The End of Evangelion - Analysis

[00:00] so i've watched the final two episodes

[00:02] of neon genesis evangelion as well as

[00:04] the end of evangelion and i have

[00:08] thoughts

[00:09] and feelings and

[00:12] ideas

[00:13] and i want to share them with you and

[00:15] what you're about to see is an excerpt

[00:17] from my weekly show story secrets that i

[00:20] record every week for my patrons if you

[00:23] would like to get access to the full

[00:25] show take a look at patreon.com father

[00:29] roderick i would love it if you could

[00:30] join my patreon community

[00:36] [Music]

[00:49] in this episode i want to talk about my

[00:51] first impressions and it's just first

[00:53] impressions i'm not at the point yet

[00:54] where i would dare to give an analysis

[00:57] and an explanation of the finale of this

[01:00] story but i want to

[01:02] tell you

[01:03] what my first thoughts are after having

[01:06] seen the two last episodes of the

[01:08] television series

[01:10] and then also the two other episodes

[01:12] that were made a year later after the

[01:15] television series finale got a lot of

[01:18] backlash from from the fans at the time

[01:21] so they retold the story of what happens

[01:24] at the end

[01:25] of of uh

[01:27] shinji's journey you could say

[01:30] but this time from another perspective

[01:32] and and from a different angle and also

[01:34] with changes and it's fascinating uh to

[01:39] juxtapose these two to compare them to

[01:41] one another

[01:42] and it also had a huge impact on me

[01:45] because i was expecting certain things

[01:48] to happen and i was at first utterly

[01:50] confused and i have had a lot of

[01:52] emotions while watching both the ending

[01:54] of the television series and also

[01:56] the end of evangelion that's the name

[01:59] the overall title for these two

[02:01] kind of remake

[02:03] remade episodes

[02:05] um

[02:06] and and that that kind of wraps up that

[02:08] first part of the story because of

[02:09] course the manga continues the story and

[02:12] there are also a few other

[02:14] made for tv

[02:16] uh

[02:16] movies

[02:17] that have come out afterwards which i

[02:19] haven't seen yet but i'll get to that at

[02:21] a later point

[02:22] so that's what i would want to do first

[02:24] give you my overall

[02:27] sentiment and my first thoughts about

[02:29] the way this story

[02:31] uh ends and and where everything that

[02:34] i've been studying for so many months

[02:36] actually led to

[02:37] um and and and then what i want to do

[02:40] next time

[02:41] is

[02:42] to go back and re-watch now that i know

[02:44] how the story is ending

[02:47] i want to go

[02:48] back to the first episode and do a deep

[02:51] dive analysis of everything

[02:54] that i now can see in that first episode

[02:57] and then the second and the third we'll

[02:59] we'll be busy for a while

[03:01] that i've met that i missed because i

[03:03] didn't know where the story went i

[03:04] didn't know the full background this is

[03:06] one of those genius stories that

[03:09] it really pays off to go back after

[03:11] you've seen how it ends

[03:13] it's kind of

[03:14] a little bit with you know i'm a big

[03:16] star wars fan with star wars as well

[03:18] what they do now is to enhance the

[03:20] movies that we already know

[03:22] by telling the backstory so we've seen

[03:25] the story of obi-wan kenobi and now that

[03:28] we know how he spent his time on

[03:30] tatooine between the prequels and a new

[03:33] hope

[03:34] that when you now re-watch a new hope

[03:37] that character all of a sudden has way

[03:39] more depth than some of the things

[03:41] things that he says

[03:42] carry much more weight than they had

[03:45] when that backstory wasn't there and so

[03:48] i love that when when when the story has

[03:50] so many layers and and so many layers

[03:52] are added to that story that it makes

[03:54] you want to go back and re-evaluate what

[03:56] you thought you knew that for me is

[03:59] is part of the attraction of neon

[04:00] evangelion

[04:02] or neon genesis evangelion so that's

[04:05] what we're going to do

