I thought I had started an Eva thread but I can't find it...
This is the best show of all time.
I've watched it over and over, and with probably 5 people with me, all thinking like.. man, the first couple episodes.. this is going to be some slow, but decent, anime, whatever, nothing special. Then, FUCK. It just blows your fucking brain apart. Keep in mind almost all the actual drama doesn't happen until episode 13 or so. The last half of the series is just one earth-shattering psychological revelation after another, just completely blowing your brain to tiny fragments. The way the whole thing had built, this dynamic between the characters, and then the last two episodes... which, in a sense, seem like a huge fuck-you to EVERYONE, but at the same time, couldn't have ended the series in any better way. But then when you watch End of Evangelion -- which I think is one of the most disturbing, shocking, and insane things ever produced (and not in any cliche way) -- everything makes sense even more, and it's honestly kind of ... depressing. Just a holy-shit piece of art, historically significant, that will probably never be bettered, because I think a lot of the "problems" with the series (the cost cutting and whatever) add to the charm. Take the scene in one of the last episodes, where the last angel is in the grips of Shinji's Eva, and there is a freeze frame for a good MINUTE or so before anything happens. Completely silent. You're just waiting and waiting.. and when it happens, it's terrifying, soul crushing, mind destroying, and just awesome. But also sad. I've never seen a series pull out my heartstrings, and damage my brain, like this one. I have Serial Experiments Lain, Paranoia Agent, Boogiepop Phantom, all kinds of neat little "psychological and dark" animes, but man... nothing even comes CLOSE to Eva. Except maybe that video game Xenogears. Heheh
