It's the twenty-fifth anniversary of "Neon Genesis Evangelion," the giant robot anime featuring a group of teenaged pilots in gargantuan mecha suits, who are trying to stave off the apocalypse. "Evangelion" is considered one of the most important titles of the mecha genre, which helped to redefine the aesthetics of '90s anime and provided a boost to the waning industry. It was one of the big titles, along with "Akira," "Ghost in the Shell," and "Cowboy Bebop," that helped to popularize anime among adult audiences overseas. Since "Evangelion" was one of the first anime I watched in the late 90s, it took a while before I really appreciated its impact and importance. To put it simply, there was anime before "Evangelion," and anime after "Evangelion."
So, what's so special about this series? Why does it have such a rabid fanbase, so many controversies around it, and such a notorious reputation? Most of this boils down to "Evangelion" being the brainchild of director Hideaki Anno, who is brilliant but famously unstable. Anno made no secret that he used "Evangelion" to help process some of the fallout of the depression he suffered in the early '90s. As such, there is an intense psychological realism to many of the characters in "Evangelion" that was unheard of in anime at that time. The main character is a boy named Shinji Ikari, who is deeply introverted, insecure, and suffers abandonment issues. He doesn't want to be a mecha pilot, in stark contrast to the strident kid heroes usually found in the genre, and has to be emotionally manipulated into cooperating. For years, there were jokes in anime fandom about Shinji being an insufferably whiny and pathetic loser, but the truth is that we all identified with him - maybe a little too closely in some cases. The story of "Evangelion" is really the story of Shinji struggling with his mental health. Most of the other major characters around him are also deeply troubled - the almost robotically stoic Rei, aggressively competitive Asuka, and self-destructive Misato.
As a result, "Evangelion" is a deconstruction of the typical giant robot story, featuring terribly fallible heroes, who are supported by a sinister military organization that is exploiting them for its own gain. The Evangelions piloted by Shinji and the other kids are the result of monstrous experiments orchestrated by a shadowy cabal, and as frightening as any of the enemies that they fight against. The more the show uncovers about the origins of the Evangelions, and what the adults responsible for them have been doing, the more horrific the series becomes. However, at the start, the show looks like a typical giant robot show, with weekly battles, cool suit-up sequences, and lots of picturesque destruction. And thanks to the efforts of Studio GAINAX, the action looks and sounds fantastic, full of beautifully visceral animation, with moments of unexpected, gutting violence. However, with Shinji in the role of the hero, all this trauma lingers and compounds on his fragile psyche, until it becomes unbearable.
While I love the more showy, spectacle-based parts of the show, when I think of "Evangelion" I tend to remember how fiercely interior it is. I remember the images of Shinji listening to his Walkman and staring at his ceiling, wandering around the countryside in silence, or waiting at train crossings. I appreciate the show's willingness to simply spend time with him doing absolutely nothing except existing. The mundanity is strangely as compelling as the scenes of giant robot madness, because it helps to ground the characters so much more firmly in reality. Anno captures so many subtler, human moments and interactions that are so well-observed, and does so much with just the way he frames and juxtaposes his characters against each other. The EVA pilots and their universe feel so genuine, that when they're under threat, it's so much more gripping.
Alas, "Evangelion" had a famously ambiguous and frustrating ending - more than one, actually - all kinds of distribution problems, and is currently in the middle of a long-delayed series of reboot films. I still can't make much sense of the series mythology, and I've seen the show all the way through three times. I swear, "Evangelion's" continued popularity is due in part to how difficult and incoherent it becomes in its final stretch - which rewards the obsessives who like picking it apart, but is just confounding to everyone else. The finale famously earned Anno death threats, and he went on to repeat this whole cycle with his next show, "His and Her Circumstances."
Still, when "Evangelion" is good, it's in a class by itself. I highly recommend the series to anyone interested in anime, because it's worth watching through at least once, just to marvel at the places the series is willing to go. The closest American equivalent I can think of is David Lynch's "Twin Peaks," which took a similar approach to deconstructing American soaps. "Evangelion," however, is shorter and has giant robot battles. Speaking of which, I think it's fitting that "Evangelion" is credited with kicking off its own sub-genre of anime, aptly titled the "Real Robot" genre.
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