Deconstructing the Masterpiece that is Neon Genesis Evangelion Part Three(Conclusion)

Welcome to part three of my deconstructing piece on Evanglion. I ended part two which you can read here https://chaoticdemon9809.wordpress.com/2014/06/06/deconstructing-the-masterpiece-that-is-evangelion-part-two-2/discussing how viewers were going to be given a second chance at having that satisfying conclusion.

Enter “The End of Evangelion”; a movie which give us an  alternate ending to episode 25 and 26 of the television series. Alternate ending is probably not the best word to use here as the word implies that it is not canon, but I would not know what other word to use due to the ambiguous nature of the film. The film can be seen as the true ending to the series serving as the controversial series conclusion’s replacement or it can be seen as complementing it depending on how you analyze it. As if there was not enough of that going around in this series. Regardless of whether you think the End of Evangelion is the definitive ending or not, it is a masterpiece of the highest order achieving where few pieces of visual media have ever done and taking the series to an even higher echelon of greatness.

These are quite the bold statements but I completely stand by them. The End of Evangelion showed exactly what the series was capable of being. The film pushed the envelope further by bumping up the series to an R rating which allowed it to explore the series more mature and dark themes without the restrictions that a lighter rating would have imposed. One of the more impacting scenes occurs in the very beginning of the film where Shinji is trying to find comfort in a comatose Asuka because everyone else has either abandoned him or he is afraid to confront them. Asuka’s breast becomes expose as Shinji tries to wake her and he masturbates to the site of this to which he replies that he is fucked up. A scene like this could not be possible with the television series and yet it feels very much like Evangelion.

Some of the questions that we were dying to have answered from the series is finally addressed and there is finally a plot that is actually concluded. With the defeat of the final angel, Seele reveals their true intention by planning to start the end of the world through the hijacking of the evangelions. Shinji’s eva specifically holds the key to human instrumentality; a project where all souls would merge together to transcend current human existence. Seele and Shinji’s father successfully initiates the project and Shinji is left with the choice to decide the fate of all human beings. In the damaged state that he is in, we see Shinji choosing death for everyone. It is at this point where the End of Evangelion truly shines. The film’s beginning acts addresses the plot that was missing from the series while the remaining final acts return to what Evangelion was always about, the psychoanalysis of characters.

In one of the most disturbing and chilling scenes in the entire series, Anno takes us deeper into Shinji’s mind trips. The setting mirrors a previous scene where Shinji an Asuka have their first kiss, but this time he more or less confesses his feelings for Asuka telling her that he needs her and wants to stay with her. Instead of returning his feelings however, she rejects him, accusing him of only wanting her because he needs comfort and there is no one else to give it to him. He loses his mind further and begins to strangle her played to a montage of beautiful but somber imagery. It is here that he arrives to the conclusion that nobody wants or needs him, so everyone should just die and all souls begin to merge as one.

Luckily, not all hope is lost and it is perhaps only in this dark hour that one of the show’s prevailing themes could be communicated effectively. When the world merges into one, Shinji realizes that all he was doing was running away. He was afraid of making that connection with others and accept the pain that inevitably comes with making connections. But knowing this, he accepts that pain and the knowledge that he will be hurt because he also knew that his happiness was real as well. With this, he rejects instrumentality and chooses to return back to the world where people are separate and where it takes effort to understand one another. It is only Shinji who appears to be back in this world, but his mother reassures him that anyone has the possibility to return so as long as they have the will to make it happen.

The very final scene deserves some discussion as it is probably one of the most talked about and controversial endings of all time. We see Shinji lying by himself surrounded by a sea of LCL. He turns over and sees Asuka lying there besides him and begins to strangle her mirroring what happen earlier to which Asuka simply caresses him and Shinji breaks down and stops.

