Since i will soon be getting my perfect collection with the directors cut episodes, i was wondering, what is the best way to watch them?

Do you mean watch them for the first time (which I assume you don't), or do you just want to know how everyone else here sits down to a nice dose of Eva?

ChronoX wrote:what is the best way to watch them?

Without sleeping.

er...watch them all in a row then watch D&R then watch them again in a row, then watch the ones you dont understand...

If it's for the first time, from the beggining!
And substitute the normal episodes for the Director's Cut.

Not all at once though. Watching late while your brain gets fuzzy detracts from the expierence. Watch as many or as few as you want at whatever time of the day just be alert so you can catch all the nuance, humour, philosophical questions, character devolpment and action clearly.

I've watched the show over time, but there was one day where I had nothing to do, and I decided I really wanted to revisit Eva, and watched the entire series in a day (which is a lot easier to do when you skip beginning and ending bumpers). I must say that I liked doing it all in one sitting immensely. It was pretty intense, but I ended up having much more respect for Shinji, as you could see his character arch more clearly. Just my $0.02. 8)

Gyah. When I first got my Perfect Collection, I watched the whole series over the course of about a week or so, so I pretty much just watched one DVD a day. Even then, it really wiped me out. It was totally worth it, though. 8) Maybe when I get the whole Platinum series, I'll get my friends over here and we'll do a marathon gig.

I'd say, have a free day. Wake up at about 9:30, and watch the entire series in one day. Be sure to have lots of coffee/red bull beforehand, and refill every three hours. No food is not permited, however. You must be sure to be awake and alert whilst watching. Try to take as much in, character-wise. Once you have understood the characters like you understand yourself, have a three day rest period.
Then, come back and rewatch an episode a day, as many times as needed to understand as much of the plot as possible until you have done so for all 26 episodes.
Then, have a day off, and watch Death True^2.
Rewatch your favourite episodes (a maximum of five) and then watch End of Evangelion immediately afterwards. The next day, watch it again.

The theory behind this?
Coffee/red bull has much caffine, and it helps you stay alert as you watch the episodes. The energy will help you get excited when the characters do, get mood swings when the Children do, and get beserk when Shinji does. The reason why you can't eat is because it distracts you, both consciously and subconsciously. You can be having a really nice chocolate ice-cream whilst watching Shinji scream his balls off at Toji, and so might accidentally form an association for pleasure to Shinji having a bad day, thus subtly ruining the whole thing. Understand the characters, first, because they are what really matter, in the end. The Affective Phase
When you get to the end, you watch those episodes again but not in bulk. Your brain, now, needs to gather as much information out of those episodes as possible, so it needs time. When you get to the last two episodes, you may be able to interpret better what they are talking about, and what it means for them. The Cognitive Phase
Now, when you are at Death True^2, you can see what Anno wants to emphasise most from the episodes you've watched, plus some extra stuff. Therefore, this only needs one viewing. Post-cognitive/Interlude
Now, you can choose which episodes you want to watch, again. These would be the episodes that made the most impact on you. You see and understand how the story move the characters, and how the characters move the story at its most important parts. By now, the emotional attatchment should be made, and you can understand what is important. Judgement
And, you watch them all end in End of Evangelion. Sentence

It would have all come to you, hopefully. Thus, Enlightenment.
And you watch it one last time, to get what information you missed, thus, Complimentation.

That, hopefully, should be what you need for the Eva experience. 8)

Personally I like to watch the whole series and movies at once. I seem to be able to keep a more constant stream of thought this way. I disagree with the caffine crap though as it just makes you hyper, which can distract you. Just get a good night's sleep before hand and you shouldn't have any problems.

Whatever works.

Olin of Xephon wrote:If it's for the first time, from the beggining!
And substitute the normal episodes for the Director's Cut.

Not all at once though. Watching late while your brain gets fuzzy detracts from the expierence. Watch as many or as few as you want at whatever time of the day just be alert so you can catch all the nuance, humour, philosophical questions, character devolpment and action clearly.

Ugh, yes, that is so true. The first time I watched Evangelion was at the beginning of last summer when I was over at a friend's house. It was my first experience with anime, and I stayed up for over ten hours doing nothing but watching Evangelion. Before I had even started I had gone without sleep for about twelve hours. I must have started watching it at 1:00 and it didn't end until about 10:00 or 11:00.

