End of Evangelion: This Is (Really) Disturbing

                                End of Evangelion: This Is (Really) Disturbing

                                                                by

                                                                    Jay Agan

      I have seen the future. Not even the children were spared! Well, two of them anyway. Fascist Femme & Wonder Wimp. After seeing End of Evangelion, I'm still trying to decide wether Hideaki Anno is one of animes' greatest creative geniuses or a stark raving nutjob. Probably both.

      I bought the two Rebuild movies (Evangelion 1.11: You Are {Not} Alone & Evangelion 2.22: You Can {Not} Advance.) back in May at Armagedicon 6 in Columbus, Ohio out of curiosity. I understood the original series, Neon Genesis Evangelion (AKA Diary of a {Very} Wimpy Kid) to be full of theological whackness thus my interest was piqued. I've always been curious over theological concepts & anime has its' share of renditions. Serial Experiments Lain is more than interesting & The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is flat out funny. But the Evangelion franchise ..... ?

      I originally steered clear of the franchise as I felt the "giant robot" sub-genre as overdone in general & the Human Instrumentality Project repelled me. The thought of the ultimate goal of the good guys being the destruction of mankind was a turn off. When I found that most of the protagonists had no knowledge of that & were being used as pawns in an orchestrated scenario/sick game by various factions of "do-gooders", I thought I'd give it a try.

      After viewing the first two Rebuild flicks & finding I couldn't wait for the other two (Evangelion 3.0: Q You Will {Not} Be Released & Evangelion 4.0: Your'e {Not} Going Anywhere Either, Buddy.), I had to find some temporary cloture, thus End of Evangelion. Yeah, some "missing chapters" & no Mari Makinami but what the hey, huh?

      End of Evangelion is a two chapter replacement for the last two (25 & 26) of the original series. The last two left a lot of fans cold & Anno made this later for theatrical release. Fandom wanted a Grand Finale & Anno gave it to them. Right ..... between ..... the ..... eyes.

      Is it a thoughtfully crafted study of the dark side of the human condition or a horrendously warped dementia of a trainwreck? It's up to the viewer to decide. I'm thinking it may be a thoughtfully crafted dementia of a trainwreck. It's either horribly wonderful or wonderfully horrible. I couldn't tear my eyes away from watching it & can't stop thinking about it. It made me question my salvation (Just kidding, but you get the idea.).

      The first scene is totally uncalled for. You'll know it when you see it, nuff said.

      "I'm so f----d up!"

      Yes Shinji. You certainly are. (Someone! Quick! Beat the snot out of him!)

      The government's gotten wise & is out to destroy NERV. Unfortunately they're playing into SEELEs' hands & are just as much dupes as are 99.99% of the NERV staff. They thought they were defending human existance from a quasi theological/ extraterrestrial menace ..... which to all appearances they were, but for the fact the war was a smokescreen for the eventual gathering of all human souls into a vast construct of collective nonentity, the end of conflict, pain & loneliness: Oblivious Nirvana wether you want it or not (Thanks a lot you well intentioned, homicidal humanitarians!). Caught between SEELE & Gendo, the military & NERV duke it out with NERV getting the worst of it. It's Terminate With Extreme Prejudice, including the kids in callous disregard.

      Axisgrrl (Asuka) is hidden away with her Eva unit & later forced to battle the JSSDF forces along with nine mass production Eva units (Which are later used as catalysts for Third Impact/  Instrumentality). She's outnumbered & "killed".

      After confrontation & death of Ritsuko, Gendo preps Rei for implementing instrumentality only to have her turn the tables on him. Not willing to be "used" by him she initiates the process on her own & merges with Lillith, the captive giant "angel" kept prisoner in the lower levels of NERV base.

      Through all this, Misato is busy prodding & kicking Wimpy Boy into action. She eventually dies in the attempt after "motivating" him in another way.

      "That was an adult kiss. We'll do the rest later."

      Whoa!

      Moving along, we're stuck inside Shinjis' head, a mass of montage & introspection as well as "S&M" with Asuka & whine, whine, WHINE! He finally explodes & tries to strangle her. Snapping out of his dream he then heads out in his Eva unit for battle only to end up as part of the festivities to follow: Third Impact, Instrumentality, the rapture on steroids & PCP.



Artists' rendition of the Lillith-Rei construct readying the Black Moon/egg
for the gathering of all human souls on Earth. Beutiful, if you don't think
too much about what it is.

      
      Interesting how Lillith-Rei breaks down resistance in gathering souls. She knows the desires of each & everyones' heart & resistance is futile. AT fields (The force holding soul & body together.) break down, bodies disolve to the primordial soup (LCL) & all the souls of humanity are gathered into the Black Moon/Lilliths' Egg. The Earth is covered in the entitys' spreading overwhelming AT field with cross like explosions accompanied by billions of individual pixie-ish screams of terror & cries of joyous delight. The end of all human existance. The beginning of ..... What?

      There's also some of the most "horrific" psychosexual imagery I've ever seen in an anime. Not meaning to take the Lords' name in vain, but ..... Oh ..... my ..... GOD!

      All this accompanied by Komm Susser Tod (Come Sweet Death), its' "Hey Jude"-like melody/beat enhancing (?) the surreal weirdness. A fun, happy call to suicide.

      Back in Shinjis' head, he's discussing the matter with Rei & later his mother (Whose soul is imbued in his Eva-unit.). He decides to reject instrumentality causing the deterioration of Lillith-Rei & the releasing of humanitys' souls.

      We're left finding Shinji on the sand with Asuka lying beside him, the gods blood stained ocean beating its tidal rythym on the shore. He decides to pick up for real from where he left off mentally & tries to choke the life out of her, but can't bring himself to finish it.

      I love happy endings, don't you? By the way. What happened to the penguin?

Hope you'll excuse the profanity (I didn't make this.). This pretty
much sums up the reaction of many who have seen End of
Evangelion.

      As I've sorta kinda hinted at, I'm not sure I like this flick or not. It's certainly compelling. The few friends I have will be more than happy to attest to the fact that I'm a disturbed individual. I certainly didn't need this. As it is, I'm now stuck with End of Evangelion in my head. I can only wonder what 4.0 will be like.

      I'll leave with the tender last bit of dialogue uttered by Asuka to Shinji before the credits roll:

      "How ..... Disgusting!"

      Ain't love grand?


                                     Article copyright © 8-12-2011 Jay Agan
      
     
      End of Evangelion Pt. 1 here.
     
      Third Impact English dub here. Lower quality picture.
     
      Third Impact with Japanese subtitles here.
     
      Komm Susser Tod/End of Evangelion "music video" here.

      Neon Genesis Evangelion: OOOOO! Goodies In The Mail! here.
     
      On the Rapture, Third Impact, Armageddon & All That here.
     
      Expert Predicts Third Impact to Hit May 21! here.     
     
      Evangelion 2.0: I Can (Not) Get Into This here.

      Go to Main Page here.

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