4 ms·
For people unfamiliar wanting an easier comparison, Evangelion is Japans star wars. It'd be like learning of tornadoes from someone with Empire insignia
by mghackerlady 6mo ago
For people unfamiliar wanting an easier comparison, Evangelion is Japans star wars. It'd be like learning of tornadoes from someone with Empire insignia
- Der_Einzige 6mo agoEvangelion is so mega overrated of an anime im experiencing second hand embarrassment on behalf of Japan for letting its national personaification be exlempified by shinji.
- mghackerlady 6mo agoit is a masterpiece, up there with ghost in the shell, akira, and serial experiments lain in terms of "japanese existentialist scifi"
- Der_Einzige 6mo agoLain is 10/10. Akira/Ghost in the Shell are great too. Evangelion is a weak 7/10 in comparison to them in every aspect imaginable. I also realized that Evangelion is Japan's version of assigning weird mysticism to religions they don't understand (much how westerners depict shinto/daoism/buddhism with tons of mysticism). Evangelion is a disgusting anime to consider part of your national personification. Drop it and pick up Ghibli films more please Japan.
- mghackerlady 6mo agoi'll concede lain is better, but evangelion beats akira and maybe ghost in the shell. what problems do you have with it in specific?
- joquarky 6mo ago> shinto/daoism/buddhism The style of your comment is not making a good case for knowledge of this subject.
- pezezin 6mo agoI guess it reinforces his point about the lack of knowledge of Japanese people.
- Moto7451 6mo agoEvangelion is not “Japan’s version” of anything in terms of western religions. It’s one guy who was making a TV show. It’s not Japan’s “national personification.” If you want to go down the rabbit hole you’ll find a lot of quotes from Anno and others on it. A lot of it boils down to “we did this because it’s cool and we have no idea what Christianity is” down to Anno going “Yeah I could do this because no one in Japan is really going to care and I don’t really care about the Western world anyway.” https://gwern.net/otaku https://gwern.net/otaku https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff It’s fine to not like it but it’s quite a step to go “this is how Japan thinks.” It’s akin to saying America is personified by the Simpsons every time they go to Japan.
- jmalicki 6mo agoBut America is personified by the Simpsons!
- selimthegrim 6mo agoI guess Saddam Hussein's propaganda team thought so in 1991 too.
- whaleofatw2022 6mo ago> Lain is 10/10. Caught the BeOS fan ;) (I kid, mostly but remember Lain fans rabidly trying and espousing it)
- mghackerlady 6mo agoI was more impressed with the obscure NeXT and apple references, BeOS only crossed my mind because I recognised the end card
- jjmarr 6mo agoIt is a show about depression, which is why people love it. The "weird mysticism" is just the reification (pun intended) of the urge to self-harm. i.e. Literally turning into a puddle of emotion, or allowing oneself to be crucified. It's visceral in a way I've never seen before or since. Going all in on a surface-level understanding paid off in my mind.
- jollyllama 6mo ago"When it comes to the safety of this planet, it's NERV or nothin'." - ReDeath fan dub
- cpburns2009 6mo agoIt's an unpopular opinion for sure. Evangelion had great potential, a mysterious world, but it never reached it. I kept waiting for it to get good and then it just abruptly ended. I couldn't stand Shinji either. His situational paralysis was so frustrating. If he'd been a coward it would at least be understandable. But no, he sits there frozen half the show.
- mghackerlady 6mo agothe emotions of the story are the point, not the story itself. Also, shinji is a coward. That's literally the whole point of the show, showing a cowards reaction to being forced into a situation that isn't avoidable in the most drastic way possible
- cindyllm 6mo ago[dead]
- mikestorrent 6mo agoLuckily, the show does a good enough job at explaining itself to those who care to learn the message. I watched it in my teens but only now in my 40s on my fourth view through does it actually finally make sense the way it should. Sometimes things take a while to click.
- mghackerlady 6mo agoI feel like the easiest way to distinguish between those that get it and those that don't are asking their thoughts on the ending. If they prefer the original, they get it, and if they prefer the end of evangelion movie they don't totally get it. If they prefer the rebuild films they're in it for the yaoi and mecha which tbf I don't blame them kaworu is hot
- mikestorrent 6mo agoI actually really like all of the above, is the thing; the idea that there are multiple ways the story goes broadens things. The Congratulations ending is still pretty brilliant though. You're making me want to go watch it again.
- mikestorrent 6mo agoThere's nothing more overrated than a comment saying a great thing is overrated
- chimeracoder 6mo ago> Evangelion is Japans star wars Which is funny to say because Star Wars is actually the Western version of samurai movies (especially but not exclusively Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress). That's the movie that Lucas is pretty open about heavily drawing "inspiration" from (all the way down to specific characters and plot beats) but Hidden Fortress is itself part of a larger genre of similar stories.
- zdw 6mo agoEh, Gundam is Japan's Star Wars. Released about the same timeframe (late 70's), tons of sequels and spinoffs, etc. Evangelion is what happens when someone does a very successful riffs on the genre that Gundam is the most prolific example of.
- mghackerlady 6mo agowouldn't it be more accurate to say its their star trek? admittedly not a gundam fan but I don't see it talked about or merchandised nearly as often as evangelion.
- pezezin 6mo agoMaybe not in Western countries, but Gundam is HUGE in Japan and neighboring countries like Taiwan. A big part of it is that the merchandise is heavily focused on model kits, like Warhammer on steroids.
- mghackerlady 6mo agoOh yeah, I forgot about gunpla. I think the reason I'm so unfamiliar with that side of the mecha world is that it's so fractured if that makes sense. I have friends into it that I could ask but I don't need another expensive hobby haha
- anthk 6mo agoMore like Dragon Ball, which was half-inspired by Journey to the West, Superman, T2 and whatnot.
- red-iron-pine 6mo agoprobably closer to the 90's Batman: The Animated Series ostensibly a kids show, but wayyyy darker and which has had a huge impact on later fandoms
- mghackerlady 6mo agoI don't know how anyone could get the impression evangelion is a kids show, unless you consider all animation as "for kids"
- jjmarr 6mo agoIt's a show about 14 year olds with emotional angst and the show reminds you the robots are a depression masking metaphor every other episode. Yes, it's a show for pre-teens and teenagers.
- mghackerlady 6mo agoI suppose on the surface, but also that analysis would also put akira and serial experiments lain in the same "for teenagers" category in a way that really doesn't fit any of these shows. The broader implications about the psyche is probably lost on most teenagers (I say this as someone who first watched these as teenagers, and I only picked up on some of the finer details because I knew they were there already. It's why I wanted to watch them)