Motivations behind sexual themes in NGE

[glitz2hard]

So recently, I listened to NERVous Wreck, an Evangelion watch-through podcast with one person who had seen the show before and one person who hadn't. In Episode 2, they got into a bit of a debate over why Misato has multiple suggestive shots in the show. On the side of the guy who had seen the show before, he said it was probably there to represent how uncomfortable Shinji was, and not all of the content is bad. We know from EoE that sexual imagery plays a HUGE role in the series, at least in the last few episodes. But the other guy, who hadn't seen it before, also pointed out that it could be blatant oversexualization, especially early on, or some kind of marketing thing, potentially forced on by the studio. What do you guys think? Also, has our experience watching the show maybe blinded us to what, in some cases, might just be good ol' shonen hornyposting?
They also bring up some weird phrasing on Misato's part, including "Take advantage of anything here.", referring to the apartment. Is Misato supposed to be a sexually attractive person for viewers, and if shonen anime does let viewers use protagonists as a proxy for viewers, and Shinji rejects that by being a traumatized wuss, is Misato's sexual character playing off of that aspect of him not being a proxy?
also those camera angles

[kuribo-04]

It serves a narrative purpose, but is also just light pornography. I don't think that's wrong. The older I've gotten, the less I care. It isn't exactly a kid's show. And art should be free.

I wouldn't want young girls to watch it, since in the show pretty much all female characters have the same body type. But I don't think that means Eva is doing something bad.

[glitz2hard]

It serves a narrative purpose, but is also just light pornography. I don't think that's wrong. The older I've gotten, the less I care. It isn't exactly a kid's show. And art should be free.

I wouldn't want young girls to watch it, since in the show pretty much all female characters have the same body type. But I don't think that means Eva is doing something bad.

and you're talking about EXCLUSIVELY Misato, right?
right?!

[kuribo-04]

No, I think most of the characters are meant to be attractive, including the "teenagers". It's a little weird that the show does it, but I'm among the people that fail to see how these characters are in any way realistic portrayals of actual 14 year olds. People lose their shit over these drawings voiced by adults, meanwhile I lose mine over things like that "Cuties" Netflix film (shudder).

I understand though when someone thinks the fanservice is weird.

And obviously a lot of the sexual imagery is important narratively for those charcters as well. Most even.

[glitz2hard]

No, I think most of the characters are meant to be attractive, including the "teenagers". It's a little weird that the show does it, but I'm among the people that fail to see how these characters are in any way realistic portrayals of actual 14 year olds.
And obviously a lot of the sexual imagery is important narratively for those charcters as well. Most even.

Yeah, it's important, and OBVIOUSLY shit like the naked Rei scene is supposed to be more stressful than comedic or sexy, but approving of "light pornography" of 14 year-olds is different and not okay.

[kuribo-04]

approving of "light pornography" of 14 year-olds is different and not okay

Trust me, if Eva was sexualizing actual 14 year olds I'd be rioting.

[Zusuchan]

Sex and sexuality are pretty big themes in NGE in general, too. And I can only think of maybe two or three instances where the fanservice didn't have a narrative or thematic importance.

[C.T.1290]

No, I think most of the characters are meant to be attractive, including the "teenagers".

How is that even allowed? To make teenagers look attractive?

Not just in Evangelion, but in anime in general.

[kuribo-04]

How is that even allowed? To make teenagers look attractive?

Not just in Evangelion, but in anime in general.

They aren't making teenagers look attractive. It's fiction. None of it is real.
It's no different from erotic scenes between "teens" in live action movies where the actors are actually like in their 20s.

If there is a list of things that shouldn't be allowed, I don't know if anything anime does would even have any space on it.

I agree though that some things some anime do regarding this are very disgusting or inaproppiate. I don't think Eva is among these bad offenders though.

You could also go into why the characters in Eva or lots of anime are teens at all, and I think there's plenty of narrative reasons. One of the main ones being that school is a setting any audience will instantly understand and that allows wildly different characters to be together. I really think you could have done NGE mostly unchanged with the characters at university, but in the end the high school setting is just more romantic and nostalgic in people's memories I guess.

[Alaska Slim]

I really think you could have done NGE mostly unchanged with the characters at university, but in the end the high school setting is just more romantic and nostalgic in people's memories I guess.

Middle school in Eva's case.

And while I have no true Idea, impressions about it lead me to believe that universities in Japan tend to group people more selectively; after your 3rd year of high school you're on a track towards a niche that at the very least is categorized by either being one of the sciences or of the liberal arts.

High school 2nd year gets romanticized highly in anime as that's supposedly one of the few times before impending adulthood forces your peer group to shrink down to just those who are relevant to your career choice. Something that will continue once you enter the work force.

In short, the chances of Out-of-left-field figures appearing in your life (in Japan) goes down in university, so I don't think it's quite as interchangeable with High/middle school as it would be if this were set in the West.

[kuribo-04]

High school 2nd year gets romanticized highly in anime as that's supposedly one of the few times before impending adulthood forces your peer group to shrink down to just those who are relevant to your career choice. Something that will continue once you enter the work force.

It's pretty sad when you think about it. Though I don't think it's exclusive to Japan, maybe over there it happens earlier.

[Shinichir0]

It's simple fanservice. Anno Hideaki-san is an old guard otaku and fanservice is a big part of anime otaku culture. Some sexual imagery is thematically important, of course. Eros and Thanatos.