Conversation

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  1. so NGE is really good, why do I put off watching good things for so long

    Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:50:59 UTC from web
    1. @rarity the Next GEneration

      Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:51:25 UTC from web
      1. @tiffany screw Star Trek

        Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:51:47 UTC from web
        1. @rarity star trekt

          Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:52:00 UTC from web
          1. @tiffany Star Wars forever

            Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:52:19 UTC from web
            1. @rarity spaceballs

              Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:52:36 UTC from web
    2. @rarity Yes, it is a fantastic show. What episode are you on?

      Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:53:00 UTC from web
      1. @northernnarwhal halfway through 12

        Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:53:40 UTC from web
        1. @rarity It's a shame that despite being an absolute watershed for the anime industry, so many anime clearly influenced by NGE completely miss the point of NGE. It was never about the fact that it was "a robot show, but dark!", it worked because it was a strong character study that didn't pander to its audience.

          Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 22:58:56 UTC from web
          1. @northernnarwhal it's really interesting watching this after seeing Pacific Rim, and seeing how much NGE influences it really. and yeah this barely is a mecha show, way more about the characters

            Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 23:01:11 UTC from web
            1. @rarity Oh yeah, the concept of "mecha" only really exists as a storytelling vehicle, the show itself is not at all about robots or even saving the world or anything like that. It's very much character driven, and is actually a really well constructed narrative in that regard, especially if you include the End of Evangelion film.

              Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 23:04:37 UTC from web
              1. @northernnarwhal Cerulean told me that End of Evangelion is awful and ruins everything though

                Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 23:05:02 UTC from web
                1. @rarity Wait, what? EoE completely justifies the series, it's the emotionally logical conclusion the series. There are parallels to both contexts and events from throughout the show and its ending is a damn near perfect execution of a lot of the shows major themes and ideas. I have to disagree with Cerulean here, you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by not watching EoE.

                  Thursday, 30-Apr-15 00:22:20 UTC from web
                  1. @northernnarwhal well damn now I don't know what to think

                    Thursday, 30-Apr-15 00:22:56 UTC from web
                    1. @rarity I'd say watch it and come to your own conclusions about it.

                      Thursday, 30-Apr-15 00:23:38 UTC from web
                  2. @northernnarwhal EoE is a bad film and you have bad opinions. It has no structure, lacks pacing, and tries to obscure both of these things through deliberately shocking imagery and obtuse language. It irrevocably damages the characters for literally zero emotional /or/ story payoff.

                    Thursday, 30-Apr-15 07:51:18 UTC from web
                    1. @ceruleanspark I'm just agree to disagree here. It's not that EoE has no structure, it's that it eschews conventional structure. It can still be broken apart into 3 relatively coherent acts if you examine the core narrative of the film. I would also disagree that the imagery is deliberately shocking, I feel that sex is an incredibly prolific metaphor throughout not only EoE but also NGE as a show, it's just much more overtly presented in EoE. The characters are given much better emotional closure and act the way they would given their context and motivations up to episode 24 of NGE (wherein we assume EoE picks off from). EoE is also generally the best representation of what ultimately composes Eva: the theme of human interaction that anchors the series. It's not meant to work on formal logic but emotional logic, and Shinji receives great emotional closure to his character arc come the finale of the film. I personally think EoE justifies NGE in pretty much every way.

                      Thursday, 30-Apr-15 19:57:59 UTC from web
                      1. @northernnarwhal *just going to

                        Thursday, 30-Apr-15 20:01:47 UTC from web
                      2. @northernnarwhal The characters are given much better emotional closure They all die! That's not emotional closure, just physical! I would also disagree that the imagery is deliberately shocking, A crucified Eva Unit 01 flying out of a giant space grape in the forehead of a giant naked teenager rubbing the souls of humanity all over her naked body. If a teenager wrote this, you'd just post "2edgy4me" and have done with it

