Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

I wish I could talk to someone whose legit first anime was Evangelion, and not because they were a kid or what-not. I'm super curious as to how they turned out from it.

Also one of my managers said he grew up with the anime. Like what the fuck? lol
I mean I'll say this much, just watching it. It doesn't do the trope shit. Like it does, and then it doesn't. Because it's Hidiaki Anno having a mental breakdown every so often/commenting on society bullshit. This would be weird to start with, then you watch a 6/10 Iseaki.
And you probably never will even after your seventh watch. You ever choose to do a rewatch, definitely check it out subbed. Whole 'nother experience.
I plan on it. I find this fascinating in the same way I see some of old Star Trek. You watch and rewatch.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toji Suzuhara
I mean I'll say this much, just watching it. It doesn't do the trope shit. Like it does, and then it doesn't. Because it's Hidiaki Anno having a mental breakdown every so often/commenting on society bullshit. This would be weird to start with, then you watch a 6/10 Iseaki.
Pretty much, until you remember that 6/10 isekai is likely literally taking cues from NGE, it's that unescapable.

Also if you end up liking it (or hating it but having an appreciation for it), definitely watch Anno's other works. Nadia is a good place to go unless you want to relax, in which case go with KareKano before touching Nadia. If you still want more mecha action, Gunbuster and Shin Godzilla. No I don't care there's no mecha in Shin Godzilla, it's still relevant to this conversation.

Or just watch Ryusei Kacho instead, up to you.
 
Pretty much, until you remember that 6/10 isekai is likely literally taking cues from NGE, it's that unescapable.

Also if you end up liking it (or hating it but having an appreciation for it), definitely watch Anno's other works. Nadia is a good place to go unless you want to relax, in which case go with KareKano before touching Nadia. If you still want more mecha action, Gunbuster and Shin Godzilla. No I don't care there's no mecha in Shin Godzilla, it's still relevant to this conversation.

Or just watch Ryusei Kacho instead, up to you.
I'll keep those in mind. And yes the influence is inescapable.
a7d (1).jpg
That waifu hyperwar has been going on 30 YEARS now.
 
I didn't watch neither Perfect Blue nor Gurren Lagann till last year, so yeah.

Having watched Kill La Kill before Gurren Lagann though, I prefer KLK. GL is fun just for some secondary characters, I couldn't stand neither Simon nor Yoko.
TTGL has a higher peak when it comes to scale, but KLK was just so much more of a fun experience for me and is one of the few weebshit OSTs that I own. Still two of my favourite series and I love that Nobuyuki Hiyama is in both.
That waifu hyperwar has been going on 30 YEARS now.
Best worst girl is Misato.
 
I wish I could talk to someone whose legit first anime was Evangelion, and not because they were a kid or what-not. I'm super curious as to how they turned out from it.
Evangelion wasn't my first anime, but I think it was my third or fourth that wasn't random Transformers episodes or Ghibli movies, and it's what locked me into anime for a good time. I was OBSESSED with it for months afterward; the only other anime I've been so obsessed with were the Brave series (especially GaoGaiGar), Harlock, Xabungle, and SEED Destiny. At the time I had never seen anything that combined apocalyptic, spiritual woo-ish stuff with sci-fi in such a cool and mysterious way, though I think part of the impact was that it was the first darker, more mature media I had seen that wasn't something I had to read for an English class. I read the manga in three or four days over my Christmas holidays and watched End of Eva a few days before Christmas; I associate End of Eva with Christmas now because of that. Immediately afterward I searched for anything like it I could get my hands on, which led me to other Gainax stuff like Gunbuster and TTGL and other mecha anime like Nadesico, Macross, and Gundam. Eventually TTGL led me to GaoGaiGar and the Brave series (I had heard of the Brave series before from the Transformers fandom, but it was J-Decker being compared to Kiss Players for having humans fall in love with robots so that turned me off of it for a while) and Getter Robo, and that got me into mecha stuff permanently. Nowadays I think Eva is, objectively, pedophilic hackery that steals its story from better shows like Ideon and Ultraman when it's not stealing shots from OVAs like Iczer and Orgun, but I do have nostalgia for it and it will always be special to me. I'd disagree with the statement that there's no other anime like Eva since it goes over many of 0079's story beats (the ending of 0079 feels a lot like End of Eva), Iczer-1 and Orgun have a similar aesthetic and backstory, Ideon captures the futility and helplessness of Eva, and any of the "Eva clones" like Rahxephon or Aquarion capture the general feeling well. I'd even argue that Aquarion does Eva's schtick better than Eva because the villains aren't just mindless beasts, the character-driven crap is woven into the story better, and the messages are fresher (and therefore more profound) due to being so random and weird at times as well as positive and inspiring.
 
I didn't watch neither Perfect Blue nor Gurren Lagann till last year, so yeah.

