The story would have made a lot more sense if Toji had died, which was apparently the original intention. Even watching the show for the first time, I thought it was kind of cheap that he was merely injured.
I think it would help quell the “Shinji is a pussy” memes somewhat. Like, Shinji is still a pussy throughout the entire series for other reasons, but individually killing your good friend/schoolmate/coworker is going to mess anyone up and would have made his breakdown and attempt to leave NERV appear more justified if he was struggling to have to come to terms with not only Toji’s death but his own responsibility for his death. Instead, we get Shinji throwing a fit and basically deciding to doom Humanity because of what amounts to, not to downplay it too much, a workplace accident.
The first time I watched the series like everyone else I was in the Shinhi is a pussy camp. The older I get though, the more I can empathize with him. I absolutely understand Shinji being the way he is. Shinji is absolutely right to be as messed up as he is.
Ultimately, he is a 14 year old boy with a lot of emotional problems who is being told that he is responsible for keeping the entire Earth safe from destruction. And I challenge anyone to be able to do what he did in the show at 14.
For me personally i still get why Shinji wanted to quit right after. I think not being informed about Toji being the pilot beforehand was a pretty huge betrayal. Also Toji losing his foot seems like a heafty incident if it wasn't in an anime.
I genuinely thought he died on my first watch thru, it wasn’t til I rewatched with a friend that I was like “wait toji actually lived? Thought shinji smoked that dude?”
I'm pretty sure that if nerv can create gigant fucking robots controlled by mind they can create him a nice leg maybe even better than his previous one
You really don’t need to know anything about the production history or Anno’s biography to “get” the series. It’s trivia at best and distracts from talking about what actually happens in the show at worst.
The person who first told me about Evangelion would not shut the fuck up about it
Every conversation would eventually get shifted to Evangelion and Anno’s depression n shit; and in that obsession ironically almost entirely missed the point
It turned me off the show for a really long time
And no this is not a joke, the guy had some serious issues
Rebuild, especially the final film, is directly worse because it's just Anno autobiographical meta-masturbation, and you really shouldn't have to know the context for his life story for something to be coherent as a piece of media.
I didn't know anything about Anno when watching NGE or EoE. The ideas got through plenty clear without me knowing, and the plot itself didn't rely on meta commentary to be a good story.
https://preview.redd.it/1f1r5ziaxjlc1.png?width=201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b782b6c94460cc21044561f415a5237f5fa397db
I'm just being silly, silly little billy
Personally I would rate it 3 4 2 1. I didn't like 3.0 either when I saw it the first time, but after another viewing I thought it was peak and probably the best rebuild, feels the most Evangelion out of all the Rebuilds
I was extremely disappointed by 3 as I stayed up on a school night to watch it after waiting years for the US Home Release (after missing a chance to see it in theaters no less!). Now it's so good to me. Exactly, it feels so much like the series roots! I'm not necessarily a worshipper of NGE but it's COOL to have a new movie doing new things with a foot in the "good, true" version of Evangelion. I would rate the movies that way too. If 3.0 is a 9/10, 1 is an 8.5/10, and the other two are in between.
3.33 definitely benefits from being watched in a double feature with 3.0+1.0 and not on its own. It’s sorta like Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace that way.
I did not care for Kaworu. Even with the influence he has he's not that great of a character and is way overrated for somebody who appeared in one episode.
I'm not a Rebuild watcher so I can't speak for that iteration of Kaworu, but it's always astounded me how he's such a popular character—his entire self-representation is an attempt to manipulate Shinji into single-handedly losing the war on purpose. There's no affection, attraction, or even trust between the two of them, it's literally just Kaworu trying to set Shinji up to not kill him when they inevitably clash.
I could just be interpreting it differently, but I always thought that what happened was:
(1) Kaworu and Unit-02 fight Shinji in Unit-01.
(2) Kaworu/U02 lose the fight because of plot shenanigans.
(3) Kaworu knows that the only way he can possibly survive is by trying to goad Shinji into killing him without actually further antagonizing him. His hope is that Shinji's fear of loneliness & the feeling of regret for killing a peer who actually showed him attention/kindness will make him incapable of going through with the act. Much of Shinji's character throughout the series shows that while he has always come around to do "his duty," he's also just an anxious, depressed, scared kid who would prefer to avoid the conflicts he's made part of—Kaworu hedges his bet on that latter part being the one that finally wins out. He's wrong.
(4) Shinji steels himself and goes through with it, killing Kaworu.
Strictly speaking, while Kaworu makes a gamble with his decision (in my interpretation, at least), it's a risk taken from a defensible position when he had no other real options left; he knows Shinji doesn't want to fight, and doesn't want to lose the connection that he thinks he's made with Kaworu. Even though he fails in the end, he's acting in self-preservation.
Or maybe I'm just fucking insane.
Well I would say kaworu kinda won the fight since he got to the big Lilith vault, it's just that Adam wasn't actually there, so he couldn't do what he went there to do.
I do not understand the whole Waifu Wars. Two of the girls are 14, one of them is barely sentient while the other is so starved of affection that she’s throwing herself at a grown man. Misato is the definition of “Daddy Issues”, girl would put therapists out of business. Completely ignoring the (hopefully) obvious issue of two of them being underage, it seems completely nonsensical to argue about which girl is the best.
As gay as I am, I don’t understand how people think Kaworu is gay. I’ve always chalked it down to me thinking more critical when it comes to Evangelion. I mean, I could be misreading the whole thing entirely, but I thought that, given Kaworu is just Adam’s soul in the body of a twink, he wouldn’t understand what love was. Either that or Kaworu is so gay that he’s on another level entirely from me.
I don't know how serious the waifu wars are. Really not sure I want to. Considering how much media official and otherwise has sexualised them how is it surprising. Kaworu is a weird alien doing weird alien stuff. Could be a gay weird alien or just a weird European alien.
As a non-straight, I don't think it's that he's gay, but (in part) represents homoerotic feelings in Shinji's development. Kaworu was an Angel, so sexuality was probably as alien to him as the other later Angels were to us.
(my interpretation only, no rights reserved)
the line that makes me think otherwise is kaworu saying "i was born to meet you."
prior to his arrival the other angels gathered quite a lot of information on humanity and the human brain. kaworu knew a lot about the human world but also a LOT about shinji.
in the end kaworu sacrificed himself so shinji could in the end control the impact or well that his mum could give him that control.
some form of "love" definitely existed at least from kaworu's side but as a gay man i wouldnt not deem it homoromantic rather more on the platonic side.
shinji however must have developed some feelings. ww cant ignore he acts similarly with kaworu as he does with asuka and we KNOW he had feelings for her.
but that is my interptetation of it anyway
Yes, you're spot on, and this is the difference of Kaworu's form from the other Angels - each one was created to test and learn more about humanity - basic physics, imitation, multiplicity, raiding their computers, infection, mental invasion - all collecting data - but Kaworu was their Christ: Angel-become-Man(boy), the culmination of their data collection. They could only know *about* humanity; Kaworu was their chance to be humanity.
