What do you think Evangelion's message was?

[CyberXIII]

What do you think that Evangelion's message is: despair, or hope?

By the end of the series, everything has gone south:

Rei is dead and replaced with a clone.
Asuka is catatonic.
Shinji is completely metally destroyed.
Kaworu is dead.
Kaji is dead.
Misato is heartbroken over the above.
Ritsuko has finally snapped.
Touji is a cripple.
Kensuke, Hikari and co. are all gone, and took Pen2 with them.
SEELE and Gendo's plans are about to come to fruition.

Then EoE happens, and all life on the planet may as well be dead, save Shinji and Asuka.

Now then, in what is possibly the series greatest mind screw, Yui says that life may have the chance to come back, if they wish to do so. (Never mind that there is no way she could have possibly predicted what would happen....)

Do you think that the ultimate message here was that there is always hope?

Or is it that all life has no meaning, and we're better off LCL?

[Mongoosedog]

i'm gonna go with hope, if an emotionally screwed up 14 year old e.m.o decides that humanity has a chance then i think it just might be so

[Mr. Tines]

Series -- break out of your shell
EoE -- if you just curl up in a ball, don't be surprised if your world goes to shit around you

[Joseph the PRPD]

Stay in school, don't do drugs, become a therapist, and don't rely and teenagers with traumatic pasts to defend the Earth.

Seriousnessness:
Series: Try not to be afraid of others
EoE:"If someone says you are a God say 'yes'!"

EDIT:

I can also quote Forest Gump. "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are gonna get."

[Holy Diver]

A sort of hopeful despair. The old order has been demolished. Everything that once was has been swept away. Mankind has a chance to experience a new genesis, but only if he chooses to act. This ability of choice and its connected doubt is the cause of the despair.

[esselfortium]

Take care of yourself.

[Iam(not)toji]

I think that this is the great thing about Eva, it doesn't really have an ultimate message. Not to use any senior english class cliche's or anything, but it really is the question minus the answer, and it's up to the audience to figure it out for themselves.

[DatDude]

stop watching cartoons and go outside and meet people.



Ok for real.

Take the risk at getting hurt and let people in because if you don't your not really living.

[Sachi]

When life hands you lemons, make everybody into orange juice.

[child of Lilith]

Hope. The message the show conveys is hope. That as long as you are alive there is always the chance things could get better, you just have to try and reach for it.

[backseatjesus]

Always monitor what your children watch.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Or is it that all life has no meaning, and we're better off LCL?

The TV series' conclusion kinda followed that message, or at least used LCL as a metaphor of honesty used to build relationships. Almost everything in the series before that was either a lie, or just hidden from other characters, whereas after Impact, everyone saw each others' true selves or potential.

We see an example of that when everyone can "see" Shinji for who he really is after Impact, then helping him to realize the control he has to become whoever wants to be, simply by working at it.

EoE I think followed a slightly different message. Even though everyone could option back from the LCL to Humanity again, it still had a message of using honesty to build relationships. Instead of having Impact force us into that, it instead suggested that each individual needs to build the intestinal fortitude to be honest despite the walls, or "AT Fields" others put up.

An example of that is Asuka's Mind Rape episode Don't Be, where she' mentally screaming at Shinji, "Why are you here? You don't care about me! You don't even hold me!" (paraphrased english dub). Then after Impact in EoE, and we see Shinji and Asuka outside of the LCL, she finally breaks out from behind her "AT Field" and literally reach out to Shinji, touching his cheek. After which, Shinji breaks from his "AT Field", stops choking her, and begins to cry. Again, this is all despite all of the "skeletons" being ripped out of the "closet". We know this because Asuka responds to all of the things she might have seen during Impact (his "little jerk-off fantasies"), and replies "How disgusting."

[NemZ]

Series -- break out of your shell
EoE -- if you just curl up in a ball, don't be surprised if your world goes to shit around you

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[Teague]

When God gives you lemons you FIND A NEW GOD!!!!

[LiLi]

The series... You have the right to be here, just because you are - you don't have to deserve a place in the world through deeds and approval.

[VoidEater]

Life is a story you're telling yourself -Spanbauer

[Sailor Star Dust]

EoTV: Take care of yourself.

EoE: I need you.

The episode titles for each take of the final (TV series and the film) sum up my personal views of the series as a whole nicely actually. And the titles make sense considering caring for yourself SHOULD come before caring for others.

Also of interest is the fact we see episode titles flash across the screen from episode 01 ("Angel Attack") to episode 26 ("The Beast that shouted love at the heart of the world"), "Death", then "Air" during the Komm Susser Tod sequence.

[carla]

life sucks. shit happens. you're screwed anyway.

but no, really, to me it was something along the lines of "pain lets you know you're alive. deal with it." or, with a slightly more hopeful edge: "you have to go through suffering in order to achieve happiness."

to be honest, though, EVA, as amazing as it is, always seemed to me like it was more of an "ok, look here: THIS IS WRONG. do NOT do this" kind of series rather than a "listen, here's how you should act..." one. the actual message was in a negative sense, and you sort of make your own positive from that. as in, it didn't teach me to break out of my shell; instead, it showed me i am inside a shell. i take whatever i want from that, then.

[AuraTwilight]

The moral of the entire story?

"Dude, she's like in a coma!"

[Eva Yojimbo]

I think that this is the great thing about Eva, it doesn't really have an ultimate message. Not to use any senior english class cliche's or anything, but it really is the question minus the answer, and it's up to the audience to figure it out for themselves.

This is the best answer, methinks. NGE doesn't really peddle a message. I think that's one thing that confuses and frustrates so many people. NGE is an expression of an experience, not a dime-store, Dr. Philian didactic work. It's part of what makes it so rich, ambiguous, and open to interpretation.

That said, I do think there's a definitely "hope" element in it. But I'm reminded of what was said in the commentary of Children of Men that hope can only exist when life is at its shittiest; otherwise, we have no need for hope. That's why the final scene of EoE is so brilliant, because the "hope" it gives us in Asuka's caress doesn't erase the oppressive pessimism of the scene; it just gives us a glimmer of light that there's a possibility of things being alright eventually.