Yes, Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of those kind of shows. One of those that are so inexplicably bad in such a unique way that it manages to turn everything it had going for it into a rather big and inescapable problem. I can barely think of anything good to say about Evangelion in it's fourteen hour run time, including both movies which is rather impressive since I'm rather optimistic in my critiques. But, after having to suffer through this fourteen hour horror then having to do so AGAIN just so I can have fresh knowledge for this review, my patience for this series has dwindled into little more the volume of a black hole. So, before I completely lose it Joker-style, let's begin.
From the get-go, you get a sense that Evangelion is not a normal series with a few freaky visuals, a not-so-typical protagonist in the form of Shinji Ikari with the lesser protagonists being Rei Ayanami and Asuka Langley Soryu. This story revolves around these three fighting against monstrous aliens called Angels who want to initiate Third Impact AKA Armageddon and wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. Well, that was the original premise as a sort of disguise since the real plot is all about deconstructing the tropes commonly associated with the mecha genre, specifically that of child soldiers as well as a deep look into the psyche of the characters themselves.
Sounds good right? Well, there's a few problems. The first one is that because of the character study and deconstruction, the show kind of drops the whole "fighting aliens to protect the world" part except when it's needed to bash in the flaws of the characters, becoming little more than a side note. Which is really big shame since the Angels all have very interesting designs and powers, albeit no personality but that's yet another trope deconstructed that also backfires as it makes the Angels more sympathetic (especially one Angel in particular who was a godsend that could not live in this cruel world for long) while the main organization representing humanity, SEELE and one of its divisions NERV, less likeable to the point I myself wanted the Angels to win. Although that's partially because i either A) Hate everyone in this show (Which I will get to) or B) want to mercy kill those who don't belong in A.
Second is the deconstruction in the fact that it becomes rather redundant early on in the series. One of the main tropes discussed is the use of child soldiers in a war against aliens from outer space with the world in the balance. This would be an interesting deconstruction if not for the fact that most people can deduce this without ever seeing Evangelion. People are already stressed out by the world around with the day-to-day crap that transpires in our lives, not to mention the curve-balls life throws at us. And we are also well aware of the fact that war is hell, a fact that has been persistently thrown at us from many different angles. Even something that usually isn't very serious like Fairy Tail is aware and conscious of this fact so you don't need to beat it into us! And we were all children at some point (Hell, I'm only 18) so we are aware of the stress from then as well. SO we have a pretty good grasp on how harsh and stressful something with all those actors mashed together would be like, which is not pretty in the slightest, and then you multiply that by the number "saving the world." The other deconstructions aren't much better like charging in unprepared and how a big ego will get you killed in battle. But it's constant shouting of these tropes is annoying that it feels like the show has an ego the size of Kabia times Sheldon to the power of Vegeta. And that's being generous.
Third and finally is the character study. The show takes pride in smashing the characters to bits and pieces to show us how they are on the inside, how they tick and why they do so. However, a smart or at least observant person will notice most of these things right away. Like how Shinji is a self-hating person who lives for the love and approval of others which is pretty much shoved in our faces with his Extreme Doormat personality and his happiness and being praised. Asuka is very similar in that she craves attention and praise, which is shown through her rash actions and pride. The only person I can think of who is both interesting enough to even care about a character study is Rei. The others are either inferable or become uninteresting for other reasons that shall be discussed below. So it's like making a ship with one single hull and having it set sail for the same oceans that sunk the Titanic, which oddly enough gave afloat to many an actor's career.
And the show comes to such a mind screwy, indecipherable mess that it hasn't made sense even with two decades of study. Honestly, as you will see by this review, I didn't care.
Oh, and the religious symbolism. Ignore it, I'm pretty sure it's just a pretty decoration. The Angel's names do have some relevance but you have to go out of your way to find them and this series is just not worth it.
Onward to the protagonists. Of the main three, each one has a specific personality along with a specific way at dealing with the world's bullcrap, leading to the reveal of different aspects of their personalities both good and bad. Along the way, these begin to develop beyond the people they were before into different yet similar individuals who become more and more capable at life's troubles, including the saving the world bit. However, my problems related to these three will come up later.
