Your friends and Eva

[Viking]

Well...

I have a lot of otaku friends in RL, many are girls. Unfortunately I can't see all of them very often, some only once or twice a month.

Usually we try to make 3 or 4 anime nights per year. The first one of the last year was at my place, watching Evangelion: 1.01 and 2.22, last one was a Ghost in the Shell night.

Now we're trying to organize an Eva-marathon at my place. It will be hard, few will survive, but we'll try to resist to 11 hours of serie followed by 3+ hours of movies...

Bye

[classified-zerogoki]

I told two of my friends about EVA[Both think Asuka >Rei]. And, in an Anime club, I met a person that watched EVA.[Who thinks Kaworu>Asuka and Rei] Also, one of my friends already seen it [who thinks Rei>Asuka]. Also, I hate that the Anime & Manga club I went to was cancelled.[need a deus ex machina] Also, when my brother said NGE had "an actual good plot". But then it got dark and gory and he didn't like it as much. I am the only one of them that seems t think that Asuka=Rei=Kaworu, though.

[Jayfive]

One of my friends is working her way through the platinums I leant her shes watched 1-13, and 15-20 but is working her way to the business end of the series.

Another has a bit of an interest in watching it and anime generally but doesnt have the time (all my friend are the same age as me so kids, jobs, mortgages et al).

The rest? I watch 'cartoons'. Not because they are being ignorant about it, but that I mentioned that anime fans get arsey when you call them that.

Much as I would like to sit them all down and give them the both barrels that is EoE or even 1.11, i dont think thats going to happen :P

[Dan The Cat]

i have got for of my freinds into Evangellion, they all loved it apart from the last 2 episodes.

but, over all i have a good success rate with freinds and Eva

[BulletShoot]

2) friend who's mainly into fantasy and tabletop RPGs. Watched the first DVD -- episodes 1-4 -- and said "looks like an excuse for giant robot battles. meh."

I wasn't aware you needed an excuse for giant robot battles.

[ReiAyanami25]

My mother saw the OP once, and she said: " That boy's nose is way too pointy!"

SPOILER: Show

[Bomby von Bombsville]

It's been a while since I was truly "obsessed" with Eva. But when I was deep in the thick of it, I was able to find connections to Evangelion in literally every movie I'd watch with my roommates and other friends. Which kind of got annoying. Of course, one of my roommates was the person I first heard of Evangelion from, so for him it was less annoying since he knew the references, and had once been as obsessed with Eva as I was years earlier.

Despite that, I do maintain to this day that "Tunak Tunak Tun" is actually the Instrumentality sequence from an aborted Bollywood remake of End of Evangelion. Seriously, just watch it and tell me you don't see it.

But yeah, I've gotten more of my friends to watch it, and so far the reactions have pretty much been split down the middle, at least for the latter half of the series. Everyone seems to pretty much enjoy the first half equally. One of them actually shares my completely unironic fondness for EoTV.

[Valyou]

On the topic of family, eh, they'd kinda like it, but I still wish I knew exactly why my mom got me a complete set of the series for Christmas when she likely knows nothing on what it's about, kind of fortunate, but still strange. Maybe I'll let them watch one or two episodes if I feel like it. My sister and mom like anime, but my dad doesn't care about it at all. But it's rather difficult to imagine my mom and sister liking it at all, at least on the level they like other things I've introduced to them.
Friends, well, my best friend is the one who introduced me to it, and he's the kind of person who will not keep quiet about it, and he always talks about his crazy adventures in the world of Eva fanfics.

[Stallard]

A few friends of mine have see it, but I don't think as many of them tried to analyze it deeply as I did.

[extext]

Most of my friends know that I'm obsessed with Eva, but when I offered them to watch it with me, they dismissed it; maybe because it's an anime.

Although there was one of whom I've watched the two Rebuild films with, as he's already an avid anime watcher. And currently, another friend is gonna be watching NGE so we could talk about it. We saw 1.0 and 2.0 together a few weeks ago and he liked them.

[AngelNo13Bardiel]

Well, during my somewhat-long absence (this was last weekend), I sat Ash down to an NGE marathon. First things first, I showed her some images of the characters. Her thoughts? Shinji looked depressed (understatement much?), she found Rei's eyes very pretty, and all I got was "that knowing look" about Asuka.

Anyway, here's some choice comments along the way through:

series comments  SPOILER: Show

Ep1: "Okay, so it's about giant robots. Right?" "Well...sorta. Trust me, you'll see."

Ep2: Not really a comment, but she fell off the couch laughing at the 'toothpicks' bit.

Ep3: (post-battle) "Oh, quit whining already. You won, didn't you?" I settled on thinking, 'You've only yet begun to see him whine.' She continued this into Ep4.

Ep5: *squinting at screen* "Where the hell are her nipples?" "Censoring trick. Not that it does any real good." "No kidding."

Ep6: (after the battle) "That was pretty cool." I thought, 'Wait until you see the 1.11 version, it'll blow your mind.'

Ep8: Again, not really a comment, but she got a good giggle fit out of Shinji in Asuka's spare suit...and his poor use of German.

Ep9: (after the 'Wall of Jericho' line) "So did she use that intentionally, or was that just coincidence?" "I've thought about that one for a long time. Wish I had an answer to give you."

Ep10: (on the Type-D suit) "Is it bad if I'm thinking of Oompa Loompas right now?" "Nah, and you wouldn't be the first." Also, I got a funny look on the subject of 'thermal expansion' (both instances).

Ep11: "They all look kinda...off." "Different animators. It happens."

Ep12: She didn't comment on it, but her snicker at the 'that's not a zero' line tells me I'm probably going to hear that from her at some point in the near future.

