Monday, September 28, 2009

The End Of Evangelion


So here we are at the other end. I hope you’ve enjoyed the trip as much as I have. Yep finally made it through the whole Evangelion series. I’ll tell you it’s crazy to think that; the whole of Evangelion finished.



Aw Crap.

But that’s OK, I’ll be there, I’m looking forward to it. Can’t wait actually. Because Evangelion God bless it continues to intrigue and challenge. Even 20,000 words later.

Here's the whole Shebang:

Intro
Episodes 1 & 2
Episodes 3 & 4
Episodes 5 & 6
Episodes 7 & 8
Episodes 9-12
Episodes 13 & 14
Episode 15 & 16
Episodes 17-20
Episodes 21&22
Episodes 23 & 24
Episodes 25 & 26 + The End Of Evangelion

When I started Evangelion I was expecting a genial trip down nostalgia lane, with an occasional laugh at how seriously I took some of this stuff. I was genuinely surprised, yeah there’s a lot of clumsy stuff but once I let my guard down I became genuinely engaged with the series boldness and ambition.

Sure there’s a lot of stuff about Evangelion that simply doesn’t work. You could even go so far as to call the series a failure in a lot of different ways. It fails I think in the final analysis to tell a coherent story. Much of it’s time is spent on subplots, that don’t go anywhere, and it all too often confuses psycho babble and techno babble with actual drama.

And I don’t care. In my first article in the series I wrote how I felt that watching Evangelion opened me up to a lot of different things. At the end of the series I think I’d be forced to go even further. I think Evangelion has served as a template from what I expect from art in general. Messy, ambitious, richly detailed, and above all deeply personal.

What it lacks in coherence it makes up in daring. What it lacks in narrative satisfaction it makes up in emotional satisfaction. Evangelion left it’s mark upon me, that’s how I define great art.

1 comment:

Marcus said...

Have you given any of the two new movies a try yet?

(btw, this is masterthes from CB)