[QuickTidal]

Eva in a Nutshell: Anime from the 1990's called originally NEON GENESIS: EVANGELION (and now the subject of better Rebuild films as well) about a future earth where humans attempted to capture Adam (yes, THAT Adam) causing an apocalyptic event called the Second Impact...14 years later the remnants of humanity have banded together into corporations which run cities, and have crafted giant robots to be (neurally linked) and manipulated by young pilots (who were born after 2nd Impact), fending off wave after wave of attack by otherworldly giant creatures known as Angels, who are attempting to get to another being the Japanese have stored called Lilith (yes, THAT Lilith...as in Adam's first wife) deep below their stronghold in the earth. This union (should it ever happen) would bring about the fabled Third Impact and the destruction of all humanity in the process. The Eva's were designed to prevent this. All this written by a man (Hideaki Anno) who had just come out of a 4-year depression where he contemplated suicide...and was annoyed with the state of Anime.

That's a big oversimplification (because I don't want to list any spoilers)...but yes EVA is WELL worth the watch (though I'd recommend skipping the show and subsequent movies [known as Death & Rebirth and End Of Evangelion] to begin with and just watch the recent Rebuild movies (EVANGELION 1.0: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE and EVANGELION 2.0: YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE)...as they are basically the same story told in the show...but really are SO much more clear and better scripted...(there will be two more films, the 3rd of which just dropped in Japan)...but it's basically the biggest, ballsiest, most philosophical mind fuck anime about giant robots...written by a madman.

Recommended with my highest recco.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 17 December 2012 - 09:12 PM

[rhulad]

QuickTidal, on 17 December 2012 - 09:06 PM, said:

Eva in a Nutshell: Anime from the 1990's called originally NEON GENESIS: EVANGELION (and now the subject of better Rebuild films as well) about a future earth where humans attempted to capture Adam (yes, THAT Adam) causing an apocalyptic event called the Second Impact...14 years later the remnants of humanity have banded together into corporations which run cities, and have crafted giant robots to be (neurally linked) and manipulated by young pilots (who were born after 2nd Impact), fending off wave after wave of attack by otherworldly giant creatures known as Angels, who are attempting to get to another being the Japanese have stored called Lilith (yes, THAT Lilith...as in Adam's first wife) deep below their stronghold in the earth. This union (should it ever happen) would bring about the fabled Third Impact and the destruction of all humanity in the process. The Eva's were designed to prevent this. All this written by a man (Hideaki Anno) who had just come out of a 4-year depression where he contemplated suicide...and was annoyed with the state of Anime.

That's a big oversimplification (because I don't want to list any spoilers)...but yes EVA is WELL worth the watch (though I'd recommend skipping the show and subsequent movies [known as Death & Rebirth and End Of Evangelion] to begin with and just watch the recent Rebuild movies (EVANGELION 1.0: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE and EVANGELION 2.0: YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE)...as they are basically the same story told in the show...but really are SO much more clear and better scripted...(there will be two more films, the 3rd of which just dropped in Japan)...but it's basically the biggest, ballsiest, most philosophical mind fuck anime about giant robots...written by a madman.

Recommended with my highest recco.

Or just read the manga.

[Rake's Progress]

Since Eva was being discussed...I just had to share this Evangelion Parody. For those who love the series, you HAVE to watch it. It's freakin' hilarious. I was laughing so hard my ribs hurt. For those not familiar with Eva...perhaps save it until after you've watched the series and have become obsessive about it like the rest of us.

EvAbridged 1.0 This is (not) a Parody


Cheers!

[A Demon Llama!]

I once tried to watch the show but couldn't get passed a few episodes because of the annoying and weird Japanese schoolboy/schoolgirl and all the generic awkward Japanese stuff. Especially when ppls faces turn into weird ass ove rthe top cartoony expressions. Is that also present in the new movies? If not I might try it out if you guys say its good.

