question about the angel in evangelion w/ spoilers (1 Viewer)

[Edwin-S]

Forget those episodes, and while End of Eva is ALSO a mindf&ck, at least there's a real ending and a lot more meat on the bone

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I was never able to see any of the movies. There was a person who had fan-subbed tapes but it was impossible to get a copy of them.

By the way, I was reading the specs on the DVD version of "Night on The Galactic Railroad". It was showing a 1.33:1 ratio. Do you know if they did an open matte or P&S transfer of this movie for the DVD? My VHS copy of this movie was letterboxed. I was thinking of picking up the DVD but I won't bother if it has been "modified to fit your screen".

 

[Martin G]

From what I understood of the Movie (End of Eva) the eva's are The next evolution of mankind

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Once again, I'm not gonna use spoiler tags.

!!!WARNING!!!

The Evangelion are clones of Adam. With each subsequent Eva Unit, they had to implement a human soul (of someone who had just recently died) into the Eva so that it could "link up" to the person piloting it. Some of the souls used were Ritusko's mother, Shinji's mother, Asuka's mother (see a pattern emerging?).

About the last two episodes, the Japanese PTA and some other groups were trying to protest the series, saying it was sacreligious, and the fact that the episodes cost a lot to make (pretty high production values for a regular animated TV show in Japan) made them cut the budgets for the last few episodes. Most of that money went into the episodes leading up to the last two episodes, which is why the last two episodes use very little animation and a lot of flashbacks. Because of the monetary cuts, they had to rewrite the last two episodes.

Now this is where the multiple explanations come in. Some people say that the original scripts were used for the movies (mainly the second movie) and were expanded a little bit so that they could make actual movies and not just more episodes, and some say that the movies were made so that the director could insult the fans (since they all wanted a movie).

 

[Frank Anderson]

I just finished it and got to agree the last two episodes suck the big one.

I guess I need to watch the whole thing over again cause I must have missed something. I have read everything here and Jeff and I have had conversation about it on our own and I still don't get the series. God and Angels ok I understand... but where do all these robots come in and these alternate life forms (the Angels) are just to damn weird. I just don't envision these sort of "creatures" being sent by God to destroy us and if He did I would think they would succeed. The whole concept of NERV and EVA's is to anime for my taste.

It took me a while to get thru the series because it was a little difficult for me to watch. Today I am feeling badly and did not sleep well so I just forced myself to watch the last three discs. The way I feel about the series right now is someone may be getting a sweet deal on eBay.

 

[Steve Kramzer]

From the Red Cross Book which was given out during EoE

angels: Some lifeforms originated from the source of lifeform which is called "Lilith". It could be any size or shape: a big octahedral, a form as small as the size of bacteria, or even a shadow which has no tangible form. Borrowing the words from Fuyutsuki's dialogue in ep.26, it seems that "Angels" got the "Fruit of Life" whereas human got the "Fruit of Intelligence". It can be said that "Angels" is just another form of human, with the same probability of appearance as human. Human is thus the 18th Angel


Also Frank don't sell your dvds until september after you have watched End of Evangelion...things will become ALOT clearer.

 

[George Banks]

Well guys I have seen Evangelion Death & Rebirth movies and all I can say is that the last two episodes are nothing compared to what happens in the movies.
By the time you finish watching them you wonder if the makers were either geniuses or on crack because it gets waaaaay over the top.

 

[Martin G]

Concerning the Eva's soul

The soul of a person is not needed for an eva to operate. Units 05 to 13 didn't even need a human to operate them.

 

[felix_suwarno]

didnt they use dummy plug?

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Yes, a human spirit is required. The Dummy Plug is a clone of Rei

 

[Joe_C]

I just finished it and got to agree the last two episodes suck the big one.

I must be in the minority here, but I actually liked the last two episodes. Part of the reason may have been because I was prepared for it beforehand, and also I knew that it was not the "literal" ending that EoE is. It really makes you think, and I like that. Whatever the problems were (i.e. budget, censors, combination of the two), I think that Anno presented it just fine to the DISCERNING fan. It's abstract and psychologically heavy. Great. I don't always like having things handed to me on a silver platter. Figuring things out for yourself is most of the fun with this series
I consider the last two episodes to be complementary to the movie, and not a distinctly different "throw-away" ending. If you didn't get it the first time, by all means watch them again. I've seen the whole series several times now, and pick up new things in all the episodes each and every time.

 

[Martin G]

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/4190/shrine.html
http://www.geocities.com/ferio2012/index-i.htm
They both have a full translation of the Red Cross Book.
**warning** The sites are full of spoilers.

 

[Edwin-S]

I think that Anno presented it just fine to the DISCERNING fan.

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I don't think I am particularly undiscerning when it comes to anime. I remember reading reviews of how good "GENOCYBER" was from DISCERNING fans of anime. I watched it and it was one of the most putrid and stupid animes I had laid eyes on.