The brutality of it all does distract from the fact that it is perhaps one of the most tender moments between the two. But it would not be Evangelion if things were that obvious. Asuka’s caressing of Shinji is significant in that they are finally able to express their feelings to one another in a way that both of them understood. Lets try to make sense of what I mean. Shinji rejected the world offered by human instrumentality; a world where everyone’s hearts were as one and with no suffering. He desired a world where there was pain and where people could hurt him. He strangles Asuka to confirm that it was that world indeed. Shinji hoped to feel the presence of another person and hope that she in turn would hurt him like she always did. Instead she gently caresses him affirming that she loves him. Asuka was the girl whom he had wanted to see. She was the one who had hurt him and whom likewise have been hurt. But even so, he accepts this pain because it also brings happiness. This was what Evangelion had always been about. The difficulty of communicating our hearts with others and the pain that such a contact could bring. Underneath all the symbolism, psychoanalysis, and dark and gritty content, this was what Anno was trying to communicate.

Clearly Evangelion has a lot to say and few anime or all of visual entertainment have dared to be so ambitious and for that alone, it deserves to be commended. Evangelion does have its critics and there are a good number of them. Some of these critiques point to the characters that do not develop over the course of the series and the negative traits that Shinji possesses. To them, Evangelion is one of the most overrated anime of all time. I think these critics miss the point however. I disagree in that the characters do not have any development. In fact, they are developed so well that there is so much to analyze as I have done here. No doubt they cite that the characters are all still messed up by the final act and they have not improved themselves. But they fail to pay attention to the journey in between. Each of the characters do develop. Shinji becomes less of an introvert and opens up to his classmates; a change from the boy who was so unsure of himself from the start. Rei also slowly becomes less introvert and starts questioning her loyalty to Gendo. These are flawed characters whom we can see some aspect of ourselves in. We go through up and downs in our lives never staying forever happy or sad. We live through good times and bad times. Anno was trying to portray the characters in that light. They experience ups and downs and the final act was merely a time where they were all messed up from something.

As I said before, Shinji is not the typical protagonist in that we do not aspire to be him. He is flawed and human and perhaps that is why people hate him so much. One of the big critique is that Shinji is too much of a whiny wimp and not to mention he brings the world to an end. But Shinji is just a fourteen year old boy who has been forced into an extraordinary situation. How many of us could truly say went through the things he have and not come away harmed in some way. When all is said and done, Evangelion will forever be one of the more unique shows out there. How many who have seen it can actually walk away and say that it was a show like so many other. In conclusion, Evangelion is an absolute masterpiece that will forever go down in history as one of the finest pieces of visual entertainment.that you owe it to yourself to watch.

And that’s it for my first deconstructing series. I hope you enjoy the long read. I admit I got carried away and did not expect to write so much. This won’t be the last piece I do a deconstruction on so stay tuned.

Deconstructing the Masterpiece that is Evangelion Part Two

And i’m back with part 2 of “Deconstructing the Masterpiece that is Neon Genesis Evangelion”. The first part which you can find here
https://chaoticdemon9809.wordpress.com/2014/05/20/deconstructing-the-masterpiece-that-is-evangelion-part-one/

I went over  basically the logistics and background information of the show, this post will discuss what exactly made this show great.

On the surface, the plot of Neon Genesis can be enjoyed as a sci-fi mecha end of the world action series. But that wouldn’t set itself apart from the overcrowded mecha genre of the 90s. There is more than meets the eye here. Evangelion has never really been about the mechas that the characters pilot, but about the human characters that pilot them. The giant robots are essentially a plot device used to tell a much deeper story. It is a coming of age parable and examining some of our human flaws that we know all too well. What made these characters so enduring to this day is that they were all interesting but flawed. In them, we see ourselves and our own voice.

Evangelion is a story of many things, one is a story about loneliness and how people deal withand confront it. Shinji suffers the hedgehog’s dilemma in that he longs for connection with others but is afraid of getting hurt in the process. His feelings of uselessness leads him to believe that nobody loves him and so he is left feeling alone. Rei too is troubled with this affliction. Underneath her cold and introvert exterior lies a person that too, is longing for something. She ponders the meaning of her existence. Misato masks her loneliness through drinking and putting up a cheery and carefree persona while Asuka masks it through a display of confidence and superiority.