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

A Demon Llama!, on 02 February 2013 - 12:38 AM, said:

I once tried to watch the show but couldn't get passed a few episodes because of the annoying and weird Japanese schoolboy/schoolgirl and all the generic awkward Japanese stuff. Especially when ppls faces turn into weird ass ove rthe top cartoony expressions. Is that also present in the new movies? If not I might try it out if you guys say its good.

This bothers me in almost all anime. And is it just me, or is the dialogue in practically every anime very strange? I mean, either they talk WAY differently over in Japan (I'm not speaking about the language, but the often pointless and random content of the dialogue), or it's made strange on purpose. That being said, I've been on the verge of ordering the new Evangelion movies for quite a while now, as I think the animation looks fantastic. And there are giant robots.

And about Pacific Rim. Giant robots fighting giant monster(s?) = epic win. I will definitely shell out the $17-24 that it costs to go to the movies where I live. And yes, Sweden is damned expensive.

[Silencer]

Forkassal, on 07 February 2013 - 11:01 AM, said:

A Demon Llama!, on 02 February 2013 - 12:38 AM, said:

I once tried to watch the show but couldn't get passed a few episodes because of the annoying and weird Japanese schoolboy/schoolgirl and all the generic awkward Japanese stuff. Especially when ppls faces turn into weird ass ove rthe top cartoony expressions. Is that also present in the new movies? If not I might try it out if you guys say its good.

This bothers me in almost all anime. And is it just me, or is the dialogue in practically every anime very strange? I mean, either they talk WAY differently over in Japan (I'm not speaking about the language, but the often pointless and random content of the dialogue), or it's made strange on purpose. That being said, I've been on the verge of ordering the new Evangelion movies for quite a while now, as I think the animation looks fantastic. And there are giant robots.

And about Pacific Rim. Giant robots fighting giant monster(s?) = epic win. I will definitely shell out the $17-24 that it costs to go to the movies where I live. And yes, Sweden is damned expensive.

That depends on the anime, the translation, and your interpretation of "pointless and random".

For starters, you do have cultural differences. What's important to you is potentially quite meaningless to someone else; the idea of "saving face", or the difference between valuing the group over valuing the self, or the burning need to "be different", so on and so forth. Bearing in mind Japan is incredibly racially homogeneous (over 90% of its population are Japanese), a lot of the random existential dialogue/focus on seemingly pointless crap is actually quite serious introspection on, for example, the nature of one amongst millions.

SOME of the dialogue is fairly incomprehensible and (yes, probably deliberately) pointless, however. This stuff crops up a lot in mind-screw anime like Evangelion, less so in "slice of life" setups, for example. Eva especially has a lot of that stuff because of when and why it was written - it was somewhat (possibly) intended as a massive "take that" to the Otaku culture and at the same time a lot of Hideaki Anno's struggle with depression is evident in that series. It's fucked up, basically.

And then there are shows which indulge in things like seemingly innocuous, pointless, circular diatribes on nothing in particular just to be clever with their wordplay and so forth.


Long story short: I don't think you can take any anime as particularly indicative of life in Japan, in and of itself. But obviously any work is going to be influenced by the culture it was written in, so keeping that in mind should help explain some of the moderate mental disconnects you can have when watching anime. >.>


....OK, I'll shut up now. >.<

[QuickTidal]

Silencer pretty much nails it. The "pointless stuff" you talk about IS cultural and language...it's just more important for Japanese people than it is to Westerners. It's simply a mentality that you have to settle into if you are going to watch something as inherently Japanese as anime...let alone mind-fuck anime.

In this particular case though...with EVA...EVERYTHING has a point. You may not be able to see it yet, but every single solitary conversation and monologue in the story serves a purpose. Every one. It's part of how it's such a complete and total brain melting mind-fuck.

