Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm just going to say it.
I'm a born-again Christian...and I think Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the greatest series ever made.
You may disagree. That is fine. I understand. It gets weird and uncomfortable, especially in The End Of Evangelion, its grand-finale movie. That's the point.
Whether you'll love it or you'll hate it, you all need to see it.
Plus it involves really old global elites conspiring to oppress humanity and make themselves gods over us all. Hits a lot closer to home than you thought, huh?
I love the ending to the anime. Honestly I could have left it there. Shinji finally waking up, just how blatantly Japanese the "congratulations" ending is..
But End of Eva is a animation masterpiece. I do not like that in the end it just keeps Shinji as he has always been, but there is some great dialog in it the viewer can take to make sure they do not end up like Shinji
Evangelion is a mixed bag, but I appreciate your love for it. I don't think it can hold a candle to Anno's previous work, Nadia. What's rather interesting is that in Nadia, Atlantis is located in Africa. I've seen YT videos which present very convincing theories that Atlantis was, in fact, located in Africa. Rather mind-blowing and I am sure that proper archaeology will someday prove this.
I love the character designs in Evangelion because I love Sadamoto's art style. He's one of my favorites. All I can say is that if you have never seen Nadia, as a die-hard Eva fan you owe it to yourself to watch it.
As for Eva, I'd recommend watching Retroblasting's critique of the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJLltbgPiZ4
Shinji is a repulsive narcissist. When I was his age, I was convinced that everyone hated me. But I cultivated my character and grew as a person. By the end of Evangelion, Shinji remains a repuslive narcissist, with his hands around Asuka's throat, choking her because he demands love and attention despite never growing as a person.
A Japanese coworker told me that at least Evangelion introduces concepts of Christianity to Japan. I'm not so sure about that, as it only throws around Biblical terms without having any meaning. (Again, the Retroblasting show goes into detail about this.) In Nadia, there is a concept that it was actually Atlantis that wiped out Sodom and Gomorrah. Interesting take, but at least it has some relevance to what the Bible actually says. Evangelion just has weird monsters nailed to giant crosses and attributes words like "Dead Sea Scrolls" to nothing really applicable, making any Biblical references a non-sequitir.
The creators have said they used the iconography because it looked and sounded cool. That's it.
It's rare in Japan, so they thought it would be exotic-sounding to their homeland. Your linked video probably goes into this, though.
As for that scene you just spoiled...it was because he wasn't sure she was real, so he was trying to get a reaction out of her to prove she was. The creators have said this.
Well, even before the very end, he doesn't hesitate to attempt to murder Asuka for failing to give him her undying love and attention. It's just psychotic. And with a lack of character development arc, by the end of the show he hasn't changed from being a self-loathing creep.
That said, I have to admit that there is a lot to like about Eva. I don't mean to rag on it too much and put you in a defensive position. There were some great episodes, but I'm not alone in noticing that around the 13th episode or so, Anno came off his meds or something and the show got a bit crazy.