Ladies and Gentlemen, things are starting to get weird, well weirder, as Neon Genesis Evangelion enters its endgame. I don’t even know what to write as an introduction to the post anymore, because anything I could say is a spoiler. So instead, how about we jump right into it?
Now I have talked about Evangelion’s production enough, so let’s dive right into episode 23, Tears. I want to say that this episode was pretty straight forward, but that seems like a mistake this far into the series. So instead I will say I liked it and think I understand what all went down. At the very least the first half is straight forward, focusing in on the fallout of the past few episodes. Whether that be Misato still grieving for Kaji or Asuka falling deeper and deeper into her depression. I thought Evangelion did good by its characters here, really giving their relationships weight by how they treat these revelations. Meanwhile Asuka’s failures continue to have consequences as she can’t even properly sync with her Eva Unit anymore. Losing the one thing that she had based her worth on. Nothing particularly complex here, but done well nonetheless.
Moving on to the actual battle with the Angel, this is where things start to go off the rails. Right off the bat, I like what Evangelion is trying to do with Rei. She is getting an opponent that forces some self-reflection like Shinji and Asuka. However being much more… mechanical, or dare I say inhuman, it’s not as effective on her. Of course she still feels something, and we will get to the effects later, but its more muted, more… stable. At the same time though Evangelion got really weird with the imagery here. Going all in on this sort of… reverse birth/pregnancy theme, the inverse of Shinji’s whole experience with the 12th Angel. Considering Rei’s unnatural origins, it makes sense in a way why Anno chose it. But I don’t think it does much for the scene. I’ll gladly read audience interpretations below though.
Of course we can’t really talk about the Angel and the fight and all that without talking about Rei. Weird reverse-birth imagery aside, Evangelion managed something I wasn’t really expecting across these two episodes. It made her interesting. The obvious of course is how this Rei is the third one, with our Rei dying in the explosion against the Angel. But what really sold me on it all was the aftermath of said explosion and revival. This idea that there is only really 1 Rei, 1 soul, regardless of how many bodies she uses. That even if she can’t remember what happened, her heart/soul does, explaining why she tears up in her room after the fight. I assume its because her feelings/love for Shinji is still there even though this body doesn’t know why. But regardless, its the one play on the “amnesia” trope that I enjoy.
Following that we have perhaps the only part of the episode I wasn’t sure about, Ritsuko. The ending aside, and we will get to that, I just don’t get it. I don’t get what these women keep seeing in Gendo, why they keep falling for his crap. Of course Gendo is going to sacrifice Ritsuko for Rei, Rei is basically his daughter made out of a clone of his wife and an Angel. Maybe if we had more personal moments between Ritsuko and Gendo I would believe it, but right now its just coming out of left field to me. Regardless though, it did work in setting the tone for the episode. What with basically every major character falling apart emotionally in some way, from Shinji to Misato to Ritsuko. It also set the scene and made possible an absolutely stunning finale for the episode.
Seriously, before I even go in on the content/philosophies/narrative weight, I want to appreciate the visuals here. Evangelion has had some evocative shots before, from the bound Eva Unit looking over them all to the brutal Angel battles. But this short 3 minute or so sequence was just packed to the brim with them. Starting with the Graveyard of Eva’s, it set the morbid tone and scale of it all perfectly. Really showing just how long Gendo has been working at this and how many people he is willing to sacrifice. Then we have the Test Tube Rei’s, with their terrifying smile, just floating in a vat. All existing purely to fit into dummy plugs and fight Gendo’s battles. Finally ending on what is arguably mass slaughter, corpses sinking to the bottom in the background. Seriously, this was some haunting shit, and it looked fan-fuckin-tastic. Good job Evangelion.
As for the actual contents of the scenes, that seems both incredibly simple and incredibly complicated. The simple part is basically, what does this mean for Rei/Gendo? With this the dummy plugs are effectively shot, Gendo can’t make anymore or if he can, at the least his supply is dead. Meanwhile Rei no longer has an easy access to new bodies, making her effectively mortal. Though you could argue “true death” and such even before this. Either way, Rei no longer has a safety net and I think removing it immediately after showing its consequences on her as a character worked well. I am curious if this has any other lasting effects though, such as if Gendo had any plans for those Rei’s. Whether it be piloting Eva Units as a personal army, or something… weirder. Still if nothing else, it was a very engaging episode finale.
