Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

Neon Genesis Evangelion is Hideaki Anno’s most renowned work, and is often hailed as a masterfully executed deconstruction of the mecha genre. By common definition a deconstruction aims to take apart a genre and it’s common tropes by portraying them in the most realistic way possible; seeing how they would work, and how they would fail. These works should build on the foundation of inherent flaws they uncover, and in this case, create something brilliantly subversive and unique. With the creation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Anno took the Mech genre’s cliched ideas surrounding teenage pilots and subverted everyone’s expectations with a realistic approach focused onbuilding psychological tension through the exploration of its characters.

Shinji ikari, is about as far away from charismatic as a character can be. As Shinji is first introduced, every definable aspect of his personality is punctuated by the abandonment of his father at a young age. Shinji needs to be useful to the people around him; but a fear of upsetting anyone he gets close to, as well as a complete lack of social skills cause him to isolate himself away from others. Shinji progresses and regresses frequently, it’s never a straight development. There are a series of highs and lows as stable influences enter and leave his life, pushing and pulling his self confidence in either direction. What’s remarkable about Shinji as a character is how perfectly he encapsulates a realistic portrayal of depression. Throughout the mid nineties Japan had been in a tough spot; the country was on the cusp of economic collapse, the population was rife with depression, and recent terror attacks had eviscerated the country’s moral, but because of a character like Shinji Ikari who resonated with such a wide demographic of people; Evangelion was propelled into the mainstream spotlight, and Shinji was serving as the audience surrogate for an entire country. Usually when a character is relatable to a large viewership they become a vehicle for wish fulfillment; it’s hard to deny that escapism sells well in this medium, but that’s the opposite of what Evangelion wants to achieve. While Shinji is constantly looking for ways to avoid his unpleasant reality, and outright runs away multiple times; eventually he has no alternative left other than to deal with his problems. The final episodes of the series actually take place inside of Shinji’s head, serving to exposit ideas as Shinji works through his conflicting thoughts. This part of the narrative is shown through the film ‘End of Evangelion’ which runs concurrently to the final arc of the main series.

Rei Ayanami is portrayed to be an emotionless doll. She has been backed into a corner of social isolation, and while this is only alluded to early on, she feels disconnected from her role as a pilot. Unlike Rei, everyone else in Evangelion has a justifiable reason to protect others; be it for family, friends, or the furthering of an ulterior motive. By comparison Rei is empty, until Shinji’s father puts himself in harm’s way for her sake; this is a prospect completely foreign to someone like her, who has seemingly never experienced compassion before. The first instance where her development becomes visible is literally shown through subverting a common trope in the medium; Shinji unintentionally falls on top of Rei with his hand on her breast, but instead of the usual comedic slap in the face, Rei say’s nothing about it. The slap comes later when she hears Shinji speak negatively towards his father.

Asuka Langley Souryu is introduced eight episodes into Evangelion, these first episodes until now have all felt dour and depressing overall, but Asuka’s arrival alone is enough to completely shift the tone of the series in every aspect. her personality is comparable to a fireball; she is temperamental and vibrant. The fights which had been psychologically scarring from Shinji’s perspective earlier into the series, have now become flooded with energy, for Asuka they are a way to steal the spotlight and show off. This tone shift is not poorly executed though. Despite how frightened Shinji had been initially, recently he has gotten comfortable in his new life; he has a stable parental figure for the first time since early childhood, he has genuine friendships at his school, and he hardly even protests piloting the Evangelion anymore. By taking us to an unfamiliar environment and introducing a character who is so far removed from everything we’ve known about this world till now that she may as well be an alien here, Anno has taken us, and Shinji, far out of our comfort zone. Asuka is Shinji’s complete foil; where Shinji wants to please the people around him, Asuka wants their full admiration. She has placed herself on a pedestal high above everyone else, this is apparent in how she talks to her fellow pilots. Shinji is willing to be ordered around by the people above him, even if it takes some coercion, but with a bossy character like Asuka around who is the same age Shinji finally has an outlet to speak for himself. Asuka should be considered Shinji’s equal, yet she blatantly regards Shinji as her inferior, much to his annoyance. When the two of them are forced to share a living space together we finally see Shinji start to speak out defiantly towards someone else for the first time, and the dialogue between them results in the most fun character dynamic in the series. Even though Asuka’s characterization so far has been kinetic and vibrant, this is only her at a surface level. Asuka’s character is deeply layered, and while unbeknownst initially, she’s just as broken as Shinji. The person she shows others is a mask of superiority and confidence substantiated by her own burning insecurities.

It’s impossible to compress every idea Evangelion presents into a solitary central theme, but with the characters being such an important focus in the series, most ideas relate to the notion that characters are constantly changed by the influence of each other as well as their surrounding. Shinji is always changing because of how other characters interact with him. Misato and Shinji initially struggle to empathize with each other, describing their relationship through a metaphor of human intimacy, “The Hedgehog’s Dilemma”. They each want to develop a bond, but the closer they get the more they hurt each other in the process. Misato is Shinji’s direct superior, it’s her job to force Shinji into these situations of conflict, and he suffers for it. She wants to be a stable figure in his life, being in an almost maternal position, but her work is in direct conflict with her emotions. From Shinji’s perspective he is completely alone, surrounded by people causing him pain, but before running away he realizes that he isn’t the only one hurting. This is how many of Evangelions character dynamics are handled, with an equal mix of positive and negative influence, creating the closest thing to a character study in all of anime. There are also themes of self betterment, backed by continuous commentary against escapism. As a side note; while evangelion is rife with visual motifs and symbolism, none of the Christian elements are symbolic of anything. Despite the frequent appearance of things that reference Christianity none of them hold any symbolic meaning, Hideaki Anno maintains that it’s just an aesthetic detail.

Speaking of aesthetic details; perhaps the most important element of animation as an art form is the creative freedom it provides creators, this is true in the stylistic sense of art and design, but also in directing. Hideaki Anno is a director that knows how to lead the viewer’s eyes through a scene. When the focus is trained on a static character occupying a set portion of the frame, changing to a shot from a new perspective can be jarring if done poorly, but for slow scenes Anno maintains a visual cohesion throughout the each shot by having that characters remain in the same position of the screen. If he wants to snap your attention to where the action will occur in the following shot Anno will sometimes create a quick movement in that area of the frame, this is usually through an object in the background such as a closing door. Rather than the standard Shot/Reverse Shot between multiple characters during scenes of dialogue, Anno likes having both characters in the frame at the same time whenever possible, this can result in some unique perspective shots. Aside from camera work, with so many socially inept characters there are a lot of things that need to be conveyed through character acting; there is a high attention to detail put towards creating character nuance through subtle glances, movements, positioning, and even posture.

Evangelion’s design work is in a tier of its own. Compared to the cubic and bulky designs common of the time, Eva’s mechs are all vibrantly colored, sleekly designed, and uniquely detailed from each other. The same can be said of the character designs, they have become iconic in the anime medium, Rei Ayanami especially; it’s to the extent that it feels like every other character aimed at being doll-like and mysterious is a dead ringer for Rei. Even Nobuhiro Watsuki has said he feels like his design for Tomoe, a character in his classic work Rurouni Kenshin, ended up as an Ayanami lookalike.

The lineup of talent working in Studio Gainax through this time period is arguably the strongest group that the industry has ever had working under one roof, and while working under Hideaki Anno this team had created one of the most natural and emotional works to ever come out of the field of animation.