I’ve
actually been crafting this rant for years, but it wasn’t until this summer
that the buzzing wouldn’t cease, so I need to address it:
Hideaki
Anno is either the biggest whore or horribly tortured by being out of
ideas. I cannot really see a third option.
Directors
often have to make compromises when creating their works. Screenplays go through rewrites, adjustments
during production and post-production are made, editing creates issues. Sometimes films are screened for producers
and/or test audiences, and further modifications are made. While it is their “vision,” that vision is
sometimes negotiated. Which is why we
have directors’ cuts of films. Directors
can restore, re-edit, and reimagine their works to more closely reflect their
intentions.
Let’s
take, for example, Blade Runner (1982). There are FIVE official versions of the film
(I am not counting the San Diego Preview version or the broadcast version[which was done largely by the channel]): the 1982 work print version (which was used to show executives and test audiences, which prompted a lot of revisions), the theatrical version (which had the voice over and the “happy” ending), the international version (which has more violent action scenes), the1992 director’s cut (which is mostly the work print with some modifications and restoration), and the 2007 final cut (what Ridley Scott considers to be the definitive version). Most of the
differences in these versions deal with content related to violence, changes in
score, different endings, Ford’s voice-over and technical aspects. While any adjustment is important to the
overall work, the major revisions for this, arguably, are the changes in ending
and the removal of the voice-over. Most
everything else conceptual, thematic, character- and plot-related is retained.
A
majority of film wonks will say that either the 1992 or 2007 version is the
best. I’ve never heard anyone take up
the side of the theatrical version.
Criterion backed the international version, which was the version they
released on laserdisc in 1987. The work print version is important, as it is
the basis for the 1992 version and is 70mm.
Another
notable work that went through different iterations is Brazil (1985), which had a studio (Universal) put in a “happy”
ending. Terry Gilliam later had the
original version released. Changing the
ending of a film is a definite deviation from a director’s intent, so these
attempts by the directors to restore their vision is essential. I would never argue against that. However, as I will endeavor to demonstrate,
sometimes this attempt at revision goes way beyond what is neither wanted nor
needed.
The
company that produced the show is Gainax.
Gainax was originally founded in 1984 by, essentially, anime nerds. One of the founding members was HideakiAnno. He had worked on other projects
with other companies, but he and his college buddies got together to produce an
opening animation for a large anime convention (Daicon III), and that’s what got the ball
rolling. After his work on Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise (1987), he directed Gunbuster (1988, a film) and Nadia:
The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1991, a 39-episode TV series), as
well as continuing to animate Macross
projects. When a sequel project for Royal Space Force was cancelled, he was
given a project to create something that had the theme of not running
away. To try to piece together all of
the internal and external influences on Anno while he created Evangelion is difficult. He wanted to bring in a new audience to
anime, he wanted to exorcise his demons, he wanted to create a show about
humans versus gods, there was a push to create a show that would allow for
marketing a lot of toys (which giant robot shows are wont to do), he was in the
middle of a four-year deep depression and was exploring psychology and
psychoanalysis, he wanted to make a children’s show with adult themes to try to
teach children about “harsh reality” (the fact that the show was originally
aired during children’s programming slots is particularly eerie). It is a combination of all of this.
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In
anime, I consider three shows the Holy Trinity, must-sees: Trigun
(1998), Cowboy Bebop (1998) and Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995). Out of the three, NGE is the best. Something
that is true of the shows, as well as Trigun,
is that it starts off more light-hearted but gets deadly serious as we get to
towards the end. They both take place in
a post-apocalyptic landscape. Yet NGE does show that there is a sort of
normalcy, even though complete annihilation is waiting every second of the show
to rear its head and destroy humanity (school continues to be taught,
convenience stores are open). Comparing
that world to Bebop, which is set in
the future in space, or Trigun, which
is on another planet that has multiple suns and moons, makes NGE seem almost slice-of-life in the
outset. All three are brilliant. But this post is not about that.
The
end of the run of episodes for NGE
takes a decided shift from the exterior war against the Angels to exploring the
internal world of the show’s protagonist, Shinji Ikari. There are varied real-world reasons for
this. One was that the budget for the
show had been expended mostly on large robot battles (more difficult /
expensive to animate), leaving the few ending episodes with almost no
funds. Two was that production
scheduling was way behind. Hidenori
Matsubara, who was a key animator on the show, talked a lot about how chaotic
making the show was at Anime USA 2002.
Everything was rushed, no one seemed to be in charge, episode directors
were passing things on without checking them very carefully. It was all about just getting the episodes
together in time for airing the episode on television.