"NEON GENESIS EVANGELION" started out pretty well. It had quite a complicated plot...some might say confused....but it had quite a few different themes running through it. The show spent quite a lot of time building up a subcurrent of conspiracy regarding Genda(?) and NERV. I was expecting the last two episodes to at least address some of the issues that were being raised in the rest of the series. Did the last two episodes do that?......IMO, no. They were nothing but a staccato display of still images that discarded everything that had gone on before. Some people may enjoy building their own interpretation of what it all meant but the fact of the matter is that it is still only their own perception. Someone else might disagree entirely with YOUR interpretation. As far as I am concerned ANNO copped out. He and his creative team built up an elaborate construct and by the time they were finished even they were not sure just what the hell was going on; so they took the easy route and finished it with a "hey, you figure it out ending". It was cheap and lazy, IMO.

 

[felix_suwarno]

i think a story that requires the viewer to watch it over and over again in order to really grasp the detail is a bad story. i mean, it is not very communicative. just like a smart professor that doesnt know how to communicate his mind to the students.

before eps 13, evangelion is one of the best anime i have seen so far. after that...i hate it.

 

[Joe_C]

He and his creative team built up an elaborate construct and by the time they were finished even they were not sure just what the hell was going on; so they took the easy route and finished it with a "hey, you figure it out ending".

Well, don't expect the movies to serve up the definitive ending either. While EoE is a more "literal" version of the last two eps, Anno still refuses to cater to the lowest common denominator by spelling everything out.

 

[Shayne Lebrun]

He and his creative team built up an elaborate construct and by the time they were finished even they were not sure just what the hell was going on; so they took the easy route and finished it with a "hey, you figure it out ending".

There's another eva thread kicking around where the two prevalent explanations for the 25/26 vs EoE dichotomy are bandied about.
One is the 'they ran out of money' idea, the other is 'Anno made 25 and 26 exactly the way he wanted, and the fans all bitched, so he made EoE basically out of a sense of retribution. That thread is here.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I visited Gainax in 1997.

Officially from their lips, the genesis of those eps was "we ran out of money and ideas"

Anno enjoys mindf*ck type movies, but the genesis of it was what I just said

 

[Edwin-S]

Officially from their lips, the genesis of those eps was "we ran out of money and ideas"
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That was the main problem with the series. There were enough ideas in the preceding 24 episodes to fuel another series. The main failing was their inability to actually bring any of the ideas that they came up with in the preceding shows to any coherent, satisfactory conclusion. It is bad storytelling, IMO, not a mindfu$k. The only mindfu&k, that I can think of, that would come into play is that any Japanese who watched the show on TV must have been a little pissed off when those two episodes aired.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

End of Evangelion brings it to a close

And no, they CAN'T have another series. There are no more Angels fortold

EOE was the ending they WANTED to do. Believe me the nice theatrical quality animation really kicks

 

[Ken Stuart]

I've watched all 26 episodes, I've read the web sites mentioned above, and as background, I've spent countless hours studying and thinking about comparative theology and philosophy. And earlier in my life, I was heavily involved in showbiz (think Almost Famous ), and met a lot of celebrity artists.

In general, artists almost never have anything of any real deep value to say - not because they don't try - but because they are too busy being artists to spend the amount of time it takes to understand those sorts of issues.

In 1969-1970, countless people spent untold hours trying to "interpret" Beatles lyrics, including playing them backwards. However, any in depth study of the people who were the Beatles revealed that not only were they not inclined to make things so difficult and mysterious, more importantly they were also seeking the truth just like their listeners (rather than being the messengers of same).

Specifically, I don't see any evidence that the writer of NGE had any clue regarding the "larger issues". In fact, I've read reports that indicate he was very much in "seeking" mode.

NGE seems very much like X-Files, ie a series where "they were making it up as they went along" (and I've read others say the same about both series).

If you go along for the ride, without any expectations of consistency or revelations, both series are entertaining and worthwhile.

 

[Martin G]

I have watched the series 2 times so far and I can say that I still don't really like it much. In my opinion Eva was made confusing and vague in an attempt to apear to be profound.

I can say that I am very glad that I did watch Eva twice as it makes series like Nadesico all the more enjoyable.

The movie did have a very definative ending, but it still just seemed like an attempt to keep the 'mystery' of what the series really meant alive.

Basicly the entire series was the directors way of expressing a troublesome time in his life.

I like to think of the series as being 24 episodes and half a movie. Make the rest up as you want.

It had a lot of cool action in it, and I got to hear Megumi show that she can play any role flawlessly. (its hard to imagine that Rei and Lina Inverse are done by the same actress) That along with the fact that I now understand all the spoofs on Eva made the series worth while.

It's just not the be-all-end-all series that many people make it out to be.