understanding-evan-gel-ion.pdf

8/14/2019 Understanding-Evan-Gel-Ion.pdf

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With the recent series' Box Set release and the highly

anticipated American debut of its two theatrical follow-ups

approaching, Neon Genesis Evangelionis once again on the

minds and mouths of the anime fan community. Since it's

premiere in 1!, director "idea#i Anno's dar# mecha-

masterpiece has left it's indelible mar# on the anime industry,

and....as such wor#s that fore$er alter the course of all that

follow it are wont to do....it has alternately been described as a

wor# of Sheer %enius and the most &$errated iece of (rap in

recent memory. Whate$er your feelings regarding Evangelion, it

cannot be denied that the limits of what the animated film could

con$ey were expanded to a le$el that had ne$er pre$iously been

reached. erhaps no other wor# in the history of anime has been

as scrutini)ed, psychoanaly)ed, and generally pic#ed-apart to

such an extent. But to paraphrase a less-complicated American

'toon, Evangelionis li#e an onion* layers of allegory and hidden

meanings are peeled bac# only to re$eal se$eral more

underneath. With new legions of fans poised to experience this

complex psycho-roller-coaster for the first time in the coming

months, it seems li#e a good time to try and get to the core of

Neon Genesis Evangelion.
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Evangelionbegan as a +-episode anime tele$ision series

but uic#ly e$ol$ed into a cottage industry of models,

merchandise, feature-films, and e$en a sort of uasi-religion.

eenager Shin/i 0#ari is summoned to 234, a secret

organi)ation headed by his estranged father %endo. "uge

creatures #nown only as Angels ha$e mysteriously appeared and

are ra$aging the earth, and only 234's gigantic humanoid

2$angelions can defeat them. Shin/i must enter into the

Evangelionand control it in hand-to-hand combat with the Angels

if man#ind is to sur$i$e. ogether with fellow 2$a-pilots 3ei

Ayanami and Asu#a 5angley Sohryu, Shin/i must wor# under the

guidance of his commander and surrogate mother6isato

7atsuragi to defeat all 18 of the enigmatic Angels and pre$ent

the dreaded hird 0mpact which will trigger the end of the world.

5i#e many wor#s of fiction Evangelionis an allegory, but

most allegories function on only two le$els* the story itself and

it's symbolic meaning. &ne of the remar#able things about

Evangelionis that it functions on no less than four distinct le$els.

0t can be en/oyed at face $alue as an expertly reali)ed sci-fi

action ad$enture, but it is also a blea# satire of the genre, a


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coming-of-age parable, and a treatise on confronting loneliness

and uncertainty in the adult world. 2arly episodes bely the true

nature of the series, and indeed after $iewing the first few

installments one wonders what all the fuss is about, as

Evangelionappears to be nothing more than another ho-hum

entry into the already o$ercrowded Boy-ilots-%iant-3obot genre.

But $ery uic#ly is becomes apparent that there is much more

here than meets the eye, as a global conspiracy of literally

Biblical proportions is slowly re$ealed in tandem with the

degeneration of the main character's psyche, illustrated...in a

mar$elous brea#through use of animation...inside Shin/i's mind.

As if this weren't enough, Evangelionis at the same time a

re$isionist parody of the %iant 3obot show, e$en as it

masuerades as a serious entry into genre. &n a simpler le$el it

is an extraordinary character piece, containing some of the most

belie$able and in$ol$ing personalities e$er put to film, be it

animated or li$e-action.

0t was perhaps ine$itable that in trying to contain all these

weighty elements that something would brea#, and in

Evangelion's case it was the story. he labyrinthine plot is

constructed with the delicacy of a "ouse of (ards, and as later


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episodes pile on multiple uestions for e$ery answer gi$en it

becomes impossible for Anno to resol$e any of them by the

series' end. 0nstead Evangelion's infamous final two episodes are

de$oted entirely to examining the internal conflicts of its troubled

protagonists, which had at any rate become as much a part of

the show as giant-robot battles or apocalyptic conspiracy. Still,

from a pragmatic standpoint this is hardly an ending at all, and

from this perspecti$e Evangelionis a $ery unsatisfying $iewing

experience...li#e eating a chocolate only to find the nugget in the

middle is missing. An attempt at supplying a more con$entional

conclusion to the story was made in the two Evangelionfeature

films that followed in 18* 9Death and Rebirth9, which was a

recap of e$ents from the series with a few new tidbits of

information added, and 9The End of Evangelion9, which re$ealed

the ultimate purpose of the 2$angelions, the Angels, and the

mysterious "uman 0nstrumentality ro/ect. While the second

mo$ie pro$ides a definiti$e finale to the Neon Genesis Evangelion

saga, it still cannot explain the reasons behind the actions that

ta#e place, and ultimately in the final section of the film Anno

returns to the animated psycho-analysis of Shin/i that mar#ed the

end of the tele$isionseries.


