Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion
Oh jeez, where do you even begin with Eva? I remember hearing people screaming about how much they love this show, while others say it's utter nonsense and shouldn't be famous at all. What can you take from that, I mean honestly? I didn't know what to think, so I picked up a cheap pirate DVD copy of it (because real ones don't exist) and gave it a spin. My head is still spinning to this day. What is Evangelion? That's a tough question to answer, because it's pretty much a story about a boy recruited to pilot a giant robot to fight monsters who wantto exterminate humanity, except it's not, well not really. This show has more layers than a french onion wrapped in 3 rolls of clingfilm. I don't think it's possible to summarise, so I'll just skip to the main parts.
The overall story of Eva is so wonderfully unique and engaging, if somewhat batshit crazy by the end of it, but I don't think I've seen a better fleshed out set of characters anywhere (Maybe Steins;Gate at a stretch). Each character is damaged in their own way, which becomes more obvious as the show progresses. There's overconfidence and inability, lack of self belief, cowardice and frustration... Every person in this show is such a unique individual, and watching them interact, bicker, and develop is still an example of perfect storytelling. You get to see people pushed to their absolute limits, then pushed just a little further. It's like a trainwreck, part of you just can't look away. The animation is superb for 1995, which may feel a little dated today (think monster design), but the motion and dynamics all hold up extremely well. It's good to feel unnerved by some of the art, it's actively trying to be.
From here, the actual plot is already standing on the shoulders of giants, which is where things really get fun. The monsters aren't actually monsters, they're "angels". There is a shadow organisation pulling all the strings in the background who may want to save humanity, or destroy it. The giant robots are a lot more than what they seem. Pretty much everything established within the first few episodes is inverted, leaving you a little confused but at the same time quite interested to see where it goes. People actually break down from the stress they experience, like the pilots of the giant robots, and when I say break down I mean fully. They suffer so much at parts that you can't help but empathise, and by then you're already emotionally invested.
Hold on to your brain, because by the ending, it might just melt and drip out of your ears. No spoilers, but the ending is very avant garde (read: they ran out of money) so there's a lot of interpretation and metaphor going on, but I thought it worked pretty well. What I got from it left me speechless and dying to talk about it with anyone who'd listen at the same time.
Eva has so much going on that it really does need a second viewing and some downtime for thinkin' about it, because it took me about 3 times to finally get (most of) the story. Saying that, there's such a feeling of satisfaction when you do see behind all the doors. I'd say it's like shakespeare in so much that it makes no sense when you read it and there's an insane amount of stuff going on nearly all the time, but it is actually very solid and entertaining. You can tell the creator really put a lot of himself into this, and jeez, that poor guy was really suffering. You know what they say, you can't make a painting without pain.
I've got to talk about the sound, it's some of the most memorable I've ever heard. There are so many themes that you'll find yourself humming after you watch this, each one very different from the others but all equally superb. These pretty much became my ringtones. Evangelion giant robot fights owe so much to their soundtrack, without it there wouldn't be half the depth to their drama. I really enjoyed the musical dissonance employed towards the latter half, when things go from bad to the worst. Someone has a complete nervous breakdown to the most inspirational and hopeful music you can think of. It's jarring in the extreme, but that's what Eva is meant to be.
As far as plot goes, there is nothing close to where this show went, and it's range of characters is still impeccable to this day. I'm pretty sure Evangelion probably fried some part of my young brain, but I totally fell for this show and think it really is one of the greats. Watch it if you too want to get your mind opened to the point where everything starts falling out.