Name: Sir 2006-12-10 18:19
In 1995, a 26 episode animated series called Neon Genesis Evangelion began airing on TV Tokyo1, a Japanese television station. While at first, the series seemed no different from some of the other animated series at the time which shared similar themes of robots and young adolescents controlling those robots to save the world, as the series progressed, it became apparent that Neon Genesis Evangelion was not merely another clone of the usual suspects of the robot genre, such as the Gundam series, the Macross series, or the classical Mazinkaizer series from the 60s, but in fact, an animated series that would change the perception of animation in Japan forever.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a story about a 14 year old boy named Shinji Ikari living in a post apocalyptic world. Shinji Ikari, along with Rei Ayanami, a quiet, obedient, and apathetic 14 year old girl, and Asuka Langley, an over-confident, self-centered, aggressive, yet beautiful 14 year old girl, pilot giant humanoid robots called the Evangelions to defend humankind from unknown enemies called the Angels. However, defeating the Angels is only half of the story – Neon Genesis Evangelion also tells a tale about Shinji’s personal struggles as a person interacting with other people, such as Shinji and his awkward but neutral relationship with Rei, his love-hate relationship with Asuka, his obedient yet rejecting relationship with Captain Misato, and his rejected yet longing relationship with Commander Ikari, who is also his father.
Unlike many traditional animations in the robot genre, Neon Genesis Evangelion not only questioned the motivations behind why each pilot piloted the giant humanoid robots called Evangelion, but also used this as a stepping stone to question each character’s reasons and motivations for living and then eventually the reasons for the existence of people. This sort of philosophical approach had never been attempted in animation prior to Evangelion mainly because the animation medium was mainly used as entertainment for kids and teenagers. While many praised the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion for creating an important landmark in Japanese animation, Evangelion has also been the target of harsh criticism towards the series director and creator, Director Anno, for his handling of the series. Evangelion has no clear plot – instead, Director Anno provides just enough evidence so that the viewers themselves could come up with a coherent plot and conclusion.
Among the many criticized parts of Evangelion, probably the most criticized part of the Evangelion television series is the last two episodes of the 26 episode television series where, instead of an all out fight of the Evangelion versus a yet undeclared adversary (which would have on par with the traditional handling of an animation of the robot genre), Director Anno presents a conclusion to Shinji’s inquiries to the purpose of life, meaning of his existence, and his reasons to life – a conclusion rather devoid of an expected spectacular fight involving the Evangelions, conclusions to developing relationships between the lead male protagonist and other female leads, and any finalizing explanations to the puzzling plot that Director Anno had unfolded in the 24 episodes previous to the final two episodes, such as the identity and origin of the enemies (the Angels), the fruits of labor of the Antagonists Commander Gendo Ikari and the Committee he worked for, the reason why the Angels attacked NERV Headquarters (where the Evangelions are kept and maintained), or the mechanisms and mysteries surrounding the Evangelions.
In the interview with producer Kazuya Tsurumaki, the producer of the Evangelion series, Tsurumaki indicates that the last two episodes are not only the intended plot of Evangelion, but more of a record of the studio’s plight to keep up with production demands despite the exhaustion of its staff members, the choked budget2, and conflicts with the television station TV Tokyo which aired the Evangelion TV series.3
About the time that the production system was completely falling apart, there were some opinions to the effect that, "If we can't do satisfactory work, then what's the point of continuing?" However, [Kazuya Tsurumaki] didn't feel that way. [Kazuya Tsurumaki’s] opinion was, "Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown." You know -- make it a work that shows everything including our inability to create a satisfactory product.”4
In response to the demand for a better ending for Neon Genesis Evangelion, in 1997, a year after the original series had finished airing, two movies were released to theaters: Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion. The intention (or the expected intentions) of these movies, particularly End of Evangelion, was to conclude the Evangelion television series.
The story of End of Evangelion takes place right after episode 24 of the televised Neon Genesis Evangelion series. All of the Angels, the enemies of mankind, have been defeated, and there is anxiety over what will happen to NERV, which had up until then managed and operated the Evangelions to defend mankind from the Angels. SEELE, a group that had tried to use Commander Gendo Ikari to pursue their objectives, attempts to hack into the supercomputers in NERV headquarters called the MAGI. However, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi prevents them from fully uncovering the data stored in the MAGI computers, and in turn, SEELE, in cooperation of the Japanese Government, launches a military attack on NERV Headquarters to, instead of examining the content of NERV through their computers, physically inspect the facilities and secrets hidden within.
