How did you first get into Evangelion?

[Berserker]

i saw My dad watch it

I hate the cultural stereotype that i was born into.

I did get one of my sons into it.

What was his reaction?

[pwhodges]

What was his reaction?

Not terribly interested, to be honest; anime in general doesn't do it for him. Also he was already in his 40s... He has a Japanese wife, though, and I had hoped that she might help him with it.

[Berserker]

Also he was already in his 40s

Well, you're still here after all these years, still hyped and kicking in like each on of us. You're one awesome old guy i've ever seen (No offense on the old word).

[Depressed Corn Man]

Heard someone on gamefaqs talking about the hospital scene in eoe, so I thought "huh" and watched the entire series plus eoe in one day, then went on a Downward Spiral

[JoelcrNeto]

I heard much people saying EVANGELION “it’s bad” or “hard to understand”. Because that, I started to think that peoples are lazy and did unfair criticisms, so I watched and I like it.

[quidam]

This is a curious question for me, and one which I have actually already asked myself several times.

In short, I am not actually sure.

Briefly: I have vague memories of looking at the Evangelion subreddit some time, I presume, in 2018, and seeing on the sidebar of that subreddit that there was no information on when the original TV series would be released where I live due to some copyright/ownership issues. I then recall, sometime again, I believe, in 2018, seeing new information stating that the series would be published on Netflix in the summer of 2019. Judging by these memories --- and my recollection of being at least interested in checking in on it in 2019 --- I can determine that I was aware of the series in some capacity by 2018. However, I do not know for certain when I actually first heard of the series. That is lost to time. So, I cannot answer with any certainty how I first got into the series. (I am pretty confident that no one had recommended it to me, either.)

I do know when I first watched the series. It was sometime between July 11 and August 1, 2019, after a trip to attend a convention (of the non-anime type). During my time there, I had watched the first season of Attack on Titan on my phone in my hotel room, and really liked that show --- so much so that I missed some events at the convention. I had had it in my Netflix queue for some time, and had also placed Evangelion in there at the same time. Attack on Titan was the first anime that I ever watched with any intention --- that is, not counting reruns of things like Dragonball that were on cable TV when I was a child (I should note here that I do not generally like anime at all.)

After I got home from the convention, I first watched the remaining two seasons of Attack on Titan. After that, I think that I tried JoJo's Bizarre Adventure but put it aside after a few episodes. I then tried Evangelion. Not sure why I picked it over anything else.

The only thing that I definitively remember from my first viewing of the series --- done over only a few days --- was how tame I thought the intro to be, compared to, as I thought at the time, those of Attack on Titan. Everything else is really simply not there in terms of memory. I know where I watched it, but not what I thought of it. I simply have no recollection of the experience. I am pretty sure that I got to the end, because when I rewatched the series fully this year, I recalled some things from the last two episodes. Curiously, I had no recollection that the second Rei had died in episode 23 or of how she had died (and it is a rather memorable moment, as we know). For that episode, I must have either skipped over it accidentally or intentionally (since the Netflix thumbnail pretty clearly hints that Rei would die, as does the preview explicitly in episode 22, and I had probably grown attached to Rei by that point in watching the series) or simply had it not ingrained in my memory at all.

I guess that that is it, then. I hope that that is not too boring, but it is my truth. I was not recommended it, I did not hear about it from some Top 10 list --- I genuinely don't know when, where, or how I first heard about it.

[Blockio]

I've had a not entirely dissimilar experience with my first watch, there were quite big spots especially in EoE that I immediately recognized when seeing them on my rewatch, but were completely erased from my recollection before that

[UrsusArctos]

I do know when I first watched the series. It was sometime between July 11 and August 1, 2019, after a trip to attend a convention (of the non-anime type). During my time there, I had watched the first season of Attack on Titan on my phone in my hotel room, and really liked that show --- so much so that I missed some events at the convention.

Interesting story overall. About conventions, I've learned that it always pays to pick the events you're going for, because convention burnout is a real thing.

