What is the most generally agreed-upon interpretation of this

>>145369985
Either
1. It's an elaborate "fuck-you" gesture to the audience
Or
2. It's an abstract audio-visual metaphor for NEET depression.

Shinji jacks off SUDDENLY deus ex machina and world death and reincarnation.

Let's discuss why Kaworu came back to console his tattered ego.

>>145369985
Didn't Anno basically admit he was off his rocker and it doesn't mean anything to anyone sane and only made sense to his own fucked up consciousness?

>>145370348
yeah, he pretty much said that the biblical references and pseudo-religious nuances were just typical examples of "2deep4u" bullshit.

>>145370497
>he pretty much said that the biblical references and pseudo-religious nuances were just typical examples of "2deep4u" bullshit
that's actually not what he said at all but okay

It seems to me like it meant that people are fucking assholes, but sometimes they are alright, so life is worth living.

my interpretation was that it shows you should never try because things will conspire against you somehow

shinji finally grows as a person, he completes his arc and decides to do the mature thing and reject instrumentality

but that decision gets him jack fucking shit. he gets a destroyed apocalyptic earth. big whoop. all that development was for nothing because things decided to work out poorly and shinji growing as a person couldn't affect that.

just don't try. if shinji had never gotten in the eva, if he never let the other people at nerv push him around, if he continued to live his mild mannered weak but safe lifestyle then things would be much better. pride doesn't mean anything to the dead.

>>145370522

He was wigged out all hard. EoE was an outlet for his issues. Then he marries a manga artist and seems okay. He has had a bitch of a time with 4.0.

>>145370665
yeah but that doesn't mean everything in evangelion was "bullshit" or "2deep4u"

there's a difference between including foreign religious symbols because you're a fan of their mystery and designs, and including religious symbols because you're intentionally trying to make some artsy fartsy thing

that's not what anno did, he wasn't TRYING to make a statement. evangelion is art therapy.

>>145370722

He was trolling the fucks who attacked him and gifting those who supported him. EoE was great from both sides of that.

>>145370843
I would never say the ending was great. Unique? Sure. Totally unlike anything ever put to screen? Completely. Coherent? Enjoyable? Having any semblance of sense behind it at all?

Hell to the fuck no.

>>145370348
if you actually take a second to think about it it's not that out there of a concept. Choose being alone in your escapist fantasies all day or actually go out and interact with people. that's pretty much it
>>145370497
that has almost nothing to do with EoE

>>145370992
but it is a great ending

it leaves the viewer wanting so much more while staunchly refusing to give them any

that's an amazing and bold decision

>>145370992
you know just because you didn't like EoE doesn't mean other people didn't

>>145371155
It wasn't really a decision, more like "If I don't just do whatever I'm literally going to kill myself".

>>145371205
Never said otherwise.

>>145371265
>Coherent? Enjoyable? Having any semblance of sense behind it at all?
>Hell to the fuck no.
Sounds like you didn't like it to me. Possibly because you couldn't grasp the themes. Maybe something like Lucky Star is more up your alley

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the theme of Eva was always pic related, that goes for the movie too.

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>>145369985

To me it seemed pretty straightforward. The emotional core of this movie and of Evangelion in general is the crux of avoidance; of wanting to be with others, but being unable to handle the stress of it. The show lays this out early on with the Hedgehog dilemma. The choices are then between running away from others and taking the painful steps of going out into the world and getting to know others as they are; the conflict of naive idealism and painful reality.

EoE takes this to extreme. In this context the true meaning of the choice between Asuka and Rei is made apparent. Rei is a strange alien being that becomes whatever Shinji wants, but promises only destruction, both of Shinji himself and of all other humans; the elimination of borders between egos is essentially death for any individual. On the other hand, Asuka is a flawed human being that tried to kill herself and then ultimately failed to save herself, but she is real. I think you have to take this in the context of Anno himself, who as an otaku was faced with a similar choice between fantasy (anime/media of all types) and reality. In this context, Shinji ultimately makes the "correct" choice in deciding to reject Rei's fantasy land of ultimate union, where no one could ever hurt him again, and instead goes back to the painful reality he shares with Asuka, where he can and will get hurt over and over. I think this choice makes contact with reality in being the choice between alienation and a slow suicide via withdrawal from society, and choosing life by rejecting that sweet siren song.

This motif is mostly summarized in the image of Shinji flexing his hand. In EoE (or episodes 25/26, I forget which at this point), Rei's voice asks him the pointed question of "What is your hand for?" The answer is that it's for reaching out to others. Even though running away always seems like the natural option, some part of Shinji knows that it's not the correct one.

>>145371380
There were no themes, Anno said so himself. It was just so baffling everyone assumed there was some deeper meaning and tried to find it. There never was one to begin with.

I can still enjoy Eva, but because it shows how art can literally reflect its creator, not because it's any great philosophical piece. Watching Eva is like looking at a Salvador Dali painting - you get to know the artist through the art. The art is absurd nonsense that does not by itself mean anything, but it does reflect the mind of its creator.

>>145371850
>There were no themes, Anno said so himself
that sounds like a bullshit unsupported claim

despite that, regardless of whether anno intended there to be "themes," he laid out his emotional thought process at the time and that ended up being a philosophical piece, because anno doesn't seem to give himself enough credit

meanwhile morons such as yourself are claiming that there is no coherency or thought process behind EoE, and that's not only wrong but really shows you probably weren't even paying attention when you watched Eva

it's a damn shame that these are the people who I have to share a fanbase with.

>>145369985
>Shinji gets control of instrumentality
>wants to be alone so his wish turns everyone into tang
>some heart to heart talk with the unified consciousness of everyone from his mom to Kaworu
>decides to give people a choice whether to tang or not
>he and Asuka don't tang

The moral was
>it hurts to be rejected but loneliness hurts more

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>>145369985
Anno ended episode 26 on a relatively high note but then EoE slams you back into brutal reality and is nothing but incomprehensible suffering with a vaguely open ending that leaves things open to go just about anywhere. Anno probably didn't mean it 100% consciously but I think this is a pretty great representation of the emotional instability/depression that he as well as his characters were feeling.

What are some of these memes that you've heard? I don't see how this movie can have depth beyond different interpretations of the second half which is clearly not meant to represent anything concrete. Did you hear that Anno was trying to say SEELE are the Elders of Zion or something?

>>145370076
first post best post