[Miriamele]

Thanks for your response Bear. I hadn't really thought about the series that way before--that it was God's will that humanity be destroyed. When I was watching it, I sort of got the impression that everything that happened was due to the actions of humans alone, that there was no God. But if you think about it as all part of some divine plan, I suppose it isn't quite as depressing.

Actually I wouldn't mind watching the entire thing again. Too bad I already returned the set to my boss today. :(

You seem pretty knowledgable about this series Bear so I'm going to ask you some questions. Maybe you can answer them, maybe not. I'm going crazy trying to figure some of this stuff out though.
1. What are Angels? I understand that they're related to humans but did we create them, or were they always buried in the earth somewhere? Where did they come from?
2. What was the Second Impact? I know it occurred because of the actions of Gendo Ikari and others, but what exactly happened down in Antarctica in the year 2000? Maybe it's the word "impact" that's confusing me. Impact of what?
3. What is SEELE? What does NERV stand for?

Okay I'll leave it at that. If you (or anyone) can answer any of those I'll be really happy. Thanks! :)

[Bear]

I'll just go ahead and dump a bunch of information here, and I'll try to answer your questions too.

What the Angels are is never directly stated, but my guess was that they were evolved beings sent from god. Their goal was always to connect with Adam, which NERV had locked away for it's own purposes. Their ATfields are supposed to be barriers against all things unholy (Humans, mainly).

Second impact revolves around Adam. Humans were running experiments on immortality using Lilith, which had been around before then, and God was not happy, hence Adam's arrival in antartica. Adam represented mankind's doom, and if the Angels could reach him, that's exactly what would happen (and it did, in the end). The actual second impact came about when NERV "shrank" Adam to lessen his powers, making him harder for the Angels to locate, and if by chance they did find him the effects wouldn't be as devastating. But when they shrank adam, the power had to go somewhere, which was what caused the destruction of second impact. He was retained as that embryo you see in the small glass case late in the series.

A lot of the series relates to things said in "the dead sea scrolls." Supposedly, the seventeen angels were supposed to be tests for mankind.

Rei was a clone of Shinji's mother, but she was also half angel because her development was spawned through lilith. Her half-angel status was also why she could synch with the evas so well, because the evas were developed from angels, too (and it was said somewhere that the breathable fluid inside the pods was the blood and ambiotic fluid of Lilith, which helped the children link up).

Eva 001 retained the body of shinji's mother, which was why shinji synched with it so well.

Seele is German for "soul," and the founder, Keel Lorenz, is supposedly the oldest living man on the planet--rumored to represent the wandering jew that spit on Christ at the cross and was cursed to roam the planet until the apocalypse. His intent with the organization is to twist mankind's fate by combing Adam with lilith. From what I've read, if the Angels combine with Adam, mankind will all die and we will al be judged individually, like the christian belief. But if Lilith is combined with Adam, mankind would "evolve" into a new form that encompasses everyone. Man would cease to exist, but it would not die. So basically, Lorenz is trying to save himself from Hell. Nerv secretlt opposes him.

A director's note about the Ending:

Apparently Kanno was tired of shows that didn't require the audience to think. That's why he left the ending of the TV series so vague. His actual quote: 'the end can mean whataver you want it to.'

I've also read that the ending of the series (not the movies) was more about Kanno (the director) than Shinji. When Gainax made Evangelion, everyone, including the anime freaks and rival studios, criticized them. They didn't have much money for production, it was very pessimistic and grim, the subject matter was pretty heavy and taboo for television, and it left a lot up to the audience. Supposedly, Kanno, through making this series, had figured himself out and was no longer afraid of life, which conicides with the inner thoughts of Shinji in the last two episodes. I've read in more than one place (interviews and such) that Shinji was basically just a representation of himself.

There's more, but I'm getting tired.

Like I said though, I used to be a fanatic. And Evangelion still stands as my favorite Anime series of all time. It was by far the most gut-wrenching, emotional series I've come across, and I've watched a lot of Anime (though, if you really want to see how depressing animation can be, watch Graveyard of Fireflies. It's a wonderful movie, but its a tough one).

And I'll add, I enjoyed Eva much more after watching through it a second time and really disecting it. If you can find the time, it might be worth it to you.

[Miriamele]

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions Bear--I appreciate it! :) :)

[Bear]

No Problem.

[saintjon]

(must I? *sigh*) ************************************************** **********************spoilers******************** *****









kay yeah I figured that some of those other people would have come back as well, since when shinji turned to goop he was able to come back when his ego was returned to him. Plus Asuka was dead and she came back.

Also, when I watched the ending, it was so good but it was such a slap in the face to me. So much of what was selfish and bad about how Shinji acted I felt was similar to my own situation at times, it was kind of chilling. Then at the very end at first I honestly couldn't understand WHY THE HELL Shinji would try to strangle her like that. But then I thought through it and the best that I could come up with was that very briefly their walls were down. Shinji was able to let his frustration and resentment from Asuka's abrasive behavior come through and so he tried to strangle her, Asuka is finally able to show that she likes him without all her usual BS (she's got to be one of the best characters ever) and sympathize, so she touches his cheek. The act of sympathy throws Shinji back into his usual patterns, and he starts to cry. Shinji cryin throws Asuka back into her old patterns and she says "pathetic". The whole show is to emotional string-plucking what The Ring was to psychologically terrorizing you.

Anyways, it's all good. I still like Cowboy Bebop better though :D.

[Miriamele]

I like your interpretation of the last scene SJ. I too wondered why Shinji would do that, but what you said makes perfect sense.

I also agree that Asuka is an awesome character. For all her abrasive behaviour I couldn't help liking her. (My husband liked her so much that now he's saying he wants to name our next child Asuka! We'll see if he remembers that even two weeks from now however...:rolleyes: ).

I've heard that Cowboy Beebop is good too. My boss also has that in his library so maybe I'll borrow that one next. :)

[saintjon]

That shot of 01 the episode after the fight where it lost it's arm, where it's all bandaged lookin with that one garish eye showing was one of the most disturbing images I've ever seen.

[Miriamele]

Agreed. It creeped me right out too.

[Bear]

Ditto. And for animation to have that kind of effect on me was awesome. And the japanese voice acting is some of the best I've ever heard.

Beebop is a wonderful show, though. The montage in episode five where Spike is falling out of the church window was amazing.

[saintjon]

I think the Bebop moment that struck me most deeply was Faye watching that tape of herself as a kid.