Neon Genesis Evangelion Highly recommended

Publisher
ADV
Director
Hideaki Anno
Production
GAINAX, NAS, TV Tokyo
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
26 episodes
Year
1995

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Collection 0:8

By John Huxley
20th May 04

Neon Genesis Evangelion is not only one of the most critically acclaimed series of the last decade, it's also one of the most controversially so. Opinion is heavily divided - a quick browse through the various reviews of the series here at Boredom should be enough to convince you of this - and most of the negativity is derived from the final two episodes, both of which are packaged along with episode 24 on this eighth volume.

Watching through that 24th episode, you're given absolutely no indication that the series will take such an unexpected direction.

Shinji, having been thoroughly demoralised by recent events, finds solace in Kaoru, the recently assigned Fifth child. His unexpected interest in our lonesome hero is suspect to everyone but Shinji himself, leaving the fate of humankind to the susceptibility of one young, fragile man. Although it may begin at a much slower pace than recent episodes, events soon escalate, culminating in the inevitable showdown between Shinji and the last of the Angels.

Central to this episode is Kaoru, the eerie Fifth child who befriends (or takes advantage of?) the volatile Shinji. Unfortunately, he comes and goes within the space of the twenty-five minute timeslot, leaving little room for the character development that has made the series so successful up to this point. We're led to believe that Shinji is irreversibly attached to this character, yet we've not even known him long enough to remember his name. Imagine, if you will, that the Fifth child was a more established character such as Asuka or Kaji - the impact of his/her unveiling would have been that much more poignant. As it stands, we're left feeling disappointingly indifferent when Shinji is forced to make a life-changing decision in the face of his supposedly newfound companion, Kaoru. Regardless of missed opportunities, the story at least offers a few interesting developments that should leave you salivating at the prospect of a climactic, exciting finale to the series.

Those of you who are already familiar with the series should know all too well what I'm about to say - it never comes. We're never treated to a final battle between human and Angel, we're never given the opportunity to witness Shinji overcome his self-doubt and save the day once and for all. In place of one hundred and one possible conclusions, we're forced to sit through two episodes worth of barely comprehensible, sparsely animated and overly analytical ramblings. That brief synopsis may sound a little harsh (and it is), but I'm sure it will reflect what many of you will be feeling after having watched it for yourselves.

Considering the content of the series as a whole, the decision to forgo a traditional action-packed conclusion in favour of an hour of psychobabble doesn't surprise. Evangelion is, and always has been, a story about the characters and their relationships to one another (both sexual and otherwise), put under the abnormal strains of makeshift living conditions and the looming apocalypse. Everything exterior to this - including the religious namedropping and confusing hierarchy of shadowy organisations - exists primarily as supplement. For the writers (Hideaki Anno is mostly to blame, I presume) to finish the series with an in-depth analysis of each character and their relationships is a natural progression of the more subtle analysis that took place in the mind of Shinji at several points earlier in the series. And to the writer's credit, it's a thoughtful and well presented analysis that should, at the very least, work a few braincells.

For many people, this unusual conclusion to an otherwise faultless series can sour the whole experience. While I'm not about to go back and rewrite all my positive reviews of earlier volumes, I can sympathise with the sentiment. However, my qualm is not with the lack of a satisfactory resolution to the story (although I must admit this is disappointing) or the decision to dedicate the last two episodes entirely to theoretical ranting; my qualm is with the way in which it goes about this thesis. There's very little room for interpretation of the ideas presented and, more seriously, there's simply no need to force-feed all of this upon the viewer. Most of the ideas presented, particularly during episode 25, are nothing that couldn't have been summarised by an attentive viewer that had the will to do so. It more often feels like the writers are saying "Hey, look what we did! Isn't this clever?", leaving you to suspect that the primary motive behind these last two episodes was nothing but self indulgence. The writers have a lot to be proud of, admittedly, and there are bound to be viewers who will overlook these issues (or simply not care) and enjoy the finale regardless.

Creating such an unusual ending was a bold move on Hideaki Anno's part, and while it might not have been entirely successful, he should be commended for defying the millions of Evangelion fan's expectations and fifty years of anime convention. Besides, if you're not entirely happy with this conclusion (odds on you're not), then you can always hunt down the Death & Rebirth OVAs and the proceeding movie, End of Evangelion. Together these represent a more traditional, but no less extraordinary, end to the series.

Despite popular opinion, I really don't think any less of Evangelion for providing us with such a controversial ending. If you'd prefer to pretend the last two episodes never existed, feel free to watch episodes 1 through 24 then skip to the alternate ending. However you choose to view Evangelion, just make sure you take the time out to do so if you haven't already. I've said it before and I'll say it again - this is one of the most important series of the last decade, and also one of the best.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: English, Spanish and Japanese audio, English subtitles, character bios, ADV previews

Release information: UK release date: 19th January 2004, ADV

Notes: I don't want to end this review on a downer, so I'll just ignore this almost nonexistent set of extra features and point you in the direction of my reviews of earlier volumes for a run-down of exactly what went wrong.

-- John Huxley 20th May 04

Neon Genesis Evangelion Images