Neon Genesis Evangelion: Episode 26 FULL LENGTH Reaction!

Honestly, after watching EOE, I agree that the ending of the actual series may have been designed that way more than anything. “The Industry thriving off the destruction of people” is such a powerful phrase! The whole of fan service and how it’s actually creepy or “gross” makes so much more sense, now! That’s sad that Anno’s message got lost in the hype that the show got; which is sadly, how it goes for so many series like his that have come before and since. I do love that Anno chose the ending he wanted and to convey the message he intended, despite the fan criticism or it not being what was “expected of the series.” and honestly, after watching EOE…I have SUCH a deeper appreciation of Episodes 25 and 26 and what they were accomplishing. :) Thank you so much for the kind words and comment, I can wait to get into the rest of this series, Rebuilds and all, and see how the series evolves (so to speak) and changes with the coming years these new pieces of NGE media came out.

Romaniablack

You know, it's actually believed that despite production issues, the ending not wrapping up some of the show's deeper convoluted plot points was actually intended. Some say it's because of the death threats that Anno didn't want to give the fans the justice of a well storyboarded conclusion. But diving into personal interviews with Anno in the decade following reveals much more. As you know despite having a very successful career before the show, Anno struggled deeply with depression and spent most of his life as a NEET, avoiding making friends and new relationships. In the mid-late 90s as entertainment industries around the world exploded, fan service became more prominent, studios went corporate and began maximizing for profit and merchandising. Having been sucked into otaku culture when the industry was infantile in comparison, Anno was terrified. Otaku and NEET culture was multiplying and growing at an incomprehensible rate. He saw an industry thriving off the destruction of people. Evangelion was made as a warning, not just to people, but to the industry itself. That's why Anno went out of his way to incorporate forms of fan service in ways that are intentionally creepy, that's why he went out of his way to make sure the show incorporated mecha and large scale action. Not to mention the convoluted world building. He appropriated all of these things because he knew they were necessary for NGE to have reach. But he was not prepared for the show to become exactly what he feared during its airing. It blew up. So many people watched the show just for that, the action, the cool girls and the edgy Judeo-Christian world. Neverending theories. Neverending arguments about who is the better wife, Rei or Asuka. Not a person on the planet seemed like they were looking in earnest at Anno's true message. Those that were, probably went unheard amongst the death threats. Maybe it was due to the production problems, but in the end Anno had to choose between his message, and all of the "things" that the series was made out of. Even if he had to kind of cuck the fans, considering how disconnected the world is today I can't say I would have had it any other way. People need to wake up, go outside and love eachother, that's Anno's message. I honestly can't wait to see your reaction to the rest of the series. I've loved watching all of your reactions so far. This was only the beginning of Anno's journey and I'm confident you will LOVE what is waiting ahead. Also GL with EOE :) edit: to be fair to the fans, back then people didn't record shows, if you wanted to analyze the characters and understand why they were there, you had to wait for the DVD LMAO. So it's hard to blame otaku culture for worshipping Asuka and Rei, and blowing it up to what it was over the action, gritty themes, and well written girls.

Ayaano

Oh wow! See, that makes a LOT of sense -- when I open the file for the episode, it said "I" instead of "love" so I was a little confused, but that makes SO much sense, and like Alex noted, it adds to the meaning of the episode as well. I LOVE IT! Thank you for that info and the kind words -- excited for EOE! :)

Romaniablack

I'm still pretty excited to get into EOE and the Rebuilds, just to see the content added on -- any NGE content will be fun to look at, but I do like that Anno stuck to his guns with these last two episodes and went all in on solving Shinji's psychological state and crisis first and foremost -- he is the main character, after all. ;) Thanks so much for the comment!

Romaniablack

I cannot IMAGINE paying $25 and then seeing these episodes ahahaha -- and having to WAIT for EOE -- that is just CRUEL! @__@ I'm glad you enjoyed my brain melting in those moments! At this point, I'm planning on just posting Death and its recap while I work on End of Evangelion; I'll know more after I watch this weekend, but I just have a feeling it's going to take a while...@_@

Romaniablack

Ooohhhhhh, oh my gosh, that is AMAZING! Thank you for that information!!

Romaniablack

@JLP -- RIGHT?! That's why I've been hesitant to text him because it's like, "Well...Episodes 22-26 all have those moments!" After EOE, though, I'm going to ask him specifically, since I don't think he's seen the Rebuilds!

Romaniablack

@Cw thanks for the stills! Considering how much Isayama seemed to be influenced by NGE, I would say it's definitely a homage, especially the kitchen scene with Gendo vs. Grisha. :)

Romaniablack

@Alex, the fact that it's during the "Freedom" moment was SO mind-blowing! And THANK YOU for that link -- maybe I can react and talk about it after the recap for "Death!"

