I think that Hideaki Anno was trying to parody/deconstruct the whole fanservice thing, but honestly, I have no idea.
I'm so sorry that my avatar doesn't appear fully in the shot, but the cat was threatening the photographer.
OK, few things:
- There is fierce debate about what the symbolism means, if it means anything at all. Some of it is very obviously meaningful, such as the Doors of the Guf (I read about it on Wikipedia and the ending finally made a lot more sense).
- You kinda misinterpreted the message, which is more along the lines of, ‘Finding your place and self-worth and learning to interact with other people is hard, but it’s most certainly worth it.’
- These questions are pretty much answered. The answer is along the lines of, ‘Because you have a survival instinct, and, ultimately, You Are Better Than You Think You Are, and you can find your place in society.’ EoE might give a somewhat different message, but it’s generally the same—‘Humans have the ability to learn to be happy with interpersonal relationships, even if it’s more overwhelming than they think they can handle and would probably choose not to face this challenge if given the choice.’
- As porschelemas pointed out, yes, it’s supposed to be a Deconstruction of Fanservice Gone Horribly Wrong, and, thankfully, it’s mostly done in a plot-relevant way: Rei happened to come out of the shower and the situation that ensued was an Establishing Character Moment; Asuka and Misato in the onsen was meant both to show Shinji’s sexual side developing (it is a Coming Of Age Story after all) and to bring Misato’s prominent scar and traumatic past to light; &c. The same happens in Anno’s earlier work, Gunbuster, where there is an onsen on the ship, and in the series finale Noriko has to tear her clothing to make the robot, which is imitating her actions, tear off its armour so she can reach into its core). All in all, Anno knew very well what he was doing.
- The ‘Powerpoint presentations’ are meant to make the viewer focus on the internal struggle of the characters rather than external conditions. (And save money.) I think it’s a Love It Or Hate It thing, and I’m very firmly in the ‘love it’ end of the spectrum, or rather dichotomy.
1: Ah, okay. So it's a show about kabbalistic mythology. That's actually pretty cool.
2: Thanks, yeah I see that too, but I also think the show adresses themes that are more generally about meaning and autonomy.
3: ...and whether you're satisfied by those answers will vary — anyway, the fact that it's a genuine and quite original attempt at answering them, and pretty clearly from the perspective of someone who is depressed himself, is part of what makes this show so good. The fact that a lot of people have found meaning and purpose from it, is part of what makes it great.
porschelemans/4: Could you guys explain that, though? Because I don't see the deconstruction. Maybe there are some cultural things I don't know about.
5: I can see that, and it's a creative and interesting way to deal with the budgetary issues. Maybe I'll like it better when I watch it again in a few years.
It’s a deconstruction because it shows why the character archetypes are the way they are, traumatic Backstory and all.
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NGE gets weird in order to make its point more clearly. But the weirdness can end up making people more confused
This is a review of the original series, plus End of Evangelion. Spoilers ahoy:
This is not a perfect show, but making a perfect show would have meant lowering the level of ambition - and the ambition is what makes the series as great as it is. This is also not a show about christianity. The biblical names and symbols are there for flavor. If you don't like the idea of a creative and alien perspective on christian symbols, you won't like this.
This is a show about huge combat robots, and about how we're all wretched and vulnerable creatures, desperately seeking meaning that may not even be there for us to find [cue peppy intro music].
It's apparent pretty early on that Shinji suffers from depression and social anxiety, and has some serious issues with his father - and eventually you may see that the theme of *every* character of the show is about relationships, about how we see our selves and how we allow others to see us. Another theme is "why do we do stuff?" or "why don't we just quit living?" - if you're looking for a satisfying answer to those questions, you might not find them here, though some clearly have.
The characters are dynamic, and do change as the show progresses, but the change does not go in a straight line, and whether they end up better in the end is debatable. As some of the reviews show here, that can be very unsatisfying.
Shinji gets a dilemma at the end of the show: should humanity literally be a happy soup (all of us melted together, no boundaries, no anxieties, just togetherness) or free individuals, with all that entails? This idea elegantly ties the themes of each character together in a very satisfying way - and since it's not really clearly presented as good or evil, it can be a good starting point for conversation after the show.
Some quick comments:
The fourteen year old girls get naked conspicuously often, and the camera occasionally gets kind of creepy.
Much is made about the "outdated" look of NGE - but the evolution in animation since then hasn't been all progress. Yes, there is some painfully obvious time saving going on occasionally - but otherwise it's technically excellent and really pretty.
Also, the internal powerpoint presentations are not very compelling or human-sounding.
I'm writing this right after my first viewing, so it's very possible that I've missed the point