How young is too young to see NGE?

[MisatoCrush]

I'm 31 and seeing NGE tv and EoE wrecked me for a few days.
And some of the images are really graphic and unexpected.

I think if I'd seen this during my lonely coming of age phase (middle and high school) it would have nuked my brain.

In another thread 2 guys said their younger family members were shocked or stunned by NGE.

How young is too young?
I'd say 5th grade and younger is too young.
Kids aren't used to seeing the main characters get mind tortured or ripped apart.

[ApolloIVtv]

I think the youngest, most appropriate age for seeing NGE is around maybe 10-12 (depending on the kid), the usual age when kids are starting to become more "weary" of certain changes, but also start to comprehend more aspects of life and start to think more realistically.

Remember that the show is sort of this big allegory to "coming of age" or "the development of a man/woman", with small things like "your first school dance" sort of represented by the Israfel plot with Shinji and Asuka, or the "phallic shaped" Shamshel vs Shinji representing Shinji's battle with masculinity (which is a real theory, by the way), and was intended, during the show's run, to be seen by children of that age, or early teens, to give them an idea of the reality of life and the massive effect "change" has on it.

I actually encourage children of that age to watch NGE, because not only does is sort of "lead them", in a way, towards growth and adulthood, but also exposes them to new and different ways of story-telling, and encourages them to think for themselves about what the show is, rather than just give it to them (although that's probably asking a little too much for that age).

End of Eva though, I don't recommend anyone to watch that until maybe they're in High School or late Middle School, because that has waaayyy too much content. Not that I don't think they should see it, or EoE is this "evil and dirty" movie, I just think that's still too young for them to take in and comprehend what really goes on in that movie, as well as take seriously.

What I recommend is for kids at ages 10-12 to see NGE over a certain span of time, and not just in one sitting. Maybe an episode a day, a week, or maybe even twice or once a month, for them to take in the experience step by step, as they grow step by step. And once they're old enough, after a couple of years from seeing NGE, and be able to understand things more, comprehend more, and think for themselves more, to see End of Eva, and see what goes from there.

[Mr. Tines]

I'm 31 and seeing NGE tv and EoE wrecked me for a few days.

I was half as old again when I saw it, and it had the same effect on me. OTOH, I don't know if I would have cared so much or even gotten it if I'd seen it at, say, age 16. I certainly wouldn't have had all the baggage that I was carrying when I did see it (as a consequence of which my experience is in many ways atypical).

To get what is going on, I think you really have to have experience of some of what the characters are going through, which is more a function of circumstance than age alone. And there's the limit where it's pretty much impossible to explain to the prepubescent how sexuality can screw your brain over, even though a good portion of the psychological bits are aimed at different steps in development than that.

[Sgt. Griff]

Try 8, plebs.

Really any age, younger than 10 it's all just giant robots fighting.

[MisatoCrush]

Try 8, plebs.

Really any age, younger than 10 it's all just giant robots fighting.

Ah this is a really great point. Yeah if their only 4 they'll have no clue what's happening anyways.
Then it would just boil down to graphic images of violence or whatever, but that can be said about anything.

*******
So perhaps my question needs to be qualified as:
What's the youngest appropriate age to introduce NGE where they're old enough to understand what's happening beyond 'Mechas Fighting Cool!'?

[driftking18594]

I watched NGE, EoE and the first two Rebuild movies when I was 17 and that fucked me up for the whole year afterwards.

It didn't help that I was studying German at the time.

[AngelNo13Bardiel]

I found it at eighteen. I'm still not sure I was ready for it then. But it's a little late for that, now innit?

[Kendrix]

I was... 12, 13 ish? Not entirely sure, but I'M certain I was younger than the main characters at that time.


But I think I came across it (and Elfen LIed) exactly when I needed it in my life.



That's also something that hugely depends on the person, their relative degree of maturity and personality, how squeamish they are, how far they're capable to detach themselves from the screen, and what they like.

I see this a lot with my sisters. The second youngest is pretty much impossible to shock and more likely to react with dark humor than ontense emotion, the middle child... I wouldn't have shown her EoE before she was actually 16. (She didn't like EVA (series & first two Rebuilds) so much anyway. Phillistine! ;) )

And there's my mom who said she stopped watching CSI because she found it too scary/dark and will relate how scared she was of her first +12 movie and how she generally doesn't like straight up horror.

