Fellow Neon Genesis fan here. Watching the original series was an incredibly frustrating experience for me. It does not follow the typical hero’s journey. There few wins, if any. Mostly losses. Idiot Shinji was a helpless and pitiful protagonist, so much so that you eventually stop rooting for him. The 1.11, 2.22, 3.33, and 3.0+1.0 rebuilds were much, much better in my opinion. But they also lacked that depressing trajectory that made the original series so unique.
BlueTemplar|1 year ago
Agree. Also, in that end, there's hope, even if the characters are still flawed, they have been forced to confront their issues and illusions, and (finally) are set on a realistically human path of growth.
> The 1.11, 2.22, 3.33, and 3.0+1.0 rebuilds were much, much better in my opinion.
Disagree, because of the above. Sure, plenty of eye candy (of both kinds), but it's gratuitous in Rebuilds. The "biblical" (mid-)themes are even more confusing. The character growth is only kind of earned if you actually watched the originals (with maybe the (tragic) exception of latest Rei and "dad", who finally does get a redemption arc). And even there, at a cost, as all the suffering of old Asuka (and our whiplash of empathizing with her) has basically been erased along with her original, all the while the new pilot, Mari, is never fleshed out, so her being there at the end doesn't feel earned, with her having been all along weirdly untraumatized and also hot for Shinji (gratuitous again). Many main characters literally get wished into a fairy tale ending.
barrysteve|1 year ago
He could of had a normal life, but the show sets him up to be trapped in hyper emotional relationships, influencing him to make irrational decisions all the time.
He's a high school guy being manipulated by everyone around him, to fight battles he doesn't understand.