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SuperSkylineGTR
Joined: 20 Aug 2002
Posts: 471
Location: Chicago, IL
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:16 am
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Foljo wrote: | Also, people are saying that rahxephon is much better than NGE. True? |
Hell no. Rah Xephon was okay, but not better then Eva.
In my opinion, NGE was a complete accident. The series had so many mishaps (Anno's nervous break-down, budget/dealine issues), yet it still somehow pulled through. I sometime believe, that if not for the many production pitfalls, the show would of have probably turned out like another run-of-the-mill mecha show.
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Dilandau
Joined: 06 Jan 2004
Posts: 525
Location: Tea House
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:47 am
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I feel dishonoured for saying it, but I agree. I think if everything went according to plan, it would have turned no different than anything else (on the higher end still). But it would not be the ragging topic that it still is after 10 years.
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Vigilante024
Joined: 11 Jul 2003
Posts: 578
Location: back. but not really.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 9:50 am
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Foljo wrote: | I heard a high praise behind this anime series, this why I decided to watch it. So I did, whole 26 episodes. Well, I watched it, and asked myself. “What is the point of this show?”. |
Unfortunately, I feel that the more praise a show has the more people are let down by it, expectations are not met.
and I do think Eva is one of those shows that needs to be seen at least twice, before a discussion. since you acn usually just answer your own questions on it the more you see it. and yeah, see the movies.
as far as RahXephon, I think its a matter of taste in how you like your "thinking" anime to be...
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kamiboy
Joined: 29 Nov 2003
Posts: 570
Location: CA
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 10:41 am
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Escaflowne is an example of an equally great anime from around the same time that didn’t have any mysteries or glaring plot hole problems. It was also a mecha anime yet most people still have it in their top.10 anime of all time list. However a new thread has not been created every week since it's creation by a confused newbie that just finished it and wonders what it was that he just saw.
So in my opinion the director’s breakdown and budget problems are in no way the reason why Evangelion is great, it is great in spite of those problems. However they are the reasons why it is still discussed today by people who still don't "get it" 8 years after it's production. And eight years from now people will probably still be discussing Eva and labelling Escaflowne as one of the best anime of the 90's.
If you watch the first half of Evangelion you will get a pretty good picture of how the show would have turned out if it had not encountered any problems. Compare the first half of Evangelion to any run-of-the-mill anime and you will see that Evangelion is not one of them. The first half of Evangelion is great and unique and is the part that most fans like the most, so if it had continued on the same track it would still have been great.
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Aaron White
Old Regular
Joined: 23 Aug 2002
Posts: 1365
Location: Birmingham, Alabama
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 11:04 am
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Eva follows a cinematic paradigm that was established and popularized by such filmmakers as Jean-Luc Godard and Alain Resnais back in the sixties; Godard tended to say "I'm not a storyteller; I'm an essayist." So is Anno. He lets down some viewers when he abandons straight storytelling, but it's not that he's a bad storyteller; he's just doing something different. Although I think Anno is often muddled, much of what fans protest about Eva isn't bad; it's just playing by different and unfamiliar rules.
Escaflowne is a straightforward fantasy genre story with no postmodern or new-wave elements to speak of; to whatever extent it succeeds, it succeeds on terms which are more familiar to most filmgoers, and so viewers have fewer questions about it.
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SuperSkylineGTR
Joined: 20 Aug 2002
Posts: 471
Location: Chicago, IL
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:41 pm
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kamiboy wrote: | Compare the first half of Evangelion to any run-of-the-mill anime and you will see that Evangelion is not one of them. |
Okay, let me see here...
1. Giant Robots
2. Mysterious Alien Race
3. Cute girls with a bit of fan service
4. brooding main hero
nah, you're right, it did not start out like every other run-of-the-mill mecha show. <sarcasm>
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kamiboy
Joined: 29 Nov 2003
Posts: 570
Location: CA
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 12:56 pm
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What I meant was that.... bah forget what I said, if you can't see that the first part of Evangelion is rather special then I can't help you understand that it is. I believe that Evangelion was made to be a kind of a parody of the mecha genre so it is a little ironic to call it a run-of-the-mill mecha anime.
Bottom line is I think it would have been equally great, at least, if it had continued in the same manner. Don't forget that the first half also had its share of mysteries and psychoanalyses just not in the same uncontrollable amount as the last part. As with Anno’s decent into madness so did the pacing and balance of the show.
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SuperSkylineGTR
Joined: 20 Aug 2002
Posts: 471
Location: Chicago, IL
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:06 pm
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kamiboy wrote: | What I meant was that.... bah forget what I said, if you can't see that the first part of Evangelion is rather special then I can't help you understand that it is. I believe that Evangelion was made to be a kind of a parody of the mecha genre so it is a little ironic to call it a run-of-the-mill mecha anime. |
No, actually I understand you now that you clarified it a bit. I also got the impression too that it was kinda set-up as a parody. It did pay a few homages to other mecha shows that came before it.
So I suppose we are on the same page.
