The late 90s before the terror attack in New York were a strange time culturally. NGE was an anime pretty well set for the age that we found ourselves. However, one must also remember, this is an Japanese production, and what we were experiencing in the west was different than the culture and zeitgeist in Japan at the time. Japan was smack in the middle of a major loss of confidence after the economic issues suffered in the 1980s and times were changing in Japan to the point where people started retreating inwards and feeling defeated. Japan is still in many ways not fully recovered from their economic crash. Because of this, it was an interesting commentary on Japanese culture at the time, and accidentally captured some sympathy from western folks as well, especially those willing to retreat inwards and rail at the world for not fitting their expectations for whatever reason.

I tended to think that NGE sort of had a bit more of a meta message to it, beyond the robots, the apocalypse, instrumentality, nightmarish revelations, the “waifus” and what have you. One doesn’t write a story like this without trying to make some kind of greater point. Also, as mentioned previously, this is a product of Japanese culture. This greater message has very very little to do with the religious symbolism in the story that people love to discuss. Having lived in Japan and studied the culture for many years, Japan has a similar level of fascination with Christian symbols that many new agers in the west have with practices such as Zen Buddhism or yoga.

Japanese in general do not have a deep understanding of what Christian symbols mean to westerners. Similarly, westerners do not generally have a deeper understanding of what Buddhism and other eastern practices mean to eastern culture either and tend to gloss over the historical context of these things because they're interested in the foreign aesthetic or differences from their own culture. Basically, Japan is interested in Christian symbols because they are foreign and cool. Many games and other shows love the aesthetic of demons and angels and don't really portray them in a way that's consistent with cursory biblical or Jewish scholarship. It's fun for many of them to look outside their own culture that many times they're tired of to find something "mysterious and interesting". However, as with all things brought into Japan, the Japanese put their own twist on things and modify it to their own aesthetic and cultural sensibility. This is the same thing for many of us watching anime as well. We like the foreign aesthetic and rarely learn deeply enough of the language or history of Japan to grok why something is funny or relevant to Japanese sensibilities. Those who understand why Zetsubou Sensei's jokes are funny tend to be fewer than those who enjoy the latest rom com harem show for cute girls, or the mecha show for it's giant robot battles.

Every interview that I've read that Anno has given has told us that the Christian/Jewish symbolism was chosen to stand out and be cool. Anno has also given interviews that show he only has a surface level understanding of some of the philosophy that people attribute to this show as well. This is well documented and can be easily found online for any who don't trust me at my word. Do your own research and make your own conclusion on this but Anno isn't a western religious scholar. Anno is not a deeply read western philosopher either. He appreciates these things like many in Japan do, but our western centric interpretations of this series are largely missing the point. My educated opinion on this is that the folks that write these long theories on what's happening with the symbolism are attributing western centric cultural understanding to an eastern interpretation of the symbols. They're also overestimating Anno's knowledge of these things that are second nature as part of western culture. Comparing apples to oranges essentially. This is why there are 100s of different interpretations of what's going on in the show. The overall message and reason for the rebuild movies doesn't have much to do with piloting robots, 3rd impact, angelic mysticism and all of those things. This is background. Were it central, there would not be such a strong focus on the personalities of the characters and their internal struggles. The rebuild movies do much to strip the focus from various symbols and the interesting scenes are fully on the characters and their personal issues and reactions to each other.

The biggest inspiration that I took away from NGE, was that at some point, people need to face reality and make changes in their lives in order to, if not be happy, at least move forward and be human. I was unsure of whether or not Anno had this undertone in his original series explicitly, but after watching the movies recently and drinking a lot of beer to get into a reflective mood, I’m pretty sure that this was the underlying message all along in the franchise, especially considering what Anno himself seems to feel about the fanbase and how they are interpreting his work. Anno always seemed to be incredibly frustrated at the fanbase. Many of the people that mention that Evangelion is not the same or ruined after the release of the movies may be missing the point a bit.

