Do I need to be clever to watch Evangelion? I hear it has a ton of biblical symbolism which is one of the reasons it's so great, but I've never read the bible and only know the basics of Christianity that you learn in secondary school.
>>153368103
No you just need to be deep. It's all about shinjis low self esteem and daddy problems, reis identity problems and asukas mommy problems.
>but I've never read the bible and only know the basics of Christianity that you learn in secondary school
yeah that was the same for anno and the crew, i think the only notable biblical references are
>The seven eyes of god
>uber-rei having 14 wings
>the cross being the symbol for an angel dying or them blowing up something
>i guess an afterlife but thats very universal, instrumentality was just a representation of the flaws that come with most religions saying the afterlife is not filled with and mixed emotions, or i guess thats what i thought when i first watched it all
>angels being called angels
Theres some other stuff but i cant remember it. I heard there was parallel though between asuka/shinji and adam/eve and them being implied to be the only ones left on earth
>>153368103
Don't worry too much. The creators of Evsngelion never read the Bible either. Do the words/concepts Adam, Eve, the cross, fruit of knowledge and wisdom, Angels and the weird Jewish myth of Lilith mean anything to you? Then you're good.
>>153368103
No, you can actually be pretty much stupid and illiterate and still watch it.
>>153368103
It's not really symbolism so much as name-dropping Judeo-Christian imagery purely for the aesthetic.
IIRC Anno called it Evangelion "because it sounded cool"