However, in the midst of their operation, it becomes apparent that what SEELE is interested in is not the inspection of NERV headquarters but causing the third impact – an act which could wipe out all of humanity to create one single perfect entity, which would be a collection of all the remain souls on earth. Using Shinji's Evangelion, EVA01, as their main ingredient, SEELE manages to begin the process of mending all human souls into a single entity called “Lilith.” But whether this process of combining all human souls into one will succeed depends on whether Shinji, as the pilot riding EVA01, accepts or rejects of a world where his soul coexists with others and is complemented by the souls of others, or if he would rather prefer the world as it is: a world where each person keeps his or her own soul separate, hidden, and impossible to truly express to others, and this inability to be understood purely resulting in pain and suffering.
End of Evangelion does offer what the fans had seek and demand5: An incredible action sequence involving an Evangelion fighting not one, but multiple enemies, a fairly comprehensible storyline (at least, compared to the televised last two episodes), some answers to the interpersonal relationships between the characters, and what the fans wanted to see the most – the end of the world in the world of Evangelion. However, this movie, which was supposed to provide a conclusion to the popular television series, doesn't resolve all of the conflicts that began in the TV series like in other animated series. It also contains a level of graphical violence yet to be seen in a Japanese animation up until its release, an obscene amount of nudity and sex, and parts of it are still confusing and perplexing to many viewers because of director Hideaki's unconventional way of telling a story. Director Anno tries to express an Evangelion that is woven together with the stunning action that fans want to see, and psychologically engaging work that he wishes to create.
While End of Evangelion is indeed a treat for Evangelion fans, it is difficult to assess whether the ending is a happy one or a tragedy. In the Television series, Shinji seems to have accepted living in a world where everyone’s souls are mended together into a single entity of fulfillment and harmony, but in the movie, Shinji rejects complementation thus making the human complementation project impossible.6 The movie, much like how the television series was presented, presents a purely physical and logical story for the first half of the movie, and then immediately dives into more darker, uncomfortable, complicated psychological issues in the second half of the movie. The movie also presents further debatable points in addition to the relative plotline from the television series, such as “What did Gendo say to Dr. Ritsuko Akagi?”7, which is similar to the mantra said by many fans of the televised series: “Who killed Kaji?”8
End of Evangelion also presents a level of graphical violence unknown to animation until its release, such as Asuka’s EVA02 using its bare hands to crush, rip, break, and tear a mass produced Evangelions9, repeated scenes of the main character Shinji choking Asuka out of frustration, and the distasteful amount of methodical killing of NERV employees when the Japanese military invades NERV headquarters10. Additionally, Director Anno uses intercourse as a metaphor to the human complementation project and includes many of the female leads approaching Shinji asking him if he would like to “become one with [one of them]” and how it would “feel very very good” in an attempt to make him surrender his soul to the collection of souls. Animations about boys controlling robots up until Evangelion were usually aimed at male teenagers and usually echoed a message of bravery, hope, righteousness, and determination. Evangelion, instead, told the story as it would have been without any cosmetic cover-up – a story about a wimpy 14-year-old boy burdened with the job of protecting mankind from the end.
This sort of realistic approach does not appeal to many conservative fans. Evangelion starts off as an optimistic, light, and moderate animation but suddenly turns around near the end to reveal the ugliness of human nature and the complexity of human relationships; yet it offers no clear solution to the problems it emphasizes. One of the beauties of many animated series before Evangelion was their linear plots: Bad things happen, and a boy is given the tools to save the world. The boy fights the evildoers and his heart matures into a man as he saves the world from destruction. Evangelion attempts to follow this guideline, but due to the complexity of the characters and artistic desires of director Anno11, it turns into an animation which questions something too real for most viewers to feel secure and reaffirmed about their hearts.
