What is Eva's emotional significance to you?

[Born of Lilith]

I see so many threads here debating the continuity and mythology of Evangelion, and I don't mind that at all. I rather enjoy skimming through those, actually. But I'd be more interested still in reading about what Evangelion means to people on an emotional level. What does it make you feel?

For me Evangelion perfectly embodies the feelings of depression and emptiness I went through in my early teens - that desire for "something more" that was just out of reach. It was unreal how much I could relate to the show back then. That makes Eva uncomfortable and, er, depressing for me to watch at times, but at the same time I love the melancholy and it reminds me vividly of where I've been.

How about you?

[Xard]

Evangelion hooked me on anime which could be construed as "Evangelion ruined my life"

I guess that's some form of emotional significance

[InstrumentalityOne]

Can´t really explain it, but it´s very emotional significant to me, at least that I know.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I wrote all I ever need to write on the subject here.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

From a strictly entertainment perspective, I found Evangelion to be very emotionally powerful at times. Then I found that I was considering several of the show's aspects long after I had viewed an episode, and I realized that there was something about Eva that worked on a plane other than just the entertainment level.

[Eva Yojimbo]

One thing I didn't even mention in that review is that after my first time viewing NGE I was so affected that all I could do was stand up, walk 3 feet to my couch, and just crash there face down and lie still for about 3 hours. I literally did this as the entire experience just played over and over in my head. I'd never been hit by any work of fiction like that before or since.

[Rei Makes You Go Splat]

Eva has had greater emotional significance to me than any work of art by far. When I first saw EoTV, I felt like I experienced a part of me that I've never felt before. Even more so when I saw EoE. It really altered the way I viewed the world, and inspired me to pursue Existentialism more. Not a day goes by when I don't think of the message of Evangelion, as it is a very powerful one and a very true one, I feel.

[Mr. Tines]

The series got its hooks in me through Asuka's apogee and descent -- the first time a fictional character managed to so evoke feelings of anguished sympathy (pushing buttons from my own late teens) -- but it ended on the bright dawn of a better tomorrow for all, so I walked away from that content.

Watching EoE a few days later, it just kept on escalating the feelings of helpless horror, with so many false dawns before the final nightfall. After than bludgeoning, the whole bloody, pointless, spiral into destruction just would not go away until I vomited forth a couple of fics to purge it.

That was 7 years ago now -- I really should rewatch it all again sometime.

[TehDonutKing]

It prevented my suicide. Nothing more is necassary.

[C.A.P.]

You know, that's a good question. Hm, let's see now... yeah, rather than talk about on how watching Evangelion changed a tiny bit on my opinion on how you work with animation on television and how much the character emotionally resonate with me, I'll instead talk about on what the show taught me that will probably benefit me in the future while it continues to inspire me.

First off, this show taught me (well, really reaffirm the idea) that in animation, you don't necessarily need a majority of those who carry the X Chromosome to tell a story, and if anything, adding females into a male's point of view into a show can actually enhances a piece of fiction even better if it was just males; in a way, this show took the foundation "Sailor Moon" set up for the shoujo genre, and Ganiax just took that foundation and basically developed the idea and perhaps even go into territories the genre (and even animation in general) would probably never touch with a five foot pole, so with that note, they get major props. It's even more amazing they manged to do with teenage girls too, since they're not the easiest characters to write for in the artform.

Next. the second half taught me that following a basic story structure isn't really needed if you want to tell a story that primary fascinates a storyteller, and if there are other methods to express a character's state of mind (like what episode 16, 20, 25-26 did), or at least, cut superficial elements out of a story and quickly get to the parts that interests the storyteller, then by all means, give it a shot and see if it works, experiment a little if they must, and boy howdy, did it work, and I'm grateful Ganiax decided to experiment with the limited medium in their disposal and work on something that can almost rival the ambition and drive that gave us those Disney shorts and movies back in the 30s and early 40s, or at least, something close to it (and I have my theories on why that is, but that's not related to the thread. Maybe another time).

