Silly stories of getting your friends into Eva...

[FrDougal9000]

One of the more popular threads on Evageeks is about how YOU got into Evangelion but an interesting question to ask is this: how did you get your friends into Evangelion? What were their reactions? Any amusing stories or escapades come out from it? Whatever happened is a tale that shall go down in history!

...And by history, I mean this forum thread. This thread is meant purely for a laugh but if you have any poignant stories, they can go here as well! (In which case, the thread name might be inaccurate but all the same...)

Since I'm starting off this crazy thread, I may as well kick things off with my own silly story of getting a couple of friends into NGE.

It was about a year and a bit ago; I'd been an Eva fan for about nine months by that point and I'd finally started talking about it with the guys at school. One friend in particular was very fascinated by the mythology of the series (mainly that concerning the Angels) and after a number of discussions, I finally managed to convince him to watch one of the episodes. Which one, you may ask?

Episode 9: BOTH OF YOU, DANCE LIKE YOU WANT TO WIN!

I realize that might've been a terrible idea but that was the first episode I ever watched of Eva and I got into it just fine, so I figured that nothing would go wrong in showing that to the curious friend. So, he sat down with another friend that he'd somehow managed to drag along into things and the both of them watched Episode 9 (the dubbed version, incidentally). The reaction was...interesting, to say the least.

They recorded a commentary over Skype and sent the audio to me to give a look at (I'm sure I meshed it up with a video and placed it on YT months ago but I'm not sure where it's gone); and some of the observations they had very amusing/interesting/even prophetic. Here's a few of them for the curious:

SPOILER: Show

-Both of them were repeatedly baffled by the huge gap in technology (To quote one of them "You have floppy disks at one end and then you have futuristic stuff like Blade Runner at the other end")
-The first friend joked that the whole Kaji/Misato elevator issue would eventually be resolved in Episode 15 (which it sort of was?)
-Upon witnessing the Evas being found upside down, they joked that crazy stuff like this happens when farmers try to make their own mechs (Makes me wonder what SEELE had to go through to make the MP Evas all of a sudden?
-They both made fun of Asuka's dub voice and how ridiculous it was (in fact, we tend to make jokes about Tiffany Grant for fun these days because of that)
-The friend who got dragged along realized that Kaji was in fact Shaggy from Scooby-Doo all along and sarcastically joked that the high-school drama was the real focus of the plot, not the mecha action or anything like that

Since then, the first friend's become rather invested in Eva, though only to a casual degree, while the unwilling viewer has wanted nothing to do with it since. Though that's probably for the better since I like to offer he watch Episode 10 regularly and bring along the DVDs to any movie marathon we're having specifically to annoy him.

Well, that's my crazy story and now, I'll leave it to the rest of you guys to come up with interesting tales of showing Eva to your friends! Have fun!

[Eliaskar]

Well, I suppose I have a relevant story.

My best friend first got me into Evangelion about 3-4 years ago, he has been a big fan since his childhood so he was eager to get me into liking it at the time, the same goes for our other best friend. At the time, I was starting to get into anime in general so I was interested in watching it due to all the stuff I had heard about it.

And so he introduced me to it through Evangelion 1.11, which at first I... did not have a good reaction to. I did not like Shinji at all (which is funny since i'm now a big defender of Shinji) and was severely confused as to what the hell was going on. I didn't like it that much at all, until later on I watched the entire original series online and if I remember correctly, I enjoyed it but was very confused still.

It wasn't until later rewatches that I started to love it and then I watched 2.22 when it came out and I started to go full on EvaGeek about the series.

[Melchior]

Out of four people I've introduced the series to, I've struck out on most occasions.

The first friend, is a huge Godzilla fan (and anime fan in general). I assumed that he'd be into the giant robot/monster concepts, and eat it right up. He's never completed the series, and never given me any indication why. Perhaps he couldn't connect to the characters, or assumed it was a sub-par giant robot anime (despite my trying to convince him that they weren't giant robots). Strike one.

The second friend, also big into anime, was just so confused by the plot... which is odd, because I consider him to be rather sharp when it comes to plot points and "twists". After showing him EoE, he became an empty shell, and prefers to distance himself from it. I've still gotten him to watch the Rebuild subtitles - the lights are on, but no one's home.

The third friend, has watched all the material I could throw at him, but seemingly gained nothing from them.

However, as a success story, my girlfriend seemed rather interested in it. Though I've had to explain some of the deeper theories/concepts, she's still conscious and ready for more.

As a plus, every time I've had a friend watch it, I've rewatched it too - so it makes for about 8 sequential playthroughs.

[ElMariachi]

Well, I will repost how I got my sister into Evangelion : it was a "trade" between us, she tries Eva and in turn, I try Attack on Titan so she could have someone to talk to about it.


