cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/4787748
I am terrible at media criticism. I do not understand the media that I watch at all and I heavily rely on others explaining it to me.
I watched Neon Genesis Evangelion because I really like mechs. It’s been a long while so my memory is fuzzy. As it started, I noticed that the overall tone of the anime was more sober and grim than I had anticipated.
In the beginning, I liked it when new Angels revealed themselves. The fights were not the best but I still liked them. I really love the concept of an incomprehensible foe whose secrets are slowly unraveled.
As the show went on though I ended up extremely confused. I realised that the mechs are sort of a side-aspect of the whole thing which was a bit of a bummer. It seemed more about the difficulties of an ill-adjusted Shinji being forced into the role of being humanity’s child soldier. Other child soldiers had issues of their own which I did not fully grasp. Even the adult lady whose home Shinji lives in had boy troubles of her own which I did not grasp at all as to how it fit in with the whole theme.
I watched the last few episodes extremely high and was completely lost. You cannot imagine my face when that scene where Shinji fantasises about sex (I think that’s what he was doing) came on.
So can someone tell me what the general theme of the show is? If you wanna link to other articles or videos on thiz topic that would be swell as well. I cam understand not wanting to type out about an anime that has been analysed probably more than any other.
I mean you could ask 100 people this question and you’d get 100 different answers.
The point is that the story isn’t really about mechs but rather people connecting with each other. The angels and mechs and human instrumentation are very alegorical in this regard.
difficulties of an ill-adjusted Shinji being forced into the role of being humanity’s child soldier
that’s literally it. Also the guy that made it was coping with the loss of his wife at the time so there is lots of fatalism and nihilism throughout.
we all know the real point of Evangelion was marketing for the opening theme
It will forever live upon a shelf within my mind.
The contradictory impulse of wanting to understand and love people while simultaneously being scared of them understanding you. Essentially, the hedgehog dilemma. Each of the characters wants to loved and be loved. They want genuine human connection. But they’re also terrified of being rejected by others or being abandoned. AT fields, the energy shield thing, are literally “Absolute Terror” fields that exist to prevent people from getting close to you. Angels just have a beefed up version that can block physical matter rather than just emotions.
The last few episodes get metaphorical but essentially the message is “Start with loving yourself.” Everything with the mechs and angels is cool but not really relevant to the meaning of the series.
note: i have not seen evangelion
I was gonna say “becoming one with your mothers clone apparently destroys the world” but I think the other answers here make more sense cause I honestly never got it.
It’s been a while since I watched it, so my memory of it is a bit hazy, but I 120% empatize with Shinji, while I only saw others hating on him. He’s the only character I unironically say it’s literally me.
I tend think that Eva’s message is much more personal than trying to comprehend it’s plot. That is, I think that different people can extract different meaning from it.
To me Evangelion is about comprehending you own fears, desires and limitations in a world that not only suppresses and neglects your emotions and needs, but that also expects and demands you to act and participate in ways that you may not be fit to do. Shinji is the perfect encapsulation of that, he’s has so many fears and issues that he barely functions most of the time, specially when put into stressful situations. Yet, when someone like Kaworu shows up, someone that truly cares for him and that tries to understand and be there for him, it’s the only time Shinji feels safe, happy and even feels attraction to.
But that’s not all, the show also talks a lot about human relationships in general and how it affects us. It’s like you said, every character have their own issues, issues these that dictates who they are and how they act and talk all while still wanting to be loved and understood, but always fearing that connection, always fearing to let someone get too close. You haven’t mentioned the Rebuild movies, so I’ll assume you didn’t see it and avoid spoiling it, but I do think this side of Eva is more fleshed out in the movies, specially on the last one. To me it’s like the show is screaming at us to be more human, to form more meaningful connections, to be able to be vulnerable and to care for each other more. And while the original anime have a much more bleak and depressing tone, the movies are much more hopeful, not only one complements the other, but like its a response to the each other’s tone.
I would need to rewatch Evangelion to properly expand on anything I said, but this has been the feeling and messaging that have stuck with me ever since I watched it. Also, KawoShin is the cutest thing ever, lol.
It’s been a while since I watched it, so my memory of it is a bit hazy, but I 120% empatize with Shinji, while I only saw others hating on him. He’s the only character I unironically say it’s literally me.
I think Shinji being kinda pathetic compared to other child soldiers in shonen anime is something that people have a hard time wrapping their head around. Like I find it odd that a common theme in the most popular animes is that an early-teenager saving the world through some enormous power bestowed upon them. Not only this but many many adults enjoy this theme without a hint of criticism. I relate to Shinji a lot more than the protagonists from something like Naruto or Hero Academia (most cringe anime of all time).
I think Shinji being kinda pathetic compared to other child soldiers in shonen anime is something that people have a hard time wrapping their head around.
I heard something similar before, but I think it’s less him being “pathetic” and more the fact that Shinji is a vulnerable male protagonist, and that clearly upsets the cis hetero dudes that comprise such a big part of the anime watchers worldwide. Shinji breaks quite a few expectations of male protags and so he becomes an easy target.