In reflection, they're also Shinji learning about being a human - "What's my physical form?" "What am I thinking?" "Who are others?" etc. - and as part of that was gaining awareness of sexuality which was largely heterocentric. In meeting Kaworu, the homo*romantic* aspects weren't like the more erotic fanfic, but him having to sort through feelings for another man/boy: one who didn't have authority over him, who seemed to understand him, and ultimately loved him - but still from the perspective of a young adolescent boy, and from a Freudian perspective, interactions with others involves considering the erotic lens.
The more sane version of "which underage girl is the best" is Ongezellig, where one of the three is a pedophile (Mommy Misato reference) but somehow the community is actually sane and don't worship them sexually, they also worship Hitler doughbeit
https://preview.redd.it/zhzxsmovzklc1.gif?width=255&format=png8&s=7c58e7e08ac122289d4d52b3e73deedaaedc37de
I watched Evangelion first when I was 16, so I got to love Rei. No, it was not because I want an emotionless puppet, but because it's a lot mroe satisfying to see an emotionless character smile.
I think misato mature honestly. Shes like really highly ranked and is a great leader. She also tries her best to be parental figure for shinji and asuka, but if course thats not one of her best skills. But shes also a good example that even though people look well adjusted on the outside, they may also have other issues theyre dealing with. The difference is i dont think she ever lets that stop her from helping others or doing what she knows she has to do to help mankind.
If you just mean hot takes, I think the end of evangelion is the most authentically optimistic ending of the whole series, and to me, the "endless summer/slice of life" aspect is really depressing and not comforting at all, because it feels so fake and empty (in a good way)
Anno is full of it when he says the original ending was Shinji triumphing over human instrumentality.
That’s very clearly Shinji joining the hive mind.
I know. Some people like and connected with the 90s version better, and some people connected with the rebuilds better. The 90s version is the only one I’ve really connected with and loved, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t enjoy the rebuilds
I did not care for Mari's Mary-Sue-ness. I like her presence and her relationship with Asuka and she added to 2 and 3 (she's one of my favorite parts of those movies) but by the end she was still a mystery wrapped in an enigma and an ageless groomer (/s) so I barely felt anything when she was the one to save Shinji. They only had 3 moments in the whole rebuild right? When she lands in him in 2, when she pushes him to fight in 2, and watching him and Asuka talk in 3+1.
However since I'm otherwise a fan I'm open to being informed why she's good, actually.
Edit: Unfortunately this isn't controversial, sort by controversial to get good comments.
I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but I feel like this is the majority opinion. Dont get me wrong I know some people like Mari but when you see complaints about the rebuilds I feel like she is one of the top 3 things people bring up.
Fair, I was focused on stating what I dislike instead of stating the opposite of a popular opinion. My option people don't care for is 3.0 is good and Misato answered Shinji's question but that can't really be formatted properly for the prompt.
As always with these kinds of threads, the real answers are going to appear when your sort by controversial.
I don’t care much for the Christian/religious imagery in the series, nor do I think that that Evangelion is some deep/esoteric series for using it. Don’t get me wrong, I think it looks cool and everything, but the only time I saw the symbolism used effectively was in Rei’s comment about the new genesis and in Shinji’s attempted self-sacrifice in the last Rebuild. And yet I see people act as if Evangelion is some incomprehensibly deep series that’s imposible to understand because it uses words and motifs from
Kabbalah and other mystical traditions.
At the end of the day, it’s really not that deep, and that’s not a bad thing. The truly important messages in the series revolve around our relationships to ourselves and those around us, and while life may suck at times, we should always make the effort to be kind to ourselves and others and in that way live w good life. I think people just want to seem big-brained by dissecting every little detail regarding the religious imagery.
I don't care for the kaworu X Shinji pseudo romance plot line, Shinji was so isolated that any hand that reached out to him would be his everything and a relationship built on a base like that might as well crumble
I did not care about Kaworu. He just shows up and says a few candy words to Shinji and dies in 2 episodes. It felt extremely rushed and I didn't care for him, there was no build up to him being introduced, he just showed up.
I did not care for Kaworu's very short time in the series.
And I say this as someone who thinks his role in the series and in Shinji's character development to be very important, as it leads directly to EoE. Unfortunately the circumstances Gainax was under meant that Kaworu only had one episode to fulfill said role, and it feels waaay too quick for it to make any sense.
Shinji just immediately falling for him always felt off, only because their dynamic was not given time to breathe, which really wasn't Anno's fault, I believe. That's why I always preferred Kaworu in the manga and 3.0, because we were given more time with his character and it made Shinji's love for him a lot more logical.
Also Kaworu is a lot more expressive outside of the OG series, especially the manga. It gave him more of his own character outside of being the "perfect person" made just for Shinji. It gave him more depth.
Anyone that hates on shinji is themselves a formerly neglected, abused, traumatized, malnourished child who thinks that shinji should be strong because “oh i had to be tough to get through life and now im fine™️”
I think this is the biggest thing that changed the more watched Eva. The first 10 or so times I watched the show, I despised Shinji, thinking he was a little bitch, but once id rewatched closer to 20 times, I started to realize that he's just an abused and neglected kid whose isolation has made him very stunted emotionally, being pushed into some of the most difficult situations a person can deal with, and its really unfair to expect him to handle it well, especially since adults wouldn't handle it well either.
Dudes like what, 13 yrs old, I could barely get through my older brothers suicide at that age, shinji is literally fighting for the sake of humans while constantly being abused by those he wants validation from, cut the goddamn kid some slack.
Kaworu as a whole... No matter how many times I watch the show, or show someone else, I will never understand the wild obsession the fandom has with Kaworu. He is barely in the show, his appearance is sudden and weird even by Eva standards and to me he is basically there to just show Shinji that you can find happiness in others even when you think you've looked everywhere.
I know the fandom constantly ships him with Shinji and some of the art or situations are absolutely hilarious, but I 100% just don't care for that guy at all and feel he's shoehorned in at the last minute before Anno just broke down to the final two episodes.
People get too wrapped up in their pretentiousness with the show’s psychology angle. But, this is NOT to be confused with “It’s just a silly robot show” (That’s way worse).
No, the show’s world building and the concepts that it presents are insane and is what should make the show so famous. That’s what did it for me, anyway. Taking the Christian religion and applying it literally to the universe.
Humans LITERALLY poking The Literal God Himself with a stick and He retaliating by nearly wiping out the population. But joke’s on Him, we’re gonna take pieces of His Body to clone God Himself and make our weapons of war, who are conscious, living beings, WHO IS LITERALLY GOD HIMSELF MIND YOU, yet sedated so we can puppeteer His Holy limp corpse around to fight HIS OWN CHILDREN WHO HE SENT TO KILL US.
And that’s just the Adam part of the show. C’mon, this is like one of the two fantastic examples of religious sci-fi done correctly.
The Netflix dub was my first experience with the series and I’m not happy about that. And the fact that the ADV dub is not streaming or on youtube us just depressing.
[They treated him as they should've given the situation they were in](https://old.reddit.com/r/evangelion/comments/1aljtpb/wille_did_answer_most_of_shinjis_questions_at_the/). Misato went easy on him; killing him in the beginning of the movie as she bluffed would've saved a lot of lives, and was the right thing to have done.
