This is the debut album of a new article type (Things Are Completely Awful, in case you missed it) which is essentially when I do a Things Are Overrated on something I don’t trust myself to do a fair and balanced coverage of it.
This post covers Eva, and what I don’t like about it (Which is actually quite a bit when you get right down to it), in case you have not guessed. And like I said, there’s a lot to dislike. So put your ass in that chair right there, listen up, and listen good.
Let’s start with the characters. I’m going to assume you know “The Score” on who’s who (For those of you not in the know, here’s the rundown- Shinji- Has father issues. Listens to his MP3 player, and is unmotivated. Rei-Has less emotions that Nagato (Of Haruhi fame)- And yes she does actually have them (Read the books people), and Asuka- Pretty much a bitch who’s crazy as fuck). Do you like those concepts? Did you see the beginning and like those characters? Did you find them compelling? I hope you did, because they never change. Ever. Oh sure, Asuka flips the fuck out, but they never change which is my primary concern. Don’t get me wrong, character development is not a huge big must, (I mean technically when we first meet Shiki Tohno from Tsukihime, he’s already fully developed, but we get to see what made him that way, in addition, Tohno Developed is really a very interesting person), but it’s a huge plus, and it’s a must when your characters are boring as fuck. I mean seriously, I spent a brief stint over at Wikipedia to get the title shot, I ended up on the character bit (Which was really just a link to the character’s page which we all know is a series of links to the profiles), but the one-line summary of Shinji is that he is, and I quote “characterized by a lack of energy and emotion” which don’t get me wrong is fine for a character, but if the main character lacks traits that drive him to perform actions, and then proceeds to never develop more traits, then that’s pretty poor writing.
It’s time for part two (2) of this post where I address the plot. Or lack there of. Seriously, like they seriously grabbed a bible, tossed in random fucking words that sound cool at random locations. And beyond that I don’t know how the flying fuck they came up with that shit. There’s a frillion and ten plot threads, and none of them resolve. Ever. A plot shouldn’t need a movie and books (plural, that’s right) to explain it, unless it was specifically planned to span several books and a movie, which Eva was not (seriously, it was made to fail to exploit a tax loophole, and when it succeeded a bunch of execs were sent to jail for tax fraud). I’m not sure where else to go with this, because the plot is just so much nonsense that me just telling you that it’s just complete and utter fucking insane bullshit is replaceable with a plot summary, because it’s accurate. And before anyone hits me up by telling me that I’m not grasping the Deep Symbological Meaning behind this, I could give two shits about it, not only because I don’t care about Symbolism, but also because It’s So Deep is not an excuse to not make sure your plot make any sense at all. And one more thing, before you accuse me of not being able to follow the plot, my favorite film ever (The Fifth Kara no Kyoukai OVA Spiral Paradox/Paradox Spiral) is achronological within, not only the set of OVA’s, but the film is achronological within the film itself. I have a pretty good grasp of plot structure. I cannot make heads or tails of Eva.
Normally had I written a Things are Overrated I’d tell you what to watch that’s better, but you can watch pretty much anything that’s not Evangelion and enjoy it more.
November 23, 2009 at 7:38 pm |
Right, so I’ve been trying to drum up a comment for a while, but I never quite say what I want to. I think I’ve got it down this time.
Evangelion is usually just a show I don’t care about. What makes it into a show I hate is the fandom. It’s just like most other overblown fandoms, but with an unhealthy dose of pretentious. There’s this thick layer of ‘analysis’ and ‘interpretation’ and ‘you just don’t understand’ shielding fans from any evidence that Eva is not the best show ever made.
But I understand just fine. The plot of Eva isn’t actually all that complicated, it’s just delivered in a super-convoluted way. All of the plot points are jammed right into the very end along with flashing lights and strange imagery. The rest of the series is utterly eventless and tedious. The stark contrast of no events to all events gives an illusion of depth, but that’s it. If the plot were properly spaced out through the rest of the series, it probably wouldn’t seem more meaningful than Gurren Lagann (no disrespect to Da Drill). After all, it’s pretty standard sci-fi stuff. Humans descended from aliens, world-ending macguffin, ancient prophecy, alien invasion, boy in giant robot/monster fights them off, government agency betrays everyone, life hits a reset button. Been done, all of it.
Oh, and the attitudes about Shinji are equally hilarious. I’ve read claims that ‘people who don’t like Shinji just feel that way because he hits close to home.’ This is impossible, as I have never met somebody so catatonically weak and pathetic. They also like to claim that Shinji is a ‘realistic’ character, who responds ‘realistically’ when given a giant robot. It makes me wonder if those people have ever met somebody his age…ever. In reality, kids are far more dynamic and active and interesting than that little twat. I hate Shinji because he is a boring, one-note character with no depth or personality. It is possible to make a whiny, weak, self-serving bitch of a character interesting (look at Kaiji or Usopp) so Shinji is just a failure.
Finally, there’s that artiste note. If I say that the plot is simple and the characters are boring, I’ll get hit with ‘You’re not looking deep enough’ or ‘Shinji is just a symbol’ or ‘It’s all just a deconstruction’. Bullshit. Bullshit bullshit bullshit. Even if all of those things are true, and Evangelion is secretly deep and meaningful, that does not make it any more fun or interesting.