Evangelion...

It is considered a classic anime, and it does have some good scenes, but I really didn't like it. The plot line seemed to just jump everywhere, espeically in the final episodes, and the main character was too whiny. I will say that they had a good english voice cast. I really didn't understand what was going on the majority of the time.

My rating: 4/10

 

Yes, it's good.

No one understands the plot.

Watch the anime, then End of Evangelion, then Rebuild of Evangelion. If you don't mind hentai, then also look into RE-TAKE of Evangelion too. It's a great Doujin.

Even if you don't like it, it's worth watching simply for all it has done to the anime industry. Kinda like how everyone has played Pacman at one point or another, even if it's only flash-based or an emulator.

 

Ah yes, Evangelion, probably my favorite anime of all time.

Like P said, it's worth giving a try. If you don't like it, that's cool I guess, but it really is a classic.

As for the plot, I guess I can see why some have trouble understanding it (I don't, really), but really, I always viewed Evangelion as a story about people, not necessarily mecha-battles.

EDIT: @P:

Spoiler

Selee wants to perform Human Instrumentality Project (based off a book whose name escapes me atm. Basically, taking mankind to the next "step" of evolution, merging them all into one being. This is pretty much what happens in the TV-series' end). Gendo doesn't care about that, he wants his dead wife back. The Angels are a mystery.
Humanity seems to have tried H.I.P. on Adam, but it caused the Second Impact. Selee make Eva's based off Adam to make their own god, and complete H.I.P.
I must admit I'm unsure why they have Lilith in the "basement". Maybe Gendo's way of misleading Selee, since he himself has taken Adam?), since everyone else seem to think it's Adam down there.

EDIT 2:

Spoiler

I was a bit hasty with the Angels. Their motives are a mystery. The Angels themselves are supposedly alternate paths humanity could have taken. This is why their DNA is so similar, and why humanity is the final Angel.

 

Please discuss Gendo's, Yui's, Seele's and the Angels' individual objectives and how they overlap, in terms of EVA, Adam and Lillith.

I can understand some of it, but I'm still a bit confused on a few of those points.

 

I would personally suggest watching the anime since it is a classic and if you want something different than the typical Super Robot story, then it's a very interesting watch.

Well the plot line is left up for interpretation so whether or not it seems to jump everywhere varies from person to person. I personally thought that it was handled well. Also it's seems that a lot of people don't get Shinji's character. NGE is meant to be a deconstruction of the Super Robot Genre. The show was meant to depict the genre realistically in order to criticize the genre's conventions and show exactly how unfantastic, unfun and uncool they would be in reality. So take Shinji for example. An ordinary school student gets tossed into the cockpit of a Super Robot designed by his father. He is the last hope for humanity in a war against various alien lifeforms called "Angels." Sounds kinda awesome, right? No! Imagine how traumatizing it would actually be for 14 year old boy to find out that he's the Earth's last hope. He's got the weight of saving all of humanity on his shoulder. But he fights, nonetheless, despite having no physical or mental preparation and barely any emotional support from the people around him. He suffers horrible, agonizing pain in most battles, and did most of the work of defeating an apocalyptic threat. But inn the end, he still gets bashed from the people around him for not acting like the typical hero would. Shinji's whining is pretty justified in my opinion.

Spoiler

Gendo's objective is to cause Instrumentality because he believes that it's the only key to reuniting him with Yui

Yui's objective is pretty unclear and has mostly been left up for interpretation so I don't have an answer for her.

Seele's objective is to cause Instrumentality because they follow the writings of the secret Dead Sea Scrolls that tell that Instrumentality is a way to evolve all life into a perfect being with no cares, and everything on Earth would live in eternal bliss inside this being's mind.

The Angel's objective is also unclear. All of them want to make contact with Adam which in turn will cause a Third Impact. Why they want to do this hasn't been revealed yet.

 

Spoiler

Yui wanted to get into the EVA, so she could last forever as a testament to humanity's existence.

For your explanations, I don't see the difference between Gendo and Seele. Both of them want instrumentality, so what's the difference, and why does it matter if Gendo does his instrumentality before Seele's planned one?

