Forum - View topicEvangelion - thoughts and discussions.
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kamiboy
 Posts: 570 Location: CA |
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I originally wrote this for a thread about peoples favourite characters only to find out that it was locked. Anywaste, you only once (or as many times as you have spare clones) so I decided to create a new thread about peoples thoughts on Evangelion, its characters and mysteries.
I’ve often contemplated why I instantly fell in love with Rei the very first time I saw her. If she was a real person she would never look at any guy twice and chasing her would be pointless. For most people it would also be agonizing to date someone like her because she would never return your affections or give any indication of her emotions. Not to mention it would be hard to find things to do for fun with someone who doesn’t seem to enjoy anything in life. But these are exactly why I like her so much, because se reminds me so much of me. Plus someone like her would be the ultimate nag free, low maintenance girlfriend. So she is my favourite character in NGE and indeed in any Anime or movie or anything ever created by man since the dawn of time. In response to all the Shinji bashing going around I can only say this. It’s easy to cast Shinji aside as a whiny brat but at the end of the day he was always the one that got things done. He definitely had a much higher Angel body count than Rei and Asuka put together. And even though he go a little help from mommy sometimes you need look no further than the fight against Zeruel, to see that he could do some truly awesome ass kicking. Asuka and Rei were basically worthless against the Angel but Shinji almost beat him before his Eva ran out of juice. And Zeruel being my favourite Angel was in many ways also the strongest of all the angels. And in another note ever since my first viewing of NGE I had many sleepless night pondering over the mysteries of the series. But then one day I came to a realisation, which put my mind at ease forever. The realisation was that NGE was not made to make sense in the traditional way. NGE was created by Anno to chronicle his sinking into his long period of depression, his feelings before and during this depression and finally how he defeated it. The angels, the Christian symbolism, the Khabalah, all the characters and indeed the story itself where just instruments he utilised to tell his story. That is why he in response to criticism of the two final episodes defended himself by saying that it was the perfect ending for the series. And indeed seen from his perspective they where because they retell the thoughts that went trough his head in the final stages of his depression. As we see in the final moments of the show Shinji decides, like Anno did, that he could break out of the isolation of his own artificially created world (In Anno’s case it was a escape from reality and subsequent isolation) and return to, and accept the real one. The applause and congratulations that Shinji receives by his friends once he decides to return must have been the same that Anno received once he returned. This is in my opinion why NGE contains so many plot holes and unanswered questions, because the plot itself did not matter. The only thing that was important was Anno’s personal story, which is so cleverly hidden in the show that most people simply do not notice it and drive themselves mad trying to figure the show out. |
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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Umm...that's interesting, I think.
 As to the statement about all the religious symbolism, (Western religion, I should say) Gainax said they put it in there simply because it "looked cool." I don't think they really intended it to be any thought-provoking imagery, though that's how it turned out. You can sit there and draw all kinds of parallels if you want to, although you can do that with almost anything.
Dude: "The fact that crumbled paper is stronger than flat paper is an obvious symbolism that our supposed imperfections make us stronger." Other dude: "No, it's stronger because that's the way it is." Some of these alleged plot holes existed in the first half of the series, before Anno actually had his breakdown. They became more numerous in the last half of the series, which probably WAS a direct result of his condition. However, I believe these existed for the purpose of making one think and possibly seeing similarities in their own life. Also, I can't help but find humor in your "what ifs" pertaining to Rei. "What if she were real?" It'd be great. "What if a meteor came streaking through your room and struck your melon? What if you trip on the sidewalk and split your skull open?" You'd be dead. Nothing wrong with "what ifs," it's just that ones pertaining to anime girls usually come across as fanboy-ish. "Gosh, I wish _____ were real, so I could date her." One last thing to wrap up on, I don't think the whole series is about Anno's personal problems. I believe the main basis of the show was depressed people confronting their problems, using giant robots as a catalytic medium. It may be true that Anno projected many of his own struggles on to the characters, especially of late; however, the main objective was probably delineating ways of dealing with depression and loneliness, non/quasi/and half successful.* * I say half successful at best because I personall don't think any of the depicted ways will fully help deal with the loneliness. And of course, welcome to the forums kamiboy. |
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hellsing
 Posts: 248 Location: top of mt Fuji killing sin with Titus. |
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One last thing to wrap up on, I don't think the whole series is about Anno's personal problems. I believe the main basis of the show was depressed people confronting their problems, using giant robots as a catalytic medium. It may be true that Anno projected many of his own struggles on to the characters, especially of late; however, the main objective was probably delineating ways of dealing with depression and loneliness, non/quasi/and half successful.*
* I say half successful at best because I personall don't think any of the depicted ways will fully help deal with the loneliness. And of course, welcome to the forums kamiboy.[/quote] I agree it was probably abot annos and other peoples problems ' evangelions last two episodes did confuse me but I got it after a lot of thinking but you do know that anno was going through a depression when he was making the anime and it seems very logical that he made the last two episodes like an ending to his depression I only have one depression thats not having a girlfriend right now  .
Sorry for going off topic. and Rei ayanami spoiler[call me a freak but if she was real I would seriously want to date her the only bad thing would be that she would show no emotion whatsoever for what i would give her that would suck she is so cute  .