Everyone else is either meh or rage inducing. For one, we got SEELE, a mysterious organization who plans on enacting something called "Instrumentality" (See, not even the titles make sense). However, their reasons, or reason, is that they believe that humanity cannot live as it is. Which would make sense if most of the reason why humanity is in such a state of misery is because of them and if they were talking about the world before, then humanity wasn't the one who needed to change it was them! In fact, this show's constant repeating of "the world sucks" is gonna be a whole other section. None of them get any personality beyond "old bureaucrats that are mysterious." Even the one with the La Forge visor wasn't memorable at all. The only one I remember was some vaguely green dude who looked like someone out of the Boondocks and thus I imagined him like Granddad Freeman to get through half the episodes. (Piece of advice to any anime creators, or creators in general; If I have to imagine one of your characters is from a crass, dumb toilet comedy show when it's supposed to be in an intellectual show because they're so bland, you've screwed up.)
NERV isn't much better. With the exceptions of Kaji, honestly my favorite adult in the series for being such a good mentor fro Shinji and just for being an interesting character in general, and Gendo, whose motivations, dedication and subtle similarities to his son make a rather interesting and surprisingly pitiable character, every other adult in the series has earned nothing but my disinterest or my anger. The three technobabble-spouting assistance have barely any personality or really anything for me to care about them. In fact, with certain facts about the Angels known to me and a disregard for the mental and physical well being of several children, I was pretty sure they didn't care about life in general and were only working at NERV to save their own asses. Ritsuko basically boils down to "Hates Mom, Hates Rei, Smart, Gendo-Yandere and Misato's opposite." I really think that I shouldn't be able to boil down a character like that unless they were likeable and like many people in this show, Ritsuko slowly becomes less and less likeable to the point were I laughed at her in misery. Misato was alright, kind of I guess, but her constantly trying to get Shinji to grow up and adjust to the world around him. This message would be fine except for a few factors: A) I can't stress this one enough: HE'S FOURTEEN! He is just beginning to learn about the world and himself, just beginning to see and discover what the world is to him. You cannot rush this process! You can help him along this path but forcing him down it is just gonna make things worse! B) He's emotionally and psychologically damaged! Shinji is not gonna be able to progress at a normal pace since he's been both mentally scarred by the world around him and a certain event I cannot get into as well as emotionally scarred by his father. And C) He has the entire world on his shoulders, he cannot develop with all that stress on him.
Next up is the animation. The animation is usually pretty fluid and well-done, especially for it's time. There are a few instances where animation is reused or there is very little animation at all but considering the time period and the budget of the show, I'd let it pass. The problem here is the fact on how they use the animation and they use it to disturb you. First off, that Angel Fetus baby. That was kind of creepy and this is coming from a horror movie fan. Another instance they use the animation to completely disgust the viewer was in episode 22 with Asuka's Mind Rape in which she goes through several female characters talking in her body and then it goes through a bunch of random word and images flashing by with Asuka's scream as it's sound track. Let me be blunt and say "No body wanted to hear or see that." If it was to hammer in the point that Asuka is psychologically scarred then I defer you to my fifth paragraph. And if you need anymore examples I need only three words: End Of Evangelion.
The sound of the show is alright, it has about average music and voice acting (Minus the dub which was atrocious even by my standards) but the notable piece is the show's theme: Cruel Angel's Thesis. A nice little poppy song that just screams "90's". But, as you guessed it, Evangelion manged to screw that up too. At first, the theme is a welcome oasis of peppiness in a sea of uneasiness in the first part but the visuals are just a bunch of nonsensical flashes of images from the series and frames detailing what they are that go by too fats to accomplish anything but a mild yet enjoyable mind screw. Then when episode 16 or so, the theme seems like it's trying to lower your guard so the rest of the show can hit you with a volley of punches and kicks in whi8ch it gives you no time to recover from. It feels underhanded and downright disgusting. What is supposed to get me hyped up for the show instead fills me with dread and loathing. Another thing is the use of classical music, which is supposed to sound sophisticate and grandiose when it's actually sounding more akin to demons war bellow.
