Neon Genesis Evangelion: Difference between revisions

|'''Comic Buyer's Guide'''}}

 

 

In the year 2000, a global cataclysm known as Second Impact changed the entire world. The event annihilated Antarctica (which caused global flooding), shifted the planet's axis (which caused global climate change), led to half Earth's human population dying, and resulted in geopolitical unrest. Fifteen years later, fourteen-year-old Shinji Ikari finds himself summoned to the fortress city of Tokyo-3 by his estranged father Gendo for a single purpose: to pilot for a [[Humongous Mecha]] called an Evangelion and battle physics-defying beings known as Angels, which threaten to destroy what remains of humanity (though the show does not explain exactly how they plan to do so, and for what reason, until much later). This relatively standard [[Humongous Mecha]] premise gradually transforms into a dramatic character study rife with psychological analysis, religious references, genre [[Deconstruction]], social commentary and exploration of themes such as societal alienation, depression and the repressive pain of human subjectivity. Prior to ''Evangelion'', people considered this approach unprecedented and revolutionary—and after ''Evangelion'''s runaway success, [[Follow the Leader|numerous other anime producers created shows with a similar approach]] (with varying degrees of success).

* [[Marshmallow Hell]]: Misato accidentally does this to Shinji when they, along with Asuka, Toji, Kensuke and Kaji, are stuck in a too-small elevator.

* [[May–December Romance]]: At the very least, toyed with.

* [[Million-to-One Chance]]: Ritsuko likes to predict that there's a 0.000000001% chance of Misato's plan succeeding, with lower probabilities as the series progress. There's also a subversion since {{spoiler|the chances were actually 100% each time, as the happenings ride on a pretty accurate prophecy-based schedule}}.

* [[Mind Screwdriver]]: Yes, this is what ''The End of Evangelion'' was meant to be, YMMV on how well it succeeds.

* [[Wall Slump]]: {{spoiler|Misato}}'s death in ''The End of Evangelion'', where she leans against the wall to hide her mortal injuries after being shot from Shinji, then collapses against it when he leaves.

* [[The Watson]]: Sometimes Maya, sometimes Misato, sometimes Shinji. Actually, so few characters know what's ''really'' going on that they ''all'' have their Watson moments.

* [[We Have Reserves]]: {{spoiler|The Reiquarium}}. Also, {{spoiler|all of Shinji's classmates are potential EVA pilots}}.

* [["Well Done, Son" Guy]]: Shinji is a textbook case. Asuka is arguably a closet "well done daughter girl".

* [[Covers Always Lie]]: A mild example at the back cover of ''The End Of Evangelion'''s DVD: Toji and Kaworu are shown wearing plug suits, even though Toji does not appear at all, and Kaworu only at the very end of the series.

* [[Cut Short]]: Not the series itself: controversial as it is, the TV ending does wrap things up pretty neatly, if only from a thematic standpoint. Rather, in the original cut of ''Death & Rebirth'', the "Rebirth" episode just... ends. Right in the middle. This effectively pissed off a number of Japanese fans who saw the movie in theaters (and Western fans who bought the VHS/DVD) expecting the final conclusion to the series, only to find out that they had to wait for ''The End of Evangelion''.

* [[Depending on the Artist]]: The show's artwork and animation quality varied a good bit from episode to episode. For example, Episode 19 has noticeably thicker lineart in close-ups, Episode 16's coloring is somewhat lighter and saturated, and Episode 9 brought us a [[Dude Looks Like a Lady|very bishie Shinji]]. Episode 11, having been animated with help from Ghibli, has received some flak for the significant difference in art style. Also, due to the budget shrinkage that led to, well, [[Gainax Ending|you know]], much of episodes 21-24 needed to be redrawn for DVD, leading to further variation in the styles. Also, see [[Off-Model]] below.

** For some reason, whether Misato has lipstick on or not rotates, sometimes several times in the same scene.

** The entire work as a whole though averts this trope most particularly. A lot of the science end of things are skewed and fantastic, but still fundamentally based fairly religiously in reality. This has the added effect of making a lot of the neurological disturbances the pilots go through all the more horrifying for anyone with a running knowledge of human physiology.

*** Furthermore, for as much scrutiny as the use of religious symbols in the show has come under, there's no denying that Anno did his homework, as the series manages to work in numerous allusions not only to mainstream Judaism and Christianity, but Kabbalah, Gnosticism and even more obscure Jewish and Christian apocrypha that many Jews and Christians themselves would not likely be familiar with (e.g. the Chamber of Gaf). It is the application, not the authenticity, of the symbolism that generates controversy.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: The less said about the points related to [[Freud Was Right]], the better.

* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]:

** Shinji is essentially a [[Gender Flip]] of [[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water|Nadia]] (see [http://wiki.evageeks.org/Image:Sadamoto_nadia-shinji.jpg here] for notes from [[Word of God|Sadamoto himself]]). He was described by Sadamoto as looking like "a boyish young girl" (more evidence [http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd325/Synapsidia/EVA/048272545b0140dfe444054e96364e821.jpg here]), and was made as such to distinguish him from the mecha heroes at that time. Shinji's feminine facial features are brought up by Misato in the first episode, and during the eighth and ninth episodes, he's made to look like a girl from nothing more than [http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd325/Synapsidia/EVA/FemmeShin1.jpg a wardrobe change].

