Anno vs. Otaku (critcism, self-reflection, etc)

[Bagheera]

To be fair to Kensuke, the way he pervs on girls is pretty normal for a teenage anime boy, and his interest in the Evas seems fairly innocent since he seems genuinely ignorant of the realities of their situation.

As for his military games being played by himself...subject matter aside, a lot of boys do similar things. I used to be really into LARPing. With or without friends.

I dunno, man. Selling nude pics is a cut above, and Rei's bandages and extended hospital stays were probably a clue that she had it pretty rough as a pilot. And with the military games . . . it was the camping out in the middle of nowhere that really got me there. I mean, if it's in your back yard sure, but Kensuke made an effort to get pretty isolated. That's pretty elaborate, y'know?

'Course, Shinji spends his off time lying on his bed, facing the wall no less, listening to the same set of tracks on his SDAT over . . . and over . . . and over again. I mean, he'll go with the flow if someone drags him out and forces him to socialize, but even so . . . yeah.

[pwhodges]

I dunno, man. Selling nude pics is a cut above,

Teenage boys and smut... It may not be quite usual, but it's hardly rare either, I suspect.

with the military games . . . it was the camping out in the middle of nowhere that really got me there. .... That's pretty elaborate, y'know?

Not at all; if you have a cadet corps to do it with, well and good, but if you don't you make do. That seemed entirely within bounds to me.

[Monk Ed]

Teenage boys and smut... It may not be quite usual, but it's hardly rare either, I suspect.

This one time in high school (not even junior high, high school) this guy who was well-known and popular showed me and other people around him "the booty book", a bound-together set of upskirt Polaroids he took of female students. I didn't even think anything criminal of it at the time, more like just a sort of rolling of my eyes and subsequent avoidance of the area.

I'm not saying it was okay, but I don't know if I'd say it was an alarming sign of a dark future for his personality.

[Chuckman]

They still have booty books, they call it 4chan now.

[AuraTwilight]

And with the military games . . . it was the camping out in the middle of nowhere that really got me there. I mean, if it's in your back yard sure, but Kensuke made an effort to get pretty isolated. That's pretty elaborate, y'know?

Man, do you have any idea how lame it is to go camping in your backyard when you're older than 7?

[Bagheera]

Man, do you have any idea how lame it is to go camping in your backyard when you're older than 7?

As a kid I think it's pretty lame to do it alone regardless. Once you're an adult and are doing it to get away from the everyday grind, yeah, but as a middle schooler? Nah.

But, that's just me. Others obviously feel differently.

[Ray]

Sorry for necroposting but there's a question I wanted to ask related to a Rumor I heard back when I was first researching Evangelion back around the time I saw 2.0.

Did Otaku actually commit suicide because of the series finale/NGE? I'm being serious in my asking here, I've heard rumors about it but I'm having a hard time finding anything concrete saying a definite yes, or definite no.

[The Cruel]

Sorry for necroposting but there's a question I wanted to ask related to a Rumor I heard back when I was first researching Evangelion back around the time I saw 2.0.

Did Otaku actually commit suicide because of the series finale/NGE? I'm being serious in my asking here, I've heard rumors about it but I'm having a hard time finding anything concrete saying a definite yes, or definite no.

What kind of question is that???!!! That would be weird when some people really committed suicide just because how NGE ended.

I tell you what I experienced after I watched NGE and EoE for the first time:

I was up until morning, couldn't sleep well for days, my first dream was that I found Asuka almost lifeless and dirty in a abandoned factory and I'm still thinking about whether I should write a Rebuild-Fanfic whose main character is a psychotic, cigar smoking, bosnian war criminal and merc who has a deep grudge against those who survived and committed 2nd Impact.

And no way I found the ending so bad that I would jump at the train.

Back to your Question: I don't know if this rumor is true. Sorry.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

People have blamed crimes that they have committed on Evangelion. But I've never heard of anyone writing a suicide note that said "Shinji thought it was okay to be here. Goodbye, cruel world!"

