X-Nightcrawler
09-29-2005, 07:32 PM
So You Still Don't Get "Neon Genesis Evangelion"? -- The Ultimate Plot Guide.
Intro.
Heya there schmoes. I have seen in my days here in Arrow in the Head that some of you schmoes are interested in anime. And most of these also liked the landmark "Neon Genesis Evangelion". This series is commonly known for being very confusing, with an ultra complex and intricate plot that's hard to figure out without watching every second of the show and movies for hundreds of hours straight. Well, since I watch every second of the show and the movies for hundreds of hours straight, I decided to write a (hopefully) easy-to-get plot guide for all of you confused fans.
Disclaimer.
None of this information is official, it's all my personal interpretation. You can be sure though, I'm a total genius. Have in mind that I won’t go too deep on obvious things (“About Asuka, her head is red”). Another thing I want to mention is that this guide WILL include SPOILERS so beware.
Let us begin.
What is "Neon Genesis Evangelion"?
"Neon Genesis Evangelion" ("New Beginning Evangelion" or directly translated from japenese “Shin Seiki Evangelion”, “New Century Evangelion”) is a 26 episode long anime series released in Japan back in 1995 by creator Hideaki Anno. It tells the story of a post apocalyptic earth that is being attacked by extraterrestrial forces called "Angels". Shinji Ikari, a 14 year old arrives at Neo-Tokyo 3 in the year 2015 after being summoned by his neglectful father, who is the leader of the government branch, NERV. Upon arriving to NERV (German for "nerve") Shinji is forced to pilot huge biomechanical battle suits (called "Evangelions") engineered and created by men as the only means to battle the Angels. As simple as it might sound, that's not the 1% of it.
The final two episodes of the series (entitled "25: Do You Love Me?" and "26: Take Care Of Yourself") were deemed a huge disappointment by the fans of the series. This resulted in death threats to the creator (those wacky Japanese). Anno wrote and directed two movies two years later, "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End Of Evangelion". These are the real conclusion to the series. Now, enough history lessons, let's get down to business.
Evangelion 101.
First, Second and Third Impacts.
"Impact" is a word you'll hear a lot while watching the show, what are these impacts? The impacts are, more than anything, disasters. Any disaster big enough to obliterate a large amount of life forms on the planet is called an impact. The "First Impact" is the meteor that destroyed dinosaurs. The "Second Impact" creates the beginning of the show. The "Third Impact" is the one that ends it.
Second Impact.
In the year 2000, a meteorite fell on the Antarctica. This meteorite shook the earth in a way that it made the ice caps melt, causing huge floods all over the world, killing most of human kind. An investigation group was sent to the debris site to find out what had hit. Turns out that this meteorite was everything but. This meteorite was the first angel, Adam. This investigation group did 'something' to the angel and caused it to spread its wings and kill everyone there. The only survivor was an 11 year old girl called Misato Katsuragi. After this, Adam reverted itself to an embryonic estate and disappeared.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Juzzam/NGEAngels/adam1.jpg
Adam.
Third Impact
The third impact is the final genesis for mankind. A new beginning for everything. I will return to this subject when I get to "The End Of Evangelion".
Adam And Eve
As all of you know, Adam and Eve are the parents of men, the source of all life. In the Evangelion universe, humankind's 'primordial soup' is called LCL (Link Connection Liquid). But this LCL is also the multifunctional and universal fluid in the show. It has many uses:
It’s the liquid that fills the Evangelion’s entry plug that oxygenates the blood instantly to be able to breathe.
It’s the connective fluid that allows the kid’s minds to the Evangelion’s (will get deeper into this later).
It’s mankind’s primordial soup. Lillith weeps it.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Juzzam/NGEAngels/lilith2.jpg
Lillith/Eve.
The Angels
What are the angels? After so many years of evolution, mankind has topped its evolutionary potential and has to begin again. For this to happen, the show tells us that an angel must come in contact with Adam. When this happens, the “Human Instrumentality Project” (HIP) (again, I’ll go deeper into it when I go into “The End Of Evangelion”). However, note that this isn’t true, not even in the Eva-verse, this is part of a plot twist. But what are the angels? They are an alternate version of humankind. See, Bible Says: Eve ate a forbidden fruit and was expelled from Paradise. That’s when she and Adam created mankind. The Eva-verse tells this story as follows. The two first life forms were Adam and Lillith/Eve. The latter ate two different fruits (notice that ‘ate’ is just a way to put it):
The Fruit Of Life. When this fruit was ‘eaten’, the angels were created.
