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."

Summarized Plot

[Spy der Mann]

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.

a biomechanical combat robot...

[Anonymous Coward]

but is it faster than an electric car?

Re:Huh?

[IAmTheDave]

So what's the deal here? Nothing against the guy, but why is his opinion insightful?

You've got me... I was just looking for some solidarity ;)

Blasphemy!

[servognome]

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.

Can't you see how NGE completely changed anime! It brought a new and inspired story line of a teenage kid with social problems battling aliens in a giant robot... innovative ideas that had never been examined before!
Err wait... I guess I'm with you, anime is just like any other genre/media, there are a few great pearls of human insight, but in general its mass marketed garbage.

Please no more computer news

[SirTalon42]

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)

10 years...

[HitScan]

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

Re:manga sucks

[User 956]

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

Re:Yes, but...

[meringuoid]

...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.

Re:GITS

[meringuoid]

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

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

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

[Latinhypercube]

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.

Re:One of the more controversial things about Eva

[KDR_11k]

He's trying to stay in the spirit of the series.

Re:Summarized Plot

[oni]

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.

Re:9 years too many

[BobStikigreen]

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:Moderations to Show: -1 (Overrated)

[MsGeek]

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)

Re:Wow , American's who can't appreciate non US ar

[Anonymous Coward]

For maximum effect, read the parent post as Comic Book Guy!