| 1 | For tropes related to ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', go [[YMMV/RebuildOfEvangelion here]]. |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder:General]] |
| 6 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: |
| 7 | ** Most of the fight scenes of the anime are very visually impressive, especially considering the production issues the show faced. |
| 8 | ** ''The End of Evangelion'' also easy qualifies. Even the more visceral and gory moments are beautifully animated, with Asuka's fight with the MP Evas taking the cake. It was like Gainax was pulling out all the stops to compensate for the original ending's LimitedAnimation. |
| 9 | * BrokenBase: |
| 10 | ** In the west, the divide continues between those still singing ''Neon Genesis Evangelion''[='=]s praises and those who feel it hasn't aged particularly well. It doesn't help that some like to attach ''Evangelion'' to other series that copy it. |
| 11 | ** The infamous Best Girl wars between Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu (carrying over to Shikinami as of the ''Rebuild'' continuity). As the name would suggest, for a long time fans used to fight each other over which girl is better, as well as which one is the better suited for Shinji. For a while, at least according to old popularity polls and [[ReiAyanamiExpy Anime-related cultural impact]], it would seem that Rei was winning this war. However, in recent years due to a change in perspective and Asuka receiving more spotlight, the tide turned to put Asuka in a higher position, where she’s beaten Rei in several of more recent polls. WordOfGod lampshaded these wars in an old interview, saying that Rei lost her mystery after becoming known to fans. |
| 12 | ** Beyond the conflicts of the fanbase over ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', the manga also gets this. Starting initially as a modified adaptation of the anime around the time the series started, ScheduleSlip took it ''two decades'' to finish with a story that ends up with a radically different conclusion. This and things like Shinji [[AdaptationalBadass manning up significantly and being much more functional,]] and [[AdaptationDistillation plot changes and alterations]] here and there divided fans between which adaptation was better. Like FirstInstallmentWins below, however, the anime is still considered the overall better product. |
| 13 | ** The performance of Creator/TiffanyGrant, Asuka's English voice actress, is this for some. Fans find her voice endearing, appreciate her more over-the-top histrionics and more fluent German than in the original, and consider Grant to be the definitive voice for Asuka (despite being a dubbed version), while detractors find that she sounds too old,[[note]]Grant was [[DawsonCasting around 28-29]] when first recording Asuka's voice, which regardless is far from unusual,[[/note]] scratchy, whiny and generally annoying. Her performance, like the rest of the dub, has become somewhat VindicatedByHistory by her improved performances as Asuka in the ''Rebuild'' English dubs as well as Stephanie [=McKeon=]'s performance in the Netflix dub being considered by some to be dull and generic in comparison. |
| 14 | ** The same goes double for the same character in the first Latin American Spanish dub used by Locomotion and her voice actress, the late Norma Echevarria. This is partly because she was likely cast as Asuka due to the fact she was the only Mexican voice actress at the time able to speak German in a fluent way, despite Echevarria being an older voice actress at the time, and she was normally typecasted into voicing adult or mature, motherly voices, and not kids like Asuka, something she received a lot of flak for at first. And just like Grant, some detractors complained about her voice being unfit for a younger girl, while others genuinely liked her performance, especially later on in the series, considering that, unlike both the original Japanese, the English dub and later Spanish dubs, she also spiced the dialogue with lots of [[ForeignCussWord German profanities]] and [[GratuitousGerman words]]. |
| 15 | * CriticalBacklash: Throughout the 2000's and early 2010's, championing ''Evangelion'' as the most overrated and pretentious show in the world ended up becoming a more commonplace cliché than actually liking it in the open, which resulted in a lot of people becoming ''more'' annoyed with that than any praising it got. By the start of the 2020's, openly admitting to liking ''NGE'' generally became more acceptable again, partly because of this and partly because most of its former detractors simply moved on from it. |
| 16 | * CriticalDissonance: Has been almost unanimously positively reviewed by professional anime/manga critics, yet it's a ''very'' divisive series within the world of anime fandom (in the west anyway), partly due to the ''very'' [[AngstAversion dark tone]], a [[DysfunctionJunction dysfunctional cast]], and [[GainaxEnding an ending that was hard for many to understand]], among others. In fact, saying you like it in certain places, you might as well call yourself a snob. Once again, [[AmericansHateTingle this is mostly a western phenomena]], as in Japan it’s still extremely popular and highly praised. |
| 17 | * CommonKnowledge: The notion that ''Eva'' was the first to "deconstruct" the mecha genre and all mecha shows before it were just toy commercials, a claim often repeated by diehard fans in the early days of the internet, and still somewhat widespread today. The first deconstructions of the mecha genre actually came two decades earlier with ''Anime/BraveRaideen'' and ''Anime/Zambot3'', with ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' completely destroying any prejudice that mecha shows had to be [[MerchandiseDriven purely merchandise oriented]]. |
| 18 | ** The notion that ''Evangelion'' causes existential fear. At one point this claim was touted as one of the show's highlights, and proof it's completely dark and dead-serious. While the ending is pretty well known, ''End of Evangelion's'' gruesome final fight even moreso, the violence mostly causes a "wow" reaction or no reaction at all among most who watch it for the first time rather than some vaguely defined existential fear. |
| 19 | ** The notion that ''Evangelion'' is the deepest an anime will ever be. An exaggeration of the deconstruction claims, this particular case of common knowledge was spread by anime critics and really die-hard fans who regularly consume ''hours and hours'' worth of Website/YouTube analyses trying to make any sense (and utterly failing to do so) of the supposed "[[FauxSymbolism symbolism]]". The basic message, "open up to others because otherwise you may never have a healthy life" is actually really simple to grasp, and something a vast majority of the viewers manages to keep in the end. |
| 20 | ** The weird case where most of the fandom gets a character's ''ethnic background'' wrong. Most of the fandom has, for years, been convinced that Asuka was half German (on her father's side) and half Japanese (on her mother's side). This became the accepted belief about her ethnicity to the point where the vast majority of fan fiction featuring her has this be her ethnic background and feature her having a German father. This is completely wrong. Asuka is half Caucasian American (of indeterminate ethnic background) on her father's side, and a quarter German and a quarter Japanese on her mother's side (her mom was half Japanese and half German). This can actually be shown by her parent's names; Langley, her father's last name, is an ''English'' surname, common in England, Canada, and the United States. Its also a common place name in those countries, with the CIA being located in Langley, Virginia and CIA HQ being called "Langley" for short. Asuka's mother is name Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, with "Kyoko" and "Soryu" being Japanese, while "Zeppelin" is a distinctly German surname, and probably a reference to Graf Zeppelin, the creator of the Zeppelin style of floating airships. To this day, there are fan works that get this wrong. |
| 21 | * FandomRivalry: Given how it's one of the most (in)famous series in the anime world, it's bound to run into competition: |
| 22 | ** Since the 90s, a very vocal, diehard section of the fandom started a rivalry between ''Evangelion'' and the rest of the HumongousMecha fandom, with ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' at the forefront. Those people have come to believe that ''Evangelion'' is deep and philosophical while all of ''Gundam'' (and by proxy the rest of the mecha genre, because all mecha is ''Gundam'', [[SarcasmMode isn't it?]]) is childish and stupid, conveniently ignoring that Gundam also has a dark WarIsHell theme and dead-serious entries like ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'' and ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam''. To this very day ''Evangelion'' discussion is practically forbidden on several mecha forums (most notoriously [[Website/FourChan /m/]]) thanks to the threads being an uncanny magnet for diehard ''Evangelion'' defenders. |
| 23 | *** It's worth noting, however, that there still are many mecha fans who like Evangelion and other mecha - it's just the rotten section that ended up being the loudest. |
| 24 | ** ''Evangelion'' and ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' fans have formed rivalries over which entry is the better(perceived) GenreDeconstruction (respectively of HumongousMecha and MagicalGirl). The same rivalry occurs between ''Evangelion'' fellow mecha deconstruction ''{{Manga/Bokurano}}''. Ironically enough, Hideaki Anno himself is a ''huge'' fan of ''Madoka'', praising it for the same kind of ruthless {{Deconstruction}} of a popular genre that he was trying to do. |
| 25 | ** ''Evangelion'' and ''Anime/RahXephon'' fans are rather contentious towards each other given that ''[=RahXephon=]'' appears to be really similar to ''Eva'' (a misconception spread thanks to the nowadays incredibly hated [[http://evaxephon.com/ComparisonGallery/index.html EvaXephon]] website). This of course is rather ironic given how their respective directors are good friends who worked on many projects together. |
| 26 | ** Interesting despite being more of a FriendlyFandoms in Japan, ''Evangelion'' and ''Franchise/UltraSeries'' fans have a far more contentious relationship in the west. Many Ultra Series fans have been vocal of the influence their series had on ''Evangelion'' which has been annoying to it's show fans. It especially gets heated when anyone brings up the Christian elements of ''Evangelion'' when analyzing the show. Ultra fans will in turn mention that the creator was heavily influenced to put that stuff as more of a shout out to the ''Ultra series'' then any deep symbolism which ''Evangelion'' fans think degrades it's writing and and the creative efforts to make an original story. It also doesn't help that the ''Ultra series'' is LighterAndSofter than ''Evangelion'' making it unappealing to alot of its fans despite the ''Ultra fans'' constantly recommending it to them. |
| 27 | * FirstInstallmentWins: |
| 28 | ** Despite the debates in the fandom on whether ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' is better or worse than the original series as well as ''Rebuild'' largely replacing ''Neon Genesis'' in merchandise, the TV series (and to a lesser degree ''The End'') has always been the best-remembered and most iconic incarnation of the ''Evangelion'' franchise. The franchise is still (in)famous for its angsty reputation despite it being toned down in the first two ''Rebuild'' movies and most spinoffs, ''Rebuild'' Angels are frequently referred to by their original series names, and Asuka is better-remembered as "Soryu" than as "Shikinami". |
| 29 | ** Among many older fans, the first dub of the series by ADV is strongly preferred over the 2019 dub by Creator/{{Netflix}}, due to a combination of nostalgia, the GrandfatherClause, and general preference for the more {{Woolseyism}}-rich script in ADV's take, with additions such as Shinji's "I'm so fucked up" line in ''The End of Evangelion'' becoming iconic among the fandom to the point of MemeticMutation. |
| 30 | * GeniusBonus: Though it winds up being called "Over The Rainbow" in Evangelion, the aircraft carrier at the heart of the UN fleet that brings Unit 02 to Japan is shown to have the hull code CVN-75; in real life, the vessel with that hull code is named USS ''Harry S. Truman''. To those with knowledge of twentieth-century history, Harry Truman bringing a superweapon to Japan [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki would sound rather uncomfortably familiar]]. |
| 31 | * GenreTurningPoint: It is impossible to understate how revolutionary this anime was. ''Evangelion'' can even be said to have taken the trope up to eleven, as it can easily be pointed towards ''as a turning point for the entire medium of TV Anime''. Before ''Evangelion'' the vast majority of TV Anime properties were either manga adaptations or family oriented programs, with a few more daring shows (chiefly in the [[MechaShow mecha genre]]) here and there. ''Evangelion'' turning out to be a surprise BreakthroughHit paved the way for AnimeFirst properties which were more experimental and explored significantly darker and more mature themes. It also revived the more introspective style of storytelling that was thought dead since the early 80s and [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype played with a lot of popular archetypes]] previously established in anime to an extent almost unheard of, not to mention that it had a significant impact on Japanese pop culture. |