                        Thursday, 30-Apr-15 20:43:19 UTC from web
                        1. @ceruleanspark If I recall they die during the events of the film but are brought back later, as Instrumentality is reversed at the end of the film. And yeah, the characters all do get emotional closure. Shinji realizes the worth and value of human interaction (which is ultimately what causes him to reverse Instrumentality) gains self respect for the first time in his life. Rei vindicates her contrived existence by inducing Third Impact through her own volition, effectively becoming the closest the series has gotten to the notion of "god" and giving Shinji a world where he no longer needs to worry about human interaction, but also gives him the explicit choice to reverse this process. Asuka is finally shown the finality of her own pride through her physical death, but her physical rebirth allowed her to reflect on her hubris. I also think context is incredibly crucial to the scene you described, because yeah, taken out of context you can paint it as being pretty damn edgy.

                          Thursday, 30-Apr-15 21:43:44 UTC from web
                        2. @ceruleanspark But that's only really looking at it literally and sort of divorcing what it represents in the wider scheme of Evangelion, and that's intimacy, which of course relates back to that central anchoring theme of human interaction. And of course the most explicit show of intimacy between two human beings is sex, so sexuality is used a metaphor (not to mention through what's in my opinion pretty gorgeous cinematography and music. Not only that, but as mentioned before that Rei is essentially "god" at that point so her caressing the collective souls of humanity is in relation to the way the presence of some sort of omnipotence watching over humanity is present throughout NGE in the mise en scene, with intimacy again being a deep expression of that.

                          Thursday, 30-Apr-15 21:44:50 UTC from web
                        3. @ceruleanspark Perhaps the best example of this omnipotence is in how an apparition of Rei is both seen by Shinji at the very beginning of NGE and the very end of EoE, a parallel that not gives the narrative a stronger structure but also shows the transcendence of time of Rei's godlike being.

                          Thursday, 30-Apr-15 21:45:03 UTC from web
                        4. @ceruleanspark Keep in mind this is all pretty much my interpretation and by extension my opinion on the film. You're not "wrong", and I don't think I am either. That's just sort of why I would say I disagree with you on the film.

                          Thursday, 30-Apr-15 21:48:02 UTC from web
                          1. @northernnarwhal I don't think either of us is right per se, but I find the discourse interesting.

                            Thursday, 30-Apr-15 21:50:36 UTC from web
                            1. @ceruleanspark Oh yeah, definitely. One of the best things about art as polarizing as Evangelion, especially the film End of Evangelion, is that the dissonance in opinions makes for a great exchange of ideas and interpretations.

                              Friday, 01-May-15 02:32:12 UTC from web
          2. @northernnarwhal What's ironic is that the Rebuild films also totally miss the point of NGE.

            Wednesday, 29-Apr-15 23:05:31 UTC from web
            1. @northernnarwhal That rather depends on what you think the point of NGE was, I think. On a "meta" level, Rebuild is a critique of Eva itself, with each film targeting specific aspects of the Eva "fandom". (respectively: nostalgia, fanservice/spectacle and intellectual Potato Knishesion/"Deep"-ness)

              Thursday, 30-Apr-15 07:59:24 UTC from web
              1. @ceruleanspark http://pny.lv/fcf6

                Thursday, 30-Apr-15 08:00:37 UTC from web
                1. @thelastgherkin I made my feelings on EoE clear when you watched it.

                  Thursday, 30-Apr-15 08:19:38 UTC from web
                2. @thelastgherkin I want a full comic book series

                  Thursday, 30-Apr-15 12:34:34 UTC from web
                  1. @l1ghtsword Internet Contrarian meets his match! http://pny.lv/fcp3

                    Thursday, 30-Apr-15 13:09:03 UTC from web
              2. @ceruleanspark And you're right about the Rebuilds, they are critiques of the fandom. The problem is they only really work as conversation pieces and fall apart as narratives because they're going off of the context of Evangelion solely. Most of the character interactions, development, and backstories are neglected in favour of a more stylized action driven narrative, Mari is a completely unnecessary character, and the direction is not nearly as thoughtful or impactful.

                Thursday, 30-Apr-15 19:58:19 UTC from web