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strapqueenSo, the rebuild saga finally came to an end which marks the end of Evangelion as a whole and in the wise words of Mark Lee: That was a long-ass ride.
Two days ago I finally watched the culmination of Evangelion, as Anno intended at least. My thoughts are scattered, I don't think they ever not been when it comes to Evangelion as a story and property.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favorite animes. I watched it a bunch of times. There's something captivating about the quiet yet aggressive way this story is told, not without its faults, nothing is after all, but still very much something I hold dear.
I also understand why Anno felt the need to rework the story with the rebuild saga, this is his life work after all and he wanted to try and give it the full potential that for financial reasons couldn't in his original late 90s run. With rebuild he didn't have to respond to or defend his ideas to executives or gross fans for that matter (EOE) he went full out with the budget and whatever spin he wanted to try he did.
Even though this last installment took a long time to arrive I will say it didn't disappoint. It answered a lot of questions while creating new ones and it also gave the optimistic ending Anno wanted for this project.
I have a lot of feelings about all these characters and the story in general, feelings that I will probably never be able to accurately express not will start trying to now because otherwise this blog entry will turn into a 50k page essay. I feel something like Evangelion and its understanding can be personal, it certainly is for me.
But what I really want to talk about is Hikaru Utada's contribution to the soundtrack. I mean it's not secret Utada is an iconic music figure, whether they releasing life-changing albums or making sure the Kingdom Hearts and Evangelion soundtracks are ingrained in people's minds they always going to deliver with quality.
They truly never fails and when the first notes of One Last Kiss started playing exactly at the 2:24:30 mark of a very long, emotionally exhausting yet rewarding movie I basically ascended. I cannot think of a better way to end a movie. It really puts a gorgeous final bow on the whole thing and gave the end of Evangelion a nice breezy feeling that I will remember for years to come, something I thought was impossible in the EOE era.
Like yes, this is the end of a passion project that many hold dear but instead of being sad you should be happy about it because life is ahead of you and you have to run towards your own future now, it's not an end but a new beginning. As somebody who has been struggling with depression for years I can relate to Anno's feelings of wanting to shed that depressive cloud that often chases us and in his case one that has characterized his signature work for a long time and what a beautiful way to do so.
I still love the original Neon Genesis Evangelion but I walk off the rebuild series with a new fresh and more optimistic take on the story. It was definitely necessary and has plenty to offer to both veteran fans and newcomers, most importantly, it offers real closure, something that both NGE and EOE fell short to do so.
I'm going to leave you with Utada's beautiful closing song, it's truly a mood booster and in the words of Shinji "Lets go!"
Two days ago I finally watched the culmination of Evangelion, as Anno intended at least. My thoughts are scattered, I don't think they ever not been when it comes to Evangelion as a story and property.
Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favorite animes. I watched it a bunch of times. There's something captivating about the quiet yet aggressive way this story is told, not without its faults, nothing is after all, but still very much something I hold dear.
I also understand why Anno felt the need to rework the story with the rebuild saga, this is his life work after all and he wanted to try and give it the full potential that for financial reasons couldn't in his original late 90s run. With rebuild he didn't have to respond to or defend his ideas to executives or gross fans for that matter (EOE) he went full out with the budget and whatever spin he wanted to try he did.
Even though this last installment took a long time to arrive I will say it didn't disappoint. It answered a lot of questions while creating new ones and it also gave the optimistic ending Anno wanted for this project.
I have a lot of feelings about all these characters and the story in general, feelings that I will probably never be able to accurately express not will start trying to now because otherwise this blog entry will turn into a 50k page essay. I feel something like Evangelion and its understanding can be personal, it certainly is for me.
But what I really want to talk about is Hikaru Utada's contribution to the soundtrack. I mean it's not secret Utada is an iconic music figure, whether they releasing life-changing albums or making sure the Kingdom Hearts and Evangelion soundtracks are ingrained in people's minds they always going to deliver with quality.
They truly never fails and when the first notes of One Last Kiss started playing exactly at the 2:24:30 mark of a very long, emotionally exhausting yet rewarding movie I basically ascended. I cannot think of a better way to end a movie. It really puts a gorgeous final bow on the whole thing and gave the end of Evangelion a nice breezy feeling that I will remember for years to come, something I thought was impossible in the EOE era.
Like yes, this is the end of a passion project that many hold dear but instead of being sad you should be happy about it because life is ahead of you and you have to run towards your own future now, it's not an end but a new beginning. As somebody who has been struggling with depression for years I can relate to Anno's feelings of wanting to shed that depressive cloud that often chases us and in his case one that has characterized his signature work for a long time and what a beautiful way to do so.
I still love the original Neon Genesis Evangelion but I walk off the rebuild series with a new fresh and more optimistic take on the story. It was definitely necessary and has plenty to offer to both veteran fans and newcomers, most importantly, it offers real closure, something that both NGE and EOE fell short to do so.
I'm going to leave you with Utada's beautiful closing song, it's truly a mood booster and in the words of Shinji "Lets go!"