[04:07] and then every week when i do a deep

[04:08] dive per episode i will also create a

[04:11] short tic talk video where i just take

[04:13] one highlight of of that episode or i

[04:16] will just probably repackage it or

[04:18] re-record it um

[04:20] but as you know the tick tocks are only

[04:23] a few minutes you know it's two three

[04:24] minutes what i do on tick tock is

[04:26] usually considered to be very long

[04:28] because it's a short attention span type

[04:30] of medium but i hope that people are are

[04:34] are intrigued by what they see on tick

[04:36] tock so that they come over and if they

[04:38] become a patron they can also join you

[04:40] as an audience and listen to these shows

[04:42] what i love about this story is that it

[04:45] is not just

[04:46] a story about you know huge mega robots

[04:50] fighting each other uh what

[04:53] the the creators wanted to do was to set

[04:55] it apart from

[04:58] series that do that that

[05:00] you know are about these big

[05:02] uh mech robots fighting and battling

[05:05] each other they wanted to give this

[05:07] story

[05:08] um more of a soul maybe even literally

[05:11] in a certain way

[05:12] and that is why from the beginning we

[05:14] follow the pilots of those big you know

[05:18] robots or whatever creatures they are

[05:20] and we get to know a little bit of their

[05:22] backstory and the series constantly

[05:25] switches between the very mundane

[05:28] day-to-day life of these kids because

[05:30] they're all like 13 14 years old um

[05:34] trying to deal with school with you know

[05:36] their burgeoning emotions and going

[05:38] through puberty and whatnot so it

[05:41] from on the one hand this looks like a

[05:43] very kind of common

[05:45] japanese slice of life type of anime

[05:48] and then

[05:49] there are these big dramatic fighting

[05:52] scenes this overall

[05:54] huge mythology

[05:56] that

[05:57] shows you little pieces of what's going

[06:01] on but never reveals the full truth and

[06:04] and even at points during the story

[06:07] tries to

[06:08] kind of make you think

[06:10] about about things in a certain way and

[06:11] only to completely turn that up upside

[06:14] down later on when you realize what is

[06:16] truly going on and this is not just true

[06:18] for us as an audience but it's also true

[06:20] for a lot of the main characters who

[06:22] have actually no idea what they are

[06:24] involved in

[06:26] and then there is a third layer so

[06:28] you've got the slice of life stuff

[06:30] you've got the the big

[06:32] mythological apocalyptic battle going on

[06:35] and then there is the inner journey

[06:38] there is a

[06:39] what connects these two stories is what

[06:41] happens on the inside

[06:44] of the main characters and more

[06:45] particularly of shinji who is the the

[06:49] main the main character i wouldn't say

[06:50] the hero of the story because he's he

[06:52] definitely is not a hero and doesn't see

[06:55] himself as a hero but he's a protagonist

[06:57] and

[06:59] because of this inner story

[07:02] which also is about a battle but it's

[07:04] not a battle with forces from the

[07:06] outside it's a battle an inside battle

[07:09] between the good and evil inside of

[07:11] every one of us

[07:13] with with trauma and hurt and fear and

[07:16] everything that holds us back and then

[07:18] at the same time this longing for

[07:20] liberation for healing for you know

[07:23] something else

[07:24] and

[07:26] because you have that external story of

[07:28] a battle and you've got that internal

[07:30] story and it is at the same time

[07:32] about these regular kids that a lot of

[07:35] us can identify with because we've all

[07:37] been you know at that age 13 14 years

[07:39] old so we do recognize a lot of

[07:41] their emotions and the conflicts and the

[07:43] little things that make life very hard

[07:44] at that age

[07:47] but

[07:49] what i believe

[07:50] is so genius about this story is that

[07:52] ultimately the bigger story of the big

[07:56] outside external battle

[07:58] is

[08:00] i think a metaphor of the inner battle

[08:02] and that

