Evangalion

[Yogi Bear]

Can anyone please help me understand this anime.
I've only just got into anime when i went to a mates anime marathon that went for like 5 days.
I saw stuff like, Eva great but hard to understand.
Ghost in a Shell.
She the ultimate Weapon.
Shewolf
Noir.
Lain the most confussing anime i no of.
hellsing

 

[Qyöt27]

What part of Eva do you want to understand? Or should I say, start with?

 

[Digi]

What part of Eva do you want to understand? Or should I say, start with?

LOLOL So true. Eva is probably one of the most, if not the most, difficult Anime to understand. I didn't understand most of it until someone who worked on the show actually explained something to me that I had never even realized XD And I'd known of the show (and seen it) for almost 5 years ^^;
The theology of the story upsets me at times, but it was probably THE record breaking anime of 90's. I... still dun understand it all But ask away and I'm sure one of us can help ya out ^^

 

[Father Niko]

Well, EVA did confuse me as well, but then i saw End of Evangelion and started to read the manga, that did help alot.

 

[SAint Mark]

The end is actually the only really confusing part. Had to look up a few forums and message boards which had Evangelion "experts" to fully grasp it... though that was a long time ago...

 

[trunks2k]

Can anyone please help me understand this anime.

Anything specific you are having a hard time understanding? Are you having a hard time understanding something plotwise or more of the overall idea behind the whole thing? There's a lot in there that's hard to understand and a lot of it is wide open to purely personal interpretation. It also doesn't help that there is a lot of random images from different religious myths and mysticism, some of which arguably has a point being there, and some of which is just there to add to the atmosphere.

 

[TECC01]

Oh, how wonderful ^^. This has to be my favorite anime, right up there with Yukikaze (Which is still being translated ¬_¬) and Hellsing.

I'd like to ramble on as if I knew everything about the series, but then I'd be lying. And wasting a lot of space. But you'd have to be more specific when you say you don't understand something about NG:E, because there is A LOT that you could miss.

I can help with Eva, Lain and Hellsing.
The first two deal with indentity and integrity of the self. You should actually disregard the fact that the Angels are invading earth entirely, aside from the conversations like the one Leliel and Shinji had. The war is just a convenient plot device. Gendo Ikari is hired by Seele to start the Evangelion project on the surface as a way of combating the angels. You have three organisations: Seele, Nerv and the Japanese government. The first few episodes aren't much to puzzle about: Eva01 has beserker ability, Eva00 went nuts on its first test because of soul incompatability. And oh, dear look at the time. I'll probably edit this later *Grumble something about having to go to bed.*

 

[Judges19]

Don't bother with the last episode of NGE, they ran out of time and most likely, money. They threw that **** together too fast, go with EoE. Yes the show has a heavy religious base under it, NERV having the Fig leaf, Lilith, Adam, etc. The point is Shinji's hatred keeps humanity together. Yaaaay

 

[trunks2k]

Don't bother with the last episode of NGE, they ran out of time and most likely, money. They threw that **** together too fast, go with EoE. Yes the show has a heavy religious base under it, NERV having the Fig leaf, Lilith, Adam, etc. The point is Shinji's hatred keeps humanity together. Yaaaay

I got a something completely different out of it.


**SPOILERS**




The last episode and EoE are happening simultaneously. The last episode is what goes through Shinji's mind as he goes through the human instrumentalty project thingy while EoE is what is happening in the physical world while he goes through it. When everythying is going to hell in the physical world, that's when Shinji is going through the very negative portion of the last episode. Where he keeps thinking about how everyone hates him and he hates the world etc. As such, in the physical world, he is making the choice to kill everything off. But in the last episode, it takes a positive turn and he realizes that he is in control of reality and that if he thinks positively, things will be positive, etc. It's at this point in the physical world he decides not to end all life on earth. Instead, he decides to continue the human race, starting anew with him as the new Adam and a girl that is a mix of all the girls he loves as the new Eve. Granted, the new Eve looks an awful lot like Asuka, but it has elements of Rei and Misato.

 

[Yogi Bear]

I got a something completely different out of it.


**SPOILERS**




The last episode and EoE are happening simultaneously. The last episode is what goes through Shinji's mind as he goes through the human instrumentalty project thingy while EoE is what is happening in the physical world while he goes through it. When everythying is going to hell in the physical world, that's when Shinji is going through the very negative portion of the last episode. Where he keeps thinking about how everyone hates him and he hates the world etc. As such, in the physical world, he is making the choice to kill everything off. But in the last episode, it takes a positive turn and he realizes that he is in control of reality and that if he thinks positively, things will be positive, etc. It's at this point in the physical world he decides not to end all life on earth. Instead, he decides to continue the human race, starting anew with him as the new Adam and a girl that is a mix of all the girls he loves as the new Eve. Granted, the new Eve looks an awful lot like Asuka, but it has elements of Rei and Misato.

I remember and understand it sort of now.
Is this the part where he is in EVA01 and al the flashes are going through his mind? if it is then i noticed something in this part of the episode.
If you slow this scene down so that it is like a frame a second you will notice words that flash along with the pictures, words like deception, love and hate and about 30 others. take a look at it if you watch it on DVD its quite interesting.

 

[Tenken]

Yeah those words are just like sublimal messages, or maybe they're just thrown randomly together due to lack of fundings, who knows. The part I don't like about is at the end Asuka got her ass whooped by like 20 invincible guys, each sticking a javelin thru her. Yeah why aren't they doing anything during the TV series when Shinji and co. are having hard time kicking angels' asses?

 

[Qyöt27]

The part I don't like about is at the end Asuka got her ass whooped by like 20 invincible guys, each sticking a javelin thru her.

The thing I thought was particularly interesting was that the dummy plugs in the Eva Units that Asuka was fighting had 'Kaworu' emblazoned on the side. Since all of the Rei plugs were destroyed in whichever episode that was, there needed to be a substitute. The purpose of it being Kaworu: I have no clue, although most of the speculation is that it has something to do with him being cultivated just like Rei was; hence the human body (the manga actually shows this).

Of course, in the opinion of several websites, TV Episodes 25 and 26 and End Of Eva was either a big joint publicity stunt, or End Of Eva was Anno's way of saying "Screw you" to all the people who had objectified the female characters, abused the name of the series, or complained about the last two episodes of the TV run. In any case, it worked out very well financially for Gainax.

 

[Sharky]

Hey guys please watch your language.

 

[TECC01]

Have you listened to the Audio commentary for EoE and DaR? It tells you quite a lot.

They don't actually follow different lines of the story... I think.

Episodes 25 and 26 are supposed to be what happened after instrumentality (ie. after Rei merged with Lilith and everyone turned into LCL, and Shinji was absorbed into her).

Shinji realising his life was worth living meant that he rejected merging with the rest of the world and maintained his individuality, but this is a little fuzzy for me /_\

Of course, in the opinion of several websites, TV Episodes 25 and 26 and End Of Eva was either a big joint publicity stunt, or End Of Eva was Anno's way of saying "Screw you" to all the people who had objectified the female characters, abused the name of the series, or complained about the last two episodes of the TV run. In any case, it worked out very well financially for Gainax.

Ahahaha, yes. Apparently Anno recieved a LOT of hate mail after the original series ended because they didn't get it (And were complaining about the incredible lack of fan service). DaR and EoE was his way of answering these questions, granting those requests, and making enough new ones to drive the fans insane.
My favorite example being that we FINALLY get to see Asuka in action on an open battlefield, but then she gets pincushioned soon after. Poor her.
(BTW, I think there nine eva series, not 20. One for each of the little circles on the systema sephiroth.)