And that's a fairly precise timeframe for when you got into Evangelion. I don't have a precise timeframe, apart from sometime in late 2005, when I found Ritsuko Akagi on a list of fictional scientists on a much younger wikipedia. I think the name "Neon Genesis Evangelion" had me wondering "what's that?" and I think I latched on to the Akagi part of Ritsuko's name too, since I was already familiar with the carrier's name. Came across a now defunct Evangelion fansite and found the premise of this mysterious-sounding series curiouser and curiouser.

[Kendrix]

Have I ever posted in this thread? I don't think so but now that the big finale is at hand I might as well.

I'm not sure if I was 11 or 12 at the time; I heard it's similar to Elfen Lied or Digimon Tamers, read up on it on some anime fansites & thought it sounded interesting.
Also I had watched Nadia at some point & I loved it, especially how absolutely Bullshit Free it was. The villain was stone cold evil with no comical features at all, & I remember being impressed when they flat out told the little girl that she wouldn't see her dead parents again. (Though the mysterious/fascinating parts of it were great too)

I remember one of the descriptions re: EVA being like "I know lots of age restrictions seem completely bogus but for this one you should actually be 16" XDD

Well, I did not listen to that warning and I'm glad I didn't cause this really came to me when I needed it & I recall that it was a massive attitude adjustment at the time like "wow so this is what this argument looks like from the perspective of my parents", "This is right, I should totally erase that phrase from my vocabulary", "That's actually a good argument not to hate yourself, out of all the bad traits one could have I don't think I've got the very worst ones"

I've kind of fallen out of love with postmodernism since (I do believe there is an objective reality even if it's not easy or convenient to determine - if you walk off a cliff you get hurt no matter what you believe, your delusion lasts until your bones break) & some of the sexual gags have aged a bit poorly, but it will always have a special place in my heart & was pretty influential to what I'd want my own writing to be like

[Berserker]

On a positive note, you really got to enjoy it being somewhat similar age to the pilots. Like, you could feel and fantasize what it'd be like to be in their shoes, especially since that was the growing, puberty hiting time of life when a single sparkle of imagination can suddenly turn into a giant bonfire (not to sound cliche). That must be one hell of an experience.

On the contrary, isn't that like too early to understand every little detail of the show? I mean, if i had done so, i think a lot of things would go straight in and out of my brain immediately upon seeing them. The first time seeing the show is really something, which i can't experience again by far margin even if i rewatch it a hundred times. Finishing the show for the first time with a complete blank head would be utterly disappointing, as for me i can't relive that experince ever again. Watching it at this age at least gave me a chance to understand the whole thing, at least most of it upon first time watching.

[robersora]

^
I was 14 when I first watched the show.

Online it often seems to me that Americans are overly protective of their children, when it comes to media. I think art can and should be challenging, even the young ones. My mother would watch South Park with me, when I was 15 and afterwards we talked about it, to learn to understand to "read" it.
Evangelion I watched all alone, I admit EoTV went over my head - I knew, what I watched was profound, I just couldn't quite follow it. Everything else I found visually arresting and deeply affected my thinking in a positive manner. I didn't necessarily relate to any of the children tho, but now, aged 28 I relate hard to Ritsuko, Misato and Kaji, which is a testament to how well written this show is.

[Kendrix]

I think ppl forget how much complex inner life & understanding younger ppl have 'cause they just remember all the embarrassing crap their did. I can think of at least 5 ppl right now off the top of my head who full on changed the world before they were 20.

20-15 years ago a lot of American children's media was just emotionless comedy*. Some Disney & Pixar stuff had feelings in it but those were still fairly predictable archetypical stories, not that there's anything wrong with that per se, but it was the only thing.

*(Absolutely not true anymore these days, this past decade has been fruitful in that regard, a lot of what comes out these days has emotion & plot and we've even seen art shows like Gravity Falls, Over the Garden Wall or Steven Universe - that one kind of gave up being sci fi in the last season to just fully become a PSA and drop applicability for allegory, and given the political climate that was probably the right decision, it's been done less; though personally I was there for the sci fi - but, you can't always have your favorite dish.
Infinity Train has for some reason not really made it big yet, but hot damn that villain protagonist arc)

That's part of why I never looked sideways at an American cartoon after anime hit the country. For a while even my brother was watching those Shinjo animes cause, look, plot! Emotional stakes! Lucky for him it wasn't long till we got stuff more to his liking.
Even the animes that were like actual children's shows just had so much more plot & feeling.