The second movie shows the characters of Evangelion in a far different way than the original NGE portrayals. In basic terms, all of the characters in the second movie are "idealized" versions of themselves. This is in comparison to the 1.0 Rebuild movie, which requires no real analysis as it is basically the first 6 episodes or so of NGE recreated in HD for the big screen with a few extra interesting scenes here or there. The tone and characters are more or less identical. However, in this movie, Asuka herself takes a new surname which even further emphasizes that things are quite different here. While we run through many similar scenes in the second movie to the original NGE, things are far more brighter and show us how things might have progressed with these characters had they adopted some more healthy outlooks and worked through their issues. My original view of NGE (as stated in my review of the show) was that it was very difficult to relate and root for the characters as they did nothing to advance themselves and overcome their obstacles. Well, in this movie, they appear to be working towards that. Shinji appears to grow a pair and take more decisive actions, Rei is moving out of her doll-like barely human ways and becoming warmer and nicer to everyone. Asuka acts like a rom-com tsundere, complete with fanservice misunderstandings and jealousy of Rei to the point of cooking food for Shinji. Even Shinji's father Gendo is apparently thinking that he should try to relate to people in healthier ways after a dinner with Rei. There is also a bizarre romance subarc going on where Rei and Asuka are seemingly vying for Shinji that was not in the original series, but fan fictioned quite heavily over the years.

The change in tone for the second movie compared to NGE was so jarring that I was almost laughing at how different things were. I kept saying to myself, these characters as they are in NGE would never do these things. This movie's tone is too bright and almost moving towards a more modern style mecha battle like Darling in the Franxx or maybe even Infinite Stratos, although that's a bit of a push. Even the addition of the Mari character, (who feels like a harem style addition to the show, singing tunes in her introduction and complaining about her chest not fitting into her plugsuit, crashing into Shinji bust first) shows up out of nowhere. Explanation of her origin? Completely glossed over. Relevance to anything in the story? Maybe she's a spy? Huh, every scene she's in is just her singing about how fighting is fun, or sabisu sabisu! Her crawling up to Shinji after smashing into him rack first (comical BOIN sound included) and sniffing him is just pure harem fantasy. What the heck is that doing in our serious psychological mecha show?

All these out of tone events and character interactions telegraph that something ain't right here. This is rom com nonsense in your serious, philosophical wankery show. What was the point of the tone change to lighter and brighter here?

All of this brighter tone stuff ultimately has a point once we transition to the third movie, where the tone shifts in the opposite direction and we are snapped back to how things really are so to speak. The second movie ends up being an indulgence for the fans more than anything. Something that a fan fiction author would write about how things "should have gone in NGE". Many of the fans were given what they wanted here, and the second movie was scored pretty highly by many fans because they enjoyed these new interpretations of the characters. It seems that Anno gave the fans what they wanted here and then took it all away in the third movie. The subtitle of the second movie being "you cannot advance" could be interpreted in a few ways. It seems that Anno may have been taking a jab at the fans with this subtitle, saying that they can't advance beyond their desires for what is shown in the second movie, missing his greater point of needing to accept things and advance in your life and avoid the escapism of Shinji's headphones. It's not a coincidence that after leaving his headphones behind and "manning up" so to speak during the course of this movie, that he ultimately gets them back at the end of the movie after making his difficult decision at the climax.

At any rate, people “can” advance in their lives and find purpose. However, as with Shinji in EVA, many people do not. Anime fandom itself has become an interesting study in escapism over the years, especially after NGE’s impact on subsequent shows. Japan is a place where many people have been dropping out of society altogether and there are more and more cases around the world of people leading unfulfilling existences and diving into escapist utopian fantasy (in entertainment and real life) because for various reasons, people are unable or unwilling to deal with the difficulties of the world and the expectations of society as a whole.

While there are many, many reasons for this, almost as many as there are crackpot solutions, politicians of all ideologies promising panaceas, and other means of trying to find some way of coping with life and society; what ultimately leads to fulfilment is not avoiding life itself (which is unintentionally leading to all sorts of mental problems during our current pandemic), but accepting that you have to advance yourself in some way and continue to move forward. Life will kick your ass if you let it. The answer is not to retreat and be alone with your headphones like Shinji. The answer is to accept that life is both painful and wonderful and to live it and struggle mightily and virtuously against it. Wallowing in self-pity and woe is me bullshit ultimately causes personal suffering, lacks virtue and isn’t productive. In the case of Evangelion, that kind of behavior helps bring about the end of the entire world.

