The Anti-Escapism Themes of "Neon Genesis Evangelion"
(reelrundown.com)
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It doesn't have to be one or the other. The surface level is indeed very easy to follow, but they put a huge amount of effort into the small details so every time I watch it I notice things that I never saw before. For one example, I didn't realize at first that Misato/Kaji were being paid to seduce Shinji/Asuka to ensure their cooperation with the project (probably because I was around Shinji's age when I first saw it).
True, my point isn't that it isn't deep.
Its that the meme of "SO DEEP ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO FOLLOW WHATS GOING ON!!" When its pretty easy to follow even until the end when shit starts going well off the rails as long as you pay attention and don't chase rabbits going nowhere.
Then again, most people skip Death/Rebirth thinking its just a clip show, so they end up missing most of the context needed for EoE's last chunk and the entire understanding of Instrumentality and Shinji's rejection of it.
Yea, I think it's really the last couple episodes where people get lost. Without watching the movie as well that would be incredibly hard to piece together.
Right, I could understand a Japanese person getting messed up watching it as it aired and not having the full collection. Same with US in the West seeing it on Adult Swim back in the day (did the movie even air there? I don't remember seeing it ever).
But that's 15+ years ago, so people relying entirely on their ancient memories without ever finishing the series are foolish.
Not sure I follow your train of thought there. Anyone can watch it for the first time at any point, and watch as much or as little of it as they want. We aren't bound to TV schedules and release dates. I feel as though you're trying to invent situations in your head that make it easy to look down on people who may or may not even actually exist.