Perhaps what Director Anno was hinting at all long while making Evangelion is that not all problems come with a solution. To me, through his unclear ending of Evangelion, Director Anno is hinting that there’s not always a solution to every problem – for some problems, one must learn to live with them. Each character in Evangelion had an inner demon – such as Shinji and his fear of intimacy with others and rejection from his father, Asuka and her unwillingness to accept she may not always be better than everyone, Gendo and his inability to let go of his dead wife, Misato and her inability to express her feelings other than in the form of physical contact, and Ritsuko and her unwillingness to open up to others. Each character agonizes because of their inner demons, yet each character only lets these demons grow and mature until they, in the end, become the reason for their demise. While director Anno does want to please the fans, he also tries to tell the fans a message: although human beings hurt each other, fear each other, and agonize over each other, we need each other to feel our existence and confirm our identity. Watching television alone is nice, but what people should do is go out and socialize and try to make the best out of one’s given situations instead of ignoring or avoiding problems with one’s soul. By creating an animation with so many debatable points and possibilities, director Anno has indeed opened a gateway in which people may socialize and feel what it may feel like to be complemented by other people’s souls: if the third impact really did happen.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a story about a 14 year old boy named Shinji Ikari living in a post apocalyptic world. Shinji Ikari, along with Rei Ayanami, a quiet, obedient, and apathetic 14 year old girl, and Asuka Langley, an over-confident, self-centered, aggressive, yet beautiful 14 year old girl, pilot giant humanoid robots called the Evangelions to defend humankind from unknown enemies called the Angels. However, defeating the Angels is only half of the story – Neon Genesis Evangelion also tells a tale about Shinji’s personal struggles as a person interacting with other people, such as Shinji and his awkward but neutral relationship with Rei, his love-hate relationship with Asuka, his obedient yet rejecting relationship with Captain Misato, and his rejected yet longing relationship with Commander Ikari, who is also his father.
Unlike many traditional animations in the robot genre, Neon Genesis Evangelion not only questioned the motivations behind why each pilot piloted the giant humanoid robots called Evangelion, but also used this as a stepping stone to question each character’s reasons and motivations for living and then eventually the reasons for the existence of people. This sort of philosophical approach had never been attempted in animation prior to Evangelion mainly because the animation medium was mainly used as entertainment for kids and teenagers. While many praised the creators of Neon Genesis Evangelion for creating an important landmark in Japanese animation, Evangelion has also been the target of harsh criticism towards the series director and creator, Director Anno, for his handling of the series. Evangelion has no clear plot – instead, Director Anno provides just enough evidence so that the viewers themselves could come up with a coherent plot and conclusion.
Among the many criticized parts of Evangelion, probably the most criticized part of the Evangelion television series is the last two episodes of the 26 episode television series where, instead of an all out fight of the Evangelion versus a yet undeclared adversary (which would have on par with the traditional handling of an animation of the robot genre), Director Anno presents a conclusion to Shinji’s inquiries to the purpose of life, meaning of his existence, and his reasons to life – a conclusion rather devoid of an expected spectacular fight involving the Evangelions, conclusions to developing relationships between the lead male protagonist and other female leads, and any finalizing explanations to the puzzling plot that Director Anno had unfolded in the 24 episodes previous to the final two episodes, such as the identity and origin of the enemies (the Angels), the fruits of labor of the Antagonists Commander Gendo Ikari and the Committee he worked for, the reason why the Angels attacked NERV Headquarters (where the Evangelions are kept and maintained), or the mechanisms and mysteries surrounding the Evangelions.
In the interview with producer Kazuya Tsurumaki, the producer of the Evangelion series, Tsurumaki indicates that the last two episodes are not only the intended plot of Evangelion, but more of a record of the studio’s plight to keep up with production demands despite the exhaustion of its staff members, the choked budget2, and conflicts with the television station TV Tokyo which aired the Evangelion TV series.3
About the time that the production system was completely falling apart, there were some opinions to the effect that, "If we can't do satisfactory work, then what's the point of continuing?" However, [Kazuya Tsurumaki] didn't feel that way. [Kazuya Tsurumaki’s] opinion was, "Why don't we show them the entire process including our breakdown." You know -- make it a work that shows everything including our inability to create a satisfactory product.”4
In response to the demand for a better ending for Neon Genesis Evangelion, in 1997, a year after the original series had finished airing, two movies were released to theaters: Death and Rebirth, and End of Evangelion. The intention (or the expected intentions) of these movies, particularly End of Evangelion, was to conclude the Evangelion television series.
The story of End of Evangelion takes place right after episode 24 of the televised Neon Genesis Evangelion series. All of the Angels, the enemies of mankind, have been defeated, and there is anxiety over what will happen to NERV, which had up until then managed and operated the Evangelions to defend mankind from the Angels. SEELE, a group that had tried to use Commander Gendo Ikari to pursue their objectives, attempts to hack into the supercomputers in NERV headquarters called the MAGI. However, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi prevents them from fully uncovering the data stored in the MAGI computers, and in turn, SEELE, in cooperation of the Japanese Government, launches a military attack on NERV Headquarters to, instead of examining the content of NERV through their computers, physically inspect the facilities and secrets hidden within.