[Gorbatschow]

In my opinion it's really hard to specify an exact age, because your physical age is in many cases completely irrelevant to the "age" of your psyche. I know 12 years old who understood "Inland Empire" better than me. Also your state of mind is really important when it comes to "getting fucked by Anno"

But that's just the opinion of a guy who dislikes categorizations in general.
To make at least an assumption, there are probably different ages for the "disturbances-factor" of EVA:

0-8 Too young to get actually affect aside from liking big robots fighting monsters
9-12 I highly doubt that most people in this age-group can understand EVA, but maybe get slightly disturbed (Although IMO it's necessary to understand at least basic parts of the sub-text to get actually negatively affected)
13-? Probably the age where you start to be able to understand EVA and being affect by it. But most in people this group probably aren't interested in EVA for minor reasons (Looks old ; is an anime, therefore it's for kids)

[delispin25]

My cousin showed my nephew 1.11 when he was like 8, could have waited, but he's seen worse. He's really into old mecha anime, so my cousin showed it to him. For him it was just bad-ass robots killing shit, and boring people talking, which isn't surprising, since 8 year olds have the attention span of a gnat. I saw Rebuild I was like 15, then some time later in the summer I saw the original series. I was was able to understand it enough that it wasn't just about the mechs for me, but when I showed my friend who was the same age, he could care less about the characters and said they ruined an otherwise good mech series.

I really don't know when someone is too young to watch NGE, I think it's more about maturity. If you're an immature asshole, you probably won't understand, or maybe you won't care about the elements of NGE aside from the awesome fight scenes.

[hui43210]

he could care less about the characters and said they ruined an otherwise good mech series.

Whenever I see this line, I blow chunks.

[Dream]

To get what is going on, I think you really have to have experience of some of what the characters are going through, which is more a function of circumstance than age alone. And there's the limit where it's pretty much impossible to explain to the prepubescent how sexuality can screw your brain over, even though a good portion of the psychological bits are aimed at different steps in development than that.

Yeah, this is pretty much why i'm hesitant to give any specific age as the ideal one in which to watch NGE. It's not just about the degree of maturity and possibility of reception of the specific individual, but they also need to have gone throught certain things which not everyone personally experiences to fully take on NGE. And of course there are some stuff in eva that are pretty lite and then there are stuff which are absolutely nightmarish.

But if i *had* to give a general age: 12-14 for NGE and a few years older (maybe 15-16?) for EoE.

And there's my mom who said she stopped watching CSI because she found it too scary/dark and will relate how scared she was of her first +12 movie and how she generally doesn't like straight up horror.

[Washing Machine]

I inadvertently got my 6 year old sister into Evangelion after she stumbled upon me watching 2.22 one day. Something about it must have impressed her because she decided to sit down and watch through the whole thing with me (the movie wasn't far in when she started watching) and was even curious to know happened next. I ended up showing her the rest of rebuild and some more of the original series and she's been in love with it ever since.

Like delispin25 said, to the young'uns it's just badass robots fighting and boring people talking.

I think a better question would be "at what age will a person be able to understand and fully appreciate Evangelion?", and even then that's a pretty subjective thing to ask. In my opinion, as long as someone is able to enjoy watching Eva for what it is is all that matters. Analysing and understanding the layers of complexity within the show is just an added bonus :3

[Unit.Zed]

Too young? I would say anything under mid-teens (even though I was a little younger when I first saw it).
When it comes to basic appreciation; 12, 13 y/o is about right for some sort of relating with the characters and the themes of the story - on some level.
That's why I say 15, 16 is good for 1st impact, then from there, each repeated viewing opens new mind-doors.
At the end of the day, I get something new out of it every time I revisit it, all these years later - and I don't think I really started to understand the complex themes and gravity of it all until my mid-20s....

Everybody says how desensitized today's youth are due to the nature of our entertainment culture: I disagree. They're only like that (amongst other reasons) because they don't really understand it. Truly understand it. I think the general level of relating to other humans has decreased, due to our (1st world) culture. Leaving today's youth even less mentally developed than they would normally be.

So too young is probably under 14. I dunno....

[Aiko Heiwa]

No one is too young.

Show it to babbies.

[Kendrix]

Show it to babbies.

I'd love to supply some guinea pigs to science, but I fear little Jana doesn't have a long enough attention span to sit still through 20 minutes of mostly dialogue XD


(I should never be allowed to have babies)

[CJD]

little Jana

Wait, what?

[Kendrix]

Wait, what?

The youngest of my sisters.

[CJD]

Oh, phew. For a second I almost thought...

[heavytread]

I showed it to a 7 y/o and a 5y/o...

Was that wrong of me?

Although in all fairness they totally stabbed me in the back when they said the characters are boring [/s]