Eva...*Twitch*

[Fanboy_NOIR]

Ladies and Gentlemen! Behold! Conviniently using this topic, I shall now reveal the plot of EVANGELION! (''might'' contain spoilers, duh!)

-60000000 BC - meteorite strikes earth kills all the dinausaurs gives rise to human lifeform
-meteorite=Lilith's egg
-18 forms of life evolved, 17 went into hybernation (the angels)
Humans dominated until in 1995 ad they found the shell of the egg
which was very hard, so they made geofront in it
[follow me so far?]

In 1995 a corp. called GEHIRN was doing some bio research there
they recruted Fiutsky and his lab aprrentice Yui Ikarri

In 1997 Yui meets Gendo, introduces him to Fiutsky who did not like him

2000 BOOM a meteorite strikes south pole
and the Gehirn found Adam in it (1st Angel) so they did some research and found out that:
-humanity is in deep shit
-the reason they (Katsuragi's research team that included Gendo and Yui) started 2nd impact was because Adam was nearly ready to hatch and that would put other 17 species out of hybernation (angels+adam = bad, no way to stop it). So they said fuck it , lets nuke it and we MIGHT kill 3 billion peole, but its better than losing 6

so 2nd impact occured

The Gehirn was dismantled as head researcher Katsuragi (his daughter Misato survived though) died in the blast and it turned into Seele

Gehirn did turn into Seele i mean
Just a change of management

1 year after the 2nd impact Yui gives birth to a son = shinji
Gendo and Yui work day and night analyzing data from the adam in the would be 2nd impact crater. They create Evageleon (Project E) 3 years later. The purpose of eva was to somehow help the survivors adapt to the new climate after the 2nd impact

2003
They attempt the first eva activation experiment
It failed = Yui is trapped inside (Eva's AT field = human soul, here unit 01 at field = Yui)
(Shinji was watching that btw so he knew everything all along subconciously)
GENDO WAS PISSED at no other but GOD HIMSELF!
So he said FUCK THE PROJECT EVA!
I WANT MY YUI BACK!
[somewhere between the 2nd impact and eva experiment Futsky joins Seele]
Gendo proposes a new project to the Seele's comitee - instrumentality, the next step in human evolution.He made it atrractive to the Seele by proposing to MERGE ANGELS with HUMANS through EVANGELEONS (!!!IMPORTANT!!!).Since evangeleons are a product of Lilith's(the angel that gave birth to all life see start of this explanation) flesh and a human soul
Seele aproved this gave his project the funding needed.
Gendo forms Seele's special branch - NERV
But what he realy had in mind is to turn the whole evolution around by turning all people into a giant lcl soup - primorial soup where all the life started. He had the twisted idea that that way his soul can be reunited with Yui's
''a world with no at fields'', remeber?
Thats different from the project Seele thought he was running, see?
So he needs something that will accomodate the Liliths soul in order to destroy borders between human souls (as Lilith=birth of all life => most powerfull soul and hence the strongest at field)
The answer is REI! =>''Empty husk'' designed for that purpose
Along the way he has an affair with Akagi, Ritsuko's mother.
And we all know how that ended. Ritsuko and Misato joined NERV by that time (infact Rit-chan was working with her mother)