| 32 | * GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: |
| 33 | ** In the West, prior to its Netflix NewbieBoom, the franchise was generally more popular with younger Generation X and older millennial-age anime fans (some of whom grew up with the series) than it was with younger millennial and Generation Z fans, who generally skewed towards newer series. |
| 34 | ** The show is very popular in Latin America, where it was broadcast on satellite TV between 2000 and 2005, at least one of its Spanish dubs is widely considered a SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing, and many fans grew up with the series. In an "evangelion shitposting"''[sic]'' group on Website/{{Facebook}}, many of the members are Latin Americans and a large portion of the posts are in Spanish despite English being the ''lingua franca'' of the group. One of the chief features of that dub is Asuka being given a heavy German accent. |
| 35 | * HardToAdaptWork: ''Evangelion'' was once considered for a LiveActionAdaptation by Creator/ADVFilms and Creator/{{WETA}} only to end up in DevelopmentHell. While ''Evangelion'' is rather popular in its native Japan and has a cult following in the US, its unique identity wouldn't be a sell for the general masses. A visually faithful adaptation would be ludicrously expensive for capturing the action and spectacle of the series, yet the series's graphic violence, sexual imagery (most of which involves characters who are minors InUniverse), angsty human drama, and surreal plotline would alienate mainstream audiences that would be necessary for justifying the enormous budget. Despite multiple attempts, the project was abandoned. |
| 36 | * HypeBacklash: Given its enduring popularity and its status as one of the most talked-about and [[FollowTheLeader imitated]] anime, this is to be expected. This is especially apparent amongst mecha fans who also know of other anime that toyed with the genre way before ''Evangelion'' (''Anime/{{Zambot3}}'', ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'') or actually understand where Anno got a sizeable amount of influence from (''Series/{{Ultraman}}''). Add to the fact the early internet reviews of ''Evangelion'' attracted a metric crapton of snobby weebs looking for clout and the insanely petty [[ShipToShipCombat Asuka vs Rei Waifu Wars]] and it's obvious why the anime suffered backlash. |
| 37 | * IKnewIt: For Netflix's English dub: |
| 38 | ** Quite a few people predicted that Creator/CarrieKeranen and Creator/JohnnyYongBosch would voice Misato and Toji. They were right. |
| 39 | ** Many fans have also correctly guessed the dub would be recorded at VSI's Los Angeles studio. |
| 40 | * TheInverseLawOfFandomLevity: ''Evangelion'' is a series noted for torturing its viewers with ever growing levels of torment of their favorite characters, deep psychological and religious themes, and a depressing outcome in TheMovie. It has also spawned such fanfiction as [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/176803/1/Neon_Genesis_Evanjellydonut Neon Genesis Evanjellydonut]], memes about Shinji crankin' dat Music/SouljaBoy or doing the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxc8NoeivB0 Thug Shaker]], and a scene in AMV Hell 3 where Shinji is [[GroinAttack hit in the nuts by a football]]. |
| 41 | * ItsPopularNowItSucks: Being one of the biggest and most popular anime franchises to ever come out of Japan, it gets hit by this due to OnceOriginalNowCommon critics and some people believing it’s overrated. |
| 42 | * MemeticMutation: [[Memes/NeonGenesisEvangelion See here.]] |
| 43 | * MisBlamed: Upon the June 2019 release, Netflix took the brunt of the criticism for a number of controversial changes in their English dub, especially the more [[BlindIdiotTranslation literal translation choices]], and the [[HideYourLesbians bowdlerization of the homoerotic subtext]] between Shinji and Kaworu. Both of these changes were actually the result of Studio Khara's more heavy-handed ExecutiveMeddling. What's more, it turned out that Gainax tried to pull [[https://twitter.com/amandawinnlee/status/1376266147750797312 the exact same thing]] when the ADV dub was in production, only for the staff there to rebuff their attempts in favor of the more {{Woolseyism}}-rich script. Furthermore, Dan Kanemitsu (Khara's English translator) is often personally blamed for such questionable changes, with fans often accusing him of changing the meaning of the original script to pursue a TranslationWithAnAgenda rather than his true intentions of [[BlindIdiotTranslation doing the exact opposite]]. |
| 44 | * NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Played with. The controversy over Khara's changes to the series didn't stop the Netflix release from getting a lot of attention, though Netflix itself doesn't release actual viewing figures. Supposedly, Netflix did pass on the Rebuild films (including the brand new 3.0+1.0) because its performance didn't justify the hefty price tag they paid for it, but it's likely that was a tough hill to climb no matter what. |
| 45 | * OlderThanTheyThink: The much-contested Netflix translation of the show wasn't as new as people liked to believe: after the redub's NDA expired in 2021, Rei's ADV voice actor, Creator/AmandaWinnLee, [[https://twitter.com/amandawinnlee/status/1376266147750797312 revealed on Twitter]] that the Netflix script had actually been created by Gainax for the earlier dub, and that it took some aggressive internal campaigning on ADV's part to use the more {{Woolseyism}}-heavy script that audiences ultimately heard back in the day. |
| 46 | * PeripheryDemographic: ''Evangelion'' was primarily meant for teens (hence the 14-year-old protagonists), as Hideaki Anno believed the things addressed by the series were things a modern teen should necessarily know, but mostly due to the show's age and very mature and deep content, it has a very active adult fanbase that's much more prominent than for newer shonen series, with some fans even in their 30s or 40s (the late Creator/RobinWilliams, for instance, was a fan of the show). |
| 47 | * SacredCow: Due to the anime's sterling reputation [[CriticalDissonance with critics]] and long-lasting legacy, many ''Eva'' fans treat their franchise like this, with some of them entering Berserk Mode as soon as anyone dares to criticize their coveted series. Of course this only contributed further to the already bad reputation that the fandom is full of snobs and pseudo-intellectuals who can't take even the slightest criticism. In-fandom the constant debating over whether ''Neon Genesis'' or ''Rebuild'' is the superior canon also shows indications of this; bashing ''Evangelion'' is largely considered a FandomHeresy while doing the same for ''Rebuild'' isn't met with as much opposition. |
| 48 | * SugarWiki/SuperlativeDubbing: |
| 49 | ** One English dub voice that's consistently praised is that of [[TheChessmaster Gendo Ikari]] ([=Tristan MacAvery=]) in the first dub. [=MacAvery=] provides the character with a voice that's at once ''very'' menacing, ''very'' charismatic and ''very'' cool, and also nails the character's more emotional moments. [=McAvery=] ''not'' returning for ''Rebuild'', despite the effort taken to get Creator/SpikeSpencer and Allison Keith back, was generally counted as a mark against those films. |
| 50 | ** The Italian dub deserves some props as well. For starters, it's one of the few dubs where Shinji doesn't have a whiny or high-pitched voice, despite being voiced by a man. His VA is fantastic in the dramatic scenes, outclassing Spike Spencer's already well-received performance by a mile. While Asuka is a tad underpowered, especially when she's angry, the rest of cast (particularly Maya, Kozo, and Yui) match up perfectly with their Japanese counterparts. It's easily the best foreign dub of the show out there, and it makes watching ''EOE'' a whole new experience.[[note]]About the only real issue overall is that [[BarelyChangedDubName nobody can pronounce Asuka's name correctly]], using both "a-ZOO-ca" and "A-zoo-ca" instead of the correct "ASS-ca", but it's easy to get used to.[[/note]] |
| 51 | ** While the first European Spanish dub of the anime had its problems, the main of them was ironically that later products of the franchise (most egregiously ''The End'') didn't get to keep most of the voices. Even the least dub-friendly fan in Spain will currently recognize that the cast choices and performances were more than impeccable, with Shinji's VA Creator/AlbertTrifolSegarra in particular being universally considered the definitive take on the character even over Creator/MegumiOgata herself. |
| 52 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Netflix version has caught a lot of flak for changing or removing things from the original series, including: |
| 53 | ** One of the more controversial changes is that the new dub was re-recorded with [[TheOtherDarrin a Los Angeles-based English voice cast]] at [[ExecutiveMeddling Khara's request]]. While a re-dub was understandable considering the length in time between the original and new dubs as well, and the fact that Khara has the rights to the ADV version but chose not to use it, it caused mixed receptions depending on the voice in question. Notably, even Asuka's original voice actress Creator/TiffanyGrant publicly admitted how shocked she was with the translation and script choices Khara made. |
| 54 | ** For many regions, the series' iconic rendition of "Fly Me To The Moon" has been removed and replaced with a different song in the soundtrack, due to licensing issues. Many fans were disappointed by this. |
| 55 | ** The new dub came with a new translation that while being a more exact translation of the original Japanese script, it has received criticism from older fans who preferred the ADV and Manga versions of the TV series and films. Examples include changing Shinji's desire in the final episode from learning to love himself to learning to like himself, and removing the famous "I'm so fucked up" in favor of a more literal translation of "I'm the lowest of the low." |
| 56 | ** Netflix has been accused of [[HideYourLesbians censoring Kaworu's love confession to Shinji]] in the dub due to changing the wording from [[{{Woolseyism}} a direct and unambiguous "I love you"]] to a less obvious "I like you" instead. In the original script, Kaworu used the more ambiguous word “好き” or “suki” which can mean “like” or “love” depending on the context and who it is being said to so technically neither translation was wrong. |
| 57 | ** In an exercise of irony, the Netflix Latin American Spanish dub received some complaints for doing ''the opposite thing'', as the "I love you" part was kept instead. It should be noted it had less to do with trying to sound "faithful" or "edgier" with the original Japanese script and more to do with both language restrictions and preventing LipLock instead.[[note]]The verbs "to love" (amar) and "to like" (gustar) are normally synonyms in Mexican Spanish, the dialect from which the show was dubbed in Latin America. The Latin American Spanish subs, on the other hand, were translated from the English script and tried their best to keep the nuance by using the Mexican idiom "me caes bien", which technically it means "I like you" just as in English and without its romantic undertones. As an additional note, the first Latin American Spanish dub used by Locomotion also used "I love you" as well, since it was translated from the Creator/ADVFilms English dub, but it didn't received the same backlash as the Netflix dub. It should be noted that homophobia is quite rampant in Latin America, [[ValuesDissonance hence the criticism]].[[/note]] |
| 58 | ** The new English translation's change from "terrorists" to "[[DirtyCommies leftist terrorists]]"[[note]]The Japanese term used in the scene is somewhat ambiguous, and while it is sometimes used to refer to radical left-wing terrorists such as the Japanese New Left, it is more commonly used to refer to terrorists of the religious extremist kind. Seeing how the Aum Shinrikyo cult's terrorist attack against the Tokyo subway (March 1995) had happened some months prior to ''Evangelion''[='s=] first airing (October 1995), and even directly influenced the show in that Anno had to rewrite a big part of the latter half of the script due to coincidental similarities to the attack, it is rather hard not to read it as a thinly-veiled reference to that event.[[/note]] first in a background newscast also drew criticism, especially since the change was otherwise [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment completely arbitrary and irrelevant to the plot]], coming across as outdated ValuesDissonance at best and deliberate demonization at worst and leading to questions about [[TranslationWithAnAgenda translator Dan Kanemitsu's possible political agenda]] (at least before word broke out that the Netflix script dated back to TheNineties and was simply foisted upon the staff by Khara). |
| 59 | ** The first Italian redub received major headscratchers from fans of the original Dynit version, even more so than the English version. While Oliviero Dinelli once again [[RoleReprise reprised his role]] as Kozo Fuyutsuki from the previous entries, many were left disappointed that the characters were recast, as well as the controversial script changes by longtime scriptwriter Gualtiero Cannarsi (which included the widely-accepted terminology being changed, and so on). The result is something that sounds more like a GagDub or a fever dream, and makes an already complex series into something just plain impossible to follow. It's a big enough deal that news journals in Italy criticized the changes. Eventually, Netflix apologized and removed the Italian audio track one week later, [[AuthorsSavingThrow promising a new re-recording with a better script as soon as possible]]. |