Overall though (I have more stuff on what the show taught me, but I'm not in the mood to think about it just yet), I think what the show really taught me (or reminded me) is that just because you're forced to work under a crummy system doesn't mean you shouldn't put in your all on a piece of work, and if you have an idea that you think is worth going into, and if you're willing to put into the drive and passion to make it happen, then you know what? You might up creating a piece of art that'll inspire naive, amateur artists that to think to themselves, "Wow...there is nothing like this, and I want to create another 'this', no matter what it takes"...like me.

The show, to me, reinforces the idea that if you want to create something that'll stick into the conscience of its' audience, then it has to take risks, its has to be single minded and almost ruthless in order to find that one thing to make it stick out, and above all, can work in a medium that has ideas and theories you can't do in other mediums (there's even ideas that have never been tried before), and it will be almost foolish to consider them obstacles rather than assets. Not only did Evangelion did all this, but it also did the impossible; it succeed beyond on what it was trying to accomplish, and as a result of this, you end up learning more about who you are, what you want to become, reinforces your reality and respects you fantasy, and introduces you to new ideas that you've never thought of in the first place all at the same time. That my friends, is the mark of a piece of art; it doesn't do one of these, it does 'em all, and I for one am grateful I have that piece of art to cherish for the rest of my life. And the fact that I can share this art with other people and be enriched by what they think about that piece will give me a experience that makes me glad to be alive and well.

Aaaaaannnndddd I probably got too philosophical in that last point, but hey, what can you do?

[child of Lilith]

I loved the show and watching it hit me harder then anything else I've ever seen, but it really didn't change anything about me. I guess I really don't know just what it means to me.

[ashneverwind]

Eva started as a giant robot anime to me when I was younger but after my parents divorce i begun to really attach to Shinji and really identified with some of the things he deals with. Eva's amazing like that

[supershinjiasukashipper]

Hmmm, to me eva perfectly embodies the teenage confusion, thus it gives me nostalgic emotions. It make me laugh, it makes me cry, it's an emotional roller-coaster. But a good one.
Nice thread BOL. This is a nice change of pace.

[Eva Yojimbo]

You know, that's a good question.

Great post, man. Agree on every point. NGE really influenced how I critically look at fiction on the whole. I can't tell you how many of its devices I've used in my own work.

[The Abhorrent]

Actually a rather tough question to answer, I usually have difficulty understanding my emotions as it is. I would say the main source of my interest in Evangelion is intellectual rather than emotional, I'm generally more concerned with decoding the plot of the series as well as the motives of the characters (especially the cryptic ones). In many ways, the series is a giant puzzle to me. Examining the themes and the effects the series had on the medium is also interesting.

Still, I wouldn't say that Evangelion has no emotional significance to me. But again, I have trouble understanding about what I feel. Perhaps it's best described by comparing the series as a mirror, it never fails to reveal something you didn't know or fully understand about yourself with each viewing. It's a hard sensation to describe unless you're right in the middle of it, though I sure most of those present understand it in some way.


The only other aspect of the series which I identify with is the existentialist elements. Just as I often try to understand what happens in the series, I've always tried to find if there was some kind of unifying "truth" to it all. Tracking down the source of my own conclusion is difficult, but I would say that the final episode of the series played a role in that (along with the late Carl Sagan's commentary on the image known as "The Pale Blue Dot"). At the very least, I came to a remarkably similar conclusion to the one stated in the series:

There is not a sole grand purpose or truth to the universe.
You make your own.

I suppose that can come off as a bit a selfish, but it's also tempered by another concept: Noblesse oblige (perhaps better known as the phrase "With great power comes great responsibility"). A king is a servant to his subjects, and we all have a responsibility to everything and eachother. And I'm probably getting a smidgen preachy here.


Anyhow, I just have this unshakable feeling that Neon Genesis Evangelion is important. Even if I don't really know why it is so.

