Rebuild: Controversial? [Split]

[The Killer of Heroes]

[Split from here. - Monk]

And Anno no longer seems to care for controversy.

I'd be surprised if Anno didn't think the timeskip would be anything BUT controversial.

[SEELE-01]

^

Of course he knew...
He didn't cared...

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

The time skip is the only thing about Eva that can be controversial when the restrictions were lifted for the entire NME series. NGE was "more controversial" by comparison, but only because it was contending with broadcast-friendly restrictions and censorship. People were asking "Can they do that in this show?" when scenes of partial nudity, prominent sexual tension, and garish violence presented themselves in NGE only because of the show's time slot, and not strictly because there were scenes of partial nudity, prominent sexual tension, or garish violence.

But if you make 4 movies that are free from any broadcast restrictions placed upon it, the question of "Can they do that in this movie?" isn't as shocking as it was with the show. The answer is "Of course they can do that; they're not playing back-to-back with the Ninja Turtles anymore. They can do anything they want." There are still scenes in NME where partial nudity, prominent sexual tension, and garish violence present themselves to the viewer, but it isn't as shocking only because it's not on TV when 6-year-olds are watching.

[peripateia]

[peripateia's first sentence here refers to conversation that was going on before the split. See the parent thread for better context. - Monk]

I realize that not every rebuild film can be produced in a year, or even 2 years, like EoE (especially if every rebuild film follows an apocalyptic theme..even apocalypses get boring after a while). I disagree on the comments regarding the controversy of Rebuild: I don't think it's controversial in the slightest! Partial/full nudity, Shogouki going nuts on Bardiel and Zeruel, and Kaworu's decapitation aren't shocking in the slightest to me.

Controversy in EoE (IMO) is the shock of Anno's subversive, damning message to his audiences, most of whom are anime fans. By placing a POV shot of Shinji's jerk-off in front of Asuka's breasts, he places viewers into the shoes of an autistic, suicidal pervert. He puts an entire live-action sequence to rudely interrupt the continuity of the film and to accuse the audience of using the film to escape from reality (also by associating the audience with Shinji: Rei's dialogue with Shinji is also a direct message to the audience). Shinji's problems are the problems of Anno's Japan: the 'protagonist' is a sick boy in need of an 'awakening' into reality. This is the kind of controversy Anno has thus far refused to give to his recent audiences.

Before I get flamed, let me just say that NGE and EoE are wonderful not because of controversy per se, but because they inspire conflicting interpretations. I haven't been able to appreciate this quality in rebuild yet, but that's another matter altogether.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Well, even with the original show EoE was the only aspect that was damning to Shinji, as the girl he couldn't choke told him how disgusting he was. EoTV was a bit more uplifting, with Shinji joyfully exclaiming to the world "I can live is this world!" and everyone applauded. In that sense it's not fair to take EoE's message and project it in the broadest general terms onto EoTV.

Also, in that case, NME could take either the uplifting ending from EoTV or the damning ending from EoE and still "stay true" to the original "controversy" of the TV series. (And, again, the only "controversy" about EoTV was purely in the aesthetics of how abstract the ending felt. You don't get any hard narrative controversy until Anno shifts tones for the EoE ending.)

[Monk Ed]

Tangent about possible staff rebellion causing NME to diverge from NGE went here. In the off chance the tangent-spawning post really is relevant to this topic in a significant way I've reproduced it below:

It's worth noting that towards the end of the 2.0 production, the staff were almost in open rebellion demanding that the script introduce new material. I think that the time skip had more to do with Khara being bored recreating the original series.

...But, anyone looking to comment on that topic specifically should do so in the split-off thread.