[08:03] brings me to the last two episodes of

[08:05] the television series and why they are

[08:08] so incredibly good

[08:10] um

[08:11] and i know that this is

[08:14] this is kind of uh

[08:16] a solitary position not many people

[08:18] actually liked the ending of the

[08:21] television series even the majority of

[08:23] the people that follow me on tik tok and

[08:24] there are hundreds of thousands of them

[08:27] most of them agree that the way the

[08:29] television show ends is rubbish and if

[08:32] you really want to get a good experience

[08:34] of the ending of the story you have to

[08:35] watch the end of evangelion i

[08:38] disagree and i i really want to to

[08:43] stress

[08:44] how much these last two episodes first

[08:47] of all follow from the entire story that

[08:50] that came before it

[08:52] and then secondly are

[08:54] told in a way that is so

[08:57] creative and innovative

[08:59] and and touch upon such deep layers that

[09:03] that that are so relatable

[09:06] that i actually believe that the way the

[09:08] television show ended is far superior

[09:11] to the way they wrap up the story in the

[09:13] end of evangelion

[09:15] it's it's for me it's no doubt no

[09:17] discussion possible the television show

[09:20] ending

[09:21] is the ending that this story needed

[09:23] and yes

[09:24] the movie gives a lot of context and

[09:27] gives you a lot of like oh so what's

[09:29] going on

[09:31] what we didn't see in the television

[09:33] show

[09:34] but it's only information it doesn't for

[09:37] me it doesn't go to the core of what

[09:39] this story is about which is this inner

[09:41] conflict and so the last two episodes of

[09:43] the series are almost entirely taking

[09:46] place inside the minds

[09:49] of the main protagonists especially

[09:52] shinji but also to a lesser extent asuka

[09:55] and and and rey

[09:57] um

[09:58] and

[10:00] it's very atypical now one of the kind

[10:03] of pragmatic reasons for these final two

[10:06] episodes to be so different also

[10:08] stylistically

[10:10] is that they actually ran out of time

[10:12] and they ran out of resources

[10:14] the whole

[10:16] series was made under extreme duress it

[10:20] was very very difficult

[10:22] to get these episodes done in time

[10:25] especially getting the story started

[10:27] took months and months of preparation i

[10:29] think the first episode it took them six

[10:32] months to write it and to prepare for it

[10:34] and so they were in a crunch time wise

[10:37] they also were in a crunch budget-wise

[10:40] there was almost no money left and this

[10:42] is still an anime from the time that

[10:43] everything was hand-drawn and so

[10:46] yes of course there are a few i think

[10:48] computer graphics involved but still

[10:52] every

[10:53] second

[10:54] that you see consists of 24 individual

[10:57] frames you know that's how that's how uh

[11:00] uh animation works or in this case in

[11:03] anime oftentimes much less frames and

[11:06] that's one of the ways that anime has

[11:08] such a distinct

[11:09] style it's oftentimes because they use

[11:11] one cell sometimes for several seconds

[11:14] and they will just change the or move

[11:16] the background

[11:18] but but the rest of the image is static

[11:20] that's why

[11:21] everything is so stylized and and and

[11:24] oftentimes you're looking at a scene for

[11:26] instance when they go down to the the

[11:28] city below the surface of tokyo three

[11:31] and the only thing that moves is the

[11:33] background it's it's the the elevator

[11:36] but the rest is static it was just a

[11:38] very pragmatic way of saving money

[11:40] because

[11:40] then you don't have to draw all these

[11:43] different

[11:44] you know cells you can just use one

[11:46] drawing and then just

[11:47] have the background move you just make a

[11:49] bigger background

[11:50] so what was

[11:52] what was

[11:53] uh

[11:54] conceived as a as a way to cut the

[11:57] budget it was something that was that

[11:59] made also in a certain way the look that

[12:02] we associate so much with anime

[12:04] and

