Eva pet peeves

[Defectron]

I see so thats why it happens when your stoned.

The real reason Shinji freaks out is because he smokes too much weed

[mrpanda]

Shinji:Shiiiiiiit maaan its NERV inteligence HIDE THE GANJA Rei !!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Rei looks blankly at the wall*

Rei:This is agreeableeeeee *Rei starts dribbling*

Shinji:Shiiiiit

And just so this isnt spam my peev is theres not enough romancy stuff between Shinji and Asuka.

[Eva Yojimbo]

I dislike all the moments when we hear a character's thoughts within reality - like a character will say something, but then we'll hear their inner thoughts on the matter. This is fine in the surreal moments, but I dislike it when in reality. It gives it a kinda comic book, thought bubble feeling.

I generally dislike the mass ignorance regarding NGE. Differing interpretations are fine, but people who don't understand why Shinji is how he is just irk me. It's as if they've never seen an anti-hero before. The criticisms of pretentious have become completely trite. Those who use the word are usually far more pretentious than the works they criticize as being so.

I once wrote essay - which was destroyed when my computer died - on the matter.

Use a word program and set it to auto-save every 5-10 minutes.

Another is labelling Shinji emo.

That's mostly because of the general confusion regarding the term. Shinji is angsty, but the idea of angst is of thematic importance in NGE, so it isn't just there as a stylistic characteristic choice.

It has no meaning and it disrupts narrative flow in the scene when Giant Kaworu appears.

I would heavily disagree with that. The cross becomes a tangible motif in a succession of scenes that are continually becoming more and more intangible. Or, simply, it's our link to reality.

[TheAyanamiOtaku]

When people watch Evangelion for the nudity and the violence.

[UrsusArctos]

Those guys had better play Max Payne if that's what they want.

Other peeves include inconsistencies within the series, such as Evas changing heights at will. Also, those ridiculous cross-shaped explosions and design details like Sachi and Zer using their eyes as weapons (Which I find much more unimaginative than Ramiel's internal reactor and particle beam). There are some moments -the DC battle with Armisael, for instance, where things get surreal when they're not supposed to be. Makes me wonder if one should interpret NGE as a purely philosophical work of sorts (I'm onto this in my fanfic already).

[AsukaChan]

How about .. NOTHING EVER WORKS. XD

Like, when Ritsuko's yelling at Maya to do something and in like every episode she's always "ZOMG! IT WON'T ACCEPT IT!"

*cough*

Of course, I realize that there's very logical reasons why things never work i.e. sending codes to the giant rampaging organism that's no longer under the control of the computers/machinery/whatever is obviously going to fail. But sometimes I hope that maybe, just maybe, that Entry Plug will actually eject this time. XD

Or how most everyone I know dismisses NGE as "depressing", "emo", or "way too confusing to ever understand and therefore, pointless to watch".

Specifically, when everyone says Shinji and Asuka are depressing and "emo" throughout, when they just overlook the fact that they get like that very close to the end.

Or when people compare Gundam and NGE LIKE YOU CAN ACTUALLY DRAW A COMPARISON BEYOND GIANT "ROBOTS".
..Or NGE to regular anime for that matter, since I haven't been able to sit through an entire "regular" anime since I've seen NGE because I'm constantly like "need more mindfuck, kthanx".

I dunno. Perhaps I put NGE up on a pedestal because I see it as some kind of work of art and artistic expression (even more so because I'm looking at it as a designer and an art student) and I'm being terribly elitist here..

[Sachi]

How about .. NOTHING EVER WORKS. XD

Yeah, like everytime something is wrong.
That can probably be explained as they are typing a million miles a second. I think there's room for one typo.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Perhaps I put NGE up on a pedestal because I see it as some kind of work of art and artistic expression (even more so because I'm looking at it as a designer and an art student) and I'm being terribly elitist here..

Nah, I think the same thing and do so as a semi-student of film (semi because I only study in my own time, not in actual courses).

[wut_is_a_eva_lol]

I dislike all the moments when we hear a character's thoughts within reality - like a character will say something, but then we'll hear their inner thoughts on the matter. This is fine in the surreal moments, but I dislike it when in reality. It gives it a kinda comic book, thought bubble feeling.

Agreed 100%.

