Neon Genesis Evangelion, I wonder why I haven't watched it

I wouldn't consider myself a huge anime fan even though my sister thinks I am.  Ironically, she watches more Anime than myself.  I will say that I am a fan of the Gundam series and own quite a bit of a collection.   I am missing a few series on DVD such as Gundam Seed Destiny as well as Spin Offs, Gundam 00, SD Gundam, Turn A Gundam and a few other DVDs. My favorite Gundam to date is either Zeta Gundam  or Gundam ZZ
 
Now, This Discussion isn't being formed to talk about Gundam, it is about Neon Genesis Evangelion.  Neon Genesis Evangenlion is regarded as one of the best anime ever made.  There are even non-anime fans who I have met and enjoyed it.  No matter what, it always has been something I avoided watching.  The question is, Why?

inb4becauseyoutouchyourselfatnight

inb4animeareforjerks
 
And watch it. It's actually good.

A better question would be: who cares?
Go watch it and figure it out for yourself? Really, we aren't psychologists here.
 
Though if by some chance you do go and watch it; don't. Watch Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann instead.

Because you touch yourself at day, and anime is for douchebags.

There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives. It took me years to even think about watching it because of this, when I did finally give it a chance i loved the first 20 episodes and then it started getting "deep" and I got lost.

I really liked Neon Genesis, didn't catch the last few eps though. Really good series I though. 
 
Big O is another good series. Just thought i'd mention it randomly noone ever seems to mention Big O.

It's not that great.  It's alright, but nothing even close to worth the worship people give it.

" Because you touch yourself at day, and anime is for douchebags. "

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

Watch it. NOW!  
 
But. Don't expect it to be a Gundam-like experience, Eva is nothing like other animes.

" @Pazy said:

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

I hate it when people say shit like that. An anime doesn't change your fucking life. And if it does, your life must be pretty damn shallow. I read most of the manga. Liked it at first, but then it just got boring and I couldn't be bothered continuing. "

" @Icemael said:

" @Pazy said:

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

I hate it when people say shit like that. An anime doesn't change your fucking life. And if it does, your life must be pretty damn shallow. I read most of the manga. Liked it at first, but then it just got boring and I couldn't be bothered continuing. "

Why not? Any sort of media can be life perception changing. I know you think you sound like a badass, but the truth is, most of us have that one game/movie/book/tv show/etc that greatly impacted us. Yes you're insanely cool for living such a rich and diverse life that nothing will ever impact it, but for the rest of us honest and normal people, we actually feel emotional attachment to certain things. "

" Watch it. NOW!   But. Don't expect it to be a Gundam-like experience, Eva is nothing like other animes. "

Wow I dunno what you dudes are getting out of robots fighting each other, I mean it's fun to watch for sure, but life changing? Yikes. 

" @Icemael said:

" @Pazy said:

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

I hate it when people say shit like that. An anime doesn't change your fucking life. And if it does, your life must be pretty damn shallow. I read most of the manga. Liked it at first, but then it just got boring and I couldn't be bothered continuing. "

Why not? Any sort of media can be life perception changing. I know you think you sound like a badass, but the truth is, most of us have that one game/movie/book/tv show/etc that greatly impacted us. Yes you're insanely cool for living such a rich and diverse life that nothing will ever impact it, but for the rest of us honest and normal people, we actually feel emotional attachment to certain things. "

" @Pazy said:

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

I hate it when people say shit like that. An anime doesn't change your fucking life. And if it does, your life must be pretty damn shallow. I read most of the manga. Liked it at first, but then it just got boring and I couldn't be bothered continuing. "

Well worth the watch.

I'm 29 years old, I've watched anime since I was a kid. I like a lot of it. I didn't see what was so great about EVA. Starts out somewhat interesting but the characters quickly seem two dimensional. The episodes degrade into a cycle of crying, screaming and passing out in a big robot. Seemed to me the more interesting elements of the show were never explored. Maybe I just didn't "get" it or maybe it's extremely overrated, yeah that's all.

" @Icemael said:

" @Pazy said:

" There is definitely a certain "weight" given to Evangelion since its held up as the greatest example of anime and the, apparently, some of the deepest fiction that changes lives."

I hate it when people say shit like that. An anime doesn't change your fucking life. And if it does, your life must be pretty damn shallow. I read most of the manga. Liked it at first, but then it just got boring and I couldn't be bothered continuing. "

Im not trying to say it changes life, for me it was good but in the end just got confusing, but enough people say that to affect how you approach it before hand. "

I haven't watched it either yet, I might give it a go after Twin Peaks and Band of Brothers.

Believe it or not, Neon Genesis Evangelion first aired back in the Fall of 1995. Meanwhile, anime fans were now talking more about Dragon Ball going a new spin-off (Dragon Ball Z), the latest Gundam series and Sony launched their first console almost a year ago. When I was in Okinawa at the time this series stunned the Japanese primetime anime audience. Almost overnight Neon Genesis Evangelion merchandise and advertisements were everywhere when Drangon Ball and Slayers were king. It never crossed my mind that this was a beginning of a great anime phenomenal at the time.
 
I taped as much of it as possible with a VHS recorder and try to translate as much as could on my own and constantly go to my friend who spoke it better than I could. This method sucked ass because the technology was there to upload and have fansites  translate, edit and redistribute when in fact it was 1996 and owning a PC with 16MB RAM, 500MB HDD and an AOL ISP through a 28k Modem has the word  "FAIL" written all over it.
 
Anyways, the series did something at the time when most were clones of giant robot battle series and dudes on steroids screaming with the hemorrhoid-face. Where most series that previously dabbled in freudian behavior (ie; "Ghost in the Shell" back in 1991) or undertones, Evangelion took it the next step. The set pieces, sound effects, layers of dialogue and character interaction tell a much bigger story all together. The series is deep and you could easily get lost in the noise, but I find it to be one of the most satisfying series out to date.  Even with its flaws, I appreciated that the production studio, Gainex, do produce gems like these.
 
For fans of the series and people new to it, I recommend watching the "Evangelion 1.11 You Are (Not) Alone" version. This is one of three new rebuilds for re-release of the series which is remastered in HD with 266 audio and visual enhancements just in the first of the trilogy. Its the first 6 episodes edited down to a movie format. I really enjoyed this version better especially the Blu-ray version where you can enjoy all the enhancements unlike some other studios who did just to bleed the fans of more money (*cough Star Wars). The pacing in the story was more refined in way the experience is of what you would get from a well crafted movie.
 
 
 

"I'm 29 years old, I've watched anime since I was a kid. I like a lot of it. I didn't see what was so great about EVA. Starts out somewhat interesting but the characters quickly seem two dimensional. The episodes degrade into a cycle of crying, screaming and passing out in a big robot. Seemed to me the more interesting elements of the show were never explored. Maybe I just didn't "get" it or maybe it's extremely overrated, yeah that's all. "