Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-14138255-20160921034730

Inspired by a discussion on a completely unrelated thread, I want to try to make a review thread/maybe series, reviewing whatever I want on an irregular basis. I will leave it up to vote on whether I make a thread for each thing I review. With that said, I will review the thing that inspired this: Neon Genesis Evangelion

Background: Evangelion (currently #4 on my personal anime list, above RWBY but below Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Rebellion. Note that RWBY is still being made), is an anime made in 1995 by Studio Gainax and is an entry into the Humongous Mecha genre. However the show's creator, Hideaki Anno (who was suffering from clinical depression and going to therapy at the time) was disgusted by the mech anime and anime's otaku fanbase at the time and decided to incorporate some of his experiance and disgust into the show by putting it through the deconstruction wringer. Budget-wise, the show suffered, spending almost all of their budget on the fight scenes and being forced to stretch out the rest of the show with minimalistic still shots and shortcuts (with the finale even devolving into concept art).

Synopsis: The year is 2015. In the year 2000, a cataclysmic event known as Second Impact (after the First Impact, the one that killed the dinosaurs) has exterminated a clean half of humanity and damaged Earth's biosphere, resulting in (among other things) an eternal summer (with the icecaps having melted during Second Impact). In the present day, a mysterious kaiju appears in Tokyo-3, immune to all conventional weaponry and identified only as an Angel (the first of 16 to appear). In response, a UN/Japanese task force known as NERV (created solely to prepare for the Angels' arrival and combat them) mobilizes the Evangelions, giant robots that can fight the Angels in personal combat. Shinji Ikari, a meek, shy teenager, is retrieved and ordered by his father (who is in command of NERV and ditched him when he was a child) to get in the robot he's never seen before, fight an alien monstrosity that can kill him, and continuously risk his life afterward. Along the way we meet: Misato, his guardian and operations officer at NERV; Rei, the mysterious and emotionless Eva pilot who came before him; Asuka, Japanese/German tsundere pilot who bases her entire being on being the best Eva pilot; and many more.

Actual Review: The show itself is filled with cool ideas, with the way NERV operates reminding me pleasently of XCOM (a multi-national organization dedicated to fighting an invading alien race, getting ludicrous amounts of money to combat them, while trying to keep it as underwraps as possible). Shinji as a character is refreshingly different from other mech anime protagonists. Rather than being a hot-blooded, cocksure protagonist who all too willingly becomes a child soldier in a giant mech, Shinji is a sensitive, meek kid who isn't sure of his abilites and has been told to fight an alien being in a robot he's never seen before, he realistically starts freaking out. A goodway through, the show begins examining the characters extensively, questioning their motives and how they act. The finale in particular is a confusing trip dedicated to Shinji finding himself (if you don't have a feed that adds subtitles to the Japanese text, you will be lost). The audio and voice acting is really good as well (especially in the 90s when voice acting was sub-par by modern standards), with constant ambient audio throughout (get used to hearing cicadas in the background).

Legacy: The show is resonsible for the Rei Ayanami expy (blue hair, pale skin, red eyes, lack of emotions,  etc), which has often been copied in anime (and Bloodborne for some reason). The basic plot summary has also provided inspiration for the film Pacific Rim.

Recommendation: Yes. If nothing else, it'll make you think. There are some things that require a more open mind and patience. However it is a cool show with good visuals and plot (if you can follow it). 