And now we reach the final part of the show, the part that has dammed it to the center of the ninth circle of hell, right in the ice of Lucifer's buttcheeks. The overall feel. I said before that Neon Genesis Evangelion had rather good and likeable characters. However, I did state that I had a problem with this. What is that problem you ask? Well, it's the fact that they make these characters TOO likeable for their own good. Because these characters are both likeable and relatable, we form a bond with them. We cry when they cry, we laugh when they laugh, we cheer when they cheer and we feel utter joy upon seeing them evolve beyond who they were before.. In a normal show, this would be excellent! Here however, you actually get punished for this. Because when the show gets to the character study, it feels the need to utterly smash any development the characters once had into microscopic pieces and then proceeds to smash the characters themselves until they are nothing more than death-seeking, despair-filled shells of their former selves that you want to take out to the country side and give them the sweet embrace of death. You see that? By the end of the show, I wanted the main characters dead not out of anger but out of sorrow, out of pity. What makes this even worse is that you've developed such a bond with these characters that you feel every ounce of their pain, of their sorrow, of their despair.
Of course, considering the type of show this is, I'm honestly not surprised anymore. This show repeatedly hammers in the point that the world sucks so many times and with such ferocity that it ends up making the world and everyone in it look much much worse than it actually is. It shows nothing but the worst of humanity, the scum, the shit, the bottom-feeders, the low-lifes, the corrupt and everything other possible horror of humanity it can conjure up. It says that it's all about one boy's journey to accepting the world and himself but between the horrors I've seen and heard, this show either screwed up so bad that it create a reality destroying paradox or that was just a disguise used to mask it's real message: The world is shit, everyone is an asshole at best and the world is better off dead. To that I say: No. The world may be like that sometimes, it may beat us down without mercy, the people in it maybe assholes at best and maybe we are better off dead but that isn't all. There is great beauty in this world of ours, there is great kindness capable within everyone and life, as depressing and dark it can be, is still better than death.
For all it's so called intelligence, Evangelion apparently can't get that through its thick, metal skull. Though it constantly tries to break the viewer, which at first succeed with me, it also pawned many others that fought against it and triumph in the end, showing that this show is nothing more than a straw nihilist. Though they became depressed after it's production, Gainax bounced back stronger than ever with the OVA FLCL, which pretty much washed away any depression caused by this show through many of the same methods just with a bit more respect and care. Puella Puella Madoka Magika, as generic as some of it's deconstructions maybe, showed that you can deconstruct a genre without eliminating the hope in it. If anything, it strengthened aspect of hope in Magical Girl anime. Hell, it couldn't even do itself right! After Hideki Anno, the director of the series was done, he was left in a considerably better spot. SO much so that he made a series of Evagelion movies that were improved so much that they have garnered my praise, unlike this show. Oh, but what about the mecha genre? Surely that is where Evangelion shines brightest right? Nope! After FLCL came another mecha show of Gainax's, one that is it's equal if not superior in intelligence that both deconstructed and reconstructed the mecha genre, absorbing all the darkness this show had to make itself shine brighter than any other mecha anime, heralded as a modern classic. An anime that went above and beyond, proving that you could respect your characters, respect the tropes that went along with them and have an overly all optimistic tone while still being intelligent and insightful. That's right, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann did your job better, Evangelion!
I have nothing else to say. This show is it's own unique brand of bad, turning anything good about it into shit. The interesting plot bit it in the ass, the character study bashed it's kneecaps in, the deconstruction broke it's feet, the characters snapped its fingers, the art broke it's hands, the art broke its arms and its overall tone stabbed it's eyes out. I know that this show is usually regarded as a show about a boy overcoming depression but Evangelion doesn't have enough respect for its characters to accomplish something like that. Not to mention, again, other shows like FLCL did that better. The only notable thing about this show is how vile and twisted it is, which is to be excepted of a man going insane at the time. In short, Evagelion is an awful, spiteful, vile show that you should not watch. If you like it, fine. But I'm just here to warn other people against seeing it as my job as a human being. Good night!