| 60 | * ViewerPronunciationConfusion: |
| 61 | ** The term "Evangelion," an extant word repurposed for the series, is officially pronounced with a hard "g" (as in "go"). However, because "Evangelion" is spelled similarly to and shares an etymology with the term "evangelism" (and variations thereof), which uses a soft "g" (as in "giraffe"), it's common to hear Anglophones read it as "ee-van-jelly-on." The mispronunciation is so common, in fact, that it's a common subject for memes among ''Evangelion'' fans. |
| 62 | ** Asuka's name is pronounced "ahs-kuh", but a few fans have mispronounced it as "ah-soo-kuh". Not helping matters is that the Castilian Spanish dub uses the latter mispronunciation. |
| 63 | * VindicatedByHistory: The ADV dub was hailed (by detractors and some fans alike) as a {{Macekre}} full of [[{{Narm}} unintentional comedy]] and considered a cheesy dub overall. However, as the years have gone on, both this dub as well as the Netflix re-release have found quite a few defenders. Even Anime News Network looks back at the first dub as underappreciated. |
| 64 | [[/folder]] |
| 65 | |
| 66 | [[folder:The Characters]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | * {{Adorkable}}: |
| 69 | ** Shinji's polite behavior coupled with his tendency to get into incredibly awkward situations really makes him endearing. |
| 70 | ** Kensuke's childlike enthusiasm for military technology is very endearing. |
| 71 | ** Asuka occasionally can be this, particularly when she's being [[DramaQueen very theatrical]] or showing off to strangers. |
| 72 | ** Toji's PrecociousCrush on Misato, despite perceiving as manly tough guy who scoffs at Shinji cleaning Rei's home. He even bows lower than Kensuke whenever they're showing Misato respect. |
| 73 | ** Rei's naivety and lack of social skills due to her "complicated" upbringing. |
| 74 | ** Kaji, in the manga, especially coupled with a tragic backstory, occasionally gets a CrushBlush around Misato (seen in some snippests of the two of them in university) and crumbles with embarrassment when he's teased about his college romance ''by teenagers''. |
| 75 | ** Misato can be this as a result of her {{Womanchild}} nature and her comic relief moments. One moment that sticks out is [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misato_katsuragi_toast.jpg the way she munches a slice of toast with a goofy grin on her face]] in episode 7, as part of a FunnyBackgroundEvent when Shinji is giving her a lecture. |
| 76 | ** Maya's just a nice girl who really likes computers and gets squeamish around violence. |
| 77 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Intentional on the creator's part, according to WordOfGod. Standouts include: |
| 78 | ** Gendo: a ManipulativeBastard, a misunderstood genius, [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold a loving but misguided father who wants to make his son strong]], a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, or a mix of the four? Also, during his death scene in ''End of Evangelion'', was he truly sorry for all that he'd done to Shinji and put him through, or was he apologizing because he didn't want "Yui" to take out her wrath on him and show him how it feels to be on the receiving end? The look of abject terror we see in the scene strongly suggests the latter, though it's not necessarily mutually exclusive if it's because he knows and/or accepts there's no way out of this, and/or that he deserves it. |
| 79 | ** Is Yui a soft and idealized mother/Virgin Mary figure, the [[GreaterScopeVillain true bad guy of the series]] who's responsible for messing up Shinji, Gendo and the fate of the world, a woman placed in an incredibly difficult situation who did [[ShootTheDog absolutely horrifying things]] for [[WellIntentionedExtremist the good of Shinji and mankind]] or just off her rocker? |
| 80 | ** Shinji: a neurotic ExtremeDoormat, a normal (if emotionally damaged) kid dealing with impossibly overwhelming odds, or actually a courageous young hero? Is he "pure" or a pervert with {{Yandere}} tendencies? Since we're at it, is Shinji just like Gendo, his polar opposite, or a complex mix of the two? |
| 81 | ** Is Asuka's obnoxious, shallow, and bratty behavior all just an act to cover up her [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex crippling insecurities]] or have her insecurities made her into that kind of person? To the extent it's an act, how much of it is she doing on purpose as opposed to just reflexively? And just how smart is she really? |
| 82 | ** The entire organization of Seele: is it a group of monsters [[spoiler:out to end the human race just to create a god]], [[WellIntentionedExtremist a way too extreme but well-intentioned]] group who just wants to end the insecurities and suffering that humans suffer [[spoiler:because the AT field separates them from each other and makes them unable to understand each other?]] Or maybe they are just {{b|lueAndOrangeMorality}}izarre. It's worth noting that the ''[[AllThereInTheManual Neon Genesis Evangelion 2]]'' video game states that [[spoiler:SEELE's version of Instrumentality would have only applied to its own members, who would merge into one godlike being to reign over humanity]]. |
| 83 | ** Is Kaworu a TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth TragicHero who doesn't understand how he hurts Shinji, an AntiVillain who pulls a HeelFaceTurn after Shinji shows him love, a ManipulativeBastard who played with Shinji's emotions, a total weirdo who [[BlueAndOrangeMorality just doesn't understand how humans think or typically behave]], or some combination of them? There's enough evidence for each of these interpretations, and different depictions of Kaworu pick whichever one they agree with best. |
| 84 | ** Asuka's father moving on rather quickly from Kyoko after her decay into madness could be interpreted in several ways. Yes, banging one of Kyoko's doctors while Kyoko was still alive is a dick move, more so since he does it in front of Kyoko and whitin Asuka's earshot. But since he's implied to be HappilyMarried to said doctor for ten years when we hear Asuka's step-mom, and the only point of view we know of is that of Asuka, who, noteworthy in contrast to her father, was desperately clinging for affection of Kyoko that she could no longer receive and who seems to see her step-mother as a [[WickedStepmother wicked one]], which, alongside the trauma from Kyoko's death, casts a shadow on [[UnreliableNarrator how reliable her side of the story is]], the question comes: is Asuka's father really a purely unsympathetic cheater, or was his behavior caused by his marriage with Kyoko already going through troubles, with Kyoko's accident being the last straw? By extension, Kyoko and Asuka's step-mother can also be subjected through a debate on how sympathetic they are. |
| 85 | ** The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games also dabble in this (as they usually do with the series) giving Shinji a backbone and changing story details. For example [[spoiler:Toji does not suffer the fate that he does in the TV series and can occasionally join the team as a playable character. Likewise Asuka, in her famous scene from the movie, does not die when she is attacked by the group of [=EVAs=] but can actually wipe them out instead]]. |
| 86 | * AlternateSelfShipping: |
| 87 | ** Rei Ayanami has a few dozen identical clones of herself stored in an LCL tank. She is the resident InnocentFanserviceGirl. Fans exploit the potential for perversion there. |
| 88 | ** {{Slash Fic}}s featuring different versions of Kaworu (TV series, manga, ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'') are not uncommon. |
| 89 | * AmericansHateTingle: Shinji is a far more polarizing character in many western countries, especially in the Anglosphere, than he is in Japan, to the point that [[JustForFun/OneOfUs several of the English dub cast members]] (including Creator/SpikeSpencer, [[SelfDeprecation his own voice actor]]) dislike and make fun of him. |
| 90 | * AngstDissonance: No matter how much hell he goes through, many viewers ''still'' attribute Shinji's issues to him just being a whiny, bratty wuss. Not even [[spoiler:being forced to kill the one person who's ever told him "I love you" or discovering Unit-02 disemboweled and Asuka presumably dead]] are adequate excuses for him not taking insane amounts of tragedy, misfortune, cosmic horrors, and near-constant abuse in stride. |
| 91 | * AwesomeEgo: Asuka has a truly massive ego and is all the more entertaining and adorable for it, [[spoiler:even though it's a facade for her ''low'' self-esteem and eventually causes her to get into worse and worse situations]]. |
| 92 | * BadassDecay |
| 93 | ** Manga Gendo makes for a debatable case, as he's much more emotionally weighed down and pathetic compared to his anime version but also much more cynical, cruel and insane. |
| 94 | *** The same charge has been laid over his confession that he's a pile of self-hate with a social phobia in ''End of Evangelion'' as well. |
| 95 | ** Some view Asuka's descent into depression as BadassDecay too, as she was previously established as an incredibly assertive and combative character (albeit this is meant to be an {{invoked}} example). |
| 96 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: |
| 97 | ** Shinji is an infamous example; his fans love him for being a very relatable AudienceSurrogate with personal issues that hit home for many viewers and consider him the biggest {{woobie}} in the series, while his detractors hate him for being an ineffective wuss unlike most other shonen protagonists. Most other continuities try to make Shinji into [[AdaptationalBadass a more competent character]], possibly for this reason. |
| 98 | ** Asuka. Her fans ([[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff especially in the West]]) adore her for being a BadassAdorable FieryRedhead {{tsundere}} with [[JerkassWoobie a very sympathetic backstory]]. Her detractors, meanwhile, consider her an abrasive, bratty and obnoxious JerkAss whose backstory [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic doesn't come close to covering her awful behavior]]. Asuka also suffers from quite a bit of HypeBacklash due to her popularity, with more than a few people accusing her fanbase of worshiping and over-hyping her supposed badassery. |
| 99 | ** Pen-Pen. He's a PluckyComicRelief FunnyAnimal who clashes somewhat with the dark tone of the series (especially in its latter half), but he isn't as cartoonish or zany as his archetype suggests: he's largely silent and his antics are fairly understated. Some fans find him cute, funny and inoffensive, while others think that he doesn't fit in the series. |
| 100 | * BestKnownForTheFanservice: The franchise is infamous for churning out [[TheMerch merchandise]] of Rei and Asuka [[MisaimedMarketing in various gimmicky, sexualized outfits]] like clockwork. [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/astro-toy/2009-01-25/with-rob-bricken/evangelion-aerocat-ex An example]]. |
| 101 | * CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Shinji was [[BaseBreakingCharacter extremely divisive]] when the anime first released, with his detractors vocally decrying him as overly {{wangst}}y. However, his reputation would improve over the decades due to a number of factors: the ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movies made him a stronger character in response to audience criticism, TheNewTens saw increased awareness of mental health issues and the harmful effects of ParentalNeglect, emotional abuse and toxic masculinity (which Shinji himself greatly suffers from thanks to his neglectful father), and fans would increasingly point out how the image of him as [[AchillesInHisTent unwilling to take action]] was much rarer, more justified, and closer to other mecha protagonists [[CommonKnowledge than was often believed]]. Consequently, Shinji is now seen as an effective [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype deconstruction]] of standard [[ShonenDemographic Shōnen]] and mecha protagonists, and while some still see him as overly maudlin, most modern audiences are considerably more sympathetic towards him than they were in the '90s and 2000s. |
| 102 | * CrazyIsCool: In direct opposition to the above trope is the more recent trend in fanon to think of/portray Shinji as this. |
| 103 | * CrackPairing: |
| 104 | ** As improbable as it may sound, a Kaworu x Asuka ship has been astoundingly popular since the former's debut, as seen [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/909274-neon-genesis-evangelion here]], [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/909281-neon-genesis-evangelion here]], [[http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/909267-neon-genesis-evangelion and here]]. Also a case of ShipsThatPassInTheNight, given the two never interacted, at least in canon. The fact that Kaworu hijacked Asuka's Eva unit also makes for ample FanficFuel of the SlapSlapKiss variety. |
| 105 | ** The series is both old and popular enough for almost every ''possible'' pairing to have been written and/or drawn about at least a few times no matter how improbable, up to and including Kensuke/Ritsuko. The VideoGameAdaptation ''NGE 2'' only adds fuel to the fire, as it allows the player to control ''any'' of the main and supporting cast and date whoever they want to. |
