Aaron's Review: Neon Genesis Evangelion

It’s over 20 years old, and people are still ragging & praising it. Take that as you will.

Guys, Gals, & Non-Binary Pals. This is the Animated-Aaron’s review of Neon Genesis Evangelion.

!Background!

15 years after a worldwide cataclysm, beings called ‘angels’ begin to attack the earth. The organization that fights the ‘angels’, known as ‘Nerv’, uses bio-machines called ‘Evangelions’. The series focuses on the pilot of Eva unit-1, fourteen year old Shinji Ikari.

!Characters!

I’m going to talk about the characters first then the story. This is because the show decided to let the characters and interactions drive the show as opposed to the actual premise of the show itself. The show isn’t about the apocalypse, it’s about Shinji.  

Shinji is by far one of the most complex characters I’ve come across. He’s a very timid teen who wants to be useful but has a laundry list of mental health issues. His mother died at a young age and his father abandoned him. Not just in a physical way where Shinji had to live with his grade school teacher but his father flat out says ‘I never loved you’.

He’s constantly avoiding other interaction and when he does interact with others, he’s nervous and doesn’t add much. Shinji is basically the living embodiment of social anxiety and depression. He wants to be this person that people love and want to associate themselves with and is willing to do whatever to have that social acceptance, but he’s scared. This makes sense seeing as Shinji is a teenager with major mental health issues being asked/forced to protect the world from monsters that could backhand ‘Godzilla’. It’s like if you asked ‘Charlie Brown’ to become ‘Mad Max’ during the events of ‘Pacific Rim’.  

He does slowly but surely open up throughout the show, mainly to his current guardian Misato and the other pilots. There were points where Shinji’s character became annoying and I didn’t want to hear him whine and complain. The worst scenes are when he is told to pilot the Eva and he refuses for a short period of time. But my issue isn’t with Shinji. It was how he was presented during those scenes. At no point is he glorified in the show. The way it’s presented, the show tries to get you to understand why Shinji feels the way the does and the framing is what’s wrong. I’ll get to that later.  

I’ve spent so much time on Shinji because the other characters can be wrapped up much easier.

Asuka is the teenager who pilots the second Eva unit. She’s the one character that everyone who has watched Evangelion hates (or at least the majority). She is extremely vain, egotistical, arrogant, ignorant, and shallow. She constantly picks on Shinji for being so withdrawn and hates the third pilot, Rei, for existing. They go further into it later in the series and I don’t do spoilers, but when you get down to the nitty and gritty, Asuka hates Rei for existing.

Speaking of, Rei is the emotionless doll character that is popular in anime (Yuki-Haruhi Suzumiya; Kanade-Angel Beats; Tama-Bamboo Blade) who pilots Eva unit-0. My opinion on her is the same for most of the other ‘emotionless doll’ characters in anime. I don’t care. She’s not giving me an emotion to criticize or like. Therefore, I can’t like or dislike the character.

My favorite character is Misato. She’s the chief operations operator at Nerv and acts as Shinji’s guardian when he is brought to pilot the Eva. The woman is friendly by nature but is diligent, violent, and strict when she needs to be.

Like Shinji, she does have an inferiority complex and had a horrible relationship with her father when she was young. While she stays strong for other’s sake, Misato does silently suffer. To me, she’s Shinji’s character fully realized. Or at least an alternate adult version of him.

!Story!

The reason why I switched the characters with the story (in my reviews, I do story then characters) is because the show decided to do so as well. Evangelion starts out as a Mecha-anime about three teenagers fighting aliens that seek the destruction of humanity. Then it slowly turns into a mellow-drama about two teenagers and a middle-aged woman with purple hair. While doing so, the action and end of the world plot points become rushed and convoluted.

Both of which I did enjoy.

The action is intense and creative. Especially with the ideas they had for the ‘Angels’. Even though I wanted it to stick with the battle against the ‘Angels’, the psychological issues the characters go through are handled well and I do care to see what happens to them.

It takes a dip in quality after a while and it’s not fantastic overall, but it was still a good story. When it’s told correctly.

!The Show!

The animation was great for its time…most of the time.

The show likes to take shortcuts whenever it can. There’s a scene where Rei is reading something to Shinji, but the book is covering her lips so the animators don’t have to add lip-flap. The one trick they abuse is having the characters in a dark room so you can’t see their lips move and they don’t move at all. I don’t really mind these sort of things it wasn’t frequent.

The worst is in episode 17 and 22. In episode 17, Rei & Asuka are in an elevator together and they don’t speak or move for about a minute. In episode 22, it’s worse because Shinji is in his Eva holding another character in his (Eva’s) hand with dramatic music playing. There is no animation or dialogue for a full minute straight. The reason why this is worse is because they were in the middle of a very serious moment at the end of a fight scene.

Why did they do it? Why does the sun not shine? That’s why.

This was what I meant by Shinji wasn’t annoying. The framing for the scenes was. The dialogue during the scenes was meant to reflect how the characters feel. But when you put it at the wrong angle and dark lighting over Shinji, it comes across as if I’m meant to feel sorry for him instead of understand. Or like the scene where he’s on a train and listening to music and he doesn’t move at all and we can’t hear the soundtrack he’s listening to. I’m not invested, I’m bored.

!Summary!

I can defiantly see why people despise this little gem with all of its dark interactions and cracks in the plot. At the same time, I can see why people adore this little train wreck with its flawed characters and creative fights. I’m a fan of the show, and I enjoyed what I got and I do recommend watching it.

Grade:  C+

Final Word: It’s overrated yet enjoyable.

What’s Your Opinion?