Irony of Evangelion

[GAP]

There was one poster who noted that the irony that Evangelion was designed to give a big "Get A Life", You Bastards' to otaku yet it becomes one of the most lucrative, well known franchises that spawns billions of fans and has a ton of products to boot. Evangelion is a rather notorious anime and Gainax has a lot of guts for trolling their fandom especially with the fanwankery that most fans create but with no word from the creators themselves. I enjoy the series nonetheless but I am sadly one of those viewers that Eva was targeting (I am looking for another job) yet it almost amazes me that EVa is saying, 'Get a life, you morons but still buy our DVDs and Asuka keychains". What do you think of this?

[Xard]

Don't confuse Anno with GAINAX. It's funny as much as Anno gets labeled as George Lucas of anime industry by some folks he really has never cared much for money or other things of "ordinary living", including food (well, he did say his sex drive was "average" :P )

But yes, Evangelion has to be one of the most unintentionally ironic creations ever made and this forum testifies its glorious, absolute failure.

[Allemann]

Don't confuse Anno with GAINAX. It's funny as much as Anno gets labeled as George Lucas of anime industry by some folks he really has never cared much for money or other things of "ordinary living", including food (well, he did say his sex drive was "average" :P )

Then why Rebuild, Xard? Before that Tomino was a hot contender with Anno for the position of George Lucas of Japanese animation, but now Anno is definitely the winner.

[Xard]

Then why Rebuild, Xard? Before that Tomino was a hot contender with Anno for the position of George Lucas of Japanese animation, but now Anno is definitely the winner.

I was talking about Anno of 90s but anyway making more money's hardly the main motivation behind Rebuild. If it was they could've just reanimated bits from tv series, splice it all together and put it out and swim in money. Now they're years behind the schedule (all films were supposed to come out by 2010) due to Anno's perfectionism and their seemingly genuine aim to - god help them - surpass the original.

In a certain way Reuild is more closely related to Cutie Honey live action film than Anno's previous works. In interviews regarding that camp flick Anno said it was his work he made with concern for enjoyment of audience etc. and Rebuild is made in same way and in same spirit (what's funny is that in general stuff in Rebuild that has got greatest ire and hatred towards Anno in fandom weren't even his own calls or originate from him! If anything these folks should accuse him of not becoming involved enough).

And Tomino doesn't even own Gundam franchise so I hardly see the point.

[TehDonutKing]

Anno is probably planning some huge ending with the intent to drive the point [s]to Mexico[/s] home.

[gatotsu911]

Anno is probably planning some huge ending with the intent to drive the point [s]to Mexico[/s] home.

I sure hope so. That's been my prediction since the moment I first saw 1.0.

That said, Anno does seem to have embraced the benefits of capitalism. Just look at the commercial he did for Nissan (Youtube it). And he certainly hasn't denounced all the ridiculous merchandise associated with Evangelion.

[Trajan]

Anno did what a lot of young artists have done throughout history: denounce materialism and then make it rich and realize that materialism isn't so bad.

Many, many, many people have done this. Anno is not special in this regard my friends.

[Merridian]

And he certainly hasn't denounced all the ridiculous merchandise associated with Evangelion.

He's flabbergasted more than anything. Rei was supposed to be creepy, not moe.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Then why Rebuild, Xard? Before that Tomino was a hot contender with Anno for the position of George Lucas of Japanese animation, but now Anno is definitely the winner.

Well, geez. One need to line up a job for himself somehow. Film is very much a freelance job in both Hollywood and Japanese studios. I think Ghibli is the only animation studio in Japan that had an actual permanent staff for a while. (Might still be the only one.) Most of the animation studios just hire freelance animators for projects over and over again. Money can be an objective without being obsessively greedy over it.

I think that's where Anno and Lucas differ. Say what you want bout his modern finished works, but at least Anno still writes decent scripts and pours himself over re-writes and solving various story-structure issues of his work. Lucas just shows up one day with a draft of the script he copied from his penciled ideas that kinda matches what the set designers were blindly working on and they decide to make it into a movie. One can see Anno actually earning his dough whereas Lucas is truly just slapping whatever crap he's dispensed of on a film strip and hand it to the audience with a pair of glasses. He literally doesn't direct movies anymore. He literally just shows the same film over and over again and the U.S. Star Wars otaku pay through the nose to let him do it to them.

It's almost worse than the monotony of Micheal Bay...

[ShadowGT]

I sure hope so. That's been my prediction since the moment I first saw 1.0.

That said, Anno does seem to have embraced the benefits of capitalism. Just look at the commercial he did for Nissan (Youtube it). And he certainly hasn't denounced all the ridiculous merchandise associated with Evangelion.