| 106 | * CreepyCute: Those who don't just find Rei adorable find her to be this instead. While her behavior and mannerisms are off-putting to say the least, she's still depicted with a general lack of malice and endearing nature such that she's still cute even when giving her occasional SlasherSmile. |
| 107 | * DiagnosedByTheAudience: |
| 108 | ** A number of fans headcanon Shinji Ikari as autistic thanks to his [[ShrinkingViolet shyness]], his [[ExtremeDoormat apparent inability to tell when he's being abused]], his [[NoSocialSkills social ineptitude]], his naivety, his difficulties expressing and understanding his own emotions, and his difficulties with understanding others. |
| 109 | ** Rei Ayanami is frequently speculated by fans to be autistic thanks to her flat affect, her lack of social skills, her messy room (which fans cite as a sign of executive dysfunction), and her inability to understand and express her own emotions, all of which bely a strong sense of empathy. The fact that [[spoiler:she's partly cloned from Shinji's mom]] additionally ties into the interpretation given that [[spoiler:autism has major genetic components and that Shinji is also frequently headcanoned as autistic]]. Rei's more creepy and off-putting moments are also turned on their head by those who interpret her as autistic, given that creepiness is a common stereotype of autistic people. |
| 110 | * DieForOurShip: |
| 111 | ** Evangelion is a series where the protagonist has plentiful intense Ship Tease with numerous characters, without ever becoming an Official Couple with any of them. Furthermore, much of the ship tease is incredibly subjective in terms of what constitutes a truly romantic moment or falls under "just sexual tension," "just friends," etc. The result has been decades of intense shipping wars that often become heated or outright cruel, due to fans seeing their own sense of romance as the only "true" one, despite there being no canonical answer to the debate and every ship being artistically interesting in its own right. |
| 112 | ** And people just love to hate Mana Kirishima from ''Neon Genesis Evangelion: Girlfriend of Steel'', just because she's a possible LoveInterest for Shinji in the aforementioned visual novel as well as other NGE spin-offs she appeared in, gets a lot of spotlight in ''Girlfriend of Steel'', is one of the few characters who are genuinely and/or openly nice to Shinji (and arguably the only one among all of Shinji's {{Love Interest}}s), and is comparatively much more stable as a person than most of the cast, let alone Shinji's other non-CrackPairing {{Love Interest}}s (which, in a DysfunctionJunction cast, makes her come across as "too perfect" for some people). |
| 113 | * DracoInLeatherPants: |
| 114 | ** Fans of [[MonsterOfTheWeek Kaworu]] tend to play up his fascination with humanity, love for Shinji, and final HeroicSacrifice, while ignoring the fact that, as an Angel, his inborn goal[[note]][[EnigmaticMinion but probably not his absolute desire...]][[/note]] ''was'' to reunite with Adam to trigger the Third Impact, being fully aware this would set off TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, and, up until finding Lilith, seemed very resistant to being stopped. [[Manga/ShinjiIkariRaisingProject Alternate]] [[Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelionCampusApocalypse portrayals]] [[Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelionAngelicDays where]] he ''doesn't'' play the antagonist typically make him much LighterAndSofter, except for Sadamoto's manga, where his [[TheAce Ace-like]] qualities are played down and his BlueAndOrangeMorality is ramped up more, to the point that many call him [[FanNickname "Evil Manga Kaworu"]]. |
| 115 | ** Asuka is arguably another case of this. In spite of her utterly appalling treatment of her fellow pilots, her blatant LackOfEmpathy, her arrogance and her penchant for throwing tantrums when she doesn't get her way, she's clearly one of the most popular characters. And all anyone who wants to defend her has to say, "But she had a tragic childhood..." |
| 116 | ** Shinji is perceived by some portions of the fanbase as purely being a battered [[TheWoobie woobie]], ignoring his selfishness, inverted InferioritySuperiorityComplex, and attempting to downplay his actions of sexually assaulting an unconscious Asuka and later trying to choke her and causing the destruction of all life on Earth. |
| 117 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 118 | ** ''Kaworu''. From being the ''only'' person to [[HoYay express love]] for [[TheWoobie Shinji]] to being the only Child who's [[DissonantSerenity generally happy]]-[[StepfordSmiler looking]], he's well loved by the fans. In a Newtype poll in 2010, Kaworu was ranked as the 2nd most popular male anime character of the 1990's. This is despite the fact that he only appears in ''one episode''. In the recent years he’s even managed to unseat Rei Ayanami, the once long-reigned face of ''Evangelion'', with his only competition being Asuka. |
| 119 | ** Kaji, to a lesser degree. Toji Suzuhara is also popular. Maybe the reason he ultimately ended up more important than his classmates Kensuke and Hikari. |
| 120 | ** On the villainous side, the Angel Zeruel and Ramiel are incredibly popular to this day, the former being the first to actually physically breach NERV headquarters and being a full-on HeroKiller, and the second for its unique, utterly alien design (which only improved with the Rebuild movies.) |
| 121 | * EpilepticTrees: The series never explicitly states just ''whose'' soul is in Unit-00. However, implications and dug-up evidence points towards it being a part of Rei's soul, specifically the Rei I version, in a case similar to what happened to Kyoko's split soul in Unit-02. |
| 122 | %% |
| 123 | %% See the Fridge page for all of those discussions. |
| 124 | %% |
| 125 | * EvilIsCool: |
| 126 | ** Gendo Ikari is one of the most famous and memorable villains in anime. [[Creator/FumihikoTachiki His]] [[Creator/JohnSwasey voice]] is cool, he's a SharpDressedMan, his ScaryShinyGlasses and FingerTenting are iconic, he's so much of a MagnificentBastard that he manipulates the BigBad committee and [[spoiler:comes dangerously close to achieving his own personal victory]], and [[spoiler:his backstory and the explanation for his personality even make him a little [[TragicVillain sympathetic]]]]. |
| 127 | ** Some of the Angels also have their fans, such as Sachiel, Zeruel, and Ramiel, usually for combining raw, brutal power with intimidating (or, at least, memorably weird) designs. |
| 128 | * FanNickname: |
| 129 | ** "Tang" for LCL. |
| 130 | ** MindRape (The TropeNamer). |
| 131 | ** GNR, or Giant Naked Rei, [[spoiler:glowing white naked Rei that Lilith transforms into.]] |
| 132 | ** "[[TheWoobie Puppy-kun]]" for Shinji, at least for Eva fans who like him. |
| 133 | ** EMK, or Evil Manga Kaworu, for the Kaworu who [[spoiler:kills a kitten]] in the manga -- hence the meme "every time you masturbate, Kaworu [[spoiler:kills a kitten]]." |
| 134 | *** To differentiate between the three Kaworus, fans mostly call them “Animeworu”, “Mangaworu”, and “Qworu” (because another name for [[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion Rebuild 3.0]] is Q - similar to how the [[spoiler: Tentative Name Ayanami Rei]] appearing in that specific movie is called Rei Q). The manga Shinji and Kaworu are also nicknamed “Shaun” and “Karl” respectively and the specific manga Shinji/Kaworu relationship is called “Karlshaun”, although this isn’t too popular. |
| 135 | ** "Yui-mama" for [[spoiler:Unit 01]]. |
| 136 | ** "Uberpimp" for Gendo. [[spoiler:Super Gendo, Super Adam Gendo]] and others for [[spoiler:his insane AT Field-generating incarnation]] in the manga. |
| 137 | ** Zeruel's arms are often called toilet paper. |
| 138 | ** "Harpies" for Evangelion units 05-13 because they look like grotesque cyber-vultures. |
| 139 | * FanPreferredCouple: Due to the differences in tone and focus of characterization, the preferred couple (or in this case Shinji's preferred love interest) varies by series' entry. |
| 140 | ** For the original anime, Shinji/Asuka is the fan-favorite pairing and because of how ubiquitous the anime is, this ship tends to stand out as the fan-preferred one[[note]](due to the fandom culture of the 90s, fan fiction was often the only way to express one's love for a series, so the fan fic recommendations even to this day are ''overwhelmingly'' for Asuka and Shinji)[[/note]]. While Asuka is less important to the plot than Rei, she is '''much''' more active in the story and thus her interactions with Shinji are given more focus and their relationship is therefore fleshed out more. The two also tend to showcase the most classic signs of BelligerentSexualTension and OppositesAttract you will ever see in anime, making it incredibly easy to confirm their attraction to one another, unlike many other ships in the series. |
| 141 | ** For the ''Rebuild'' movies, Shinji/Rei has edged out Asuka. Rei is given more character development and interactions with Shinji and others while Asuka is downplayed in terms of screentime (especially time with Shinji). Rei's connection with Shinji is emphasized much more and the two bond and support one another, leading Shinji to care for Rei so much that he risks the fate of the world to save her. It also helps that Shinji and Rei are BirdsOfAFeather who get along very easily and are shown making each other happy, especially in contrast to Shinji's more volatile relationship with Asuka. |
| 142 | ** Shinji/Kaworu, for those who are sick of angst and want Shinji to finally find some happiness. Unlike Asuka and Rei, Kaworu has always enjoyed popularity as a love interest for Shinji, but for a while he was never seriously considered that viable an option in canon due to various circumstances[[note]]For the most part, it’s because he dies or is destined to be written out of the story in most continuities before anything can become of his relationship with Shinji, though some of the spin-off materials entertain the idea. It’s sometimes treated as a joke, however, such as in ''Girlfriend of Steel 2'' where it’s portrayed as obsessive on Kaworu’s part [[OutOfCharacter with Shinji questioning the entire thing until the end instead of being receptive to Kaworu’s advances as he is in the Anime]]. ''Shinji Ikari Raising Project'' and ''Neon Genesis Evangelion 2'' are more in line with Kaworu being romantically involved with Shinji, especially in the former where Kaworu not only has his own route with two good endings in which it’s heavily implied that he and Shinji are happily together, they also run away together in the main scenario if you play your cards right and live a domestic life together, which Misato is shown to be supportive of[[/note]]. That is, until the release of ''3.0: You Can (Not) Redo'', which primarily focused on the two and gave Kaworu longterm screentime in a major work for the first time--along with [[HoYay/NeonGenesisEvangelion all but stating at many points]] that Kaworu feels ''that'' way about Shinji. The fandom exploded with support, and it quickly became Shinji's most popular ship by a wide margin in shipping communities. As of this writing on Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, it isn't just the pairing with the most listed fics; it has more listed fics than the next nine pairings ''combined'', and makes up over 40% of all ''Eva'' fics on the site as a whole. While not quite as oppressively dominant as in its heyday, it seems to have become the default ship for the fandom; if you find any shipping fanart, chances are that it'll be this one. |
| 143 | ** Ritsuko/Maya, [[spoiler:for the viewers disgusted by Ritsuko's attraction to Gendo.]] |
| 144 | * GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: |
| 145 | ** Historically, Asuka has been a far more popular character than Rei among Western audiences, whereas the complete opposite is true in Japan -- even WordOfGod has commented on this. Of course, Rei is still quite popular in the US and Asuka is popular in Japan as well, as evidenced by all the {{Fanservice}}-based merchandise for them in both areas. However, this generalization isn't completely clear-cut, as both Asuka and Rei win character popularity polls in Japan; Rei was the clear winner on both sides of the Pacific during the series' heyday, while Asuka [[PopularityPolynomial has become more popular over time]] to the point of rivaling and occasionally surpassing Rei. |
| 146 | ** Ramiel is inexplicably popular in the English-speaking fanbase due to its rather strange design and FountainOfMemes status. |
| 147 | * HoYay: Kaworu and Shinji. Episode 24 basically drives it home as hard as it possibly can in under twenty-five minutes of time, what with the two explicitly stating their love for one another on separate occasions, the whole holding hands-in-the-shower scene, and Shinji almost constantly blushing and being incredibly open to Kaworu in almost all of their scenes together, Kaworu blushing and telling Shinji "I really was born to meet you"... yeah. The manga, while it portrays a more antagonistic and one-sided relationship (although eventually realized as mutual) between the two, goes even further than the anime in this regard, and explicitly makes Kaworu kiss hyperventilating Shinji at one point. While reading the manga alone would make the nature of the scene seem ambiguous, WordOfGod intended to write in a kiss scene but was shy about it, and instead wrote the scene to be that way (Since CPR requires kissing someone essentially) in order to hide his (and Kaworu’s) embarrassment. |