** One of the official games that had its scripts designed from interviews with Anno also had Fuyutsuki say that Shinji looked just like Yui and then [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r26VFYHj1dY&feature=related crossdress Shinji] for the role all while saying how beautiful "she" looks; Fuyutsuki's actions soon become overtly sexual.

* [[Easter Egg]]:

** [[Spike Spencer]] (Shinji's English dub actor)'s famous rant about the original ending from Shinji's POV, which includes gems such as "W-what's an EVA? Is that sort of a Freudian thing, or... um... am I real?" and "I mustn't run away, I mustn't run -- okay, I got that, good, okay, now if I ''were'' to run away, let's analyze that, where the ''fuck'' would I go!?". [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGMuaXIlckU Take a listen]. It's even better if you think about how much Spencer's Shinji voice sounds like Larry the Cucumber from ''[[Veggie Tales]]''.

* [[Fan Disservice]]: Many instances, with Shinji {{spoiler|masturbating over a comatose Asuka}} and the more bizarre aspects of {{spoiler|the Rei/Lilith hybrid}} in ''The End of Evangelion'' being two of the most extreme, as well as the {{spoiler|"naked Yui tempting Shinji" sequence}} in the manga.

* [[Fandom Gank]]: Those fans who gave Anno and Gainax in general the benefit of the doubt will consider the ending of the series an example of this trope instead of a [[Gainax Ending]].

* [[Fan Service]]: Every character below the age of 31. The anime actually lampshaded this in each of the "next episode" previews, as Misato always promised "more fanservice!". Ironically, episodes that Misato promised would have fanservice, always seemed to have ''less'' than episodes where no such promise was made in the previews.

* [[Filk Song]]: Everything by Fight Star. Also "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0j5XWnb8aE A Thousand Angels]" and "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I9XkHgveyg With Me Now]" by Rachel Macwhirter.

* [[Gratuitous Foreign Language]]: The title itself is gratuitous Greek which would translate into English as "New Beginning Gospel" or "Gospel of the New Genesis" which may be more appropriate {{spoiler|considering the way Shinji and Asuka are left at the end of ''The End of Evangelion''}}...

* [[Gratuitous German]]: ''Gehirn'' = brain, ''Nerv'' = nerve, ''Seele'' = soul. Also, Asuka's dub dialogue features the occasional German word or phrase, and she has an entire conversation in German on the phone in one episode.

* [[If You Can Read This...]]: The show's scripts are periodically used as dummy texts.

** On the other hand, in one episode, freeze-framing the show during a particular scene will reveal a shockingly detailed account (written in [[Surprisingly Good English]], no less) of the official cover story for Third Impact.

* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]: The series uses various pieces of classical music for half or more of its soundtrack. The frequency of classical music appearing goes up as things [[It Got Worse|get worse]]. Also when they started to run out of money.

* [[Real Song Theme Tune]]: "Fly Me to the Moon", the song used for the end credits. This contrasts "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" — the prime example of an [[Anime Theme Song]] — composed specifically for the show.

* [[Rewatch Bonus]]: This series has a very dense plot. If you only watched it once, you probably missed something. Watch it again, and you'll notice a lot of foreshadowing.

* [[Rousseau Was Right]]: Hidden so carefully under a thick veil of cynicism that you'd be forgiven for missing it entirely. But at the end of the day, all of the characters — {{spoiler|even Gendo and SEELE}} — want nothing more than to be loved and accepted, and their actions, however twisted, all stem from their fear and misunderstanding of themselves and others. See the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]] entry below for more details.

** The American pilots who fly Unit 03 to Japan and NERV employees heard during its activation test speak perfect, unaccented English accompanied by Japanese subtitles. This is because Gainax actually had an American in-house translator Michael House working for them at the time of the show's production, and used him to voice the roles, [http://www.evamonkey.com/platinum-booklets/episode-commentaries-14-20.php along with two of his friends].

** Several vocal pieces in ''The End of Evangelion'' soundtrack, namely "Thanatos ~ If I Can't Be Yours", "Escape to the Beginning", "Komm, Susser Tod" and the unused "Everything You've Ever Dreamed" are performed in English, by British and American singers, with natural-sounding lyrics. ''Rebuild of Evangelion'' does this for numerous tracks, as well.

* [[Suspiciously Apropos Music]]: Not just music. Sometimes the characters will be watching a movie or TV show, or listening to the radio, or, hell, really any indirect dialogue, and what is being said always relates to [[Dysfunction Junction|their mindsets]], their situations, [[A World Half Full|their world at large]], or [[Contemplate Our Navels|philosophic inquiries]] that appear later in the series. For example, in Episode 4 "Hedgehog's Dilemma", after Shinj slips out of his [[Ten-Minute Retirement]], he and Misato stare at each other at the train station right after his train leaves. The woman at the intercom then says:

{{quote|'''Woman''': If you are accompanied by small children, please keep them close.}}

[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation]]

[[Category:Studio Jungle Gym]]

[[Category:Anime of the 1990s]]

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Memetic Works]]

[[Category:Netflix]]