Okay...now I'm going to go in depth.
You are listening to "Marking Time, Waiting for Death." This MIDI sounds almost like the real thing...at least on my computer.
From reading "In Defense of a Vision," you should have gotten an explanation of not only the last two episodes of "Evangelion," but also the point of the entire series. Since that has already been done, there is no sense in me repeating it.
However, I'd like to offer this explanation of mine...an explanation of why I believe soooo so many fans despise the meaningful conclusion to a meaningful series.
As I said before, the basic overview I gave of the series isn't what it is all about. At first glances, "Evangelion" seems to be your normal, futuristic, science fiction adventure. Well...yeah. It's in the future, and no doubt about it, there's one heck of a lot of science fiction in there!
All that futuristic stuff and all that science fiction is an extremely elaborate and an almost perfectly effective smokescreen for what ends up to be, overall, a shockingly real story.
In the fantasy filled world of anime, where reality mostly doesn't apply in any sense...wether it be the art or story or whatever..."Neon Genesis Evangelion" is the only anime I know so far that dares to be so real.
...Anime is definitely a very entertaining pastime. Some people, like myself take it even farther than being a pastime even! Anyway, there is a hidden reason why we anime fans get into anime. Anime is a great escape from the harsh, redundant nature of everyday life. That's what makes life so redundant...the "everyday" part!
When we watch anime or do anything anime related, we take ourselves to another place. In this place, life doesn't kick us in the butt. We can just simply relax and enjoy. We like that...we like that a lot!
People sat down to watch "Evangelion," presumably like they watch any other anime...to be amazed and amused...to unwind and forget life. I know I do. "Eva" is definitely amazing and there are many things in it that are amusing. However, when they thought about it, "Evangelion" reminded them about life. And you just cannot watch "Evangelion" without thinking. It's almost impossible. It's like I said before: If you don't like to think, you will not enjoy "Eva."
"Evangelion" isn't about the future and science...it isn't about the Evangelions. It's about the characters...just like any anime should be about. "Evangelion" is solely about the characters though. The rest is just details. But hey, don't get me wrong...what excellent details they are!
To get back to the characters..."Evangelion" portrays the characters and their own personal struggles and how they come together to try and get through them. Quite a few of the characters have had their share of painful experiences and carry them in their minds and hearts during the entire story. Upon realizing this, people saw how the whole thing was so much like real life...life outside anime. Now, they were able to bear this until the last two episodes.
All the mental turmoil present in the last two episodes is really exactly the same as the mental turmoil many of us face in real life.
Because of that, we are supposed to learn from "Evangelion." Instead, so many fans subconsciously realized that it was just too much like reality to them and turned away in disgust and chastized the ending of this series. They didn't watch this anime to gain insight into life...they watched it to escape from it.
The fans who see the ending as a complete disappointment shouldn't look at it that way. They should see it as very insightful.
That is the beauty of "Neon Genesis Evangelion." I went into this anime with an "watch it to escape from life and have some fun" attitude. I came out of it with a "learn from it greatly" attitude. It seems to me that most fans came out of it with a "what a shame" or "could have been way better" attitude.
Yeah...all this is definitely the reason why I love "Neon Genesis Evangelion" so much.
Of course, that's just what I feel and believe. I'm not saying I'm right.
Email: nassers@db.erau.edu