Damn i think i need to go buy a Nissan now >_>

[esselfortium]

Well, geez. One need to line up a job for himself somehow. Film is very much a freelance job in both Hollywood and Japanese studios. I think Ghibli is the only animation studio in Japan that had an actual permanent staff for a while. (Might still be the only one.) Most of the animation studios just hire freelance animators for projects over and over again. Money can be an objective without being obsessively greedy over it.

Huh? I don't think Anno would be put any closer to the poorhouse for deciding not to create a new installment of his already multi-million-dollar franchise.

I think that's where Anno and Lucas differ. Say what you want bout his modern finished works, but at least Anno still writes decent scripts and pours himself over re-writes and solving various story-structure issues of his work.

And yet they're still only good enough to be defended as "Anno needed money"? I'm getting mixed messages here; I thought you liked the movies?

[Warren Peace]

I don't know why we have to be so black and white about it. The lesson of Eva isn't that you shouldn't like anime anymore, it's that it shouldn't be your entire life. Buying an Eva key chain doesn't invalidate that message.

[GAP]

So Anno is consistent while Lucas is not, I wonder if I get still get those keychains? <.< >.>

Anno did what a lot of young artists have done throughout history: denounce materialism and then make it rich and realize that materialism isn't so bad.

Many, many, many people have done this. Anno is not special in this regard my friends.

So its not necessarily bad?

[Combs]

Materialism is an incredibly shallow state of mind. I doubt Anno is a shallow jerk who cares about money these days... bet he'd be either shy or snobbish in person.

[Merridian]

Buying an Eva key chain doesn't invalidate that message.

I think the problem is when instead of a key chain, it's your 80th figurine, your third character-themed fleshlight, or even your first dakimakura. It's the degree to which merchandising goes that is of more irony than the idea of merchandising itself. But he was basically attacking a fandom in which derivative works like fan-comics and fanfictions, amateur-built models, and cosplay all thrived in abundance, to the point that whole fan-run markets opened for them. Either missing or outright disregarding the message of "get a life" should have been expected.

[Combs]

...should have been expected.

Are you saying that from the very beginning they should've expected this?

Remember: Eva's original purpose was to exploit a loophole in Japanese tax law.

[COACH]

Care to elaborate?

[BornIn1142]

There's this urban legend moving around that Evangelion GAINAX wanted Evangelion to fail to make money off a tax cut or something like that. I assume it's just a more interesting spin on the true story of the company facing legal repercussions for under-reporting their profits from Eva's unexpected success.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Huh? I don't think Anno would be put any closer to the poorhouse for deciding not to create a new installment of his already multi-million-dollar franchise.

The Rebuild tetralogy is the first feature work Studio Khara is this heavily involved in animating. Before this, they only did some in-between work for Miyazaki's Ponyo. I'm not saying Anno is on his way to the poor house, but he wants/needs to line up jobs for those in his cool new studio other than in-between work for other movies. And seeing how profitable NGE was the first time around for GAINAX, this Rebuild tetralogy should be a good way for Studio Khara to kick off building a good financial standing and notable presence ("street cred" if you will) among other animation studios, so they could perhaps pursue some other original projects they may want to attempt in the future.

Think of it as a long disbanded rock band, who still may be getting royalties from their old songs, reforming and re-preforming all of their old tunes first to re-establish themselves within the culture so they can later branch off into preforming the more original works they've written. The Rebuild tetralogy is the film business version of that technique, and it seems to be working out for them so far.

And yet they're still only good enough to be defended as "Anno needed money"? I'm getting mixed messages here; I thought you liked the movies?

I do like Rebuild thus far. I'm just not turning a blind eye to other's opinions on his work, either. My little rant on Anno vs Lucas was more about the different mind-sets and situations of the two men that lead them to revitalize their franchises, as opposed to the similar cultural reactions to the revitalization of both franchises. I just didn't want it to turn into a "Rebuild's good vs bad" debate here, so I left my comment to be open to all opinions of the film and commented more on the men themselves.

As I said before, Anno's Studio Khara needs to be established in the animation community with these new Evangelion films. Lucas' ILM didn't need to be established with the newer Star Wars prequels, as they've been established with the original trilogy and have managed to find work consistently ever since. The cultural reactions to the franchises are definitely similar, but the approaches to the revitalization of the two franchises are not.

@TOPIC: I always saw episode 7's Jet Alone robot as Anno's bone to the toy-builders requests for simpler, cheaper design models. I don't know it that's true, though. But, yeah. Most of Anno's direction on NGE seemed to try and stray away from GIANAX's over merchandising tendencies. (Hyper detailed mecha designs, girls in bandages, a less proactive protagonist, ect.)

[GasmaskAvenger]

Think of it as a long disbanded rock band, who still may be getting royalties from their old songs, reforming and re-preforming all of their old tunes first to re-establish themselves within the culture so they can later branch off into preforming the more original works they've written. The Rebuild tetralogy is the film business version of that technique, and it seems to be working out for them so far.

perfect analogy, IMO