Like I find it odd that a common theme in the most popular animes is that an early-teenager saving the world through some enormous power bestowed upon them. Not only this but many many adults enjoy this theme without a hint of criticism. I relate to Shinji a lot more than the protagonists from something like Naruto or Hero Academia (most cringe anime of all time).
I 100% agree that it is odd, but it makes sense, it’s just pure ideology. Coming of age stories about these powerful hero individuals that through their own hard work and merit are able to achieve anything they want and save the world are perfect for maintaining the grip of liberal ideology in the imaginary of the young people that are gonna watch these shows.
That’s why I think shows like Dungeon Meshi are important and so refreshing. It shows a group of people that all matters and have to work together to achieve their objective. It’s a story where it’s clear from the get go that everyone in the group is unique, important and have their own role to fill. It’s truly amazing. I could say the same of Gurren Lagann to, to some extent, tho that does have a more clear cut protagonist.
Giant robots and opening.
I’ve read a lot about eva online and watched about half of it, and I can confidently say it’s about… shit, I can’t really remember.
Ok, I think I have it now. I think the theme is about societal isolation. Shinji wants to be close to other people obviously, but he’s grown up alone, and also his dad hates him, so he has trouble connecting. He feels attracted to Asuka, but nobody’s ever told him how to express his affection, so he just
spoiler
jerks off over her comatose body in the hospital
instead. Asuka has a similar problem, where she wants to have connections, but she hides too deep in her shell of bravado to allow herself to do so. Near the end of the show as well as EoE, from what I’ve heard this thing kind of breaks down, and she just sort of loses it, revealing that she was really just a scared kid this whole time. As for Rei, she doesn’t have any emotions really for spoiler reasons, and when she finally does start to open up she ends up dying, which just gives Shinji more super depression.
As for Misato, I read somewhere that she ended her relationship with Kaji before not for any reason on his part but because he reminded her too much of her dead dad (of course), and this could be a symbol that she’s unwilling to deal with her past, and instead chooses to escape it, which obviously doesn’t work.
I’d say that the overall ‘plot’ of the movie, being child soldiers in giant robots fighting angels, is actually secondary to the theme, despite people on hexbear focusing a lot on it in the last thread relating to evangelion I found. The most important part of evangelion in my opinion is the meta stuff, about how emotions are worth having, and that connections with other people are really important.
Sorry if I’m kind of rambling here, I’m really bad at articulating my thoughts. Also Shinji is literally me.
I agree with most of what you said but I think them being child soldiers is a major reason why they are unable to form meaningful connections. Shinji did have a troubled childhood to begin with but him being a child solder exacerbates the problem because it is a major roadblock in the creation of friendship with for example his classmates. As a child soldier, he and his classmates are unable to be proper peers. With Asuka it is also evident how being a child soldier separates her from what would have been her peers were she a normal child in the classroom.
I agree with what you said, but I think more of their problems stem from their childhoods rather than their present. Asuka herself is already alienated from her peers since I think she mentioned once that she was some kind of genius and had already graduated, and she only did poorly in school because she couldn’t read Japanese. Thus even if she weren’t an eva pilot she wouldn’t have been able to really view her classmates as peers. Plus, she watched her mom hang herself, and even when we first meet her it’s clear she has a hard time integrating herself into society. Even though fighting the angels kind of destroys her psyche later on, it still stems from herself, as iirc she’s increasingly angry that despite looking down on Shinji for being a weak and passive idiot she still can’t defeat an angel alone, a problem which arguably stems from her own insecurity.
I’d also say Shinji being an eva pilot doesn’t really interfere with him connecting to his classmates----Toji and Kensuke are definitely his friends, and they truly support him. It’s more that he can’t find it in himself to connect to them, in part because of his relationship to his father, which has basically broke him emotionally. And them going away later when Tokyo-3 is evacuated only fucks him up even more, because the people who are pretty much the only ones who ever care about him are gone. Then Rei, Asuka, Kowaru etc dying are only more nails in the coffin. I guess it could be argued that this was the result of him having to pilot the evas, but even if her was not a soldier, losing people like this would still be similarly devastating to him, since it’s very clear he’s never really had friends like this before. If anything, becoming a pilot was actually a good thing for him, at least for a little while, since he got to have friends for a short period of time.
As a counterexample Mari or whatever her name is in the rebuilds is also a pilot, but in contrast to the rest of them she’s pretty mentally stable, because she lacks the mental baggage that Shinji and Asuka are carrying even before they learn about the evas.
On a more meta level I’m pretty sure the creator struggled with depression around the time he created this, and he was trying to sort out his feelings with creating this work. The theme of using children as pilots is probably a throwback to his earlier work, gunbuster, which is also about kids flying giant robots (not sure if they have depression though)
(sorry for these super long comments I’m really into evangelion)
Shinji is mostly like average Ryan Gosling character.
As the show went on though I ended up extremely confused
Mission accomplished. Enjoy your brainfuck.
