At 02:15 PM 2/2/2007, Joseph Riggs wrote:
So does this mean that no one will remember Evangelion in twenty years?
<cries tears of joy> One can only hope.
Hardly. For good or ill, Eva is one of the most important anime
ever made. It raised the profile of okatu, it became a topic of
discussion among mainstream Japanese, it continues to be a big
influence on anime--for example the latest cult hit in Japan, The
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is Eva without the mechs, and Asuka as
the lead. Eva was audacious in so many ways, I was particularly
impressed by the cinematography (or whatever they call it in
animation), sure it was done to save on animation, but it was done
with such panache. Has there ever been an anime that was such a
personal statement as was Eva? Anno cut his chest open and bled over
the cels.
On a more serious note - the theme you discuss (which I generally
agree with, btw, if I understand you correctly) turns up elsewhere.
For instance, RahXephon has episode 19, "Blue Friend", which is the
episode where Ayato and his friend are on the run. How common in
the anime war stories industry would you say that such an idea is?
I think it shows up a lot. It happened in Eureka 7, for instance,
and Amuro did it in Gundam. I think Kira did it as well in SEED, and
Shinji made a career of it in Evangelion.
True, running away from your responsibilities in wartime, esp. taking
your prototype MS with you would be seriously bad. But remember many
of the shows are aimed at kids, or at least teens, and giving them a
lesson about not running away trumps realism. Next time the kid feels
like ditching school because he didn't finish his project, he can
remember what happened to Amuro.
Hmm... I'm beginning to feel that what I just wrote about might be
BS. Oh well, I'll leave it in the post in the interest of discussion.
Don't expect me to defend it ^_^
Come to think of it, the Super Dimensional stories (Macross,
Southern Cross, Mospeada) seem to be unusual in the fact that the
characters involved signed up for military service voluntarily and
weren't especially competant in their roles -- they were just grunts
doing the best they could. Probably part of why the stories were so
successful as Robotech.
I think there is social pressure in Japan to show the hero's
reluctance to fight, and disgust/ambivalence at killing in mecha
anime. To do so might be seen as too right-wing, or an endorsement of
militarism.
Naturally, things are different in the U.S.
-James
