Evangelion Megathread

**MrTicTac** · Sun, 07-10-2005, 09:33 AM

i bet if eva didnt have those religious names etc,, people wouldnt think its religious

and theres sooo many essays, papers on anime/evangelion (google it or something) if ur bored checki out some here:
link

**XanBcoo** · Sun, 07-10-2005, 02:34 PM

Of course any symbols and themes in an anime are going to be the ones that you infer yourself. That's literature, that's art.
I largely agree with Crows' analysis of the symbolism (mainly his "basic" and "abstract" level analysis), with the exception of the Christian Symbols (now that I think about it, I have read that quote from Kazuya before). If any of the christian symbology had any meaning behind them, I don't think they were intended. I believe it was as Y said. They're just a cool vehicle.

I also don't really see the Eva itself as a symbol for the entire series. Interesting parallel, but I don't think that's what was intended. Anno did what he wanted to do with the budget he had. I think the last two episodes represent what he wanted the viewer to get out of the show and are presented as such as a result of Gainax's low budget at that time. I don't think they appear as they do simply because they're a symbol for Anno's situation in creating the show.

**Aramis** · Mon, 07-11-2005, 05:51 AM

yeah well now that i think of it....everything in EVA can be connected to characters and events in christian myths...
how the first angel turns antarctic into an ocean of blood...and the "lance of longinus"...longinus is thought of as the name of the soldier/officer who executed jesus. could go on and on, here..

**?igma** · Mon, 07-11-2005, 12:51 PM

I agree, what they basically did was, "lets pull everything out of the bible that we can..and..tell them we never purposely chose it the way we make it..Since I'm on a brainrush anyways, BRILLIANT"

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

***masamuneehs*** · Mon, 07-11-2005, 06:49 PM

I agree with the above. I also thought Eva's religious references were silly for the most part (cross shaped explosions? please!) but towards the end it did harp on some interesting ideas that were really at the core of the series. When a show uses religious innuendo just for the sake of trying to be stylish, that's horrible (Chrno Crusade) , but Eva also had plot that was deeply tied to religion.

**Crows_Kill** · Mon, 07-11-2005, 08:38 PM

I'm not going to belabor the onvious, or apologize for my spelling, the point is there even if the edge isnt.
I:m glad eva still gets attention and can cause fan speculation after all this time. A mark of a good show is how much people argue over it.
The symbolism in eva is both gross and subtle- the obvious include the names, cross shaped explsions, and various art designs and icons.
The subtle include the use of the system sepharoth from the torra, as shown in the opening credits and the final episodes, very subtle referenaces to the names and assosiations of the angels and their "area of infulence" as described in the torra, dead sea scrolls, and other aprocrphal works. It also shows in the choice of not going for the use of the more common names of angels most are familiar with. Its like the argument of whether or not to even call then angels when the show fitst aired- the translators for some of the fan subs went with the more literal senshii or saint/spirit- some groupd wouldnt even translate it as either, they left it as senshii- then anno openly stated he wanted them to be called "angels" in the official release, openly telling the producers he wanted that exact name used spacifcly for its christian meaning- non-human servants of god.
Even the designs of the evas owe to religious symbology- but not christion. They're based on demons from the hindu faith, one with one eye, one with four eyes, and one with a huge horn. harbingers of the apocylpse from the hindu perspective. Look it up.
Arguing eva doesnt have religious symbols or themes is like saying mactoss doesnt have aircraft or naruto have ninjas. You can debate it point for point, (no they are mecha! they're shinobis not ninjas!) but the truth is onvious to anyone that watches the show.
As I've said before, great show, great thread, and thanks for starting the topic y, but the point is moot. Every person who watches the show can and should make up their own mind what it means to them and what the symbols mean. Thats what good art is about. But as to the creators intent and reasoning, its a google search away.

edit

heres a good read on the subject and links to more info.

http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/.../broderick_review.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neon_Genesis_Evangelion

http://dmoz.org/Arts/Animation..._Evangelion/Fan_Pages/

edit to am edit

I found the article- it was in the june/summer 99 issue fo animefastique, dont have a scan, but if you can find it its a good source for inf o hte series

**MrTicTac** · Tue, 07-12-2005, 12:12 AM

kinda lazy ~__~ only read this linkl http://wwwsshe.murdoch.edu.au/.../broderick_review.html

but damn, now thats the way to write/make a paper/presentation *golf clap* for that broderick dude

**XanBcoo** · Tue, 07-12-2005, 04:30 PM

So the religious symbols exist- that's a given. What they mean is debatable (if they mean anything at all).