[Hashmal]

Shinji was the first protagonist of any show of any kind whom I truly empathized with even a little.


...I have a feeling I am (not) alone in this.

[BornIn1142]

It's... pretty big for me.

Without going into pointless detail, there are three works of fiction that are beyond favorites for me. I think of them more as formative experiences. I got into all three in my early teens (too soon, perhaps), and they were all so overwhelming that they left big impressions on me and even educated me to an extent. They've influenced the way I regard fiction, especially in regards to characterization, and certainly shaped my tastes from the bottom up. And of those three, Evangelion matters to me the most on an emotional level.

I found the depiction of mental illness extremely resonant, and I feel it helped me understand myself more when I was hit with depression of my own. It made me a bit more self-aware about such things. I won't say that went into studying Psychology in university because of Evangelion, but it did give me a foundation of technical introspection to become interested in it.

I care about it a little too much, actually. I think about it in some form or another fairly often, with no real impetus. And, well, just saying that sounds a little meaningless, but 2.0 was... a real downer for me. (I can't imagine Anno approving of how personally involved I am in an anime, hmmm.)

And also, from the perspective of an amateur writer, I find Anno himself to be rather inspiring. The guy is a master of making lemonade, isn't he? Not only did he constructively channel his debilitating mental illness into an outspoken and outstanding work of art, he also did a hell of a job overcoming his meager budget by refining his visual language and making maximum use of what he had available. So I kind of admire him.

[Rei Makes You Go Splat]

Shinji was the first protagonist of any show of any kind whom I truly empathized with even a little.


...I have a feeling I am (not) alone in this.

You aren't. He was the first time I've ever seen a hero that hated his mission. He was something different, and something that made this such a unique work.

[Crazy Packers Fan]

I first watched Evangelion in February 2008, right as I went through some of the most depressing days of my life. It wouldn't be until a couple months later that it was discovered that medicine I was taking for my depression was actually causing it to become unbearable. So for me there was no other series that I could have connected with so easily.

Watching all the characters have their worlds collapse was exactly how I felt at the time. I connected in particular with Asuka - my personality is opposite hers, yet when she went through such torture in episode 22, I could relate.

I still connect with it, in particular to Shinji. While I'm no longer suffering through the same type of things medically, I've watched my social world fall apart in the past few years, in particular friends turning on me for the stupidest of reasons. Sometimes I'm the same way he was at the beginning of episode 25 - so pathetic that I can't even commit suicide.

I connect so much with the song Komm, Susser Tod. I live for the day when it will all return to nothing. When all the things everyone holds so dear to themselves - and have chosen over my friendship - will return to nothing. That's what keeps me going on - knowing that someday, it will all return to nothing and come tumbling down.

[C.A.P.]

I connect so much with the song Komm, Susser Tod. I live for the day when it will all return to nothing. When all the things everyone holds so dear to themselves - and have chosen over my friendship - will return to nothing. That's what keeps me going on - knowing that someday, it will all return to nothing and come tumbling down.

Funny, I love that song for the melody rather than the lyrics, and how the emotional impact of that melody is perfectly in sync with the emotional impact of the images flashing before our eyes. I guess I don't connect with the lyrics compared to most fans, since I like to think that I see the show in a different light compared to some fans (I recall Jimmy said he cried wen he first heard the song. I didn't). Either way, great song, and by the time it's over, you felt like came back from a rollercoaster from hell; love that feeling.

Heh, maybe that's another thing I've learned from the show; it tells you that it's perfectly acceptable if you actually end up learning more about the show if you read about opinions and theories that you never considered before with other fans. With other shows, you read theories and start to appreciate something much more than you did. With a show like Evangelion, your whole perspective of aspects of the show can completely change in a wink of a eye if you read something like "Komm Susser Tod made me cry happy tears", and you actually become all the wiser from it. Now that's amazing, and I hope if I ever make anything worth of merit, it'll have the same impact like Evangelion did to me.