Why all the hate?

[Dan The Cat]

Hello, this is my first topic that i have made for Evageeks but i thought i would throw myself into the deep end.



This topic is about is about the rise of hate towards Eva that i have noticed in the past years, i was wondering if other on here have noticed this too.
It seems now that it’s the ‘cool’ think to dislike Eva amongst Anime Fan’s, IMO, Even though people haven’t seen they would still it.

So, i guessing this might have been done before. but, what do you guys think?

(P.s. not good at OP’s )

[Xacebans]

This isn't really anything new. Eva is just polarizing. A lot of people actually dislike it. I also sometimes get the impression that people claim to dislike it despite never having actually seen it--they hear about it from people who have seen it and disliked it and decide, "Omg, must dislike it because apparently ALL THE CHARACTERSES ARE MEANIESSSSS".

I think this "rise" in Eva haters is because the internet is so available to people; they can rant about it as much as they want and the haters can form their own little We Love Moeblobs And We Hate Eva communities.

Also, despite just how much we fans love it, there's some budget aspects of it that are off-putting for a lot of people. Is somebody who watches robot shows for the action going to want to watch Eva for the plot/characters (its best feature, of course) and turn a blind eye to some of the...er, quality animation? Sure, Eva had some of the best fight animation of its time, and some of it, especially in EoE can stand up to modern animation without a problem. But now to a lot of new anime fans it just looks like generic 90s animation, which can be distasteful when they're used to seeing more modern designs like Code Geass's and such.

In short, I think a lot of it is perspective. I don't think Eva will ever really lose its appeal where it counts the most, though.

[Fireball]

It comes with the nature of something as controversial as Evangelion, but actually, I think it's insanly popular and thoroughly accepted. There was somewhat of a hype backlash in the past, however these days with Rebuild and anime becoming mainstream, it has cemented its popularity even more.

[CJD]

Short Answer: Hipsters

Long answer: It varies really. Eva is most enjoyable if you can relate to the characters, specifically one of the three pilots. A lot of people get turned off quickly because they think Shinji is a whiny bitch, and they either stop before it's explained why he's so screwed up, or they outright don't understand it even after seeing it.

The other thing about Eva is, to the uninformed, they may go in expecting something entirely different. They see that it has mechs and monsters so they expect a typical mecha show, when in reality the monsters and mechs are almost secondary to the psychology plot.

And then you have the hipsters who hate on anything that's popular. Often times, like you say, they haven't even seen Eva. They just know that it gets tons of praise and is considered good, so being the edgy kids that they are they hate on it.

[Mr. Tines]

Surprisingly we don't have much in the way of generic hater threads as prior art. There are plenty of "Why is [character] hated?", but nothing else of any substance.

[Trajan]

It's trendy to hate on popular stuff, especially on the internet.

[RangerD11]

In the words of people in my college class who watch anime and mock Eva on a daily basis - "It's stupid and doesn't make any sense. All Shinji does is whine like an emo and then it turns out everyone is his Mum. Also Asuka is just a bitch. The last 2 episodes are terrible and the show should only be watched so people know what not to do when writing a story."

Then they go watch Digimon and Bleach.

........Just a few more months with these people.

[CJD]

In the words of people in my college class who watch anime and mock Eva on a daily basis - "It's stupid and doesn't make any sense. All Shinji does is whine like an emo and then it turns out everyone is his Mum. Also Asuka is just a bitch. The last 2 episodes are terrible and the show should only be watched so people know what not to do when writing a story."

Then they go watch Digimon and Bleach.

........Just a few more months with these people.

There's a message there about the quality of our high schools.

[Dan The Cat]

In the words of people in my college class who watch anime and mock Eva on a daily basis - "It's stupid and doesn't make any sense. All Shinji does is whine like an emo and then it turns out everyone is his Mum. Also Asuka is just a bitch. The last 2 episodes are terrible and the show should only be watched so people know what not to do when writing a story."

Then they go watch Digimon and Bleach.

........Just a few more months with these people.

This was like half of the Anime Club uni, people only hated it because the cooler kids in the club hated it, using the same arguments.

Two of the more Fundamental haters (as in the would go on hour long rants telling you about how much they hated it) reminded me of characters within Eva.

also, the argument "it just a massive cash cow" was one that was used at the club, even though they would rant on about how good the 'Big three' are.

i also agree that the internet has played a part in this sudden rise in Eva hate.

[Aiko Heiwa]

I think like most replies in this thread have stated, sometimes it's just the generic "It's popular, therefore it must be overrated and I will hate it without even watching it." reason for hate of Evangelion.

On the other hand, I've seen people who hate Eva simply because of the fact that it was made in 1995. You know, the kind of people who can't watch non-digital animation.

There is also the generic "Shinji just whines, Rei is just a puppet, and Asuka's a total bitch." thing.

[liquidus118]

There's a message there about the quality of our high schools.

The English education system at work, ladies and gentlemen.