In Europe, "serious art for younger readers" is definitely a thing. There was a lot of stuff that maybe didn't happen to have sex drugs & rock & roll in it but was still by all intents & purposes Complex Serious Art. Stuff like the Little Prince, Momo or The Neverending Story. Or The Last Unicorn, though that was actually an American writer.

By the time I got to be 12 I had plenty of experience which thick-ass books including random novels aimed at adults and "whatever I could find in mom's bookshelf pretty much Mama I'm booored!"
So I'd say that I just happened to reach puberty with relatively good listening comprehension and then of course I wanted to watch all the big girl shit. XDD
& of course you could read other ppl's take on the internet if you didn't get something.


Though this is subjective. When I watched it with one of my sisters she was 15 and since she was a bit more sensitive I thought "better hold on" with EoE then I asked her some years later if she wants to see it now and she confessed that EVA wasn't really her thing & she was mostly watching it to hang out with me, fortunately we found some TV show that we both actually like

My mom can't stand any horror stuff to this day, and there's plenty of grown ass adults who just don't like stuff like GoT because it upsets them, and that fine. ppl are different. hobbies are supposed to be fun after all. Like the idea that anything simple and feelgoosy is "low brow" or "for kids" is toxic. Mass produced war flicks or soap operas aren't the peak of artistry either.

That said, the age recommendations in my country are pretty reasonable, they don't weigh sex stuff heavier than violence 6 focus mostly on stuff like wether it's understandable & the pacing etc. ; Best to see them as just that, recommendations to give you a guess of when the average person can probably handle & understand it it, on average. If you've got no clue (or you're debating wether to let some kid that's not your into the cinema and you have no idea about their temperament and maturity level) it's good to have some guidepost
Maturity is individual & also facets. Being mature at text comprehension or unfazed by exploding heads doesn't mean I was mature or unfazed at anything else XDD


And yeah, it's a bit surreal when you're suddenly closer in age to Misato than the pilots. In many aspects tho I was glad for the 'warning' of what sorts of problems one could meet down the line especially with the relationship drama
Particularly because you get both the perspective of Shinji & then what Misato thinks/feels "behind the scenes" despite what she maybe says to him when she wants to do something like convince or encourage him, or when she's doing the professional authority figure act.
EVA doesn't perpetuate the myth of the magical day when you will suddenly wake up and have your shit together and as such it's much more effective at encouraging actual consideration. Like I'd be watching ep 4 and really think, "Oh, that's what this argument must look like from my mother's perspective, that's probably unhelpful" & I don't think that would have happened if it hadn't given the full weight and space to both their feelings.

[Abracadaver]

I'm brand new here, so I figured I'd share my introduction to Evangelion. I figure it's pretty similar to a lot of people - I first saw it back in either 2005 or 2006 when I woke up on the couch after leaving Cartoon Network on the TV. I basically stumbled into the portion of episode 14 where Rei is reciting her poem about the nature of existence. I was so confused and intrigued by that, so despite not understanding what I was seeing I remember going online the next day and looking up a buncha stuff on the Adult Swim website until I figured out the show was called 'Evangelion'. From there, I'll admit at the time I pirated the show so I could follow along with the airing on Adult Swim. It really confused and impacted me at that age, but I couldn't really articulate why.

A few years later after getting my first ever paycheck, I found the Platinum Collection in a Best Buy and thought to myself Oh wow, I thought this show was amazing and weird, might as well pick this up for $60 and give it a re-watch. Ever since then, I've watched that Platinum Collection at least once a year every year.

