The year is 2015 AD.
Fifteen years ago, an event known as the Second Impact, melted the polar
ice caps and eliminated half of the worlds population. Now, the Angels have returned to finish the
job left unfinished by the horrific event.
But humanity is ready. A special
organization known as NERV has created giant mechanized fight machines known as
Evangelion, to combat the Angel threat.
Piloting humanity’s last hope is a young boy named Shinji Ikari. His father doesn’t want him, the outside
world won’t take him, the Earth needs him (yes that is a riff on the tagline
for Constantine, nyeh). But can this
uncertain young man carry the fate of humanity in his hands?
Neon Genesis Evangelion.
There is nary an Anime fan out there who has seen or at least heard of
this title. Released in 1995, Evangelion
changed the giant robot genre for a whole new era, just as Mobile Suit Gundam
had done so in 1979. It’s mix of
monsters vs robots action mixed with heavy human drama and religious symbolism
galore made it both highly entertaining and highly controversial upon it’s
release, especially towards the end of the series. But we are not starting at the end, we are
starting at the beginning of Evangelion and what a beginning it is.
From the start it’s hard not to have Pacific Rim or
Godzilla come to mind in the first episodes opening minutes. A deserted Tokyo-3 is attacked by a colossal
monster known as an Angel. Planes,
trains and automobiles (ok maybe not trains but I did see a few cars and plenty
of planes) lob missile after missile, bullet after bullet, even a nuke at one
point, to not effect. The Angel may not
have atomic breath but it does makes its presence known to the world by simply
walking past everything that tries to take it down. The threat is serious and to quote Charlie
Hunnam’s Raleigh Beckett from Pacific Rim, “We needed a new weapon.”
We also meet Shinji during this chaos and man is he
already set to be a pain from the start.
Granted it’s still early on in the series so he doesn’t seem so out of
place from typical boys thrown into the cockpit of a giant robot when the job
calls for it. He’s young, he’s nervous,
he doesn’t want the responsibility even in the face of certain
destruction. But as the episodes go on,
it becomes a little bit…much. The
whining, the isolation, one can try to sympathize and guess how rough of a life
he had with his father, the cool and calculating Gendo Ikari, but something
tells me room for growth is not something to look forward to with Shinji
Ikari. Shout out to his English voice
actor Spike Spencer btw, man can that guy scream. It’s amazing this role did not destroy his
voice.
We meet other characters in these first five episodes as
well. Most are your typical tech and
authority figures but two of the stand outs are Misato and Rei. Misato’s a babe, what more is there to
say? She’s tough, she’s bad ass, a bit
of a goof ball, and sports one hell of a figure she isn’t afraid to flaunt (as
evidence by the flirty previews of upcoming episodes she narrates, always
ending with the promise of more fan service).
Rei is silent, mysterious, pretty but very little is glimpsed of her
until episode five…then we get to see all of her in that awkward apartment
scene where Shinji manages to not only see Rei naked but also fall on top of
her while exposing her panty drawer to the world…it’s all awkward and a bit
comical but Rei doesn’t show the slightest bit of emotion over this scene. Her distantness could rival that of Shinji. And much like both Misato and Shinji, Rei’s
attitude speaks of a past that hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows.
But it’s not the complex characters you’ve come for in
this show (though you’ll be staying and bonding with them for a while so get
comfy lol) it’s the giant robot battles, of which we have two big ones. The more enjoyable of the two is the first
sortie of the Evangelion Unit 01 against the Third Angel (the one at the
beginning of the series). At first it
looks like Shinji is the worst pilot of all time, unable to get a grasp of the
controls and getting the crap pummeled out of him. But then…BERZERKER!!! The Eva goes into autopilot (?) and proceeds
to kick all kinds of ass resulting in money shot after money shot that has made
this series a classic. While the second
battle didn’t reach the heights of the first, the personal stake and emotion
that came out of it was effective and showed that when pushed Shinji is capable
of pushing back.
If there are a couple of downsides to this introductory
set of episodes it’s that the pace does slow a bit in between battles with
scenes that often involve Shinji wandering around the city aimlessly. Sometimes it feels that all that is missing
from this scenes is the End Theme from the television version of The Incredible
Hulk, with Bill Bixby as David Banner walking down a road trying to hitch a
ride. And as stated above, Shinji seems
like he’s going to be frustrating at times, whining about his state of being when
he doesn’t want to better himself. Again
this could speak to his mysterious upbringing.
We know he hasn’t seen his father in years and he was only summoned as
Gendo puts it, “Because I have a use for you.”
The real drama will no doubt stem from here…or will it?
All in all, this is a great start to a series that has
reached legendary status in the Anime community and I look forward to running
through it again. Much like Lodoss, this
was a big show for me when I was getting into Anime more and more and it has
been a while since my last real watch through.
If anyone hasn’t seen it yet, Anime fan or not, I hope these reviews
help spur your interest. If not, you’re
still cool and let no one tell you otherwise lol.
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