Tuesday, May 10, 2005

I've finally caught up...
...with Neon Genesis Evangelion. It only took me forever. I frankly wanted to put off this anime until I actually had enough time to watch it all at once, but I couldn't abate my curiosity, especially since I know Yukihiro from L'Arc~en~Ciel loves it xD

However, now that I've finished everything...I honestly have no idea how to react to it. For the first 16-17 episodes, I was really into it. Everything seemed very linear and I was able to comprehend a majority of what was going on.

Then things started to get really funky, and although I was kept engaged, I was also left with a bloody headache. All that flashing and screaming and flashbacks...my goodness. It was a sensory overload, and I'm still left with a huge feeling of incompletion. Granted, I'm always left with a sort of anti-climatic feeling whenever I watch the final episode of an anime, but I'm usually sufficiently satified with whatever happens. But with Evangelion, I just want more. I've grown to love all the characters, and they've just been abruptly taken away from me. The series just inspired more and more questions as it progressed, and I'm not even close to finding answers to half of the questions that have been bugging me.

I'm confused as hell about what exactly happened, especially at the end or 'beginning' or whatever they want to define it as. And right now, in my current condition, I'm afraid I won't be able to rewatch the End of Evangelion for a while as my brain and my eyes have yet to recover from that incessant attack of flashes. It hurts just to think about it.

Despite it all, I want to buy the Neon Genesis Evangelion Perfect Collection. Now that I've seen it all, I can understand why so many people I know think of it as one of the greatest series ever. It's amazing, and I know that it'll probably take countless viewings for me to grab every single detail of the story, but this is one story that I'd truly love to invest time into figuring out on my own. All of it is just so compelling, and the psychology of the characters is fascinating. Although those sequences of montages can be a headache, I appreciate the anime's aesthetics of self-reflexivity, especially when the construction of 'reality' was called into question.

I also really loved Asuka. I've read somewhere that Laruku's Yukihiro would want someone like Ayanami Rei, but I was actually much more fascinated with Asuka. Her complex personality and reactions made her so much more interesting to watch. Sure, her abrasiveness could be quite off-putting, but once one gets passed that barrier she tries so hard to keep up, one can see just how vulnerable she really is, and how much all she really wants to do is prove her worth.

Anyway, I'm glad I finally took a break from my studying each and every week to watch this series. It's really awesome, and anyone who hasn't seen it yet should really consider doing so.

I won't be able to really concentrate on catching up on any other series until after graduation, I'm afraid. I've got way too much crap to concentrate on before then. But when summer comes, the next series I'll attack will probably be Azumanga Daioh. I only saw the first five episodes, and then I never saw it again, but I thoroughly enjoyed what little I saw. That's why I love Netflix so much ^__^

Anyway, it's 2 weeks and 4 days until Fanime. I'll make sure to write a good report of it when the weekend is through xD That is, if I'm not stressing too badly about my finals the following week, heh.
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