Scott Tortorice
Senior Member
If you are expecting a comprehensive overview of Neon Genesis Evangelion, I am sorry to say that you are not going to find that in this post. Truth is, I have only watched the first five episodes of this piece of anime, and then only because Adult Swim was showing Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth a few days ago. From what I could tell, this was a movie cobbled together from various episodes of the series. Sadly, I had no idea what the heck was going on, but I was intrigued by the many religious themes that kept popping up during the movie, such as the logo for NERV, mankind's defense against the "angel" onslaught:
Anime with religious sensibilities and mechs? Sign me up! So I decided to start at the beginning of the series.
Like I said above, I've only made it past the first five episodes, so I cannot reach any conclusions yet. However, while the jury might still be out on this series, I can say that episode 4 has already captured my heart by doing something very simple: it paused for dramatic effect.
Let me back up here and explain something. As of late, I have been bemoaning the awful state of Hollywood, particularly the dreadful live action cartoons (as I like to call them) that Hollywood seems to think qualify as science fiction. Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect example. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed that movie like so many others, and look forward to further adventures with its delightful cast. But I definitely believe that movie was harmed by its frenetic pace. The movie never once slowed down, but instead careened from one action sequence to another with breathless pacing. Attention Hollywood! Cinema is not a video game (and, indeed, even most video games give the player time to catch their breath!), and it certainly isn't a roller coaster ride! SLOW DOWN!
This problem with frenetic pacing was recently demonstrated by the director of Guardians himself, James Gunn. In what I consider to be a breathtaking revelation, Gunn explains how a single, brief joke was cut from the script because they thought it slowed down the movie too much!
This is my most serious problem with modern movies: they are moving so darn fast that the audience is often left with a blur of CGI and little else. What about character development? What about pathos? You cannot truly have any of those if the darn thing won't stop to catch its breath every now and then, and give the audience a chance to process all that is going on. Stop it, guys. Just stop the needless and endless adrenaline rush. Life is about more than explosions.
Now, what does this have to do with Neon Genesis Evangelion? Just this: in Episode 4 there is a wonderful moment where director Hideaki Anno just stops all activity to allow two principle characters, protagonist Shinji Ikari, and his mentor/commander Misato Katsuragi, to have a moment of powerful understanding:
Anime with religious sensibilities and mechs? Sign me up! So I decided to start at the beginning of the series.
Like I said above, I've only made it past the first five episodes, so I cannot reach any conclusions yet. However, while the jury might still be out on this series, I can say that episode 4 has already captured my heart by doing something very simple: it paused for dramatic effect.
Let me back up here and explain something. As of late, I have been bemoaning the awful state of Hollywood, particularly the dreadful live action cartoons (as I like to call them) that Hollywood seems to think qualify as science fiction. Guardians of the Galaxy is a perfect example. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed that movie like so many others, and look forward to further adventures with its delightful cast. But I definitely believe that movie was harmed by its frenetic pace. The movie never once slowed down, but instead careened from one action sequence to another with breathless pacing. Attention Hollywood! Cinema is not a video game (and, indeed, even most video games give the player time to catch their breath!), and it certainly isn't a roller coaster ride! SLOW DOWN!
This problem with frenetic pacing was recently demonstrated by the director of Guardians himself, James Gunn. In what I consider to be a breathtaking revelation, Gunn explains how a single, brief joke was cut from the script because they thought it slowed down the movie too much!
Wow. A six word joke was excised to make things move faster. Faster! In a movie that was already supersonic!James Gunn said:
This is my most serious problem with modern movies: they are moving so darn fast that the audience is often left with a blur of CGI and little else. What about character development? What about pathos? You cannot truly have any of those if the darn thing won't stop to catch its breath every now and then, and give the audience a chance to process all that is going on. Stop it, guys. Just stop the needless and endless adrenaline rush. Life is about more than explosions.
Now, what does this have to do with Neon Genesis Evangelion? Just this: in Episode 4 there is a wonderful moment where director Hideaki Anno just stops all activity to allow two principle characters, protagonist Shinji Ikari, and his mentor/commander Misato Katsuragi, to have a moment of powerful understanding:
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