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The
above description may make the ending of the show sound like a total train
wreck. Fans are very split on how they
feel about the end of the TV series.
Some find it to be completely unintelligible. It is static shots, lots of voice-over,
montage. It is meant to represent what
is happening inside Shinji’s mind. The
external world is ending around him, and Shinji is grappling with his identity
and choosing whether to live or become part of the Human Instrumentality
Project (this is pretty complicated, but it is essentially where all humans
become one – a sort of evolution of the species). It’s akin to Hamlet’s “to be or not
to be” dilemma. Human existence can be
very painful (especially to Shinji, as his mother is dead, his father is a
nightmare, and he’s going through adolescence – oh, and the world is ending and
he’s supposed to be one of four people working to save it … no pressure). Some fans see the ending from the perspective
of what was happening at Gainax and think the ending is an unsatisfying
rush-job. I fall into the camp of fans
that see the end as brilliant. It takes
a truly modernist show about human identity and attempting to connect to others
in a rapidly changing world and crushes it into post-modern futility (no one
will ever know anyone, perhaps even oneself, in the age of the possibility of
the world ending due to man’s “triumph” over nature). I find the ending deeply meaningful. “Not in a bang but a whisper.” That this originated from Japan makes it all the more postmodern.
But
there was a lot of outcry from fans saying they hated the ending. Some even sent Anno death threats. But the popularity of the show exploded,
making Gainax flush with money. So
flushed that they committed tax fraud, resulting in two of Gainax’s members
being put in jail in 1999. The amount of
marketing tied to the show is ridiculous (from models to video games to ice trays to chopsticks to toilet paper to luggage to soccer balls to branded coffee to vibrators – there is no shame for Gainax). But, it doesn’t end there for Eva.
How
I saw the series originally was by watching VHS videotapes. I had a friend who worked in the same mall as
the movie theater I was working in, and since we had a few otaku running around
(most notably Alex [Cujo], who let me borrow his Dragonball Z), we would trade tapes. The VHS tapes were released in the US by a
company called ADV Films, between August 1996 through July 1998. I was watching in 2000. For fans of anime today, please note how long
it took for a 26-episode series to be distributed. And, there were two episodes on each tape. Go kiss your full series thinpaks now, or
write Crunchyroll fan mail.
Laserdiscs
came out very slowly and incompletely (eps 1-4 in May 1997 and 5-8 in May
1998). Why a year in between? Why not the whole series? I don’t know.
These were also done by ADV.
Laserdisc as a medium really never quite took off in the US and was
pretty much defunct by 1990, so that could be a reason. The majority of video machines in the US went
from VHS to DVD, most completely skipping LD.
DVDs
of the show started coming out in 2000.
For those, like me, who started to collect the series, I bought (which
was commonplace at the time) the first volume with the art box (see above). The last volume (8) came out mid-2001, so a
quicker release succession for the DVDs than the VHS tapes. There really isn’t much difference from the
VHS tapes to the DVDs. However, here’s
where things start to go awry. After the
entire series came out, in 2004, there were two new releases: Resurrection
and Genesis Reborn. Resurrection
was supposedly the director’s cut of episodes 21-23, and Genesis Reborn was the director’s cut of
episodes 24-26. Each, like the original
volumes, was $30. To quote Paul Fargo’s review
for Anime News Network, “Adding about five to ten minutes to each episode'srunning time, the new footage doesn't provide any staggering revelations on itsown, but instead serves to emphasize and clarify points that weren't exploredto their fullest in the original television run of the series. Characterdevelopment is expanded, some of the more vital scenes are extended, and theshow is given a generally improved and streamlined feel. Alongside the newscenes, there are also several minutes of redone animation for existing scenes,which serves to cover up moments of previously off-model and poor quality work.Again, it's nothing Evangelion couldn't live without, but it certainly createsan improved viewing experience.” I, like
a dutiful fan, bought both, but then sold them once I found out that they would
be on the thinpak Perfect Collection. I
have since reacquired both. Genesis
Reborn is more egregious. They only
have the DC of episode 24. There is no
new information for 25-26.
So,
the director’s cuts just adds some information.
They do not change the ending but more embellish what was already there
with content that previously was part of the original Japanese TV broadcast. In a sense, more complete.
So
far, the only thing skewed is the timeline for US release. The Japanese audience would have seen the
original content anyway. What then
happened is the Japanese versions of episodes 25 and 26 were re-directed. The redirection of those episodes is what
becomes The End of Evangelion (1997,
released in the US by Manga Video in 2002).
Also released at the same time is Death
and Rebirth (again, 1997,
released in the US by Manga Video in 2002).
