AN INTRODUCTION

Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Holy Grail of anime DVD?  Maybe.  It's a title that sends shivers of awe down the spines of some, and sends others running away screaming. A title that some say revolutionized the state of anime in Japan, while others cry "overrated!" Whatever your take on Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE or Eva for short), it is a title that's tough to be indifferent about.

One thing's not in dispute - the DVD release is finally here. And it's going to be big.

For the NGE DVD release, there will no doubt be many uninitiated potential fans who have waited to take the plunge and are seeing the series for the first time. This primer is for you. (And no, there are NO SPOILERS in this document.)

WHAT IS NEON GENESIS EVANGELION?

So, what is the fuss about? And why should you care? Well, before you dive headlong into buying that first disc you should ask yourselves these questions:

Do you dislike mech anime?
Are you lacking in patience?
Do you suffer from attention deficit disorder?
Are you a member of the 700 Club?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, stay clear of NGE. NGE is, at its core, a story of the human heart and what it means to exist as a human being, with all that that entails. It's a story told mainly through the eyes of a teenage boy named Shinji Ikari, as he searches blindly for the meaning of his existence as the pilot of a futuristic mech called an Evangelion, or Eva, in a struggle to save mankind against the onslaught of mysterious alien entities called Angels. But the story's more than just about Shinji - rather it's about all humanity, and how we relate to each other as one and as separate beings. It's a story about relationships, how nothing is ever quite what it seems, and how we separate ourselves even as we try to become closer with one another. NGE attempts to be a nearly all-encompassing commentary on the human condition, and it is ultimately self-reflexive - no commentary on the ultimate success or failure of the plot and story itself could be complete without including commentary on the perception of the viewer. NGE ultimately explicitly asks viewers to look at themselves as humans, and to relate what they have been watching to their own lives.

Of course, such self-reflection would seem irrelevant without an engaging plot to draw the viewer into the story, and to that end the series begins with tons of serious action right from the start (including near-gratuitous use of pseudo-nuclear weapons) before gradually building on the strengths of the story's characters and ultimately pulling the emotional rug out from under you. Be forewarned - the series is intentionally constructed to lull you into a false sense of security, beginning as a seemingly innocent action-oriented mech-based anime, and metamorphasizing over time into something far darker, yet more thoughtful. If the series seems too "light" for you after the first disc, give it time. On the other hand, if you truly enjoy the style of the first disc, prepare to steel yourself for the latter episodes, because a change is a-comin' - though so slowly, you won't notice until it's too late for you to do anything but ride the runaway train to the end of the line.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

NGE was originally a 26 part television series directed by Hideaki Anno that aired in Japan in 1995-96. These 26 episodes were intended to be the totality of the series from start to finish. However, despite a tremendous budget for a television series, the money ran out towards the end, leaving Anno-san without the funds to shoot his original script for episodes 25 and 26. The resulting final episodes, while enjoyed by many fans, caused an outcry by others - an outcry that was heard by Anno-san. Shortly after the initial TV run of the series ended he set about funding a new OVA ending to replace the television episodes 25 and 26, with a revised script based on his original. In the end, based on the popularity of the TV series a consortium of Japanese corporations actually over-funded what Anno-san required, resulting not in an OVA but in a theatrical release, and not in just one film but in three. In addition, the theatrical films' revised ending to the series required revision to the preceding TV episodes to maintain consistency, and this was done for the Japanese home video release. (For the record, Hideaki Anno does not consider the two endings separate or contradictory - he considers them complementary.)

While the finishing touches were being put on the revised theatrical ending to the series, a sort of teaser film was released in March of 1997 entitled Death/Rebirth, comprised of a series of clips summarizing the television series (Death) followed by the first 20 minutes or so of what would later become the new episode 25 (Rebirth). This was quickly followed in July of 1997 by The End of Evangelion (EoE), containing the full re-made episodes 25 and 26. (Side note: while the scripts came from Hideaki Anno, the only theatrical release directed by him was episode 26 - Death/Rebirth and episode 25 were directed by others.)

In January of 1998 a director's cut of Death/Rebirth was shown on Japanese satellite TV entitled Death (True)/Rebirth, followed in March of 1998 by the third theatrical film entitled The Revival of Evangelion. Revival is all-encompassing, incorporating the third cut of Death, called Death (True)^2 as well as EoE. This third cut of Death included several new scenes that were later re-integrated into the revised episodes 21-24 for Japanese video release by Gainax.

Whew! Now, the question is what will we see on DVD in the United States, and who will be releasing it?