Par example: All of the seemingly innocuous or vacuous stuff that Misato says early on either has connotations to her past, the future, or Kaji (yes, even waxing stupidly about beer and ramen)...and all are integral to her specific pathway through the films and also to the overall narrative. The same is true when Ritsuko is blandly talking about the three computers (the wise men) in Central Dogma...it all serves a purpose.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 07 February 2013 - 12:09 PM

[Silencer]

Yeah, I probably should have separated out my Eva paragraph from the bit about pointless dialogue - woops. XD

[ForkassalOfTheInnerCircle]

Silencer, on 07 February 2013 - 11:53 AM, said:

Forkassal, on 07 February 2013 - 11:01 AM, said:

A Demon Llama!, on 02 February 2013 - 12:38 AM, said:

I once tried to watch the show but couldn't get passed a few episodes because of the annoying and weird Japanese schoolboy/schoolgirl and all the generic awkward Japanese stuff. Especially when ppls faces turn into weird ass ove rthe top cartoony expressions. Is that also present in the new movies? If not I might try it out if you guys say its good.

This bothers me in almost all anime. And is it just me, or is the dialogue in practically every anime very strange? I mean, either they talk WAY differently over in Japan (I'm not speaking about the language, but the often pointless and random content of the dialogue), or it's made strange on purpose. That being said, I've been on the verge of ordering the new Evangelion movies for quite a while now, as I think the animation looks fantastic. And there are giant robots.

And about Pacific Rim. Giant robots fighting giant monster(s?) = epic win. I will definitely shell out the $17-24 that it costs to go to the movies where I live. And yes, Sweden is damned expensive.

That depends on the anime, the translation, and your interpretation of "pointless and random".

For starters, you do have cultural differences. What's important to you is potentially quite meaningless to someone else; the idea of "saving face", or the difference between valuing the group over valuing the self, or the burning need to "be different", so on and so forth. Bearing in mind Japan is incredibly racially homogeneous (over 90% of its population are Japanese), a lot of the random existential dialogue/focus on seemingly pointless crap is actually quite serious introspection on, for example, the nature of one amongst millions.

SOME of the dialogue is fairly incomprehensible and (yes, probably deliberately) pointless, however. This stuff crops up a lot in mind-screw anime like Evangelion, less so in "slice of life" setups, for example. Eva especially has a lot of that stuff because of when and why it was written - it was somewhat (possibly) intended as a massive "take that" to the Otaku culture and at the same time a lot of Hideaki Anno's struggle with depression is evident in that series. It's fucked up, basically.

And then there are shows which indulge in things like seemingly innocuous, pointless, circular diatribes on nothing in particular just to be clever with their wordplay and so forth.


Long story short: I don't think you can take any anime as particularly indicative of life in Japan, in and of itself. But obviously any work is going to be influenced by the culture it was written in, so keeping that in mind should help explain some of the moderate mental disconnects you can have when watching anime. >.>


....OK, I'll shut up now. >.<

Of course, some of it is bound to be due to less than stellar translations, God knows it's happened before (all your base are belong to us...). What sticks out to me are the often (to me) out-of-place remarks (I have no examples as of this moment, but I WILL get them. Eventually.) and the fact that every other character seems to be moonlighting as Captain Obvious. I also heard from a friend studying japanese that they don't actually talk in Japan like characters do in the animes (which he brought up as I said "Hey, you could just study watching anime all day"), but I will not stand behind that claim as I myself do not comprehend the language.

QuickTidal, on 07 February 2013 - 12:07 PM, said:

Silencer pretty much nails it. The "pointless stuff" you talk about IS cultural and language...it's just more important for Japanese people than it is to Westerners. It's simply a mentality that you have to settle into if you are going to watch something as inherently Japanese as anime...let alone mind-fuck anime.

In this particular case though...with EVA...EVERYTHING has a point. You may not be able to see it yet, but every single solitary conversation and monologue in the story serves a purpose. Every one. It's part of how it's such a complete and total brain melting mind-fuck.

Par example: All of the seemingly innocuous or vacuous stuff that Misato says early on either has connotations to her past, the future, or Kaji (yes, even waxing stupidly about beer and ramen)...and all are integral to her specific pathway through the films and also to the overall narrative. The same is true when Ritsuko is blandly talking about the three computers (the wise men) in Central Dogma...it all serves a purpose.