Perhaps one of the more interesting illustration of this loneliness comes from Shinji’s interaction with Asuka. Shinji is attracted to Asuka, he sees in her everything that he wishes he himself could be. Unbeknownst to him that is it a mask that she holds up to hide vulnerability.The feeling is mutual, as she too is attracted to him. But Shinji takes Asuka’s signals the wrong way. He sees her teasing as evidence that nobody wants him and so does not respond the way that Asuka hopes for to which Asuka views as rejection from Shinji. Combine this with her pride and issues of inadequacy, she completely breaks down near the final act but tells Shinji that she hates him before she does. The fallout between these two is probably what is most responsible for the outcome of the conclusion.

Shinj Ikari is not your typical hero in that he is not what we aspire to be. Unlike other pieces of fiction, Shinji does not necessarily develop into a better person. Rather, we experience him going through an emotional roller coaster of the good times and bad times. At the start of the series, we see him making greats strides towards improvement. He is making friends at his new school and he is receiving approval from those around him including his father. This is all made possible because he is an Eva pilot. The series poses the question “why do you pilot the Eva”. For Shinji, it is because his very existence is tied to it. Shinji depends on the Evangelion because it gives him his identity. Without the Eva, he believes that he is nothing. People need him because he can pilot it to destroy the Angels and so without it he is left without a purpose. His father finally gives him words of praise and this was only made possible through the Eva. In the final acts of the series, Shinji falls into a state worse than when the series is started through a series of many unfortunate events. He falls into depression and is again left to ponder his very existence. It couldn’t have come at a worse time as the fate of the world rests within his hands and in his condition, he chooses death for the planet.

The series created a large amount of controversy with the final two episodes. In what was supposed to conclude the series, episode 25 and 26 seem to all but abandon that idea completely. Many fans, my friends, and myself included were literally screaming WTF when the credits start rolling. Never mind the fact that it left off nowhere where episode 24 ended, but just so many things were unresolved. Just what exactly is the mysterious human instrumentality project that Shinji’s father and the mysterious Seele organization were trying to orchestrate? What were the fate of our characters after the death of the final angel? Just who or whatis Rei? We don’t get much answers to these questions and it felt like the creators just decided to up and quit the story before it was finished. What was left was an inception like mind trip through the perspective of the show’s various cast. The backlash was intense, but Anno insists that the ending was fine the way it is and no other ending was ever needed.

In some ways I could agree with that point. The story of Evangelion has always been about the deconstruction of the human psyche with the giant mechas and science fiction elements as plot devices used to tell that story. Episode 25 and 26 saw us delving deeper into the psychology of our characters and understood more what their demons are. Each of the main characters get their piece in the conclusion, but the focus is mainly towards Shinji. Human instrumentality begins and Shinji is forced to confront the meaning of his existence. He is shown a possibility of a new world and realizes that reality is whatever you make of it. He is then greeted by all the characters congratulating him. Trust me, it will make somewhat more sense when  you actually watch it. I said previously that in some ways I could agree with the Anno in that this ending was all that was needed, but Anno should concede to the fact that the ending would leave viewers invested in the plot far too unsatisfied and wanting a more proper finale. It would be hard to justify abandoning a well developed and intriguing plot. Fortunately, viewers would get a second chance at having the proper conclusion to a masterpiece.

I will cut this post here. I didn’t expect to write so much, trust me I didn’t. Stay tuned for part 3 which I promise will come really really soon.

Deconstructing the Masterpiece that is Evangelion Part One

I hope to make this a reoccurring thing. Welcome to the first of my series of articles I will call deconstructing. It is where I pick apart various pieces of entertainment mediums and analyze and discuss everything from themes, characters, story, flaws, strengths, etc. This first one is probably not gonna be as polished but hopefully the next ones if there will be next ones will be much more improved as I get the hang of this.

Love it or hate it. Anybody who is familiar and into the anime medium has probably heard the title Neon Genesis Evangelion being thrown around somewhere. Despite the original television series airing nearly more than two decades ago, the recent film tetralogy has brought the franchise back into the modern fold and discussions continue to be made about the impact of this series on the anime medium. Regarded by some to be one of if not the greatest anime series of all time but by others as one of the most overrated ever, there can be no dispute of the the title’s more iconic status in anime even if it was well deserved or not.