So first I gave her the whole series and EoE and let her see the episodes at her rhythm alone in her room. I told her I wouldn't explain anything until she finished the series, because you have to see it entirely to make a sense of it.
Then once she finished EoE, I explained everything she didn't understood, and added some background like the FAR, 'cause I love playing the Teacher!

Then we saw Rebuild 1.0 and 2.0 together, only one movie per day, to let her assimilate each movie, compare it with NGE and make her own theories on what happened and what will happen...

Then after one week, we saw together 3.0...
Her dumbounded look when she realized that Asuka wasn't in space to destroy Arael but to retrieve a giant box where EVA-01 and Shinji are revealed to be imprisoned was delicious, her face of shock when Sakura presented herself and Asuka told him that 14 years have passed instead of the single month in NGE was pure awesome!

... I'm a bad man, I know, but that was the only way I found to motivate me to see this depressing movie again, now I hold out by making theories that Shinji isn't responsible for the destruction of the world and that WILLE wanted to punish him for something else...

I'm weak.

And I regret nothing


Since then she's casually interested in the series, but not obsessed like me. Which remembers me that she said that she would like to try Madoka...

[Gorbatschow]

All my friends knew EVA before I did (never really thought about it though; their interpretation of the ending was something like "He's fucked in the head, dude", I'm proud of them), but I got my brother into EVA when he was about 9. I am gruesome, I know. He didn't talk to me for about 3 weeks after watching the whole show and EoE in about 3 days.

Now he loves me for getting him to watch this piece of art and getting him into art thematizing psychology and philosophy in a subtle way in general. (And he read tons of books about Social constructionism, since it's the overall plot device of the character/psycho-layer | quite unlikely for a 13 years old.)

[Giji Shinka]

Well, today I convinced one of my friends to see NME with me.

What did I tell him? I said that the 3rd film will have psychological mindfuck and that there is a message from the director, to us, fans.

He was pretty exited about the whole thing. It's best that you're honest.

[Kid]

I decided to have an anime weekend awhile back and my dad walked in during 2.22 and saw Mari.
That's pretty much all there is to it. He likes anything with a badass spy girl or badass witch, burglar, fairy, etc etc. He's convinced Mari is a double-agent (triple agent?) who is working with Kaji to destroy all of the Evas. Unfortunately he wasn't very enthusiastic when I showed him the rest of the series since he just wanted to figure out what happened with her.

I guess the master plan to insert Mari to pander to other demographics worked!

[AngelNo13Bardiel]

I've only tried twice to convert people to Evangelion.

The first time was a very good friend of mine, I think it was either 2004 or 2005. He liked it, but didn't take to it like I did. And, as far as I know, he's not seen Rebuild yet.

The second was my girlfriend Ash, right around January 2012. Results were...interesting, to say the least (as I documented here). She appreciates it more like I do, right to the point of becoming my regular pre-reader/collaborator and even co-writer (on my two most recent one-shots).

[Chainsaw Owl]

On only one occasion have I ever introduced a friend to NGE. I remember it vividly because it happened on New Year's Eve, just before 2012. We were both still under 21, so naturally, we were at the most alcoholic points in our lives.

After a rowdy evening of sipping whiskey straight out the bottle (something I can no longer do without vomiting) and shooting bottle rockets at each other, we retreated to his room, where we began watching AMVs, as was our custom. At one point, I showed him one of my favorite Evangelion AMVs, which featured the song "Quiet Place" by In Flames.

Well, he got a huge kick out of it, so we dropped our regularly scheduled DBZ marathon and proceeded to watch through the first four episodes of NGE. He seemed greatly taken with it, but after that night we never spoke of NGE again. I don't believe his enthusiasm was faked, though it's possible the alcohol merely padded his enjoyment. I suspect his plate was just so full that he never got around to watching the rest.

I'll have to mention it the next time I see him, though I doubt he'll have much time for it, what with him about to become a daddy and all.

[heavytread]

Showed the fight between eva 01 and zurel to my cousins age 8 and 5 their reactions dead silent for at least two minutes, then the older says "What's this show called?"

My.aunt was made at me for a few days after they watch some episode they just said unit 01 fought a wired blue thing.

[MisatoCrush]

I got my brother into EVA when he was about 9. I am gruesome, I know. He didn't talk to me for about 3 weeks after watching the whole show and EoE in about 3 days.

Hilarious! Were you trying to talk to him but he refused?

Also someone shared about their cousins age about 5 and 8. They were silent for 2 minutes.
'What's this show called again?'

Funny stuff

[SEELE-01]

I'm taking my boyfriend to see all 3 RoE films to cinema next month
One-after-another!
Over 5 hours of uninterrupted mindf*ck!

He has never had any contact with Eva besides seeing my figure collection, so it will be a perfect chance for seeing firsthand someone being introduced to Eva through Rebuild...
Let's see if it is more readily accessible than NGE (though we may already know what may happen)

[MisatoCrush]

You should setup a video camera to capture his reactions.

