Review of Neon Genesis Evangelion

To be short: is NGE the best anime ever? No. But if you are lucky enough to be intrigued by it... you will never forget about it. If you watch Evangelion with the cold ice of a professional reviewer, it will appear just as an average series, maybe with the merit of trying to experiment and innovate its gender, quite standardized in the middle 90's. But if you move on step back and think at it for its ability to fascinated myriads of fans during the last 30 year and try to understand why, you can’t admit there must be much more over the cover. What makeEVA great, in my opinion, is its internal coherency: but I’m not referring to its plot, it’s philosophical or symbolic plant, or the psychological development of the cast. If you look at each of its point with critical eye, it’s evident that the series fail, less or more, on each of these aspect.

It’s coherent because it is basically the history of his creator, and of his reflection, during its fight against depression.

But let’s walk with order.

STORY: 5__________________

This is likely the less criticizable element of NGE, it is quite intriguing and with a lot of back stories, that are used to helps to avoid that some of the “mini twist” of the late part of the series will appear as not to be born from nothing.

It look like the story was created using a sort of “inverse engineering” process. As most of you know anime it’s a medium that work with a great use of stereotypies both for gender and characters: school love comedy, harem, mecha, tsundere, yandere etc…

It seems that the authors choose what stereotypies want in their story and construct it to justify the presence of each of these elements. Just if the said: “We want that our hero will be an adolescent having a normal school life, but he must also be the pilot of a giant mecha… etc”, “ok, now lets try to build a story that will bring all of this in a coherent way”.

If fact NGE have a solid answer for some of the problem that this stereotypies create for the plot: for example why the pilot of the decisive weapon of humanity should be a 14 year old boy and not an experienced pilot. But fail in other: it is not credible that the pilots will attend a school outside of a military facility, making them potentially non reachable in case of emergency (as happens in one of the episode).

The greatest problem with the story is its drastically change of tone during the last 6 episode. Personally I enjoyed it a lot, but if I think at it objectively this is not a plus.

Every one of us when is approaching a story, an anime, a film, a book… want to know what kind of story is going to be engaged in. This is not laziness or mental closure. Our time is limited and for this reason is fair that a story will tell us from the beginning what is going to talk about. These does not mean that a story should be monotone. Let’s take for example Madoka Magica. It is a story that change a lot, the tone of the first episode is completely different to the last, but this evolution is somewhat announced from the beginning: the initial dream of Madoka and the visual style of the story announce what will be happening. When the story is ended most of the people watching it will think: I will never imagine that, but it is exactly the sort of think I’m waiting from this story!

In NGE this tone change is driven by the emotional status of his director and the financial issue that GAINAX had to managed. It is absolutely not prepared. I repeat, I loved it, but I’m just one of the few people that having be engaged by a SCI-FI mecha story is not angered by the fact that this is substantially abandoned and transformed in a psychological story, until to evolve to its controvert ending.

If most watcher are annoyed but this it is not their fault, it is a story fault!

But if you are lucky to be like me, it will be incredible amazing even for you!

Animation: 7______________

The problem with NGE animation is its discontinuity. There are moment of great and enjoyable animation (most of the battles in the first half of the series) and moment where it is poor or even absolutely absent.

This alternation is due to the lack of resource of GAINAX, and the director managed to transform this problem in a strength. In some case it work very well: for example the famous long scene in the elevator with Asuka and Rey where nothing move for about 60 seconds. It create a great sense of tension, and in fact it was retaken in the same way in the second rebuild film (where certainly there was not lack of money), but it doesn’t obtain the same effect.

As with the story the problem is the ambiguity that NGE show to the watcher: it create the expectation to be an action series, for this reason some people can be bothered by this moment of poor animation. But, at difference of what happens with the story, this alternation is showed since the beginning of the show, giving you the opportunity to understand quickly if this modality work for you or not.

Music: 8_________________

The music in NGE is at an average good level. If you loved the series, the opening will be legendary for you, but the same should be said for most of anime series out there.

Curiosity: the main battle teme is copied from a James bond film, but this does not make it less enjoyable.

In my opinion there is a gem inside the music track of NGE, a piece called “Thanatos If I Can't Be Yours”. This is an amazing melody, used wisely by the director only in 2 crucial moment. You can found easily an orchestra version of this music. Try to listen it, if you like melting melodies it will worth your time.

Characters: 5_______________

This is one of the most controversial thing in Evangelion. The most common critiques is that the entire cast is somewhat monochrome. All of them are mentally sick, and almost everyone in the same way, and this is true because essentially every character is a different aspect of the director.

It is possible to say the same think to some of the Woody Allen film, but there is a huge difference: Woody Allen theoretical knowledge of modern psychoanalysis is unexceptionable, and this repletion of the main character obsession on the secondary is used in a conscious way to the fine of the message he want to tell.

In Evangelion this fact is absolutely instinctive and should appear grotesque. At the end of the story it is a lucky consequence that this aspect is perfectly coherent with one of EVA message: we cannot know other people for what they are but just for what they think they are, so we tend to reflect in others our sickness.

This is the kind of internal coherence I was talking about at the beginning. Even if not intentional , quite fascinating.

Direction: 5________________

The high and low of all the aspect of EVA are exasperated in the question related to the direction and dialogues.

There are scene absolutely amazing like the kiss scene of episode 15 (one of the best episode in my opinion). In these scene there is a lot of backstory but everything will evolve in a very natural way, obtaining a good comical effect while telling a much darker truth in his background.

In the same episode there is a dialogue between 2 of the main cast element. One of them explain the reasons she choose to cut their relation some time before: the dialogue is excessive, with she explaining word by work what it’s going on in her mind, obtaining a grotesque effect, like a little child that is trying to behave like an adult.

The choice to add reference to religious and philosophical concept here and there to give the story a sense of profundity it is not bad (any story should at this best try to obtain a sense of profundity, due to its fictional nature, real profundity can came only by its not fictional elements) but it would have required a more prepared set of writer to use it in a completely effective way. It use is too instinctive, and the watcher should be bothered founding it superficial.

Again: there is a profound coherence between the philosophical and psychological references and the story, but this is not intentional and this is evident.

In conclusion_________________:

If reality is not cognizable, the only portion of truth that is accessible to our conscience is our self, so the only possibility for any one of us to tell something that is the more possible near to truth is tell something about our self. Anyone who is enough brave, or crazy, to put a piece of himself into a story without censor anything, will create something that worth to be engaged with.

It’s simply this what Hanno did whit Neon Genesis Evangelion, and is for this reason that many people love its work. Starting from this love, any discussion about the philosophical link of NGE, or the psyche of its cast, or its symbology will be interesting, because will be a discussion based on a real life experience, otherwise will be just an intellectual game that will be better to play starting from more accurate and less rough piece of art.

Thank you for reading and I hope to not have bothered you with my terrible english!