No. You know a show is really good when you believe that every comliment you have to say it's redundant.
@Ardiente: I'm really proud of that review. It's the one where I decided to review in a more careful fashion and stop doing them on the fly.
It's not exactly naive. And it can happen. But it's tough. And definetly worthwhile.OK, this is it. The reason that you’ve been reading this reviews, and the reason I’ve been watching the show.
I watched the Finale.
And…I feel ripped off. The whole reason I started this thread was the fact that the show wasn’t depressing nor screwing with my mind in the early stages.
Nor in it’s latest. The Evangelion finale is like a James Joyce script directed by David Lynch. How appealing that sounds? A lot. How appealing it is? I want to say a lot, but I can see why someone would hate these episodes.
There are a couple of things that must be said:
- The whole thing is about the characters psychologies. The plot is pretty much dropped completely.
- If you notice a lot of the characters have Father issues (That can be quite a problem if you want to enjoy the show, as it feels like the characters are all samey)
- There’s lots of rambling. The fact that it makes sense it’s a miracle.
- The episode uses lots of Jungian psychology. It almost feels like Inception
Anyway, I won’t recap what it happened, there’s not an actual point to it except to do a Tl;DR version: Shinji realizes he doesn’t have to hate himself anymore. I’m just going to give my final review of the show as a whole before going on to Eo E.
The first question that must be asked (and answered) is: It’s the show good?
Yes, yes it is. The show provides quality entertainment, unforgettable characters, a fascinating study on them as well, and their relationships. But, the fact is that I still find Rei to be one of the most uninteresting characters of all time. Gendo, Shinji and Misato on the other hand are some of the best characters I’ve seen in fiction in quite a while.
How about the writing?
The writing is…ambivalent. Sometimes a scene is really powerful and endearing but there are quite a lot of scenes in which the writing destroys a really powerful moment (The famous Narmful Moment of the Day bits in my review can go on further for you)
On the other hand, it does have what I’d like to call realistic exposition. The exposition is not treated like something the audience needs to know, but as something that is conversed and brought about in normal life.
How does the show progress in terms of quality? Does it jump the shark?
It doesn’t. The show keeps up its quality from beginning to end. If anything it changes tone.
Does it live to its mind screwing, depressing hype?
This is the part where I disagree with all of ye. It was not depressing (not even emotionally engaging) or an incomprehensible mess of surrealism. While there is a lot of imagery, the show doesn’t rely on it to tell the story. It can be enjoyed (and understood) without having to rewind.
And one last question that I’m pretty sure all of you are asking right now…
Why don’t you review the finale properly?
There are a lot of reasons. First and foremost, remember that when I reviewed 22 I said that I didn’t want to talk about Asuka’s Mind Rape? Remember why? Because all it does is say the same things that the episode already said in a more visual, surrealistic tone. Well, think of this as Shinji’s Mind Rape. The whole point of this episode is Shinji realizing that not everybody hates him and he needs people in his life. He’s alone and empty without them. (-Insert reference to Lost here-) and at the end he finds it within himself to stop hating himself. But for him to realize that he has to see how everyone’s life is as shitty as his and yet they never folded and break like he did. (Well, they kind of did, but not as hard as Shinji) Anyway, the whole point of the finale is to emphasize the themes and concepts the show had been dealing with since the beginning. It’s a fascinating example of things done right in the face of adversity (the whole non-budget thing) And one hell of a conclusion.
All in all, it’s nothing but a really good show that tends to be overhyped. Would I recommend it? Yep, just…don’t read anybody else’s opinion on it or you will expect God himself to hand you an EVA DVD with a thumbs up.
edited 6th Feb '11 8:40:51 AM by juancarlos11
It's not exactly naive. And it can happen. But it's tough. And definetly worthwhile.Nice review. It is nice to see a point of view that doesn't just tell me how confusingly awesome Eva is. Thanks you very much for bothering to write this up.
I have to say something in 'defense' of those who argue about 'how Eva is incomprehensible'. You said the plot was pretty much dropped at that point right? It is not incorrect, but the thing is, the plot was not dropped and there is enough mentions of what happened after the previous episodes to make people wonder. In the end, I believe people where so much concerned in understand what happened in the plot to pay attention in the characters, failing to understand either. You, meanwhile focused on what was showed to you. Therefore, for you these episodes make total sense, but fail in explaining the series itself (I am correct?).
Speaking on it, will you watch End Of Evangelion, right? It picks from episode 24, giving the series a proper finale (as in, a finale for its plot). Btw, some people believe the last two episodes fit somewhere inside the movie(you may notice when), but this is no general agreement on that matter.
Sorry. I used the wrong wording. I meant the plot. Why things happen and what ultimately happened. How it ended.
I agree with you about the characterization and that this two episodes are excellent when watching from this point of view. But I believe you agree these last episodes failed (or, better, not even tried) to explain what is happing and what is going to happen, right? I was trying to explain why so many people insist it ends ins 'incomprehensible'. It can be comprehended if you are looking for something else.
Also, my last question was not entirely rhetorical. Are you going to watch (and review) EoE?
edited 6th Feb '11 9:05:09 AM by Heatth
Pretty much. Btw, despite of what I said, it is not like EoE ignores the characterization. Just isn't as focused on it as the finale. It is pretty much just one more regular episode (except with less still images).
I was the rude one. Champloo... was a big disappointment for me. It was mostly a "Shaggy Dog" Story made of lots of little shaggy dog stories. The exercise seemed empty and pointless to me. So was Bebop, but while Bebop's cool factor clicked with me, Champloo's didn't. At all.
I just hate stories that seem to go nowhere and where nothing is achieved. At least in EVA disaster was a chieved. It was a beautiful disaster too...
"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."Well, since you are going to watch Eo E i'll try not to spoil anything for you, but I think the final two episodes, are the psycological events that take place during Eo E, meanwhile, the movie is the physical part that happens at the same time. If you see it that way the ending makes sense plot-wise, and it also provides the closest thing to a Happy-Ending that you could get from Eva.
I for one think Eo E is an alternate ending which psychologically does not lead to the same conclusion as those two episodes.
"Sweets are good. Sweets are justice."Ok, I'd just like to voice a question that's been bugging me for awhile: can Evangelion really be called a giant robot show when the EV As aren't actually robots? I don't even think they're biomechanical; they seem like flesh and blood creatures that just happen to wear armor. Any thoughts on this?
I'll turn your neocortex into a flowerpot!
Ah, that's true, I'd forgotten about that. They're actually rather Gigerian, when you stop and think about it.
@Ardiente: I'm gonna have to disagree with you that it never went anywhere. As long as the sunflower samurai story arc was resolved (and it was), it went somewhere. The only thing I've ever seen that never went anywhere was The Big Lebowski.
And honestly, my cool factor was engaged the second I saw a mixing of break-dancing and sword fighting.
edited 6th Feb '11 5:56:44 PM by Thenamelesssamurai
Imagine Rakan applying Calling Your Attacks to doing paperwork.~Anarchy Rakan for the hell of it COMMISSION THIS BRIDGE!~EHK![]()
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What if they asked HR Giger to make the designs for the Development Hell Live-Action movie? Making Eva-01 terrifying again.
DO EET.
I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

You know a show is good when you dismiss analysis of the camera angles and direction as too shallow for you to waste time on.