Last week, Neon Genesis Evangelion had a bit of a hump, as it tried to tell 2 stories at once. As if to spite me, this week it jumps right back into everything I enjoy about it. Giant robots, sci-fi action and some cast-based comedy. Lets jump in!
Starting off, things actually looked really good this week. Now, they usually do from just a background/stills perspective. As a fellow author, Wooper, pointed out in the comments last week. The cell backgrounds standout every time they get the focus, and Evangelion is so consistent with them it’s easy to forget them. Meanwhile the animation this week also took a step back up, no doubt for Asuka’s introduction. Both the underwater segments and the EVA unit jumping from ship to ship looked great. Not to mention a lot of the expressive character acting during numerous gags across the episode. It was one of those episodes that reminds you “Oh yeah, Neon Genesis Evangelion can move”. I rib on Anno a bit here for his… odd directorial decisions up until now, but it really did look good. As for the story? Well let’s take a look.
The big one is that this week we met Asuka. A third of the way in to the series and I finally get to meet her and… She’s alright. We got sort of a concentrated dose of her this week. Evangelion showed us how she is basically a Tsundere, a bit of a show off, and generally very prideful. Jealous of the attention Shinji has gotten and eager to show him up, to prove herself to Kaji. I actually think she will do well in the cast, as between Rei and Shinji, it needs someone assertive. Someone who can sort of force conflict/interactions to happen between the pilots and everyone else. Until now Shinji has been largely reactionary after all, so hopefully Asuka can shake things up abit. All that’s left is for Evangelion to give her a bit more character beyond “Tsundere”.
Beyond her actual character, there was both some good and some bad around her introduction. Some of the good included the gags! Now I am not normally a comedy sort of guy, I actually detest most anime comedy. I find it boring, and I sorta did for things like the panty flash gag in Evangelion. But for the most part, I found these generally better, as they were rooted in the cast. For instance I enjoyed the bit with Shinji wearing Asuka’s suit, because it was the only one available, and how it was only played for laughs outside the serious bits. Even coming up at the end as they get off the boats. On the lower end of the episode though… was the German. Damn was that some bad pronunciation there, almost intelligible. I can’t speak German, but it sure didn’t sound like German.
Past that, Asuka’s fight itself was an interesting. My first thought on watching was actually that I couldn’t believe the ships could hold the weight. But turns out, after a bit of research, Aircraft Carriers at full load can hold 100,000 tons, and these are bigger than modern day ones. I’m sure the actual jumping and landing and such would make that less likely. But I could easily see one transporting a full EVA. Maybe not the EVA and the Angel at the same time, but hey some suspension of disbelief is handy for anime. And knowing their displacement weight alone was enough for me to buy in. Meanwhile the animation was crisp and it was nice seeing Asuka in action. A bit of a hot head, with Shinji there to support with his cooler one. I can see it working as a good time moving forward.
Next up we have Misato, who we actually learned a surprising amount about with Kaji. I wasn’t sure about their relationship at first to be frank, I wasn’t sure I liked him. But he seems to be the first character who can get a rise out of Misato, for better or worse. And there was some nice attention to detail throughout, such as him kicking her leg underneath the table. On top of that, it also looks like it’s going to cause some tension between Misato and Asuka. As it is pretty clear Asuka has a thing for Kaji. I don’t want any catfights or love triangle sort of shenanigans of course. But I can appreciate some nice tension between the cast that isn’t focus on our MC. Especially when Kaji is taking an active role in stirring it up.
Speaking of Kaji, he also brought the Christian undertones of Evangelion to the forefront. Really just slamming it in our faces, with the whole “Adam” thing. Turns out the Angels were hunting it, rather than the EVA units, though what it is/does I don’t know. I suspect it’s probably the first Angel, as we learned earlier their DNA is similar to ours. Perhaps some kind of missing link between the species. Regardless, I knew Evangelion was pretty up front about these things from the start, I had seen screenshots before. It was even in the name, Evangelion, but this? We are about to begin a wild ride that will either end in trite bullshit or beautiful madness, and I have no idea which. I’m sorta looking forward to it, because either way, you dear readers get to watch me deal with it.
So, all in all, how was Evangelion this week? I enjoyed it and was slightly confused by it in the end. Looks like all the characters are present now and the ball can finally get rolling! I just hope Asuka gets a bit more characterization moving forward, because I think she has real potential. As for last weeks poll, I have the results! Based on comments and votes, I have decided from this episode onward to do 2 episodes a week. This gives those who want to read a newbies thoughts on the series that, while allowing us to finish before Summer. Considering I have the Evangelion movies to do after this as well, it’s probably for the best. So I will see you all next week for the first double feature of Neon Genesis Evangelion!