In End of Evangelion, my biggest peeve is probably the way that the minor characters in the control room serve as play-by-play announcers for the viewer. "The EVA series is reactivating!" Is that why they're getting up? "Are they going to finish her off?" Maybe so! I wouldn't have thought of that on my own. "It can't be explained by numbers!" "The pilot's vital signs are near zero." "The pilot's soul won't be able to take it anymore." I thought that sort of thing was particularly annoying in the beginning of the second half of the movie as it took away from the transition from reality to Shinji's mind trip and the surreal feeling the rest of the movie had. This will probably get me flamed, but some of Fuyutsuki's "speech bubble" monologues, especially the one about the tree of life, felt unnecessary. I didn't notice any mention of the fruits of life and knowledge or the tree of life in the series, so I don't quite see why it was necessary to include those explanations in EoE. The first time I saw the movie, watching EVA-01 get captured before it kicked ANY ass (even if it was voluntary) and the imagery that followed was so shocking that I couldn't take in what Fuyutsuki was saying, but it didn't matter because I saw the Third Impact as a plot device to bring about the questions and explorations in the rest of the movie. Sometimes I just wish they had left it at that.

Minor complaints: Misato's speech to Shinji seemed a little too wooden for somebody dying of a bullet wound (overblown dialog is fine in the second half, but is less effective in the reality of the first half), and the 666 protection thing was a little cheesy.

I'm a noob, so feel free to correct me on anything I might be wrong or confused about.

[Sachi]

They do that in a lot of animes. Which is why I don't watch some.
They state the obvious.

[Eva Yojimbo]

Minor complaints: Misato's speech to Shinji seemed a little too wooden for somebody dying of a bullet wound (overblown dialog is fine in the second half, but is less effective in the reality of the first half), and the 666 protection thing was a little cheesy.

I'd largely agree with all of your points. EoE is really a visual experience and a lot of the dialogue did seem rather superfluous. Though I do think Fuyutsuki's bits were helpful (the FoK and FoL were mentioned before then I'm pretty sure). I also agree partially with Misato's speech, though I've often wondered how much of that is due to translation. It doesn't so much sound cheesy as it just reads cheesy...

[BEsERk EVA01]

I also dislike [only a tiny amount] the scenes like the surreal train thing, and the mostly talking parts of EoE. I understand the excessive talking parts are pretty important to understanding the plot, but a few times of watching EoE all the time really pisses me off. I mean, I feel that I don't like to rewatch the episodes that need a lot of understanding, basically the parts with an extreme amount of talking.

Of course, those parts like the surreal train scenes are crucial to how the characters feel, but after a few times of watching it, it gets really "boring". [such a powerful word, tsk tsk tsk] If you get my drift.

[UrsusArctos]

How about .. NOTHING EVER WORKS. XD

That can probably be explained as they are typing a million miles a second. I think there's room for one typo.

EMARGENCY! INEEDYUO!

In EoE, the Pointless Religious Symbolism complicates everything. What visuals are meaningful, and what are garbage? Anno won't talk, but he'll sit back and laugh at all the nonsense going around the internet while listening to the ringing of the Gainax cash counter.

[AsukaChan]

Heh. I just had a discussion with someone about the superfluous dialogue in a lot of anime. Especially, in that they love to either treat the viewer like they're idiots, in which they need to tell you everything you're seeing, or simply having the characters parrot each other's dialogue.

I have to agree with you a little bit, and I especially can't really bitch about it in the case of EoE, because I saw a lot of that dialogue as necessary. Not specifically for the viewer's own knowledge, but when I first saw EoE I saw it as fleshing out these characters that we've been seeing throughout, but knew little about.

For example, the way each of the characters speaking asks the questions. You can tell that Aoba's rather calm about the situation, though negative overall, whereas Maya -- as usual -- is disgusted and afraid. Like, when Unit-02 is being torn apart by the MP Evas, the viewer knows what's happening, but they then cut to the Maya and the others to show their reactions. And we know the MP Evas are reactivating, but their reaction is shown again.

I felt it showed how they went from being angry and trying to fight back when they were being attacked, to the gradual acceptance of their fate and the mixture of defeat and fear and disbelief that overtook everyone. If was a viewpoint from someone other than Shinji, which I found I could relate to more because they were just regular people.

Also, I found the narration of what was actually going on during the process leading up to Third Impact to be very helpful. I'm the type of person who likes to know what's going on, and so if I had just been watching everything I might've missed things. XD

I used to dislike the surreal parts of NGE, until I realized how important they were to the full experience. I used to skip watching the 'Weaving the Story' episodes and such, because they were largely these surreal moments. But I don't think I could have fully grasped it without. So I no longer complain about seemingly useless dialogue. (:

[ZapX]

The surrealism is one of the greatest things!

