Movie Talks Archives

Posted by: C-Desecration- at June 14, 2004, 1:22 pm

Topic: Neon Genesis Evangelion - Perfect Collection Forum: JoBlo

NOTE: This is a television series as opposed to movies, but since Arrow seemed to've gotten into the series thing we schmoes should follow suit. So here we go . . . SECOND NOTE: Since this is a television series I'm going to rate it differently than my previous reviews. Every television series will be rated on the following: Episodes Characters Story Growth All of the above pertain to THIS SEASON ONLY. The final rating will be a letter grade instead of the */10 format. So here we go . . . uh, again . . . The most controversial anime of all time, and arguably the best, Neon Genesis Evangelion has a lot to live up to. Does it? Well, yes and no. Yes because it manages to offer us some of the greatest minutes ever captured on film, animation or otherwise, in the series finale-turned-movie End of Evangelion. No because the actual series is lacking in characters, plot, coherency, and pace. After the mysterious Second Impact wiped out most of the world’s population, the survivors were refused returning to normality. Instead, they were thrown into a battle against forces they do not understand. An organization called NERV has engineered bio-creatures called Evangelion, that battle against creatures known only as "Angels". Why do these Angels attack humanity? We’re never told. What, exactly, are the Evangelions? Who knows. Oh, and only fourteen year-olds can pilot these fearsome Evas. Why? Again--they don’t say. We start the series when a young boy named Shinji Ikari is on his way to see his estranged father Gendo. Little does he know that he’s being led to pilot Unit 01, one of the Evangelions, by none other than his own father. Problem is, Shinji is insecure and unsure of his abilities. This could create problems because the Evangelions are piloted by the pilot’s mind, how well they synch up with the fearsome beast. Will Shinji be able to pilot Unit 01? Soon after he’s joined by the “first child” (or pilot of the first Evangelion, Unit 00), Rei Ayanami, a quiet, indescribable character that’s either a total haughty bitch, or so buried in despair that she’s given up on everything. We’re also introduced to the employees of NERV, chief among them Misato, a sloppy, purple-haired babe that takes an instant maternal shine to Shinji. And who could forget Asuka, the egotistical, overly-confidence “Second Child” (or pilot of the second Evangelion, Unit 02). Thing is, these pilots are fourteen years old. Saddled with the confusions of that age are unimaginable burdens. In short, the fate of the humanity rests on their shoulders, and a lot of the times they just can’t hold it. Breakdowns, emotional climaxes, revelations, conspiracies, ridiculous philosophy, decent action, and some interesting - if slightly juvenile - characterizations, ensue. This pertains to the Japanese version only: The actor who voices Shinji is, like all the other talents, superb. He’s able to warble his words like a champ, making him sometimes sound as if everything he says is physically paining him. Of course, he can also let loose when the situation requires it. Rei Ayanami does what she can with the little that’s given to her. The performance is akin to Arnold’s in The Terminator--the more robotic, the better. Asuka kicks it up a notch with some pretty good delivery of lines (“Wonder woman”), but to bad she gets a tad bubbly at time. Misato, unlike the others, suffers from the script on a few occasions. She’s fantastic otherwise, but, well . . . why the hell does she scream every time she has her morning beer? Is she a lunatic or something? Gendo is a fantastic “villain”, and the voice behind the drawing is naturally hush-hush, perfect for a conspirator. Everyone else manages to make their voices recognizable enough so if they speak, off-screen or on, you know who it is. And that's a good thing. The episodes aren’t really episodes at all. They are continuations of one another, a long string of shorts that culminate into a single “experience”. At the end of each is a “to be continued”. Things are always left hanging. No single episode, even the dreadful finale, has closure. In other words, once you start you might not want to stop. That is only so if you can stomach some lame-brain antics at the beginning. The first dozen-or-so episodes follow a formula with absolutely no deviations: an angel attacks, something goes wrong (Ritsuko, a member of nerve, screams “Impossible!” every goddamned episode), then a risky ploy saves the day. It's at this time that the only thing keeping me watching was the characters and how they interacted. Yes the writing is pretty childish, and I don't mean that they sound like children (they are children), but more that Asuka compared heat making things expand to her breasts ("if I warm them will they grow?" . . . okay . . .). Though you can’t help but be amused when a fiery redhead, some I-show-no-emotion girl, and an insecure Shinji stuck in a room together. It’s blast to watch them bounce lines back and forth. About halfway through the series things start to get pretty interesting. New characters are introduced, fresh spins on the old ones come up, and the angels stop attacking every episode (though when they do come it’s still the “stop them!” “oh no!” “impossible!” “we need a miracle!” formula). Mysterious organizations are named and dark omens are projected. Unfortunately for Evangelion, the series doesn’t get really good until about episode twenty, or wherever the 2nd-to-last DVD picks up. Considering that this collection costs over a hundred dollars, that’s hardly a fair investment. And the worst part is, it seems the creators actually sat down and said “okay, now let’s up the quality.”