About some of my thoughts I thought it was sad when Rei died in those explosions. and then she had a clone take her place. If she would of died and not have been cloned then do you think that it would make the series sadder/better?] [EDIT - Spoiler tag added -C] |
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Gekigangar3
Posts: 256 |
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Use the spoiler tag, some of us haven't seen eva. And now you may have ruined an important part for me, so i've put a spoiler on the quote. |
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kamiboy
Posts: 570 Location: CA |
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Let me be honest with you, every time I watch Evangelion I get depressed for at least a week. Most of the reason for why this happens is because spoiler[ that damn 16th angel (The one I hate the most) results in Rei II killing herself to rescue Shinji. I know she is revived as Rei III but somehow she is not the same. So you might say that my favourite Rei dies in that episode. But as you say at least they bring her back as a clone, because if they hadn't I probably would not stand to see the show ever again. I really don't se why Anno decided to kill Rei in that episode. In my opinion it was totally unnecessary and they could easily have gotten their message trough in so many other ways. ] I didn't know that Anno also had a depression during the production of the show. All I knew was that sometime after episode 16 a friend of him loaned him some psychology books that influenced him to a great degree. That was the reason why the first half of the show is somewhat like a run of the mill mecha show but then turns all dark and psychological in its latter half. Another interesting bit of information I read somewhere was that unlike most shows, of this length, which are written from bottom up, this one was not. When production on Evangelion started they had no idea how they where going to end it and so they didn't know where it was going. It is notoriously hard to write a plot hole free script for a show if you don't know what is going to happen 10 episodes from now. Anno might have wanted things to be included in the shows latter episodes which conflicted with things that where written in earlier episodes. I believe this resulted in a lot of the plot holes in the show and is the reason why it is so ambiguous. I also heard that Anno and the entire staff where under a lot of pressure to write a suitable ending and tying all the ends together sort to speak. And finally when they delivered a draft of the fruits of their labour the script for the last episodes where turned down by the production company. So instead they created what is the original episode 25 & 26 of the television series. Later when they remade the last two episodes because of much criticism and demand they used some parts of the original script. Also it is generally accepted that Anno made the movie as a form of revenge on the fan boys that cried fowl over the television endings. Actually if you pay close attention to certain parts of the tv endings you will see pieces of animation which probably where made for the original script. At a certain time you see Misato lying dead against a wall and Ritsuko's empty coat in the FLC fluid. Not to mention the part where Gendo tells Rei to follow him and this is the day for which she was created. Those scenes look a lot like some found in the movie. Personally I would kill to get my hands on the script of the original ending. But I guess they are locked away in some office in Japan for good. |
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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First regarding Rei II and III. There is a very noticeable difference in emotional level/attachment/etc. of II and III (II was much nicer, you could say)
Next, the series. You could consider Episodes 1-13 to be an introductory clause. If you started Eva at #14, you would get "the real story." (Especially with the Angel recap) The first half of the series helps set the premise, introduce and develop characters, and other such things. The last half of the series delves into where the true story exists. If you missed the first half, you would miss out on some things, but not that much. Lastly, pertaining to the movie. I don't think Anno intended "revenge," just a more sci-fi conclusion. People probably were saying how Third Impact should be some huge cataclysmic event, instead of the psycho-analysis of 25 and 26. However, he ended up returning to the "originial formula" towards the end of the movie. Concerning those scenes resembling the movie, I believe they were supposed to be memories during the head-trips of everyone. The movie just clarifies how these events transpired. (It's LCL, by the way) |
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hellsing
Posts: 248 Location: top of mt Fuji killing sin with Titus. |
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Use the spoiler tag, some of us haven't seen eva. And now you may have ruined an important part for me, so i've put a spoiler on the quote.[/quote] spoiler is ruining the story for other people right? and how do I put a spoiler on a certain peice of writing? |
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Gekigangar3
Posts: 256 |
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There is a spoiler tag in the upper right and corner, above "Close Tags," and next to the URL button. |
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RantingOtaku
Posts: 219 Location: Sudbury, Ontario, Canada |
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did that just pop into your head one sleepless night as well? I spent about a year (combined time) trying to figure it all out, but I did it in a different way, I started with the bigger questions, and am working my way down to the final few small ones I started with both endings, and worked my way back to the beginning, makes the series a bit easier to understand, and like you, my mind can finally rest, I've figured out most of it, or have found people who knew the answers.
It's just too bad the ending was 'final' , would have been interesting to see Evangelion as a multi-season show. |
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kamiboy
Posts: 570 Location: CA |
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Ups! I was thinking of FLCL, another very weird show.
Wow! You have figured out every single little question you could think of about Evangelion? Hats off to you sir, for you have achieved what I gave up on a long time ago. Maybe I can run some of my questions by you? |
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space clam
Posts: 636 |
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Yeah, both are from Gainax. They can't help but be weird. Anyone know what LCL stands for? Or is that just the name? |
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Swordfish_II
 Posts: 617 |
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I think its another on the list of "Things we threw in there yet never fully explained." What does N.O. stand for in FLCL? Damn you GAINAX and your screwy acronymns! EDIT: I went and checked the encyclodpedia on the D & R DVD and all is says is that "the L.C.L. fills the entry plug" and is "similar to amneotic fluid." |
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Burner
 Posts: 121 |
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LCL is like the stuff they used in abyss
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Swordfish_II
Posts: 617 |
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I though L.C.L. was spoiler[what you became when your soul was removed from your body either by achieving a 400% synch ratio or from the whole Third Impact thing.]
It also looks a little like apple juice. 
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Sesshoumaru sama
 Posts: 170 Location: Texas, USA |
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You are right, and it is also spoiler[assumed to be the primordial soup of life.] |
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