| 148 | * IronWoobie: Shinji Ikari goes through quite a bit of suffering, but remains committed to the cause throughout (albeit for self-centered reasons) aside from a memorable TenMinuteRetirement. [[spoiler:Then what happens to Kaworu breaks him.]] |
| 149 | * JerkassWoobie: |
| 150 | ** Asuka may come across like an annoying brat with rage issues and an [[SmallNameBigEgo overblown ego]] initially, but she has an ''incredibly'' heartbreaking [[FreudianExcuse reason]] for behaving that way. On the other hand, the story also {{deconstruct|edTrope}}s the trope by showing that just because you have a bad past, does not justify having a crappy attitude towards others and offloading your anger on others, as the other characters get more and more fed up with the Jerkass half and stop caring about her as they have other things to worry about than her. In fact, the only person who cares about her in the end is [[spoiler:[[TheHero Shinji]]]], whom she [[UngratefulBitch still abuses]] when [[spoiler:[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Third Impact]]]] happens. Only at the end she might (and only might) have gotten over this. |
| 151 | ** While Shinji is initially set up as a straight [[TheWoobie woobie]], it becomes increasingly clear over time that he is actually this. While he's outwardly a NiceGuy that dislikes offending people and shows kindness and concern to many times, his internal mental state is as flooded with irrational self-loathing as it is with negative feelings towards others, and both his motivation and mental state [[ItsAllAboutMe is actually immensely selfish]], meaning he's unable to open up to people in the most basic fashion or emotionally comfort them. [[spoiler:This eventually reaches the breaking point when he undergoes a DespairEventHorizon in ''End Of Evangelion'' and engages in some truly disgusting behavior from sexually assaulting Asuka, initiating Instrumentality out of his sheer rage and loathing towards others give him no appreciation or affection, and strangles Asuka on the beach at the end before barely being driven back to his senses.]] Despite this, it's difficult not to feel immensely sorry for him as [[spoiler:his mother abandoned him at a young age and psychologically shattered him numerous times for his own protection]], his father abandoned and then emotionally manipulated and abused him while using him as a tool, and he seemed to lack any genuine emotional connection with people [[spoiler:and is forced to kill Kaworu, the singular person who had given him genuine, unconditional affection his entire life, and who wasn't even technically human. He seems to hold on in an EmptyShell fashion until Asuka's death completely drives him over the edge.]] Finally, [[spoiler:he's left to pick up the pieces in a post-apocalyptic world that will likely take years to reach any type of stability, regardless of it being the better option than the others that were laid out.]] |
| 152 | ** The original anime's Gendo is sometimes considered one too due to his [[LoveMakesYouEvil backstory and motivation]] contrasted with [[MagnificentBastard what those things turned him into]]. |
| 153 | * JustHereForGodzilla: Because Rei and Asuka are so [[BreakoutCharacter iconic]] in the anime sphere and well-known even to non-fans for being BadassAdorable archetype-definers, they in themselves help draw a lot of people to the series. For Asuka in particular, some fans only really pick up interest starting with her debut in Episode 8 (or for ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'', the second movie). This happens a lot with fans of the various expies that they spawned, such as [[Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya Yuki Nagato]] and [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Kyoko Sakura]] respectively. This is one reason why Shinji is a BaseBreakingCharacter, since some people would rather follow the two girls than his constant, {{wangst}}y internal conflicts. |
| 154 | * LauncherOfAThousandShips: Shinji. Let's see, he gets paired up with Kaworu, Asuka, and Rei, like always. But he also gets paired with Hikari, Mana, Maya, Mayumi, Misato, Ritsuko, Toji, Kensuke, Kaji, even ''[[ParentalIncest his parents]]''... basically, ''everyone''. However, the [[FanPreferredCouple Big Three]] are still [[BelligerentSexualTension Shinji/Asuka]], [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Shinji/Rei]] and [[HomoeroticSubtext Shinji/Kaworu]]. |
| 155 | * LoveToHate: ''Gendo''. His fans love how manipulative he is. |
| 156 | * MagnificentBastard: See [[MagnificentBastard/NeonGenesisEvangelion here]]. |
| 157 | * MemeticBadass: |
| 158 | ** People say Gendo's omniscient in his manipulations. [[GambitRoulette He might as well be.]] Because of Gendo, [[FingerTenting steepled fingers]] have become a way to make you feel like a MagnificentBastard. See also the "Gendo pose" on the Internet. One word: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PALxktAMw3I GENDOWNED]]. Ironic in a way, as his final words make it quite clear that he's actually an adult Shinji, terrible understanding of people and all. |
| 159 | ** In a similar vein to [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]], Asuka is often held up as the series' "ultimate badass" due to her HotBlooded attitude and her in-universe reputation, along with [[MsFanservice her looks]] and her cute {{tsundere}} personality giving fans more reasons to admire her. This is despite the fact that she starts to frequently suffer from TheWorfEffect, has severe BadassDecay as an important part of her character arc, and [[spoiler:actually has very low self-esteem and is an emotional wreck much like Shinji, but expressed in a different way]]. As such, some fans hold her up as an "overrated" character due to her popularity and inflated fan reputation. However, this is somewhat justified by her spectacular final battle in ''End of Evangelion'', [[spoiler:even if it ended horribly for her]]. |
| 160 | * MemeticLoser: Shinji was meant to be a {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ion of a typical anime action hero, a guy who really wasn't cut out for fighting horrifying monsters and who suffered extreme emotional problems because of it. He also lacks a backbone when dealing with the other characters, and almost never stands up for himself. Some viewers expected he would [[TookALevelInBadass come into his own]] like [[Anime/GunBuster Noriko Tayaka]] [[note]] Not helping his case is that his successor [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Simon]] not only came into his own like Noriko but actually stepped out of her shadow. [[/note]], but the angst fest the series became means he only got more and more screwed up. It's a topic of heavy debate whether he was an effective examination of his character type, or if he was just too whiny [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic to be sympathetic]]. Pretty much every spin off (including the manga and ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' movies) writes Shinji to be more confident, which makes it seem like it wasn't just the casual viewers who had a problem with his portrayal. [[note]]"I musn't run away, I musn't run away". Let's analyze this, where the fuck would I ''go''?[[/note]] |
| 161 | * MemeticMolester: Misato was written as someone who tries to be a guardian figure to Shinji, but ends up being so bad at it thanks to her inexperience and trauma that she ends up coming off as a SexyMentor a lot of the time, which is meant to be confusing and unnerving both in-universe and out. Fans, meanwhile, jokingly play up these aspects by depicting Misato as an {{ephebophile}} who became Shinji's guardian just so she could get in an underage boy's pants. The infamous scene in ''The End of Evangelion'' where she [[spoiler:kisses Shinji and states that "we'll do the rest when you get back"]] is particularly brought up in such depictions. |
| 162 | * {{Moe}}: |
| 163 | ** Rei was an UnbuiltTrope. She can be unnerving, and her submissive and quiet persona is a product of trauma that leaves her vulnerable to more. She is nevertheless both sympathetic and adorable, and she's been credited as a major progenitor of moe in the first place. |
| 164 | *** The ''Ayanami Raising Project'' video games, where the player helps take care of Rei (and Asuka in some installments), are absolutely ''oozing'' with moe. |
| 165 | ** Played straight with [[IgnoredEnamoredUnderling Maya Ibuki]]. She's quite adorable. |
| 166 | ** Shinji has quite a few stereotypical moe characteristics, to the point that if he was a girl ([[WhatCouldHaveBeen as was originally planned]]), he probably would've been considered one of the very first moe characters. |
| 167 | ** Fellow BadassAdorable Asuka can come across as this, in spite of (or even ''because'' of) her archetypical {{tsundere}} tendencies. The ''-ANIMA-'' light novel sequel series plays up her "cute" side, by portraying her as cheerier and more mellow thanks to [[CharacterDevelopment her having gotten over her mental trauma]]; illustrations even portray her with more prominent GirlishPigtails, [[http://miotd.com/images/20080716.jpg giving her a more innocent look]]. |
| 168 | * SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Whenever Asuka says "anta baka?!"/"what are you, stupid?!". [[{{Moe}} D'awww.]] |
| 169 | * NeverLiveItDown: The way Shinji gets described sometimes, makes it sound like all he does in the series is nothing but sitting around angsting and whining ineffectively about his daddy issues and his refusal to pilot the Evangelion, only occasionally pausing [[{{Squick}} when he masturbates to the sight of comatose girls]] (though that last event did undeniably and understandably leave a strong impression with viewers, to put it diplomatically). But Shinji, as a matter of fact, rarely ever angsts out loud, instead being mostly just brooding and quiet. If anything, ''Asuka'' is possibly the most vocally angsty and emotionally unstable character. And Shinji's initial refusal to pilot Unit-01 is in the larger scope of the series really just a minor arc that lasts for the first six episodes. After that, Shinji's reluctance towards being a pilot only comes up two times, the first being in Episode 19, where it's used as a TenMinuteRetirement plot that really just last for that episode alone, and the second being in ''The End of Evangelion'' where Shinji has crossed the DespairEventHorizon. |
| 170 | * NightmareRetardant: Rei can come off as an unsettling person invoking the UncannyValley, but many fans instead found her to be adorable, especially with her sympathetic characterization. Likewise, Kaworu was supposed to come as disturbingly cheerful. Instead seeing him acting happy at such a dark point in the series, coupled with his friendship with Shinji, turned him into fan favorite for completely different reason. |
| 171 | * PortmanteauCoupleName: Asuka and Shinji's "Asushin", Rei and Shinji's "Reishin", Kaworu and Shinji's "Kawoshin", and, interestingly enough, Rei and Asuka's "Asurei". |
| 172 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Shinji was a ''very'' divisive character when the anime first released, his detractors being especially vocal in their dislike of him, but as time has gone on, he's been experiencing this. The ''Rebuild'' movies, for instance, made him a stronger character to counteract his supposed weaknesses in the original series. Aside from that, Shinji has become a character example of VindicatedByHistory thanks to the increased awareness of the detrimental effects of emotional abuse, the increased focus on mental health and criticisms of toxic masculinity in TheNewTens. In short, while some still see his behavior as {{Wangst}}y, modern audiences are a lot more understanding with regards to his circumstances. |
| 173 | * RonTheDeathEater: |
| 174 | ** There are a surprising large amount of fanfics out there that have Kaji cheating on Misato as the reason they originally broke up, despite the anime directly contradicting this (Misato broke up with Kaji, telling him a lie about having found someone else, because she had realized that Kaji reminded her of her father and it weirded her out). |
| 175 | ** [[{{Tsundere}} Asuka]] was by no means the most pleasant [[JerkassWoobie character]] in the series but she had her [[PetTheDog sympathetic moments]], and a backstory that at least made it clear that her behavior was the result of her being a very psychologically damaged individual. However in many fanfics, [[DieForOurShip particularly those that ship Shinji with another character]], she is portrayed as a [[{{Jerkass}} constantly ticked]], [[DomesticAbuser physically abusive]] psycho who is unworthy of Shinji's affections and [[BreakTheHaughty needs to be put in her place]] often with {{no sympathy}} for her [[FreudianExcuse tragic backstory.]] |
| 176 | ** ''Shinji'' gets a great deal of hate in the fandom for his perceived {{Wangst}} despite the fact that a '''tiny''' fraction of what he goes through ''has broken characters far, far more confident and assertive than himself'' both before and after his debut. Some fans even call him a selfish mass-murderer for the events of ''End of Evangelion'', despite the fact that Shinji had absolutely no control over anything that happened, until after he found himself swallowed up by the Rei/Lilith fusion, and by that point, everybody else had already been taken in by the Instrumentality. |
| 177 | ** Fanfics tend to treat Gendo as a completely irredeemable villain defined entirely by overwhelming megalomania and sociopathy, ignoring the fact that the whole point of his character that he is ultimately isn't all that different from Shinji and that his villainy is entirely driven by his own self-hatred and loneliness. |
