Ranked #5260

Petit Eva: Evangelion@School

It's very hard to even begin to describe this series since it's so bizarre and random. Each episode consists of a stand-alone skit that involving various characters in scenes and events that are modeled after the alternate reality Shinji is shown at the end of Neon Genesis Evangelion. All of the episodes parody some aspect of the franchise, such as the characters, and derive humor by putting Evagelion characters in situations so different than normal (for them, anyway).

Since the plots vary so much between episodes, and the show is entirely dependent on humor, it should be no surprise that the quality varies tremendously between episodes. One of the funniest ones (so far) is episode 7, which makes fun of Gendo. So far, about half of the episodes have been funny to varying degrees and half are just boring.

The characters are generally pretty funny. Even though they are just caricatures of the ones from the series, they do manage to capture the personalities of originals. The main cast so far includes the three Eva pilots, Gendo, and Eva Unit 01 (who has been reimaged as human sized). There have also been appearances by Kaworu and Misato.

The art and sound are very low grade - the graphics are on par with early PS1/N64 videogames and the sound is below that. However, this only adds to the humor of the series, so even a rating of "fair" isn't a bad thing. There isn't a translation to worry about as there is no spoken dialog or any text to read. Anything that needs to be communicated to the viewers is done by pictures in a character's speech/though balloons.

When all is said and done, E@S probably isn't going to be the type of anime that you sit down and watch the entire run of at once. The style simply doesn't lend itself to that type of viewing. It is however, more than entertaining enough to watch at least once and then to go back and rewatch your favorite episodes. read more

I finally got around to watching the two DVDs of the "Puchi EVA - Evangelion School" box set. This is a set of 3D CG chibi character stories based upon the characters from EVA, but set in a junior high. The collection is from Star Child, KIBA 91633-4, and consists of a "Nice Rainbow Disc" DVD with 9 short episodes, and a "Xebec Disc" with 15 short episodes. The total time of the material is 134 minutes. The box set was released on March 3, 2009. There are TV ads for the series on both discs, as well as interviews with the creative teams, and some rather unique "making of" shorts on the "Nice Rainbow" episodes, and music videos of the opening and closing theme songs on the "Xebec" disc. The box also came with a little model of EVA 1 in its "Evanchou" form, along with a number of accessories, including a Gurren-Lagann drill. (Gainax will be Gainax…)

The best way for me to describe the series is: EVA meets Dr. Slump, directed by Mamoru Oshii, inspired by Chuck Jones, and set in an out-of-control Second Life world. The "Nice Rainbow" episodes are fairly straightforward gag-comedy shorts. The episode where Misato-sensei attempts to wake up a sleeping Shinji in class by throwing chalk is probably my favorite and it channels some of the best of the old Looney Toons escalating "battle" cartoons from the 40s and 50s. The episodes on the "Xebec" disc are much stranger, and at times are profoundly disturbing, but are never-the-less quite interesting thanks to their added depth.

If you liked EVA you really ought to look up these short animations. You don't have to search for subtitled versions because there is no dialog, only music and sound effects. If you haven't seen EVA you should skip "Evangelion School" because it won't make much sense in that case. All-in-all I found it to be an interesting, sometimes intriguing, often hilarious, and always challenging set of little stories. read more