Evangelion the Series vs. Evangelion Rebuild: Which is Better?

Greetings, ladies and gents!  Welcome to the last of the Talkative Thursdays for This is (Not) an Evangelion Event!  Throughout September, I’ve reviewed all the current films from Evangelion Rebuild and looked at all of the good and bad elements from them.  Finally, I get to end the discussion in a VS. post.  All of the posts from this month have all led up to this, and now it’s time to take a look at both the original series and Rebuild to see which one was the better Evangelion!  So sit back, relax, and let’s get this match started off with the original series!

First Up: Neon Genesis Evangelion (the series)

Starting in 1995 and with only one season under it’s belt, Neon Genesis Evangelion- or just Evangelion for short- was a series that followed the adventures of fifteen year-old Shinji Ikari as he pilots a giant mech known as an Evangelion (or “Eva”) Unit.  The series itself is notoriously known amongst otakus for its dark tone throughout, its many different themes and discussions, and of course, for the last few episodes and their lack of quality.  Despite creator Hideki Anno’s struggles with depression as well as poor timing and budgeting and not to mention outrageous backlash from fans, the series has lasted for well over twenty years now and is considered a classic in the mech genre of anime.  Though only ever receiving one season, the series gained a sequel film a year later called The End of Evangelion, which was meant to serve as an alternate ending to the series (even though it wasn’t really an alternate ending in the long run).  Besides This is (Not) an Evangelion Event, I’ve reviewed the series last year and re-reviewed it earlier this year with positive remarks and have discussed the series afterwards on one occasion.  In fact, it’s admittedly grown on me and has now become one of my personal favorites.

What the Series Has

The series was what really started it all.  I’ve stated this before throughout the month, but it bears repeating: the series, though definitely flawed, really set the foundations for the franchise.  Everything from the nature of the Evas, the Angels, Nerv, even Gendo and his ties with Seele all come from here.  You can’t tell me that you could look at a picture of Shinji in Eva Unit One and not think of the original series.  Looking back, I think the series was very well done in terms of its discussion and storytelling; it told the audience the full story but left a few details out to allow for some debate, allowing the viewer to decide for themselves what the answers are.  The series creates this discussion amongst its fans, and that’s what I always take away from it. 

It also does a great job at telling a dark story about what would happen if we lived in a world like Evangelion.  This has made the series king of anime deconstruction for taking apart the very foundations of the mech genre and really taking a look at and questioning the plausibility of it all.  It’s a wonderful and intelligent way of taking a simple and overused idea and making it something entertaining as well as complex.  This is the big strength that the series has for me. 

But besides what a great job the series did at being thought provoking, it was hella entertaining too!  Again, you can’t tell me that you could look at anyone of the main characters or at any of the Evas and not associate them with the original series.  The series was action-packed and entertaining, giving us some of the most iconic fight scenes in anime.  Not only that, the series also left us with some memorable characters.  We all remember Shinji, Asuka, and Rei and their distinct personalities, but the nice thing about the characters is how real and relatable they are (well, most of them).  We all can relate to at least one character in the series just for how realistic they are.  It’s also nice that none of them are the stereotypical anime protagonists we often find in every other anime show out there.  They were fresh and original, and we loved them for that!

Overall, the original series had great characters and a great story that lasted for a good portion of the series.  And then the third act happened…

What the Series Doesn’t Have

Where the series starts to fall flat is the final act of the series, that is, the last six episodes of the series.  As I mentioned in the intro, the series suffered from problems with its budget, its lack of time for good writing, and Anno’s struggle with his mental health.  And while I do harp on the last few episodes being nothing but crap, the introspection and discussion on mental health and stability do start very early on in the series.  But the problem is that eventually, it becomes the central focus of the story.  So by this point in the series, we lose the mech anime with some discussion on mental strife to nothing but mental strife.  As a result, we get a series of low budget retellings and lack luster progressions in the current arc that lead up to the last two episodes being nothing but inner monologues of the characters.  Episode twenty-four -the one where Kaworu is featured- is reputably good, but it’s sadly the only good episode to come out of the arc.  The End of Evangelion tried to fix this problem, but it ended up being a theatrical retelling of the series that ended on just as lousy a note as the series did.

Granted, this isn’t a new problem to the series.  In fact, many otakus feel that this was the series biggest problem.  Actually, many people would claim that Shinji is the show’s biggest problem.  Much of the hate and blame falls on Shinji as much of this introspection is on him, making him a big turn-away from the series for viewers.  Still, its ridiculous to think that Shinji is the worst part of the series.  Being the series’ main protagonist, he’s going to be the main focus anyway, so it’s kind of safe to assume that much of his problems are going to be at the for front.  Also, much of the discussion on mental stability falls on him because this struggle shows just how realistic he is.  Nothing is worse than dealing with a moody teenager and Shinji highlights that perfectly.  Still, the last few episodes and the predominant introspection are in fact the biggest drawbacks to the series.

Evangelion was a good show, but not perfect.  But with that out of the way, let’s see how the films stacked up.