Next we have episode 24, The Final Messenger, and I… I have no idea where to begin here. Do I talk about Asuka and how she is basically falling apart, apparently having run away from NERV? What about Shinji and his growing loneliness as Tokyo-3 is a crater and all his friends moved away? Or god forbid I start with Kaworu, his relationship with Shinji, his references to “Adam”, “Lilith” and “Lilin” and him being an Angel. Even starting with the production values of the final fight or Anno’s once again weird decision to hang on a single scene for a full minute would require me to talk about the narrative surrounding it all. So yeah, Evangelion gave me a ridiculous amount of things to talk about here, with no clear point of attack. So instead, lets just work through it from the start. Buckle in, this will be long.
First up let’s talk Asuka, Shinji and the fallout of the last episode. I say fallout, but really things have been falling apart for awhile now. But this episode really is both of these characters lowest points. Shinji has been low before of course, but now he doesn’t even have his support network. Whether by choice in pushing Misato away or not with Toji and co moving away, he is alone. Completely and utterly alone, as even Rei is no longer the same. Meanwhile Asuka is quite literally falling apart now that the only thing she felt worth in is gone. Unable to even pilot the Eva she once prided herself at being the best with. I was surprised to learn she ran away, hiding out in Tokyo-3’s ruins, emaciated and sitting in a tub. I never thought I would see the once proud Asuka brought so low.
For lieu of a better segway, I also can hardly talk about Shinji without mentioning Kaworu this episode. We will get to the implications of him being an Angel, with Adam and Lilith and such later. For now I want to focus on his and Shinji’s relationship. Because really, this came entirely out of left field. On one hand, it bothers me, because Kaworu swoops in right near the end and suddenly becomes an incredibly important character to Shinji. On the other hand though, the reasons for why are fascinating. Did Seele send Kaworu to Shinji in the hopes of manipulating him or breaking the boy further? Do they want to drive him to despair so that Shinji, with his “Complete God” in Unit 01, triggers the Third Impact or something? Or is there something more? My personal belief is that Kaworu sought Shinji out of his own volition.
The reason I believe this is because throughout this episode, Kaworu is dropping multiple hints as to his origin. Even outright stating near the end how he is not human, but Angel, containing the Soul of Adam. Meaning that the Angels are the children of Adam while the Humans are children of Lilin, proving I was right about there being 2 “Adams”. Putting all that aside for now, I prefer to think that Kaworu approached Shinji of his own volition, to try and understand humans. Because Seele clearly sent Kaworu there as an attack, to wipe out humanity, to do his duty as the progenitor of the Angels and reclaim the Earth for them. Yet throughout the episode Kaworu seemingly struggles with justifying that task, doubting if it’s right. Effectively using Shinji as a litmus test.
Meaning that by the end, over the course of his conversations with Shinji, I think Kaworu grew to love humans. Or at the very least, to legitimately love Shinji. I think that their conversations make him decide against his mission, as he doesn’t want to kill humans. Kaworu sees how weak they are, of body and heart in Shinji, and yet humans have dominion over the Earth. They have survived all this time, and he can’t bring himself to kill them all just to bring back the Angels. While I am sure Shinji sees it as a betrayal at the end, Kaworu is all but giving in so Shinji can save his species. And I think Evangelion sells this dichotomy really well, how Shinji feels betrayed, yet at the same time Kaworu is effectively sacrificing himself for Shinji. Suicide by Eva, in a way.
All this text and we haven’t even really touched on the implications of Kaworu being an Angel, have we? Once again I have to ask, where to begin. I guess the best place is simply that I wasn’t expecting this. Sure, I assumed we would have 2 “Adams”, but not that each “Adam” would be a progenitor to a separate species. I assumed both would be Angel related. Instead we seemingly have Kaworu with the Soul of Adam, Gendo with Adam’s “body” in the embryo Kaji brought, Rei with the Soul of Lilith and then the actual Lilith in Gendo’s basement. Then you have the Eva Units, which are seemingly half-human half-Angel hybrid clone things, the bodies of Angels with the Souls of Humans. Effectively being some kind of twisted co-dependence or habitation. All the while our boy Shinji is caught up in all this shit. Poor Shinji.
