Thank you so much for doing this series! I can't remember how many times I've watched Evangelion, but re-watching along with your posts has been a lot of fun!
I never once considered who Kaworu was a clone of, but now that you say it, it makes sense. Kaji even has that “gay” scene with Shinji early on, and that makes Kaworu’s attitude to Shinji feel like an echo of that.
These rebuilds have faded from my memory (except farming and Gameboy playing), but End of Evangelion also pairs off Kaworu and Rei in an odd way, so I don’t think it’s just clone-racism.
Also: I get the impressions that some anime creators, no matter the number of sequels/remakes, want to leave certain things unexplained. Some people skip from the original Gundam series to the film Char’s Counterattack and feel like they must have missed something. But no: Even if you watch the intervening 97 episodes, there is still no explanation for why this movie starts where it does.
So Anno: I bet he could do the end of Evangelion 30 more times and we would still feel like we’re missing a piece.
well, I don't know. I think that the TV show was a complete thing. I think EoE is a complete thing. That doesn't mean that there aren't lingering questions etc., but there's a kind of integrity or wholeness to them. The way these movies are messy feels very different to me.
I think you’re right. The existence of EoE suggests a kind of arbitrariness in the ending, but it does seem perfect/complete by the end, even the tension between 25+26 and EoE.
Here’s a question: Do you think the Rebuilds are just Anno cashing in? Or is he actually making some point? Your writeups on these show not just that you don’t like them, but that they really are bad in a lot of ways.
I don't think he was cashing in, but I think saying anything beyond that is sort of hard. In his little afterword to his wife's manga about their marriage, he says something like, he envies her ability to create things where people can shut the book and move on. So my guess is that he wanted these movies to do that, too. But it's just a guess.
I'm glad I didn't watch the rebuilds. They sound like what some random unskilled person would make, faced with the ridiculous task of following up on the TV show. Thanks for all your writing on it.
I do kind of wonder if the team behind these movies had no real sense of how to structure or pace a story that played out over multiple movies. Things like Mari saying "I'll find you wherever you are" at the beginning of the movie so she can say it again three quarters of the way through the movie—this reminded me of the way in the show something would often be set up in the episode directly before it actually matters. It doesn't work the same way in a movie, though.
In general though I feel like… if you are a person who has made one huge iconic work, your initial instinct will be to leave it alone, and then eventually you will talk yourself into going back to it, and this is always a mistake. (Twin Peaks doesn't count.)
I just realized, that out of everything in rebuilds (that I only watched once) the one thing I remember (and enjoyed) is the village part and Black Farmer Rei. The only true rebuild (of society), in a way, without the supernatural element.
This entire thing is too weak and dissolves into nothing, so you won't feel annoyance in a week time as it flushes from your memory.
PS. saw you got a first spot in A&L, hope that turned out alright
Yeah, I felt like the village part stood out as the first time these movies actually went in a new direction. The village as presented was mostly a very stock "happy village" kind of place, which is part of why it felt like I was watching the Ghibli AI filter rather than a Ghibli movie. But it felt like if you started with this idea, you could get somewhere.
I think it's kind of funny that Arts & Letters picked up the post where I tried to make very clear "I have no evidence for any of this" lol. As it happens I switched off notifications on the post right before they picked it up so it's all the same to me. It's not the first time I've been on there but I do think it's the first time for the newsletter.
> The village as presented was mostly a very stock "happy village" kind of place
It sure did, but I didn't mind. You could be charitable and make a case about pre-goo Rei being the only one who embraced this tiny, pastel and kind, world. Contrast this with grumpy Asuka and Shinji's hunger strike, she maximizes her short time in the sun. This is endearing for me and I can accept hack setting for some levity.
> As it happens I switched off notifications on the post right before they picked it up so it's all the same to me
I'm fascinated with writing escaping the confine of self-selected readers. Sometimes it feels like a well deserved reward, new readers or at least new sets of eyes on that particular text. But then I saw more than once skimming the text and going "what is it, then? I don't like it. It has too much of <thing I don't like>."
I once wrote a little story that amounts to a date between two people who don't speak each other language. They use a translation software to facilitate communication. Waiters come, take their orders. She orders something and then adds Coke, full name and a slogan. Our PoV observes she didn't move her lips that much.
Clearly, a ham fisted parable. The comments that I got? "Hey, where can I download this app".