The Fruit Of Wisdom. When this fruit was ‘eaten’, Lilim (humankind) was created.
But why the hell would the contact of an angel and Lillith make the HIP? Why wouldn’t a human work? Well because neither work. In order for HIP to begin, it’s Adam and Lillith who must come in contact with each other. This happens in EoE. So that’s basically the explanation of Angels. Moving on . . .
The Evangelions
Also called “Multi-Purpose Humanoid Fighting Machine”, Evangelions are the central point of the Eva-verse. These huge battle-suits are created by men “at men’s own form” and designed for only one purpose: Battling the angels, keeping them away from reaching Lillith (remember how everyone thought that if an angel and Lillith came together it’s game over?). These mechas are piloted with telepathic waves that travel from the pilot’s mind, through the LCL in the entry plug, to the Eva’s mind. This is called Synching (as in synchronization). You’ll see the kid’s having synchronization tests during the entire series.
There are 13 Evangelions:
Unit 00 – Color: Orange (Eps 1-10) Blue (Eps 11-23) – Prototype.
Unit 01 - Color: Purple – Test Type.
Unit 02 - Color: Red – Production Type.
Unit 03 - Color: Black – Production Type.
Unit 04 - Color: White – Experimental S2. (not seen in series).
Units 05-13 Color: White – Mass Production. (EoE only).
The Secret Of The Evangelions
There’s something inside the Evas that NERV isn’t telling the children. What is it? Well, what happens is that the Evangelions are basically human beings. What makes us human? Our soul. Evangelions have souls. But wait, man-engineered souls? No way, that can’t happen. The souls in the Evas belong to women close to the chosen pilots, this way synchronization will be easier. This isn’t revealed clearly until EoE but by that point, it’s clear whose soul in enclosed in every Evangelion. They are as follows.
Unit 00 – Naoko Akagi
Unit 01 - Yui Ikari
Unit 02 - Zeppelin Langley
Unit 03 - *unknown name* Suzahara (Toji’s sister)
Unit 04 - Tabris/Kaoru
Units 05-13 Tabris/Kaoru
Some of these are pretty crazy speculation from myself (not really, only 03’s is speculation) but they make sense, again, because I’m a total genius. Going deeper into this . . .
Unit 00 – Naoko Akagi is Ritsuko’s mother. After completing the programming of the 3 MAGI super computers, around 2004, she killed Rei Ayanami I (more intricacies I’ll delve on later) and the commited suicide. Her soul was transferred to the first completed Evangelion. Unit 00. I’m basing this on the flashback scene of Unit 00’s activation where it almost kills Rei and tries to hurt Gendo Ikari. Who hates both Rei and Gendo? No one other than Naoko. But why can Rei synch with Naoko? Twist. Deeper into this when I go through “Rei/Kaoru”.
Unit 01 - Yui Ikari is Shinji’s mother. She died and disappeared during an activation test of Unit 01. Why they would synch is obvious.
Unit 02 - Zeppelin Langley, Asuka’s mother. She was committed to a mental institution after she began thinking a small doll (which you see in episode 24) was actually her daughter. She killed herself when Asuka was still a kid.
Unit 03 - Toji’s sister was my huge guess. But she’s the only woman who had an accident during the show that is close to Toji, the chosen fourth child.
Unit 04 - Kaoru is the soul used in the S2 engineered Evangelions. Basing this on EoE, the shot when the entry plug is screwed in the Eva Series, the word “KAORU” is written on it. I’ll go deeper into “Rei/Kaoru”.
Units 05-13 – Read above.
What is the S2 engine?
The S2 engine is the ‘organ’ that allows the Eva Series (Units 05-13) to operate without a pilot. S2 is an organ found in the angels, and the one you see Unit 01 devouring into himself in episode “Oral Stage”.
****************************************
That concludes Part I of this three chapter guide. As a bonus because I'm so great and wise and awesome, I've attached the first part of my "End Of Evangelion" in-depht analysis (not like Scully's, this one isn't clever ;)).