[12:05] the problem was that for the last two

[12:08] episodes of the television series they

[12:10] were under contract

[12:11] they didn't even have the money the

[12:13] budget to do like super low level

[12:17] cell animation

[12:19] so even with the tricks that they used

[12:21] in in previous episodes they weren't

[12:22] able to get to the end of the story and

[12:24] so that's why they they had to resort

[12:27] to even

[12:29] more mundane sources of imagery and

[12:31] that's why in this these two last

[12:34] episodes you will also see real footage

[12:36] like just stock footage from from people

[12:39] from trains from whatever and you see

[12:41] sketches you see pencil sketches

[12:44] they reuse almost everything that they

[12:47] created in the past including their

[12:49] their their pencil sketches to

[12:53] tell that story

[12:54] uh um of what happens on the inside of

[12:58] of shinji's mind

[13:00] so it's super abstract and i can i can

[13:02] totally

[13:03] see why that is jarring to a lot of

[13:06] people but what i think is so genius is

[13:08] that despite those constraints despite

[13:10] that crunch

[13:12] it still does something extraordinary

[13:15] because the

[13:17] the journey of

[13:18] shinji what he goes through what he

[13:22] starts to realize over time

[13:25] is is so

[13:26] deep and so true and the reason i think

[13:29] that it has such an emotional impact at

[13:31] least on me

[13:32] is that this is actually

[13:34] based on

[13:36] on uh hideako anno's

[13:38] own experiences

[13:40] he has often

[13:42] said in interviews that he suffers from

[13:45] depression and that before he started to

[13:47] make neon genesis evangelion he had

[13:51] had a period of time several years where

[13:54] he was in a deep depression

[13:56] and then someone

[13:58] gave him

[13:59] a book

[14:00] about psychology i'm not exactly sure

[14:02] which book it was

[14:04] but but during his depression he started

[14:05] to read that book and to him it was a

[14:07] revelation

[14:08] that psychology book helped him

[14:11] to understand what was going on

[14:14] why he was suffering from depression

[14:16] what the choices were

[14:19] that he needed to make and a lot of what

[14:22] you see in shinji's character and that

[14:24] also is sometimes grating and irritating

[14:26] is like he's always

[14:28] crying always whining complaining always

[14:32] blaming everyone around him

[14:34] but he's afraid to look inside so he he

[14:37] is constantly on the run

[14:39] he he wants to hide between other people

[14:42] and then when other people don't help

[14:43] him he feels even more powerless very

[14:46] very similar i think to what many people

[14:49] who suffer from depression also

[14:50] experience this is this this you're

[14:53] closed up from the world it seems like

[14:55] you're completely isolated no one can

[14:57] help you and you can't help yourself

[14:59] so

[15:00] there doesn't seem to be an exit and

[15:03] having more insight in

[15:05] how your brain works

[15:07] how your emotions are linked to neural

[15:10] pathways and how trauma can can make

[15:14] certain connections in your brain that

[15:16] are not healthy but you keep

[15:19] repeating the patterns and so that

[15:21] always kind of repeats and even

[15:23] strengthens

[15:24] the the depressed feelings

[15:27] once you start to understand how that

[15:28] works you can also

[15:30] maybe

[15:31] discover a way out

[15:34] and that is what is happening in these

[15:36] last two episodes where shinji who has

[15:39] gone through so much emotional trauma in

[15:41] his early years he lost his mom he has a

[15:45] horrible father again not spoiler

[15:47] because it's it's in the first episode

[15:50] his father is a horrible person

[15:53] um

[15:54] he he

[15:56] every time

[15:58] that he fights these

[16:00] big these angels these these aggressive

[16:03] monsters

[16:04] it's it's a reflection of what's

[16:06] happening inside of him he feels like

[16:08] he's he's in a fight with with forces

[16:10] that he can't understand that seem to

[16:12] come back all the time and there's

[16:14] there's no end to it and if you've