Thank you so much for doing this series! I can't remember how many times I've watched Evangelion, but re-watching along with your posts has been a lot of fun!
it was so much fun to do! well except for this last part lol
I assume when the going got tough toward the end you just put on DECISIVE BATTLE from the soundtrack to pump yourself up
I never once considered who Kaworu was a clone of, but now that you say it, it makes sense. Kaji even has that “gay” scene with Shinji early on, and that makes Kaworu’s attitude to Shinji feel like an echo of that.
These rebuilds have faded from my memory (except farming and Gameboy playing), but End of Evangelion also pairs off Kaworu and Rei in an odd way, so I don’t think it’s just clone-racism.
Also: I get the impressions that some anime creators, no matter the number of sequels/remakes, want to leave certain things unexplained. Some people skip from the original Gundam series to the film Char’s Counterattack and feel like they must have missed something. But no: Even if you watch the intervening 97 episodes, there is still no explanation for why this movie starts where it does.
So Anno: I bet he could do the end of Evangelion 30 more times and we would still feel like we’re missing a piece.
Anyway, Congratulations! おめでとう🎊
well, I don't know. I think that the TV show was a complete thing. I think EoE is a complete thing. That doesn't mean that there aren't lingering questions etc., but there's a kind of integrity or wholeness to them. The way these movies are messy feels very different to me.
I think you’re right. The existence of EoE suggests a kind of arbitrariness in the ending, but it does seem perfect/complete by the end, even the tension between 25+26 and EoE.
Here’s a question: Do you think the Rebuilds are just Anno cashing in? Or is he actually making some point? Your writeups on these show not just that you don’t like them, but that they really are bad in a lot of ways.
I don't think he was cashing in, but I think saying anything beyond that is sort of hard. In his little afterword to his wife's manga about their marriage, he says something like, he envies her ability to create things where people can shut the book and move on. So my guess is that he wanted these movies to do that, too. But it's just a guess.
Congratulations!
I'm glad I didn't watch the rebuilds. They sound like what some random unskilled person would make, faced with the ridiculous task of following up on the TV show. Thanks for all your writing on it.
I do kind of wonder if the team behind these movies had no real sense of how to structure or pace a story that played out over multiple movies. Things like Mari saying "I'll find you wherever you are" at the beginning of the movie so she can say it again three quarters of the way through the movie—this reminded me of the way in the show something would often be set up in the episode directly before it actually matters. It doesn't work the same way in a movie, though.
In general though I feel like… if you are a person who has made one huge iconic work, your initial instinct will be to leave it alone, and then eventually you will talk yourself into going back to it, and this is always a mistake. (Twin Peaks doesn't count.)
I just realized, that out of everything in rebuilds (that I only watched once) the one thing I remember (and enjoyed) is the village part and Black Farmer Rei. The only true rebuild (of society), in a way, without the supernatural element.
This entire thing is too weak and dissolves into nothing, so you won't feel annoyance in a week time as it flushes from your memory.
PS. saw you got a first spot in A&L, hope that turned out alright
Yeah, I felt like the village part stood out as the first time these movies actually went in a new direction. The village as presented was mostly a very stock "happy village" kind of place, which is part of why it felt like I was watching the Ghibli AI filter rather than a Ghibli movie. But it felt like if you started with this idea, you could get somewhere.
I think it's kind of funny that Arts & Letters picked up the post where I tried to make very clear "I have no evidence for any of this" lol. As it happens I switched off notifications on the post right before they picked it up so it's all the same to me. It's not the first time I've been on there but I do think it's the first time for the newsletter.
> The village as presented was mostly a very stock "happy village" kind of place
It sure did, but I didn't mind. You could be charitable and make a case about pre-goo Rei being the only one who embraced this tiny, pastel and kind, world. Contrast this with grumpy Asuka and Shinji's hunger strike, she maximizes her short time in the sun. This is endearing for me and I can accept hack setting for some levity.
> As it happens I switched off notifications on the post right before they picked it up so it's all the same to me
I'm fascinated with writing escaping the confine of self-selected readers. Sometimes it feels like a well deserved reward, new readers or at least new sets of eyes on that particular text. But then I saw more than once skimming the text and going "what is it, then? I don't like it. It has too much of <thing I don't like>."
I once wrote a little story that amounts to a date between two people who don't speak each other language. They use a translation software to facilitate communication. Waiters come, take their orders. She orders something and then adds Coke, full name and a slogan. Our PoV observes she didn't move her lips that much.
Clearly, a ham fisted parable. The comments that I got? "Hey, where can I download this app".