Now part of me wants to say that Evangelion could have been clearer her. Could have either expanded on it more, or revealed more earlier to give it more time to sink in, yadda yadda. But the more I think about it, the more I think that wouldn’t work. Slow rolling a reveal such as this, how Adam isn’t in the basement but Lilith, humanities projenator, would distract to much from the characters struggles. Meanwhile, as all over the place as I am right now, I do enjoy the reveal from Kaworu, the reveal that humans come from a similar place as the Angels. That being these progenitor beings. It also really sets the stage for Rei and whatever Gendo is planning to do with her, since she this episode all but proves Rei is an Angel. Or the human equivalent to an Angel, since Angels are of Adam.
I supposed my big question in all of this then is this: Why is Rei just now revealing her AT Field and such? She seemingly already knows she is of Lilith, especially since Kaworu was dropping hints to her this episode. Yet Evangelion put her in a plug suit and had her fight Angels in a giant robot. What sets Rei, and the rest of humanity, apart from Kaworu and the Angels if they come from similar places? Why are the Angels so different individually, some being almost metaphysical, and where are they coming from if Adam blew up in the Second Impact? It’s these sorts of questions that make me think we are heading towards a Mass-Effect ending. Where either Seele or Gendo wants to merge humanity into their own “Angel”. An entire species fused into a single being, explaining the Angels differences but also strength.
So yeah… at this point I don’t really know what else to say, or how to say it. I could ramble on about individual minor topics for thousands of words, dissecting every little piece. Doing my best to nitpick every little detail, but no one wants to read that. So instead i’ll say this: I really enjoyed these two episodes of Evangelion. For all of Anno’s weirdness, from 1 minute long held shots trying to display Shinji’s hesitance and ultimate acceptance of his duty, to the what the fuck themes and imagery, I was engaged. So instead of rambling on and on for thousands of words, I want to do something a bit different. I want to open the floor (Comments) to questions. What do you want to know about my feelings on Evangelion leading into the finale? Ask below, and I will see you next week for the finale!
For me, episodes 23 and 24 of Evangelion show that Anno and the production crew had good ideas, but shaky execution. If I think of the ideas they are trying to get across in these 2 episodes, what they were aiming for, I think many of them were good ones. They are clearly trying to tear down our main characters as much as possible, to bring them down to their lowest point. Episode 22 was all about doing this to Asuka, which just continues in these 2 episodes. Episode 24 was all about doing this to Shinji. As for Rei, well given the way Rei is she can’t have emotions and super low feelings of self worth like Asuka and Shinji have, but episode 23 absolutely seeks its ways to bring down that character as well. The concept of Kaworu I see as a good one as well. For an Angel to take human form and to try and form this close connection with Shinji, and ultimately deciding that it is worth dying so Shinji can live, I do like. They were good ideas.
But for me, the execution is just too shaky for it to work properly. You said that the Shinji- Kaworu relationship felt out of left field and to a big extent I think it is. They are trying to make us believe that this massively important and crucial connection is formed between these two characters, and I simply can’t buy it. There just is not enough time between the two for me to find it believable. The span of time from when Shinji and Kaworu first meet and Shinji realizes that he is an angel is what, half an episode? 10 minutes? That is just not enough time. The intent is for Kaworu to be so moved by his relationship with Shinji that he is willing to let Shinji kill him, and for Shinji to be so massively troubled by him having to kill Kaworu that it is the topper to shatter Shinji as we head towards the show’s conclusion. They are expecting us to feel too much from something that just isn’t given enough time.
I feel the same way about Rei’s death as well. The idea of it is a good one. That Rei, while artificial in at least some way, and so robotic and bland in personality has actually grown over the course of the series. That she has grown friendly with Shinji, and feels strongly enough about him that she is willing to go against the will of Gendou and kill herself in order to save him. That should feel powerful and when you first see it, it does. But then they bring her back mere minutes later and the effect is largely lost. It also makes one think back to episode 21 when they established that Rei had already been killed once before as a child. The emotional impact quickly falls away and turns into it coming off as them doing it just because the plot dictated it.