I hope this begins helping. Any questions? Suggestions? Complementary fruit baskets and/or cute asian masseusess you want to send my way? :D
Intro.
Heya there schmoes. I have seen in my days here in Arrow in the Head that some of you schmoes are interested in anime. And most of these also liked the landmark "Neon Genesis Evangelion". This series is commonly known for being very confusing, with an ultra complex and intricate plot that's hard to figure out without watching every second of the show and movies for hundreds of hours straight. Well, since I watch every second of the show and the movies for hundreds of hours straight, I decided to write a (hopefully) easy-to-get plot guide for all of you confused fans.
Disclaimer.
None of this information is official, it's all my personal interpretation. You can be sure though, I'm a total genius. Have in mind that I won’t go too deep on obvious things (“About Asuka, her head is red”). Another thing I want to mention is that this guide WILL include SPOILERS so beware.
Let us begin.
What is "Neon Genesis Evangelion"?
"Neon Genesis Evangelion" ("New Beginning Evangelion" or directly translated from japenese “Shin Seiki Evangelion”, “New Century Evangelion”) is a 26 episode long anime series released in Japan back in 1995 by creator Hideaki Anno. It tells the story of a post apocalyptic earth that is being attacked by extraterrestrial forces called "Angels". Shinji Ikari, a 14 year old arrives at Neo-Tokyo 3 in the year 2015 after being summoned by his neglectful father, who is the leader of the government branch, NERV. Upon arriving to NERV (German for "nerve") Shinji is forced to pilot huge biomechanical battle suits (called "Evangelions") engineered and created by men as the only means to battle the Angels. As simple as it might sound, that's not the 1% of it.
The final two episodes of the series (entitled "25: Do You Love Me?" and "26: Take Care Of Yourself") were deemed a huge disappointment by the fans of the series. This resulted in death threats to the creator (those wacky Japanese). Anno wrote and directed two movies two years later, "Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death And Rebirth" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End Of Evangelion". These are the real conclusion to the series. Now, enough history lessons, let's get down to business.
Evangelion 101.
First, Second and Third Impacts.
"Impact" is a word you'll hear a lot while watching the show, what are these impacts? The impacts are, more than anything, disasters. Any disaster big enough to obliterate a large amount of life forms on the planet is called an impact. The "First Impact" is the meteor that destroyed dinosaurs. The "Second Impact" creates the beginning of the show. The "Third Impact" is the one that ends it.
Second Impact.
In the year 2000, a meteorite fell on the Antarctica. This meteorite shook the earth in a way that it made the ice caps melt, causing huge floods all over the world, killing most of human kind. An investigation group was sent to the debris site to find out what had hit. Turns out that this meteorite was everything but. This meteorite was the first angel, Adam. This investigation group did 'something' to the angel and caused it to spread its wings and kill everyone there. The only survivor was an 11 year old girl called Misato Katsuragi. After this, Adam reverted itself to an embryonic estate and disappeared.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Juzzam/NGEAngels/adam1.jpg
Adam.
Third Impact
The third impact is the final genesis for mankind. A new beginning for everything. I will return to this subject when I get to "The End Of Evangelion".
Adam And Eve
As all of you know, Adam and Eve are the parents of men, the source of all life. In the Evangelion universe, humankind's 'primordial soup' is called LCL (Link Connection Liquid). But this LCL is also the multifunctional and universal fluid in the show. It has many uses:
It’s the liquid that fills the Evangelion’s entry plug that oxygenates the blood instantly to be able to breathe.
It’s the connective fluid that allows the kid’s minds to the Evangelion’s (will get deeper into this later).
It’s mankind’s primordial soup. Lillith weeps it.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/Juzzam/NGEAngels/lilith2.jpg
Lillith/Eve.
The Angels
What are the angels? After so many years of evolution, mankind has topped its evolutionary potential and has to begin again. For this to happen, the show tells us that an angel must come in contact with Adam. When this happens, the “Human Instrumentality Project” (HIP) (again, I’ll go deeper into it when I go into “The End Of Evangelion”). However, note that this isn’t true, not even in the Eva-verse, this is part of a plot twist. But what are the angels? They are an alternate version of humankind. See, Bible Says: Eve ate a forbidden fruit and was expelled from Paradise. That’s when she and Adam created mankind. The Eva-verse tells this story as follows. The two first life forms were Adam and Lillith/Eve. The latter ate two different fruits (notice that ‘ate’ is just a way to put it):
The Fruit Of Life. When this fruit was ‘eaten’, the angels were created.
