Neon Genesis Evangelion – End Analysis

Author: nova

So I finally reached the end of Evangelion and as I promised, I’m now posting a little something about it. That being said however, it turned out there wasn’t much to post about. The commenters of the previous post were totally right – EVA was not a deep life-changing experience. So I have come to the conclusion that without firsthand experience on the Eva’s generation of anime one cannot completely comprehend the reasons behind its succeess and appreciate it to the fullest extent.

However, I do recognize that Eva is a show with solid character design, interesting plot and overall execution that leaves little room for complaints. Despite its age Evangelion remains as a show that can challenge the newer generation in almost any field and emerge out on top. Having said this, I must point out that I can also well understand people who disliked the show. Shinji is a hit-or-miss male lead you either like or hate – though I must say I like this type better than the tabula rasa-type protagonists popularized by eroge-adaptations. I could sympathize with Shinji to a great extent because I was about equally pathetic back in my teenage days. Long story short, the enjoyability of Evangelion is largely tied to how the viewer sees Shinji.

As for the ending many RAEG about, it did work quite well for me. Gainax made a daring move of suddenly changing the focus of the entire show from battling Angels into the inner struggle of the main characters and particularly Shinji. Sure a lot of things were left hanging since not much anything about Angels, Adam, Second Impact, Seele and whatnot were explained in the end, but I was too well drawn to the breakin-thru-ma-angst-sequence in the ending to even notice this. When I did realize how little answers were actually given I didn’t feel disappointed. Maybe it’s because as a long-term heavy science fiction reader I’ve long since understood and accepted the fact that masterpieces rarely end up spoon-feeding answers to everything.

Evangelion follows these general heavy scifi guidelines of an open ending and chooses to forget about the world and its salvation. The entire ending was simply personal resolve on Shinji’s part to understand his own value and place in the world. I could even say that in the end the whole plot about Angels and the world being threatened was simply a tool by which we could focus on Shinji and his personal struggle as a mere human being to understand the relationship between himself and the world around him. Bottom line: I was very satisfied with the overall execution and conclusion of Neon Genesis Evangelion and can recommend it to anyone with the right set of mind. Just don’t look for answers to the most obvious questions. Nevertheless Eva is a decent show. But is it the best thing since sliced bread? I’ll have Fuuko take that for me.

I will be proceeding with the movies soon and write another post once I’m done. Also, to my Finnish readers I wish a happy vacation week. Take it easy and watch out for bald people.