This review is spoiler free.
Let’s talk about what NGE actually promised us, the viewers. Character development is the first thing that comes in mind, because the main character is portrayed as a weak, self-absorbed and depressed individual with parent issues on top of that, who must overcome his weaknesses. There it is, “overcome”. And the show clearly emphasizes on that single word by constantly proving to us that he’s beginning to change, only of course he doesn’t at the end and stays the same. But we’ll get to that later. A secondary expectation is the action scenes, since it is a shonen after all, even if it tries to deconstruct the genre. Finally, there is one primordial requirement: a comprehensible story. This may sound vague right now, but we’ll talk about it in a moment. Right now, imagine reading a book with torn up pages. That’s how NGE felt like, not just to me, but to everyone who has watched it so far. Some people enjoy this sort of thing, and I don’t mind it either if it’s kept at a minimum level but there’s a difference between “contributing to the story” and “creating your own”. NGE used symbolism and philosophy on top of a somewhat “normal story” to make you confused and lost, but in my opinion it did more harm than good because it didn’t bother exploring those elements. They were just out of context so everyone tried to twist them around to their own liking. Personally, it is a nightmare for me to assemble a puzzle when I’m actually missing some pieces. It’s frustrating, and the only solution is to fill the missing pieces with something else, something that I MADE.
•STORY: Let’s cut to the chase. The story was like a roller-coaster that derailed at the end of the track; this is the best way that I can describe it. NGE begins on a promising premise, becomes a bit repetitive, but gets interesting again, and then finally loses its charm. It jumps from an unusual shonen where the main character has to overcome his weaknesses and solve his relationship with his father (this was my supposed expectation from the show) to a deep philosophical show where every single character whines and talks about his feelings and thoughts. What happened to the story and its objectives? It was thrown away from the window and replaced with depressive materials where the 14-year old characters speak as if they were divorced twice and lost their job. Yes, Shinji is supposed to be the writer’s projection into the show, but this sudden shift from one genre to another was irrelevant to the story. It was tiresome, because we already know how the characters feel and act in the show. We don’t need another set of episodes explaining the obvious.
This is not how psychological drama progresses. We’re supposed to anticipate the person’s feelings and thoughts through his interactions, actions, decisions, and ultimately relationships. And we already did in the first part of the show. It was beautifully presented, I admit. Unfortunately, NGE decides that it’s not enough and continues on its journey by pretty much summarizing the entire thing again instead of developing it. The characters constantly paraphrase ONE single thing. There is no development, no progress in the story. It even gives us a slight moment of false hope when Shinji was praised by his father who told him that he did a great job, and that was it. Shinji remembers this moment again later on, but then nothing happens afterwards. They both stay stagnant and their relationship doesn’t go anywhere. So what’s the point of watching a show if you constantly want to feel let down?
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. NGE had an acceptable story but rushed its ending in an almost comical way. It introduced a Deus Ex Machina character at the last second and suddenly everything was “resolved”. The two last episodes are not even qualified to be called “episodes” (budget issues) and barely tried to convey a message. On the other hand, NGE has a tendency to “tease” the viewer by throwing at him unexplained words. No, not feeding him information. Just words. Like “Human Instrumentality Project”, “Dummy Plug”, “SEELE”, “Angels”, “Adam”, “EVA”… Some of these words are ambiguous as they can be interpreted in a different way each time, but others are just unacceptable. Throwing words at the viewer without at least giving him some highlights makes the story look poor and weak, not mysterious nor deep. I admit that I was so frustrated when they kept using these words without explaining anything at all that I decided to look up the information on the Wikia fandom page. So enough teasing, get to the point already.
So besides the plot being a bit frustrating at some point, the psychological aspect of the show worked at first but was prolonged to fill more episodes. The story began simple but then was filled with useless symbolism to make it look like more than “just a story”. It failed however at delivering its message because everything was rushed at the end and the last two episodes were a joke (there’s a reason why they made an alternate ending and the movies, people!). The story wasn’t some form of allegory, because nothing was highlighted or given any meaning at all. It was pure teasing of religious references, unexplained elements and classical music.
•CHARACTERS: The characters are not bad per se, they just seem analogous. Most of them are heavily depressed and have parent issues, and there’s only one aspect that really separates them from one another. Also, new characters are introduced conveniently and too quickly by a simple phrase: “We found the one!” without a decent explanation of how they were found.
-Shinji: First of all, Shinji is not a bad character. Sure, he has his weaknesses, strengths and dilemmas but this is what makes him special. And this is exactly why many people despise or love him. He’s different than your average main character from any shonen. But this doesn’t mean he’s perfect. Yes, he’s supposed to be portrayed that way so he can feel realistic and more human because he makes irrational decisions, complains about everything yet secretly desires human contact. He has all the right to do these sort of things, but I don’t think he has the right to waste our time. The fate of the world rests in his hands, and what does he do? He goes to school! Instead of training hard, he wastes almost half of his screen time with his school friends when the world is two inches away from being extinct. And ironically enough, he complains that he’s lonely and weak. He also runs away more than once from NERV because he’s actually scared (and that’s fine) but comes back like it was nothing. So his characterization which was excused because he was clearly presented as an “imperfect human being” became underwhelming, even for him.