[BEsERk EVA01]

Maybe I should just try to understand it more. But I never did say it was useless, and unimportant. I just meant that after a few watches, it justs get slightly annoying and all, if you actually get my point. But undoubtedly, the surrealism and chatter is an important part of Evangelion!

[ZapX]

no, i get you. everyone sees things differently after all.

[mrpanda]

Also, I found the narration of what was actually going on during the process leading up to Third Impact to be very helpful. I'm the type of person who likes to know what's going on, and so if I had just been watching everything I might've missed things. XD

I used to dislike the surreal parts of NGE, until I realized how important they were to the full experience. I used to skip watching the 'Weaving the Story' episodes and such, because they were largely these surreal moments. But I don't think I could have fully grasped it without. So I no longer complain about seemingly useless dialogue. (:

I liked the narration in it aswell, it was especially helpfull on my first time watching it, even the i was like ZOMGWTF. The talk from maya and stuff about Asuka getting torn appart was a bit annoying, i would of been happy with her doing her usual 'hand over mouth look like im gonna throw up routene through it'.

I disliked the surreal parts too when i first watched it that was why i never watched the 2 final episodes on my first run and it wasnt untill 8 months later when i decided to watch it again that it started making sense to me.

[wut_is_a_eva_lol]

I know I posted once already in this thread, but that was only on EoE. I have some major gripes about the series, and this thread looks like my only chance to get them off my chest.

My main complaints with the series are just complaints I have with anime in general: the gratuitous cleavage shots, moments with ridiculously exaggerated facial expressions, the way Misato screams when she drinks, the cheesy battle music in the 3rd episode, and the new-bad-guy-each-episode feel that the middle of the series had. Most scenes with Pen-pen made me cringe at one point or another, except for episode 5, which was actually enjoyable to me. I liked the way that the optimism of the first half of the series contrasted with the hopelessness of the second half (and even made it meaningful), but those are the things that keep me from being able to recommend Evangelion to friends. I know those things are par for the course when it comes to anime, but it's just a matter of personal taste.

Beyond that, my biggest complaint is the whole "metaphysical biology" thing. A story about teenagers piloting giant humanoid "robots" in order to prevent the apocalypse isn't realistic in any way, but for the most part it remained grounded in surprisingly good (compared to what I expected before watching the series) science fiction that explained just the right amount and left the rest to the imagination. To me, the fact that humans are not only able to scientifically prove the existence of a human soul but also manipulate it by 2015 isn't plausible even in the sci-fi universe set up in the first 19 episodes. I'm not sure exactly how I would have written it differently (or if anything I wrote would even compare to Eva in the first place), but it seems to me that Anno missed an opportunity to speculate (or have characters speculate) on the possible existence and nature of the human soul and instead just granted some of his characters unexplained knowledge on the subject. Then again, maybe he didn't go there simply because it wasn't a theme in the show. I thought it would have been cooler if the soul was treated like the AT-field, where humans seem to be ignorant of its true nature (or are they? correct me if I'm wrong) until Kaworu explains it in episode 24. I know that would certainly create problems, especially with the whole Gendo-Rei relationship, but the way it was done in the series just seemed like a bit of a cop-out to me. This never really bothered me that much until I came across the "Rei I is the soul inside EVA-00" explanation. Oh well. I guess I'll just learn to live with it.

[Dr. Nick]

This is so true. In fact most "deep" animes are pretentious, but NGE is one huge exception

Tuffdog, much? Let's not forget that "deep" is an enormously vague term, and thought-provokingness, as well as pretentiousness, are something rather subjective.

Another is labelling Shinji emo.

As much as I dislike the emo-bandwagon, it's a fact of linguistics that if a big enough number of people begin to use a word in a new way, the new meaning will be established eventually. So, if the primary meaning of "emo" will evolve / already has evolved to mean "a person who cries", then Shinji indeed is emo.

Also, have some emo-Shinji.

I generally dislike the mass ignorance regarding NGE. Differing interpretations are fine, but people who don't understand why Shinji is how he is just irk me.

But it is entirely possible to know your stuff, and still dislike Shinji as a character.

Other peeves include inconsistencies within the series, such as Evas changing heights at will. Also, those ridiculous cross-shaped explosions and design details like Sachi and Zer using their eyes as weapons (Which I find much more unimaginative than Ramiel's internal reactor and particle beam).

Welcome to mecha anime. And wut, welcome to anime in general.

Or when people compare Gundam and NGE LIKE YOU CAN ACTUALLY DRAW A COMPARISON BEYOND GIANT "ROBOTS".

I don't get it. What is this supposed to mean? There are plenty of comparable elements beyong the giant robot aspect.