User:NAveryW

NAveryW
Name	NAveryW
Real Name	Nicholas Avery Walstrom
Date of birth	I'm younger than you'd probably think
Homeland	United States of America
Role	Level 12 Paladin
Lot in life	Very much so
Favorite Episode	"Fourteen Years, the First Day"
Favorite Character	Math Puppy
Favorite Relationship	{{{favorite relationship}}}
Favorite Angel	Eremiel
Favorite Evangelion	Provisional Unit 05

My Relationship with Neon Genesis Evangelion

What I love so much about this show is its longevity. I've stayed interested in it for so long because there are so many little things in there to find and figure out. New things are constantly discovered, even over a decade after it came out. I'm constantly discovering new things that make me think, "Wow, that's amazing!". I've certainly enjoyed shows more than NGE when I first watched them, but none of them have kept me interested so long after I finished them. The show's obsessive attention to details and application of significance to so many tiny things makes it unique, as far as I can tell. Perhaps Lost is similar in that regard, but I don't plan to start watching it until the series is over. See the section below for a more in-depth look at my encounter with Evangelion.

My Relationship with GAINAX and Some More NGE Stuff

I'd say Evangelion is the most influential anime I've ever seen, but it has to come in second because I wouldn't have seen NGE if I hadn't first seen Fooly Cooly. Then again, I might have been most strongly influenced by Pocket Monsters, considering how much I loved it for so long. The point is, FLCL very strongly affected me. Quite a unique series it is. Its ending initially depressed me for some reason I don't quite remember, but I now consider it to have a great ending.

I found out that GAINAX's subsequent project was Mahoromatic, and after reading a review of it on Anime News Network, it strongly intrigued me with its dark twist on the normally shallow maid genre. I watched it and the ending depressed the crap out of me. Seriously, I was totally nihilistic through the next day. I had never been so depressed I threw up until then. I still think its ending is terrible and one of my greater goals is to some day get an alternate ending created as an OVA or something.

Moving right along, shortly after I finished Mahoromatic, I found out that Neon Genesis Evangelion was going to start airing soon on [adult siwm]. I remembered how it was often considered to be the greatest anime ever, but I also remembered that it was often considered to have the most depressing an anime ever had. Thus, I was apprehensive while watching it. I intentionally tried not to get attached to the characters while watching it so that I wouldn't get depressed again when everything went apewire. Ironically, this ties directly into the show's themes of the hedgehog's dilemma, though I didn't realize it until much later. I thought the show was fairly good from the beginning; I stopped watching it on [adult swim] and switched to Netflix after watching "Magma Diver" and watched the rest on DVD way faster than I would have been able to see it on TV. It wasn't until the seventeenth episode or so, however, that the show really drew me in. I was enthralled from that point until the end. I was worried to watch End of Evangelion for Mahoromatic reasons (I didn't italicize "Mahoromatic" there because I was using it as an adjective like in its ending theme song), expecting it to drown me in pathos, so when I first saw it and I didn't have much of an emotional reaction, I was inwardly disappointed. I did, however, know that my opinion would change over time. And indeed it did! End of Evangelion gets better with each subsequent viewing.

I can't remember what GAINAX show I saw after that. I think I saw a few ebi-sodes of Oruchuban Ebichu, since it was also Anno's work. Though I like the show, I don't think I ever saw all of the episodes. Ah, right. I remember. The next GAINAX anime I saw was He is My Master. Since it was GAINAX, I kept expecting it to get good. I kept expecting some pathos to pop up or at least for some mild character development. No dice. I hoped for a "Gainax Ending", but no. It was mediocre throughout. It had a few funny moments, but it was mostly just a fanservice vessel. This disillusioned me with GAINAX's apotheosis.

After that, I saw Melody of Oblivion. 'Twas a fairly good show, and quite probably GAINAX's most insane "serious" show. I can't tell if much of it was supposed to be symbolism or just weirdery. I was a bit disappointed with the ending. Hmm... Then... Gunbuster, I think. It was a great show, and the ending was absolutely brilliant. I read somewhere that the conclusion was mostly Anno's work, and I can certainly see it. This show reminded me how great GAINAX can be. I saw Diebuster shortly afterwards. It was also great and had some great pathos. The ending really worked for me and was rather emotional, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that most of its emotional impact was riding on the curtails of that of its predecessor.

Wait... No... I saw Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi somewhere in there. I don't remember where. It was a nice parody show with a good serious frame, but I disliked the ending as it seemed to have the exact opposite message of Evangelion. When I later talked to GAINAX's president, Hiroyuki Yamaga, he laughed and said that he had never thought of it that way.

Later, I saw Kono Mini, or This Ugly and Beautiful World. It was the first GAINAX show which had an ending that I could instantly say I liked. That probably contributed to how ephemeral it was.

Outside of Anime

I'll add this part soon.