April 20, 2006

  • Recently [adult swim] (programming block found late on the Cartoon Network channel) finished airing the anime TV series : Neon Genesis Evangelion. That series created by Gainax aired in Japan 10 years ago (1995-1996), and to this day remains as my number one favorite TV show of all time; be it animation OR live-action. That's high praise for a "cartoon" isn't it? But there's a reason for that. Evangelion succeeds in being more than just an animated program. In fact I wouldn't even recommend this series to young children, as it's a lot more mature than the average show.

    You can watch Evangelion just for the science fiction, fantasy, action, comedy, drama, mystery, robot fighting, and the conspiracy, but if you dwell much further than the outward appearance, there is so much more depth underneath it all. Everything about Evangelion is more than meets the eye, as the series goes as far and deals with psychological analysis, philosophical discussions, adult relationships, and symbolism that goes as far as calling the main enemy of the show "angels." The characters in Evangelion aren't perfect or idealized like a lot of anime or live-action shows tend to do. These characters are very much written to be "as human" as they can possibly be, which in turn means that they will do things that you wouldn't want them to do, but you know they will because that's simple human nature.

    A lot of controversies and criticisms surrounds this series, but at the same time it fueled it's popularity even more. From the non-typical flawed main character in Shinji Ikari, the religious references that borders on blasphemy, the open ended answers to a lot of the mysteries, the "artsy" stuff, the politics, the psychological segments and the original ending (or just the ending in general). But despite all the controversies that make many of the audience tend to hate the series, Evangelion heavily influenced a lot of the anime you see nowadays. Which is somewhat ironic, because the series in itself is a combination of a lot of anime that's come before it, except raised to another level.

    I love Neon Genesis Evangelion a great deal. It's a show that easily rivals current TV action drama favorites like 24 or Lost. It'll definitely stand the test of time as one of the most important (anime) series that's ever been made. To me, it became something else entirely; therapy.