edited 26th Jul '15 10:32:13 AM by Nikkolas
Kay, I just finished watching the series and am gearing up to watch the two sequel movies, but I want to know: What the hell happened to the last two episodes? Not from an in-universe point of view, but from a real-life point of view. The story just ends in the middle of something and we get two episodes of psychoanalysis with very limited animation and crayon drawings. Did they have plans to continue the story but they ran out of money and had to BS the last two episodes? And when exactly did they decide on doing the Death and Rebirth and End of Evangelion movies? Did they know going in they would get the movies so they decided they could just stop the story with two episodes left? What's the story here?
i've heard that gainax ran into time and budget problems during the last two episodes, leading to what you see in the tv series.
the runaway success of eva presumably gave them the funding they needed to make Eo E. i've also heard that it was the "planned/original" ending for the series but i have no sources for that so take it with a grain of salt.
That's well documented. A lot of Eva had a troubled production with the budget all over the place. If you look closely in the last two episodes, there's some moments where you can see sketches of Asuka fighting the MP-Evas. EOE was almost certainly the planned ending.
Forget Asuka fighting the MP Evas. We have Freeze-Frame Bonus previews of Ritsuko and Misato's death scenes in EOE.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Actually, Asuka fighting the MP Evas is from the next epsiode preview on the Director's Cut version of Episode 24, I believe.
edited 26th Jul '15 6:07:40 PM by TheAmazingBlachman
We're all still aliens.I need to look at that as I hadn't watched it in awhile.
"I am going down a DOWNWARD SPIRAL!!"So there's this EVA doujinshi that I've read today, and three pages have piqued my interest with their Alternative Character Interpretation on Asuka's Jerkass Façade. The gist of it: Asuka is being a Jerkass and hiding her true feelings not because she's afraid of opening up to others and consequentially leave herself emotionally vulnerable to tragic loss, betrayal, etc., but because she hates herself so much that she sabotages each and every oppurtunity for her personal happiness that comes her way. That includes her Child Prodigy status, which in this take is actually purely the product of sheer willpower rather than her being naturally gifted.
Thoughts?
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Pretty interesting. Sometimes, the fans take on a character makes for interesting interpretations.
Yeah. Personally, I think I'm gonna combine this with the canon explanation for her psychology and make the result my headcanon. It would make her behavior have a lot more sense than it already had if she's torn between a genuine desire for attention and approval on the one hand, and an equally strong desire for self-punishment via actively sabotaging any chance of her being happy. The latter including forcing herself to persist in advanced academic studies even after she realizes she's way over her head and finds the whole thing (particularly whatever college major she picked) so aggravating and not fun, in a twisted hope that she actually fails spectacularly... only to end up blitzing through it all through sheer I-don't-know-the-word-surrender stubbornness and her pride not giving an exception for her self-loathing side's wishes when it comes to refusing to let herself fail at something.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.That makes a disturbing amount of sense. Asuka isn't a narcissistic individual as much as she is a histrionic individual who fears to get hurt so she puts up a fassad of confidence and self assurance.
"I am going down a DOWNWARD SPIRAL!!"It would make her a tad bit more sympathetic if that was how she was in the show proper.
Also, found this Reddit post and follow-up comments that do a really cool analysis on Rei Ayanami.
By contrast, here's why one considers Maya Ibuki to be the best girl, and why Rei is the weakest in the show.
edited 30th Jul '15 12:03:26 PM by LDragon2
She's described on this wiki and other places as exhibiting a mix of the traits of both narcissistic and histrionic personality disorders, actually.
That first article — both the original and the follow-up response that elaborated even further — encapsulates the essence of why I hold Rei as one of my most favorite EVA characters. The second one... I'm fairly sure there's a Logical Fallacy involved. Reduction to absurdity, maybe? It does absurdly reduce Rei's character to a mere caricature of herself, at least.
edited 30th Jul '15 2:28:35 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.Man, now I'm even more sadly convinced that 3.0 + 1.0 won't be out for several years now, because Anno chose to put it aside for fricken Godzilla.
i'm not really all that chuffed. it comes out when it comes out, i remember waiting a long time for 3.0 to come out too.