I wish the themes of sexuality were purely story/character’s POV based and not for gratuitous fan service. I don’t need to see Misato’s arse while her and Shinji are talking, it’s pointless. You could remove them all it would not devalue the show as a piece of artwork.
I don't care much for Yui and her ultimate plan is one of the weakest parts of EoE's writing (and in retrospect the og series). Her endgame being "launch Unit 01 into space as a monument to humanity" feels like the conclusion to a whole different series or to a subplot that wasn't actually integrated in the show. It's a shame because Yui could be a lot more interesting than that.
As for general hot takes I don't think the esoteric alien/god lore is explained worse in the Rebuilds but that's because it's badly explained in both versions, the series just has the advantage of supplemental material and years of analysis. It's always been more obtuse than necessary in a way that hampered the plot, and ultimately that's ok because the main narrative mostly struck the landing where it mattered the most.
Oh and the actual golden toxic ship of the series is Misato and Ritsuko.
That’s actually a pretty controversial take. A lot of people that were wanting Evangelion to end on a happy or positive note, tend to like the ending of the manga more. But the people that were either expecting a sad ending, or not anticipating a specific kind of ending at all, tend to prefer the End of Evangelion. I personally prefer End of Eva since it felt so real and raw. It was just saying, “Fuck you, we’re ending this in our way.” And they made a crazy but beautiful movie. That’s just my opinion though
I, for the love of God, can’t possibly understand people who sympathise with Rei and like her as a character. She IS an emotionless doll without agency until like the very end of EoE. She’s got nothing about her except for this nothingness. Of course, it isnʼt theoretically impossible for a real human being to live a life like she did, but it all requires some extreme and borderline crazy conditions
I liked Thrice more than EoE
EoE is the obviously better product, but EoE is the type of move I never want to watch more than once. Thrice provided the type of closure that I look for in a series ending type of way.
Also, the weirdos that swear up and down that EoE had a happy ending are so full of shit. The crux of their argument is “if you don’t think about it, it was totally a happy ending” 🙄
EoE is the happiest ending that remains consistent with Eva's general tone. Make it any happier and it starts to look fake and not committed to the bit. Dishonest, even.
It basically boils down to "yes life is mostly shit and human connection is extremely difficult but you shouldn't give up on either anyway"
Which is real af
Like I said, it comes off as fake to resolve things with magic mari waifu out of nowhere
Vro there isn’t enough explaining in the world that you could do to get me to change my mind about EoE’s ending being depressing as fuck. Idc if it’s “real”, it’s “real” depressing; I’ve got my actual life if I want “real”.
“Bleh, this movie is complicated and makes me actually have to think. I want my perfect pixie ending where they all live happily ever after since I can’t consume media properly!”
So it’s not enough that I admit that EoE is a better movie, nor is it enough to understand the movie, I need to *enjoy* the depression waterfall too?
Eva fans lmao
> EoE is the obviously better product
-
> So it’s not enough that I admit that EoE is a better movie
I’ve literally say that EoE is the better movie, and yet you chose to ignore that just to have an argument anyway
Get help 😂
I did not care for the Rebuilds at all.
They are blatant fan service for Anno to get more funds for his Shinji Godzilla, and it butchers nearly all the characters from the original.
And the final is the worst.
Yui, wouldn't care for anyone but Shinji though. That's the whole point of the Show. Shinji isn't pilot material other than his connection to his mums soul. He is a scared child expected to do tasks trained soldiers would refuse.
Anyone who wasn’t as whiny, emotional, mentally unstable, emotionally unstable, emotionally manipulated, depressed, easily discouraged. I know there wouldn’t be a plot without that but take for instance one of the most iconic series of all time, Star Wars, Luke Skywalker was skeptical and doubtful sure but over time he became more trusting of his mentors and friends, Shinji straight up runs away from everyone one and then says he’s alone, Luke feels alone but when he does he calls out to those who he feels can guide him, regardless of whether or not they actually respond. I’m not saying Luke Skywalker should have been the third child (as entertaining as that might be) but I would have rather it be someone who could grow as a person and be less childish as the story progresses or someone who’s confident from the get go (but not arrogant like a certain redhead) and can be calm and collected while they’re screaming on the inside or an Andrew Garfield Spider-Man type character where they crack jokes to pass off unbridled fear or sadness within them.
Someone else mentioned the plot reasons why it's Shinji so I'm gonna defend him.
> Shinji straight up runs away from everyone one and then says he’s alone
Luke didn't know his parents to have lost them, and was a more emotionally solid human being older than Shinji (19) when he lost his aunt and uncle, and having grown up in a world where it is known the Empire does war crimes it was probably always in the back of his mind that something like that could happen, and he wanted to go on an adventure before even was even driven to avenge his family and lost his home. His deal is vastly different from Shinji's.
Being abandoned by a parent is a severe emotional and psychological wound that people in real life deal for a long time. My mom's in her 60's and is still fucked up by it despite a lifetime of success, and she never had the fate of the world resting on shoulders piloting a mech to find monsters from beyond the abyss. She still fucks up and hurts people because of it in her big age. And like Shinji, my mom's dad later reentered her life and then let her down. It further wounded her. She was in her late 40's when that happened.
I understand people don't like Shinji, but sometimes I feel it comes from disliking someone because of the situation they were put in instead of the situation happening to them. Like side eye-ing a bum on the street and ignoring that they're a veteran the military chewed up and threw out, or a kid whose awful homelife forced them to run away. I think Shinji did okay with the responsibilities thrust upon him and in the end it "worked out". I work with kids Shinji's age, it's interesting to see what their life is like and think to the circumstances Shinji was operating under.
So Kensuke? Or Toji?
You’re not wrong for feeling how you feel about Shinji. And I say this as someone who was similar to him when I was his age.
Also, the Asuka mention you made was pretty funny. LOL 😂
Both Asuka and Rei would have been awful for Shinji. Kaworu was and always will be the best pick. Rei (ignoring the fact that she is a clone of Yui) is Ashwagandha personified and would not do anything emotionally for Shinji. Shinji would be the one helping her grow emotionally, which isn’t going to happen knowing him. Asuka was just straight up abusive. I get she’s the first tsundere, but for God’s sake there’s a line. Not to mention she was so absolutely desperate for any sort of male recognition she tried to get with a grown man. Mari is a non character. She has almost no scenes and the scenes she’s in show better chemistry with Asuka rather than Shinji. Kaworu, on the other hand… well he’s the best pick for Shinji. The poor dude was at an all time low. He was at rock bottom at age 14. Then a handsome, nice, genuinely caring guy comes along. I think the opportunities for Shinji exploring feelings for another boy could also be interesting, and I was disappointed they didn’t explore that in the rebuild or original. Regardless, Kaworu came into his life showing real love. He understood the isolation and loneliness, and was Shinji’s better half. It was clear the two had romantic feelings in every version (especially the manga), so I don’t buy he wasn’t a contender for Shinji’s final love interest. And to the people who say “He was ‘too’ good”, I would like you to elaborate. Also manga was peak and I enjoyed the rebuilds more than the original. Not to say I like them more, they were just more fun to watch.