Also, kind of a tangent, but I remember discovering the existence of End of Eva long after the fact and looking it up online only to find it was selling for a price I couldn't afford. I was resigned to the despair of never owning that movie, until one day in college I was hanging out at a friend's place and saw it sitting on his shelf. I got all excited and asked if I could look at it. I kind of explained that I was a superfan of the show and that this was really rare, and my buddy said "Oh, cool. Well, you can have it." Maybe one of the nicest things anybody's done for me, I refused to let him give it to me for free - I slipped him a $20 bill. Felt like the least I could do for mending my Evangelion-loving heart.

[Kendrix]

Aww.
To quote Kensuke from ep 8, "It's really good to have friends"

[quidam]

Interesting story overall. About conventions, I've learned that it always pays to pick the events you're going for, because convention burnout is a real thing.

And that's a fairly precise timeframe for when you got into Evangelion. I don't have a precise timeframe, apart from sometime in late 2005, when I found Ritsuko Akagi on a list of fictional scientists on a much younger wikipedia. I think the name "Neon Genesis Evangelion" had me wondering "what's that?" and I think I latched on to the Akagi part of Ritsuko's name too, since I was already familiar with the carrier's name. Came across a now defunct Evangelion fansite and found the premise of this mysterious-sounding series curiouser and curiouser.

Hah, thanks. You're definitely right about conventions. It was a four- or five-day conference and by the end of it I really just wanted to stay in the hotel room, haha.

I forget, sometimes, how old Wikipedia really is. Pretty amazing to think about how far a voluntary website has come.

Also, I never realized until now that Ritsuko's surname is taken from the WWII carrier. I knew about the carrier, and that e.g. Ayanami comes from the WWII destroyer (IIRC), so it's funny to me that I had never put two and two together for Ritsuko until now. Funny how these things all work.

[Javi2541997]

Hello to all. Nice to meet you. My name is Javi I am from Spain.

I want to debate with you and also share my experience with EVA. The first I wacthed it the last year I was passing through a difficult time in my lite (depression, loneliness and zero confidence about myself and others). Nevertheless after I finished the series I started giving another chance in my life and looking with a more positive perspective. Since then, all is right, I am studying what I love, going more social non stop reading books and even I am friends again with one of the best friends I had then for a stupidity we discussed about. So it has changed my life for good I guess. It is just my humble opinion but I think this anime is not as depressed as some people explain through the internet. It is a good view of accepting and believe in yourself and block scapism as Hideakki Anno said (the last one is the most I work on...)
Despite the cool perspective I guess I am getting quite obsessed with EVA. For me it looks like everything is related to an episode of the anime and I cannot live without it. Imagine this animation is so important that the last October 4th I celebrated 25th anniversay with other Fandom friends. It was a cool day. Even often I see random episodes in Japanese just to trying to understand the language (I prefer see the anime in the original dub). This is one of the things that scary me about. I guess that problably I evolved into an "otaku" fan of EVA (but I dont really know I just love this anime so much). I am 23 years old and I guess it does not matter the age because NGE is timeless and will be part of the rest of our lives.
How was your experience the first time you saw EVA? How many years are you into it? How many times did you watch it?
PD: Sorry for my horrible english lol.
PD2: See you soon in other posts about EVA in this site!

[kuribo-04]

Hello to all. Nice to meet you. My name is Javi I am from Spain.

Heeey, another Spaniard!

So it has changed my life for good I guess. It is just my humble opinion but I think this anime is not as depressed as some people explain through the internet. It is a good view of accepting and believe in yourself and block scapism as Hideakki Anno said (the last one is the most I work on...)

It was very helpful to me. I'm happy it had that effect for you too. I also don't think it's a (purely) depressing show. It's hard, but it is ultimately hopeful. Addresses many problems head on as well.

This is one of the things that scary me about. I guess that problably I evolved into an "otaku" fan of EVA (but I dont really know I just love this anime so much).

I wouldn't worry about that lol. I'm obsessed too. As long as there is other stuff in your life and hobbies as well it's fine. Eva definitely has a lot to unpack.

How was your experience the first time you saw EVA? How many years are you into it? How many times did you watch it?

