“This is it, Shinji.”
I have been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion over the last couple of months, and I think the movie is probably my favourite thing to come out of the show. I wasn’t as huge a fan of the series as I thought I would be, but I definitely still enjoyed it. My main issue with the series is its lack of subtlety in regards to its character building, while also feeling kind of underwritten and very repetitive in terms of its actual narrative. Almost all of the character building was done by just really plainly stating why the characters act the way they do, and I think that is a very uninteresting approach, especially when Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Yui, Misato and Ritsuko - among others - are all very interesting characters.
The way the writers tell their stories and explain their different psychologies and actions feels very boring and like a bit of a waste of otherwise fascinating characters honestly. As for the plot of the series, for the first probably 20ish episodes, the structure is almost exactly the same: bland character building, angel attacks, really cool but super short action sequence that feels like it has zero stakes, angel is killed, Shinji whines about something, end of episode. There are definitely a few great episodes scattered in between the repetitive ones (which even though they can be a bit tedious, I did still enjoy), and the final chunk of the show is an enormous step up in quality.
Onto the actual movie now. The End of Evangelion takes what the series does and elevates it to greater heights, improving on almost every front. That being said, it definitely isn’t perfect either. To start off, the visuals in the film are absolutely gorgeous. The animation is great, the colours look vibrant and very pretty, the art style is slightly different than the series and looks a lot better in my opinion and the designs of pretty much everything all look incredible. The buildings, interiors, outfits, robots, mechs, crazy biblical stuff, everything looks so damn cool.
Like I mentioned earlier, I think the writing for the original show isn’t that great, and while it isn’t amazing in the movie either, it is definitely better. The script can feel cheesy at times, and bloated at others, but it is far more interesting and subtle than in the series. The show has some pretty mature and/or dark themes throughout, but they are kind of glanced over a lot, or just tackled in a way that feels almost immature and childish. The film on the other hand, while still approaching its themes and characters pretty bluntly and openly, feels a lot more mature in its script and a lot more real and genuinely emotionally charged.
The End of Evangelion takes a much more abstract approach to its storytelling, which I think works much better than the formulaic and tonally kind of immature and sometimes inconsistent feel of the original series. The film relies heavily on its striking imagery to tell the story, and even then is left up to a certain amount of interpretation, which I definitely appreciate. It doesn’t work entirely, as I still feel like there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
The characterisation is a lot better in the movie as well. The film opens with a pretty disgusting and creepy scene, which as weird as it is, is genuinely better than any of the unnatural dialogue used to build Shinji’s character throughout the entire series. The characters in this movie feel immediately more like themselves, if that makes sense, and that makes the emotional beats so much more effective. Shinji’s flaws and internal struggles are allowed to be explored in interesting ways, rather than just repeating the same 4 lines of dialogue he has in the show - although they are present here too sadly. Asuka feels much more fleshed out too, and the two’s relationship is portrayed in a much more unflinchingly uncomfortable manner, making everything way more effective and making the characters far more interesting and more engaging to watch.
Evangelion feels like a deeply personal piece of art, maybe one of the most personal I’ve watched in a while. This is the most obvious conclusion I can come to as to why this didn’t click with me. There is so much to unpack in the show and the film alike, and with something so personal and up to interpretation, I imagine a lot of the love for Neon Genesis Evangelion comes from the series connecting viscerally for so many people. Unfortunately, it just didn’t for me. The portrayal of depression, the incredibly cynical and existential look at its themes, the haunted and tragic characters, I found them all to be interesting and beautiful and I appreciate the film on an artistic level, but I never really connected emotionally to any element of the series or the film. Maybe when I revisit this film, I will find some kind of attachment to this story and these characters, but this time that just didn’t happen.
“This is it, Shinji.”
I have been watching Neon Genesis Evangelion over the last couple of months, and I think the movie is probably my favourite thing to come out of the show. I wasn’t as huge a fan of the series as I thought I would be, but I definitely still enjoyed it. My main issue with the series is its lack of subtlety in regards to its character building, while also feeling kind of underwritten and very repetitive in terms of its actual narrative. Almost all of the character building was done by just really plainly stating why the characters act the way they do, and I think that is a very uninteresting approach, especially when Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Yui, Misato and Ritsuko - among others - are all very interesting characters.
The way the writers tell their stories and explain their different psychologies and actions feels very boring and like a bit of a waste of otherwise fascinating characters honestly. As for the plot of the series, for the first probably 20ish episodes, the structure is almost exactly the same: bland character building, angel attacks, really cool but super short action sequence that feels like it has zero stakes, angel is killed, Shinji whines about something, end of episode. There are definitely a few great episodes scattered in between the repetitive ones (which even though they can be a bit tedious, I did still enjoy), and the final chunk of the show is an enormous step up in quality.
Onto the actual movie now. The End of Evangelion takes what the series does and elevates it to greater heights, improving on almost every front. That being said, it definitely isn’t perfect either. To start off, the visuals in the film are absolutely gorgeous. The animation is great, the colours look vibrant and very pretty, the art style is slightly different than the series and looks a lot better in my opinion and the designs of pretty much everything all look incredible. The buildings, interiors, outfits, robots, mechs, crazy biblical stuff, everything looks so damn cool.
Like I mentioned earlier, I think the writing for the original show isn’t that great, and while it isn’t amazing in the movie either, it is definitely better. The script can feel cheesy at times, and bloated at others, but it is far more interesting and subtle than in the series. The show has some pretty mature and/or dark themes throughout, but they are kind of glanced over a lot, or just tackled in a way that feels almost immature and childish. The film on the other hand, while still approaching its themes and characters pretty bluntly and openly, feels a lot more mature in its script and a lot more real and genuinely emotionally charged.
The End of Evangelion takes a much more abstract approach to its storytelling, which I think works much better than the formulaic and tonally kind of immature and sometimes inconsistent feel of the original series. The film relies heavily on its striking imagery to tell the story, and even then is left up to a certain amount of interpretation, which I definitely appreciate. It doesn’t work entirely, as I still feel like there’s something missing, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.
The characterisation is a lot better in the movie as well. The film opens with a pretty disgusting and creepy scene, which as weird as it is, is genuinely better than any of the unnatural dialogue used to build Shinji’s character throughout the entire series. The characters in this movie feel immediately more like themselves, if that makes sense, and that makes the emotional beats so much more effective. Shinji’s flaws and internal struggles are allowed to be explored in interesting ways, rather than just repeating the same 4 lines of dialogue he has in the show - although they are present here too sadly. Asuka feels much more fleshed out too, and the two’s relationship is portrayed in a much more unflinchingly uncomfortable manner, making everything way more effective and making the characters far more interesting and more engaging to watch.
Evangelion feels like a deeply personal piece of art, maybe one of the most personal I’ve watched in a while. This is the most obvious conclusion I can come to as to why this didn’t click with me. There is so much to unpack in the show and the film alike, and with something so personal and up to interpretation, I imagine a lot of the love for Neon Genesis Evangelion comes from the series connecting viscerally for so many people. Unfortunately, it just didn’t for me. The portrayal of depression, the incredibly cynical and existential look at its themes, the haunted and tragic characters, I found them all to be interesting and beautiful and I appreciate the film on an artistic level, but I never really connected emotionally to any element of the series or the film. Maybe when I revisit this film, I will find some kind of attachment to this story and these characters, but this time that just didn’t happen.
