How to pitch Eva to the Netflix generation?

[AsYouMikeIt]

Hi everybody,

I used to belong to this forum waaay back in the day under the name Nukie, I looked at last posted in 2011-a lifetime ago! I've lost that original email so the account is lost forever-but I'm glad to be back

Evangelion is one of the most formativ pieces of media for me (I watched it around Shinji et al's age, and really identified with his struggles.) With the announcement that Netflix is beginning to list it later this month, I know that many of my friends/coworkers would enjoy it if given the chance. I just wanted to ask-how would you pitch Eva to someone who might not be familiar with anime? I know all the things I love about it, but I feel like it would take 10 typed pages to get it across!

Just wondering your thoughts-I'd love to have as many people see this amazing show as possible (who would appreciate it, I know its not for everyone!)

[robersora]

Yeah, I'd love to know too. I never managed to convince anyone I know to watch it, lol. I guess there's no recipe for it. Just be aware of people's individual tastes and gauge if they'd enjoy Evangelion? Someone who loves David Lynch, maybe. Or someone who likes animation in general. And then single that person out, sit down with 'em and watch it!

[Blockio]

I convinced a firend of mine by showing him Another Impact and the english dub version of the Mari vs 3rd Angel fight.
Ended up bingewatching the entire show with him in one go, wasn't the best idea xD

[kuzronk]

You get a dub that isn't worse than one from the mid 90s when hack jobs were more common.

[pwhodges]

Mission accomplished, then.

[Gendo'sPapa]

I mean By Monday they’ll have marathoned the series while Live Tweeting it and have moved on to the next thing so you better move quick.

[AdamMalkovitch]

One of the first things I remember hearing about Eva that wasn't a meme was a summary, "it's about depressed teens piloting giant robots to save the world". Inaccurate yes, but it was enough to hook me while concealing one of the first of many plot twists, that Evas are organic. I was interested, but not enough to actually watch. I remember a few months later I was in my high school library when I saw some poor kid had been eating lunch up there while reading vol1 of Sadamoto's manga, and left both his styrofoam container and the book behind on a table, right next to each other. Of course, I took a picture and memed it on both Insta and iFunny, but that's what actually got me watching, both out of "lol this is gonna be so pretentious and cringy" and out of genuine interest. A few days later, I had finished the series and EoE, and I was a different person.

[Blockio]

I got a friend of mine to watch it with me by showing him the English dub of Mari vs Tunniel and Another Impact - I mildly traumitized him with the later episodes and EoE, but that's a different story xD

[Zane]

a lot of people don't wan't to sit through 12 hours of EVA + the movie. They simply don't have the patience. Especially since the show takes a long time to pick up steam and the meat of the story doesn't start until roughly half way through the show. However I think it will naturally gain more and more hype now that it's legally available.

Some fans may think this is a sin but if I can't convince my friends to sit through the whole show I go straight to End of Evangelion, and pretty much all of them enjoyed it. I give them a quick synopsis about who the angels are, NERV, Eva's, Adam, Lilith, etc. and then just jump in. Infact my roommate watched EoE with me and thought it was really great, even without the context of the show she picked up the themes of the movie fast and thought it was great "for an anime".

I usually pitch it as a mech show but also not a real mech show and it's the end of the world also and it peaks peoples interest but they don't usually follow through because the early episodes are mostly "monster of the week" type episodes.

So I send them straight to EoE, even if they don't like the second half at least they get to see one of the best "Mech" battles in anime.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Just tell them that Eva has better Waifus. I mean, this is the Netflix crowd we’re talking about.

[Kakyoku]

It’s probably really annoying, but I didn’t stop talking about it when my friend just said, “Fuck it. I’ll watch Evangelion.”

[Zoop]

I've tried pitching it to friends and came to the conclusion it's simply not for everyone. I remember watching the first 2 episodes with a friend, and he was annoyed that the sachiel battle got cut short (it continues when Shinji is in bath), and wanted to skip to see the rest of the battle.
Most people I show it to are interested by the cool battle sequences, Asuka vs the harpies, or any of the fancy CG battles from rebuild. But the actual story? Not so much. For most of them it's too "deep" and serious for "just a cartoon", Dragonball Z generation, I suppose ...
I've also tried to pitch it to friends who were more into Anime, and thus know a bit better what to expect, but I also couldn't get any of them interested, sadly. It's rather Attack on Titan and One Punch Man, pretty much.

The whole worlds building and mechanics of Eva is what intrigues me. I've never encountered so much attention to background detail. And having such a heartbreaking ending in the original (looking forward to Final) it really impacted me (never ever had a movie/series affect me as much as Eva did).
I would love it if I could talk about it with my friends, instead I'll have to settle for you guys

So tl;dr, I have no clue how to pitch Eva, I don't think you should try to everyone. I think it's a niche.

[robersora]

^
My experiences with pitching went pretty much the same way. You're right, Eva is a niche, and people who will love it, will find it.
Though I would love to watch it with someone who appreciates it as I do.