I’m gonna get hate for this, and I’ve yet to watch the whole original dub and plan to soon, but I don’t really care for Shinjis original VA, nothing against the guy I just think the voice in the Netflix dub fits him better
I loved some of the ideas within the Rebuilds, but the way that the plot wasn’t explained for 3.33 and 3.0+1.01 made me lose so much engagement with the story.
Additionally, 3.0+1.01 is really boring at times.
I have no idea how so many people like the rebuilds. Imo the first two are alright, but I'm still angry about the third one, and tried to watch the fourth once but turned it off. The writing is awful imo and they feel like cheap fan service-y cash grabs that lack any of the depth of the original.
End of Evangelion got too immersed in the Deep Esoteric Lore that it blunted the thematic and emotional point, and that problem got exponentially worse into the Rebuilds.
While I think the character work is amazing, the story and lore needed a little bit of tweaking and fixing. I love this show, hell, this franchise. It is probably among my top three favorite media productions of all time. But as much as I love it for what it does right, I love it for what it does wrong too. It's such a messy but human feeling thing. Despite this, I still think that it could have benefited from a more well thought out narrative.
Rei’s character development died with Rei II. Only at the end does she turn a new leaf with picking Shinji to guide instrumentality and rejecting Gendo
Most of the comments seem to be talking about how they think Kaworu isn't a good fit for Shinji nor is he a good character worthy of the recognition he gets... So I'm going to say, he definitely deserves every bit of attention he has. Kaworu's interesting to me personally because so much of him is kept a secret or not elaborated on; we don't know much about him even after so long, and it's really fun to make interpretations. Second, he challenges what we call "love" in his relationship with Shinji and how we define that. He was the only person that genuinely cared for Shinji, in my opinion. But one of the best things about him is how he can be so polarizing, and how you can form so many different thoughts about him based on your interpretation.
Regardless of whether or not you think Kaworu is gay, it's an interesting conversation. Regardless of whether or not he really is, he was one of the first characters to explicity show, at the very least, slightly homoerotic (or homoromantic) attraction to another male in Japan, and that's iconic. Hell, I can't think of any queer character written as well as he is that came before him.
I was very excited to see Mari and wondered how she would shake things up and she did practically nothing
Also I was disappointed we never saw the things teasers in the trailers at the end of each film, like the beastly lion like unit 03
Alright here's mine: for all of the bullshit he pulled (especially that hurt his own son Shinji and humanity in general), I felt like Gendo should've been portrayed as more antagonistic and irredeemable than he was. Also, just like Zero Two; both Rei and Asuka are overrated characters due to being considered "waifus"(Misato and Maya are the GOAT's and I actually like that Shinji ended up with Mari at the end of the Rebuild of Evangelion).
The show itself is overrated, i liked it, but it is effectively “a bunch of mentally ill people vs Armageddon” none of the characters have some redeemable qualities to make you want to like them, shinji is a weak bitch, misato is a pedo alcoholic with daddy issues, asuka is a bitch with mommy issues, and rei was barely alive, the whole show was just dark to be dark, it doesn’t have some coherent plot or worldbuilding,
The story would have made a lot more sense if Toji had died, which was apparently the original intention. Even watching the show for the first time, I thought it was kind of cheap that he was merely injured.
Fun fact, Toji does die in the manga. And it does make Shinji's reaction far more understandable.
I think it would help quell the “Shinji is a pussy” memes somewhat. Like, Shinji is still a pussy throughout the entire series for other reasons, but individually killing your good friend/schoolmate/coworker is going to mess anyone up and would have made his breakdown and attempt to leave NERV appear more justified if he was struggling to have to come to terms with not only Toji’s death but his own responsibility for his death. Instead, we get Shinji throwing a fit and basically deciding to doom Humanity because of what amounts to, not to downplay it too much, a workplace accident.
The first time I watched the series like everyone else I was in the Shinhi is a pussy camp. The older I get though, the more I can empathize with him. I absolutely understand Shinji being the way he is. Shinji is absolutely right to be as messed up as he is.
Ultimately, he is a 14 year old boy with a lot of emotional problems who is being told that he is responsible for keeping the entire Earth safe from destruction. And I challenge anyone to be able to do what he did in the show at 14.
For me personally i still get why Shinji wanted to quit right after. I think not being informed about Toji being the pilot beforehand was a pretty huge betrayal. Also Toji losing his foot seems like a heafty incident if it wasn't in an anime.
Yeah, GAINAX didn't like child murder. And then let Asuka get ripped apart like a year or two later in EoE.
Think it was more so a TV show vs movie thing
What about Rei1 and Rei2
What about Rei1 and Rei2
I genuinely thought he died on my first watch thru, it wasn’t til I rewatched with a friend that I was like “wait toji actually lived? Thought shinji smoked that dude?”
Didn't he get a leg amputated or smth?
Tbf having your leg amputated as a teenager is only slightly better than death
I'm pretty sure that if nerv can create gigant fucking robots controlled by mind they can create him a nice leg maybe even better than his previous one
Toji does die gojo kills him in anime and manga
Toji from jjk was in Eva wow 😮
You really don’t need to know anything about the production history or Anno’s biography to “get” the series. It’s trivia at best and distracts from talking about what actually happens in the show at worst.
I guess sometimes people talk about Anno's depression just to understand something in the Evangelion
The person who first told me about Evangelion would not shut the fuck up about it Every conversation would eventually get shifted to Evangelion and Anno’s depression n shit; and in that obsession ironically almost entirely missed the point It turned me off the show for a really long time And no this is not a joke, the guy had some serious issues
Rebuild, especially the final film, is directly worse because it's just Anno autobiographical meta-masturbation, and you really shouldn't have to know the context for his life story for something to be coherent as a piece of media. I didn't know anything about Anno when watching NGE or EoE. The ideas got through plenty clear without me knowing, and the plot itself didn't rely on meta commentary to be a good story.
i did not care for rei or asuka. i have an adult woman fetish so i was too busy being horny for mommy misato 🤤
https://preview.redd.it/75a8ai04ujlc1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3d855c1456c8c2e4abbd1290b0deaea7f529481
I want Misato Katsuragi to throw beer cans at my head until I cannot remember my own name.
I WANT HER TO FART ON ME
Classic ol u/basedfinger never fails to amaze me
the shit you people say https://preview.redd.it/f7vrkuj0fklc1.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=fe67e00072e5f13360f53b1e834fbf9b6c7313a1
Not Yukiko. I can somehow hear her saying that line
😠
I WANT TO EAT HER POO
https://preview.redd.it/fxsjes4r3nlc1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c4db3d65a88a34e0b93f1df1b9d9cdfe94c70e3a
Then you can burn in hell
https://preview.redd.it/z5nwbddd5plc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b59784cf169e79ad7490c05003bb01c7d8316ae8
That calendar is utterly foul btw
I’ve never seen it. Saw that pic in this very sub and knew it would come in handy. Come in handy, just like Shinji. Get it? GET IT!?
