Sadomasochism 02 – Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Part of the Sadomasochism Series.

Neon Genesis Evangelion has been enshrined as one of the best things to ever hit television. It has been acclaimed and praised to be utterly grasping and psychological , to be creative and full of plot twists. I say, NGE is as full of plot twists as I am of bullshit.

The basic story of NGE talks about a Normal High-school Boy (TM) Shinji Ikari, who is not only a wimp but as well as pretty much a failure in life. One day, he gets pulled by his father to pilot a mecha , or EVA, in Tokyo-3’s most potent anti-angel defence. The EVA is also immensely powerful. To prevent the world from reaching the third impact, the EVA pilots must fight off the ‘Angels’, supernatural beings which constantly strike Tokyo-3. Along with guidance from his father, Shinji is joined by a silent emo lass and a psychotic German girl .Together, the fate of humanity (probably) rests on their hands.

I’m guessing that everyone’s watched Neon Genesis Evangelion before. You’ve watched it, your neighbor’s watched it, your grandmother’s watched it – pretty much everyone not worth giving a damn about. ( As much as I like the series, given the nature of the Sadomasochism series I must not run away.)

The story is pathetic. It’s sort of like a turn-based RPG, where it flows in this order:

Angel appears

High school life

Some drama

Action!!!!!one1!!1eleven!1

Plot Twist

Drama

Angel defeated

Drama

Plot twist

Not to say that isn’t good. It’s bad in this series. Neon Genesis Evangelion seems to have OCD for unnecessary drama at some points and loads of plot twists. It’s as though each episode introduces another plot twist – without resolving the previous ones. It also tries to be as sophisticated as possible by making plenty of biblical references and whatnot, in an attempt to sound deep and psychological. The last two episodes were a culmination of its efforts, with nothing making any sense at all. Perhaps it’s because it’s so deep that stupid me no understand show-show.

Characters – what characters? Reading some reviews of NGE over internet forums, I feel disappointed. They raise Shinji Ikari to like their holy guidance in life, with what seemed to be some sort of cult following for him, not to mention his glorification as “one of the most realistic characters in Anime.” What realistic? He whines all the damn time, he avoids encounters with women who actually like him, he has women randomly fall in love with his ballsy character, and not to mention what seems to be the position to protect the whole goddamned human race is vested in his hands. NERV, being a highly advanced and resourceful organisation, not only has its mecha all operated by children, emotion-ridden children, but also placing it into this guy, who seems as though he’d die in a panic attack if you turn off the lights. It makes even more sense seeing as how his father’s the goddamned leader of NERV.  For some reason I have yet to understand, despite Shinji’s multiple rejections and unwillingness to pilot an EVA, NERV persists on choosing him, instead of selecting someone with actual balls. Yes, we know he has ‘balls’ since he could masturbate and ejaculate to Asuka’s body when she was in a coma, but you know what I mean.

Asuka and Rei are slightly better than this wretch of a character, but both are highly flawed as well.  Taking things from a objective standpoint, instead of “realistic” and “awesome”, we get bitchy and annoying. It’s sort of like a literature exam, where sometimes, you see into the passage what you were taught, for instance a particular theme in a passage of 1984, even though it’s not there. The ideas involved are similar, but not quite there. Similarly, because Asuka and Rei are revered as goddesses, thus the enhanced reputation. Asuka was brash and annoying, constantly showing how Shinji’s not the only one to have issues, fucking up the character completely. Rei’s your typical combat-trained ice-heart girl, hence the name (Rei similar connotation to snow and cold, Ayanami is a battleship) or something like that, but when it boils down to it she lacks something in her head. Called logic, or common sense, if you will. In fact, you could even say she lacks good taste. Of course, everyone loves the main protagonist, so both Rei and Asuka fall somewhat in love with Shinji. Not to mention that she has plenty of backups in the basement -despite being termed as one of the most realistic characters in Anime.

Perhaps what could have been more mediocre than the characters was the plot. More specifically, the ending, which many people claim to have “thoroughly fucked their mind – in a good way.” No, not really. It ends nothing, it means nothing, it makes no sense, yet it’s welcomed like a millionaire at the cat house. Moreover, you’d have to watch the movie to understand it – highly convenient shit. Perhaps it’s a way to make us feel attached to the show, but even that’s failing. Let’s take the example of the characters, for instance, Asuka’s ‘porcupine effect’ – the more she tries to fit in, the more she does not. Similarly, the more they try and make us attached to her, the more they don’t. To quote a review on MAL.net:

(Courtesy of Lind_L_Tailor)

“But all of these add to what Gainax does best: Immersion. I don’t think i’d be overstating it to say that Evangelion is the most emmersive, involving anime there has ever been, and you genuinely feel an attachment to this world and its inhabitants. Except Asuka. I could rant for a loooooong time about why I hate Asuka, but let’s just say she’s an irritating bitch who has a large amount of reverse character development.”

In summary, NGE suffers from poor storyline and characterization. Despite NGE having numerous pros, all of this are offset by its cons, thus resulting in general mediocrity throughout.

Sorry in advance.