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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Possible Spoilers)

  
  

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Seth
15:58 / 17.08.07
Dude, you are so not the last defender of the original ending. I like it more the more I watch it and have defended it to many people (see above).

Given that Anno has been less than vocal about which specific elements of each ending are the ones originally intended we have to work our best at a synthesis of the two. I'm of the opinion that there isn't anything particularly contradictory in them. Taking the synthesis route Shinji's decision in Episode 26 to try to live a life in which he can be happy comes after he seemingly lays aside his own alternate reality. This seems to gel well with the elements of End of Evangelion in which he is experiencing Complementation but decides to go back. Certainly there are no comments in either ending in which his decision is framed as that of someone who is paranoid, terrified and otherwise unhealthy, indeed the way is open for anyone else to also go back to living with a physical body (with perhaps the slightest implication that it is Shinji's actions that made it possiblen to do so). Even in a text as dark as EoE he isn't lambasted for his decision... indeed, considering that what led him to the point of choice was a lifetime of abuse and manipulation to make him the sacrifice that brings it all about, it marks one of the few major examples in the show in which he doesn't just go along with what everyone else wants.

In short, I can accept that it's possible to read the original ending as one in which Shinji accepts Complementation. But I don't think there's evidence to suggest that EoE is framing his choice in terms of his immaturity and lack of preparedness. I'm willing to have my eyes opened, but I don't recall it being in the text. It'll take a rewatch of the relevant sections to go into more detail, but Shinji seems rather together and lucid at that point.

I'm aware from many people's accounts that Anno's on record as saying that he didn't want to make End of Evangelion, but I've never actually seen any interview excerpts of what he actually said at the time (and since). If anyone can find any online interviews on the subject I'd be really interested.
 
 
This Sunday
20:59 / 17.08.07
As I recall it was the actual theatrical director who said he didn't think they should have bothered, in an interview just shortly after release.

Anyhow, as for the Complimentation/No-Complimentation, I'm gonna have to rewatch. All of it, really, but I'll have to get my discs for the series back, and then go rent the movies or something. Or wait and see how the new movies come off, I guess. Maybe they will explain everything.

Not that I still don't kinda prefer a loose and inexplicable Eva world. I don't really want to know if the Kaji/Kaworu theory or the Gendo-keeps-Shinji-where-he's-protected theory work out, because I like the stuff that comes out of external fan-debate, the emotional, psychological and sociological stuff that's eventually quite separate from the series.
 
 
Seth
17:12 / 20.09.07
I've had a few minutes to spare and so have been attempting to find interview sources that relate to the period around Episode 25/26 and End of Evangelion. This is the most relevant and well sourced interview I've found so far (although Anno himself has barely a word quoted), please join in the game and find more to round out the picture. Excerpt:

A few people asked Anno about why he did the final two episodes the way he did, while noting that they felt the ending was confusing. Anno replied, via his translator, that he did not think there was anything wrong with the last two episodes at all and that if we didn't like the ending of Eva, that was our problem -- at which point he picked up the microphone and, speaking in English, said "Too bad." Myself and others thought this was kind of funny at the time.

According to an interview of Toshio Okada -- founder and former head of Gainax, personal friend of Anno, and affectionately referred to as the "Otaking" by fans around the world -- Anno received a lot of flak from Japanese fans about the ending of Evangelion, and by the time Anime Expo came around, the last thing Anno wanted to talk about was the ending of Eva. As such, Okada was not surprised by Anno's tough attitude toward the people at the convention. In the interview (which was held at Anime America that same summer), Okada related to fans how Anno and his staff, in addition to having troubles with the show's producers (Tatsunoko), simply did not have enough time and could not think of a way to nicely end the series. Okada based his information on conversations between himself and Anno as Eva was being finished, and he told American fans that Anno was very stressed out about the whole thing.

An interesting thing to note is that unlike other Gainax anime series, Eva was written as it went along (sort of like manga), while other Gainax shows such as Gunbuster started with the ending being written first and the rest of the anime leading up to it. Okada said that this may have caused some problems near the end, with the writers unsure of how the series should conclude.

...

Two Eva films are out there. One has just come out, recapping episodes 1 to 24, and the other is being made, [which is a completely new version of episodes 25 and 26 - (meaning End of Evangelion)]. [This version is based on the original ending scripts Hideaki Anno had written for the TV series, but was rejected by the Japanese network, TV Tokyo, following pressure from the Japanese PTA. (source: The End of Evangelion theatrical program (RCB) and Protoculture Addicts, Issue 42)]
 
  

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