[Ray]

I heard about the rumor about it from a friend in high school, and remember reading an article about the suicide rate of Japan in the 90's due to the market collapse at around the same time . . . then when I first saw 1.0 and 2.0, I looked up some information about the series on the interwebs and came across an article on an old eva fansite. Said website apparently, no longer exists, or if it does I'm having a hard time finding it.

OF course what I do remember about the website was it also saying that the series production was messed up due to the Aum Shinryko gas bomb attack on a Japanese subway at the same time. So it could just be a whole lot of misinformation I'm accidentally passing off as fact.

I'm not asking because I'm trying to stir the crap-pot, I'm trying to verify the truth/falseness of a rumor I heard a looooong time ago. It's always been bugging me, but I didn't want to dreg up anything uncomfortable by asking about it if it DID turn out to be true.

I mean, it seems plausible given the controversy surrounding the series end and the depressing themes the series tackles!

Giant Robot anime is an Otaku's comfort zone, and when a series seems (at least at first glance) to attack/criticize insecure people for 'running away' from reality into that comfort zone. . . it seems plausible. Maybe not true, maybe a rumor, but it seems PLAUSIBLE.

[pwhodges]

Even if there had been such an event, it would surely have been a "last straw" kind of reaction rather than the root cause, and thus not actually the fault of either Eva or Anno. But I've not heard of it.

[Chuckman]

To be fair to Kensuke, the way he pervs on girls is pretty normal for a teenage anime boy, and his interest in the Evas seems fairly innocent since he seems genuinely ignorant of the realities of their situation.

Not genuinely, willfully. He's been in an Eva in combat, he knows what happens to the pilots and he prefers his fantasies, just like military otakus know the devices they fetishize are purpose built to kill and destroy and cloud their own minds with minutiae of engine power and ammunition capacity.

A powerful homage to Eva would be a show that focuses entirely on a Kensuke-like character while the giant robot shit happens in the background up until his best friend his maimed and he has to confront the realities of war.

It's interesting that Kensuke is almost totally insulated from the realities of the war- it's his friend's sister that's maimed, his friend who is nearly killed, not himself.

[Ray]

It's not like he doesn't try to understand the realities of war. He reached out to Shinji after Touji got maimed, it's not his fault Shinji's phone calls got screened by Nerv.

[pwhodges]

A powerful homage to Eva would be a show that focuses entirely on a Kensuke-like character while the giant robot shit happens in the background up until his best friend is maimed and he has to confront the realities of war.

It came first: Gundam 0080; War in the Pocket.

[Alaska Slim]

It's interesting that Kensuke is almost totally insulated from the realities of the war-

Well I do believe that his home was destroyed. He's not a combatant, but he is a refugee.

[Moap]

Frankly, nothing deserves backlash for being pretentious. It's become a useless word when discussing art. Nobody is qualified to judge an artist as having an inadequate mind to deal with the subjects they're trying to convey.

Thank you, this statement resonated with me.

[GAP]

Yes, I absolutely agree. This is a fundamental philosophical aspect that I too know all too well. I don't think neurology has progressed enough to prove this so for now I will have to say it is my opinion. If these words cannot approach respect that this is the true reality of some mentally sick people then we will have to agree to disagree LordThaeon.

I cannot argue this point.

[GAP]

I read a very interesting article on Anno give up on otaku, how 2ch used Anno's own words agianst him and how Anno essentially 'gives up' on otaku. I know many things are said but few are ture and it is especailly true when it comes to Evangelion but does Anno really hate otaku as much as everyone says he does?

[Bagheera]

He's critical of escapist otaku, basically neets. I don't think he has an issue with otaku who are fully functioning members of society, with work and social lives and everything.

[Reichu]

Anno is an otaku himself (check out Insufficient Direction by his wife Moyoco for an illustration of this), albeit one who has struggled with the notion of reconciling the otaku's reputation (as a disconnected recluse, etc.) with his own desire to be, well, better than that. I think most of the supposed anti-otaku commentary in his work is first and foremost self-directed, a way to resolve his own sense of conflict.

It's far from unprecedented, however, that some of this self-analysis and -critique would bleed out into his take on the world around him. I've noticed, for instance, that I have an especially critical eye toward deficits in others that I work hardest to overcome in myself. It's a complicated phenomenon and I suspect most of us exhibit some form of it.