Many other things bother me; such as the comment that Touji and Kensuke simply moved away. These character had a lot of screen time. They deserved more than a throw away line which simply removes them from the storyline because the plot is demanding that Shinji crash to a low place as much as they can do so, and taking away his friends will do that and force him into a position where Kaworu will be more important to him. The fact that Ritsuko has to appear before SEELE naked, and that there is no explanation for it whatsoever eludes me. As does a throw away line from I believe Misato about faking or manipulating the sync ratios. Why did she do that? Why was that brought up now? Who knows why. It is never brought up again.
It comes down to poor management of the production for me. These were good ideas. But Anno put himself in a spot where he had too much story and not enough time to tell it. He threw in everything he could, but he didn’t give it enough time to have anywhere the impact it could have.
A last few comments; I really liked a lot of the imagery and visuals from episode 23 as well. Most of them were actually not in the original episode, but rather added afterwards as part of the “Director’s Cut” changes. Such as pregnancy imagery from the Eva in episode 23, the transformation of the Angel to resemble Rei, and much of the imagery in Terminal Dogma where Ritsuko shows Misato and Shinji Rei’s origins (although the tank of Reis and their brutal demise was always there). I also really enjoy the action sequence in the second half of episode 24, much like with episode 22 they throw in some unconventional, classic music, and I think it adds a more epic feel to the experience. As for the pause in episode 24, I don’t think its weirdness, I think its the same thing that caused us to have one in episode 22, Anno cutting corners to get the episode completely as quickly as he could.
I look forward to you wrapping up the show. I want to be very careful to avoid any question that could be construed as a spoiler. I guess what I would ask for you would be:
1. If the TV ending was the final conclusion to Evangelion and nothing else was released afterwards, would you be satisfied with it?
2. Did Evangelion TV live up to its reputation?
I think you’re right but the problem is that they just don’t have the room to expand and properly flesh out those ideas with a 26 episode series. I also think there is a negligible amount of material they could have removed from earlier episodes. Maybe take out one of the angel fights, but those are the absolute best part for me
Gainax was also on a shoestring budget at the time these episodes were made, so add that to the reasons why the episodes turned out the way they did.
For Kaworu and Shinji, I agree, I think they needed more time here. I think having Kaworu be the 4th child instead of Toji and give them time together would have made this land a lot better. Yet at the same time that takes away from one of the more powerful moments of the show with Shinji and Toji and the Eva Units. So its a tough nut to crack. Either way, we definitely needed more time with him for it to land properly. Though for what we got, I did still enjoy it, because I was at least invested in Shinji enough to go along with it.
As for Ritsuko, I have no idea about the naked bit and that bothered me, but I thought the Sync Ratio’s were with Kaworu? Namely that he was the one able to control how much he synced with the Eva Unit, rather than Ritsuko being able to control them, because he was an Angel syncing with an Eva (A clone of an Angel). It goes along with him being able to control 02 later. Did I misread that?
As for your final 2 questions, I actually watched 25 and 26 immediately after I wrote this post earlier this week. I have already finished the series. So to answer them:
1) God no. Those last two episodes… I have a lot of issues with them. The easiest way to say it without invalidating next weeks post while I write the final review is that the TV series of Evangelion feels like an unfinished product. The finale leaves a plethora of unanswered questions, and while I love the characters and think it did right by them, I was also invested in the story of the world and the Evas and Adam and such. So for the finale to do what it did… I was disappointed.
2) I want to say… Yes, with a caveat. Even with the disappointing ending, knowing End of Evangelion is there to give the series another shot at its finale, I think for the most part it did. I loved the characters, and for all my complaints throughout the series, I think it was a worthwhile ride. I don’t want to ruin the final review to much since its being written right now, but before the final 2 episodes I was ready to sing its praises and all the TV finale did was disappoint me, rather than actively ruin anything. It was a HUGE disappointment. But what it focused in on (the characters) it at least did well. I just wish it was more than an hour long monologue.
Jimtim:
There was lots of stuff in earlier episodes they could have cut. The entirety of episodes 7, 10 and 11 could be removed without any effect on the overall plot. They had half an episode as a clip show as well. I would have have very little problem if at least half of episode 13 was cut and arguably all of episode 9, although I suppose it is fair to keep that as an episode to introduce Asuka to the main setting of the show.
