Sub0 wrote:yes... they are. and with little basses. it's not like the twelve year olds in the series ever hit any profound realization that any 12 year old put through the same shit wouldn't a figured out... in fact the first half is basic 12 yr old stuff ;-p.
Uhhhmmm... the characters are NOT 12. The characters reach MANY profound realizations... SHINJI makes a realization that many people who are in their 20's and 30's haven't made (and I can tell based on certain people's posts)
Furthermore, the beginning of the series ISN'T basic 12 year old stuff... unless you're just watching the big robots go boom... which just proves my point that some people just want to ignore a lot.
In the first episodes we are already dealing with broken families, Khabalic references, difficulties of social interaction, confuision of identity, ideas of self-sacrifice and so on.
I know that when I was 12, I was certainly tackling some advanced ideas (I was really into mythology and I started reading books like Urshurak and The Hobbit and at 13 I read Lord Foul's Bane) and I certainly faced some of the issues that Shinji was still dealing with (such as being an outsider and not getting along with kids) but I certainly was still in a mode where my own thoughts, feelings and needs came first... because I was still a kid... Hell...I wasn't even thinking about sex or girls at 12, which would of course be a whole other collection of issues in a short 3 years.
I know a lot of kids in the US think High School is the whole freakin' world when they are in High School... but all it takes is a year past High School to know how small and insignifican it is.
If you honestly believe that people's lives and perspectives on life don't change over time, then you are really deluding yourself.
My point was that younger people are going to miss a lot of what Evangelion is about, not because they are stupid, but simply because they just haven't had enough life experience to grasp some of the questions and some of the issues that are covered in the series.
As a bad example - most kids don't think about the trials and tribulations of being a parent. You just accept your parents as being there to provide for you and so you often act like they should be doing that... but as you get older, you realize all the sacrifices they had to make in their lives to raise you and take care of you and supply you with clothes and food and toys and so on... It's not that you are stupid as a kid... it's just you don't have the perception and understanding at a younger age... but then as you get older you learn things about life
Obviously, kids from broken homes learn life lessons at a younger age or kids who have to grow up in harsher conditions...
Anyway... I don't have time to write on and on about this, because this topic could have books and books written on it (and there are many books on these subjects) but I'm just talking fast and loose in the short amount of time I have to write this post.
There is a lot of basis on what I have to say, though. I am not a grand sage on the subject, but I have done some studying in the fields of psychology and philosophy not to mention that I have seen life around me and I have seen how people behave at different ages and I have my own life experiences to build on.
I don't see where you can claim that what I say has no basis at all. (I'm assuming that was the word you were trying to spell)
-Uncle Milo