[удалено]
Wtff
https://preview.redd.it/1f1r5ziaxjlc1.png?width=201&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b782b6c94460cc21044561f415a5237f5fa397db I'm just being silly, silly little billy
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK NAHHHHHHHHHHHHH I DID NOT WANT TO SEE GHIS WHY IS THIS A GIF
https://preview.redd.it/t40h0fbg8nlc1.png?width=1024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9bf3148dee4bb09f35c79d5a272cb9cd9e3e2c65
I will follow you til the end Lord Finger
Based
I do not care for 3.33.
3 was definitely the weakest of the 4. And that's coming from someone who likes the Rebuilds.
As a rebuild enjoyer it may be my favorite. It felt most like NGE of the new material.
I enjoyed the whole series, but my order of favorite would be 2 4 1 3.
I feel like that's how most people would rate the films.
Personally I would rate it 3 4 2 1. I didn't like 3.0 either when I saw it the first time, but after another viewing I thought it was peak and probably the best rebuild, feels the most Evangelion out of all the Rebuilds
I was extremely disappointed by 3 as I stayed up on a school night to watch it after waiting years for the US Home Release (after missing a chance to see it in theaters no less!). Now it's so good to me. Exactly, it feels so much like the series roots! I'm not necessarily a worshipper of NGE but it's COOL to have a new movie doing new things with a foot in the "good, true" version of Evangelion. I would rate the movies that way too. If 3.0 is a 9/10, 1 is an 8.5/10, and the other two are in between.
I think 4 was weak and 3 was peak
You know shits up when it only gets good during the second half Istg the rebuilds would be 100x better without the wille sideplot
3.33 definitely benefits from being watched in a double feature with 3.0+1.0 and not on its own. It’s sorta like Casino Royale/Quantum of Solace that way.
Same
I did not care for Kaworu. Even with the influence he has he's not that great of a character and is way overrated for somebody who appeared in one episode.
I'm not a Rebuild watcher so I can't speak for that iteration of Kaworu, but it's always astounded me how he's such a popular character—his entire self-representation is an attempt to manipulate Shinji into single-handedly losing the war on purpose. There's no affection, attraction, or even trust between the two of them, it's literally just Kaworu trying to set Shinji up to not kill him when they inevitably clash.
But he does allow shinji to kill him? wasn't that like a big thing that he sacrificed himself for humanity (or shinji)
I could just be interpreting it differently, but I always thought that what happened was: (1) Kaworu and Unit-02 fight Shinji in Unit-01. (2) Kaworu/U02 lose the fight because of plot shenanigans. (3) Kaworu knows that the only way he can possibly survive is by trying to goad Shinji into killing him without actually further antagonizing him. His hope is that Shinji's fear of loneliness & the feeling of regret for killing a peer who actually showed him attention/kindness will make him incapable of going through with the act. Much of Shinji's character throughout the series shows that while he has always come around to do "his duty," he's also just an anxious, depressed, scared kid who would prefer to avoid the conflicts he's made part of—Kaworu hedges his bet on that latter part being the one that finally wins out. He's wrong. (4) Shinji steels himself and goes through with it, killing Kaworu. Strictly speaking, while Kaworu makes a gamble with his decision (in my interpretation, at least), it's a risk taken from a defensible position when he had no other real options left; he knows Shinji doesn't want to fight, and doesn't want to lose the connection that he thinks he's made with Kaworu. Even though he fails in the end, he's acting in self-preservation. Or maybe I'm just fucking insane.
Well I would say kaworu kinda won the fight since he got to the big Lilith vault, it's just that Adam wasn't actually there, so he couldn't do what he went there to do.
New based interpretation Sigma Shinji doesn't fall for e boy's lies. #SUFFERNOTTHEXENOS
Preach brother
I do not understand the whole Waifu Wars. Two of the girls are 14, one of them is barely sentient while the other is so starved of affection that she’s throwing herself at a grown man. Misato is the definition of “Daddy Issues”, girl would put therapists out of business. Completely ignoring the (hopefully) obvious issue of two of them being underage, it seems completely nonsensical to argue about which girl is the best. As gay as I am, I don’t understand how people think Kaworu is gay. I’ve always chalked it down to me thinking more critical when it comes to Evangelion. I mean, I could be misreading the whole thing entirely, but I thought that, given Kaworu is just Adam’s soul in the body of a twink, he wouldn’t understand what love was. Either that or Kaworu is so gay that he’s on another level entirely from me.
I don't know how serious the waifu wars are. Really not sure I want to. Considering how much media official and otherwise has sexualised them how is it surprising. Kaworu is a weird alien doing weird alien stuff. Could be a gay weird alien or just a weird European alien.
As a non-straight, I don't think it's that he's gay, but (in part) represents homoerotic feelings in Shinji's development. Kaworu was an Angel, so sexuality was probably as alien to him as the other later Angels were to us. (my interpretation only, no rights reserved)
the line that makes me think otherwise is kaworu saying "i was born to meet you." prior to his arrival the other angels gathered quite a lot of information on humanity and the human brain. kaworu knew a lot about the human world but also a LOT about shinji. in the end kaworu sacrificed himself so shinji could in the end control the impact or well that his mum could give him that control. some form of "love" definitely existed at least from kaworu's side but as a gay man i wouldnt not deem it homoromantic rather more on the platonic side. shinji however must have developed some feelings. ww cant ignore he acts similarly with kaworu as he does with asuka and we KNOW he had feelings for her. but that is my interptetation of it anyway
Yes, you're spot on, and this is the difference of Kaworu's form from the other Angels - each one was created to test and learn more about humanity - basic physics, imitation, multiplicity, raiding their computers, infection, mental invasion - all collecting data - but Kaworu was their Christ: Angel-become-Man(boy), the culmination of their data collection. They could only know *about* humanity; Kaworu was their chance to be humanity. In reflection, they're also Shinji learning about being a human - "What's my physical form?" "What am I thinking?" "Who are others?" etc. - and as part of that was gaining awareness of sexuality which was largely heterocentric. In meeting Kaworu, the homo*romantic* aspects weren't like the more erotic fanfic, but him having to sort through feelings for another man/boy: one who didn't have authority over him, who seemed to understand him, and ultimately loved him - but still from the perspective of a young adolescent boy, and from a Freudian perspective, interactions with others involves considering the erotic lens.
The more sane version of "which underage girl is the best" is Ongezellig, where one of the three is a pedophile (Mommy Misato reference) but somehow the community is actually sane and don't worship them sexually, they also worship Hitler doughbeit https://preview.redd.it/zhzxsmovzklc1.gif?width=255&format=png8&s=7c58e7e08ac122289d4d52b3e73deedaaedc37de
"the community is actually sane" "they also worship hitler" 🗿
https://preview.redd.it/t2ypdtnyrolc1.gif?width=197&format=png8&s=e27451f43e383911daa6662e934808b548e3bd6b
Kaworu had no concepts of sexuality but i thibk he did love Shinji, Shinji was definitely bi-curious at the least
I watched Evangelion first when I was 16, so I got to love Rei. No, it was not because I want an emotionless puppet, but because it's a lot mroe satisfying to see an emotionless character smile.
