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- May 13, 2003
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Yes, it's been debated for a good nine years now, all over the internet. The question: Did you like or dislike the last two episodes of Evangelion? As you know, it was basically taking place inside Shinji's mind, and dealt with his incessant low self-esteem. So what did you think? (Keep in mind before reading this that I haven't seen End of Evangelion)
Personally, I'm 50/50 on it. First, the positives. It was an interesting choice to end an action series (though many would disagree it's "action") in such a philosophical way, and I give props for their guts. And the overall message at the end of episode 26 was quite uplifting, that the world is what you make of it. Also, I enjoyed some of the nonconventional artwork in episode 26, like the squiggly drawings and the animatic references, like Asuka's "pull back". And the alternate universe in episode 26 was some good comic relief from all the heartbreak. Finally, Rei's inner thoughts were stimulating. Do carbon copy clones have souls? I guess they do, since they are shaped by the experiences around them.
Now for the negatives. From a pacing standpoint, ep. 25 & 26 dragged ON and ON. And they kept repeating the same bits of dialog over and over. I know the point was to show Shinji's constant battle with his own mind, but from a writing standpoint it seemed quite lazy. And after a while you just felt like saying, "Get on with it!" I've heard that EoE's last half hour is just more of the same.
Second, it's too vague. There was no resolution, and that's very unsatisfying. To me, a serialized show should atleast wrap up SOME loose ends before finishing, otherwise the previous events can seem completely random for the sake of messing with the audience. We have no idea what happened to NERV (and the world, for that matter) after the final angel was defeated, and we learn nothing about the various red herrings/mysteries along the way. Maybe I just haven't read enough of the backstory that doesn't actually appear in the show itself, or researched enough of the internet theories as to what everything in ep. 1-24 meant. But you shouldn't HAVE to, either. I'm not saying a show should lay everything all out on the table and insult the audience's intelligence, but it also shouldn't try to pass itself off as deep when in reality the theories are generated by the fans, NOT the show itself. If it weren't for all these fan theories on the internet, all of the religious and scientific symbolism could appear to be random and mean NOTHING. It's like, "Oh, let's stick a name from Exodus in there! People will overanalyze it and we'll look like geniuses!"
Finally, the last two episodes made me hate the main characters. If these people would just stop wallowing in their own self-pity for five seconds, they might actually be likeable. Sure, they made mistakes- who hasn't? But the fact that they keep beating themselves up over them instead of making progress to fixing them, and believing that everyone hates them is kinda self-fulfilling prophecy. If you recall, I once said that I liked Eva for the difficulties of communication between everyone, which made for an interesting watch. Heck, I even liked Asuka's breakdown in the later episodes because it exposed her inner insecurities and was satisfying. But when I realized that the characters weren't going to change at all, I stopped caring about their progress. There are only so many times you can be led to believe that a drunk is getting better, only to find that very same drunk on the bottle. Some might say this series is true to real life, in that people don't change easily, but still, it's unsatisfying to watch. It's the same reason why I hate Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind.
Seriously, the last two episodes ALMOST ruined the entire show for me. If it hadn't rebounded at the "alternate universe with crazy Rei" part and had just been whining for 45 minutes, I would've been so angry. Luckily, it managed to bring things to a somewhat optimistic close.
Please note that this thread isn't intended to discuss whether you liked the series as a whole (except incidentally, like my example of how it affected my like for the characters from then on). I'm just interested in seeing what people have to say about the final two episodes. Feel free to add your opinion on End of Eva too, if you want.
Personally, I'm 50/50 on it. First, the positives. It was an interesting choice to end an action series (though many would disagree it's "action") in such a philosophical way, and I give props for their guts. And the overall message at the end of episode 26 was quite uplifting, that the world is what you make of it. Also, I enjoyed some of the nonconventional artwork in episode 26, like the squiggly drawings and the animatic references, like Asuka's "pull back". And the alternate universe in episode 26 was some good comic relief from all the heartbreak. Finally, Rei's inner thoughts were stimulating. Do carbon copy clones have souls? I guess they do, since they are shaped by the experiences around them.
Now for the negatives. From a pacing standpoint, ep. 25 & 26 dragged ON and ON. And they kept repeating the same bits of dialog over and over. I know the point was to show Shinji's constant battle with his own mind, but from a writing standpoint it seemed quite lazy. And after a while you just felt like saying, "Get on with it!" I've heard that EoE's last half hour is just more of the same.
Second, it's too vague. There was no resolution, and that's very unsatisfying. To me, a serialized show should atleast wrap up SOME loose ends before finishing, otherwise the previous events can seem completely random for the sake of messing with the audience. We have no idea what happened to NERV (and the world, for that matter) after the final angel was defeated, and we learn nothing about the various red herrings/mysteries along the way. Maybe I just haven't read enough of the backstory that doesn't actually appear in the show itself, or researched enough of the internet theories as to what everything in ep. 1-24 meant. But you shouldn't HAVE to, either. I'm not saying a show should lay everything all out on the table and insult the audience's intelligence, but it also shouldn't try to pass itself off as deep when in reality the theories are generated by the fans, NOT the show itself. If it weren't for all these fan theories on the internet, all of the religious and scientific symbolism could appear to be random and mean NOTHING. It's like, "Oh, let's stick a name from Exodus in there! People will overanalyze it and we'll look like geniuses!"
Finally, the last two episodes made me hate the main characters. If these people would just stop wallowing in their own self-pity for five seconds, they might actually be likeable. Sure, they made mistakes- who hasn't? But the fact that they keep beating themselves up over them instead of making progress to fixing them, and believing that everyone hates them is kinda self-fulfilling prophecy. If you recall, I once said that I liked Eva for the difficulties of communication between everyone, which made for an interesting watch. Heck, I even liked Asuka's breakdown in the later episodes because it exposed her inner insecurities and was satisfying. But when I realized that the characters weren't going to change at all, I stopped caring about their progress. There are only so many times you can be led to believe that a drunk is getting better, only to find that very same drunk on the bottle. Some might say this series is true to real life, in that people don't change easily, but still, it's unsatisfying to watch. It's the same reason why I hate Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind.
Seriously, the last two episodes ALMOST ruined the entire show for me. If it hadn't rebounded at the "alternate universe with crazy Rei" part and had just been whining for 45 minutes, I would've been so angry. Luckily, it managed to bring things to a somewhat optimistic close.
Please note that this thread isn't intended to discuss whether you liked the series as a whole (except incidentally, like my example of how it affected my like for the characters from then on). I'm just interested in seeing what people have to say about the final two episodes. Feel free to add your opinion on End of Eva too, if you want.
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and REALLY ruined the movie for me. That attitude... he couldn't see people were trying to be friends with him, all he could think was "everybody hates me, my father won't pay attention to me... boohoo". If this fall on the floor wimp is chosen to save humanity, we're all doomed.
