Neon Genesis Evangelion is a bit of an eternal anime. There are plenty of series from the 90s that people still talk about to this day, and are plenty influential themselves, but I think even after the heat death of the universe there’ll still be a horde of figures and rotting VHS tapes floating about waiting for the birth of the next one. It’s a little ironic that it would then, at least for a little while, wrap things up with a film called End of Evangelion, as if to say “yeah, alright, we’ve all had enough of this, haven’t we?”
Maybe that’s why the film is such a stressful one to experience, from the second hand shame and terror you’ll feel from watching Shinji make a bit of a tit himself, to the literal world-ending stakes that make up the latter part of the film. Could it be that director Hideaki Anno, known for tying his deep feelings of depression into his work, wanted to fill us with so much dread, and misery, and fear that we’d be done with Evangelion forever? Possibly! But honestly, that’s why I love the film so much, warts and all.
You see, as I’ve gotten older I’ve found that I want to experience less and less comforting media, and embrace pieces of work that are difficult to view in some shape or form. Sometimes it’s a game that’s a strong 7/10, bogged down by ambitious ideas, other times it’s a directorial debut that’s free from experience, offering a rough presentation of authenticity you just can’t get from a more seasoned creative.
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