"One Scene To Sell Them All"

[Guy Nacks]

If you were pitching Evangelion to a friend who had no knowledge of the property, what scene would you choose to show them to give them a taste of what the series has to offer?

[Director Black]

For action:

- Unit 01 breaking out of Leliel
- Units 00 and 01 fighting Ramiel

For psychological
- Misato surviving second impact
- The opening scene of episode 21

Or I can show the person these two AMVs for a taste of what's in it.

[NemZ]

The same scene that I saw first... Rei's self destruct of 00 to stop Armisarael.

[Sicarius VI]

The same scene that I saw first... Rei's self destruct of 00 to stop Armisarael.

How'd you manage to see that first?

-As for me, I think I'd show them either the fight in episode 8 or in episode 1 when they go into the Geofront.

Speaking of which I've actually got a friend who has wanted to watch the series, but hasn't.

[pwhodges]

How'd you manage to see that first?

Well, the first I saw was the lead-in to Komm Susser Tod in EoE!

Actually, that's quite a good way to intrigue someone, I suggest. But if it seems too wacky, then maybe the latter part of episode three - combining a bit of comedy with Touji and Kensuke, a bit of action with the end of the fight, and a bit of trauma with Shinji's state at the end and the others being affected by it.

[Sicarius VI]

^I feel like that must've been very confusing when you first watched it too. On top of intriguing and wacky.

I think the way I first saw Eva was through Glass Reflections/Arkada's review of it. Actually considering his reviews are spoiler free and he actually highly recommends the show it wasn't a bad way to be introduced. I say the Geofront part because I remember first time watching episode 1 that part for whatever reason got me hooked like "Ok, I need to see the rest of this."

[NemZ]

How'd you manage to see that first?

Visiting a friend who had it playing when I got there. When he found out I hadn't seen the show he immediately stopped it (so no clone spoilers) and made me restart from the beginning.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Allow me to be out of touch with everyone.

Selecting one scene out of an action film as a selling point usually comes out of the idea that you can sell the audience on our spectacle alone. This is usually works with live-action films, as the sense of spectacle tends to be more effective greater in that medium than it is with animation, and it also tends to be executed in late night talk show settings. ("Joseph Gordon-Levett brought us a clip from that Inception movie he was in, let's watch." *hallway fight scene plays*)

This has been done in other venues, though. There was a theatrical run of the first 10 minutes of Disney's Dinosaur that screened before other movies in order to gain the attention from audiences, again, with the sheer spectacle of the live-action aesthetic placed on the dinosaur characters in that part of the movie. And the airplane hijacking scene from the opening of The Dark Knight Rises had a good run on the internet before the movie was finally released to theaters. But again, this is mainly done for live-action films, and usually done to showcase spectacle.

It's difficult to showcase spectacle for animated films unless the animation is either really trippy, or simply stop-motion animated. (General audiences still get more of kick out of seeing stop-motion animation, as the amount of hard work that goes into that is more tangible to them, as opposed to the concept of clicking away on a computer screen in order to create Toy Story 3.) So, there really wouldn't be any good single scenes or moments I could use in order to persuade someone to watch Evangelion. Trailers and TV spots tend to work best for that, but Japanese trailers don't work towards the expectations that Western audiences have for them, and Western-edited trailers tend to be plagued with distractingly bad English dubs that don't necessarily reflect the intentions of the original filmmakers.

So I would probably just schedule a viewing with them, and let their interest in the series grow from that first viewing. I've done this before, and it's worked out pretty well for me.

[Geometer]

Asuka's fight with the MP eva's if I wanted to hook them, although that would set the bar too high.

[Mr. Tines]

When I came to the series, my knowledge of it was limited to the fact that the ending was somehow controversial, and that it came with the recommendation that if you were to watch one giant robot anime, you should make it this one -- so I didn't need to be sold any further to start watching it. I'm not sure that seeing any out-of-context material would have made a positive impact, even the scene which made my ears prick up when I reached it, the one with Gendo and the Committee in episode 2, when the ulterior motives behind the goings-on was first hinted at.

[Tumbling Down]

I use Komm Susser Tod as a song divorced from any actual context. The accompanying visuals do make it the most memorable scene, but only when you understand the context.

[sephirotic]

Definetely Unit 01 escaping from leliel, but showing Shinji depressed inside it First for the psychological build up. Tough is a real shame how that is exactly the only Episode with awful video quality.

Ep 16 was the first i saw entirely after glimpsing the second half of episode 15 and thinking Eva was an animated soap opera. The shock was imense.

[The Cruel]

The first fight with Sachiel is the introduction into the bloodshed that is the war against the angels and Eva overall.

[Director Black]

Thinking about it more, I wouldn't use any scene. Eva is best when you're giving little to no details (And tell them how it helped me with my depression, but that's another story).

[Reichu]

If this isn't the kind of person who can be compelled to watch something with intriguing words alone, just play them Masayuki's Cruel Angel's Thesis music video. If that doesn't work, nothing will.

[Director Black]

If this isn't the kind of person who can be compelled to watch something with intriguing words alone, just play them Masayuki's Cruel Angel's Thesis music video. If that doesn't work, nothing will.

Or Evangelion Opus (The AMV with Bohemian Rhapsody).

[Squigsquasher]

Or Evangelion Opus (The AMV with Bohemian Rhapsody).

Absolutely. One of the best AMVs ever made IMO.

Topic: I hopefully managed to convince some of my college friends to watch Eva via the scene of Leliel being torn apart from the inside by the berserk Unit 01.

[Joseki]

I tried with the "I'm so fucked up" scene but it didn't work. Don't try it.

[Director Black]

I tried with the "I'm so fucked up" scene but it didn't work. Don't try it.

Or tell it to your creepy and/or weird friend who might find it to be "pretty hot".

[Bagheera]

Not a scene, but Masayuki's video for Tamashii no Rufuran (Soul's Refrain). Nothing else I've tried gets people's attention quite like that video does.