Why does The End of Evangelion make me cry every time?

[Dataprime]

Outside of Grave of the Fireflies
I don't I ever been so emotionally attached to a film.
While the TV series does tear me up at times it just doesn't "shake me to the core"
as much as The End of Evangelion did.
A very powerful movie indeed.

I guess the purpose of this thread
is to talk about why/how the movie impacted you


Below is a screenshot of one of my favorite scenes:

[ChaddyManPrime]

^
That scene makes me cry too It's the hope that's seen then snatched away. I personally feel that that was the only way Misato could show her feelings for him.

What made me cry the most was just seeing how badly damaged everyone is.

The movie is entirely bleak until the very end and then just when we see hope at the end of the horribly dark tunnel, he ends the movie.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Thread can’t continue without the appropriate feels.

That scene really shows how messed up all of the characters are, and how they try to find hope or peace either through or within how messed up they are. Misato officially abandons her role as Shinji's sergeant mother, sensually teasing him as though that’s the proper way to motivate a boy who you adopted as a family member.

And that is her dying act.

[Mr. Tines]

It's over ten years since I watched it last -- maybe I should watch it again.

Most of the time I was feeling too emotionally bludgeoned to be anything other than numb, apart from the flashes of disgust at Shinji's behaviour; but at the same time analyzing furiously, amongst other things, to match it against the TV ending.

[C.A.P.]

Because Anno pretty much put what was left of his otaku soul into it.

[The Eva Monkey]

It's over ten years since I watched it last

If that's true Tines, then it means the span of time since you last watched The End of Evangelion is not only greater than the current lifespan of Eva Geeks, but possibly greater than these forums and the commentary project. You should rectify that immediately.

[EvangelionGodMode]

Anno made the characters so realistic and believable that when they die its almost like losing someone in real life. Anno said before he NGE that he wanted to make a series which had soul and think he did a pretty good job at that. I agree there isn't many things today that make me tear up today, but Evangelion can it just has that touch.

[Princess Asuka]

Anno made the characters so realistic and believable that when they die its almost like losing someone in real life. Anno said before he NGE that he wanted to make a series which had soul and think he did a pretty good job at that. I agree there isn't many things today that make me tear up today, but Evangelion can it just has that touch.

Eva really does feel like real life. Especially when you such well written characters that anyone can relate too. If it weren't for the characters I would've stopped watching.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

EoE is a powerful film, practically built to evoke feelings within. It was also nice to discover it after believing that there was no more Eva after 25 and 26.

[Dataprime]

Eva really does feel like real life. Especially when you such well written characters that anyone can relate too.

There's a reason for that in fact. The characters are based off parts Anno inner-self
& what he was going thur at the time.


He pored all of his emotions into the series and the film
The end result is nothing short of amazing!

[Guy Nacks]

It's over ten years since I watched it last.

I can understand not watching it for a couple years or so in order to not overplay it (The last time I watched it was after marathoning the series with a friend back in '11) but a decade?

[Ray]

It IS a horribly sad and heart wrenching film to watch. . .

[AngelNo13Bardiel]

It does because it is built, designed and shaped to evoke as many possible emotions as it can.

It can be beautiful to behold, emotionally soothing and shattering, hopeful and hopeless, revelatory and just as equally cryptic...and it all ends on just an ambiguous enough note to leave you questioning many things, including much of what you just saw. It shakes your perceptions of characters you thought you understood to some degree, and that's not an easy thing to stomach if you've become attached to such fictional-yet-realistic people.

If Anno's intent was indeed to craft something with soul at its core (maybe, as C.A.P. said, what was left of his otaku soul), he succeeded admirably.

And Tines: Really? Ten years? Dude...that has to be fixed ASAP.

[Chuckman]

Notice how Shinji has Misato's blood in his mouth after the kiss.

That's the key to understanding EoE, especially the ending. Shinji does not stop strangling Asuka as a reaction to her compassionate touch. He understands that until more humans appear, he must keep her alive as a source of food. As a result of consuming Misato's blood he has been cursed with undeath as nosferatu.

[ElMariachi]

^
Genius.

[Stillborn]

I would applaud this if I didn't played Lord of Shadows 1 and 2 recently, whitch killed my interests for vampires for some time. :(

[ElMariachi]

^
Why? Okay the second wasn't as good as the first, but both were still rather good.

[Stillborn]

I wouldn't call them awful but I din't enjoyed them as much as original Castlevanias. This is discussion I would like to continue but I don't want to derail thread.

[StarShaper7]

There's no other anime quite like EoE. Everything from the (Japanese) voice acting to the minute animation details, it set a pretty high standard for all anime I watched after it. The emotional impact is amplified by the sheer scale at which the drama plays out, and it all feels so right. The world and humanity's end, that is. It's not just through some random asteroid impact or humans destroying themselves with WMDs or anything high concept like that. It's the inner turmoil of a human being that ends the world.

The emotional effect wasn't quite strong until my second viewing. The second time around I was in a state where I could relate even more to the characters of Eva, especially Shinji. I would actually say Eva helped me through that period of my life, as it gave me something to hold on to. They spoke words to me that I understood and shared but couldn't speak of to other people. No other fictional work really gets me that emotionally attached to the characters and their world.

Also, is that screenshot adjusted? I compared it to the video file I have and the screenshot looks a little bit more polished and the lighting seems slightly different. Is it from a DVD? I don't think there's a Bluray, but there should be for both NGE and EoE.

[Mr. Tines]

If that's true Tines, then it means the span of time since you last watched The End of Evangelion is ...

but a decade?

Ten years? Dude...that has to be fixed ASAP.

It was some time in March '04 -- having finished the last of the series DVDs, I went on to the movie, expecting to get the details of process left hanging by the abstract fait accompli of the TV end. After watching it twice on consecutive days and having the "What the fuck did I just watch?" (and no, the ending didn't get any better the second time), I put it aside so as not to blunt the effect from repeated exposure. Then after a few years, that turned to being reasonably sure that over-exposure via analysis would have had the same effect -- indeed watching the series again just after Q came out, I could tell from that, there was no crossing the same river twice.

I don't want it not to hurt to watch, but fear I'll just sit back, completely detached, thinking about how I reacted to it first time around rather than actually reacting, much as I did with the series.