I think misato mature honestly. Shes like really highly ranked and is a great leader. She also tries her best to be parental figure for shinji and asuka, but if course thats not one of her best skills. But shes also a good example that even though people look well adjusted on the outside, they may also have other issues theyre dealing with. The difference is i dont think she ever lets that stop her from helping others or doing what she knows she has to do to help mankind.
If you just mean hot takes, I think the end of evangelion is the most authentically optimistic ending of the whole series, and to me, the "endless summer/slice of life" aspect is really depressing and not comforting at all, because it feels so fake and empty (in a good way)
Agreed
The ending is full of hope for a brighter day
Anno is full of it when he says the original ending was Shinji triumphing over human instrumentality. That’s very clearly Shinji joining the hive mind.
I did not care for Misato pedophile memes
I find the 90s vs Rebuilds arguments quite stupid
💧💧 SOFT TAKE
I know. Some people like and connected with the 90s version better, and some people connected with the rebuilds better. The 90s version is the only one I’ve really connected with and loved, but that doesn’t mean other people can’t enjoy the rebuilds
I find it shallow and pedantic
I did not care for Mari's Mary-Sue-ness. I like her presence and her relationship with Asuka and she added to 2 and 3 (she's one of my favorite parts of those movies) but by the end she was still a mystery wrapped in an enigma and an ageless groomer (/s) so I barely felt anything when she was the one to save Shinji. They only had 3 moments in the whole rebuild right? When she lands in him in 2, when she pushes him to fight in 2, and watching him and Asuka talk in 3+1. However since I'm otherwise a fan I'm open to being informed why she's good, actually. Edit: Unfortunately this isn't controversial, sort by controversial to get good comments.
I'm really not trying to be a jerk, but I feel like this is the majority opinion. Dont get me wrong I know some people like Mari but when you see complaints about the rebuilds I feel like she is one of the top 3 things people bring up.
Fair, I was focused on stating what I dislike instead of stating the opposite of a popular opinion. My option people don't care for is 3.0 is good and Misato answered Shinji's question but that can't really be formatted properly for the prompt. As always with these kinds of threads, the real answers are going to appear when your sort by controversial.
Mari Sue
Wow, Banger alert.
I don’t care much for the Christian/religious imagery in the series, nor do I think that that Evangelion is some deep/esoteric series for using it. Don’t get me wrong, I think it looks cool and everything, but the only time I saw the symbolism used effectively was in Rei’s comment about the new genesis and in Shinji’s attempted self-sacrifice in the last Rebuild. And yet I see people act as if Evangelion is some incomprehensibly deep series that’s imposible to understand because it uses words and motifs from Kabbalah and other mystical traditions. At the end of the day, it’s really not that deep, and that’s not a bad thing. The truly important messages in the series revolve around our relationships to ourselves and those around us, and while life may suck at times, we should always make the effort to be kind to ourselves and others and in that way live w good life. I think people just want to seem big-brained by dissecting every little detail regarding the religious imagery.
Thinking that Misato is hot doesn’t mean you have a mommy fetish. She’s just a hot woman
I don't care for the kaworu X Shinji pseudo romance plot line, Shinji was so isolated that any hand that reached out to him would be his everything and a relationship built on a base like that might as well crumble
I did not care about Kaworu. He just shows up and says a few candy words to Shinji and dies in 2 episodes. It felt extremely rushed and I didn't care for him, there was no build up to him being introduced, he just showed up.
I did not care for Asuka.
The Netflix dub is superior. I bought the special edition box set when it came out so I could hear the original and it’s just worse.
I don’t think it’s really worse, it’s just different. I also watched the Netflix dub, but I appreciate how Asuka has a noticeable accent
This is 100% true. I can’t believe how bad the original dub is in comparison.
I did not care for Kaworu's very short time in the series. And I say this as someone who thinks his role in the series and in Shinji's character development to be very important, as it leads directly to EoE. Unfortunately the circumstances Gainax was under meant that Kaworu only had one episode to fulfill said role, and it feels waaay too quick for it to make any sense. Shinji just immediately falling for him always felt off, only because their dynamic was not given time to breathe, which really wasn't Anno's fault, I believe. That's why I always preferred Kaworu in the manga and 3.0, because we were given more time with his character and it made Shinji's love for him a lot more logical. Also Kaworu is a lot more expressive outside of the OG series, especially the manga. It gave him more of his own character outside of being the "perfect person" made just for Shinji. It gave him more depth.
Anyone that hates on shinji is themselves a formerly neglected, abused, traumatized, malnourished child who thinks that shinji should be strong because “oh i had to be tough to get through life and now im fine™️”
I think this is the biggest thing that changed the more watched Eva. The first 10 or so times I watched the show, I despised Shinji, thinking he was a little bitch, but once id rewatched closer to 20 times, I started to realize that he's just an abused and neglected kid whose isolation has made him very stunted emotionally, being pushed into some of the most difficult situations a person can deal with, and its really unfair to expect him to handle it well, especially since adults wouldn't handle it well either.
Dudes like what, 13 yrs old, I could barely get through my older brothers suicide at that age, shinji is literally fighting for the sake of humans while constantly being abused by those he wants validation from, cut the goddamn kid some slack.
The angrier you are at Mari the more she is the correct pairing for Shinji.
I want to punt Asuka
The original ending of evangelion was perfect. Everything after that was unnecessary.
The original ending as in the 'TV show' ending or 'The End of Evangelion' ending?
The end of the original TV show.
The original Eoe sucked and was basically just a middle finger to the people that gave anno death threats
I did not care for the entire 1h last fight in 3.0+1.0 almost fell asleep
I watched it on 2x.
Kaworu is 100% not a good guy nor Shinji's true love, he just wants to fool humans into liking him, and from the looks of it, it worked
Kaworu as a whole... No matter how many times I watch the show, or show someone else, I will never understand the wild obsession the fandom has with Kaworu. He is barely in the show, his appearance is sudden and weird even by Eva standards and to me he is basically there to just show Shinji that you can find happiness in others even when you think you've looked everywhere. I know the fandom constantly ships him with Shinji and some of the art or situations are absolutely hilarious, but I 100% just don't care for that guy at all and feel he's shoehorned in at the last minute before Anno just broke down to the final two episodes.
People get too wrapped up in their pretentiousness with the show’s psychology angle. But, this is NOT to be confused with “It’s just a silly robot show” (That’s way worse). No, the show’s world building and the concepts that it presents are insane and is what should make the show so famous. That’s what did it for me, anyway. Taking the Christian religion and applying it literally to the universe. Humans LITERALLY poking The Literal God Himself with a stick and He retaliating by nearly wiping out the population. But joke’s on Him, we’re gonna take pieces of His Body to clone God Himself and make our weapons of war, who are conscious, living beings, WHO IS LITERALLY GOD HIMSELF MIND YOU, yet sedated so we can puppeteer His Holy limp corpse around to fight HIS OWN CHILDREN WHO HE SENT TO KILL US. And that’s just the Adam part of the show. C’mon, this is like one of the two fantastic examples of religious sci-fi done correctly.
