[EVA] Anno's Shaved Head

[Brendan Jamieson]

"John Hokanson Jr." wrote:
>Which contradicts his defensive posture and his speil about him
>"reading psychology books", and making the ending he wanted.

As I think I've said before here, I think his reaction at Anime Expo was
of frustration. He was defensive about his pet project because while the
ending was not what he originally wanted, I still think he liked what
they made. He poured his heart into it and the public rejected it. And
with Anno's answer to the question changing every time (as Okada said,
"It's 'confused, confuse-er, confuse-est.'"), I think it's clear was
just trying to talk his way out of the corner.

"If you don't like it, it's your problem!"
"Okay, I admit it - we messed up."
"But dammit - it was good! You ungrateful otaku fiends!"
"Though, I understand why you don't like it. Let me see what I can
do..."

>It's kinda hard to know what he wanted, though it's evident he
>was deeply hurt by the negative reaction by fans to the TV ending.

See above.
 
>Based on how Kare Kanno was handled 

What do you mean? I haven't seen all KareKano, but if you are speaking
about the apparent non-ending, that was a result of running out of
story. The anime was an adaptation of the manga and the manga wasn't
complete when they were ending the anime. From what I have read and can
gather, Anno had wanted to deviate from the manga for the second half of
the TV series but TV Tokyo wouldn't let him (because of what happened
with Eva). Anno remained Director-in-name-only, and Tsurumaki took over.

>I'm thinking that the TV ending we got wasn't all that different from 
>*something* Anno wanted.

I think it's very different, in terms of narrative, from what Anno
wanted.
I do think Anno likes the TV ending just fine, though. And so do I. But
I vastly prefer The End of Evangelion.

-brendan