I definitely come from the camp that believes the former. In fact, I think it is not just the finest animated series, but one of the finest in the history of visual entertainment. Neon Genesis Evangelion was so ambitious and tried to convey so much in its 26 episode run and a movie. On the surface, the anime appears to simply  be another sci-fi mecha action series. But Evangelion is so much more than that. The series is a look at the human condition with a bunch of Freudian psychology analysis. So lets try and delve deeper and find out just what exactly is the masterpiece that is Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The Premise

To the unfamiliar, Neon Genesis Evangelion is an anime series directed and written by Hideaki Anno that first aired in 1995. For the rest of the article, I will mention the show’s titled simply as Neon Genesis or Evangelion to avoid redundancy and shorten the time it takes to constantly type it. It is the story of fourteen year old Shinji Ikari who is summoned by his estranged father to pilot the evangelion, giant biological weapons that are mankind’s last hope. The world is on the brink of destruction by gargantuan creatures called Angels and only Shinji along with the fiery Asuka Langley Sohryu, and quite and mysterious Rei Ayanami can pilot the evangelion to combat these creatures. Together with his fellow pilots, Shinji must defeat all the Angels to prevent the event known as the third impact which would mean literally the end of the world. The plot may sound like just another entry into the doomsday sci-fi genre, but trust me when I say there’s much more depth to it which I won’t spoil all of it here. But to allow for a deep discussion of a show that has been around for more than two decades, I will have to discuss the plot and characters that would contain some pretty big spoilers.

The Characters

top left: Misato, Asuka, Gendo

bottom: Shinji, Rei, Ritsuko

A huge part of what made Evangelion so interesting was its characters. They had a depth that you did not see much in the medium and broke many conventions even to this day. The cast is what this series has always revolved around and these iconic characters forever immortalized the series.

Our main protagonist is young fourteen year old Shinji Ikari. He is by no means the hero in the shows that we aspire to be. Plagued with daddy and abandonment issues, Shinji’s flawed disposition ultimately leads him to much suffering. At an early age, Shinji witnesses his mother’s death right before his eyes and his father abandons him. As a result of these events, Shinji feels that he is unworthy to be loved and wanted. He is the prime example of the hedgehog’s dilemma which says is an analogy describing the challenges of human interaction. Two hedgehogs cannot get too close to one another or risk having their spikes hurt each other, but by avoiding pain they face the feeling of loneliness. Shinji shows evident attraction to the the three main girls of the series but his lack of self worth causes him to believe the girls are all just screwing with him. He finds solace in the few kind words that his caretaker Misato and Gendo gives to him when he pilots the Eva with success. These words validates his existence and he feels a a small flicker that maybe he could be loved and needed. This sentiment becomes his raison d’etre which in turn means that his very identity and existence is tied to piloting the Eva.

Next we have Rei Ayanami who is the first evangelion pilot to be picked. Mystery completely surrounds this girl. She seems to show little to no emotion except when in the presence of Shinji’s father. But she is not without soul and her character is one of the most popular and iconic of the series. Her meeting with Shinji shakes her foundation and she begins to question her existence and her faith in Shinji’s father. There is definitely more to Rei than meets the eye and I can assure you that some of it will be explained at the end of it all but I won’t spoil it here. I urge everyone to watch the series and find out on their own.

Rounding out the Eva Pilots is the fiery red head Asuka. Like Shinji, she is fourteen years old but seem to possess qualities opposite of Shinji. She is fierce,outgoing, confident, and popular among her peers. Perfection is what she aims for including being the an Eva pilot. She is what Shinji wishes that he could be for himself. Underneath her seemingly confident exterior however, lies a more fragile girl with demons of her own to face.

Aside from the young pilots, there is captain Misato Katsuragi. She is the pilots’ commanding officer and chief of operations at Nerv. Eventually she becomes guardian and caretaker of both Asuka and Shinji and takes them in when they have nowhere else to go. Essentially, she acts as the mother figure to Shinji. Like the rest of the cast, she too mask a darker

This concludes part one of the deconstruction of Evangelion. Check out part two coming real soon as I talk less about the logistics and get into the real meaty stuff that makes this show tick.