Board 8 > When does Neon Genesis Evangelion get intense?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've heard the show has an extremely deep story and gets really psychological. I'm watching the original anime and I'm about to start episode 3.


I've enjoyed it so far but it hasn't come off as that intense to me yet.
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when you cry yourself to sleep after finishing it and like Julius Caesar you wonder what better things you might have spent your time on if you were Alexander instead
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I... I don't know how take that
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The director fell deeper into depression as the show continued. It's a slow burn culminating in the movie.
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Never
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"intense" can mean a lot of things
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Tom Bombadil posted...

"intense" can mean a lot of things

Like super dark and all that
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the part where Shinji cums on comatose asuka

so INTENSE
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INCEPTlON posted...

Tom Bombadil posted...

"intense" can mean a lot of things

Like super dark and all that

I dunno if I'd call it SUPER dark but maybe towards the end
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ninkendo posted...

the part where Shinji cums on comatose asuka

so INTENSE

wasn't that rei or is he a repeat offender
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It's extremely overrated anime (or just doesn't seem anything special when you see it nowadays, maybe it was special 15 years ago..)

It goes off track at the last 4-5 episodes though..it becomes..something
There is no word to describe that, "intense" doesn't come close to what the fuck happens to this show there
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Nanis23 posted...

It's extremely overrated anime (or just doesn't seem anything special when you see it nowadays, maybe it was special 15 years ago..)

It goes off track at the last 4-5 episodes though..it becomes..something
There is no word to describe that, "intense" doesn't come close to what the fuck happens to this show there

this is actually probably the most accurate response
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One of the writers literally admitted that they just threw in Christian symbols because they thought it looked cool. This is not the deepest anime you'll ever find.
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Like episode 16 or something.

I forget if that's the exact one but I know the first half of the series is basically filler before it gets good.
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The ending is kind of strange, but the End of Eva movie fixes it and makes it really good. It's also really weird, but in a good way this time.
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Anagram posted...

One of the writers literally admitted that they just threw in Christian symbols because they thought it looked cool. This is not the deepest anime you'll ever find.

This is a little misleading since Christian terminology and symbology is everywhere. Is it all "deep"? Not particularly but it's a motif. That's what motifs do.
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Honest answer is the introduction of Eva Unit 04.
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NGE is actually quite deep for an anime and the fact that the Christian symbolism employed is not specifically saying anything about Christianity is irrelevant to that.

If you are interested in psychology or even theology you will probably enjoy the series a lot. The manga is better, though, in my opinion.

Episode 16, though things start picking up around episode 8.
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velocycloraptor posted...

NGE is actually quite deep for an anime and the fact that the Christian symbolism employed is not specifically saying anything about Christianity is irrelevant to that.

If you are interested in psychology or even theology you will probably enjoy the series a lot. The manga is better, though, in my opinion.

That's what I like to hear
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I started watching anime when I was 18 because I caught the second to last episode on adult swim and it blew my mind

So... uh... that?
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The "throwing in Christianity" thing is misleading because the series was written on an episode to episode basis under awful time constraints, so nobody on staff but him knew what anything meant. It was less "this meant nothing" and more "I wasn't told what this means".
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Bump for congratulations
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On episode 7 now. I switched back to subs. Dub was getting cringe
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LapisLazuli posted...

The "throwing in Christianity" thing is misleading because the series was written on an episode to episode basis under awful time constraints, so nobody on staff but him knew what anything meant. It was less "this meant nothing" and more "I wasn't told what this means".

Yes, additionally while things like cross shaped explosions are obviously just window dressing, there are many cases where the symbolism obviously does mean something. Even just very minor things like angel names.

Also, the dub gets better as it goes on. It is definitely a case of good main cast bad supporting cast however. The sub is probably better overall, but watching either or both won't turn you too wrong. Although, at episode 7 you have yet to meet the character who was the most improved in the dub.
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Honestly the stuff that went down with some of the Japanese VAs makes it a bit cringe for me to watch.
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Evangelion reminds me of Xenogears and Xenosaga. They go overboard on Christian iconography, but don't really say anything, do anything, or...do anything approaching the legendary hype. It's something to experience (if only for the opening theme). I get the feeling that like Xeno, they blew their budget and came up with the "psychobabble shit" on the fly as a cost-cutting measure. I do like the End of Evangelion and the changes the movies made, but I loathe the show, outside of the voice acting.

FLCL made a joke of it, "Deep Mysteries of EVA." Deep mysteries? It's about a kid trying to man up and fight aliens (and get laid I guess). It's not deep at all.
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LapisLazuli posted...

Honestly the stuff that went down with some of the Japanese VAs makes it a bit cringe for me to watch.

details?
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Strife2 posted...

FLCL made a joke of it, "Deep Mysteries of EVA." Deep mysteries? It's about a kid trying to man up and fight aliens (and get laid I guess). It's not deep at all.

Nothing is deep if you only look at the surface. It is a show with very complex characters and a significant amount of psychological and religious themes and subtext. If this isn't something that interests you, or you have issues with how it was all handled, it is fair to dislike the show, but don't pretend its not there at all.