Also, where does Lillith factor into all of this? She's just forgotten at the basement of Dogma. :/

 

Spoiler

The only difference in their plans is in how exactly they wanted it to end, since Gendo also wanted humanity to return to Lilith's womb. SEELE specifically does NOT want that to happen, but aside from that they're essentially the same. That's also how Lilith is involved in the whole thing. To be honest though, I don't remember what the difference between returning to the womb and staying out of it would make.

 

Totally agree with this. A lot of people seem to hate Shinji, even though he does eventually grow as a character (Zeruel battle comes to mind, as well as the final two episodes).

Shinji's "whining" does make sense. He basically hasn't been shown any love his entire life, his father hates his guts, he's made to suffer to defend the world on ihs own, etc. That's a pretty ****ing heavy burden for a 14-year old.

EDIT: VVV I have already watched both Rebuild 1.0 and 2.0

 

Watch You Can (not) Advance. Who's hatin' now?

 

I'll leave it at this:

It'll rape you in the mind. It's that awesome.

 

Well, Rebuild is, anyway. There are precious few 'awesome' moments in Evangelion, and even few successful ones.

I guess that's to be expected, considering Anno's mental state when he made it.

 

Yeah, the Rebuilds are also worth a watch, especially because they just look so damn nice. I'd say they are some of the best looking animated films I've seen.

As for the story/characters, I prefer the original show for the most part, though I must admit the movies do a better job when it comes to portraying Shinji's relationship to Misato. (There's this mother-vibe that just weren't really there in the show.)

 

interesting observation. I wonder if

Spoiler: End of Evangelion

She'll still end up kissing him like she does in End of Evangelion, or whether Misato's problems are lessened this time around.

 

The Rebuild movies are pretty awesome. The animation is beyond awesome and I'm really liking the way that they're handling the story. You Can (Not) Advance definitely is making Shinji more badass. I was going "Oh ****! Oh ****!" the whole entire time he was taking down Zeruel. The only thing that I'm confused about though is...well...the story tbh. It was suppose to be a remake but a lot of things are happening differently. Such as Kaworu having a much bigger role than he did in the original series.

Well the fourth movie is suppose to give the series a different ending compared to EoE so maybe things will turn out differently.

 

I found reading RE TAKE helped me understand the link between Rebuild and the original series. With the end of 2.22, it seems that it's true. I honestly recommend reading RE TAKE. If the hentai bothers you, then I think there's a SFW version somewhere.

 

Re-take, sadly, is just a doujin. You will never get to see a Gainax anime/ova of it.

Spoiler

;_;

That was a pretty great doujin, by the way.

Rebuild has the best animation effects I've ever seen. That Zeruel fight scene was pretty kick ***, pretty unexpected too.
It was supposedly how Anno wanted Evangelion to be, so I guess the differences are to be expected. Especially when one of the directors is Kazuya Tsurumaki, the director of Diebuster and FLCL.
What I didn't expect is

Spoiler

Asuka's torture. ;_;

I was like "WAT" the whole time.

 

Just a doujin, yeah. (A freakin' great doujin, but just a doujin.) Even so, it seems that the basic theme covered in RE TAKE is being followed in Rebuild. With the worlds-split, I mean. At the very least, it's a time-loop deal. Admittedly, Rebuild seems to follow a ShinjixRei ship, while RE TAKE was a hard ShinjixAsuka thing.

 

Here, have some official-unofficial synopsis.

Personally, I think it's overrated, but that's just me. I find the characters to be a bit exhausting, and there is no doubt that they serve only as means to an end. Stylistically speaking, I have no gripes, and there is certainly some provocative thought to be taken away from it, but the product as a whole is far from perfect. I only hope that if you watch the show, you'll understand what it's trying to accomplish and what it isn't: It's basically a thought experiment in T.V. show form, and also a sort of fashion plate for the author's personal neuroses. Honestly, it probably wouldn't stand up as a decent series if you ripped that part out of it. This I can only say about the first series; I have not seen Rebuild, so I don't know if the characters are less walking labels and more actual people or what.

Also, make sure you watch End of Evangelion. The ending is still terrible, but it may satisfy you more than the anime's ending.