So at first glance, Shinji may seem closer than a human than a fictional character, but in reality he’s just a cheap excuse for the writer to project himself into the story. That’s why the second part of the show only focuses on Shinji’s psychological state. And his nihilistic view of the world remains the same. Why? Because that’s how the writer sees it, and wants you to see it in this way. So I wouldn’t call it “character development”. Even if we clearly notice that Shinji is actually making progress (Meeting new friends, protecting them, having his first kiss…), he denies it! And we’re back at square one. Again, it’s a false promise. His thoughts, emotions and attitude remain the same. Even if he has almost everything that he desired a long time ago, he’s still not happy about it.
-Rei: I wouldn’t call her a character because she acts like walking puppet. No personality, no emotions, no reactions, and this seemed to be the trend back then. Absolutely nothing that can characterize her besides her name and her “true identity”, but I won’t spoil anything.
-Asuka: She doesn’t actually contribute anything to the story. Everything that she says or does is because she wants someone to praise and acknowledge her as a human being. And this becomes irritating because we already have a character like her. It’s Shinji. Asuka doesn’t add anything new to the drama. She just magnifies it. It’s like stacking up several “Shinjis” on top of each other: it’s a character amplification. At some point, the show insists on her being Shinji’s rival as she constantly tries to overpower him so she can get all the attention for herself. So if she adds anything new to her character, it’s jealousy. She can’t stand not being the first and most powerful EVA pilot.
Moreover, some of her actions and decisions don’t make an ounce of sense, like deciding to kiss Shinji because she “was bored”. Sounds like she’s a fanservice material to me.
-Nagisa: A Deux Ex Machina who is conveniently introduced at the end and appears for no more than 10 minutes during the whole show so he can unexpectedly provide a lazy solution to the story. He’s not a character but more of physical key to the story and he was poorly handled. He was forced to interact with Shinji for a few minutes so he can leave a good impression on him. But it was JUST a few minutes, and this made Shinji thought of Nagisa as his own brother.
-Gendou Ikari: He’s always asking for the impossible, as he expects his 14-year old son to pilot a giant robot and fight aliens while he sits in his chair with a dead expression. If he was supposed to be some sort of an analogy of a strict and authoritative father in real-life then he clearly isn’t, because I don’t think any person with a functional brain would ask a child, let alone his son, to instantly turn into a soldier without a proper training or mentor. Sure, some parents push their kids a little bit too much but I’ve never seen a parent asking his kid to pilot an airplane. Have you?
•ANIMATION: The art is decent but the animation is rather disappointing to say the least, even if we take into consideration that the show is more than 20 years old. At first, the animation didn’t look that bad, but then we started starring at static images for up to 2 whole minutes. And it wasn’t to build up tension. It just made 1 second feel like 1 hour. But I wasn’t that annoyed, because the animation budget ran out… that is until I watched the last two episodes. Ah. Another false promise.
Instead of actually wrapping things up in the last few episodes, they decided to throw some poorly made sketches, flash some images here and there, while also adding some voices to still frames on a black background so they can stall for time. At that moment, the animation was no more “understandable” nor excusable. It was embarrassing and barely tried to conclude the story which at this point felt more like broken glass.
•SOUND: Voice acting was good for most characters. The opening is also great but doesn’t really fit the theme of the story. Remember, the second part of the show is heavily depressing and dark. So it’s not your typical, good-ending shonen at all, and I don’t think that the boy “became a legend” at the end, because honestly there was no ending, and the boy remained pretty much the same.
•ENJOYEMENT: I enjoyed NGE at first, especially the action scenes. Most dialogues between characters were somewhat interesting and mature while monologues were constant paraphrasing and a waste of time. I didn’t dislike the characters, but some of them were a waste of screen time and money, especially the school friends, Asuka and even the Penguin guy. Some animated scenes were decent, others were a complete disaster. So right now, NGE seems like any average show. It has its ups and downs. Except…
There was one thing that I, and many others, couldn’t stand. It’s the poorly explained story who barely tried to provide the viewer with information and constantly shifts between psychological drama (which was supposed to be the main theme) and philosophical fiction that mainly focuses on negative and dark themes such as pessimism, nihilism and cynicism.
In conclusion, NGE promised us character development, explanation of the mysterious elements that were continuously thrown at us, and a decent ending (which is the upmost and basic requirement of every storytelling) but gave us nothing in return. Even though it’s highly praised by many, I still can’t recommend it to anyone who wants:
-An acceptable character progression
-A properly explained story with a decent ending – A “Straight to the point” approach
Of course, if you’re still curious then you can try it out, but this is what you’ll be getting as a result:
-Stagnant characters who remain the same
-A barely explained story with no ending – A “Do it yourself” approach
-Unnecessary and irrelevant philosophical elements that become repetitive
-Disappointing animation, even considering how old the show is
However, if you like reading a torn up book and fill the missing pages, this show is for you.
