Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion, with its portentous name and an equally heavy bag of themes, remains one of the most influential television series featuring giant robots. Obviously, there are ur-anime within this genre, given how often NGE has been called a "deconstruction" of such shows, which present a far more clearer picture of what exactly NGE was trying to criticise, if it was trying in the first place: tropes about a young boy who has to save the world in a giant robot that he controls, meeting friends and changing for the better over the course of the show, etc. As more than enough analyses havebeen performed examining the characters, themes, setting, show's longevity and impact, I, instead, wish to look at it from a very different light: a perspective of someone who does not follow anime to any significant degree. I will be focussing on what the themes are based on, raise a few points on what the plot might mean in the larger context of the story, and end it with a clarification of the fact that none of what I say is, in any way, definitive.

While regular discussions on the themes of the show may focus on the theological imagery, the fragility of the protagonists and the strange attempts at a conclusion made by the series that have, in themselves, created opportunities for discussions on what the themes actually were, I am of the opinion that NGE's themes are clumsy attempts at grasping the reality of the world that the series takes place in. This "theme" overwhelms all the rest in order to give them a base to claim narrative importance. This "theme" also undermines everything that there is to say about its own fiction. Let me elaborate.

The show features humanity as born from an extraterrestrial "seed", Lilith: both Adam and Lilith are "seeds" because, in this sexual metaphor, the earth is the egg and the womb. This is the first indication of the clumsiness of the "theme": the names. NGE uses nouns found in Abrahamic faiths in order to imbue its own fiction with meanings that our brains react to instinctively, like, as China Mieville in his foreword to the Gormenghast series calls, "hermeneutic engines". The names really mean nothing, but calling the seeds "Adam" and "Lilith", the show "Neon Genesis Evangelion", and the monsters "Angels" with names like "Sachiel" and "Israfel" immediately makes them somehow more significant than they really are. They are exotic flavours to an robot anime otaku's diet. The point of all of the names is justified by the close-readers who are convinced of the grandiosity of the themes this series allegedly tackles, despite never addressing why, then, there are no religious characters within the series. Couldn't at least one member of the UN or NERV be a devout Christian and bring up tidings of the Apocalypse or be a little bit shaken after seeing a giant cross burn through the city or up into the sky? And, even if the story takes place in Japan, the rest of the world is involved too. Why aren't there more foreigners coming to witness the end of the world?

Because this show is not about the end of the world- it is about a series that already sees itself as a mecha anime, having grown tired of not being able to question its identity. So, it doubles down on cliches like the school environment where Rei (of all people) needs to go to school with Shinji and Asuka (didn't she already have a degree or something?) and never-ending summers where the cicadas never die. There are no psychiatrists, psychologists or any number of health professionals that could provide the children with medication or therapy which all of them seem desperately in need of because their presence would imply something that would break the suspension of disbelief- namely, reasoning possessed by adults. The story comes from a world where there are hundreds of anime where children took care of saving the world, sometimes in giant robots. The difference between reality and fiction in such a world is quite blurry. Shinji Ikari has to get a grip all by himself, with nobody in his circle of friends prepared to look beyond their own problems unless they need him to do something for them. This almost backfired when Misato Katsuragi (Shinji's guardian, also damaged) couldn't help herself and tried to seduce Ikari. Rei Ayanami remains a blank cipher whose affection towards Ikari could be interpreted as Oedipal on one extreme and entirely projected by the audience (and Ikari, perhaps) on the other. Gendo Ikari can't even feign affection for his son for the sake of his own mission. Asuka Langley Soryuu keeps pushing people she likes away because she hates herself. These characters have baggage and no real opportunity to resolve them, even after they get to monologue about themselves.

The function these characters have within the plot is similarly clumsy. From a weekly-monster show to the "deconstruction" of the genre, NGE makes a huge leap that, by its very nature, could not but lead to some terrible failures when attempted. The last two episodes show just that- the creators thinking that Ikari was the one character whose arc needed to be resolved, leaving behind the many names and voices behind, under the black title-screens announcing the progress of the "Instrumentality Project"- something that Ikari himself never asked for. The "Project" represents a convenient endpoint for the show- because the viewers were never supposed to know what happens to the world after the "Project" came to life. We do see the result in The End of Evangelion, but that, too, leaves more questions (why does the diagram of the Tree of Life show up in the sky? Are viewers seeing it or is everyone in the show seeing it too? Why does it look like a diagram at all, instead of the thing it is supposed to represent?).

The plot could not give us a proper clarification of the events that took place, because, once the creative team behind the show understood that the latter episodes could, by focussing on Ikari, reinterpret what the show said about its own fiction into something more personal and intimate, there was no reason to stop with making the themes appear heavier. The only time a Biblical sounding track is used is near the end of the series- Ode to Joy (because...it sound "angelic"?) playing while Asuka is nearly killed fighting an Angel. This is the equivalent of informing the audience that it is time to pay attention to the Christian imagery by dumping a Church organ on their heads.

Of course, then there are literary theory readings that are performed in order to show the depth of the work. I am sceptical of this, mostly because this reading usually presumes a relationship with an author, which most have decided is Hideaki Anno. This is complicated by the fact that Anno was subject to his producers at Gainax, his creative team and his audience. If these are taken into account, then the use of literary theory in the analysis of this show was an expectation that was already built into NGE, which means that the show wanted to simulate at being thematically heavy, not reveal itself as a deep show on analysis. This is why the show has so many overt themes related to psychoanalysis (a field which has proven next to useless in treating depression realistically), Abrahamic religions (which remain a fascination for most Japanese, not a reality as is the case outside Japan), a point that I would like to emphasise is the case with virtually all forms of commercial art seeking artistic merit, and NGE is certainly just that.

This is not to say that the experience and feelings one can have when they watch this show was somehow worthless or meaningless. It is difficult not to respond emotionally to the show, because of how well it grabs your attention. I was engaged as the show went on and, knowing what to expect, felt like the ending was as good a conclusion as any, given those its copycats following it have tried to come up with. I was not there when the show was airing on Japanese TV and people were getting angry about how terribly the show had ended. The show's flawed, even unwatchable. But it is very difficult to ignore it.

At the risk of repeating what Solid Snake told Raiden at the end of Metal Gear Solid 2, I hope that you too have fun with the show and nothing more. Seriously, there are better things to do with your time. Maybe that's what the show was trying to tell me....

Damn it.