So now its 2015. Time to harvest the results of instrumentality project.
And my-oh-my its not ready!
And angels are back!
Various batlles take place , so Shinji , Asuka and Rei kick angel ass.
Seele is getting suspicious cause they had the dead sea scrolls that told them what would happen when and Gendo's actions were not in line with them.
So they send Kaji to spy on him.But Kaji was a working 2 ways . He did kidnap Fiutskyi for Seele though.Seele made him confess and holy shit looks like Gendo is doing instrumentality for personal reasons!
Gendo knows that Kaji works two way so he gets rid of him. But Kaji passes the info on to misato (in the pill while they shagged). Then the project instrumenatlity is still blown out of proportion by various damages that are inflicted by angels, especialy Zariel (ribbon one that got eaten by unit 01)
Tts like this: Seele asks Gendo - we know u have angels but WHY THE FUCK DO U BOTHER WITH DEFENSE WHEN U COULD FINISH THE INSTRUMENTALITY?
Gendo says : well u see hq got a little fucked up blah blah[lies]
Seele: thats no excuse
Gendo:[to himself] better hurry
So he speeds things up but after the battle with Zariel Shinji was trapped inside an Eva and Seele wants to question him! Gendo afraid that he might tell something important to Seele so he hands Ritsuko over to them instead!
Seele persuades Ritsuko to help them and tells her their concerns about Gendo.
Rit-chan tells everything she knows to Misato and Shinji (Eva graveyard, lots of Rei's)
[shock horror]
Now cause of the hasty preparation gando lacked the recourses to repair Evas.Lack of pilots (morale and sink ratios hit rock bottom for Asuka) and recources (Eva is seriously damaged and must remain in cryo stasis) forced Rei to fight with no backup against the 16th Angel
{SELFDISTRUCT}
{BOOOOOOOM} NOOOOOOOO< REI!
Gendo: oh - oh Seele will not like this
So he clones her (again)and makes up a rediculos story about Rei surving the blast.
Seele is apauled by the lies.They realise Gendo's tratchery just in time to trow everything they have got at NERV.
-they send Kaoru first (the last angel)
[end of eva]
-they try to hack into MAGI computer but fail again
[well before they tired sending kaouru]
So they used the japanese army, UN and SSDF (strategic self-defence force) combined army to attack the geofront.
Gendo was ready with his plan but
REI REJECTED HIM AT THE LAST MOMENT
AND MERGED WITH LILITH TO MERGE LATER WITH SHINJI (cause she realised that gendo was evil and used her while Shinji did care about her but thats just my guess).And she felt responsible for him cause her soul was that of a copy of Yui's soul (thats Gendo's work)
Seele realise that they fucked up (oh shit the third impact started - how did that happen?) - accepted the fate that Gendo broght on them and mankind. But they didnt know the fate of mankind was in Shinjis hands [shinji =pissed at the moment]. Shinji wants a nice peaceful hole for himself where he would not be hated by anyone and therefore not get hurt (can u realy blame him? his childhood was terrible as was his fate) That creates the world full of lcl - one of many possibilities. He decides that it was not such a good idea after all and changes everything back to normal. But he has undergone a serious mental trauma - hence trying to kill Asuka at the end. But his love for her overcame all!
The End.

P.S. Am I the MAN or am I the MAN?! 8)
P.P.S. hands in terrible pain..... hope this clears things up for some people (cough Milktoast cough)
P.P.P.S. well I edited this out of a conversation I had the other day, so sorry about the mistakes
P.P.P.P.S. Arent P.S.'s great?
P.P.P.P.P.S. This explains just the plot. You have to figure the idea of the show on your own. What you see depends on your view of things in general, so there is no right or wrong answer here.
P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Hope you had fun reading this!

[Otohiko]

This explains the story part of it well *claps*

the story is fairly straightforward once you figure out what's where. However, the show isn't really about the story (in a sense), but more so about the underlying ideas (primarily those of Anno). There's really a fairly simple philosophy behind it, but let's just try to steer away from trying to straightforwardly explain that.

That part of it is a little ambiguous. Some find it hella depressing, some find it hopeful.

Just watch ep 25, 26 and EoE again, that's all I can suggest.

[MrScribble]

First impact wasn't the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs, it was the meteor//comet that slammed into the earth and created the moon.

I don't remember where I read that, but I knew it was from an official source.

[Fanboy_NOIR]

First impact wasn't the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs, it was the meteor//comet that slammed into the earth and created the moon.

I don't remember where I read that, but I knew it was from an official source.

Very true, my mistake.

[Fanboy_NOIR]

This explains the story part of it well *claps*

the story is fairly straightforward once you figure out what's where. However, the show isn't really about the story (in a sense), but more so about the underlying ideas (primarily those of Anno). There's really a fairly simple philosophy behind it, but let's just try to steer away from trying to straightforwardly explain that.

That part of it is a little ambiguous. Some find it hella depressing, some find it hopeful.

