Today, a friend asked me why I liked Evangelion so much and I just couldn´t give a serious answer, because...

I personally never really thought about it in detail.
I guess I just kinda... like it.

What about you guys?

I love it because it dives into the minds of the characters and it's character driven. It's also bold and interesting to watch.

Rei gets naked often enough

it has badass robots

Xard wrote:Rei gets naked often enough

it has badass robots

Yeah, I think this suffices for me too.

I like all the long, drawn out surreal parts where nothing happens.

The question is why you LIKED Evangelion so much, not why you LIKE Evangelion so much, right?

For me, it could be called as an important chapter in my life but I am not sure I can say I *LIKE* Evangelion now the same way I would say I like other anime. It is more like something that has become part of my past and what constituted myself, for good and for bad. I never thought I would be shocked so much by an anime, and I never thought I would stop enjoying anime but EoE did it for me (among other things). I guess it was an experience that was so unforgettable that it is no longer a question of like or not like. It is just something that left an indelible impression on you, a lot of them are subliminal beauty but a lot of them are nightmarish trauma. The more you were into anime and breathe and eat anime, the more angst/exhilaration that you would go through. That is Evangelion.

Not sure if it helps answer your question or not. But that would be my answer if somebody asked me the question seriously -- if it is just some casual acquaintances asking me I would just shrug my shoulders and say "because the characters are interesting, mecha are cool, monsters/angels are unusual, the pseudo-mysticism are mind-boggling, and the story starts like other anime but ends up in unexpected direction" or something even shorter.

InstrumentalityOne wrote:Today, a friend asked me why I liked Evangelion so much and I just couldn´t give a serious answer, because...

I personally never really thought about it in detail.
I guess I just kinda... like it.

What about you guys?

Same, ive just grownnsome sort of attachment to it. Evangelion just has some kind of flair to it which makes it enjoyable.

PLUS, I've learnt a bit about manga and amine culture thanks to Eva.

Don't forget about the 14 year old girls we can fantasize about.

Xard wrote:Rei gets naked often enough

it has badass robots

The evas themselves are pretty smexy. I mean, small waists and broad shoulders.

I loves me some biomechanical monstrosities and naked blue-haired clones.

Asuka.

...and compelling characters and genre deconstructions and giant, cool-looking robots and kickin' music and great visuals and stuff. But mostly Asuka.

Because I love the characters, setting, story, philosophy, psychological stuff, angel/ Eva designs, story telling, music and imagery.
Why is this such a hard question?

liquidus118 wrote:Because I love the characters, setting, story, philosophy, psychological stuff, angel/ Eva designs, story telling, music and imagery.
Why is this such a hard question for you guys?

Because characters are unrealistic, setting is halfassed, story full with holes, philosophy pretentious, psychology debunked Freud lunacy, angel/Eva designs are inferior copies of Ultraman shit, Anno can't tell a story if his life depends on it, music is either plagiarism or crappy, judeochristian imagery is pretentious and meaningless

^ What he said.

Also, Misato's/Asuka's/Rei's/Ritsuko's boobs.

Xard wrote:Because characters are unrealistic, setting is halfassed, story full with holes, philosophy pretentious, psychology debunked Freud lunacy, angel/Eva designs are inferior copies of Ultraman shit, Anno can't tell a story if his life depends on it, music is either plagiarism or crappy, judeochristian imagery is pretentious and meaningless

Actually these are at least half-true
Looking back from now I think I could see clearer the flaws in Eva but as I said it has just become a part of me and my past, so whatever...

Allemann wrote:^ What he said.

Also, Misato's/Asuka's/Rei's/Ritsuko's boobs.

Yeap, I watch it for boob

MugwumpHasNoLiver wrote:I like all the long, drawn out surreal parts where nothing happens.

What he said.

Also classical music over violence.

I could go on about the various things that everyone else mentions, like character design and plot, but I think we all know what we like about those so I won't bother.

Instead, I'll just say that Eva has really impacted me because it was something that I could really connect to. As someone who actually has clinical depression, I was able to relate to a lot of the themes throughout the show, and often identified with Shinji's struggle to find self-worth. Hell, the "congratulations" scene made me cry a bit, which shows just how emotional I felt about the show. I'm willing to disregard all the shows flaws (it has many, like all works of fiction) because it's so powerful and impressionable. Well, for me at least.

Because Asuka.

And because I like it, too lazy to get into the details. I'll add that it's the only series I bother to rewatch every now and then.

Xard wrote:Because characters are unrealistic,

The rest is a fair cop, but this one isn't. The characters are pretty solid overall.

The philosophy's not really pretentious and the psychology works as well with Jung or many others as it does with Freud, but that's neither here nor there.

Bagheera wrote:The rest is a fair cop, but this one isn't.

Aoba, Maya and Hikari are only halfway decently portrayed characters in the series.

Asuka is overexaggarated ball of ridiculousness and angst and "supergenius" that never shows, Shinji is just...Shinji. Misato's slobness and work skillz are unrealistically at odds and Rei isn't even a character.

They're writer hijacked mouthpieces for whatever issues Anno had on his mind with little coherency. It's unrealistic to have 14 year old pilot giant robot in the first place

Only reason Eva characters are as popular as they are is their fappable looks which has led to largest doujinshi-per-series quotient in history of the industry.

Xard wrote:Asuka is overexaggarated ball of ridiculousness and angst adn "supergenius" that never shows