By episode 19 or so I was completely fatigued. I would close my eyes for a minute and then open them suddenly exclaiming, "Oh shit! I just missed a minute of crucial dialogue! MUST GO BACK!" And I would actually watch the episode from the beginning again. Oh God just thinking about how sleepy I was is making me sleepy. Anyways, I loved the series, but because I watched the last half of it while I was so tired, I had missed out on a lot of the dialogue and couldn't make all of the connections that my brain would've made if I were alert and wide awake. So I had some HUGE, COLOSSAL misconceptions about the series. I mean there were some pretty big chunks of the plot that were missing but had seemingly been filled in by some bullshit that my sleep-deprived mind came up with to interpret what it was seeing on the TV screen.

And since I couldn't borrow a bootleg copy of Eva from my other friend until after summer was over, I didn't get to understand exactly where I was wrong until early September.

When I watched it the second time, I watched about four episodes or so a day, and I came out of it with a much better understanding of Eva than I did the first time I watched it.

Now I am buying the Platinum Collection as it comes out and I'm trying to completely understand each volume as I get them. Even now I'm still discovering things that I never realized before.

Evangelion has a surplus of interesting tidbits, that always serve to keep you entertained. There is something new to be found with each viewing. I'm not talking about anything crucial like important scenes or information, just small events. The way screenshots move into another, or how dialogue often seems to play off of itself. Tsurumaki and Anno both have very distinct styles of directing that I enjoy.

The only real issue that faces me, is that I tend to get lost in thought any time there isn't any dialogue (and that made Texhnolyze a real bitch to watch).

So the best way to watch Evangelion?
100% alert (and if you're like me, you'll scrutinize over every frame).

for everyones info, this isn't the first time for me seing the episodes but watching about 8 episodes a year for the past 4 years or so isn't very fun. Unfortunatley i don't have D&R or EOE so i can't do a full eva junkie marathon but will probably watch them all at once or at least most of them in one day.

Well, when it comes to the perfect edition, audio commentary first for me.

I love audio commentary, it's the only real reason I bought the EoE DVD.

Aside from that...hmmmm....

...first til' last, beginning to end, maybe watch good fight scenes a few times over...or bits that're funny or have Rei in them ;;.

PS: Dave, love your new avatar! Makin' me think the old Potter Puppet Pals could do with a revamp.

hmmmm....Naruto!

Watching the entirety of Eva in one sitting is something I have never actually done. I prefer to watch in healthy installments.

If you're watching Eva for the first time. You must take your time. If you've already watched it a number of times, try watching it through in a day.

You've never seen the whole thing through Eva Monkey? You don't know what you're missing! (If you watch the whole thing through twice, in the same weekend, the effect is even greater!)

Dave wrote:You've never seen the whole thing through Eva Monkey?

I refuse to watch anything more than 6 episodes straight through in a single sitting. And Eva is high on the list of stuff I wouldn't want to watch in a single sitting.

I blame the attention defecit.

Kiel wrote:I love audio commentary, it's the only real reason I bought the EoE DVD.

You're joking, right?

Olin of Xephon wrote:And substitute the normal episodes for the Director's Cut.

Why would he wan't to do that? The DC. eps. are essential for understanding EOE.

But, to get to my answer to the question: whatever you do, DO NOT listen to anyone who advises you to watch EOE before the TV ending. I see this advise occasionally on certain forums and in my opinion it would make the TV ending much too anti-climactic, plus, you lose the feeling of dread you have going into the movie due to certain visual hints of what's happening in the movie that you see in the TV ending.

(Reads over his post)

(Slaps forhead)

I meant. Substitute the Director's Cuts episodes for the normal ones!

Sorry. And thanks for correcting me thewayneiac!

Me, with school and other acitivities, it was hard to fit in Evangelion. So, I was able to about three episodes a day. Some days were better than others. Somedays it was hard enough watching one episode.

I think it's good to pace yourself. If you watch it in one sitting, its an information overload. I think watching one DVD per day is good, because if I remember, most of the DVD's end without you having to absolutely know what happens next or you'll die. And, it takes a week to finish which is just perfect if you have a busy schedule. And of course losing sleep for Evangelion is no problem.

One common way I think is for fun, is to watch it straight through, at least one time in your life, to see what it's like to string everything together. It would make quite the experience if it's the first time trying a 26-episode marathon, and would probably envoke some realization of something deep within Evangelion.

It all depends really on the viewer.