How evangelion impact the industry?

I just rewatched Evangelion today but one thing bothers me, how did a show that lasted for 26 episodes impact the anime industry? I know the industry was at its lowest point in the mid 90s yet this series that appeared almost out of nowhere completely changed how anime anf manga in general was designed. It just amazes me how the anime seemed to inspire future writers just as Ideon did with Anno. How exactly did Evangelion change anime forever?

It deconstructed The Hero's Journey in general, and Mecha Anime specifically.

Basically it denoted a major shift away from a classic straight hero's journey, and towards more dark and cynical stories. Which then in turn opened the door to a reconstruction of the original, more idealistic story.

At least that would be my guess.

To put it in Fanfiction terms it generated both a lot of imitators, and a lot of fix fics.

edited 29th Oct '10 6:49:11 PM by Sackett

Every series now has a Rei Ayanami clone.

Most mecha pilots before Shinji were more hot-blooded, courageous, and reckless, while Shinji is (self-proclaimed) coward with a bishounen figure that don't do nutin'.

Also, the series slowly descended into its madness at the end of the show, so by the time you got to the end, you were emotionally attached with these characters as they spiraled into depression.

And it's a mindscrew with the plot and all that symbolism that goes over Japan's head.

edited 29th Oct '10 7:07:39 PM by PatchworkSpace

Well... first you have to remember the historical background of the mid-1990's: It was the era of Dragon Ball GT and G Gundam, both of them were horrible series when compared to their predecessors, so they caused a massive drop on anime's popularity... all seemed lost, until Gainax, in a last and desperate act, decided to apply a new, insane idea from the mildly disturbed Hideaki Anno, who proceeded to make a groundbreaking series that totally deconstructed the Humongous Mecha Genre and would carry on with Yoshiyuki Tomino's legacy of Grey-and-Grey Morality and Kill Em All scenarios, this series was named... Neon Genesis Evangelion.

edited 29th Oct '10 7:42:17 PM by LSSJ2Gohan

IIRC, Dragon Ball GT came after Evangelion.

Hmmm. This is an interesting question. Its impact in terms of its recognizability and how much the anime fandom is obsessed with it is huge. When you start to look for influence, rather than taking it as read that everyone copied Eva, things get murky. The idea that Eva instantly and permanently killed off the hot blooded mecha pilot which until then had held sway is inaccurate. To pick the best known example, the protagonists of the various Gundam shows may not have been as cowardly as Shinji, but most of them (with the obvious exception of the super-roboty G) are well in the anti hero zone. An anti-social, preening nerd, a angsty self obsessed teenager, a near-sociopathic killer and an ignorant kid to name a few. Most of the credit for angsting up mecha shows was already done by the time eva came along.

If "angsty mecha show" doesn't count as Eva-esque then eva's direct imitators begin to look very few, Rahxephon is the only one I can think of off the top of my head. Far from being killed off, the Super Robot genre had an immediate response in Gao Gai Gar.

It is possible that Eva made Mind Screw fashionable. Perfect Blue, Serial Experiments Lain and Gainax's own FLCL all came out soon after Eva. However, mind screw shows are inherently niche, and certainly Akira and Key The Metal Idol pre-date eva. It may be that mind screw shows pre eva are simply not well known among the western fanbase. Another possibility I wouldn't make any strong statements either way about is if Eva made it more fashionable to have mechs as a (marketable) element in a more well rounded show, rather than a main focus. Infinite Ryvius and Escaflowne come to mind.

Well, Eva made deconstructing character archetypes cool right? Eh. Angsty heroes and Tsunderes, to pick the obvious examples, both pre-date eva. After eva, as before, heroes usually work through their issues to become more heroic, and Tsunderes usually get the boy after a lengthy will they or won't they. If Eva was as influential as in sometimes claimed, it would surely be more common to see such characters collapse and fail outright under their own flaws.

Eva's influence then, though far ranging, is probably fairly nebulous and shallow. Weirder mech designs, a lot of blue haired girls who sound like Rei and maybe a few other superficial traits have been much imitated, but real changes to how anime is written? I don't have enough knowledge of early 90s and 80s anime to say for certain, but probably not.

edited 29th Oct '10 8:06:17 PM by KillerRabbit

While reading anime series review, I read stuff like post-evangelion mecha series etc etc. It definitely had an impact on mecha genre at least if you categorize series as post-evangelion or pre-evangelion. But I am not a mecha fan, so I can't confirm it myself.

edited 30th Oct '10 4:39:28 AM by kalandra

Firstly, it kinda kick started the Moe Moe craze, it was around before, but it wasn't until Rei absolutely failed at being creepy that it really started gaining ground.

It was extremely popular in the west, even now we still uphold the Animation Age Ghetto, so that was a pretty big deal back in the 90's.

It also gave other shows license to use aimless mindscrew to appear DEEP, so it inspired a lot of Follow the Leader.

And it was possibly the first series to ever predominantly use ORGANIC looking Mecha. Gundam rarely, if ever did that.

edited 30th Oct '10 3:38:40 AM by Billabong

Evangelion was also completely fucking brutal. Before it, there was a general trend towards action in anime favouring impressive fights over combat pragmatics.

A change for the better, in my mind.

Even discounting the artistic influence it had, a show as successful with merchandise as Evangelion has got to be influential on some front, just by necessity.

edited 5th Nov '10 7:44:38 PM by DonZabu

I guess another important factor in Evangelion's popularity (In Japan at least) is... ZOMG TEH REI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't speak for Japan, but based on what I've seen in Korea Asuka seems to have become the flagship character for merchandising.

edited 6th Nov '10 8:56:06 AM by EternalSeptember

There's a distinct lack of Ruri in that picture.

Created ansty whiny "protagonists" a far cry from the manly and great heroes like Kenshiro who did cry but they were manly tears.

All in all i tend to think Neon Genesis Evangelion had a negative effect on the industry as from my point it has always been that anime whilst unafraid of dealing with psychological issues takes it to such insane depths which makes it hard for it to be coherent and it doesn't really provide many answers.

Now I guess you could say the West isn't any better which is a fair point to argue. But when Neo or Roddy Piper whips out an SMG you know it's because it represents empowerment and that it is about the resistance. About creating a revolution.

Somehow a lot of psychological animes lack that but it may or may not matter to some people.

All I'm saying is I know where I could buy a dozen Asuka dolls tomorrow, and if I wanted a Rei I'd have to hunt. And probably find her misfiled with the Yuki Nagatos.

This wasn't a reply to you.

Then neither is this.

I really don't consider it a dark deconstruction. Cynical, not really, horror, yes, opened the door for stupid "we ran out of budget lol" mindscrews, had a shitload of merchandise.

I think it's the ending. Just throwing it out there.

I disagree; it has a cynical message in that in most cases we are, deep down, incapable of understanding each other out of fear of being hurt from opening up, when ironically, we all suffer from the same insecurities and fears. It is this self-imposed isolation that causes people suffering, but can't open up to others out of fear of being judged. So we hate the world for failing to understand us while at the same time fearing judgement from it as well. And all this incubates a feeling purposelessness to our existence.

Goddamn you two! Look the dates!

Derp :/

Sorry, just a topic that kinda interesting to me. Didn't realize it was a necropost.

GAH!

edited 14th Dec '11 3:48:14 PM by Willbyr