I agree that the Angel fights tend to be quite strong. One of the highlights for Eva for me is the combat scenes, they are among my favorite in the genre. The downside is when so much time was spent on them and entire episodes of content that end up not being necessary, you hit a point in the series like we do now where they really needed more time to tell their story but had no time left. Unfortunate because as I said, the ideas were good, but they had to rush through them too quick.
Firechick:
My understanding was not that it was a budget issue, but rather a time issue. They had to get the shows out as fast as possible to meet their deadlines and had to rush things massively. For example so much of episode 20 being old clips, and lengthy pauses in episodes 22 and 24. I’ve also heard out there that Anno had an outline for the entire series, then threw it out around halfway through the show which I absolutely can see contributing the rather shaky production towards the end.
Lenlo:
I really liked the Touji part of the storyline as well; I wouldn’t have cut any of that. The episodes where Touji comes to the forefront is among my favorite part of the series. As I put above, I wish they had cut some earlier material, which would have allowed the Kaworu arc to be 2-3 episodes instead of just 1. I think would have made this part of the storyline far more believable and powerful.
I went back to the script and the line was to the effect that Misato wasn’t going to be cheating on the sync ratios this time. Which implies she had been doing so before. I still don’t really get it. 😛
Thanks for the thoughts on the ending! Wasn’t expecting to hear this until next week! I’ll wait until then to offer my thoughts on the finale.
I look forward to them! I actually just finished the first draft of the final review now, so once thats ready to go I will probably end up watching End of Evangelion this weekend for /that/ review.
Gonna be a good time, but so much writing 😛
I loved the Rei’s end in her episode. That angel (like some others) was a catastrophic phenomenon, an enemy that could not be overcome without a loss. That Rei realized her feelings and sacrificed herself for Shinji was beautiful and bitter.
I think I attribute less importance to what you said Lenlo, to the lack of ‘safety-net’ for Rei now and her soul surviving her copies. I mean sure. But at least for me, there was only one Rei, the one with (her precious) memories. And so this episode crushed my spirit, because it crushed Rei. The only Rei. Soul or not, Rei is no more. No Rei. None. Period. Damn. I think the main point wasn’t that she’s still there (or could), but now the bets are off. It was not a warning! I think it was to crush the viewer’s spirit, to turn him into Shinji. Dunno. Rei feels too ephemeral to even live, so how could she die?!
As for Kensuke and the friends gone without much commentary. I’m not going to claim these things are not directly the result of the production issues, but I’d say Evangelion is what it is, and the flaws are only making it more timeless. Is this bad pacing or whatever? Eee – perhaps. But, it is also heavy blow – all of a sudden the story moves on and the viewer, attached to the old, is left behind. This is absolutely intentional!
I can actually say this with absolute certainty. Watch Evangelion 3.0 You can (not) Redo. Anno clearly had this in mind in these episodes too. There is little reason to give anyone hope that Rei can still be Rei after this – no she cant. There is no reason to give Touji and Kensuke some kind of farewell goodbye. There is plenty not to! They are now lost in the past created by all-too-important present leaving everyone in behind. You either scream and fight with all your life to stay relevant or you are written off! That’s how life works. Close your heart and dont look back. Full Gendo mode. No pictures. Just memories. But look ahead. Or you get eaten. Thats how life is – the beauty of it is in its will to stay alive. That’s why Shinji is alive and Kaworu is dead – the stronger one wins and Kaworu was too kind.
The series spells it out with Kaworu’s speeches. 3rd rebuild movie is dumbed down straight-forward version of it. End of Evangelion is societal meta-commentary on top of that idea.
PS: The rebuilds are even more confusing than the series – and they do not suffer from budget issues. So I wonder how much is intention here, how much production and how much incompetence.
Interestingly, it is the goodbyes that are out of place in life. People are never gone in way we want or expect. They disappear quickly or without realizing – one day you simply realize that that friend you had is gone. Perhaps he left, perhaps you thought he will call you one day, just like he had thought and now it is too late. We are constantly being robbed of things we hold dear, like Shinji got robbed of his friends, who were written off screen just like that.