Romaniablack

Hahaha, “Thank You” for the congrats! I like the idea that you have your choice of either truly ending with EOE or with “Congratulations” – we’ll see which ending I prefer after EOE. :) I was NOT serious when I said that this show would end on a “happy” note, and with EOE, we’ll see if we get that in the end, but who woulda thunk?! I am glad and grateful you all have been so kind as to not spoil me going into this series! I am FLOORED when you mentioned the AOT Jr. High doing a homage to EP 26’s alternate universe – OMG, you’re so right! It’s the SAME! When we saw Gendo and Carla in the kitchen, I remember during the reaction wanting to say “something” about how it seemed familiar, but my brain was overwhelmed – that just clicked off so many lightbulbs! WOW! @.@ It’s going to be so much fun in the Discord to compare all the influences one I’m through with the series! It makes sense that it was time constraints over budget influencing the art – but I like that Anno embraced it and even made it a conscious choice later with some scenes. “Necessity the mother of Invention,” I love it! Tying to the Eva’s quite interestingly, eh? Shinji and Kaworu as high school detectives?! Is this like the BL series, Fake?! I’m all in. I doubt I’ll get to it for the channel unless I get some extra time, but that’s AMAZING. Oohhhh, I don’t look at ENOUGH Shojo, so I’m adding Karekano to the Retro Polling list! And honestly, I’m not sure yet what the moment he was talking about was – I’ve been afraid to ask until after End of Evangelion (I’m not sure if he’s watched the Rebuilds), so I’m going to ask him after I watch End of Evangelion and get the scoop for the discussion! ^^ Thank you SO MUCH for the kind words and comment!

Romaniablack

I love the original trying to preserve the pun or double meaning. Wordplay and a Harlan Ellison reference in a single line. And when the show's ending it's all about self love and taking care of yourself that bit of Ai=I/Love wordplay is just the cherry on top of what I thing it's an amazing ending.

Alex Kornejo

Thank you so much for the kind words and comment! I agree; it's been fun to see how what you thought about characters changes as you go through the series and get more "pieces" put into place! :) I am going to post a schedule for the series onto Patreon very soon! The big "question mark" for me is how long it will take me to discuss and EDIT the End of Evangelion reaction. Editing usually takes me the longest, and it'll depend on if I need to bring out whiteboard-kun alone...or conspiracy board-sama---what I want to do with the discussion, which I won't know until this weekend when I actually watch the movie. So, by this weekend, I'll have a post out to let everyone know the schedule. I hope that's okay! :) Thanks so much for the support!!

Romaniablack

Yeah, and Isayama is on record saying he named MIKASA after a battleship as a sort of good luck charm since AYANAMI was such a popular character. So Eva was definitely in his mind for some details.

Alex Kornejo

I'm also curious about what specific moment her brother was talking about. I remember when she said that and thinking "Um...you'll be saying WTF in the entire second half of the series" lol

Lynden

"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" is a reference to a Harlan Ellison book of sci-fi short stories with the same name from the 60s. The most common Japanese word for "love" is あい (or "ai", pronounced the same way as the English "I"). The original English localization of the show had the title "The Beast That Shouted 'I' at the Heart of the World", which is a nice pun and double entendre considering what this episode is about. Looking forward to EoE!

chroipahtz

I thought so too before looking too closely, because it's so tropey, but it seems too similar for that. Especially when you also consider that it's Eva, a massive cultural phenomenon and certainly one of the most influential series of the medium. That video is a bit out of alignment, here's a collection of static images I found: https://imgur.com/gallery/nZAOTuA

cw

I like to think it was an homage but it's probably a case of convergent evolution where both shows AU were taking the same slice of life tropes so they ended with extremely similar sequences. But it does get suspect when good old Halucigenia (AKA founder) shows up in the last episode of Eva during the 'Freedom' sequence. Here's a link to a side by side view for anyone interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/t6vcv9/when_evangelion_influenced_shingeki_no_kyojin_to/

Alex Kornejo

Amazing reaction! It's been super fun to follow your thoughts on how characters have grown and change and to watch you put the puzzle pieces together on the plot. I don't think i fully understood the coming schedule though. Is EoE going to be posted next week? or will you be doing some things in-between?

Joseph Hallowell

Too focused on the rigid structure of stereotypical story narrative frankly. Every other piece of Eva content is just fluff, filler content for the cry babies that need the pacifier of confirmative story structure, that watched Episode 25 and 26 and whined about 'not getting a narrative resolution'. The whole show it should have been clear by now that Shinji Ikari is the main character, that we are following *him*, not whatever his cool dad is doing or what happened 15 years ago. Those are all plot point and narrative devices for the sole purpose of exploring Shinji's psyche. Anyone who didn't get this will invariably complain "oh but what about X and Y? There's so much still unresolved plot!" it doesn't matter! That shit ain't important! Literally all of it background noise for the main guitar solo called Shinji!