More important questions:
Why does the fourth angel look like a penis?
Why is Asuka such a b****?
Is pepen really God?

**Crows_Kill** · Tue, 07-12-2005, 09:39 PM

Of course penpen is god!
All hail the antarctic aquatic saviour!

**Mut** · Wed, 08-24-2005, 02:11 AM

Evanfaglion sucks. Watch GSD!

**XanBcoo** · Wed, 08-24-2005, 04:06 PM

stfu Mut.
What happened to TSR?

edit: does anyone know the date when Eva is showing on Adult Swim?

***masamuneehs*** · Wed, 08-24-2005, 07:19 PM

Originally posted by: Mut@chi
Evanfaglion sucks. Watch GSD!

I really really hope you're joking.... Have YOU been watching GSD recently? It blows. It's animated very nicely and has some excellent battles, but everything else has been pretty shitty as of late in Destiny.

Watch Evangelion, a show that makes you think, rather than GSD, a show that tells you what to think.

EDIT: In response to Y's clarification, perhaps my comment is the inappropriate one then. But since I don't know quite what he was getting at I stick by my original statement.

Y · Wed, 08-24-2005, 07:20 PM

He was making a point that none of you were in the position to get. Don't worry.

EDIT:

Evangelion begins airing on Adult Swim on October 20th.

**aznimperialx** · Thu, 08-25-2005, 08:57 AM

I still don't know why there only showing Eva 10years later it was released.

**aznroyale** · Thu, 08-25-2005, 10:32 AM

cause its probaly still good for a lot of people

Y · Thu, 08-25-2005, 07:52 PM

Originally posted by: aznimperialx
I still don't know why there only showing Eva 10years later it was released.

Your grammar is horrible, but I think you're asking why it's being shown so long after release.

I don't know if you've actually watched Evangelion, but it's pretty self-evident why this wasn't aired. Anime wasn't nearly as popular, Cartoon Network wasn't nearly as zealous or powerful about acquiring new anime properties, and Evangelion's content would never have seen the light of day a decade ago.

**aznimperialx** · Thu, 08-25-2005, 09:10 PM

Originally posted by: Y

Originally posted by: aznimperialx
I still don't know why there only showing Eva 10years later it was released.

Your grammar is horrible, but I think you're asking why it's being shown so long after release.

I don't know if you've actually watched Evangelion, but it's pretty self-evident why this wasn't aired. Anime wasn't nearly as popular, Cartoon Network wasn't nearly as zealous or powerful about acquiring new anime properties, and Evangelion's content would never have seen the light of day a decade ago.

I have watch evangelion, i own the dvds. Although anime was not that popular in cartoon network, they did show the really high rating animes. And Evangelion will be on Adult Swim not cartoon network. Do you think after all these years, they will show evangelion's contents? Adult Swim will probably cut out the nude and really bloody voliences. Which will suck big time considering the Eva fights are great. If Evangelion was to be aired at Cartoon, think of all the editing they will do to it.

Y · Fri, 08-26-2005, 11:12 AM

Originally posted by: aznimperialx

I have watch evangelion, i own the dvds. Although anime was not that popular in cartoon network, they did show the really high rating animes. And Evangelion will be on Adult Swim not cartoon network. Do you think after all these years, they will show evangelion's contents? Adult Swim will probably cut out the nude and really bloody voliences. Which will suck big time considering the Eva fights are great. If Evangelion was to be aired at Cartoon, think of all the editing they will do to it.

Adult Swim didn't even exist a decade ago, and Adult Swim is a part of Cartoon Network. Also, no, I doubt it will be edited significantly besides the one or two nude scenes in the series itself.

**XanBcoo** · Fri, 08-26-2005, 01:46 PM

I was gonna say...there's only, like, 2 "nude" scenes in the entire series. And they cover everything up. The Rei scene in episode 5 will be interesting to see edited (if they edit it), and I don't think they will edit the scene after Misato has sex w/Kaji (they've had worse on AS)

In terms of the "bloody violences", there will not be *too* much editing going on here. Cartoon Network has come a long way from its days of editing anything and everything potentially offensive.

**LaZie** · Tue, 11-08-2005, 12:00 AM

I just started dling this and id have to say its great so far, only on ep 10.

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