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(reator:Writer:;irector "idea#i Anno has claimed that, in

his opinion, the mo$ies were not a necessary conclusion to his

wor#, and that the tele$ision ending, told in abstract animation

entirely in the character's minds, was all the ending that was

needed. hough it is hard to /ustify the series' abandonment of

it's own plotline, Anno is correct when he says that at it's heart

Evangelionis not about giant robots in the slightest. he

2$angelions, the Angels, and the myriad other plot de$ices

present are all allegorical symbols for more basic struggles of a

personal nature. Anno continues to use these symbols in the final

episodes but dispenses with the unimportant


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ad$enture fiction in general, for that matter=. Ad$enture heroes

customarily represent the audiences' aspirations* they are people

we'd li#e to be. Shin/i, con$ersely, is representati$e of the

audiences' reali)ations* his flaws we recogni)e in oursel$es. While

he certainly ualifies as an 9ad$enture hero9 times in Evangelion=, he has

much more in common with the doomed protagonists of %ree#

ragedy and Sha#espeare than 0ndiana ?ones or Amuro 3ay.

Abandoned as a young child by his seemingly uncaring father,

Shin/i belie$es himself unworthy of lo$e and acceptance, which

gi$es rise to a total lac# of trust in himself and in others. he first

half of Evangelionsees him build confidence in his own abilities


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Evangelionis about being alone, about feeling alone and

coming to terms with loneliness. But Shin/i is not alone in feeling

alone. Evangelion's other main players suffer from the exact same

fears and uncertainties they /ust deal with them in different ways.

he reclusi$e pilot of 2$a @nit->>, 3ei Ayanami, is completely

intro$erted....e$en more so than Shin/i one might say she

represents the end result of Shin/i's downward spiral. 234

&perations 6a/or 6isato 7atsuragi mas#s her loneliness with a

playful, carefree attitude....and large amounts of alcohol. 0n 9The

End of Evangelion9 it is re$ealed that e$en the minor characters

ha$e this fundamental emptiness at their core. But of these

supporting players it is most interesting to compare Shin/i with the

hot-tempered pilot of 2$a @nit->+, Asu#a 5angley Sohryu. At first

glance the two are complete opposites* Shin/i is passi$e, uiet,

and unassuming, while Asu#a is aggressi$e, outgoing, and

seemingly full of confidence. But through the lens of Evangelion's

extraordinary character de$elopment we learn that deep down

Asu#a is exactly li#e Shin/i. undamental feelings of inadeuacy

and worthlessness dri$e Asu#a to proclaim herself 9the best9 at

whate$er she sets out to do, and her fear of abandonment is


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allayed by con$incing herself that 9she doesn't need anybody9.

When it becomes apparent that she is in fact not 9the best9 2$a

pilot, she begins a mental collapse that parallels Shin/i's. heir

mental brea#down, and that of the similarly troubled 3ei and

6isato, is illustrated onscreen in a spectacular manner that

redefines the boundaries of animation, ta#ing the medium's

potential to portray anything the mind can concei$e to a new

extreme.

6idway through the production of the tele$ision run "ide#ai

Anno suffered a ner$ous brea#down, and it is at precisely this

point in the series that the first of many animated 9head-trips9

occur. Anno begins to use his characters as sounding boards for

his own internal struggles, but rather than ha$e them $oice their

concerns in a more traditional manner Anno utili)es the medium

of animation to ta#e us inside their own thoughts. 0ronically the

first sub/ect of these experimental character-analyses is not the

protagonist Shin/i but 3ei. As her subconscious spea#s offscreen

her train of thought is illustrated through uic# cuts of abstract

animation and static bac#grounds. 3andom images of flowers and

s#y segue into 3ei uestioning the meaning of her $ery self, and a


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transparent image of 3ei floats by which in turn is replaced by a

$ision of many 3eis in an endless row. he effect is /arring, and

more than a little surreal. 6ost of the ensuing hallucinations are

de$oted to Shin/i although Asu#a and 6isato get some time under

the microscope as well. hese scenes appear with increasing

freuency in later episodes, and e$entually their length and

intensity are compounded to the point where it is no longer Shin/i

and his friends who are being mentally examined but the $iewers

themsel$es.