| 178 | ** Some find Rei to be incredibly creepy and a massive case of Uncanny Valley. There's a persistent "common knowledge" urban legend that Rei was originally meant to be disturbing and her popularity was an unintended reaction. The character designer has said instead that the direction he was given was that Rei should seem sad and unsure of herself, and the story presents her as an abuse victim struggling to find a sense of identity and meaning in her life. |
| 179 | * ShipsThatPassInTheNight: |
| 180 | ** Pairing Kaworu with Asuka is surprisingly popular, despite the fact that the latter spends the entirety of the former's screentime unconscious in a hospital room. Pairing Kaworu with Rei has much more plausibility, given their shared backgrounds and the subtle but powerful interactions they have in their limited screentime together, but is still mostly a case of this as they say all of three sentences to each other in total. WordOfGod says that Kaworu and Rei just happened to interact by chance. The ''After the End'' parody audio play has Asuka and Kaworu interacting for once, though they bicker the entire time. |
| 181 | ** Shinji/Hikari has a small but notable fanbase, despite them barely interacting with each other directly (and when they did, it was around her own love interest Touji). One of the (non-canon) videogames ("First Impression") even has her as a possible romantic interest. |
| 182 | * ShipToShipCombat: [=AsuShin=] vs [=ReiShin=] is easily one of the most infamous cases of shipper fandoms trying to gnaw each other's eyes out. The notoriety is only fueled further by just how ''long'' the shipper war has been lasting: 20+ years and ongoing for the foreign fandoms who discovered the show during the early 2000s anime boom, and ''even longer'' for the domestic fandom. |
| 183 | * StrawmanHasAPoint: |
| 184 | ** The representative dismissing NERV's methods. He criticizes their use of manned Evangelion units that put a huge emotional strain on their pilots and generally rely too heavily on fallible humans, can't be controlled when they go berserk ("Like a hysterical woman!"), are energy-inefficient (they can go for only 5 minutes when not plugged to an energy source, while the Jet Alone can go on for months), and cost a lot of money that is sorely needed elsewhere, e.g. employment opportunities in the US (the only opponent of increasing NERV's budget) and the 20,000 people dying of starvation in Japan alone. Even worse, he makes the "hysterical woman" comparison while talking to Ritsuko, who [[spoiler:later on destroys the Rei clones in a fit of jealousy]], and [[spoiler:Casper, the computer based on her mother's personality as a woman, foils her attempt to make NERV's HQ self-destruct and stop Instrumentality]]. It can be argued just how much of a point he actually has though, considering other events in the series. |
| 185 | ** Shinji himself in ''The End of Evangelion'' as Rei, Asuka and Misato criticize his depressive tendencies during Instrumentality. Shinji's seemingly pathetic rebuttal of, "Then try being nice to me," becomes devastating in light of the fact that he had just been forced to kill Kaworu, the only person who openly expressed affection for him. None of the women even try to comfort him, and Asuka and Misato even get angry at his HeroicBSOD without considering the circumstances. The three's protests that they are indeed nice to Shinji ring false as a result. |
| 186 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: |
| 187 | ** Well, more like they wasted a perfectly good character ''backstory'', but Aoba never gets his potentially angsty past ([[spoiler:given the way he got Tanged in ''End of Evangelion'']]) expanded upon, not even in the spin-offs. |
| 188 | ** After the Eva Unit-03 incident, [[spoiler:Touji is rarely brought up again other than a few casual mentions. Mostly on the idea if it was really Shinji's fault for not fighting him or if he has hard feeling towards Shinji. He isn't mentioned in the movie when Shinji's at his lowest point. Some fans still question if he could have fought off or it was all his fault in the first place. They aren't alone because the manga blames Shinji entirely which kills Touji off instead of sparing him.]] |
| 189 | ** Keel Lorenz is the real BigBad of the entire saga, but never receives much backstory or character development, his precious few scenes where he's not a featureless black monolith all consisting of him sitting at a desk and giving short monologues. His last scene in ''End of Evangelion'' shows that most of his body consists of cybernetic prostheses, presumably as a result of injuries he's suffered, which could give him an interesting WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds backstory and a personal motivation for wanting to end mankind's suffering, but this too is never explored. |
| 190 | * TooCoolToLive: |
| 191 | ** Charismatic, wisecracking, and perhaps the main person Shinji (and in the manga, Asuka too) can have for a good [[spoiler:[[ParentalSubstitute father replacement]]]]? Way to seal your fate, [[spoiler:Kaji]]. |
| 192 | ** [[spoiler:Kaworu is incredibly kind, compassionate, and selflessly loving towards Shinji, aka the boy who has been shunned and rejected by other people for nearly his whole life, either because his own actions or not... and he dies in the same episode he is introduced.]] |
| 193 | * TransAudienceInterpretation: Many trans fans of the series have interpreted Shinji as either a nascent trans girl or non-binary. It helps that part of his insecurities are struggling with gendered expectations, regardless of how he wants to live himself, and both Asuka and Misato comment on how he isn't traditionally masculine. |
| 194 | * UglyCute: Believe it or not, some fans consider Sachiel to be this. |
| 195 | * UnintentionallySympathetic: |
| 196 | ** Arguably Kaworu Nagisa, Rei's SpearCounterpart. Kaworu was intended to be even further into the UncannyValley than Rei, complete with a shocking reveal that [[HumanoidAbomination he isn't even human]]; fans saw a heartbreaking TragicMonster manipulated into destroying the world by the bad guys, something even he seemed less than enthused about, and ultimately committing [[SuicideByCop suicide-by-giant robot]] in one of the series' most iconic tear-jerking moments. It doesn't help that both Kaworu and Rei have good chemistry with series lead Shinji Ikari, which was enthusiastically lapped up by the shippers. WordOfGod lampshaded the fans perception of Kaworu in ''After the End''. |
| 197 | * UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: |
| 198 | ** As pointed out in BaseBreakingCharacter, Asuka is this for one half of the fanbase. She's clearly meant to be a JerkassWoobie and her backstory is undeniably tragic, but her abrasive and egotistical personality made her detractors feel her backstory wasn't quite enough to cover her more obnoxious traits. The downright [[UngratefulBitch ungrateful way she acts]] about Rei saving her from a horrible MindRape and treatment of Shinji are just two of the many sore spots people have with her character. |
| 199 | ** Much like Asuka, for the fans that don't find him TheWoobie, Shinji is this in spades. While he has plenty of good reasons to be an emotional wreck, his detractors can't help but find his fixation on his terrible circumstances to be over-the-top to the point of coming off as hysterical. As a result, they wish they could slap him and make him shut up and grow a spine. |
| 200 | ** Gendo. While his villainy is entirely driven by his own self-hatred and loneliness, it's hard to feel much for him given his downright horrible treatment of his son, grooming of Rei, and generally coming off like he's completely insulting the memory of his late wife. It's no wonder that many {{Fix Fic}}s have him face some kind of LaserGuidedKarma at the hands of one of those three. |
| 201 | ** Fans also have a bone to pick with Misato. While it's true that Asuka is a handful to deal with and she too is dealing with plenty of emotional issues of her own, her refusals to keep Asuka in line and prevent her from further tormenting and abusing Shinji not only comes across as unprofessional but just pure child-negligence. Her own advice to Asuka to be herself more was also a huge mistake as she only encouraged Asuka to be even more abusive and more of a jerk then usual. |
| 202 | * ViewerGenderConfusion: |
| 203 | ** Occasionally happens when Maya is mistaken for Shinji, and the other way around. The source of this confusion is that, per Word of God, Shinji's character design is actually a female head slapped onto a male body: he's based on Nadia, the main character from Gainax's previous series, ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'', just with shorter bangs and the jewelry removed. So when people accuse Maya of looking "butch" it's actually the other way around: Shinji is based on a girl. Maya is just how Gainax draws generic girls. This has actually led to some EpilepticTrees saying that Shinji and Maya are related in some way. |
| 204 | ** It happens a ''lot'' in the AlternateContinuity ''Manga/NeonGenesisEvangelionCampusApocalypse'', where Shinji is at his most androgynous and ''really'' looks like Maya and where it's sometimes necessary to have a close look to realize that the cute short-haired girl is actually him. |
| 205 | * {{Wangst}}: This is a common complaint about the show, ''especially'' about Shinji himself. Of course, opinions on whether the characters have justified reasons for their angst are subjective, like other things on the show. Shinji is a very special case when it comes to {{Wangst}} designation, in that people agree that the amount of Shinji's angst is completely justified considering [[TraumaCongaLine what happens to him]], but they still find it excessive anyway. Asuka also gets stuck with the same situation, and it seems to be one of the more inevitable consequences of having a DysfunctionJunction series with such a high Dysfunction[=/=]Instability quotient that it's a wonder any of the characters can actually function at ''all''. |
| 206 | |
| 207 | |
| 208 | [[/folder]] |
| 209 | |
| 210 | [[folder:The Story]] |
| 211 | |
| 212 | * AngstAversion: A DysfunctionJunction cast going through a TraumaCongaLine, tons of NightmareFuel, and a BittersweetEnding that can feel more like a DownerEnding results in some people being turned off. |
| 213 | * {{Anvilicious}}: The HystericalWoman concept and the seemingly insurmountable rift between men and women are bullshit. Notice how the Jet Alone representative mentioning the HystericalWoman trope by name is juxtaposed with the men's ineptitude when it fails, and [[spoiler:Gendo's attempt to reunite with Yui after all the harm he's caused to do it is juxtaposed with Ritsuko trying to give him a DeathByWomanScorned and her mother's feminine aspect allowing the Third Impact to happen]], and also how Kaji complains about the rift "wider than an ocean" between men and women and [[spoiler:still reconciles with Misato two episodes later]], and Ritsuko flat-out ruling out "such shallow physical conditions" as menstruation affecting a pilot's competence. This might be chalked up to Hideaki Anno's admittedly troubled love life (which he had already used to portray the relationships between characters in his previous anime ''Anime/NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater'') and his efforts to get over his vital depression. |
| 214 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: [[AwesomeMusic/NeonGenesisEvangelion Enough to have its own page]]. |
| 215 | * BizarroEpisode: The Jet Alone episode... never comes up again. Aside from giving a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome to Misato, foreshadowing the Mass-production EVA units, and filling some space, it doesn't ever show up again. |
| 216 | * BrokenBase: One of the few irrefutable statements that can be made about ''Evangelion'' is that it is the most divisive anime ever. Virtually ''everything'' about this series has been, is, and will be the topic of heated debate. Is [insert character here] [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation a sympathetic character]]? Do the religious allusions [[FauxSymbolism really mean anything]]? Did the series change direction over its run, or was it all planned out from the beginning? Which ending is better? Are they the same, or do they conflict? Is the English dub as good as, better than, or vastly inferior to the Japanese? Is the series itself one of the greatest in the history of anime -- or even cinema -- or merely one of the [[HypeBacklash most overrated]]? Can the live-action movies be done right? Which girl would you [[PerverseSexualLust bang]]? If you wonder it for even a second, there is absolutely no question that it has been the subject of fierce debate inside or outside the fandom. The fact that, one way or the other, people generally tend to form ''very'' strong opinions about this series helps cement it firmly within this trope. |
| 217 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 218 | ** For those who dislike [[{{Jerkass}} Asuka]], Shinji [[TheDogBitesBack strangling her to near death]] in ''The End of Evangelion'' qualifies. |
| 219 | ** Misato killing several SEELE officials and sadistically taunting the last one before killing him can be very satisfying given that they killed many NERV doctors, some of whom were completely defenseless, and were about to kill Shinji, a 14-year-old boy. |
