Edit: oops, premature mobile post
It was absolutely fantastic. I could go on and on about how I love the depth the characters have, the animation, and the soundtrack, but I think the ending is what will stick with me forever. Many people have recommended that I watch it over the years and I've enjoyed a lot of Gainax's other works, but the recommendations for this specifically were pretty much all "it's a weird mecha anime, you should check it out."
The whole process of Shinji's self-discovery during his...Instrumentation (?) kind of inspired me. Sure, the whole show is filled with depressing events, and even the ending itself is a downer since I guess everyone is assimilated or something, but I feel happy after seeing it.
I've suffered from anxiety and depression since my preteen years, as I'm sure many people here have, but Evangelion helped me think about things in a different way. Like Shinji, I feel like I've always hated myself and that I have never been and will never be good enough for anyone. I don't pilot a mech, but I'm decent at a handful of my hobbies and the praise from that keeps me going. Shinji's father feels almost like a mirror image of my own - absent and unloving, always absorbed in his work. Even Shinji's nature of constantly apologizing for the smallest things feels like a reflection of me.
Shinji's realization that maybe he only hates how he thinks others perceive him instead of actually hating himself really spoke to me. I've always been super self-conscious and wondering what others think of me, but maybe that's not so important. I'm not going to say that my anxiety or depression were magically cured by watching an anime series, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I'm just trying to look at things from a different point of view, you know? Anyway, that's all I really have to say.
It was absolutely fantastic. I could go on and on about how I love the depth the characters have, the animation, and the soundtrack, but I think the ending is what will stick with me forever. Many people have recommended that I watch it over the years and I've enjoyed a lot of Gainax's other works, but the recommendations for this specifically were pretty much all "it's a weird mecha anime, you should check it out."
The whole process of Shinji's self-discovery during his...Instrumentation (?) kind of inspired me. Sure, the whole show is filled with depressing events, and even the ending itself is a downer since I guess everyone is assimilated or something, but I feel happy after seeing it.
I've suffered from anxiety and depression since my preteen years, as I'm sure many people here have, but Evangelion helped me think about things in a different way. Like Shinji, I feel like I've always hated myself and that I have never been and will never be good enough for anyone. I don't pilot a mech, but I'm decent at a handful of my hobbies and the praise from that keeps me going. Shinji's father feels almost like a mirror image of my own - absent and unloving, always absorbed in his work. Even Shinji's nature of constantly apologizing for the smallest things feels like a reflection of me.
Shinji's realization that maybe he only hates how he thinks others perceive him instead of actually hating himself really spoke to me. I've always been super self-conscious and wondering what others think of me, but maybe that's not so important. I'm not going to say that my anxiety or depression were magically cured by watching an anime series, but I feel like a weight has been lifted off my chest. I'm just trying to look at things from a different point of view, you know? Anyway, that's all I really have to say.