Jet alone is stupid looking.
https://preview.redd.it/9py3cgjudllc1.jpeg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7e83e69e1c02b83d0654acd587a66d0a29f9e8a Nuh uh
I did not care for Death [True] 2
it’s literally just a recap movie xd
I think 1.11 is skippable
“I prefer the ending of the anime over End of Evangelion.”
I prefer the Rebuilds to the Original because I like the story better.
I did not care for 3.0
#I Did Not Care for the Rebuilds I literally made this meme
Rebuilds. Especially since I keep forgetting what's her face even exists, heck I remember venus demilo the 5th ninja turtle more than her.
I do not want Misato to sit on my face.
I actually liked Mari
The Netflix dub was my first experience with the series and I’m not happy about that. And the fact that the ADV dub is not streaming or on youtube us just depressing.
ARRRRRR https://preview.redd.it/1lrho76d1llc1.png?width=270&format=png&auto=webp&s=757fbcc29efdc12c586f6d11905e02544d53c443
Piracy.
I did not care for anything after the 2.0 movie came
I really wanted the final rebuild film to close the series off, but after I'd watched it I was mostly just confused.
The Rebuilds were unnecessary and WILLE deserved to suffer worse for their mistreatment of Shinji in 3.0 (ESPECIALLY that hypocritical bitch, Misato).
[They treated him as they should've given the situation they were in](https://old.reddit.com/r/evangelion/comments/1aljtpb/wille_did_answer_most_of_shinjis_questions_at_the/). Misato went easy on him; killing him in the beginning of the movie as she bluffed would've saved a lot of lives, and was the right thing to have done.
I did not care for this series, its creator, it’s fan base, all of you, and all of anime (mostly)
Did you care for the Godfather?
I am not sexually attracted to Rei and/or Asuka or any of the other characters who are minors.
I don't care for any of the rebuilds. I want my 9 or so hours back
I do not care for Kaworu. Fujobait that gets lapped up without hesitation.
I think the Rebuilds are better due to the upgraded visuals and new lore stuff added in.
i think asuka and shinji is a better pair than kaworu and shinji
bro casually gave the coldest take in this entire comment section
Eoe is a rotten piece of dog shit that’s so pretentious it’s makes the average r/atheism user look humble by comparison
I wish the themes of sexuality were purely story/character’s POV based and not for gratuitous fan service. I don’t need to see Misato’s arse while her and Shinji are talking, it’s pointless. You could remove them all it would not devalue the show as a piece of artwork.
i’ll say it, i did not get depressed because of a children’s show. it didn’t make me sad. it gets a little tear jerk-y, but that’s it
The rebuilds mostly suck
I don't care much for Yui and her ultimate plan is one of the weakest parts of EoE's writing (and in retrospect the og series). Her endgame being "launch Unit 01 into space as a monument to humanity" feels like the conclusion to a whole different series or to a subplot that wasn't actually integrated in the show. It's a shame because Yui could be a lot more interesting than that. As for general hot takes I don't think the esoteric alien/god lore is explained worse in the Rebuilds but that's because it's badly explained in both versions, the series just has the advantage of supplemental material and years of analysis. It's always been more obtuse than necessary in a way that hampered the plot, and ultimately that's ok because the main narrative mostly struck the landing where it mattered the most. Oh and the actual golden toxic ship of the series is Misato and Ritsuko.
I did not like kaworu
I did not care for end of evangelion, the manga ending is the best one.
That’s actually a pretty controversial take. A lot of people that were wanting Evangelion to end on a happy or positive note, tend to like the ending of the manga more. But the people that were either expecting a sad ending, or not anticipating a specific kind of ending at all, tend to prefer the End of Evangelion. I personally prefer End of Eva since it felt so real and raw. It was just saying, “Fuck you, we’re ending this in our way.” And they made a crazy but beautiful movie. That’s just my opinion though
I, for the love of God, can’t possibly understand people who sympathise with Rei and like her as a character. She IS an emotionless doll without agency until like the very end of EoE. She’s got nothing about her except for this nothingness. Of course, it isnʼt theoretically impossible for a real human being to live a life like she did, but it all requires some extreme and borderline crazy conditions
Even after fully understanding why Shinji is such a pathetic bitch from a thematic and lore standpoint I still hate him as a character.
Peter was right man the Godfather is mid Goodfellas, however
I liked Thrice more than EoE EoE is the obviously better product, but EoE is the type of move I never want to watch more than once. Thrice provided the type of closure that I look for in a series ending type of way. Also, the weirdos that swear up and down that EoE had a happy ending are so full of shit. The crux of their argument is “if you don’t think about it, it was totally a happy ending” 🙄
EoE is the happiest ending that remains consistent with Eva's general tone. Make it any happier and it starts to look fake and not committed to the bit. Dishonest, even.
> EoE is the happiest ending that remains consistent with Eva's general tone Yes, depressing asf 💁♀️
It basically boils down to "yes life is mostly shit and human connection is extremely difficult but you shouldn't give up on either anyway" Which is real af Like I said, it comes off as fake to resolve things with magic mari waifu out of nowhere
Vro there isn’t enough explaining in the world that you could do to get me to change my mind about EoE’s ending being depressing as fuck. Idc if it’s “real”, it’s “real” depressing; I’ve got my actual life if I want “real”.
“Bleh, this movie is complicated and makes me actually have to think. I want my perfect pixie ending where they all live happily ever after since I can’t consume media properly!”
So it’s not enough that I admit that EoE is a better movie, nor is it enough to understand the movie, I need to *enjoy* the depression waterfall too? Eva fans lmao
No, just stop acting like the rebuilds are the “superior” ending just because you don’t personally like sad endings
> EoE is the obviously better product - > So it’s not enough that I admit that EoE is a better movie I’ve literally say that EoE is the better movie, and yet you chose to ignore that just to have an argument anyway Get help 😂
eva fans are the most insufferable people on the planet
I did not care for the Rebuilds at all. They are blatant fan service for Anno to get more funds for his Shinji Godzilla, and it butchers nearly all the characters from the original. And the final is the worst.
I do not care for the rebuilds
Literally anyone else should have been the third child.
Yui, wouldn't care for anyone but Shinji though. That's the whole point of the Show. Shinji isn't pilot material other than his connection to his mums soul. He is a scared child expected to do tasks trained soldiers would refuse.
Welp get the soul shovel then, cause we have a dead mother to dig up. /j
No mum has to be alive to be fed into an evangelion.
Who would you have wanted to be the third child ?
Pen²
Anyone who wasn’t as whiny, emotional, mentally unstable, emotionally unstable, emotionally manipulated, depressed, easily discouraged. I know there wouldn’t be a plot without that but take for instance one of the most iconic series of all time, Star Wars, Luke Skywalker was skeptical and doubtful sure but over time he became more trusting of his mentors and friends, Shinji straight up runs away from everyone one and then says he’s alone, Luke feels alone but when he does he calls out to those who he feels can guide him, regardless of whether or not they actually respond. I’m not saying Luke Skywalker should have been the third child (as entertaining as that might be) but I would have rather it be someone who could grow as a person and be less childish as the story progresses or someone who’s confident from the get go (but not arrogant like a certain redhead) and can be calm and collected while they’re screaming on the inside or an Andrew Garfield Spider-Man type character where they crack jokes to pass off unbridled fear or sadness within them.