[16:16] defeated one then there is another one

[16:17] that pops up just like in depression you

[16:19] may sometimes have that feeling that no

[16:21] matter what you do no matter how

[16:23] much you try to resist

[16:25] it comes back in waves and then it takes

[16:28] you back into that darkness and into

[16:29] that solitude

[16:32] and and there seems to be no victory

[16:34] possible

[16:35] until

[16:36] you start to realize

[16:38] that

[16:40] you are the one

[16:41] that can make a change

[16:43] that

[16:44] healing has to come from

[16:46] the inside yes with maybe outside help

[16:50] and with people that explain to you or a

[16:52] book you know what that can tell you

[16:54] this is how it works

[16:56] you have to do the work there's no one

[16:57] who can do it for you you can't take a

[16:59] pill against depression you can take

[17:02] medication to suppress the symptoms

[17:05] but the the the origin

[17:08] of what causes this inner darkness that

[17:10] is something that's a fight you have to

[17:12] fight yourself

[17:13] that i think when i'm not a psychologist

[17:16] but this is what i gather from from the

[17:19] story this is what

[17:20] uh idiacoano wanted to tell

[17:24] the this is it's about his own battle

[17:26] and his own efforts to overcome

[17:29] this this isolation by opening up to the

[17:32] people and by accepting that life is

[17:36] fundamentally broken

[17:37] that that it's not you know it's no use

[17:41] to run away from pain and suffering like

[17:43] we all do but

[17:46] people that suffer from depression do it

[17:48] maybe to the extreme

[17:49] um but that the the the only way to to

[17:53] get out of that darkness is to accept

[17:56] that even though you may step into the

[17:58] light it's not all going to be it's not

[18:00] going to be like heaven there's still

[18:01] going to be pain and violence and

[18:03] suffering

[18:04] but you have to grow stronger you have

[18:06] to make the deliberate decision that you

[18:08] want to live

[18:09] and that you are worth

[18:11] living

[18:13] and that despite suffering you still

[18:16] have value

[18:18] and and so

[18:19] that's a journey that i think is is

[18:21] explained very well in these last two

[18:23] episodes and and for me that was the

[18:25] core of the story so i was so

[18:28] uh

[18:29] i was so fascinated that they that they

[18:31] dared to tell that part of the story and

[18:34] forego

[18:36] the whole you know bigger mythology

[18:38] which brings me to the to the end of

[18:40] evangelion which is which is the movie

[18:43] where in in the

[18:45] well these two more cinematic

[18:48] versions

[18:49] of this ending they show what happened

[18:51] at the same time in the outside world

[18:54] and so

[18:56] yeah that's fascinating that's

[18:58] really riveting and it's it's also very

[19:01] shocking because that that battle also

[19:03] culminates in a lot of violence and

[19:06] there were times there was like oh my

[19:07] gosh i can't believe they i can't

[19:10] believe they put this in the movie uh

[19:12] there was this infamous scene in in the

[19:14] hospital that a lot of people on tik tok

[19:16] wanted me to comment upon

[19:17] um

[19:19] and and that's just part of the

[19:22] tragic decisions that shinji takes over

[19:25] and over again

[19:27] and

[19:28] it's just

[19:29] minor tragedy compared to the

[19:32] mass murder that takes place in that

[19:34] final episode it's me it's really

[19:36] gruesome i want to warn you that this is

[19:39] unlike anything you've seen in the

[19:40] television series um and yet

[19:43] it's kind of a logical conclusion of

[19:45] that story it's it is an apocalyptic

[19:47] battle

[19:49] but what is the big

[19:51] shocker

[19:52] of the end of evangelion is not

[19:55] the scope of that final battle

[19:59] but it is that in that movie shinji

[20:02] takes

[20:03] different

[20:05] decisions

[20:06] instead of

[20:08] healing

[20:09] he is actually getting worse

[20:12] and so it's almost like a a mirror image

[20:16] of the end of the television series

[20:18] it's like the

[20:21] you know that in in in stranger things

