Reviews Anime / Neon Genesis Evangelion

I'm an on-again, off-again poster on the Evageeks forums. It's kind of a "running gag" there that a lot of the members have psychological problems of their own. It even extended to this year's April Fool's joke: replacing the main page with that of a psychiatric help forum.

There's definitely something to it. Evangelion really speaks to people on a personal level, especially if they're troubled in ways similar to the characters.

I agree with your assessment of the show, but not your suggestion to watch it. I felt it was ungodly boring and a chore to watch.

Thank you, this sums up the show nicely. I was confused when I wasn't completely mind-fucked, like EVERYONE ELSE, but actually understood most of it and enjoyed Shnji's happy ending.

Wait, Shinji had a happy ending? Sure all the Angels were dead and Instrumentality's a choice, but he's still kind of a broken nutcase at the end. Unless you're just talking about the TV series alone.

Anyways, I'd recommend the manga instead, if you're looking for an experience with less flaws. It's shorter, but still pretty faithful, and achieves the same effect without all the filler. At least, I hope it remains that way, as it has yet to be concluded after about twenty years.

I don't think the manga achieves the "same effect" at all, considering it largely removes everything that made the anime unique.

Such as? All it really did was change Shinji's presonality slightly, made him a bit closer with Rei, removed a lot of the filler angels and demonized Kaworu and Gendo to a certain degree. It still portrays every event just as harshly, still sends the characters down the same roads, and still deconstructs left and right. If by "unique", you mean the cheap low budget still shots, then yeah, those are gone I guess.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Shinji's, Rei's and Asuka's personalities are all toned down/dumbed down to the point where they are much more generic characters, which just about destroys the series' exploration of the pain of human communication (among other things). In the anime, those three are examples of genuine psychological problems - and in that, they're quite possibly unmatched in the entire medium. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but you can't go half-way with that. You can't file the jagged edges off something and expect it to have the same raw effect, because it won't.

Sadamoto never does anything but tell a story, which doesn't even begin to compare to the self-expression involved the anime. And taking potshots at superficial details like still-shots? That's just weak.

Rei is a bit more open (if only because Shinji talks to her more), Shinji is a Stepford Snarker instead of a Stepford Smiler, and Asuka's exactly the same. None of these changes did anything to make communicating any easier for the three of them. They still keep everything close to the chest and don't talk about their problems. I hardly see how this makes them "generic", unless you're using Seinfeld Is Unfunny logic. The only thing the manga couldn't achieve in comparison to the anime was atmosphere from the music and the artificial drawing out of certain scenes, which are flaws inherent in the media and not the author himself.

Devious: I do mean the TV series alone. Though EoE was fun too ^-^

I reviewed the TV series alone. I like Rebuild, but End [[Flanderization flanderizes]] one of the deepest characters in the history of television and kills everyone else. I can't say it's not really good, frankly, but I don't recommend it.

... I've seen shorter.

^^ End is not separate from the show; it is part of the whole. It's considered the "main" ending. Saying it flanderizes Shinji is like ignoring the rest of the series. It is not a change but a culmination.