Last month I did a review for Ghost In The Shell that was largely responsible for putting Japanese animation on the map. Evangelion is the other anime that brought forth mature storylines and mind bending philosophy that would be used in Japan to this day.
The plot is fifteen years ago half the human race was wiped out when aliens were discovered in Antarctica. Cut to 2015 and they have returned. 14 year old boy named Shinji Ikari is called by his father to fight them using Humongous Mecha. A dream come true for many youths, but for Shinji it's a nightmare.
This isn't your normal giant robot series, it's not Godzilla or any number of monster movies. It is very much a Deconstruction of everything from mecha to the anime fanbase, tearing apart the normal tropes and portraying signature traits in a very different light.
Throughout the series we see the many facets of the different characters. Shinji is torn between being a coward and trying to do the right thing. His father is a cold asshole who clearly has a soft spot for one of the other Eva pilots. Said pilot is reclusive, distant, and sad. The woman Shinji lives with is a sexist slob cracking under the pressure. And their new roommate is arrogant, bitchy and uses her attitude to hide just how broken she is. And that's what the series is really about, these poor characters who have had such trauma placed upon them trying not to kill each other.
The overreaching arc is not only trying to fight off the alien invaders, but the puppet masters trying to manipulate events in one way or another. Some want to use the aliens to evolve mankind, others want to use them for their own reasons. I'll leave it up to you to watch the series for the details.
The series had been made and remade many times for good reason. The animation and sound do not keep up with the harrowing, horrifying story that had been crafted, and regular updates are made to improve it. If you can look past this then forget about other series at the time, if you thought Buffy got rough then by the time you've watched this series your measure of how frightening a show can be will be in for a rude awakening.
Wow. Just wow.
Last month I did a review for Ghost In The Shell that was largely responsible for putting Japanese animation on the map. Evangelion is the other anime that brought forth mature storylines and mind bending philosophy that would be used in Japan to this day.
The plot is fifteen years ago half the human race was wiped out when aliens were discovered in Antarctica. Cut to 2015 and they have returned. 14 year old boy named Shinji Ikari is called by his father to fight them using Humongous Mecha. A dream come true for many youths, but for Shinji it's a nightmare.
This isn't your normal giant robot series, it's not Godzilla or any number of monster movies. It is very much a Deconstruction of everything from mecha to the anime fanbase, tearing apart the normal tropes and portraying signature traits in a very different light.
Throughout the series we see the many facets of the different characters. Shinji is torn between being a coward and trying to do the right thing. His father is a cold asshole who clearly has a soft spot for one of the other Eva pilots. Said pilot is reclusive, distant, and sad. The woman Shinji lives with is a sexist slob cracking under the pressure. And their new roommate is arrogant, bitchy and uses her attitude to hide just how broken she is. And that's what the series is really about, these poor characters who have had such trauma placed upon them trying not to kill each other.
The overreaching arc is not only trying to fight off the alien invaders, but the puppet masters trying to manipulate events in one way or another. Some want to use the aliens to evolve mankind, others want to use them for their own reasons. I'll leave it up to you to watch the series for the details.
Part of the appeal and infamy is the twisted, scary plots the series delves into. What it means to be human, why we fight, and if we are justified in killing little girls when we're angry.
The series had been made and remade many times for good reason. The animation and sound do not keep up with the harrowing, horrifying story that had been crafted, and regular updates are made to improve it. If you can look past this then forget about other series at the time, if you thought Buffy got rough then by the time you've watched this series your measure of how frightening a show can be will be in for a rude awakening.