However, in the midst of their operation, it becomes apparent that what SEELE is interested in is not the inspection of NERV headquarters but causing the third impact – an act which could wipe out all of humanity to create one single perfect entity, which would be a collection of all the remain souls on earth. Using Shinji's Evangelion, EVA01, as their main ingredient, SEELE manages to begin the process of mending all human souls into a single entity called “Lilith.” But whether this process of combining all human souls into one will succeed depends on whether Shinji, as the pilot riding EVA01, accepts or rejects of a world where his soul coexists with others and is complemented by the souls of others, or if he would rather prefer the world as it is: a world where each person keeps his or her own soul separate, hidden, and impossible to truly express to others, and this inability to be understood purely resulting in pain and suffering.
End of Evangelion does offer what the fans had seek and demand5: An incredible action sequence involving an Evangelion fighting not one, but multiple enemies, a fairly comprehensible storyline (at least, compared to the televised last two episodes), some answers to the interpersonal relationships between the characters, and what the fans wanted to see the most – the end of the world in the world of Evangelion. However, this movie, which was supposed to provide a conclusion to the popular television series, doesn't resolve all of the conflicts that began in the TV series like in other animated series. It also contains a level of graphical violence yet to be seen in a Japanese animation up until its release, an obscene amount of nudity and sex, and parts of it are still confusing and perplexing to many viewers because of director Hideaki's unconventional way of telling a story. Director Anno tries to express an Evangelion that is woven together with the stunning action that fans want to see, and psychologically engaging work that he wishes to create.
While End of Evangelion is indeed a treat for Evangelion fans, it is difficult to assess whether the ending is a happy one or a tragedy. In the Television series, Shinji seems to have accepted living in a world where everyone’s souls are mended together into a single entity of fulfillment and harmony, but in the movie, Shinji rejects complementation thus making the human complementation project impossible.6 The movie, much like how the television series was presented, presents a purely physical and logical story for the first half of the movie, and then immediately dives into more darker, uncomfortable, complicated psychological issues in the second half of the movie. The movie also presents further debatable points in addition to the relative plotline from the television series, such as “What did Gendo say to Dr. Ritsuko Akagi?”7, which is similar to the mantra said by many fans of the televised series: “Who killed Kaji?”8
End of Evangelion also presents a level of graphical violence unknown to animation until its release, such as Asuka’s EVA02 using its bare hands to crush, rip, break, and tear a mass produced Evangelions9, repeated scenes of the main character Shinji choking Asuka out of frustration, and the distasteful amount of methodical killing of NERV employees when the Japanese military invades NERV headquarters10. Additionally, Director Anno uses intercourse as a metaphor to the human complementation project and includes many of the female leads approaching Shinji asking him if he would like to “become one with [one of them]” and how it would “feel very very good” in an attempt to make him surrender his soul to the collection of souls. Animations about boys controlling robots up until Evangelion were usually aimed at male teenagers and usually echoed a message of bravery, hope, righteousness, and determination. Evangelion, instead, told the story as it would have been without any cosmetic cover-up – a story about a wimpy 14-year-old boy burdened with the job of protecting mankind from the end.
This sort of realistic approach does not appeal to many conservative fans. Evangelion starts off as an optimistic, light, and moderate animation but suddenly turns around near the end to reveal the ugliness of human nature and the complexity of human relationships; yet it offers no clear solution to the problems it emphasizes. One of the beauties of many animated series before Evangelion was their linear plots: Bad things happen, and a boy is given the tools to save the world. The boy fights the evildoers and his heart matures into a man as he saves the world from destruction. Evangelion attempts to follow this guideline, but due to the complexity of the characters and artistic desires of director Anno11, it turns into an animation which questions something too real for most viewers to feel secure and reaffirmed about their hearts.
Perhaps what Director Anno was hinting at all long while making Evangelion is that not all problems come with a solution. To me, through his unclear ending of Evangelion, Director Anno is hinting that there’s not always a solution to every problem – for some problems, one must learn to live with them. Each character in Evangelion had an inner demon – such as Shinji and his fear of intimacy with others and rejection from his father, Asuka and her unwillingness to accept she may not always be better than everyone, Gendo and his inability to let go of his dead wife, Misato and her inability to express her feelings other than in the form of physical contact, and Ritsuko and her unwillingness to open up to others. Each character agonizes because of their inner demons, yet each character only lets these demons grow and mature until they, in the end, become the reason for their demise. While director Anno does want to please the fans, he also tries to tell the fans a message: although human beings hurt each other, fear each other, and agonize over each other, we need each other to feel our existence and confirm our identity. Watching television alone is nice, but what people should do is go out and socialize and try to make the best out of one’s given situations instead of ignoring or avoiding problems with one’s soul. By creating an animation with so many debatable points and possibilities, director Anno has indeed opened a gateway in which people may socialize and feel what it may feel like to be complemented by other people’s souls: if the third impact really did happen.