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Foljo
Joined: 23 Aug 2003
Posts: 62
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:44 pm
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Now where to get those movies Are they dubbed? Because I can't stand subbed anime (yes, kill me for that).
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Vigilante024
Joined: 11 Jul 2003
Posts: 578
Location: back. but not really.
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:46 pm
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...They were released by Manga Ent...so if there is a Suncoast, Best Buy, etc. you can get them there...or order them online at any online anime store
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Swordfish_II
Joined: 05 Nov 2003
Posts: 617
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:01 pm
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Foljo wrote: | Now where to get those movies Are they dubbed? Because I can't stand subbed anime (yes, kill me for that). |
NOTE: Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is an hour and a half recap of episodes 1-24 and the first half hour of episode 25': Air.
End of Evangelion contains two 45 minute episodes that are the alternate versions of episodes 25 and 26 from the TV series.
Also, the first Director's Cut DVD, Evangelion: Resurrection, came out today and includes the original TV broadcast episodes already out from ADV as well as the extended versions of episodes 21-23. The Director's Cut contains footage already found in Death & Rebirth as well as entirely new scenes.
And all of the main characters have the same English VAs from the series. Only some of minor characters have changed, but it isn't noticeable.
Last edited by Swordfish_II on Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:05 pm; edited 1 time in total
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littlegreenwolf
Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:04 pm
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Evangelion will always be popular and stand out because it's so damn weird. The movie especially. It's why to this day Clockwork Orage is still a cult hit. It's just one of those things people either get/or not, or in this case, like/or not. I love Evangelion because it was so different from everthing else in the way it ended. I've been watching RaXepheon, and yeah, it is nice and all, but I can tell you it is NOT going to affect me the way Eva has. Eva is in the weird arthouse film league of anime. And that movie... I didn't understand it like pretty much everyone else on the planet, but it was AWESOME.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:27 pm
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Maybe I've seen it too many times, but the message of Evangelion seems really simple to me and the movie makes sense on a variety of levels. It's presented in a complicated fashion, but you can boil it down pretty easily and come up with a theme for the show that makes sense.
Everyone seems split down the middle on RahXephon; I stand by my assertion that it's an adult show, made by adults, for adults, and that anyone under the age of, say, 21 or so simply won't be able to relate to a lot of the messages the series has to offer. It isn't action-packed, it's paced a little slow, and requires your full attention. Your brain has to be firing in order to get anything out of it. Evangelion can be appreciated by anyone, really; it works on a variety of levels and could entertain the lowest common denominator as well as the educated man. There's big robots beating eachother up, blood, breasts and all those other things that attract people to anime. RahXephon simply does not wallow in that sort of thing; it refuses to pander, which turns a lot of people off. It just isn't for everyone.
IMHO, RahXephon is MUCH closer to an 'arthouse' film than Evangelion is. Arthouse films won't have excessive sex and explosions just to sell more tickets or merchandise, which is precisely what Evangelion has in spades. RahXephon takes itself seriously and makes zero concession to any audience member who isn't trying their hardest to pay attention to and analyze what they're seeing on screen. It requires active, thoughtful viewing on behalf of the audience member.
Therefore, it is much closer in tone and spirit to an art film.
-Zac
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littlegreenwolf
Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 4796
Location: Seattle, WA
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:42 pm
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Zac wrote: | IMHO, RahXephon is MUCH closer to an 'arthouse' film than Evangelion is. Arthouse films won't have excessive sex and explosions just to sell more tickets or merchandise, which is precisely what Evangelion has in spades. RahXephon takes itself seriously and makes zero concession to any audience member who isn't trying their hardest to pay attention to and analyze what they're seeing on screen. It requires active, thoughtful viewing on behalf of the audience member.
Therefore, it is much closer in tone and spirit to an art film.
-Zac |
Ok, I understand that perspective, but how about in the case of the Evangelion movie alone? I understand the movie can't really stand on it's own without the tv series, but the movie itself seems to be on a whole different level. I have never seen so much mind-blowing symbolism packed into an animated movie. Sure it has all the big booms that would entertain the people there for booms, but unless they find other things other then the explosions intriguing, how could they find the movie entertaining? The Evangelion movie requires thinking for pretty much every minute it's running, and depending on how you interpret the things you've seen, you'll come up with your own conclusion on the ending.
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SuperSkylineGTR
Joined: 20 Aug 2002
Posts: 471
Location: Chicago, IL
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Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2004 2:44 pm
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I hear what you are saying, Zac.
However, let me say this: Yeah, I got what Rah Xephon was all about, and frankly, I was not impressed.
Don't misunderstand me. It was a decent show (the episode "Ticket to Nowhere/ Blue Friend" about Hiroko and Ayato was probably one of the best epsiodes I have seen in any anime), but that's about it. Not worth the 209.93 MSRP for the whole series.
Maybe you're right and it is kind of an artsy film (although, I really don't see it personally). Which would probably explain why, that although I enjoyed the series for the most part, I find it hard to reccommend the series to other people.
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