Post by Chowwow on Feb 3, 2008 1:46:24 GMT -5
Now that we have just finished the series and the ending, I think we should get these thoughts out while it's all still fresh in our memories.
So L, Suzuka, and anyone else who saw it, what do you think about the anime that revolutionized, bastardized, tramatized, and confused the whole industry and inspired a massive wave of new anime viewers, wannabe animes, manga, merchandise, and fan fiction/hentai?
Back then (1996), Eva was revolutionary for introducing many elements that are now common in anime (hot, underaged girls; Rei and Asuka clones; sleak, kung-fu robots; unnecessary religious symbolism; mind raping the audience; incomprehensible plots/endings, etc) and thus converting a lot of american sci-fi nerds into american sci-fi and anime nerds. So back then, Eva was the best thing since, well, something as fundamentally awesome as sliced bread but not as cliched.
But here we are in 2008 (eight years after Second Impact and four years after Yui's "death", fyi) and things are a little different. After viewing many modern anime, how does Eva withstand the test of time, according to those how have and have not seen it before? Is it worthy of being one of the best animes ever? Or is it a lot of pretentious hype from fanboys like Veleon and I?
If you want the short account of what I feel, I'll give you this:
I saw all of the series before but I just saw EoE and the director's cut footage from Veleon's showings. These are all things that I always meant to do sometime in my lifetime and I feel it was all a rite of passage for me as a fan. Thus I gave Veleon a hug after the EoE showing. As a matter of fact, I should give him another one.
So Veleon, here is a totally asexual hug coming to you from me through the interweb: *hugs*.
With that out of the way let me say this: while I can see and appreciate the efforts made in the whole series, a lot of it seems incomplete and some points seem half-baked or could have been done better. A lot of purists will probably mual me like a pack of hungry MP Evas for saying all that, but it just doesn't seem to be up to the level that most people claim it is to me.
The things that really hooked me in and made me a fan were the characters themselves and the premise of the religious symbolism used. They all had far reaching effects that I think could have been used more.
As a matter of fact, even after seeing EoE, the problem was just that it needed more. It needed more violence. It needed more energy. It needed more Rei. It needed more of Shinji getting his ass kicked and him kicking ass back. I guess it needed more Asuka. It needed more heart. It needed more dispair. It needed more contrast. It needed more balance. It needed more significance to the religious aspects, something more than just symbols as wall paper for backgrounds (or less, if that could not be done). It needed more of what the director Anno felt that we all needed to keep living. It needed way more Yui! It just needed MOAR!
And it needs less fanservice. I guess.
So I'll leave it to you guys. What else?
So L, Suzuka, and anyone else who saw it, what do you think about the anime that revolutionized, bastardized, tramatized, and confused the whole industry and inspired a massive wave of new anime viewers, wannabe animes, manga, merchandise, and fan fiction/hentai?
Back then (1996), Eva was revolutionary for introducing many elements that are now common in anime (hot, underaged girls; Rei and Asuka clones; sleak, kung-fu robots; unnecessary religious symbolism; mind raping the audience; incomprehensible plots/endings, etc) and thus converting a lot of american sci-fi nerds into american sci-fi and anime nerds. So back then, Eva was the best thing since, well, something as fundamentally awesome as sliced bread but not as cliched.
But here we are in 2008 (eight years after Second Impact and four years after Yui's "death", fyi) and things are a little different. After viewing many modern anime, how does Eva withstand the test of time, according to those how have and have not seen it before? Is it worthy of being one of the best animes ever? Or is it a lot of pretentious hype from fanboys like Veleon and I?
If you want the short account of what I feel, I'll give you this:
I saw all of the series before but I just saw EoE and the director's cut footage from Veleon's showings. These are all things that I always meant to do sometime in my lifetime and I feel it was all a rite of passage for me as a fan. Thus I gave Veleon a hug after the EoE showing. As a matter of fact, I should give him another one.
So Veleon, here is a totally asexual hug coming to you from me through the interweb: *hugs*.
With that out of the way let me say this: while I can see and appreciate the efforts made in the whole series, a lot of it seems incomplete and some points seem half-baked or could have been done better. A lot of purists will probably mual me like a pack of hungry MP Evas for saying all that, but it just doesn't seem to be up to the level that most people claim it is to me.
The things that really hooked me in and made me a fan were the characters themselves and the premise of the religious symbolism used. They all had far reaching effects that I think could have been used more.
As a matter of fact, even after seeing EoE, the problem was just that it needed more. It needed more violence. It needed more energy. It needed more Rei. It needed more of Shinji getting his ass kicked and him kicking ass back. I guess it needed more Asuka. It needed more heart. It needed more dispair. It needed more contrast. It needed more balance. It needed more significance to the religious aspects, something more than just symbols as wall paper for backgrounds (or less, if that could not be done). It needed more of what the director Anno felt that we all needed to keep living. It needed way more Yui! It just needed MOAR!
And it needs less fanservice. I guess.
So I'll leave it to you guys. What else?
