark look of the epiosde worked well and helped underscore the desparation the characters faced.

In the case of Eva, they weren't so lucky. The main writer had suffered a nervous breakdown, and the TV stations were demanding that the show be wrapped up on time.

At any rate, you should not - and can not - judge all of anime by just one or two series. You must remember that anime is not a single genre intended for a single audience. Just like with American TV and movies, there are different genres and different audiences.

And despite what you may think, there are plenty of good stories being told via anime. Unfortunatly, there's also a lot of garbage out there. But if you keep an open mind and keep looking, I'm sure you'll find something.

I would put forth Cowboy Bebop as a show you should look into. It's perhaps one of the best titles for introducing the potential that the medium can accomplish. It's not a kid show, but isn't hyper-violent and graphic like Akira. While it does incorporate some sci-fi elements, it's really just a human drama that deals with a wide variety of issues while not being "too Japanese" in its philosophies or actions. And, finally, it has an excellent English voice-over.

Re:9 years too many

Remember kids, When offered to pilot the giant mecha the answer is always "yes", not "waaaaah waaaaaaah, daddy didn't love me". Freeking whiney little waste! Daddy just offered you a GIANT MECHA, this should more then make up for all the time he missed Little League while he was busy SAVING THE WORLD! Did Rick Hunter shy away from the Veritech when it crashed in his neighborhood, never!! Did Wildstar dodge the draft and cry when he had to serve on the Yamato, nay, he volunteered!! This is how good decent Anime characters should act.

Re:Yes, but...

Probably OpenStep ;) Close the world. TXeN eht nepO (quasi-obscure reference, I hope someone gets it)