| 220 | * TheChrisCarterEffect: The original series hit this trope hard by [[spoiler:''completely dropping the plot for the last two episodes'']], but with the addition of ''The End of Evangelion'', its placement under this trope became ambiguous. Some felt that TheMovie provided an adequate payoff for all, or at least most of the plot threads built up over the course of the series; others felt that it was just another cop-out. |
| 221 | * CultClassic: The series itself, outside of Japan, especially as the fandom has aged over time. While obscure outside of the anime fandom, it's very well-known and held up as an anime milestone (good or bad) ''within'' it. In Japan, it's about as mainstream as ''Franchise/StarTrek'' or ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' and still continues to receive updates and story expansions to this day. |
| 222 | * EpilepticTrees: If you thought that ''the show'' was disturbing and insane, you ''clearly'' haven't read the FanWank. One could basically go on forever given just ''how much'' there is out there. |
| 223 | * EsotericHappyEnding: |
| 224 | ** In ''The End of Evangelion'', [[spoiler:almost all of humanity has [[AssimilationPlot become one]]. They have the power to go back to their individual selves, if they have the will to live and find happiness. However, by the point we come to the ending, only Shinji and Asuka seem to have found such will. While there's hopefully an open door to the possibility that other people will eventually follow them, this is not explicitly shown in the movie, ultimately leaving ambiguous what will be the fate of human society.]] |
| 225 | ** The manga ending might be quite happy on the surface, but elements of it carries some rather disturbing underlying implications. [[spoiler:Shinji might be a more stable and optimistic person and the world seems a happier place, but by all appearances that is only because his and everyone else's memories appears to has been removed as an effect of Instrumentality. The ending seems, at least unintentionally, to argue that ignorance truly is bliss and that literally forgetting your problems completely is the real answer if you are struggling with feelings of depression, which clashes against the series' main message about facing up to your problems as running away from them will only make them worse, and comes across as somewhat of a BrokenAesop. There are also elements of a SpaceWhaleAesop in there, with how the ending seems to imply that the best way to achieve the whole act of forgetting your problems is to reset the world with mystical technology from {{Sufficiently Advanced Alien}}s.]] |
| 226 | ** [[spoiler:This is somewhat mitigated by the fact Shinji still struggles with (milder) depression (or at least complicated feelings around self-worth) in the ending’s new continuity, but that just means his memories of the old world have been fully ''overwritten''.]] |
| 227 | * EveryoneIsJesusInPurgatory: Works ''particularly'' well. Shinji as a pathetic messiah/Jesus figure; the Jesus imagery[=/=]connotations that can be applied to Yui, Rei and Kaworu; Gendo as Judas, Satan or the antichrist, or alternately as the God of the Old Testament; angels/apostles; crosses... It's hard to tell whether the ''Eva'' verse is meant as a kind of Hell or as a purgatory, though. |
| 228 | * FanMyopia: Due to the amount of critical praise the show has received, the fandom has a tendency to overestimate itself. This is the reason why ''Evangelion'' fans have been so long at outright war with the rest of the mecha fandom, and sometimes even with the rest of the anime culture ''period''. Even to this day the stereotype of the "pseudointellectual Evangelion fan" is so massively prevalent that many people have outright refused to watch the anime due to their bad rep online. |
| 229 | * {{Fanon}}: A general note: so many things about the series and its mythos are implied and left open to interpretation, rather than explicitly stated, that drawing the line between canon and fanon can in some cases be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible. As a rule of thumb: if you heard it from somebody on the Internet (including Website/ThisVeryWiki and even Website/{{Wikipedia}}), or in a magazine, or at a convention, or even in the freaking DVD special features - don't assume it's canon. Hell, even the ''creators themselves'' [[ShrugOfGod tend to make contradictory statements about the series]], so you might not want to trust them so much either. |
| 230 | ** No, Gendo and Fuyutsuki never actually have a drinking party in the series. And no, Shinji isn't some kind of sex master, thank you very much. This also extends to Misato's father's name; Hikari's sisters' personalities; Shinji's wardrobe; and many other things. The "SEELE dudes" have been given the fanon names Teddy, Vlad, Nigel, and Pierre. |
| 231 | ** Also worth noting: No matter how you might remember it, Gendo does ''not'' officially have a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RsepQh342g theme song]]. |
| 232 | ** Canonically, it has never been confirmed what soul is actually inside EVA Unit-00. The only thing that is certain is that it has some possible direct connection to Rei, with a common fan theory being that it is the soul of Rei I (which the Fandom Eva Wiki treats as the canon answer on its EVA-00 page in the info box), but it has never been confirmed or stated. |
| 233 | * FauxSymbolism: [[BrokenBase Debate]] rages to this day (and on this very wiki) regarding whether the religious imagery even means anything. At least according to one statement from assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki (whose other work you [[Anime/{{FLCL}} may be familiar with]]), most of it was thrown in simply to make the series appear "mystical" as much of the "symbolism" is not actually used correctly. |
| 234 | * GrowingTheBeard: |
| 235 | ** The first half of the show is a fairly straightforward -- albeit highly entertaining -- character-driven mecha series. Starting around episodes 14 and 15, the focus shifts decisively from the MonsterOfTheWeek battles onto the relationships, internal struggles, and schemes of the characters as the pacing picks up, the action and drama become more intense, and the series gets [[CerebusSyndrome progressively darker]]. It's in the latter half of the series that it develops an identity truly its own. |
| 236 | ** The English dub also takes some time to grow its beard. For the first few episodes it is admittedly rather clumsy and over-the-top (albeit no more so than most dubs of its time), leading many viewers to dismiss it entirely and question why it was ever so well-loved in the first place. Around the time of Asuka's introduction it starts noticeably improving, and the main cast become progressively better as the series goes on, until by the end of the show they are delivering the iconic, emotional performances that fans love them for. |
| 237 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 238 | ** In episode 9, Toji wonders aloud if only weirdos are chosen to be Eva pilots. Come episodes 17 and 18... At the end of the day, [[HarsherInHindsight he may even actually be right]]. [[spoiler:As it's revealed towards the end of the series that the Evas all have to have the souls of their pilot's mother inside them, this means that ParentalAbandonment is essentially a requirement to qualify as an Eva pilot.]] |
| 239 | ** In the manga, Misato calls Ritsuko an "old bitch," and Ritsuko [[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne complains that the "old" part was uncalled for]]. Not only is this indicative of Misato and Ritsuko's deteriorating friendship, but Ritsuko's mother strangled the original Rei over, among other things, calling her a "hag," so taking offense to being called old runs in the family. |
| 240 | ** A few of Shinji's classmates express jealousy over Shinji getting to pilot the Eva and hope that they'll get a turn someday. These scenes become rather chilling after the late-series revelations that [[spoiler:Shinji's homeroom class is basically a holding pen designed to keep potential pilot candidates close to NERV]], and that [[spoiler:becoming a pilot requires either the death or psychotic break of the child's mother.]] |
| 241 | ** Shinji utters this quote in the DVD release in response to the series' GainaxEnding: |
| 242 | --->'''Shinji''': Okay, the movie better sure as Hell make up for this, I'm telling you right now, 'cause I'm stuck in Nowhereland! |
| 243 | ** Come ''End of Evangelion'', which doesn't really make up for the series finale--[[spoiler:the "Nowhereland" trapping Shinji goes from a metaphysical void to the real world, completely razed and devoid of human life other than Asuka]]. Despite that, however, there's still an underlying hope that [[spoiler:others, like Asuka has done, will eventually remember their desire to find happiness and reform their bodies and rebuild civilization.]] |
| 244 | ** The suicide of [[spoiler:Ritsuko’s mother Naoko]] comes off as way creepier after the suicide of Creator/RobinWilliams, who was probably ''Eva''’s most famous fan. |
| 245 | ** Meta example: Asuka's famous line becomes much worse when ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' (which is often considered the ''Evangelion'' of MagicalGirl anime) gives us a gem of a line that could count as a meta IronicEcho to Asuka's own line and could have easily put words in Asuka's mouth post-BreakTheHaughty. |
| 246 | -->'''Asuka''': ''Anta baka? (What are you, stupid?)'' |
| 247 | -->'''Sayaka''': ''Atashi tte, Honto baka. (I was stupid, so stupid)'' |
| 248 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 249 | ** At the end of the DVDCommentary for ''The End of Evangelion'', Jason C. Lee and Creator/TaliesinJaffe make a crack about the (un)likelihood of ''[[OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo Eva 2: Electric Boogaloo]]''. When ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' came out, speculation that it was a direct sequel to the original series became popular. [[spoiler:This ended up being ''kind of'' true in the end, with Kaworu implying the existence of a multiverse, and the finale taking place in a universe where fiction and reality collide.]] |
| 250 | ** In episode fifteen, before Asuka kisses Shinji, she says "Here I come!" triumphantly. Five minutes into ''End of Evangelion'' and... [[spoiler:[[DudeShesLikeInAComa he did]].]] |
| 251 | ** People always noted that Shinji continues to use a Walkman, even given the advanced technology present in the rest of the world. Come 2015, Sony announces an updated model, the same year the story takes place in. |
| 252 | ** In a famous [[HilariousOuttakes blooper reel]] from Creator/SpikeSpencer (as Shinji) about the show's GainaxEnding, he jokes that Creator/HideakiAnno came up with a finale that visually cut corners, most likely because he ran out of ink. Anno must have heard this years later, because ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 3.0 + 1.01: Thrice Upon a Time'' [[LimitedAnimation deliberately]] ends up running with this in a [[StylisticSuck sequence at the very end of the film]]! |
| 253 | * ItWasHisSled: |
| 254 | ** [[spoiler:Unit 01 contains the soul of Yui Ikari, Shinji's mother. Also, Rei's a clone of her.]] |
| 255 | ** [[spoiler:Kaworu dying in the ''very same episode'' he is introduced in. He's also the last Angel.]] |
| 256 | ** [[spoiler:The famous Instrumentality sequence in ''The End of Evangelion'' turns every living person on the planet into LCL after being touched by something representing what they love most. Some get better, eventually.]] |
| 257 | * MemeticMutation: [[Memes/NeonGenesisEvangelion Has its own page.]] |
| 258 | * MisaimedFandom: Though what ''part'' of the fandom is misaimed is up for tremendous [[FlameWar debate]], but notable contenders include people who treat it as a standard idealistic mecha anime where TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin and people who see it as a [[HaremAnime love dramedy]] with giant robots. Of course, [[Manga/ShinjiIkariRaisingProject some of the spin-offs]] don't exactly help matters. |
| 259 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 260 | ** SEELE deliberately engineered the Second Impact by tricking the Katsuragi Expedition into awakening Adam in order to fulfil their plans. Or to put it differently: SEELE wilfully orchestrated a massive disaster that inflicted horror, chaos, and misery on a global scale for years and ended up causing a death-toll of in the ballpark of ''3 billion people'', ''while'' gambling the rest of Earth's population in a war against the Angels, who by the by had an InstantWinCondition on their side, just so they could have a shot at achieving godhood. |
| 261 | ** Gendo either crosses this with his abandonment of Shinji or coldly putting in the Dummy Plug while Unit 03 is possessed and endangering Touji's life. |
| 262 | ** [[spoiler: Shinji himself comes within a hair's breadth of crossing this in ''End Of Evangelion'', where damns humanity to destruction as a result of his self-hatred manifesting in lashing out against them. While he's able to reverse course, it's certain that the world will take a long time to rebuild, and his first reaction to seeing Asuka is to attempt to choke her out. The thing that allows him to just barely escape is Asuka demonstrating empathy towards him, causing him to emotionally shatter with guilt.]] |
| 263 | * SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: The characteristic "ping" of an AT field, regardless of whether it's used by friend or foe. |
| 264 | * {{Narm}}: |