The Fruit Of Wisdom. When this fruit was ‘eaten’, Lilim (humankind) was created.
But why the hell would the contact of an angel and Lillith make the HIP? Why wouldn’t a human work? Well because neither work. In order for HIP to begin, it’s Adam and Lillith who must come in contact with each other. This happens in EoE. So that’s basically the explanation of Angels. Moving on . . .
The Evangelions
Also called “Multi-Purpose Humanoid Fighting Machine”, Evangelions are the central point of the Eva-verse. These huge battle-suits are created by men “at men’s own form” and designed for only one purpose: Battling the angels, keeping them away from reaching Lillith (remember how everyone thought that if an angel and Lillith came together it’s game over?). These mechas are piloted with telepathic waves that travel from the pilot’s mind, through the LCL in the entry plug, to the Eva’s mind. This is called Synching (as in synchronization). You’ll see the kid’s having synchronization tests during the entire series.
There are 13 Evangelions:
Unit 00 – Color: Orange (Eps 1-10) Blue (Eps 11-23) – Prototype.
Unit 01 - Color: Purple – Test Type.
Unit 02 - Color: Red – Production Type.
Unit 03 - Color: Black – Production Type.
Unit 04 - Color: White – Experimental S2. (not seen in series).
Units 05-13 Color: White – Mass Production. (EoE only).
The Secret Of The Evangelions
There’s something inside the Evas that NERV isn’t telling the children. What is it? Well, what happens is that the Evangelions are basically human beings. What makes us human? Our soul. Evangelions have souls. But wait, man-engineered souls? No way, that can’t happen. The souls in the Evas belong to women close to the chosen pilots, this way synchronization will be easier. This isn’t revealed clearly until EoE but by that point, it’s clear whose soul in enclosed in every Evangelion. They are as follows.
Unit 00 – Naoko Akagi
Unit 01 - Yui Ikari
Unit 02 - Zeppelin Langley
Unit 03 - *unknown name* Suzahara (Toji’s sister)
Unit 04 - Tabris/Kaoru
Units 05-13 Tabris/Kaoru
Some of these are pretty crazy speculation from myself (not really, only 03’s is speculation) but they make sense, again, because I’m a total genius. Going deeper into this . . .
Unit 00 – Naoko Akagi is Ritsuko’s mother. After completing the programming of the 3 MAGI super computers, around 2004, she killed Rei Ayanami I (more intricacies I’ll delve on later) and the commited suicide. Her soul was transferred to the first completed Evangelion. Unit 00. I’m basing this on the flashback scene of Unit 00’s activation where it almost kills Rei and tries to hurt Gendo Ikari. Who hates both Rei and Gendo? No one other than Naoko. But why can Rei synch with Naoko? Twist. Deeper into this when I go through “Rei/Kaoru”.
Unit 01 - Yui Ikari is Shinji’s mother. She died and disappeared during an activation test of Unit 01. Why they would synch is obvious.
Unit 02 - Zeppelin Langley, Asuka’s mother. She was committed to a mental institution after she began thinking a small doll (which you see in episode 24) was actually her daughter. She killed herself when Asuka was still a kid.
Unit 03 - Toji’s sister was my huge guess. But she’s the only woman who had an accident during the show that is close to Toji, the chosen fourth child.
Unit 04 - Kaoru is the soul used in the S2 engineered Evangelions. Basing this on EoE, the shot when the entry plug is screwed in the Eva Series, the word “KAORU” is written on it. I’ll go deeper into “Rei/Kaoru”.
Units 05-13 – Read above.
What is the S2 engine?
The S2 engine is the ‘organ’ that allows the Eva Series (Units 05-13) to operate without a pilot. S2 is an organ found in the angels, and the one you see Unit 01 devouring into himself in episode “Oral Stage”.
****************************************
That concludes Part I of this three chapter guide. As a bonus because I'm so great and wise and awesome, I've attached the first part of my "End Of Evangelion" in-depht analysis (not like Scully's, this one isn't clever ;)).
I hope this begins helping. Any questions? Suggestions? Complementary fruit baskets and/or cute asian masseusess you want to send my way? :D