Also, are you concerned that showing him Rebuild before the originals will sully his experience?

[SEELE-01]

Not at all... I meant that it will be a nice chance to asses if RoE is indeed easier to take in from zero than NGE...

[Stratomeister]

I remember introducing my brother to Evangelion, and to anime as well in the process. Maybe this was a bit of a violent introduction for him... Eh oh well, not my problem.

He was thoroughly surprised at the end of episode 2 when Eva-01 cranial plating fell off and revealed that the robot, well, wasn't exactly a robot.

He pretty much mirrored my initial reactions through the series like, "Why do Jet Alone's arms look like limp noodles?", "Damn, Asuka is hot! And she kicks ass!", "Eva-03 looks pretty badass, oh.. wait...", "What the hell!? Rei is clone!?".

For some reason he thought it was absolutely hilarious when Rei I called Naoko Akagi an old hag. I dunno, I though that scene was terrifying and just felt, wrong.

I guess it's all justified, because he finds this picture absolutely terrifying, and I can wave this in front of his face whenever he wakes and scare the shit out of him.

[/spoiler]Dammit! I can't find it, but it's that weird crayon thing that pops up in episode 22 and in EoE.[spoiler]

[Kendrix]

Hm. I tried introducing my siblins (except the 5 year old, obviously) , one of my cousins, and there was an incident where my sister decided we'd marathon stuff with one of her friends, allthough we only got to the REbuild movies and then ep 7, I presume she watched the rest on her own by now, my sister would've bugged her that much. Incidentally, she said her fav char was Shinji. Right asfter Q (which we still witnessed in camrip form)

Reactions:

Specimen A, my brother:
Apparently, I annoyed him so much about watching EVA that he said he'll never do it. That, and the bad rep poor Shinji gets on the net. My brother apparently knows about THAT scene from popcultural osmosis, and presumably not much more.

Specimen B, little sister no 1:
Saw me watch 1.11 on our big TV, then got shanghaied by me into watching the classic series. No EoE, tho, I thought that was still too ketchupy for her at the time. (It was a while ago)
She did initially tell me that she liked it, but it later turned out that she was mostly being polite and that it wasn't really her thing, and she wasn't interested in EoE, either.

She did, however, witness Q along with Isabel and her friend.

Does remember enough to provide a snarky explanation about who this "glorious Miss Ayanami" was that I was ocassionally gushing about, mostly with...

Specimen C, little sister no 2:
...who now owns more Rei figurines than I do, which isn't saying much due to the permanently out-of-cash nature of my life. I make a point to smooch her Rei figure whenever I enter her room, mostly to annoy her. She also has an Asuka, A Mari and a tiny EVA 01.
Full success here.

She markedly saw every plot twist in Q coming from 20 miles away.
Rei Q says three sentences.
Isabel: "Shit. That's afresh clone, isn't it? Not again!"
Shinji: "...Although this is the geofront, you can see the sky?"
Isabel: "Yes, because you blew it up."
(She didn't expect the *whole biosphere* to be gone, tho, she thought it was just Japan. Isabel: "Whoa! Poor bastard! I know he didn't know shit and can't be blamed and stuff, but he really blew it this time! lol. ")

Kaworu: *takes DSS choker*
Isabel: Why is he doing that?
Me: This thing is supposed to blow Shinji up to prevent the EVa awakening in case he goes into a heightened emotional state. Kaworu wants to take that risk for him. Since he's proposing this plan, he wants to shoulder the risk himself.
Isabel: But that's useless! If Kaworu explodes, Shinji will still be in there, and he'll obviously be in a heightened emotional state!
Me: Uh, keep watching...

For some reason, she found the clone thing being outright stated much "worse" than just having it very heavily implied, but I don't think it actually changed her shipping prefference. She likes fucked-up things. and imediately kept going on how the protagonist of D-gray man went through similar brainmelting situations of extreme guilt as poor Shinji, with her expression somewhere between entertainedly excited and fiendishly delighted. She basically had a real blast watching the movie...

Specimen D, my cousin:

Classic Series and EoE, didn't get to the Rebuilds, dunno if she watched them since. Q wasn't out yet at the time. She liked it, but kept going on about how Asuka was totally nuts.
*mindrape happens*
Erika: I see, crazy supreme...
She had been an anime fan for longer and heard of EVa existing, she had even seen pics of "that red-headed chick", and to a lesser degree of Rei. She said she liked Asuka's character design more when it was just pics, but that quickly turned when she saw what their personalities were like.
I'm not sure who her favorite was anymore, I think Misato.