As I mentioned in my original series NGE review, all of the characters in this story are flawed and have some variation of woe is me selfishness they are dealing with and never advance beyond. Essentially lacking in virtues that we typically admire. With the possible exception of Rei and the recently introduced Mari, everyone in this story is lonely, maladjusted, and trying to cope in various self-destructive ways. While they may be in various stages of depression, or even psychosis which could cause these behaviors, none of them are doing what any competent therapist would have them do and work towards integrating into reality in productive self-actualizing ways. With very rare exception, no one shows any empathy towards anyone in the original NGE. There are touches of this shown in the second rebuild, but again, because they are so different from our earlier experiences, they are jarring for how out of place they are.

Self-centered people rarely consider how others feel and only worry about their own feelings and how others make them feel. Shinji and Asuka are both toxic people in this way. Tragic in their backstory perhaps, but many people with worse tragedies are far more well adjusted and take a healthier approach to life. A difficult and in many cases abusive childhood is pretty damn common, it's not an excuse to act like a tool all the time. When my boss or my girlfriend is acting annoying or in a toxic way, their childhood troubles don't excuse the fact that they're being annoying. It doesn't change the fact that I don't want to be around or accept their antisocial behavior and it's not an excuse anyone should put up with. I can refer people to anyone from the Berserk series, Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann, or any other examples of western or eastern media for sad tales of woe or for examples of shitty worlds with people that are far more functional than the teenagers in this movie.

The fact that they are "realistic" or at least said to be by many folks is a sad commentary on society more than a point of praise I'd say. If this is "reality" than we're all in a pretty bad place as I don't want to be around people like the characters in this story and I doubt anyone else would either. There's a lot of therapy they need to work through before saving the world here. Part of becoming a "hero" is moving away from self-centered narcissistic nonsense and accepting duty and responsibility to others. This is also a very Japanese cultural expectation that is somewhat misunderstood in the west, again due to cultural differences many people don't fully appreciate. Shinji's behavior is repulsive to us because in western culture, we expect him to step up and take action to save the day because courage is a respected virtue and Shinji's behavior looks like cowardice to western sensibilities. In Japan, he is also expected to step up, but not necessarily to become a courageous hero per se. Japanese culture expects everyone to do their duty and fulfill their role in life without complaint. Shinji spends a lot of time ducking his responsibility, which is frowned upon in a western culture with our "I'll do what I want" attitude, but extremely bad in Japanese culture. Ganbarimasu Shinji-kun!

Although I suppose the new character of Mari would fit the mold of someone who is actually approaching things a bit more favorably and seems to be far more well-adjusted, doesn’t she? Many people think she’s out of place in this story. I agree with this point of view. She’s someone that I would entrust with saving this world over the other characters in this story. Anno himself is on record as saying and I'm paraphrasing here "Mari is the only character in which there is no part of me". Again, look up the interview on this if you don't trust my interpretation. As I mentioned, all the other characters are suffering from various forms of depression or other mental issues, but Mari, for all her quirky upbeat sunniness, doesn't wallow in any of that, and has positive interactions with the world and the situations that she's in. I would hate to be around Asuka or Rei, but Mari seems like she would be a person that would make my day better just being around. She’s jarring for the very reason that she’s everything that the other characters in Eva are not. She more or less accepts the pain and suffering of the world, but continues to fight against it regardless. Courageously fighting mechs, or accepting her duties without complaint, satisfying the virtues of both eastern and western culture simultaneously.

This is the proper approach and what needs to be done in an apocalyptic situation. Misato, also gets things together to rally the defenses each time as well, as she can step away from the self-absorption a bit and see the grander picture as well. There are things that are bigger and more important than oneself, and Mari is the only one who seems to get it among our pilots, heaving bosom and cheery harem heroine attitude aside. I see this character as ultimately salvaging something of worth from the franchise, even if she's not all that much explained in the movies at all. However, the message represented by her archetype is important. Doing what needs to be done and accepting responsibility. She’d be more at home in Gurren Lagann (TTGL) honestly, and that very well may have been the ultimate point of her character.

The struggle to overcome difficulty is what makes you human and there is a nobility and dignity in this struggle that these characters are missing. It’s the difference between living a meaningful life and just merely existing. Human beings are ultimately going to break if all they do is simply exist. Doing only what makes you happy in the here and now isn’t the answer either. Happiness is nice, but it’s fleeting and ultimately a selfish way of figuring out what to do. It won’t fix your problems to seek easy happiness, and in many cases, it actually makes the situation worse.