Next Up: The Evangelion Rebuild films

Released ten years after The End of Evangelion, this film series served as a four-part film retelling of the original series.  The first film, Evangelion 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone was released in 2007 with the second film following two years later.  The third film, Evangelion 3.33 You Can (Not) Redo, was finally released in 2012.  The fourth film was announced via a short teaser that it was currently in production and expected for a 2020 release.  I’ve talked about this film series all month long, so there’s probably a lot about the films that I’ve said already.  But overall, it is in fact a decent retelling.  I’ve enjoyed the films so far and am looking forward to the fourth one when it comes out.

What Rebuild Has

I spent a Talkative Thursday talking about all the good things from Rebuild.  So it seems like their really isn’t a whole lot I could say.  But for the sake of this post, if I were to summarize what was really good about the films, it would be that they told the Evangelion story so much better.  Fans of the series would be pleasantly surprised at how much the films clean up the mess left behind in the series.  Granted, these were films and not one animated series, so there was more money to play around with and more time to flesh things out.  Among the biggest changes were Shinji himself and where the third movie left off.

Starting off with the current end to the films (the ending to the third film), I found that there were many fans who were satisfied with where things ended.  Another Impact happens and Shinji and the other Children are left to figure out how to deal with it.  It wasn’t anything different than what The End of Evangelion or the even the series did, but it wasn’t unsettling or so open ended that it left you confused.  In fact, it left things on more of a positive.  Or rather, the ending said that things can only get better from here.  I can’t say that everyone who watched the films said this, but this was what I thought of it.  Regardless, there’s no denying that if things were in fact to end at Evangelion 3.33, I would have been fine with it.

Another part to the films that I thought was very much improved on-and I in fact talked about it in my Top Ten Things Evangelion Rebuild Got Right post- was Shinji.  I bring this up specifically because like I mentioned previously in this post, Shinji seems to be a big problem for many otakus.  Personally, I didn’t see anything that wrong with him (and I’m sure you all know why as I’ve mentioned it many times before), but with the constant introspection he goes through, I completely understand why he was such a turn off.  But because the first few films act like a light version of the series, a large part of that is taken out.  So as a result, rather than making Shinji out to be this moody emo teenager, he’s just a teenager.  Looking back on the films, there really was this naivety to Shinji that the series didn’t have that made him a far more likeable character.  In fact, you could almost feel sorry and forgive him for what he does sometimes.

For all that I’ve said about the films, both good and bad, you’ve got to admit that the films did some serious cleaning up with the series in its story and most of its characters, even without the fourth and final film.  And that says a lot.  But so does what doesn’t work.

What Rebuild Doesn’t Have

Again, there’s an entire post on what the films got wrong.  But once again summarizing those points, there certainly were a lot of issues that were resolved by condensing twenty-six episodes into four movies, but this also left a lot of problems with the films themselves.  There were a lot of important details that were changed, added, or taken out that really changed the overall story.  For instance, my number one biggest problem with the films was the fight between the ninth Angel because having Shinji fight Asuka rather than Toji to the sound of children singing against a guitar changed the entire tone of the scene.  It was a scene that was meant to be dark and disturbing but was instead confusing and, well, trying too hard to be dark and disturbing.  Another point I noted was the fact that an important moment where Eva Unit One moves on its own accord to save Shinji was left out.  Though you could make the argument that the creators left it out for time sake-which is in fact a good and valid reason-, it was crucial to explaining the complex connection between Shinji and the Eva, especially considering that it gets brought up more than once throughout the films.  And don’t get me started on the third film.

Having recently reviewed Evangelion 3.33, I don’t think I need to explain why I would bring it up.  One of the first things I said during the initial review was that it was the weakest of the movies and had problems that were far too noticeable.  That’s mostly because this film decided to be something completely different than what was cannon not just to the films but to the series.  For those who saw the preview at the end of Evangelion 2.22, the third film should have turned out similar to what the last few episodes were in the series (just with better writing and character development).  Instead, 3.33 throws out almost everything and completely rewrites the story.  The only detail that was kept was Kaworu and Shinji’s growing relationship.  This left the film being very inconsistent as a result.

So as a whole, the films improved on the original series a lot.  But when you get down to it, it wasn’t a spot on retelling.

And the winner is…Evangelion Rebuild

This was actually a pretty tough call to make, but what it ultimately came down to was which one told the better story.  And at the end of the day, Rebuild told the better story.  The series, though having much of the franchise’s foundations, had a lot of problems in terms of story and writing that made it suffer, leading to a confusing and dissatisfying ending.  Granted this is often attributed to production issues, but it’s not an excuse for poor writing.  And even though there’s still one more film in Rebuild that hasn’t come out yet (so technically speaking, it’s not even done yet), at least where it stands, it had the better ending.  I’m certainly not dismissing the series, but you can’t match a film series that was able to leave us off on a satisfying end while we wait for the final installment to come out.

And so that wraps up This is (Not) an Evangelion Event’s final Talkative Thursday!  Which one of these Evangelion stories did you think was better?  Where there other strengths or weakness that I missed?  And was I the only one who thought Evangelion 3.33 was a mess?  Seriously, that film had issues.  Share your thoughts in the comments below!  Till then stay tuned for next Sunday as I unveiled this month’s Character of the Month a little early.  Don’t worry, I’ll explain why Sunday!

-Hanime on Anime