Having watched Kill La Kill before Gurren Lagann though, I prefer KLK. GL is fun just for some secondary characters, I couldn't stand neither Simon nor Yoko.

The highlight character in Gurren Lagann for me.
Lordgenome and Viral are my favorite characters. The soundtrack and mech designs are really good and the final Giga Drill Breaker against Anti-Spiral is pure kino.

Saw dungeons and dragons mentioned and Goblin Slayer is all i ever think about. Mili was the perfect choice to use in the ost and my rule of thumb is when mili is involved it's gonna be good. If you guys haven't read, I'd recommend Goblin Slayer Year 1.

Edit: if we're talking about best girl in Eva. Mari is best girl
she turned our boy straight and got him off the path of sin the demon kaworu put him on!
 
Freiren's popularity is interesting to me because I was aware of the manga before the anime even came out. It was never as popular, but I like the manga quite a bit because its a very slow, comfy read. It's kinda like reading a slice-of-life visual novel with all the filler. I haven't watched the anime, but I assume it skips much of it.
 
I wish I could talk to someone whose legit first anime was Evangelion, and not because they were a kid or what-not. I'm super curious as to how they turned out from it.

It's not that difficult methinks, particularly in areas where you didn't get anime at all. Evangelion was my first anime, and I clearly remember:
- Being quite puzzled trying to reconcile the Christian/philosophical elements with my own personal knowledge, because it was far beyond me to understand that they were just gibberish there to look cool;
- Liking quite a lot the sci-fi beats and the concept of biological mecha with a limited operational time. Made for some decent action (and I liked a lot episodes that were merely monsters of the week or world-building like Jet Alone, from what I get they're not exactly well-liked).
- Finding Shinji was a loser and feeling particularly bad for the Asuka breakdown, because I saw kids burning themselves out in Real Life.
- Most of the cast was fine. Liked more the humans (the command crew, the school mates) because Rei was clearly a monstrosity and the people in charge were clearly broken.
- I liked the original ending. I got they didn't have budget and that they went for some purposefully obtuse time-wasting episodes, but the last message was endearing enough even if the plotline wasn't resolved.

I hated End of Evangelion. It made me almost sick, I perceived it as a try-harding, degenerate and bent on misery porn. I disliked even the soundtrack, finding it inferior to the picks in the original series. Shinji went from a loser to a retarded loser that the world finds important for unknown reasons. Most plot beats I found between the offensive and the stupid (Asuka's death, everyone being reduced to glop by teh Rei) and I found myself preferring the low-key but more endearing original ending.
 
I wish I could talk to someone whose legit first anime was Evangelion, and not because they were a kid or what-not. I'm super curious as to how they turned out from it.
It was basically one of mine, outside of anime films. I'll always have a soft spot for it as a result, even if now I can see how flawed it was.

I saw a group of deeply relatable kids (I was around the same age as the main cast) who were immensely dislikeable and only making themselves worse off. On the other side, I saw a lot of adults who mimicked the issues of the adults around me. Except they explained why they did these things in a way a dumb teen could digest, and it showed how those actions also messed up the kids further.

I couldn't really be angry at the adults around me anymore because they seemed human. I went from a lot of rage to just vaguely sad. I also realized that unless I wanted to come off as a Shinji or Asuka, or worse, grow up into any of the adults in the show, I needed to change how I was acting.

However I now use kiwifarms and watch both art house and seasonal anime, so it didn't help me out much.
 
@Space Police

I believe that Rahxephon is truly better written than Evangelion, but the overall look to Eva designs and world is better.

But holy shit the character designa from the original designer of Rah is a masterpiece



This Fate/Zero may be one of the funniest gags of all time, just imagining Matous with Kintoki of all people is pure comedy
5d74f547-92e1-4ea4-ae29-d5b211192abc.jpeg


@Kari Kamiya

Not Evangelion but one of my first anime was Samurai 7, and the shock of the hero not getting the girl was quite impacting for me. The idea of: wow she liked the older guy. Things happening not as my childish mind expecting but for other/mature reasons.

Even today I don't think Evangelion ever got me that feeling of something happening because characters intent/desires and it didn't happen for bigger reasons. (Which is funny because the TV/films didn't, but the manga did)
 
  • Informative
Reactions: Toji Suzuhara
When I discovered Evangelion I went farther than any of you in my insanity and I guess it is the same even today. I went full nerd autism and collected scientific articles/thesis/thesis that had EVANGELION as subject and printed it all and binded in a book to read it. This was on 2012 and I still have it. And I did read it. Of course, this didn't help me understand evangelion at all, those just study it as a piece of media like any other. These papers are mostly about the study of semiotic and so on and are more on the unfinished manga at the time than the TV series at all. (But I dont regret at all reading, there is one thing that showcase how fictional is, is when they brought up plumbering. How the fuck does the plumbering system works in Tokyo-3? It doesn't matter but it is just an example of how the visuals supercedes reality.