To quote from EvaGeeks.org, “Evangelion:
Death is a 70 minute long recap of the first 24 episodes of the Neon
Genesis Evangelion TV Series, directed by Masayuki,
in the format of a string quartet, each focusing on one of four characters:
Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Kaworu.” There’s
no new material here – it is just previous content re-edited and
reordered. Rebirth is “the first 25 minutes of The End of Evangelion. Originally
planned to be the whole film but was incomplete.” So, if you bought both together, since they
were released within two months of each other in 2002, then you were buying
something you pretty much already had if you bought the series and End of Evangelion. Death and
Rebirth is essentially a $30 rip off.
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The End of Evangelion
is something new for US audiences that did not see the Japanese reworks of
episodes 25 and 26. It is a completely different ending. For those
fans that had been clamoring for a knock-down, drag-out fight between the
Angels and the Evas, this was what they wanted to see. The internal workings of Shinji are discarded
for all-out violence. It appears as if
Shinji and Asuka are the only two humans left, as the Human Instrumentality
Project is realized by Rei melding with Adam and Lilith. While this looks incredibly bleak, the ending
of the series, with Shinji surrounded by everyone, clapping and saying
“Congratulations,” is far more positive and uplifting.
The
people who like the ending of the series tend not to like The End of Evangelion and vice versa, though it is possible to see
them both complimenting each other (Shinji could still go through the internal
conflict we see in the series in End,
we just don’t see it), and the dream-like quality of the end of the series may
just be a continuation of Shinji’s wish for the future, with the reality being
on the beach with Asuka. So, it is
possible to like either or like both.
Anyone who likes neither … um, why are you bothering to watch
anyway? That’s a long road to travel if
you don’t like the premise, characters and so on.
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But
now, there is yet another version of
the same show. It is called the Rebuild of Evangelion. It is supposed to have four parts. As of now, three have been completed and
released:
·
Evangelion: You Are (Not) Alone
(2007)
·
Evangelion: You Can (Not) Advance
(2009)· Evangelion: You Can (Not) Redo (2012)
The
fourth is Evangelion: Final and does not have a production or
release date. It is an “alternate
retelling” of the original series. The
last film is supposed to be an “alternate ending,” supposedly to the storyline
of the rebuild and not of the original series.
Even
though I’m a fan, when I initially heard about this project, I was
pessimistic. There’s really no loose
ends that need to be tied up. There’s
already two ending to the same story.
What is to be gained by revisiting?
Do we need an alternate version?
But seeing almost everyone from the original project returned seemed to
indicate that there was enough interest from the creative team to take up the
reins. Maybe it would be good?
And
when I saw the first one, I was won over, if only slightly. The production value was very good. Battle sequences were exciting and really
popped. What I couldn’t understand was
what Mari was doing in the movie. What
did she add besides fan service, if even that?
A new series of models and figures to sell? This is where I start to gravitate towards
Anno being a whore. There is also more
of Kaworu in the rebuild. Why? Again, I don’t know. Where he comes in during the original series
makes sense. Why he’s in from the
beginning in the rebuild is puzzling.
Again, fan service? So I can hear
everyone squee when he’s on screen?
That’s irritating. Overall, the
first and second parts of the rebuild just looked glossier, shinier, and
sounded louder. Is that what a decade of
all these creative people are bringing to the table?
It
wasn’t until I saw the third part at Otakon 2013 that I started to feel pretty
disenchanted. Almost nothing that was
happeneing at the end of 2.0 is in 3.0, and we’ve taken a jump 14 years into
the future for some reason that completely escapes me. NERV has split in two with Gendo, Fuyutsuki,
Rei and Kaworu with the original NERV and Misato, Ritsuko, Asuka and Mari in
something called Wille, and NERV and Wille are fighting each other. Aside from fighting over I don’t know what
anymore and a lot of procedural start and service sequences for the EVAs,
there’s really nothing here to anchor to.
The humanity of the original series is completely drained.
Why?
What
is the fucking point? Why was this so
necessary to be made? There was a
proposed sequel to Casablanca where
Captain Renault and Rick go fight on the side of the resistance in Algeria or
Libya, but they didn’t do it. Just
because you can do something doesn’t
mean you should do something. I can see why we had End of Evangelion. But why
take these characters and exploit them like this? If you wanted to tell a different story, then
do it. But don’t rape these characters
and punish them just because a large number of people liked them. Anno did some live action films (Cutie Honey [2004], Ritual [2000] and Love and
Pop [1998]) and is the voice actor for the main character in Hayao
Miyazaki’s final film The Wind Rises
(2013). It isn't like he has nothing else to do. Gainax has Gurren Lagan and other shows. Can't we just leave this one alone?
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