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Narm / Neon Genesis Evangelion

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An important note here: Neon Genesis Evangelion has some of the most subjective Narm in anime. The difference between a scene being hilarious and horrifying is very small, and sometimes divisive. At certain points things can be so over the top that they somehow cross the line twice and turn back to serious/horrible, perhaps more than once (the infamous "mind rape" scene can be seen as this by some). This can happen at any point in the scene and naturally can be the difference between hailing it as a masterpiece and hating it.

Then you have the first English dub by ADV Films. Generally speaking, it contains a number of truly outstanding performances and scenes, as well as a greater-than-average number of Narmy hiccups. How greatly the positive aspects outweigh the negative tends to be a matter of personal preference and is the main reason for the first dub's divisive status among Eva fans.

TV Series

  • A more specific example: the single frame held for about two minutes in episode 24 is meant to be a dramatic scene in which Shinji is realizing that he has no choice except to kill his new buddy. The scene is held so long that the audience is likely to forget what they're watching and why, or even wonder if there's a problem with their TV when watching it for the first time. AMV Hell 2 mocked the crap out of it.
  • Repeating of the same three bits of Stock Footage in the Director's Cut of Episode 22 over and over again ended up making it some sort of incredibly inappropriate Overly Long Gag. It made more sense in the original Japanese; there, each time that scene was repeated, a different voice actress from the cast who played another character (Rei, Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, and Hikari) read Asuka's lines, making her statement of "No! This isn't me!" more sensible. But in the dub, it's just Asuka's regular VA. Either this didn't occur to the dubbers, or, because the dub for the Director's Cut was made afterwards, too many voice actors were unavailable. (Gendo's lines were re-recorded with a different voice actor as it was.)

  • The crappy (lack of) animation made episodes 25 and 26 amusing to some people. Halfway through episode 26, the visuals devolve into static crayon sketches.

  • In one of the earlier episodes, Shinji is sitting in a movie theater, and we see a close up of his face with blank, bored looking eyes. It cuts to a shot of two people making out in the seat in front of him, and then back to Shinji, whose eyes then quickly accumulate a gratuitous amount of "shinies," making him look like he just morphed into a chibi.
  • Another English dub example: Ritsuko's (Sue Ulu) breakdown in episodes 23 and 24 flirts with Chewing the Scenery, particularly her delivery of this line:
    "... NOT EVEN WHEN YOU MAKE LOVE TO MEEEE!!!!"
  • Japanese dub, Asuka struggling to speak German — the character's native language. In the English dub, the German is solid, since Tiffany Grant speaks German fluently.
    Asuka: You're thinking in Japanese aren't you? If you must think, do it in German!
    Shinji: Alright ... Baumkuchen!
  • The English dub of End of Evangelion has Fuyutsuki's voice actor slipping into Dull Surprise territory so often it becomes funny. Memorable lines include: "Sweet Jesus, it's an Anti-AT Field." and "Oh dear God in Heaven, SEELE has delivered an angel to us." Exactly in the tone you'd expect Dull Surprise to fall under.
  • When Shinji has been absorbed into his Eva in episode 20, there is a part where he hears various characters repeatedly saying his name. The funny part is that their voices end up getting sped up, making them sound like the chipmunks.

End of Evangelion

  • Misato killing the soldiers that tried to kill Shinji in End of Evangelion becomes hilarious in the English dub because of the cartoonish sound effect added when she shoots one in the head. It sounds like someone squeezing a piece of slime. That same sound effect was used almost as inappropriately during Instrumentality.
  • There's another narm-y bit in the English dub of the movie: when the JSSDF is raiding NERV headquarters, one soldier fires a flamethrower down a hallway twice. The dub adds someone saying "Hit 'em again!" before the soldier fires the flamethrower a second time.

Rebuild of Evangelion

  • From the second film; in the Zeruel battle, Zeruel eats Unit 00, leaving nothing but ankles spraying blood. With Shinji watching this, this is chilling... until Zeruel comically spits 00's head out.

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