I did not intend to refer to EVA, as I have seen niether series nor films, just in general. I will set out on a quest to find examples, so as to give people a clearer view of what I mean. That said, it feels like we've digressed from the topic at hand. I seem to vaguely recall it having to do with some kind of blockbuster film coming out this year xD.

[Silencer]

Indeed, we should probably move this discussion to somewhere like the handily-in-this-same-forum Anime thread.

[dktorode]

I have no words....

http://www.movieweb....tic-rim/trailer

[McLovin]

Wacky. I thought that was a joke at first.

Wikipedia tells me those guys have never lost money on a film. I find myself grudgingly impressed.

[nacht]

WTF? Where are the reviews

Severely disappointed by the Avengers. Would like to avoid something like that.

This post has been edited by nacht: 13 July 2013 - 10:32 AM

[Coco with marshmallows]

Really enjoyed it.

Visually magnificent,

at times predictable, but well executed.

One spoilerific issue:

Spoiler

If all the kaiju were specially made clones - why the F*** would one be pregnant?

[Dutch]

Cocoreturns, on 13 July 2013 - 04:29 PM, said:

Really enjoyed it.

Visually magnificent,

at times predictable, but well executed.

One spoilerific issue:

Spoiler

If all the kaiju were specially made clones - why the F*** would one be pregnant?

Spoiler

To adept? See Battlestar Galactica 2004 - 2009

[QuickTidal]

Cocoreturns, on 13 July 2013 - 04:29 PM, said:

Really enjoyed it.

Visually magnificent,

at times predictable, but well executed.

One spoilerific issue:

Spoiler

If all the kaiju were specially made clones - why the F*** would one be pregnant?

Spoiler

Puts on best Jeff Goldblum voice...."because nature...finds a way"

I just saw it, and loved every last minute of it. This is an Anime/Godzilla/GiantRobot Sci-fi fans wet fucking dream of a movie throughout its entire running time.

It's big, blustery, over-the-top, and 100% the second best flick I've seen all summer so far.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 13 July 2013 - 08:42 PM

[Dolorous Menhir]

My review: it was amazing. See it.

[Garak]

Oh this was a fun movie. I haven't seen the trailers so all I knew about this was giant robots fighting monsters (like I need to know more). There was definitely an EVA vibe going on but without all the emotional and mental scarring that show had going on. Loved every minute of the movie and the post credits scene was also fun. The fights were good and bit with the flying was so over the top I loved it (would have liked it if they used the damn swords more often). When Ron appeared on screen, my friends and I were "War. War never changes." but we're utter nerds like that. The only thing I'd have liked to be diferent was the ending. I think bittersweet would have been better, with the dude going up with his Jaeger - would have liked that more.

Oh and the giant sun in whatever place the xenos were living in also got a reaction from my group "Hey look, it's the Eye of Terror".

[amphibian]

Saw it just now. Very fun. B+ letter grade from me. del Toro has monster movies down cold and people really need to get him focused on Hellboy 3.

I'd avoid seeing it in 3D, as there wasn't a ton of "pop" during those moments.

If you want to see Evangelion, see the Rebuild movies. I mostly hated the show because it took far too long to make points and the main character was an unlikable wuss. The movies speed things up, have great pacing and the wuss parts are greatly reduced. It's actually fun to watch, even though it's still a sad story with giant robots killing giant monsters now and then.

[QuickTidal]

amphibian, on 15 July 2013 - 06:08 AM, said:

I'd avoid seeing it in 3D, as there wasn't a ton of "pop" during those moments.

I don't think Del Toro used the 3D for "pop" or gimmicky jump out moments. I think it was used for immersion into the scenes, and for depth of field when watching scale of the giant robots and monsters. Just my two cents on the 3D, which I enjoyed.

Oh, and if the movie didn't already kick lots of ass...the score was done by GAME OF THRONES composer Ramin Djwadi with help from RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE's Tom Morello...I thought I recognized those crunching badass guitars!

My Fiance, who initially expressed no interest in seeing it, was annoyed I saw it without her...this is a good thing as it means I get to see it again!