[Xana]

Some excuses I've heard from people whom I've tried to introduce into Eva:

"The animation is old and looks like crap! *goes back to watching Code Geass* "

"Omg, there's naked women in the OP = PORN "

"It's the work of the devil, if you watch it you'll commit suicide and go to hell" <=== lamest excuse ever

"I only watch anime for the pretty drawings"

I think the problem with these people is that they're narrow-minded and not willing to try anything different. Also, people who hate on popular stuff.

[LeoXiao]

One girl I knew watched a few episodes of it (the first ones) and said it wasn't really her thing. I think she watched the wrong half.

[Chuckman]

"Omg, there's naked women in the OP = PORN "

Wait, that's a negative? I came for the naked women, I stayed for the literal expression of depression in narrative form.

[Hyper Shinchan]

"Omg, there's naked women in the OP = PORN "

Most anime around here have naked women in OP, ED and most scenes in the middle.

"It's the work of the devil, if you watch it you'll commit suicide and go to hell" <=== lamest excuse ever

This is the funniest excuse ever, I start laughing like a maniac every time I read someone mentioning it.

I think like most replies in this thread have stated, sometimes it's just the generic "It's popular, therefore it must be overrated and I will hate it without even watching it." reason for hate of Evangelion.

Usually the rest of the "motivations" sound more like excuses than anything else.

[Aiko Heiwa]

"Omg, there's naked women in the OP = PORN

Wait there are?

Wait, I thought they were just silhouettes.

[symbv]

This topic is about is about the rise of hate towards Eva that i have noticed in the past years, i was wondering if other on here have noticed this too.

I did not know until somebody mentioned it here in this forum, but then I am not living in the west, nor do I visit English-speaking anime forums. I can guarantee you that there is no hate or stigma associated with Eva in Japan or around the Far East area in Asia.

It seems now that it’s the ‘cool’ think to dislike Eva amongst Anime Fan’s, IMO, Even though people haven’t seen they would still it.

So, i guessing this might have been done before. but, what do you guys think?

I have asked similar things a while back. The answer I heard then was the hate is more directed towards its (western) fans (and the image thus associated with the anime) than the anime itself, though of course hype backlash and hipster mindset and its being old (NGE anyway) also are factors. Since I have not seen the hate directly myself, I have to take it as it is. I wonder what others think about this.

[Chuckman]

Wait there are?

Wait, I thought they were just silhouettes.

When you're 14, any port in a storm.

[The Abhorrent]

I did not know until somebody mentioned it here in this forum, but then I am not living in the west, nor do I visit English-speaking anime forums. I can guarantee you that there is no hate or stigma associated with Eva in Japan or around the Far East area in Asia.

I've heard that NGE's popularity in Japan is akin to Star Wars on this side of the Pacific, though that particular work currently has a very heavy "uber-geek" stigma attached to it despite being extremely popular when first released... or maybe that's just the whole expanded universe thing, the films (namely the first trilogy) do retain some popularity.


As for the dislike surrounding Evangelion, much of it is because of how polarizing a work it is (again, on this side of the Pacific). This alone makes it a catalyst for spurning the "Internet-Hate-Bandwagon" ever onwards; cases of genuine dislike are a guaranteed occurrence with the series polarizing nature (and they tend to a bit more passionate compared to other series), which many of denizens of the online domain join in on as a matter of principle.

Of course, this makes one ask why it's so polarizing? There are several reasons, but the most common (non-idiotic) one would be the focal chararcter of the series -- Shinji.

In the simplest of terms, he just isn't a heroic hero. I'm quite aware he doesn't get the same negative reaction on the other side of the Pacific, but on this side he's more or less the anti-thesis of the idealization of what a hero should be: whiny, prone to angst, submissive, lacking in self-confidence, and generally comes off as a wimp. This is mostly a matter of superfacial perception, but it's the case nevertheless. Looking at the general culture of America, it leans quite heavily towards the proud (and quite frequently, arrogant) side of things; regardless of the fact he saves the world repeatedly, Shinji's near total lack of self-confidence (and angst) doesn't get a good reception over there. Justified or not, it's just not something the culture likes to see -- anywhere.

[ReiAyanami25]

"Omg, there's naked women in the OP = PORN "

"I only watch anime for the pretty drawings"

A former friend of mine said those exact things herself, after only watching the OP, and then she went back to watching her supernatural romance anime.
There was an instance on youtube where a user posted a video called 'why I hate Evangelion.' I watched it myself, and the first thing that was blatantly obvious was the fact that he pronounced the work 'Evangelion'as 'Evan-jelly-on.' This made it seem as if he had not even bothered to watch NGE at all, because Ritsuko says the word Evangelion in episode one. He then went on to call the evas robots, and he also criticised Shinji's personality and emotional difficulties. He struck me as being a person that hardly knew anything about Eva at all.

I think that many people begin to join and initiate hate campaigns for certain things is because they wish to be like everyone else, or they derive pleasure from insulting things that others may be enjoy or be interested in. It seems that way for Evangelion too, although I actually have not come across that many people that dislike eva.