Neon Genesis Evangelion Forum

Speaking to the religious symbolism. Ever notice how all the explosions the Angels cause are shaped like crosses?
When I first watched the series, I really felt that Kaji was probably one of the only emotionally stable people in this entire cast. If you read the manga, which follows with the anime pretty strictly. ( Volume 7 if you are ever interested.) We learn Kaji's back story. It's pretty effed up.
 
If you ever take the chance to watch the "End of Evangelion" movie, after you are done with the TV series; and listen to the audio commentary. They really dig into the symbolism of the series.

@hitsusatsu11: yes it does follow the anime , at least in general details be damned 
 
@Tom_Pinchuk:
no,no that is lilith
 
adam is within nerv but somewhere different

You've got the debate on the meaning of the religious symbolism turned around. Its not that its entirely arbitrary, its that its a pastiche, a collage, a bunch of stuff cherry picked because it looked cool or sounded cool, not because there is some grand overarching meaning to it all.

@hitsusatsu11: 
No, I have most of the mangas. The differences are pretty minor. There was just a character that lived in the anime, but died in the manga version. This person wasn't very important anyways. Also the introduction of Asuka is different.
 
The basic plot and major events are still the same.

@hitsusatsu11: "
nno may have answered questions regarding it saying he just put it in cause he felt like it, but thats just his vague personality. S
 
No.  Wrong.  "I don't like what the creator said, so I'm going to insist he was lying"?  Yikes.
 
The religious symbols are at best,  a pastiche:
 
THE RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO MEANING
 
The *only* meaning, the only shallow name association they ever made, was that "The Evangelions were cloned from the first Angel, Adam" (seen in episode 8 )........Evangelion = Eva.  Eva means Eve in most European languages.  Eve was made from Adam.  
 
that's it, that's the ONLY significant religious name they came up with; no more than how in "Bioshock", Eve is refined from Adam.  
 
Kaji is a triple agent:  Gendo thinks he's a double agent who is supposed to be spying on Gendo for Seele, but is really working for Gendo.  Both Gendo and Seele are wrong:  he's actually working for the Japanese government, and spying on both Seele and Nerv.
 
As I said a few episodes ago, our website has a video on "the state of the world after Second Impact" -- you should watch it.
 
The idea is that the  "First World" countries like Japan, the USA, Germany, have rebuild, and many people died, but ***and why didn't you pick up on this? *** similar to Akira, "reconstruction is over by this point" -- as Anno stated, "convenience stores even have fully stocked shelves now"
 
But they only rebuild physically, not psychologically.
 
 
Once again sir:  Gainax said that they put in the religious symbols as a gimmick, to differentiate them from other giant robot shows.  They don't mean anything.
 
 
And think about it:  if you're going to make "a gimmick", is it going to be big or small?
 
The argument seems perennially, "but the religious symbols are used *so* prominently!"...as opposed to what?  "wow, those religious references were hidden in as subtext you wouldn't get until later viewing?"
 
"Gimmicks" are NEVER "hidden subtext" - the whole point of a gimmick is to be used prominently, in order to grab people's attention.
 
Again:  the ONLY reference that means ANYTHING is the Adam/Eva nameplay.
 
Seriously, and I want an answer on this:  if the "religious symbols actually mean something"....WHAT? What could they mean?  After 15 years, NO ONE came up with a coherent answer, and all the while, the Gainax guys kept insisting that it didn't mean anything.
 
So Gainax said "yes we know it was used prominently, but it meant nothing"....while some fans scrambled for 15 years to find meaning to the symbols...but they found none, because it wasn't there!

@hitsusatsu11:  No.  While the meaning of Evangelion was certainly broad, it was by no means "open to interpretation", nor "open ended".  There were actual answers to all of this, just in the guidebooks, hinted at, and in interviews.  It all makes sense and it isn't even that complicated of a show....so long as we stop fixating on the religious symbols, which the creators have acknowledged to be meaningless.
 
Otherwise, it was a psychological analysis in the midst of a social commentary.  Religion had nothing to do with it.

@OmegaChosen:  "oh haha well we're having fun so please don't correct us" is the attitude that turned Evangelion into "that show no one understands...but lets make porn fanfic out of it anyway"

@hitsusatsu11:  "
The meaning of Eva is quite open to interpretation, no two ppl will ever agree on what exactly happens during and after instrumentality, there are still many open ended questions.
"
 
No, Eva is not open to THAT much interpretation:  the reason "few people agree on what the Instrumentality scene and the ending mean"...is because "the people in charge" did an awful job of explaining it.
 
The stated goal of "the ReVolution of Evangelion", our fansite, our panels, our writings, is to "explain Eva", because at the moment, EVERYONE's theories are correct....which mean that none are.
 
No, as someone else stated above:  Anno didn't tell us direct answers because he wanted us to figure it out on our own; he didn't want to walk us through by the hand.  There's a difference between "refusal to tell us the answers" and "there are no answers at all"

Given the ambiguous nature of the show, and multiple official versions of how the series turns out (TV, Director's Cut, D&R/EoE, Rebuild, manga etc etc) .. coming to one single truth seems to be a foolish endeavor.  Is it such a bad thing to believe that Anno meant not only for the audience to figure things out on our own, but to come up with our own personal truths? Sometimes I think Anno gets too much credit for being clever and perhaps was just balls-out crazy and lucked out. Other times I think he's just crazy, but in a mad genius sort of way.
 
Just wait.. Evangelion 4.0 will end with a slow zoom outward to reveal Tokyo-3 in a snow globe. Just wait. You'll see!

@ReVolutionOfEvangelion:  Right on!

@Whiskeyjack:   "  Is it a crime to try and learn the truth? Is it a sin to search for those things which you fear. My purpose in this world is knowledge, and the dissemination of it. 
Humans who lose the ability to think become creatures whose existence has no value. Wake up! Don't be afraid of knowledge! Think, you humans who are split into two worlds, unless you want the gulf between humans to expand into oblivion, you must think!   No one here is even interested in learning the truth - a truth that must be known. But I want to know! I want to learn what must be known! "
 
Are you...being *sarcastic*?!  They didn't make "alternate versions" at the time as a stylistic choice, but because they ran completely out of money!  They had to make End of Eva because it was the real ending, and the Director's Cuts are what the final episodes should have been;  utterly superseding all earlier versions.  As for the fact that there are alternate Manga version sor the REbuild movies......you seriously take the fact that there is a manga adaptation as proof that the original series was supposed to be "utterly interpretable"?
 
" It chooses one who uses the power of God created by man, one who is able to arrive at one truth! That's not the case with you! "