I was 16, so 8 years ago...
I loved it, but as it neared the end its realism made it pretty scary...some stuff just reminded me of myself. Still it was amazing. End of Eva quickly became my favourite film ever. I went to other things, but some months later I rewatched the show and decided to watch Rebuild (at first I wanted to wait until all Rebuild films were out LOL).
That time period I learned so much about art and film through Eva. Rebuild also made me reconsider so much, mostly through the third film.

As for how often I've seen Eva. Lol. I tend to rewatch things a lot, so with Eva it's pretty crazy. Put on any random part of any episode and I'll recognize the episode by sound alone (I don't speak Japanese). That's how often I've seen it lmao.


Have you seen Rebuild too?

[Javi2541997]

Hello to all. Nice to meet you. My name is Javi I am from Spain.

Heeey, another Spaniard
Heyy so cool!

So it has changed my life for good I guess. It is just my humble opinion but I think this anime is not as depressed as some people explain through the internet. It is a good view of accepting and believe in yourself and block scapism as Hideakki Anno said (the last one is the most I work on...)

It was very helpful to me. I'm happy it had that effect for you too. I also don't think it's a (purely) depressing show. It's hard, but it is ultimately hopeful. Addresses many problems head on as well.

This is one of the things that scary me about. I guess that problably I evolved into an "otaku" fan of EVA (but I dont really know I just love this anime so much).

I wouldn't worry about that lol. I'm obsessed too. As long as there is other stuff in your life and hobbies as well it's fine. Eva definitely has a lot to unpack.
Fine then haha I guess it is normal being obsessed

How was your experience the first time you saw EVA? How many years are you into it? How many times did you watch it?

I was 16, so 8 years ago...
I loved it, but as it neared the end its realism made it pretty scary...some stuff just reminded me of myself. Still it was amazing. End of Eva quickly became my favourite film ever. I went to other things, but some months later I rewatched the show and decided to watch Rebuild (at first I wanted to wait until all Rebuild films were out LOL).
That time period I learned so much about art and film through Eva. Rebuild also made me reconsider so much, mostly through the third film.

As for how often I've seen Eva. Lol. I tend to rewatch things a lot, so with Eva it's pretty crazy. Put on any random part of any episode and I'll recognize the episode by sound alone (I don't speak Japanese). That's how often I've seen it lmao.


Have you seen Rebuild too?

No! I dont see it yet! I know have to do it immediately! Thanks for your reply

[kuribo-04]

Oh! That's awesome. Try going into Rebuild without any spoilers. It is more different than you would expect. ;)

[BernardoCairo]

This post is basically gonna be an amalgamation of some other stuff that I've already posted here on the forums. But, whatever hahaha.
In short, I got into it because of my stepfather. When he was a young man, he watched it through a channel called "Locomotion", (which use to exist here in Brazil) and loved it.
After we met, he tried in various ways to introduce me to anime. Eventually, when I was nine years old or something, he rented the 1.0 Blu-ray for us to watch on my PS3. I couldn't understand anything. I remember thinking a lot about the destruction of Antarctica and it's implications afterwards (the "global warming" elements and Pen Pen). But that was it. My mind was too closed for Japanese media at that time (outside of videogames). So, I didn't even try to pay attention to what was happening on the screen.
Years later, when I was much older, I got into anime through Dragon Ball (you know, the usual). It was airing on Cartoon Network and I decided to give it a try. I really liked it! It helped me go through a period of changes in my life too! So, I instantly became a fan.
Because of this, I was more opened to watch other anime. My stepfather took notes and made me see the original series with him. I was immediately hooked.
I will never forget the first time that I watched it. It was so fun! We took more than three weeks to end it all. My stepfather prevented me from consuming it all at once. According to him, each episode deserved to be enjoyed individually. Because of that, I developed affection for the characters in very natural way. When I noticed, they were already part of my "daily life" and I really cared about them.
The funny thing was that he hadn't watched The End of Evangelion yet. So we experienced it first hand, together. It was a ride. That is definitely my favorite movie of all time. I will never forget the day I watched it. The film ended at sunset and it was crazy. I laughed, thought and cried over it hahaha.
Ah, great memories!