The Hind End of Space

When I first watched EVA, it was back in 2005. I was fifteen, which is usually the age when most people see the show. For most people, this was their angsty phase, so they related to it and loved it. Not me. At this point, I’d just seen the rest of UC Gundam, Turn A, and Gundam X. I was also getting into Super Robot Wars and classic mecha at the time. As such, I kinda hated it on my first viewing.

I found 75% of the cast intolerable and found the concept of biomecha to be absolutely stupid. Everything felt like it was trying to hard and while people claimed it to be so “deep” I felt it was more shallow than a pothole. The violence was dumb and exploitive and the symbolism contrived. Let’s just say my reaction to End of EVA wasn’t much better…

But well, as the years went on I kinda started to take it at face value and accept it for what it is: a really influential anime that gave us a different look at giant robots and settings. I love the EVAs now and I love using it in SRW, and honestly I like the movies more than the series.

That said, I do consider it to be heinously overrated and anyone who calls it “the best anime ever” should be pushed down stairs. It’s okay. That’s about as much as I can say.