No point complaining about it, that wont accomplish anything.
I'm on Youtube Reviewing Things Cause I can.It's not as if he is incapable of multitasking. And we know that work is being done on 3.0+1.0. Seriously L, stop stop complaining.
PSN ID: FateSeraph Congratulations! She/TheyHonestly I'm more concerned about getting 3 in English before getting the new one.
Oh really when?IIRC, Anno has never multitasked. GAINAX as a whole, yeah, but I think Anno has always finished a project before moving onto the next one.
Personally, 3.0 killed my interest on Rebuild, so I don't care if they never release 4.0.
Will Keaton: the televised ending was hastily strung together when the budget simply ran out (sponsors were pulling away as it became ever more controversial and unconventional). End of is plot-wise the ending they planned, but tinged with the (very angry) reaction of fans against Gainax. Thematically, though, it seems Anno's ideas about the end situation with regards to the characters were in flux all along for the simple reason that he was seeking a solution to his own troubles and had not found it. If it leaves the audience desperately wanting answers, that's because Anno was too.
On the quotes about Japan's defeat and occupation being the seed of today's trouble: I don't trust this common assumption, mostly because Germany was in the same situation and turned out very differently. My impression (speaking as a foreigner with some interest in the matter) is that this comes from a rigid culture going back centuries, that controls all interpersonal expression for the sake of social harmony and throttles intimacy and mutual support. What is peculiar about those liable to be otaku is that they don't have the social "reading" skills to conform, or the initiative to create their own image. Such people are found in every society, but one that does not allow open communication between strangers make it worse for them. The biggest change that losing the war made was that it removed the military as an outlet for adventure and exertion, and rebuilding the country (under the same civil service, still in a war-time mindset) brought even more focus on the importance of working for the collective good.
On the matter of Rei and what she means to the audience: watch Guilty Crown for comparison. Inori is basically Rei turned into a full magical girlfriend with utmost subservience and lack of self-determination. I for one found it deeply creepy. Compare also the far more popular Yuki Nagato; definitely otaku bait, but she has her own agency as a character (tellingly, in her spin-off she has more than the boy she's shipped with). I think there is still a neurosis at the core of her fandom, but looking at how she is normally expied, Anno seems simplistic in dismissing it as wanting sexual submission.
Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.I think there is a reason for Rei being popular that Anno cannot fathom and it isn't because Rei is otaku bait.
"I am going down a DOWNWARD SPIRAL!!"Hell, Inori when the show was first being broadcasted even ended up at the bottom of Newtype's character rankings for that seasons. And I say that as someone who likes her, just goes to show Anno has no idea of what he says.
What is it then? If you can share?
"Please crush me with your heels Esdeath-sama!I could be wrong about all this but I had no idea that we were supposed to see her as inhuman and I really didn't see her as unsettling at all. Rei is quiet but she is also to the point and she tries in many ways to help the cast get over their problems. Rei II doesn't value herself as person as she knows she can replaced but she begins develop a personality later in the series. My guess that most Rei fans see her is because Rei is a something of a mystery, they wanted to get inside her head and see what makes her tick.
Edit: Here are some threads on Evageeks that discusses this in more detail.
edited 14th Aug '15 1:22:02 AM by GAP
"I am going down a DOWNWARD SPIRAL!!"For me, I love Rei both because of the mystery surrounding her and for her overall Character Development. Heck, she is one of the few in the series that I could sympathize for and the like.
Moreover, I also feel that she is one of the best examples of the Cloning Blues trope in all of fiction. I'm a sucker for that trope in general (clones and cloning have always fascinated me) and Rei's development touches on many of the ethical and philosophical questions that cloning brings up. Is a clone truly human? Are they the same or different from the original? Can an artificially created person be capable of having a soul and emotions, and can they grow to develop things like love and compassion?
Rei hits all those notes and more. So for me, I love her not because she's a "submissive sex-toy", but because of her development and themes that her character brings up.
Right.