[EVA] Plot Structure

[Patrick Yip]

     PY @ TOKYO


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You misunderstood my point.  I really couldn't have given a stuff whether 
the series ended with the kind of pyrotechnics everyone expected of it. 
Leave that to lesser shows like the more recent Gundam efforts.  What I did 

## I have the same feeling as you (by the way, who posted this mail?
## My mail-reader doesn't show the poster.) However, I think there is
## a fair chance that many so-called anime fans, both in US and Japan,
## look at the show more on the action part and/or mystery-solving
## aspect. But then they are just one group. Not all who don't like the
## TV ending share their focus.

say is that there are people who disliked the ending of Eva for reasons 
more based on emotional plot underdevelopment between eps 24 and 25, and 
the philosophical aspects brought up during eps 25 and 26 that were Anno 
saying "this is the right way to reach what you are searching for, and the 
ONLY way."  Its a slap in the face to the culture he helped to develop, and 
was very much a part of.  Even the applause at the end seems to be saying 
"well, Shinji's done it, so why haven't YOU?"

## That pretty much sums up the criticisms for the two episodes. The 
## plot underdevelopment/discontinuity and the way of approach when the
## HCP did happen (to Shinji, in TV). That could in fact be an anti-
## climax. "So that's HCP?? And I am supposed to go through _this_?"
## Although I would suppose everybody's process thru HCP would be
## different from one another, the fact remains that the process is 
## preachy and patronizing. And indeed there is contradiction as to
## what exactly did Anno want to convey: Face the reality (so no
## more alternative world?) and happily accept it? Perhaps it is a 
## worthy message to many otaku, but then it is presented in a warped
## way.
     
But then, people will read different things in the same narrative.  The 
truth about eps 25 and 26, as I've said before, may lie more in the fact 
that Anno and Gainax ran out of money, ran out of episodes and ran out of 
time to get the point across, so slapped a couple of haphazardly made 
episodes togther to round things off as well as possible without really 
thinking up a reasonable conclusion.  That it turned out as well as it did 
is more by luck than by any of the supposed planning on the part of the 

## Well, I think there was some planning for the finale. But I have 
## a feeling that when things turned bad for Gainax, Anno took more
## and more control, shifting the direction of the plot development
## more and more to his liking. Although he had many ideas and messages
## he wanted to convey, he could not think of a clear way to do it.
## Hence the confusion, conflicts and gaps that we see in both TV and
## movie endings. 

production team.  Otherwise, why make the movies?  If they were really 
satisfied with the final product, there would have been no point.  And 
anyway, both use different means to reach the same conclusion, its a matter 
of whichever you pick as you favourite.  I prefer the tv ending to the 
movie.  That doesn't say much, though.

## Well, I prefer movie ending to TV ending, because of its balance of
## the internal and the external. Yes, things are tragic and sad in
## the movies, but at least I know what happened. And I know Asuka
## survived ^_^ There is also more elaboration on the psychology theme.
## I have read the script of EOE, as published in the last few issues
## of DRAGON magazine, and I think I've grasped better what the movie
## is trying to say. 

## Still, the conclusion might be similar for both TV and movies, namely,
## (Shinji) got to break out of his self-hatred and self-imposed barrier.
## However, the message is slightly different. While in TV it is all
## very happy, too happy perhaps, that it tastes a bit like saccharine;
## in movies it is full of pain, uncertainty, anger, confusion and 
## even hatred. It is the hatred of Shinji towards other people (because
## he thinks that they rejected them and have loved him anyway -- wonder
## how he could have thought that after what Misato did to him) that
## actually started the Third Impact (the breakdown of human bodies
## to LCL). This is no comfortable experience to watch, yet it gave me
## something deep to think about myself and life, and I judge it better
## than the "guidance" that was offered in TV ep.26. The final outcome
## in the movie is decided by Shinji, not pre-determined for him, like
## in the TV. In TV there is really no choice, although there seems to
## be choices. 
     
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