By the final two episodes these animated therapy sessions ha$e

completely o$erridden the rest of the show, and as stated pre$iously

Evangelion's finale is played out entirely in the minds of the four main

characters. A barrage of existential uestions such as 9What do you

fearC9 and 9Why do you pilot 2$aC9 are flashed across the screen as

Shin/i and company struggle to answer them, and the audience listens

for solutions to uestions of identity that plague all man#ind. As the

uestions are repeated their answers gradually change until the root of

all their troubles is laid bare* all fear being abandoned by others due

to a percei$ed lac# of worth. he last episode )eroes in exclusi$ely on

Shin/i, and as his $ery mind is deconstructed the animation


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complements the process in Evangelion's boldest artistic endea$or. ull

animation regresses to storyboards that in turn gi$e way to a blac#-

and-white scribble of Shin/i floating in a white $oid. old that he is free

of all worldly restraints, Shin/i is uncertain of is own existence. he

$oice of his father, %endo, obligingly offers to gi$e his son a restriction

to orient him, and a blac# line is scrawled across the screen for Shin/i

to wal# upon. 9Dou now ha$e a top and a bottom,9 6isato tells him,

9but you may no longer fly.9


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Shin/i's estranged father, is the specter of 3e/ection,

6isunderstanding, and Betrayal. Shin/i's brief friendship with the

cryptic 7aoru agisa is representati$e of blind, total and unconditional

lo$e and acceptance, but li#e those things 7aoru turns out to not be

real at all. he most complex symbol in the series, howe$er, is the

Evangelionitself. iloting the 2$a pro$ides the means by which Shin/i

and Asu#a acuire their sense of purpose. 2motionally stunted in all

other areas of her life, Asu#a has focused exclusi$ely on the

Evangelion, her 9/ob9, to gi$e meaning to her existence. As she loses

the ability to control her 2$a late in the series she loses the only sense

of $alue she #new. Shin/i also feels that his 9/ob9, piloting 2$a, is his

only worthwhile uality. @nli#e Asu#a, who happily turned a blind eye

to this dilemma until it was too late, Shin/i frets o$er finding meaning

to his life outside his wor#. hus, the Evangelionis representati$e of

our duties and responsibilities....those things we don't necessarily

want to do but ha$e to do. 0t important to ta#e pride in them but it is

also important to find other things to ta#e pride in as well, else they

become your only identifier.

Were that all the Evangelionrepresented it would be impressi$e

enough, but there is an additional, reudian side to the mecha

monster as well. he central Evangelion, Shin/i's @nit->1, is literally


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and figurati$ely his own mother. Dui 0#ari was absorbed into @nit->1 in

an experiment during her son's toddler years, and the percei$ed

indifference of his father has made it impossible for Shin/i to come to

terms with what he was told was his mother's accidental death.

0ronically, years later Shin/i is dependant on @nit->1 for a means to

sur$i$e. Beginning his /ourney into adulthood, Shin/i is both resentful

of this dependence and at the same time afraid to lea$e the comfort

and safety it pro$ides. 0t has e$en been suggested that Shin/i's

entering into @nit->1 is a reudian 9return to the womb9, and that his

struggle to be free of the 2$a is his 9rite of passage9 into manhood.

Shin/i must learn to let go of his mother before he can grow as person

if he hopes to attain a serious adult relationship with the girl he cares

for. ot surprisingly, his dealings with his female costars are mar#ed

by a se$ere lo$e:hate relationship.

Shin/i harbors semi-romantic feelings for the three women

closest to him, but his distrusting nature pre$ents him from de$eloping

any #ind of meaningful relationship with them, and inside he angrily

belie$es them of intentionally building barriers to pre$ent him from

getting close. Again it is Asu#a that it is most interesting to consider in

this light. Sensing a #indred soul beneath her aggressi$e exterior


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perhaps admiring the determination he lac#s=, Shin/i comes to lo$e

her, but does not #now how to express it. 5i#ewise, it is hinted that

Asu#a has similarly romantic feelings for Shin/i, but her ego pre$ents

her from admitting it e$en to herself. his is illustrated in an hilarious

seuence in which Asu#a, feigning boredom, as#s, 9"ey Shin/i, you

wanna #iss meC9 Shin/i stammers and blushes until an exasperated

Asu#a wal#s up and #isses him until he literally turns blue. Afterwards

she runs off screaming 92ww, grossE9. Set against this lighthearted

seuence is a similarly staged scene in 9The End of Evangelion9 that is

one of the most disturbing moments in the entire Evangelioncanon. 0n

another of his head-trips, Shin/i imagines the time he and Asu#a

shared their first #iss, although instead of said #iss Shin/i confesses his

lo$e to Asu#a. Asu#a accuses him of lo$ing her purely for selfish

reasons that he is only running to someone...anyone...for comfort.

@nsure of his own self, Shin/i has feared this to be true all along. At

the end of his rope, feeling absolutely re/ected and angry at her for

denying him, Shin/i strangles Asu#a. ;ri$en mad by his internal

struggles, Shin/i almost strangles Asu#a for real later in the mo$ie.

She is sa$ed by finally admitting her feelings to him, and as she gently

caresses his chee# he snaps out of his delusion and collapses in tears.