Finding meaning in life is profoundly simple, yet not necessarily easy if one embraces the types of escapism symbolized in Eva. Life is meant to be lived. Life is not something that one should simply endure. That way leads to all manner of malaise and in the case of Evangelion, leads to the major disaster. Those who live and not merely exist, will find their way to purpose, which leads to everything else that all the characters in this show are missing.

“Get in the fucking robot Shinji”, beyond being a funny meme, is directly the type of advice our selfish protagonist needs. Not because of some narcissistic need to be a hero, but because it’s Shinji’s damn duty and responsibility. As Gandalf once said to Frodo in the movies in the early 2000s:

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times; but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant to have it. And that is an encouraging thought.

When the call to action comes, it isn’t always convenient, easy or fair, but it does require an answer when the stakes are world destruction. Get out of your headphones and into the cockpit, do your damn duty, the world needs you. Similar can be said of quite a lot of anime fandom as well, metaphorically. Such was likely Anno’s message here.

Ultimately, Kamina from TTGL needs to punch everyone in this show in the face and demand some teeth be grit. Then move to much of the rest of us in the audience. Sometimes we all need a reminder to shut the hell up and move forward in life. Evangelion is less a mecha show and more of a warning about what can happen to you if you fall into the comforting bosom of empty escapism and fantasy and crippling passivity as Shinji pathetically dives into again and again, ultimately rejecting the entire world for it to get those headphones back from Rei. While it’s fun to explore these strange idealized worlds (I enjoy fiction a lot more than I should at times too), it’s important to remember that you should only visit, not live there like Shinji seems to.

The themes are made even more explicit in the third rebuild movie, which I’ll probably write thoughts on at some point as well. Many people didn’t like the third movie, I suspect because the message Anno was giving to people was a bit clearer and didn’t sugar coat things in upbeat out of place school romcom tones that the second movie dipped into. It showed people that they should actually make progress, because the consequences are pretty dire if you don’t. I found that movie interesting and gained a bit more respect for the message after watching it, but I will save thoughts for a potential review on that.

I do not really like the characters of this show as they never quite get it (Mari being a weak exception as I like the character, but she's so jarring that it's awkward), but I think I understand what Anno was trying to do with them after seeing the movies. I think in the end, we’re not really supposed to like them, as they are warnings of a sort that tsundere characters, weak willed protagonists, and emotionless doll-like characters are actually pretty messed up if you take a step back. It’s a shame that anime and the fandom decided that they wanted much more of this than not.

Edit: At the time of this review, I had not seen the 4th Evangelion rebuild movie and am unsure if Anno will take things in a dark path or use characters like Mari to "redeem" things. Honestly, it could go either way, but if I'm correct in my interpretation of 2.0 and 3.0, I believe that Anno will end things on a positive note where the characters learn to move on and live life and the giant robots and religious symbolism ultimately didn't mean that much. I plan on catching the movie at the theater in Japan when it comes out with some colleagues, and am honestly curious how this saga ends more than I am about any real insights into the world or story.

Edit: After seeing the final Rebuild 3.0+1.0 movie and its "resolution" to the story. I stand by everything that I wrote here. Without spoiling detailed things from the recent movie (but skip this is you don't want any chance of a spoiler), the character interactions and the final scenes of the movie especially give us a resolution where the journey of the protagonist Shinji (who is basically a surrogate Anno or our self-insert in this story) comes to its conclusion and he learns to accept things and move forward in the real world. Ultimately one that goes beyond Evangelion. The final message of this seems to be that life is worth living, leave Evangelion and anime and empty escapism behind, get a cheerful busty girlfriend, and take your place in society. Do your duty in other words. While it was definitely made for a Japanese audience's sensibilities, I think it will be obvious to anyone that watches it what the message is.

As a final aside to this rambling, modern anime is quite a bit less inspiring these days because of shows that try to emulate the escapist fantasy of shows like Eva and consequently not show people to aspire to very often. People aspire to be like the heroes Kamiya, Simon, or Yoko in TTGL, even though the situation in TTGL is a very difficult and harsh one without much comfort. People may sympathize with heroes like Shinji, but no one wants to BE LIKE Shinji. People may want to get to pilot an EVA or live in Misato’s apartment like him, fantasizing about fan service with her and Asuka, but one can envy any number of mediocre interchangeable harem protags these days for their situation of willing nubile partners. NGE and Evangelion were a warning about where this path leads, which may be why Anno seems so frustrated all the time. Coming from this angle, it’s somewhat understandable, if perhaps a bit harsh.