PEOPLE WHO ANALYZE EVANGELION LIKE THEY WOULD ANY OTHER SHONEN (REALISTIC PLOT ETC) ARE ON THE WRONG TRAIL FROM THE BEGINNING. YOU HAVE TO REVIEW AND UNDERSTAND IT AS AN EUROPEAN ARTHOUSE FILM AND NOT LIKE A SHONEN ANIME. EVA JUST TRIED TO CREATE AN ANIME WITH THE NON-NARRATIVE NATURE OF EUROPEAN ART CINEMA. IT'S POSSIBLY MORE USEFUL TO BE EDUCATED IN FILM THEORY THAN BEING AN ANIME CONNAISSEUR IF YOU'RE GOING TO WATCH IT. WHILE MOST PEOPLE NAIL HIM WITH SIGMUND FREUD, THERE IS ALSO A NOTABLE PORTION OF LACAN IN HIS WORK; HE WANTS TO PULL THE ANIME AUDIENCE IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR, MAKE ANIME AWARE OF ITSELF, DECONSTRUCT IT LIKE ANY OTHER ART FORM. EVANGEELION WAS AN ATTEMPT TO ENNOBLE ANIME AS A LEGITIMATE FORM OF ART.
ASO IS A SIMPLE COMPARISON, BUT ON A DEEPER LEVEL IT'S REALLY MORE COMPARABLE TO BERGMAN'S PERSONA IN MOOD AND STRUCTURE. I IMEDIATLY UNDERSTOOD EVANGELION AFTER WATCHING PERSONA, IT JUST FELL INTO PLACE FOR ME LIKE A MISSING PUZZLE PIECE.
I THINK THE MOST TRAGIC ASPECT OF EVANGELION IS THE FACT THAT ANNO WANTED TO CREATE HIGH-PROFILE ARTHOUSE ANIME AND TOTALLY CRUSH THE GENRE AND OTAKU-ISM IN PARTICULAR, YET IRONICALLY THE NEXT GENERATION TOTALLY ABUSED HIS INNOVATIONS FOR THE EXACT OPPOSITE. WHEN EVANGELION WAS A DECONSTRUCTION OF MECHA ANIME, ITS STEREOTYPES REGARDING PLOT AND CHARACTER, POST-EVA PRODUCERS USED THEM TO GENERATE NEW CLISHÉES AND GENERATING A COMPLETLY NEW OTAKU-DOM, 1000 TIMES MORE INTENSE THAN THE ONE BEFORE. THIS WAY, ANNO IS PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CURRENT STATE OF ANIME, FILLED WITH MOE AND MEDIOCRE SHONEN SERIES. IT'S PRETTY NOTABLE THAT THE SUPERFLAT WORLDGEN-TYPE WAS INSPIRED BY AND ULTIMATELY NECESSARY BECAUSE OF EVANGELION...