I forget what episode it was (mid-teens or so) where there was a weird vision with Rei and Asuka talking for like five minutes while images of them kept flashing around the screen and there were other white backdrops and stuff going on. I get the sense that's where all the deep stuff about Shinji's life or father issues came from, but all I see is, "stalling tactic." I've seen far worse shows with obvious chopped endings due to budgets or whatever, but there's no way the original ending makes any sense.

It has humorous lines from Rei, but the End of Evangelion exists because something fucked up.
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TexasZea posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

Honestly the stuff that went down with some of the Japanese VAs makes it a bit cringe for me to watch.

details?

let's just say they made the scene where a certain someone suddenly starts violently chokeing out another person so effective by....have the VA of said person suddenly start chokeing out the VA of the other person without their consent.
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Good video on Eva's "budget issues" versus its intentional iconography and how they intertwined. Spoilers, so not for Inception.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNLA_TxBvi8
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LapisLazuli posted...

TexasZea posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

Honestly the stuff that went down with some of the Japanese VAs makes it a bit cringe for me to watch.

details?

let's just say they made the scene where a certain someone suddenly starts violently chokeing out another person so effective by....have the VA of said person suddenly start chokeing out the VA of the other person without their consent.

I had no idea. That's super fucked
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Looks like I had it a little wrong, but it's not any better. The following is a paraphrasing of content from 3 interviews.

Despite the praise and love the creator and director of the classic“Neon Genesis Evangelion”Hideaki Anno and his creation may receive from many fans. The same adoration cannot be said for the voice actress of the ever iconicAsuka Langley Soryu, Yuko Miyamura.

Although Hideaki Anno has always been known for being a tough director, not much can compare to Yuko Miyamura’s experience doing her voice forAsuka Langley Soryu. Mostspecificallyduring her time working on the finalinstalment of the series “The End of Evangelion”.

Once all of the lines for the film were recorded, Anno wasdissatisfiedwith her performance andsummonedMiyamura to the studio to revise her final line.Seeing as the scene was between both Asuka and Shinji, Megumi Ogata was brought to the studio as well (despite it was only Miyamura’s line Anno had problems with).

In the originalscriptAsuka’s finale line was“Anta nankani korosareru nowa mappira yo!”which can be translated to“I’d hate to be killed by a bastard like you!”But no matter what Miyamura tried, Anno remained unsatisfied with her, leaving both Miyamura and Ogata at a complete loss as to what needed to be done.

Anno then had Ogata straddle and choke Miyamura just as Shinji did to Asuka during the final scene in the film. It was so rough that Miyamura had difficulty speaking for the rest of the day. In Miyamura’s 2005Anime Yawainterview she told the story of what Anno said to her after the choking idea failed.

“‘At last Anno asked me ‘Miyamura, just imagine you are sleeping in your bed and a stranger sneaks into your room. He can rape you anytime as you are asleep but he doesn’t. Instead, he masturbates looking at you, when you wake up and know what he did to you. What do you think you would say?’I had been thinking he was a strange*man, but at that moment I felt disgusting. So I told him that I thought'Disgusting.’And then he sighed and said,'I thought as much.’”

*It is worth noting that when she describes Anno as “strange”, the translation is a bit off and can also be interpreted as “odd”, “freaky” or “creepy”.

The conversation between the two is what lead Anno to change the final line in the film to the iconic“kimochi warui”.

After finishing her work onEvangelion, between the stress of her sex scandal, having a stalker because of her voicing Asuka and many scary incidents with fans Miyamura moved toAustralia.She’s then proceeding to do most of her voice work from studios there.

Prior to the Rebuild films release and with no Asuka in the first film “Rebuild of Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone”there were many fan speculations all across the web and betting pools as to what new voice actress would take over as Asuka as no one expected Miyamura to return.

In Miyamura’s 2010 SMASH interview when asked about her experiences voice acting and if she ever regretted anything, she admitted“At one point in time, I thought to myself that I would never act as Asuka again”and“For a very long time I wanted to erase Evangelion”.When asked if the series was truly that hard to work on, she very clearly expressed that“it was very hard”.
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Hey now, that's mean. Some people like Lucky Star too...for some ungodly reason.
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Yeah episode 16 is the major turning point, and there are some earlier points that I would say are quite intense too, but they come in flashes.

Strife2 posted...

It's about a kid trying to man up and fight aliens (and get laid I guess). It's not deep at all.

i mean. not really.

Evangelion is more about a character study with a bit of a focus on depression and inter-personal relationships and their dysfunctions. The mech stuff is really just a sideshow.

That one early episode (3 or 4) where they talk about the "Hedgehog's dilemma" is pretty close to covering a major theme of the show.

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Put me in the camp that also says Episode 16 is probably the turning point. I think the dial gets turned up a bit on the way there though.
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i think it's a great and unique experience, but if you come in expecting to be constantly blown away i think that's just a recipe for disappointment. i kinda feel like that's a good rule no matter what the subject is

it does suffer a little bit because it was so influential. a lot of things that were completely new and out of left field have been copied a hundred times since
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So pretty good stuff. Just finished the series. Relatively unsettling and extremely so for the time it came out
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And I did watch end of Eva
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mmm orange tang
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Glad you liked it. I haven't revisited it since I watched it like ten years ago, but it had a huge impact on my philosophy of life.
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INCEPTlON posted...

So pretty good stuff. Just finished the series. Relatively unsettling and extremely so for the time it came out

Congratulations!
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