There was notably a moment during ep 12 and Misato's instire backstory explanation that she got very transfixed on the screen, if not slightly teary-eyed.
Her own parents are divorced and it's so bad that she is waiting to finish her schooling (for which she still needs his cash and ocassional place to stay in Spain, because my aunt was basically working herself to death on a slave wage until she had to retire early for health related reasons, thank you very much, economic crisis. My mom basically sent them her entire salary for a while so they wouldn't starve.) to get rid of his last name, and totally hates that she still needs to rely on him in any way/get "indebted" to him.


Specimens E and F, my parents:
Stuck around when I borrowed our huge Tv to watch 1.11 in all its HD glory.

Mom: For some Reason expected Rei to kick the bucket at any given moment. Commented on the hedgehod dilema part that she guessed I also felt that way at times and hugged me.

She also got quite pissed when she saw gendo being all nice to Rei despite how he treats Shinji. Something about that really set her off.

Basically saw the appeal, but then politely indicated that it wasn't really her thing and wasn't interested in seeing the second part. I didn't force the issue - that she took it seriously is more than enough for me.

Provider of the other 23 chromosomes: Expecting a King Claudius type reaction à la "See, neglecting your kids and treating them harshly HURTS them" might have been too much, but if I tell him thast this is my favorite show ever that hugely inspired me, the least he could do is not make fun of it.

Of course, there was one wise crackinjg remark after the other.
Mostly about how ridiculous it was than an non-believer would be watching a show where something called "Evangelion" is the only hope of humanity.
DFespite me explaining the pointless symbolism thing beforehand so no one gets offended.
But nothing could ever shake his belief that Europe (specifically, nothern Spain) is the center of the universe




It does a bit surprise me how nearly everyone I could convince into watching turned out to dislike Asuka and like Rei. mean, I agree, but I don't want it to be anything i'm doing....

My most frequent line as co-watcher probably was, in response to a variation of, "WTf happened", to say: "This will still be resolved in the end/later in the episode/movie, just keep watching. If it's not explained, you're probably *supposed* to be confused, if you still have questions at the end, I'll try my best to answer them."

[MisatoCrush]

Ah, thanks for sharing Kendrix!
I'm glad your mom gave you a hug.
I'm sure we're all sending you e-hugs if we could.
From this distance our hedgehog needles won't hurt.

And hey! Stop kissing your sister's Reis! ^^

[AngelNo13Bardiel]

^ I'm a bit on the fence about whether or not to call that activity "weird" or "potentially awesome".
Still not even close to the oddest thing I've seen a fan do with a Rei figure, trust me on that.

Either way, good stories Ken.

[Black Swordsman]

I've managed to get one friend into it as deeply as me and the other has just started.

For the first friend, been friends with him for ages. I started watching Gundam ages ago and got him to watch Gundam 00 a while back, probably the first anime he'd watched the whole way through. At this point he'd only watched Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (We play YGO) and Dragon Ball. So he watched that and loved it, now knowing that recommendations from me would be pretty good. So after I watched the Rebuild Films and the original series, I honestly wouldn't shut up about it and kept telling him to watch it. Eventually, a few months ago, he randomly messaged me saying that he'd started watching it. He was enjoying it so far but, like me, the fan service was a huge turn off. Alas, he braved through it and finally got to the end. After watching episodes 25 & 26 he messaged me saying that he needed a link to the EoE instantly I sent it to him and a while later he just messaged me saying, "...my head is so full of f*ck right now." To which I laughed at lots. We then argued if people turning into LCL looked more like tomato soup or orange juice. Not sure why.
He now loves Evangelion though, days are full of us making Eva jokes and laughing our asses of at them whilst everyone else looks confused. Good times We marathoned the 2 rebuild films at my house last month and he loved them as well, eagerly awaiting the 3rd film. We were just now discussing how annoying the release delay is...

Friend number 2 simply watched my Rebuild films as he wanted to understand the jokes and thought it sounded pretty interesting. He's only watched the first one so far and liked it, the second one he will watch soon hopefully. He may end up watching the original as well...if for our EoE jokes...

[Darkwing]

@ Kendrix little sister #2 sure seems to be a success. Since she was so on the ball watching Q, maybe we should see what she predicts for final. I predict that as a Shinji/Rei shipper my heart will be broken once again. Then again every Ship I like outside of Gundam X will be sunk, no matter how safe it seems.

Getting on topic...
I got my best friend into Eva way back in the 90's when ADV was first bringing it over. I did it by spending all of drivers ed that one of us wasn't driving telling him about the series. Though if I'd know about all the mind screw and how deppressing I'd find the ending. The two of us had many 2 hour phone calls trying to figure out WTF was going on in the end. Remember this is pre-internet and the movies hadn't been brought over, much less anything explaining the FAR.

Another friend I let borrow the entire series in exchange for him letting me borrow his Sega Saturn and Dragon Force.

And I had a friend who borrowed the series in collage and watched it while sick from Mono. He says it made it even trippier.