--classical music replaces cheap anime Midis in battles, characters’ pasts are revealed in a rather artistic fashion, and the plot begins to gel. Too bad that, by the time I was beginning to think Evangelion would live up to it’s name, the series ended with one of the most ambiguous, under whelming, finales ever. See, the budget ran out before they wrapped the series up, so its creator was forced to pen a finale basically using still images. He did the best he could. But if you haven’t seen the REAL finale (the sensational End of Evangelion) you won’t really understand what’s happening. Some key actions are left out. Without spoiling anything, a certain "event" is triggered, but just what triggered it is never shown or mentioned. It just starts all of a sudden. One of the biggest problems in the series is something called “fan service”. I've decided that fan service is when the anime women either flaunting around in bikinis or ass-hugging shorts, or whip out oversized cleavage for no reason at all. In the case of Misato, it actually fits with her character, so it works. The same can’t be said for Asuka, who’s fan service just cheapens her character. And by the way guys, SHE’S FOURTEEN YEARS OLD! What’s wrong with the Japanese? Her fan service was useless and silly. The Neon Genesis Evangelion series isn’t a lot of things. It isn’t controversial in the slightest. It isn’t unbelievably powerful, save for a few scenes (tragedy inolving Kaji and Misato in one of the last episodes nearly brought a tear to my eye--why couldn’t we have seen more of this stuff earlier?!). It isn’t coherent, as many main characters are dropped with stupid explanations (“Uh, they left town.”). Also, a few integral characters show up for exactly one episode before some dramatic twist reveals who they truly are. The twists are good, but would’ve been so much more effective if we’d actually gotten to know the guys. Thankfully, NGE is undoubtably fascinating to watch, despite its flaws. It also sports some cool battles, great mecha designs and twists, and, like I mentioned, has got a handful of powerful moments that I’m sure were missing from anime in 1995 (when the series was made). Still, I want to consider this an intriguing prologue to the meat of the series, End of Evangelion. And since I mentioned it this finale-made-movie, here's the deal: it came about because, after the series became popular, the creator was allowed to make the finale he always wanted, with a new budget, and some top talents helping out. So he pieced together a few episodes into the 90-minute End of Evangelion (which, like I keep saying, is spectacular, and beats the shit out of anything in this boxset). Sometimes deep, sometimes shallow, Neon Genesis Evangelion is truly a series that is made not by its parts, but by its whole. The Evangelion universe is definitely a classic, when taking EoE into account. But just from this collection alone it’s one of those so-so classics, the kind that make you appreciate, not worship, them. Yes it opened the way for more mature, thoughtful anime, but since it was the first to do so it pales in comparison to more recent ventures . . . including it's own re-done finale. Episodes: C+ Characters: B Story: A- Growth: A (since this is a single-season series, the growth in plot, characters, etc., is monumental from beginning to end) B- --an above-average series without a doubt, but its many holes keep me from recommending a buy, what with the hefty 100+ price tag REVIEW DATABASE MOVIES: 28 Days Later : 7/10 8mm : 9/10 Alien : 6/10 Audition : 7/10 August Underground : 5/10 Battle Royale : 8/10 Cannibal Holocaust : 9/10 Dawn of the Dead : 5/10 Day of the Dead: 8/10 The Dead Zone : 7/10 Donnie Darko : 10/10 The Eye : 7/10 Elephant : 6/10 Freaky Friday : 8/10 Ginger Snaps : 7/10 Hardcore : 6/10 Hellboy : 6/10 House of 1000 Corpses : 4/10 House of Sand and Fog : 9/10 Hulk : 10/10 Irreversible : 8/10 Kill Bill Volume 1 : 8/10 Kung Pow! Enter the Fist : 7/10 Last House on the Left: 3/10 May : 10/10 Memento : 8/10 Mulholland Drive : 7/10 Near Dark : 6/10 One Hour Photo : 9/10 Perfect Blue: 9/10 Requiem For a Dream : 8/10 Se7en : 9/10 Terminator 2: Judgment Day : 10/10 Thesis : 6/10 Underworld : 7/10 Willard : 8/10 TELEVISION Buffy the Vampire Slayer (season 5) : A Neon Genesis Evangelion - Perfect Collection : B- End of Evangelion : A- BOOKS Stephen King's IT : 5/5 stars

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