The long and the short of it is that ADV Films owns the US series rights, Manga Entertainment owns the US movie rights. Neither company owns the revised episodes 21-24 rights, and neither company ever will in all likelihood. No big whoop, Death (True)^2 has all the added footage you need, and this will be released by Manga, either with Rebirth or as part of Revival. Both ADV and Manga have stated they will be releasing DVD versions of their respective holdings.

Minor note: While the Japanese title is "Shinseiki Evangelion", it has been known by its English title of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" since the original Japanese release of the series. The translation is a Gainax translation, not an ADV translation, and is used in Japan as well as in America and other English-speaking countries.

SOME THINGS TO WATCH FOR

If NGE is famous (or infamous) for one thing, it's heavy use of religious symbolism - and I mean heavy (the title of the series should be a tip-off here). By the final shot of I Need You, the epilogue to EoE, the symbolism has piled so heavily on top of itself that it's practically become its own meta-story. The main themes of the series are impossible to separate from the symbolism - the simple fact is if you're not on constant lookout for symbols, not constantly thinking about hidden meanings, you will just plain miss most of what the series is about. Don't misunderstand, though - this is no Christian bible study course. NGE would probably be considered outright blasphemy by devout Christians or Jews - this is not your father's Adam and Eve.

The same is true for Anno's use of historical references, which are intertwined with the religious symbols. Anno includes historical references from the Biblical period up through World War II, and again it's the meaning behind these that help bring meaning to the series.

There's a lot more in the series than I'd like to go into in a primer, but here are just a few examples of the kinds of symbolism and/or historical references to look for:

• The names of the Angels are not incidental. Think about the meaning of Lilith in Christian and Jewish folklore, and think about the relationships between Lilith, Adam, and Eve - and how that relationship parallels character relationships in the series. Think also about Lilith's place in western feminism today, and you will have a better understanding of EoE, and by extension a lot of other things in the series (sorry, I said no spoilers! I can't give away more than that). Here's a good Lilith link to give you some things to think about.
• The names of the characters are not incidental either. Most of them are named after World War II warships. Asuka, in fact, is named after both American and Japanese aircraft carriers (as well as a German WWII-era airship maker) - she herself is an allegory. Some of the characters have names that carry meaning as regular Japanese or English words as well (Kaji, Keel, Rei, etc.).
• The Dead Sea Scrolls are referenced repeatedly. Read them - much of the series is based directly on scrolls we've actually found; other parts of the series are based on fictional scrolls we presumably will find later. You can find the Dead Sea Scrolls here.
• The Sephirotic Tree is painted on Gendo's office ceiling, appears at the start of every episode, and later in the series. Might the branches of the tree be related to the events depicted in the plot somehow? Hmmmm....

Those are just a few things to think about - the fact is by the time you reach the end EoE, practically every scene will be a symbol or a reference of some kind. Look for hidden meaning in everything - the framing of a particular shot, the inclusion of seemingly throwaway lines or scenes (such as Asuka's period scene), or the obvious references made repeatedly throughout the series. In the end, the series becomes almost a puzzle of sub-themes told through symbolism that combine with the plot to create a whole - putting that puzzle together, figuring out what the symbols and references mean and how they fit the plot and theme, is one of the main joys of watching the series.

PRODUCTION VALUES

Some of you may be wondering about the more "plastic" elements of the series (to use a term borrowed from my art appreciation classes in college) - animation quality, acting quality, sub/dub quality. There's been some minor debate about all of these elements over the years, but if you ask me all are at least above average. NGE had a greater budget than most television series', so the animation is near-OVA quality. What confuses some people is the visual style of the series - many shots are quite spartan by design rather by any technical limitation (a style later borrowed in titles like Lain), and many shots lack any movement whatsoever for lengthy, almost uncomfortable periods of time. In most cases, the meaning behind this is obvious - for example, Rei and Asuka's famous elevator ride in silence, which goes on seemingly forever (a shot that, if you watch carefully, you'll notice was altered slightly in Death), is simply illustrative of character relationships, and also serves to tweak the viewer a little bit. If you're put off by this, just realize you're being put off by an intentional stylistic device, not by a lack of actual quality in the animation. In the more conventional scenes in the series the quality of the animation is obvious, and the movies feature some of the better animation ever seen in anime (including around 10 minutes of CGI). In fact, NGE - both the series and movies - is often beautifully "shot", with an artistic style of framing and use of color and lighting heavily influenced by some of the great live action cinematographers of the past and present.