| 265 | ** Most of the series's more intense moments are so ''extremely'' serious that they will either come off as utterly spellbinding or hilariously over-the-top, depending on the viewer. Even many fans who adore the show agree that its dramatic extremes and rampant weirdness make it ripe for lampooning. |
| 266 | ** It's not too difficult to stomach the declining animation and artwork in the final two episodes if you tell yourself it fits the psychological themes. However, sometimes the sketches are so simple that Rei looks like she's incredibly exasperated--this face, basically: ¬_¬ |
| 267 | * NarmCharm: The ADV dub. While the quality doesn't hold up that well, it was excellent and highly praised at the time, and many of the cast members [[JustForFun/OneOfUs were fellow geeks and fans of the show]] (most notably Creator/TiffanyGrant) and poured a lot of heart, soul and personality into their characters. Even some of the weaker moments have their fans, such as the now-[[MemeticMutation memetic]] "EVERY SINGLE MISSILE HIT THE TARGET!!!!" |
| 268 | * NightmareRetardant: |
| 269 | ** Rei was ''meant'' to fit in the UncannyValley as a deconstruction of the {{Moe}} archetype. Apparently, someone in the animation department didn't get the memo, since half the time she's utterly ''adorable''. Her terrible origins and the sorry state of her life certainly earned her some sympathy points. |
| 270 | ** The infamous MindRape scene in Episode 22 was turned from NightmareFuel into purified {{Narm}} by [[SoundtrackDissonance the Hallelujah chorus]] playing alongside it. Plenty of people claim that the chorus makes it ''[[NarmCharm more]]'' disturbing, though. |
| 271 | * OlderThanTheyThink: |
| 272 | ** That Instrumentality scene? You know, with the crucifix images everywhere, and a bunch of people dying, and a [[LyricalDissonance deceptively cheerful-sounding song]] that becomes incredibly nihilistic and bleak once you actually listen closely to the lyrics -- but the movie still goes out on a {{bittersweet|Ending}} and [[TheAntiNihilist hopeful]] note? [[Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian Where have we seen an ending like this before?]] |
| 273 | ** Surprisingly, NGE was not the first to come up with mecha [[spoiler: that are powered by liquified humans]]. ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' used a similar concept one year ahead. |
| 274 | ** Nor did it come up with the twisted ending: that one was cribbed from ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon'' which did it a whopping ''14 years before'' Eva aired. |
| 275 | * OnceOriginalNowCommon: |
| 276 | ** It’s viewed this way in the west. While the series is still held in high regard and still widely recommended on quintessential anime viewing lists, to a modern viewer, some of it might seem pretty cliche, Rei in [[ReiAyanamiExpy particular]]. However, this show was [[FollowTheLeader copied like crazy]] after it aired in 1995 thanks to it reviving many tropes for anime series that followed which were long thought to be dormant. HumongousMecha that are more than machines, DysfunctionJunction, conspiracies within conspiracies, loser protagonists, the {{Tsundere}}... the list goes on. One thing's for certain: whether or not you think the show was completely original, ''Evangelion'' was a massive shot in the vein that reinvigorated the anime media and paved the way for a further revival of the otaku culture. |
| 277 | ** If this trope can apply to a character, then Rei Ayanami definitely fits the bill. Despite being the character that spawned so many Expies that [[ReiAyanamiExpy she has a trope dedicated to her characterization]], she’s lost a lot of her popularity over the years, being overshadowed by Asuka and [[BreakoutVillain Kaworu]] (especially after the ''Rebuild'' movies) due to how oversaturated in Anime media emotionless, mysterious girl type characters have become. WordOfGod has acknowledged this, saying that her original appeal was her mystery, a lot of which was lost after her becoming known by fans. |
| 278 | ** The first English dub. It was highly acclaimed at the time for being full of {{woolseyism}}s and adapting the original script very well. Additionally, most televised anime in the West was aimed at children at the time,[[note]]headlined by ''Franchise/SailorMoon'', ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' and ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries''[[/note]] which made the uncensored, adult-oriented ''Evangelion'' dub stand out more along with other highly acclaimed shows such as ''Anime/CowboyBebop''. However, it also suffered from a few awkward translation and pronunciation issues compared to modern anime. Because many viewers at the time were unacquainted with Japanese culture, some lines were translated awkwardly for easier understanding, such as "oni, a Japanese devil" in the first episode [[LogicBomb despite the show taking place in Japan]]. Additionally, many characters have a slight [[UsefulNotes/AmericanAccents Texan accent]] due to Creator/ADVFilms being located in Houston, and almost all Japanese names are pronounced with an American accent as well (rather than attempting the Japanese pronunciation as modern anime dubs do). Finally, some characters, such as Ritsuko, can come across as overacted or underacted. And the voice acting when it comes to the extras are, well, a ''really'' mixed bag to put it politely. All of these problems would be addressed in later anime (including ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'') by Creator/{{FUNimation}} and other dubbing companies, which also have the benefit of larger budgets for dubbing than during TheNineties. As a result, the ADV dub can feel slightly dated to some people, and is a more of a polarizing case than it was during the show's heyday, especially with a more sophisticated Internet bringing easier access to the original Japanese versions of shows. |
| 279 | * ShallowParody: The "Get in the fucking robot Shinji" meme is funny, but becomes this when it's overused to describe the relationship between Shinji and Gendo. First off, [[spoiler: the Eva units are not robots. They are ''mecha'', but not in the traditional sense.]] Secondly, aside from the first episode, Shinji typically ''does'' [[DeterminedDefeatist get in the robot]]. If anything, Shinji's [[ExtremeDoormat willingness to get into the EVA ]][[FromBadToWorse exacerbates a lot of his issues]]. |
| 280 | * TheShipsMotor: Many fanfics with the Shinji×Rei pairing will bring up various arguments and bits of fanon that make the pairing less problematic by reducing the degree of genetic connection between the two. |
| 281 | * SignatureScene: |
| 282 | ** Anytime Unit 01 goes berserk, especially the scene when it eats Zeruel. |
| 283 | ** The two really notable instances of LeaveTheCameraRunning, have become some of the most referenced moments from the series: |
| 284 | *** Asuka and Rei's UncomfortableElevatorMoment. |
| 285 | *** [[spoiler:Shinji ruminating over whether or not to kill Kaworu.]] |
| 286 | ** Of course, when most people about "''that'' scene" they are referring to the infamous opening scene of ''The End of Evangelion'', where [[spoiler:Shinji masturbates over a [[DudeShesLikeInAComa comatose]] Asuka.]] |
| 287 | ** The final scene in ''End'' where [[spoiler: Shinji and Asuka are the last two humans left on Earth, alone together on a barren shore next to a sea of LCL (giant phantom head of Rei optional)]], is so iconic that it's on almost every DVD cover for the film. It has also been ruthlessly parodied in fanart, becoming the ''de facto'' representative scene for any MindScrew in media. |
| 288 | ** Misato drinking beer, which is a scene that's imitated in other anime shows. |
| 289 | * {{Squick}}: |
| 290 | ** ''End of Evangelion'' pegs the Squickometer multiple times; heck, even Shinji has been touched (ahem) by the disease. There's also pretty much everything Gendo does, especially in ''The End of Evangelion''. |
| 291 | ** Shinji's relationship with his mother Yui (and to a lesser extent, Rei) has [[ParentalIncest some subtext]]. As an extension, some people find the idea of shipping Shinji with Rei uncomfortable at best. |
| 292 | ** The manga goes ''extremely'' far in making all the Freudian implications explicit when Shinji, trapped in the Eva, is "tempted" by a seductive apparition of [[spoiler:naked Yui, or rather Unit 01's Angelic side in her guise]]. Even for ''Evangelion'', that scene was seriously disturbing. |
| 293 | ** Misato [[SexForSolace offering herself to Shinji.]] For context, she's nigh 30 and he's ''[[NoYay 14!]]'' Shinji turns her down, but still... |
| 294 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSong: |
| 295 | ** The "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K05gPSrsE-c Decisive Battle]]" track has quite a few similarities with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLpciaZzONY "007"]] theme used in ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove''. |
| 296 | ** "Komm, Susser Tod" sounds a lot like [[Music/TheBeatles "Hey Jude"]], oddly enough. |
| 297 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: A lot of the story changes in the manga have gotten this reaction, such as the ending. |
| 298 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 299 | ** When it comes to using religious symbolism so haphazardly, such as where every Angel explodes to the point where you'd start thinking it was VideoGame/{{Bomberman}} laying the fatmans. Now, before you hit the edit key, think: how many times did the crucifix relate to the scene it appeared in? (EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory notwithstanding). |
| 300 | ** The fate of the rest of mankind is almost completely ignored. The reason why NERV is based on Japan and what are the other world powers doing remains unknown. |
| 301 | * ValuesResonance: The series' premiere on Netflix was well-timed with TheNewTens' destigmatization of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, along with increased awareness of the effects of parental negligence and abuse; while the cast's DysfunctionJunction doesn't necessarily excuse some characters' more questionable actions, the anime still takes the time to explore several main characters' backstories and show why they ended up the way they did. Some even jokingly call Eva "the best antidepressant on the market" as many depressed people claim that the anime got them out of a funk. |
| 302 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: According to WordOfGod, the target demographic for the series is adolescents. Many people -- not least among them Japanese parents -- have found this claim a bit hard to swallow (or at least a bit uncomfortable). Some people suggest that the show is similar to a {{seinen}} series in terms of graphic content, although ''Evangelion'' is far from unique in this regard - other teen-oriented {{shonen}} franchises such as ''Manga/DeathNote'' and ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' have similarly mature and dark content, and teenage anime fans are quite often familiar with the level of violence and depth shown in series such as ''Evangelion''. |
| 303 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic: The director actually researched some academic psychology, and when a man climbing out of a depression reads a psychology textbook you know he's paying attention. Consequently, its usage is fairly accurate in the show, although it suffers from AllPsychologyIsFreudian. For example, one of the episodes, "Oral Stage," is named after one of Freud's psychosexual development phases. Many of the music titles derive from mainstream psychology, e.g. "Borderline Case", "Separation Anxiety", "Mother Is the First Other", "A Fragile Ego Border", and "Hedgehog's Dilemma". |
| 304 | * {{Woolseyism}}: Ample amounts; see the entry on the Woolseyism page for Anime. |
| 305 | ** A somewhat unusual case of Woolseyisms being enforced by the original creators: Anno himself oversaw the series' translation and dubbing, and personally selected translations for some of the terms in the series. These include the Angels (the original word is ''shito'', which would ordinarily translate to "messenger" or "apostle", whereas "angel" would rather be ''tenshi''); the Human Instrumentality Project, more literally translated as "Human Complementation Project", which was translated as such as a ShoutOut to the writings of Creator/CordwainerSmith; the English episode titles (see ShoutOut entry), which were in most cases completely changed from the Japanese originals, initially to titles of songs from the series' soundtrack, but later to original titles, e.g. episode 16's "Splitting of the Breast"; and of course the title of the series, which is a pretty accurate translation from the Japanese - to Greek, not English, where it would be something like "Good News of the New Creation". |
| 306 | * WriterCopOut: Quite a few fans of the anime view the manga's ending as such. [[spoiler:Rather than committing to the changes the manga did to the series' storyline, like characters having somewhat different backstories, characterisation, and development, it instead forgoes all of that entirely by using a strange combination of a TimeSkip and a ResetButton, to depict the last chapter a more normal, happier world were everyone is alive again and apparently doesn't really remember the events of the story. In the end, none of the characters' arcs are resolved by organic CharacterDevelopment, but rather by a strange magical amnesia so they can no longer remember their problems, most prominently Shinji himself.]] |
| 307 | [[/folder]] |
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