What do you think Evangelion's message was?

[Seele00TextOnly]

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[ran1]

Essentially, the message is that Hideaki Anno read the Bible, a little Sigmund Freud, and wanted to incorporate them into a mecha anime. Then he got depressed and decided to screw over royally all the characters who were begining to develop caring and loving bonds with each other, thus pissing off the audience and giving people a forum like this to bitch about it.

But in all honesty, Eva is what you personally, the viewer, can take out of it. The only real message that you can get from it comes from yourself. I suppose that to an extent, is saying that Evangelion is basically a big opportunity for fanwank, but I figure I'll stand by it.

EoE at least, offers no concrete "message" in the sense that I think you are trying to figure out. This is probably one of the most redeeming qualities of Evangelion, and other Japanese cinematic works. They are un-Hollywood in the way that they require the viewer to not only make an emotional investment, but an intellectual investment as well.

The message in the EoE intertitle sums it up pretty well, too: "Love is Destructive."

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

I merged the message threads, although now I'm regretting it slightly as one was about the message of Evangelion, and the other about the message of End of Evangelion. Still, they are considerably interrelated.

Regarding the End of Evangelion, the message is obfuscated by the apocalyptic proceedings, but is nonetheless present and indeed concrete; Don't kill yourself. EoE is a argument against suicide and/or isolation, as is the series in general. See here for some discussion on the notion of EoE being an allegory for suicide.

[ran1]

regarding the End of Evangelion, the message is obfuscated by the apocalyptic proceedings, but is nonetheless present and indeed concrete; Don't kill yourself.

I'm inclined to agree, considering that Anno quote, but I think it would be an oversimplification if one was to say that was the main message/theme of the entire film. It struck me as a film that intended to provoke thought rather than a film strictly of a moralizing nature. Perhaps I just haven't got over the existential nature of the film yet.

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Have any of us really gotten over EoE yet?

Evangelion is a many layered work, and it's often difficult to find its messages and meanings amidst all the mystery and confusion. There is also the stated objective of the director to force viewers to provide their own answers to the questions posed in the show.

Evangelion is like a giant jigsaw puzzle, with pieces scattered all across the episodes. Slowly, post by post, we try to put them all together. But there will always be missing pieces we have to fill in ourselves.

[ran1]

eloquently said.

[Sun Stealer]

The message, or at least one of the messages, was where there is life, there is hope. But that seems deceptively simple, so I'm not entirely sure.

[bladerj]

message ? if there was any the only i got was, screw everything, this worse is shit, and hopeless, i want you all to die, and i should die too.

lose faith all wich is born !!

[AuraTwilight]

Can we get rid of this asshole already? He does nothing but troll.

[planet news]

After seeing episodes 25 and 26, the main message I picked up was the one that was actually said by the characters to Shinji, that being: reality is not bad just because your narrow personal reality makes you unhappy because of the upbeat alternate reality that is possible. Or, you make your own world and meanings so don't blame some intrinsic negativity for your unhappiness.

This idea moved me quite a bit but, I never really felt like that was necessarily the message of the series.

ObsessiveMathsFreak's conclusion about EoE as representing Shinji's suicide and rejection thereof feels much more "overarching" in terms of NGE being a single unit with one theme.

As with all works of art, science, there is study at different levels. Each episode has an individual theme (e.g. episode 10: thermal expansion!) as does each block of episode as does the single piece of continuous film that is created by editing all the episodes and films together.

Personally: Live. Because it is our only chance to possibly be happy. And the struggle is worth something even if you never really are happy trying.

[Reichu]

What do you think that Evangelion's message is

Win a free trip to Tahiti.

[ZapX]

Pick any of these.

[supershinjiasukashipper]

evangelion had many themes and messages. it had the theme of a boy becoming a man, hope after the end, the current neglect for human life, the consequences of playing god, and many more. its like pringles, you can't have just one.

[unholyagent]

Hope, an emotionally screwed up 14 year old kid becomes god and realizes that if you don't let anyone close to you, life isn't worth living.

[Allemann]

A loser becomes special.

[unholyagent]

Don't give 14 year old kids giant alien robots which have the power to destroy the world

[Sharaz Destler]

A loser becomes special.

Perhaps it could be better said as "even a loser can become special" even though mine is nowhere near as pithy.

Nice job on the Klaymen avatar too.

[Allemann]

Klaymen.

More badass than Shinji.

[Archon_Wing]

Life sucks. And then you turn into Tang.

But really, it seems to be no matter how down you are, you must keep living because you can underestimate what you are capable of.

[zlink64]

Haven't seen the show in a long while but I remeber thinking it didn't just have one meaning and that it was a positive ending albiet tragic. I think the message was that all those negative thoughts depress people get where kinda self made and not true . That there is always a chance at happyiness. Also to take care of yourself and learning to let people love you and learn to love them. Also that life was worth living and whole butch of other stuff,etc