Ep13: "Okay, naked and stuck in a cold metal tube for hours. Sucks to be them." I nodded.

Ep15: (after 'the kiss') "Oh, she's just full of shit. No one does that out of boredom." And lo, the seeds were planted...

Ep16: "Great, the one time he shows some balls and then gets sucked into a shadow." "He does have that kind of sometimes-good, sometimes-shit luck that can be impressive."

Ep18: No comment, she just stayed very quiet and focused during the Bardiel fight. I suspect she was hoping for a 'good end' to this episode. Oh dear...

Ep19: (during Unit-01 vs. Zeruel) "Damn. About time, Shinji." (during Unit-01's 'snack-time') "I wonder if it tastes like chicken?" Pause DVD, commence laughing fit.

Ep21DC: I think the pieces slowly fit together during this episode after she saw Yui. She didn't mention it yet, but looking at her, you could tell.

Ep22DC: Quite a few that could go here (I think she really found a connection to Asuka...but that's just me speculating), but I'll go with her little cut-in of "ah-hah" after the 'you didn't hold me' line.

Ep23DC: I think she was really bummed that Rei II died...then turned around and freaked out a little at the 'Reiquarium'. "Alright, I'll just ask it: is she a clone of his mom?" "I wish I had a concrete answer for you, but all there is is speculation." "Great..."

Ep24DC: "So...what? That's all the screen time Kaworu gets?" "Sorta." "Fuck." Also, I think she cried a little during the Grey-in-Unit 01's-hand scene...but she never admitted to it.

Ep25-26: (after credits roll) "What kind of ending was that?" "The kind that needed a second version. Now, time for the movie."

movie comments  SPOILER: Show

EoE: Oh boy, if I had listed them all, there would be a wall-of-text for this part alone, so I'll settle for these:

(hospital scene) "What. The. Fuck." "Close enough to my original thoughts on that scene." Actually, she said that a lot during the 3I scenes. I mean a lot.

(Asuka kicking much harpy ass) "Fuck yeah! Kick their asses, Red!" Sadly, she did cry a little when said fight did not end well.

(first sighting of GNR) "Oh look, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Loli." After that, I had to pause the movie because I couldn't breathe from the laughter.

(during 3I, ToL+Unit-01 merging into GNR) "Did...her forehead just grow a..." "I dunno, but it certainly looks like it."

(after "kimochi warui", very long pause beforehand) "...the hell did I just watch?" "Nine years later and I'm still trying to figure that one out. Best of luck to you."

Long story short: I'm not sure if she enjoyed it or not (I think it more confused her than anything), but I definitely made an Asuka fan...and maybe planted the first seeds of an LAS fan. I'll have to get back to you on that last part.

Anyway, Rebuild shall be next.

[brentusmaximus]

I've been trying to introduce my friends to the series. I successfully got one to watch it (they didn't appreciate Episodes 25 + 26 but seemed to think EoE worked and want to see Rebuild). Another seems interested, another was probably scarred by Gurren Lagann (Yoko and not enough Super Saiyans to say the least) and another couple don't seem interested in anime (trying to kinda convince one that anime's not all the same though).

[TehDonutKing]

^^
You forgot the OA versions....

[Kerath]

I recently introduced eva to one of my good friends who watches minimal anime and he really enjoyed it. I should've trolled him and told him to watch death and rebirth instead of EoE lol.

[Viking]

AngelNo13Bardiel, don't tell me you haven't watched Death before EoE. Shame on you! Nah, just kidding, but all the friends I've introduced to EVA last year ( 4 or 5 people ) really appreciated Death, not only for the additional footage ( like Shinji, Asuka, Rei and Kaworu as a string quartet ) but also for the -sometimes- different point of view.

Bye

[Kamon-san]

I remember that I was quite passionate about EVA when I learned about it, which annoyed my friends at first. Of course, as time passed I calmed down, mostly out of respect for them and they got used to my passion for the series. It became more casual.

I'm lucky that most of my friends asked me to watch the entire series rather quickly. After about 1 year, just about my entire circle of friends had watched the whole series with me, including EoE. It became a fact that I was an EVA geek and that this series greatly affected me, and my friends respected that. Most of them liked different aspects of the show, a friend of mine was collecting figures, another one was reading different theories about the ending online. One of my friends watched the entire series with his family and they apparently liked it, though he never commented on how they reacted to EoE.

It seems that the show slowly became part of our lives as a common interest and inside-jokes material. For example, we quote the show quite often and we gave nicknames to all the Angels. We also joke about the A.T.Field A LOT, whenever some character or creature uses a barrier of some sort. Most of my friends can sing the theme song easily and know the order in which the Angels appear in the series. They sometimes ask me questions out of the blue regarding the plot, considering they don't own the series themselves (stuff about 3I, Instrumentality, Seele, etc). All of my friends are excited about Rebuild and this new passion lead to us role-playing our own EVA story.

So I can say that with time, EVA got a comfortable spot in our lives. =)

[symbv]

I'm lucky that most of my friends asked me to watch the entire series rather quickly. After about 1 year, just about my entire circle of friends had watched the whole series with me, including EoE. It became a fact that I was an EVA geek and that this series greatly affected me, and my friends respected that. Most of them liked different aspects of the show, a friend of mine was collecting figures, another one was reading different theories about the ending online. One of my friends watched the entire series with his family and they apparently liked it, though he never commented on how they reacted to EoE.

Question: Do other EVA geek friends of yours know about evageeks.org? If not, perhaps it is worth introducing it to them :)

[Kendrix]

@AngelNo13Bardiel's wall of text

I'd like to hear your friend's reaction to Rebuild.