The Japanese cast features some of the best voice actors Japan has to offer, including Megumi Hayashibara (Cowboy Bebop, Tenchi Muyo), Kotono Mitsuishi (Sailor Moon, Blue Seed), Megumi Ogata (Sailor Moon, Rayearth), and Yuko Miyamura (Queen Emeraldas, Rurouni Kenshin) - all fairly well known actors in Japan either prior to or because of their performance in Eva, and with good reason. The Japanese acting is, for the most part, flawless, and at times gut-wrenchingly powerful (Kotono Mitsuishi's and Megumi Hayashibara's performances in EoE are two that I will remember for a long time). On the other hand, the English dub is uneven but for the most part good. Tiffany Grant and Tristan MacAvery truly distinguish themselves as Asuka Langley and Gendo Ikari respectively, making these characters as much their own as their Japanese counterparts'. Allison Keith as Misato oscillates between very effective and utterly unbelievable, and is no match for Kotono Mitsuishi in the same role but is enjoyable at times nonetheless and does bring something new and different to the part. The rest of the American cast ranges from competent (Sue Ulu, Amanda Winn Lee) to truly poor. (For the record, Manga has stated they have secured all of the major American voice talent used by ADV in the series for the English tracks to the NGE movies, in the interest of continuity.) The good news is that the series dub translation is in some cases actually superior to the sub translation - it remains to be seen if ADV will rectify some of the "choices" made in the sub translation for the DVD release that had confused many viewers of the videotapes. For the movies, Manga's release will be the first time they have ever been translated into English professionally, so here's hoping they treat the subject with the care that it deserves.

CONCLUSION

Despite its action-oriented slant, NGE is a series you will either fall in love with or not based on how you feel about its characters. Whether it's the carefree fun-loving Misato, the shy and reserved Shinji, the mysterious Rei, or the aggressive Asuka, if you do not identify with at least a couple of the characters you're going to have a tough time with the series. The main theme revolves around how we relate to each other as human beings - to that end, character relationships eventually take center stage. In my opinion Anno-san does a masterful job of capturing the nuances and subtleties, not to mention the misunderstandings and minor (and occasionally major) betrayals, that pepper the relationships we all have in real life. But if you don't like the characters, that all will fall apart for you. As the old comedy saying goes: buy the premise, buy the bit. Chances are good, though, that you will see a little of yourself in Shinji - who hasn't had moments of weakness in their lives? - and you'll develop other attachments as well. If only I could meet a real-life Misato...

If you've read this far, what more are you waiting for? You've proven your interest; now go out and buy that first disc! Finally see for yourself why this series has created such a stir - with a little patience, you might also consider Neon Genesis Evangelion one of the all time greats. "For reality is at the end of your dream, and dreams are at the end of your reality..."

LINKS

If you'd like more information, there are tons of resources available on the web that will help you understand the series. I personally recommend reading the original texts that the series is based around and forming your own opinions, but FAQs and other resources can be helpful too - just don't take them as gospel (no pun intended), as they are merely writings by other viewers just like yourself. Here's a small collection of links to start you off:

(WARNING! The following links DO contain spoilers!)

http://in-search-of.com/frames/dss/index_nf.shtml - Dead Sea Scrolls. Of particular interest is the Book of Giants, and the reworking of Genesis. Ask yourself what the "First Impact" may have been as you read the Book of Giants.

http://religion.rutgers.edu/iho/dss.html - Alternate Dead Sea Scrolls link.

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Topics/Lilith/ - A bunch of Lilith links, telling of her legend as it has been perceived throughout the ages.

http://www.khouse.org/blueletter/ - Searchable bible. Enter any word and find all the references in the canonical Christian text. Mainly good for determining what's not in the Bible, as most of Eva's religious references are apocryphal, misconceived as being biblical.

http://wesley.nnc.edu/noncanon.htm - A large site containing much of the Christian and Jewish apocrypha.

http://www.concordance.com/scrpture.htm - A searchable database including the apocrypha.

http://members.xoom.com/EbonScythe/ - Encyclopedia Evangelion, a fan site including fan fiction, a comprehensive (though not always 100% accurate) FAQ and a translation to the Red Cross Book, the EoE movie program that is rightly or wrongly considered by many to be the canonical commentary on EoE. I personally don't think it's anymore or less reliable than any other commentary, and it contains several glaring factual errors. There is a misconception among some that this was written entirely by Hideaki Anno, when in fact it was written by Gainax staff.

http://www.therossman.com/evafaqs.html - EvaFAQs. Lots of FAQs, most of which are very good - though again, don't take it as absolute truth. Still, most of what's there is well thought out and in-depth, and there is some good info on a lot of the more obscure references in the series that most people wouldn't even catch.

The Neon Genesis Evangelion Primer was written by Jeff Williams. All images are © and ™ of Gainax. Neon Genesis Evangelion is released in the U.S. and it's territories by ADV Films.