By opening their hearts to one another Shin/i and Asu#a at last ha$e a


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chance at happiness. @nfortunately the brutality of this scene obscures

its tender meaning, and the Evangelionsaga ends on a dour note

despite reprising the positi$e message from its tele$ision conclusion.

0n fact the entire film is mar#ed by a per$asi$e dar#ness that

eclipses the already dar# tele$ision series. 0llustrating the real-world

e$ents that occurred during the final introspecti$e 4 episodes, the

action is as sa$age and uncompromising as the internal struggles that

complement it. As Shin/i's mental world collapses, hird 0mpact is at

last initiated and the physical world begins to end as well. 6irroring

the dar#est hours of its protagonist's brea#down, the apocalyptic

e$ents of 9The End of Evangelion9 are fittingly nightmarish. While

Shin/i e$entually decides that his life is worth li$ing, his return to a

barren and ra$aged reality reminds us that merely changing your

perspecti$e on life will not immediately alter it. Shin/i must continue to

stri$e to attain happiness* no one is going to hand it to him on a sil$er

plate.

(learly Neon Genesis Evangelionhas a lot to say. he garbled

manner in which it sometimes says it, howe$er, has lead some to

accuse Anno of crafting an elaborate Wild %oose (hase, pretentiously

spewing a bunch of existential babble with no real meaning. While it is


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true that Evangelionta#es the long road to get to it's conclusions, the

basic truths at the /ourney's end are no less $alid. Anyone who has

e$er felt alone, unsure, and afraid should be able to identify with

Shin/i's plight, and 0 daresay that includes e$ery one of us. @ltimately

deciding to ta#e the good along with the bad, Shin/i will continue to

plug away at 5ife, e$en if he is literally the last man on earth.

But one must dig e$en deeper to get to the true heart of

Evangelion's lasting appeal, and it ultimately pro$es to be remar#ably

simple. 6any of 2$a's detractors belie$e, incorrectly, that the show

owes it's widespread popularity to it's psychological mumbo-/umbo.

he fact is, howe$er, that none of 2$a's existentialism would wor#

without totally con$incing human personalities to bac# it up. he real

mar$el of Evangelionis not it's abstract ending but the carefully

crafted characteri)ations that inhabit it. "ad Anno not ta#en the time

to carefully delineate his character's personas the experimental

sections would be meaningless and insufferable, a point many of

Evangelion's imitators fail to ta#e into consideration. 2$a's more sane,

early episodes are choc# full of intense character de$elopment,

sometimes e$en to the exclusion of the action...something unheard of

in a so-called 9action show9. Anno will often spend two-thirds of an

episode's airtime exploring the interplay between his $arious


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characters, de$oting only the closing minutes to 2$a-$s-Angel action

hinting that e$en early on Anno is less concerned with mecha battles

than with what ma#es Shin/i and company tic#. &ne would thin# that

this would ma#e for a $ery dull action show, but nothing could be

further from the truth. Anno fleshes out his characters so completely

that the $iewer becomes totally engrossed in their actions, and e$ery

Angel battle


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interact with one another bring all sides of their personalities into

focus, and the result is sometimes somber, sometimes shoc#ing,

sometimes hilarious...but always entertaining. Asu#a's competiti$e

nature piues a similarly competiti$e side in Shin/i's usually passi$e,

compromising personality. Shin/i's $ocali)ations of his troubles

in$ariably elicits an angry 9What are you, stupidCE9 from the seemingly

confident Asu#a, which ser$es to bring into sharper focus the fact that

she too suffers from the same doubts. "is superiority in battle creates

feelings of resentment in Asu#a, and she mas#s her concern for

Shin/i's safety when he is in danger with an air of nonchalance, though

her telltale dialogue subtly re$eals her true feelings. he chronic

drin#ing habits of 6isato amplify her sense of playfulness and fun

when she's around the young 2$a-pilots, but a night on the town with

her ex-lo$er 7a/i re$eals the dependent and insecure woman

underneath. 2$en the uiet 3ei is gi$en depth to her otherwise one-

sided persona by her interactions with Shin/i and %endo, which re$eal

a growing mistrust of the elder 0#ari and an increasing lo$e and

respect for his son. By the time Evangelioncomes to a close, e$en

comparati$ely minor players li#e %endo and 234 scientist 3itus#o

A#agi ha$e re$ealed multiple facets to their personalities, ma#ing for

an anime world inhabited by a cast of totally con$incing human


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indi$iduals.

0t is because of this remar#able depth of characteri)ation, seldom

achie$ed so successfully in anime or any other medium, that the

audience stic#s with Evangelionthrough its tangled and ultimately

unfinished plotline. By the time the story begins to unra$el in the

series' third act its players ha$e been so well established they are able

to entertain on a blan# stage


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many other anime series put together. 5o$e it or hate it, it is destined

to fore$er stand as one of the most significant and influential wor#s in

anime history.

understanding-evan-gel-ion.pdf

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