So, did Neon Genesis Evangelion confuse anyone else?

[CGord]

I know it's been around awhile, but I've only recently finished watching it. It took such a drastic turn in the last two episodes (was it three?). I had a lot of ideas about what was going on, but nothing was explained enough for me to understand.

I watched a two-part release, End of Evangelion, I think. It finished up the series much moreso than the series itself did, but I still can't say I understood it all.

I'm not a big mecha fan, but I really enjoyed this series, right up until the mess of an ending!
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[CGY]

Not really. It's just like another usual type of romance/action anime, no big surprises in it.

[ikarisama]

it was very religious based and had a lot of encrypted messages

[quosimos]

thats what i used to think, but now i reckon that its just an incoherent assortment of references and symbolism. Really liked some of the characters though.

[kornik]

I watched evangelion and this anime is totaly stupid for my. I thing nothing was explained enough for me to understand it.

[stokerino]

o_o ...I understood Evangelion the first time I saw it.

Not the End of Evangelion movie though - no, that would just be insane. ¬_¬ Took multiple viewings to get my head round that one.
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[luca_blight]

He, I watch "The End of Evangelion" first and the series later. And all makes perfect sense.
The movie and the last episodes are the same, but different point of view. Like the real view, and the baka Shinji view.

I like Eva, has nice characters (Reeei!), nice Mechas (Eva berserk mode!!)and the plot is ok too. And the religious terminology is for making it look exotic.
And there are a few of Freudian pshychologyc issues too...

[Darksword]

Look man, if you're searching for an explanation then sarch for The Red Cross Book. Alright? It's LONG but they explain EVERYTHING there.
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[FaithZ]

ahhh its way too long argh ......

[flashmagi]

the whole story is just based in religion stuff and problems with messing with god or trying to play god. sure it was confusing and i wouldnt dare assume that i understood it, but i think the characters were pretty well developed (cept shinji, he's just a stupid depressed pussy) and deservingly ranks among the best mecha/romance animes.

theres also some scientific theories mixed in as well, but i forget all the details since its been a while. re watch it. pay more attention to the big long dialogues rather than skip over to the action scenes, but definitely pay more attention to misato's boobs =P

[Fyresoul]

iunno Eva was interesting, and somwhat hard to understand but Lain is a much more difficult series to understand and confused me more than Eva... serioulsy can anyone tell me what that anime was about?

[xelinor]

if you want to understand eva to the fullest, then really get in there and study Kabala, Judaism, and Christianity.

Or, if you want the short versions, go buy the eva platinum edition, ont he last disc, as well as...disc 5 i think? there is a pretty good explanation of the mythology within eva.

The short, short version is this:

Eva is shinji's way of growing up. Every episode from one to twentyfour is a flashback, and starting at twentyfive is jsut shinji's reccolection, from his point of view. THis means that everything isint as it seems, only as shinji has rememberred it, thus why you never ACTUALLY see the first fight, just what he is told afterward. The series is also shinji's sexual development, na dhim gettign used to being around the opposite sex. Sad as it is to say, asuka represents femininity, rei is artificial and thus...well, you get the picture.

Theres a helluva lot of stuff from the kabala and old testiment, and a good bit of the symboloism comes from the new testiment, such as how the angel attacks are mostly in crosses, the lance on longinus, the tree of life in the opening and painted on gendo's office floor and ceiling, etc (although that is more of an old-testiment symbol). Theres even religious symbolism in the fights, like in the first one his right (i think) arm gets broken, and in kabala the right side is your personal barrier, so if you think about it, it's sorta like his barrier was broken, and that left him with no other choice but to go berserk or to die, and the fact his inner sheild was down definately contributed to the ability for him to release the berserk mode.

Aditionally, theres alot of less-deep type things. He got the s-2 engine, thus removeing the need for the umbilical cord, sort of a moving out of the womb type thing.

Freaudian theory also takes effect, he is initially attracted to rei, and he does at one point remind him of his mother, thus the freud theory "everyone want sto sleep with their mother" and that goes along perfectly with the "everyone wants to kill their father" which, frankly, needs no explanation :p But then again, Gendo was an ass.

Ultimately, watching the series again all the way through REALLY hepls to understand it alot. I actually dont like end of eva, and I think the original ending is really more proper and more open ended. It confuses people, yea, and in the world of film that is a HUGE no-no, but if you watch the series again, paying attention to the dialogue and such, theres a ton of hidden meaning in almost everything that is said, especially Misato who practically doesent say what she really means even once the entire series.

Also, make good use of the pause button, read EVERYTHING that flashes by the screen. It's important. THe directors cut also gives a bit more meaning tot he series. The scenes that were cut out werent really important but they do give some nice perspective to the characters. And no, ASUKA DOES NOT BATHE IN BLOOD, it's symbolism -_-

As for end of Eva, I dont like it because, frankly, it's cliche. The "and everybody dies, the end" thing was funny when douglas adams did it in 1989, and maybe once or twice more. Eva isint funny, and it really isint that solid of an ending. Yea, it's was pretty, but compared to all the symbolism in the rest of the series, the ending was almost devoid of anyhting. It had a few things, but it didnt really have much behind it in terms of meaning.

[Wavelink64]

a bit but only cause I didnt get stuff due to me being an atheist.(I get it now)

[CGord]

I've now seen the other OVA (?), Death & Rebirth. It helps to tidy up a lot of loose ends.

The ending of the series was just a freakin' train wreck. The D&R & E of E extras helped to bring some finality to the series for me, which I was glad for. I loved the series, I just didn't like the ending. Like Hellsing.

xelinor, that's interesting about the first 24 eps being Shinji's flashback. When I watch it again, I'm going to come at it from that point of view & see what I think.
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[quosimos]

i can see that theres a whole lotta symbolism and biblical allusion but explain their significance? how do these techniques work together to communicate a coherent message?