This is (Not) A Re-Review: Evangelion
Greetings, fabulous ladies and
gents of the Internet! And if you
haven’t read the title already, Neon
Genesis Evangelion has been a running theme this week. After watching the entire series recently, I
think it’s time that it got a second chance at looking over again. Back in April my review on it, I stated it
was a classic that deserved another shot.
Even with what I saw at that time, I was still pretty impressed. Heck, it’s one of my starred reviews for a
reason! And so, without further adieu,
let’s (not) get started on this week’s re-review of Neon Genesis Evangelion!
Ok, so for a first in Hanime on
Anime, I’m actually going to skip the synopsis of the series. For one, if you read my Talkative Thursday
post, you probably got the gist of the series.
Plus if you’ve seen it already, you know what happens. And second, I thought my original synopsis
summarizes the series pretty well (plus that saves time having to rewrite
it). However, I will say that beyond
what I saw the last time I reviewed the show, things get a lot darker as we
examine Shinji’s state of mind as well as those of Shinji’s classmates and
staff at Nerv and learn the organization’s true intentions in initiating the
Human Instrumentality Project.
Let’s get to the point here; I give
Neon Genesis Evangelion an 8.5 out of
ten, one full point more than my last review.
After picking up where I left off last time, I was blown away by what I
saw. People more often than not tend to
either love or hate the series, and I feel I’m on the fence; I really like the
series, but feel there are some things that keep me from loving it. But what I do love about the series most of
all is the depth, and admittedly, the dark tone. This was a series that was not afraid to go
to some dark places It’s bold and
daring, and when done right, it can be intriguing as well as entertaining. Plus, watching how far the series goes, you
can tell that there was a lot of work put into it. There’s a reason why this series is still
talked about twenty years after its release.
Plus, who doesn’t love the Eva Units?!
Those are some of the coolest mechs in anime as well as some of the most
memorable. I know I’ve said before that
I find no reason to have a giant robot, but I would love one of these! Still, besides it’s giant robots or depth,
there are some things that could’ve been a lot better.
Ok, while I love the depth of Evangelion, there’s a limit to how well
done it is. And that limit came in those
weird introspective moments that Shinji goes through from time to time in the
series. These scenes were not only
strange, but they were also tedious and boring.
There were times they couldn’t be taken seriously and even hilarious. Speaking of which, let’s talk about that
ending: IT SUCKS!! While many people claim that the last two
episodes were the ultimate downfall of the series, I think it really starts to
go downhill at episode twenty to the end-yes, even that one episode with
Kaowru. The series infamously suffered
budget problems during its production, and from episode twenty to the end, you
could really see the quality drop. Still,
with the last two episodes being nothing but introspective moments with all of
the characters, the finale is very unsatisfying. Finally, Shinji is still admittedly a big
weakness in the show in that he is a weak character in that, well, he’s a
wimp. Still, in spite of having too much
depth and a wimpy protagonist, this is not a series you should miss! And plus, if you read my Talkative Thursday
post, you know that I’ll go to bat for Shinji as one of the most underestimated
characters in anime.
So overall, this is a staple in
anime that you should definitely give a chance, lousy ending, wimpy hero, or
giant robots or not. It’s been pretty
hard to find the series online, but there are DVD copies are available on
Amazon. And so that ends this week’s
re-review. Next Sunday I’ll be doing a
new review that is not Evangelion related…hopefully.
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