When did you first see it, and what did you think?

Was it your first/only anime if you did see it?

inspired by LCL vs FCL.

  • Tedesche@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    I saw it (and the ending movie) when I was a teenager in the 90’s. I founded movie to be one of the most depressing things I’d ever seen at the time, because…

    Tap for spoiler

    so many characters die in ways that essentially negate all the progress they’d made towards achieving their particular goals. Also, much of the series is basically watching 14-year-olds go through war trauma.

    Other than that, I really liked it. Since then, I’ve seen much better anime, but Evangelion is still great and a classic.

  • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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    11 hours ago

    You ran out of ink too, didn’t you, ya bastards?

    Personally I like to compare it to my favorite anime, Revolutionary Girl Utena, as they both have some surrealist themes and weird symbolism and homoerotic undertones with some normal episodes but overall being a mindfuck. I kinda see Evangelion as the shounen version and Utena as the shojo version, and I’m more into the latter but a lot of that is just which aesthetics you prefer.

    Utena vs Evangelion, see, practically identical 😆

  • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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    11 hours ago

    only clips of the rebuilds, which is more or less similar. the angels apparently are more deadly in the new ones. there is a new series in the works.

  • DGen@piefed.zip
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    20 hours ago

    OG series and the story retold both let me in a state of wtf. Its damn good - even though I do Like the first telling/ Timeline in the OG more.

    Theres a Lot open in the end that is unclear and makes you think. Its hard to follow fully through and its definetely nothing to rush in a bingewatch.

  • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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    1 day ago

    Saw it in it’s original run. Blew my mind and I basically became the Evangelion guy for a cuple of years. I don’t think any other media influenced me more that than.

    Nowadays I can’t stand it. Have some nostalgia for it, but it’s like please stop.

  • Zarxrax@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Of course I’ve seen it. I was a teenager and it was the deepest thing I had ever seen. I don’t like the new ones.

  • shittydwarf@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    I watched it around the time that it was current, and had seen quite a bit of it’s contemporary anime by that point. Lots of iconic scenes and moments, until the ending goes completely bananas. The end was / is beyond my comprehension, with way too much symbolism (I assume) for me to follow.

    • AskewLord@piefed.socialOP
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      21 hours ago

      it’s not really symbolic so much as it is just a interpretation of mysticism traditions of various major religions.

      it’s kind of a pastiche of christian Gnosticism, Kabbalah, and Buddhist mystic stuff.

      but yeah you’d have to know about that stuff for it to make any sense, esp if you’re a teen. I watched it in college so I was a bit more fluent in these things.

    • Alk@sh.itjust.works
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      1 day ago

      While full of symbolism, there’s also a lot of weird Canon science/rules that make it all make sense in the story. Oddly though the actual Canon reasoning is more obscure than the metaphorical meaning/symbolism.

  • Owl@mander.xyz
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    23 hours ago

    Aesthetics? 10/10

    The actual show? The most boring watch of my life.

  • [deleted]@piefed.world
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    1 day ago

    I saw it in the very early 2000s in my 20s and it was also the first mecha anime I watched. Most of the references to other anime went over my head, and it was half boring and half exciting, and halfway through the last or maybe second to last episode we started smoking weed because it was so weird anyway we thought it would help. Definitely had a good laugh when we found out the minimalism was due to running out of money.

    Definitely enjoyed it, and after watching additional anime it was even better on a rewatch. Rebirth and Death or whatever the extra things in were great as well. Asuka facing off against the white drones or whatever is one of my favorite action scenes of all time.

    Haven’t watched the newer ones.

  • Signtist@bookwyr.me
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    22 hours ago

    It felt like they were trying to pack so much symbolism in that it all got too convoluted, and I rarely understood what exactly was going on. I could tell that they were trying to say something profound, but it felt like an artist trying to make a realistic painting with fingerpaint - the medium just didn’t suit the message. But maybe it was just over my head.

    • AskewLord@piefed.socialOP
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      21 hours ago

      You do understand it. That’s what mysticism is. An expression of what can’t be understood or be put into words. It’s not something you can talk about.

      And that’s what the ending is trying to express, the mystic experience of oneness with God, etc. To end suffering, misunderstanding, achieve perfection and harmony, yadda yadda

      Parmenides is another source for this sort of thing, outside of religion.

      I read it as a pastiche, personally. It’s like various mystic traditions and teachings, all slapped up together, hence the references to christianity, buddism, and kabbalah. It doesn’t coherently try to articulate any one particular variety of mysticism.

  • CumbrianCucumber@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    I’ve been watching it with friends, and have seen about the first half of it now!

    I’m pretty surprised by how little messed up stuff has happened so far compared to what I’ve heard about it, but I’m bracing for that second half! In general, I’m liking it a lot and I see why it’s been so influential in anime since it came out