20250126_153243.jpg20250126_153259.jpg20250126_153316.jpg20250126_153334.jpg20250126_153354.jpg

And even back then I was never interessed at the religious shit, because I am not christian and quickly found out that even gainax didn't give a shit about this either.

Nowadays what I care the most about Evangelion isn't the story/characters, but the overal visual. The visual aspect of designs/fonts/logo design in this franchise is one of the things that I love the most. For me Ikuto Yamashita is a god and I follow every stuff he has been involved.

I really believe that the visuals carry evangelion as no other series has even been and khara/groundworks know this.

Some years ago, Yasuhiro Kamiyama was interviewed by a chinese guy and I did read but not archived it. It was all about Evangelion marketing and how it changed the game in terms of using the brand. And the shift was not by using characters itself, but colors, and every damn week we got reminded of how much this just fucking works:


What groundworks did, is above anything that any other anime did, they managed yl create their own brands specific to each type of use like RADIO EVA, EVA RACING, AT FIELD and so on.

Most people will talk about rei or asuka but very few like me will go full autism and dwrlve inyo very specific evangelion topics like designs and color usage
 

Attachments

  • 20250126_153259.jpg
    20250126_153259.jpg
    3 MB · Views: 10
I believe that Rahxephon is truly better written than Evangelion, but the overall look to Eva designs and world is better.

But holy shit the character designa from the original designer of Rah is a masterpiece
I'd say RahXephon also has better visuals and designs than Evangelion since it has more vehicles that aren't just ordinary tanks and planes. I was really enamoured with Evangelion's screen designs when I first watched it, and I still like them, but the screen designs of SEED/Dendoh/Cyber Formula OVAs are right up there as well.
Watching this makes me want Fukuda to do a Dendoh OVA. Imagine just how high-stakes and intense it would be; it would be like GaoGaiGar FINAL or Getter Robo Armageddon. And also speaking of SEED, SEED Destiny's ending is a lot like End of Eva, but way cooler.
 
Last edited:
I'd say RahXephon also has better visuals and designs than Evangelion since it has more vehicles that aren't just ordinary tanks and planes. I was really enamoured with Evangelion's screen designs when I first watched it, and I still like them, but the screen designs of SEED/Dendoh/Cyber Formula OVAs are right up there as well.
Watching this makes me want Fukuda to do a Dendoh OVA. Imagine just how high-stakes and intense it would be.
When I mean designs I dont mean only mecha designs but overall look. The displays are an excelent example of how much evangelion is carried by visuals.

The phone in 2.0 was a real phone and the aesthetics were much in line with evangelion own aesthethics.
1737920623670.jpeg


The outside look really looks like something straight up from NERV.
1737920695884.jpeg


All these visual aspects are even better in the rebuilds where they can put even more layers and add world building into stuff people would never even notice like the Kuroshio group that produces most stuff in their universe as a fictional conglomerate.


This aspect isn't mentioned by fans at all since they would prefer to sperg for which girl they like more (even when since 1997, the correct answer will always be Mana Kirishima)
1737920920512.jpeg
 
The phone in 2.0 was a real phone and the aesthetics were much in line with evangelion own aesthethics.
1737920623670.jpeg


The outside look really looks like something straight up from NERV.
1737920695884.jpeg
I think I've seen this phone before. The flip phone would be REALLY cool to have; I'd use it shamelessly even if it makes me come off as a manchild weeaboo.
All these visual aspects are even better in the rebuilds where they can put even more layers and add world building into stuff people would never even notice like the Kuroshio group that produces most stuff in their universe as a fictional conglomerate.
I absolutely agree. Evangelion 2.0 really feels lived-in, and because of that it's the best Eva media alongside the Anima novels. It's amazing that they bothered with details like showing an empty meeting room when all the skyscrapers are being collapsed, the gates closing during the Clockiel battle, 02 getting transported on a truck (I know other shows like Dougram have transport trucks, but the realism of Eva's setting makes it cooler) and that NERV truck (I think there was a Tomica of it, but I can't find it anywhere). The main reason the timeskip seems so interesting is because it would expand on all the meticulous worldbuilding and backstory of the Rebuilds, but that's never going to happen.
This aspect isn't mentioned by fans at all since they would prefer to sperg for which girl they like more (even when since 1997, the correct answer will always be Mana Kirishima)
It's like how fans tend not to like the earlier TV episodes when they're the best since they still have a workable animation budget and it hadn't yet devolved into schizo hobo ramblings.
 
Seeing all this Evangelion talk, I watched the show for the first time last year. Godawful garbage. Not many anime which I would deem a complete waste of time, but EVA is certainly among them. Not denying its influence or how it could be amazing as a gateway for people who are new to anime, but I couldn't fucking stand it.

Still slowly rewatching Stand Alone Complex. Animation quality is probably the "biggest" complaint I have with it. And maybe the mumbo jumbo it seems to inherit from the manga but otherwise excellent show.
 
Back