planning on finishing NGE this week
after ep20 i got so confused
Confused as hell too, and by the time I finished I was really disappointed. This show had been talked up and it's honestly watching it is one of my biggest regrets in life. The disappointment destroyed my mental health and I couldn't enjoy anything for well over a year. It's still affecting me a lot, and before I do anything I always worry it's going to disappoint me the way Evangelion did and that I won't understand it.
I implore you, please, drop it. There is nothing to enjoy. It went from an okay mecha to suddenly really strange and confusing. Looking it up later it seems like the show is meant to be about depression and you're meant to feel bad for the characters, but if you didn't get any of that and it's confusing for you, again, drop it.
yeah i feel like thats how everyone was confused af
I think I only had 1 person warn me not to watch it, he didn't really explain why. But I had read nothing but praise for it online in previous years, and anyone I spoke to said it was perfection. One went as far as to say it's so perfect I'll be let down by all other media forever. But just like my friend that didn't explain why I shouldn't watch, all the recommends came with the condition of going in blind. With almost a decade of hype and almost unanimous praise I didn't think I'd be let down. I guess that also made it hit harder.
Someone else said Evangelion is full of symbolism. And that's probably true. I'm just... Shocked that everyone that recommended it to me was able to pick up on it and understand the feelings of the characters, and that I didn't get any of it. This thread is the first time I've seen so many people air the same greivenses with Evangelion that I had!
I didnt liked the ending of the anime and I didnt wanted to see the movie so I left it there and now I'm glad I did it.
what made you glad you didn't watch the film? did you like the rest of the show up until the last 2 episodes?
Yes, I did and I wanted to see the conclusion of the whole conflict and what made me glad was not wasting my time watching the end of evangelion and then waiting years for the rebuilds to come out.
if you wanted to watch the conclusion to the conflict happen more concretely, then why tf wouldn't you watch end of evangelion? also you don't need to watch the rebuilds if you just want to finish the show lmfao, they're a sequel but they're not needed unless if you want to watch their stories in specific, definitely not needed to understand the original show and eoe either. watch that movie brother.
thought it was amazing, was really blown away because I never really saw a piece of art like it at the time and it probably laid the foundations for a lot of my taste today. eoe still remains my second favorite film. it's understandable to be confused at the point you're at, considering it's an honestly convoluted plot, although I do hope you enjoy the last 6 episodes and end of evangelion, I would be surprised if you didn't considering your taste ig. the plot itself isn't exactly why people love it anyways.
I ended up somewhat satisfied with the interpretation that I had. I can see someone who is in a bad headspace absolutely connecting with this series tho. Its presentation was on point, it just displays this raw emotion of extremely broken people that most series just miss.
TL;DR - I personally couldnt connect with the characters, but I can see someone liking it.
That's sort of the consensus I've heard, but I'd like to chime in on your point about people in a bad headspace. This is something one friend brought up to me when recommending it many years ago, as back then, before watching and even after watching I still have a lot of mental health problems.
I didn't get the characters at all, what was going on, or that they were supposed to be depressed. I had no idea you were meant to feel bad for the characters, I found them to be very flat and devoid of any interesting qualities. Nothing about any of them stood out to me except for Gendo for being somewhat mysterious. I can safely say I understood nothing about Evangelion for watching, not a single thing. I was waiting for a plot reveal and didn't get that, and didn't find any of the characters relatable.
For sure, some might connect, but I think it's something that if you don't understand it, no matter your headspace you're not going to enjoy it.
I could understand you not understanding the plot because I couldnt get fuck all of what was happening midway while watching it I do feel thats not the reason why you watch Evangelion, its for the characters and if you personally didnt care or connect with the characters then you wouldnt try to dig deeper than what the show presents.
I couldnt connect with the characters but I did try my best to understand the subtext on what they are, and to me they are extremely well written. Like I could see someone who has personal self-worth issues connecting with someone like Shinji for example.
That's probably I never even thought there might be subtext. It's not something I've ever looked for in anything, I don't pay attention to that kind of stuff. If it's not on the surface, 9 times out of 10 I won't get it. But since I didn't understand any of the characters. For example I also have self-worth and self-esteem issues but didn't even realise Shinji was meant to.
Perhaps they're well written if you know what to look for, but I would prefer if their actions very clearly demonstrated it or, better yet, if it was said outright.
Oh no I get you. I have seen shows that is in the same vein as Eva, where I couldnt give a fuck to try to dig deeper than whats on the surface and just left unsatisfied. I think thats more of a healthy way to see entertainment instead of the opposite way where everything needs to be deep and philosophical.
I agree, and want to get back to that someday. Even though I didn't understand Eva it's given me this fear of missing things in shows, so I end up trying to focus so hard that I can't see the forest for the trees. It is slowly going away coming up on 2 years later but it underlines your point about not trying to see everything as deep and philosophical.
I mostly felt a bit of melancholy, since the series was especially painful in the last stretch of episodes + movie. Many tears were shed. I was also a bit confused, but luckily I could not stop thinking about it for days which gave me the perfect opportunity to fully sort out my feelings towards it. And now it's one of my favs lol.
I Can understand why so many anime fans always confused by Eva ending because this anime have A LOT of symbolism, Which made this anime is harder to understand for people who don't understand ANY of those symbols (Including me). Also, IIRC, Mr. Anno didn't directly tell us what are actually happening in NGE. He pretty wanted to us to thinking what are actually happening in NGE series (This kind of Story telling made got confused but ended up still love this anime in the end)
It was great. I saw 25 & 26 and tried my best to understand it - couldn't. Then saw EoE, still didn't understand it. Then I read up a load of stuff about it, and rewatched it, things started making more sense. I understood what it was trying to convey, and all of the highly unique and groundbreaking ways it went about doing it. I've seen it many times now.
It's a piece of fiction that does not shy away from highlighting the worst in people. Anno was using many of the characters to explore and deconstruct his own depressive mental state.
I get that it's confusing, but you just need to put a bit of effort in and read around and then it comes together. Although I also get that most people don't come to a piece of entertainment to put 'effort' into it, which is valid. Definitely not for everyone.
felt amazing, and even better after eoe. seeing the conclusion to shinji's character was mindblowing, the most shocking part about finishing it is how many people don't like the ending !??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?? i adore both the last 2 eps as well as the eoe ending, i believe both of them were masterfully done and provide us some of the best quotes and just overall moments in all anime. I think a lot of people prefer what I refer to as the "fmab ending" rather than the "eoe ending". some people prefer to see every plot point be tied up and just have the story be done and that's it, versus having open ended endings (monster, eoe) that you can sit on and interpret for years to come,, you can interpret monsters "empty bed" 100 different ways, whereas fmab just kind of ends, yk? and that's 100000% okay, please dont mistake me as attacking either preference lmao, people can watch/read things however they want and its valid, art is subjective and interpretational, you can prefer what you want, i just wholeheartedly believe both nge and eoe endings are masterpieces