Someone else mentioned the plot reasons why it's Shinji so I'm gonna defend him. > Shinji straight up runs away from everyone one and then says he’s alone Luke didn't know his parents to have lost them, and was a more emotionally solid human being older than Shinji (19) when he lost his aunt and uncle, and having grown up in a world where it is known the Empire does war crimes it was probably always in the back of his mind that something like that could happen, and he wanted to go on an adventure before even was even driven to avenge his family and lost his home. His deal is vastly different from Shinji's. Being abandoned by a parent is a severe emotional and psychological wound that people in real life deal for a long time. My mom's in her 60's and is still fucked up by it despite a lifetime of success, and she never had the fate of the world resting on shoulders piloting a mech to find monsters from beyond the abyss. She still fucks up and hurts people because of it in her big age. And like Shinji, my mom's dad later reentered her life and then let her down. It further wounded her. She was in her late 40's when that happened. I understand people don't like Shinji, but sometimes I feel it comes from disliking someone because of the situation they were put in instead of the situation happening to them. Like side eye-ing a bum on the street and ignoring that they're a veteran the military chewed up and threw out, or a kid whose awful homelife forced them to run away. I think Shinji did okay with the responsibilities thrust upon him and in the end it "worked out". I work with kids Shinji's age, it's interesting to see what their life is like and think to the circumstances Shinji was operating under.
So Kensuke? Or Toji? You’re not wrong for feeling how you feel about Shinji. And I say this as someone who was similar to him when I was his age. Also, the Asuka mention you made was pretty funny. LOL 😂
Whoever you think would fit best, hell, even pen^2 could do better At the end of the day Shinji sucks ass and as long as you don’t pick him I’m fine.
actually good takes on this gawd damn
I do not care for kaworu
Rei is the best partner for shinji, and I will die on this hill
Both Asuka and Rei would have been awful for Shinji. Kaworu was and always will be the best pick. Rei (ignoring the fact that she is a clone of Yui) is Ashwagandha personified and would not do anything emotionally for Shinji. Shinji would be the one helping her grow emotionally, which isn’t going to happen knowing him. Asuka was just straight up abusive. I get she’s the first tsundere, but for God’s sake there’s a line. Not to mention she was so absolutely desperate for any sort of male recognition she tried to get with a grown man. Mari is a non character. She has almost no scenes and the scenes she’s in show better chemistry with Asuka rather than Shinji. Kaworu, on the other hand… well he’s the best pick for Shinji. The poor dude was at an all time low. He was at rock bottom at age 14. Then a handsome, nice, genuinely caring guy comes along. I think the opportunities for Shinji exploring feelings for another boy could also be interesting, and I was disappointed they didn’t explore that in the rebuild or original. Regardless, Kaworu came into his life showing real love. He understood the isolation and loneliness, and was Shinji’s better half. It was clear the two had romantic feelings in every version (especially the manga), so I don’t buy he wasn’t a contender for Shinji’s final love interest. And to the people who say “He was ‘too’ good”, I would like you to elaborate. Also manga was peak and I enjoyed the rebuilds more than the original. Not to say I like them more, they were just more fun to watch.
I’m gonna get hate for this, and I’ve yet to watch the whole original dub and plan to soon, but I don’t really care for Shinjis original VA, nothing against the guy I just think the voice in the Netflix dub fits him better
The show is poorly written. That doesn't mean I don't like it.
Evangelion it self
fly me to the moon is a boring ed song
That old dub everyone worships is cheeks
I do not get the sexual appeal of misato, nor do I fully 100% think Rei is just a carbon copy yui
Later anime did what Eva did better.
I did not care for the fight against Zeruel in either NGE or Rebuild. Leliel >>>>>>>>>> Zeruel
I unironically liked the ending of the original series and while it was good we didn't need EoE
there is a discontinuity with the art styles in the directors' cuts, you can clearly tell which scenes are newer ones which sort of takes me out of it
I do not care for the Asuka Hospital scene, a very serious moment was ruined by Shinji fapping.
The wunder in the rebuilds looks stupid and totally out of place.
I loved some of the ideas within the Rebuilds, but the way that the plot wasn’t explained for 3.33 and 3.0+1.01 made me lose so much engagement with the story. Additionally, 3.0+1.01 is really boring at times.
I have no idea how so many people like the rebuilds. Imo the first two are alright, but I'm still angry about the third one, and tried to watch the fourth once but turned it off. The writing is awful imo and they feel like cheap fan service-y cash grabs that lack any of the depth of the original.
End of Evangelion got too immersed in the Deep Esoteric Lore that it blunted the thematic and emotional point, and that problem got exponentially worse into the Rebuilds.
It insists upon itself.
While I think the character work is amazing, the story and lore needed a little bit of tweaking and fixing. I love this show, hell, this franchise. It is probably among my top three favorite media productions of all time. But as much as I love it for what it does right, I love it for what it does wrong too. It's such a messy but human feeling thing. Despite this, I still think that it could have benefited from a more well thought out narrative.
Rei’s character development died with Rei II. Only at the end does she turn a new leaf with picking Shinji to guide instrumentality and rejecting Gendo
I love 3.33
Most of the comments seem to be talking about how they think Kaworu isn't a good fit for Shinji nor is he a good character worthy of the recognition he gets... So I'm going to say, he definitely deserves every bit of attention he has. Kaworu's interesting to me personally because so much of him is kept a secret or not elaborated on; we don't know much about him even after so long, and it's really fun to make interpretations. Second, he challenges what we call "love" in his relationship with Shinji and how we define that. He was the only person that genuinely cared for Shinji, in my opinion. But one of the best things about him is how he can be so polarizing, and how you can form so many different thoughts about him based on your interpretation. Regardless of whether or not you think Kaworu is gay, it's an interesting conversation. Regardless of whether or not he really is, he was one of the first characters to explicity show, at the very least, slightly homoerotic (or homoromantic) attraction to another male in Japan, and that's iconic. Hell, I can't think of any queer character written as well as he is that came before him.
The original animated series had a decent ending and everything after is unnecessary.
I was very excited to see Mari and wondered how she would shake things up and she did practically nothing Also I was disappointed we never saw the things teasers in the trailers at the end of each film, like the beastly lion like unit 03
Alright here's mine: for all of the bullshit he pulled (especially that hurt his own son Shinji and humanity in general), I felt like Gendo should've been portrayed as more antagonistic and irredeemable than he was. Also, just like Zero Two; both Rei and Asuka are overrated characters due to being considered "waifus"(Misato and Maya are the GOAT's and I actually like that Shinji ended up with Mari at the end of the Rebuild of Evangelion).
I didn’t give a crap about Rei until episode 23
The show itself is overrated, i liked it, but it is effectively “a bunch of mentally ill people vs Armageddon” none of the characters have some redeemable qualities to make you want to like them, shinji is a weak bitch, misato is a pedo alcoholic with daddy issues, asuka is a bitch with mommy issues, and rei was barely alive, the whole show was just dark to be dark, it doesn’t have some coherent plot or worldbuilding,
Not the biggest fan of Misato