Chrad wrote:Years ago I remember someone saying, in a discussion about the way that Eva subverts expectations, that the conventional and expected way to wrap up the show would be that Shinji 'mans up', becomes a big hero, fights his dad in a mecha battle, and gets the girl. It's funny that that exact scenario has come to pass and people are happy about it. I'm not saying that this route can't be well executed and satisfying storytelling, but it's so counter to the spirit of what the original work was doing and what made it stand out. I hate that this is going to be seen by many as the 'true ending', as if the problem of Eva's risky and unconventional storytelling has finally been solved.
Co-sign to this and the rest of your post. To draw an analogy, the Elephant Man had closure in terms of resonating with its themes. It doesn't lack closure just because he doesn't get a hot babe at the end, transform into a completely different person, swear he'll never be sad again, and fix his abuser's secret inner traumas through a sit-down. I don't understand the notion that seems pretty widespread across the net that Eva having a happy ending and characters getting 'proper sendoffs at last' is some kind of intense relief and righting of wrongs, as if it's all that's mattered all along, believable sequencing of events and characterizations be damned. Eva's already had more optimistic takes on the ending (E26 & the manga) and those had more nuance anyway.