Skeletan

Thank you so much for the kind words and comment! I'm really excited for EOE; I don't know what to expect or how long the analysis will take, but I hope I can do it justice! ^^

Romaniablack

Ha, I mean, fair point -- but still, I stand by my claim. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," eh? :) Thanks for the comment!

Romaniablack

20:23 "It's a fictional series, a piece of media, is it really worth a death threat?" Well! We've had a *lot* of wars waged because of fictional series and pieces of media and their interpretations sooo..... Is their behavior *really* that strange? Lmfaoo

Skeletan

iHatePiano

Congrats on making it to the finale! I am so looking forward to your EOE reaction as it is my absolute favourite piece of NGE media 😊

Paco_Stil

Also your laughter at the last scene was priceless. This was me at that scene --> ಠ_ಠ Wut... And I had just paid $25 for the last two episodes, which at the time on my intern salary was quite significant :D And also End didn't come out for a long time after.

Anna Kyruin

If you do post Death as a reaction separately I would really enjoy that because I am really excited to see your reaction to how it has been edited and upgraded, and all the things you'll likely catch or take differently from before this time around :)

Anna Kyruin

Looks like Patreon ate my congratulationsposting, so again: Congratulations! I was an audience member in the 90s, and loved it (but I did know EoE was on the way, and that the TV show doesn't explicitly answer anything... People were more liberal with spoilers when you had to buy all the episodes on VHS tape two at a time for big money...). As much as EoE is an unforgettable experience, I think yo me the real ending of Evangelion will always be "And to all the children... Congratulations!" It's still hard to talk about and respond to your thoughts about the episode, as pretty much everything is at least a mild spoiler for EoE, even on the abstract level. Good job on calling the TV ending a couple of Episodes ago, even if you were joking. :) Not sure if someone else already told you, but the beginning first episode of AoT Junior High Episode 1 is an explicit reference to the EP26 AU scene in Evangelion. The shots are a bit different, but the characters are repeatedly in the same positions and doing the same things: Eren is Shinji, Mikasa is Asuka, Grisha and Carla are Gendou and Yui, Krista is Rei. It's not in the manga at all, so I think the animation team had some fun by putting a homage to a classic. (The Congratulations scene has also been parodied many times in other series, there's compilations on youtube...) While the style of this episode was clearly influenced by time constraints (I think the budget was fine as the show was super successful), I do think it was also an artistic decision to some extent, as Anno kept reusing the ideas later. Necessity, but also the mother of invention. It's also done in such a clever way that it still feels very well thought out. There's also tons of weird AU Eva spin-off manga that you could read for even more Evangalion. I haven't read it myself and I think the English version might be out of print now and therefore hard to get, but just saying... Shinji and Kaworu as high-school detectives solving a case together? (Another one for the list, Anno's follow-up series *Karekano*, where he takes some of the Evangelion style and applies it to a shoujo high school love comedy. It also has a bit of a troubled history as the author of the highly-regarded manga hated the focus on comedy, but I remember loving it at the time and would defintely watch it again with you and I think you might enjoy it. I mean... it's classic shoujo done the Evangelion way.) Two questions: First, I'm sorry if I missed it, but did you find out which episode it is that your brother thought would make you call him? Kaworu? Misato and Kaji? Something else? And, this might be hard to answer, but I remember you talking about how you avoided Eva when you were younger because you thought you wouldn't like it. That was boviously a good thing for us because we got to experience it with you, but I was wondering if you had an idea what your younger self might have thought had you watched it then.

cw

Wow, Anno just calling out a major chunk of the fan base, eh? ;) That makes a lot of sense, though, and I like the idea that escapism and shutting oneself off from the world can only do so much!

Romaniablack

YES! As excited/terrified as I am for EOE, there's something about the idea that we get FOUR movies (rebuilds and TUAT) worth of NGE content!? Is it Christmas already!? :) I'm hyped!

Romaniablack

あははは！ありがとうございました！

Romaniablack

I am so ready for end of eva. But even more so the rebuild movies.

Matthew B

I'm trying not to get myself overly hyped for EOE, but who are we kidding? I'm excited too! Thanks for the comment!!

Romaniablack

おめでとう :)

Mitch W

Anno has talked about how EVA's finale was supposed to be like a wake-up call to Otaku, that shutting yourself away from the world won't solve anything. That escapist art isn't enough to make a person happy.

Simon Lemon

I CAN'T WAIT FOR EOE

JEONGWAN