[20:22] you've got the the regular world and

[20:24] then you've got the

[20:26] you know how do they call it the the

[20:27] underworld or the the upside down and

[20:30] and this is what

[20:31] what gave me such a whiplash when when

[20:34] watching the end of evangelion is like

[20:36] but where where is the story that they

[20:38] were telling in the last two television

[20:40] episodes this is the opposite

[20:43] and and it's only after seeing the whole

[20:45] thing that i started to wonder well

[20:47] maybe that's on purpose as well maybe

[20:49] that is what they wanted to do

[20:51] to tell

[20:53] two possible endings

[20:55] which then

[20:56] makes the end of evangelion very

[20:59] intriguing and definitely worth

[21:02] re-exploring but and i'm going to wrap

[21:05] things up and then i'm going into

[21:06] spoiler territory but my final thoughts

[21:10] about the end of evangelion is

[21:13] that

[21:14] it it baffled me i was watching and

[21:17] again i've studied this series i thought

[21:20] i knew what was going on

[21:22] and then i i'm just there were so many

[21:24] moments during that movie that i was

[21:26] like what is happening what what am i

[21:29] watching there are like minute long

[21:31] sequences where i'm completely

[21:34] out of

[21:35] any clue as to why that is included i

[21:38] there are hints

[21:40] that there is a rhyme and reason to all

[21:41] that

[21:42] but at the same time it goes so fast and

[21:44] there's so much happening that i just

[21:46] don't have the time to to think about it

[21:48] and so at the end of that movie i was

[21:50] exhausted

[21:52] i was emotionally intellectually

[21:54] completely exhausted i was like

[21:56] oh my goodness i have to re-watch this

[21:59] multiple times and i probably will have

[22:01] to do a lot of research

[22:03] in order to fully understand why they

[22:06] told the story this way and why

[22:09] this story this version of the story is

[22:11] so different and in many ways

[22:15] opposite to what they showed at the end

[22:17] of the television series

[22:19] so

[22:21] i i had so many emotions there was also

[22:25] a lot of tragedy

[22:26] in the end of evangelion there are

[22:28] moments where you're like

[22:30] no

[22:31] no they they ju they didn't do

[22:34] really

[22:38] there were there were just times that

[22:39] where i was just

[22:41] man

[22:43] don't tell this i don't want to see this

[22:45] story it's just too it's too emotional

[22:48] it's too hard it's too painful

[22:51] and you know what that's probably again

[22:53] on purpose they want us to feel like

[22:56] that this is why this series is so good

[22:58] it makes us feel so much

[23:00] it makes us emote and and reflect and

[23:04] and relate

[23:06] to what we see and there are not many

[23:09] series or many movies

[23:11] that are able to do that because we're

[23:14] so engulfed with media with stories and

[23:17] a lot of it is

[23:19] forgettable

[23:20] there's so many stories where like yeah

[23:22] that's that's a good popcorn movie i had

[23:24] a good time and then you asked me a week

[23:25] later what was the movie about uh yes

[23:27] something with dinosaurs i i don't know

[23:29] about the rest with neon genesis

[23:31] evangelion i mean i can tell you uh for

[23:35] hours

[23:36] what

[23:37] which moments struck me and what made me

[23:40] think and what i discovered and there's

[23:42] there's not a single day that i'm not

[23:44] thinking about the meaning of neon even

[23:47] uh neon genesis evangelion and it's not

[23:50] just because i i make stuff for tic toc

[23:53] it's just because this story is so good

[23:54] and i want to re-watch it and you know

[23:57] well that's why i'm doing this show

[23:59] that's why i'm sharing that with you

[24:00] knowing very well that not everyone will

[24:02] be as passionate about this series but i

[24:05] know that there are

[24:06] enough of you that that appreciate this

[24:09] and maybe even years later some of you

[24:11] may listen to this years after i've

[24:13] recorded this and still hopefully get

[24:15] some value out of it

[24:22] [Music]