Just watch ep 25, 26 and EoE again, that's all I can suggest.

Apparently, not everyone could notice it in the first run
It took me at least three times to realise what eva was about (i watched it 5 times total, the other 2 were just for the sheer ownage/coolness of the show)

[Toecutter]

That explaination of Eva doesn't seem to add up.

First of all, Second Impact couldn't be caused by one nuke! Even our most powerful thermonuclear weapons couldn't melt the polar ice caps, and even if they did, the oceans wouldn't rise to wipe out all the coastal cities around the world. You don't believe me? Take an ice cube, put it in a glass of water, note the water level, and melt the ice cube. Note the water level neither raises or lowers! It remains the same, because the same mass of water exists. In the ice cube form, the ice displaces it's weight of water, because it floats. However, in it's liquid state, the water that makes up the cube displaces an equivalent VOLUME. Either way, the water level remains constant.

Secondly, a nuke, no matter how powerful, wouldn't wipe out 3 billion human lives. We've been detonating thermonuclear devices for decades underwater, on land, and we've performed several air-burst experiments. A nuke couldn't cause Second Impact if we tried.

Thirdly, all the Eva websites I've found say that Second Impact was caused by the Katsuragi Expedition fooling around with S2 theory, trying to revive Adam. Lillith was found nearby, and taken away with all the records by Gendo a day before Second Impact. I've found no evidence to suggest that Adam crash-landed in the Antarctic via a meteorite, either.

From the interactions of Seele and Gendo in the series, it sounds like Third Impact/Instrumentality was their plan all along, as recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls. They knew mankind reached an "evolutionary dead-end", as they kept referring to it, and the only way to reset the clock was to cause Third Impact.

So, where do you get all this information? Is it from the manga, or are you just picking up some really bizarre shit from the tv series that I'm missing somehow?

[dwchang]

First impact wasn't the meteorite that wiped out the dinosaurs, it was the meteor//comet that slammed into the earth and created the moon.

I don't remember where I read that, but I knew it was from an official source.

Very true, my mistake.

Actually they never explicitely say what is First Impact. It is debated that it could be one of three things:

1) The meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs.
2) The Flood during Noah's time - this did wipe out a lot of people like second impact
3) The crucifiction of Christ.

[dwchang]

Fanboy_NOIR:

You are incorrect on quite a few things in your explanation. Given you do get some of it right.

I believe Mr. Scribble pretty much retorted your idea of the Nukes. It is explicitely said that Second Impact occured from the release of energy from Adam. There is no "S2 Theory" or anything involved. They found Adam in that area, tried to harness his energy and in turn released it and turned him into an embryo.

I guess I'm implying it was an accident, but it wasn't. They need Adam as embryo for Third Impact and the Instrumentality project.

They attempt the first eva activation experiment
It failed = Yui is trapped inside (Eva's AT field = human soul, here unit 01 at field = Yui)

Not exactly.

It didn't fail. The entire purpose was for Yui to inhabit Unit 01 so that it *could* have an AT field. They even say that she was smiling when it happened (the transfer of her soul). She wanted to be there so that she could help form the future. She wanted Instrumentality to occur too. You see her in the movie even saying all this. It was her purpose to do this.

You are correct however about the AT field.

But what he realy had in mind is to turn the whole evolution around by turning all people into a giant lcl soup - primorial soup where all the life started. He had the twisted idea that that way his soul can be reunited with Yui's
''a world with no at fields'', remeber?

Wrong again. SEELE intention from the very start is to start Instrumentality which is this LCL primordial soup you speak of. Gendo's purpose was quite simple, to be with Yui. He had no intention of helping humanity reach instrumentality. You have the two flipped.

If you remember in the movie, Keel (the head of SEELE) says something along the lines of "it is good" right before turning into LCL. I might also add that they were using the Eva Production series which SEELE is obviously in control of. If they didn't want it to happen why did they have the units conduct the ceremony?

If Gendo had it his way, he would've united with Lillith/Rei (with Adam in his hand) and been in control of Instrumentality. He would then proceed to see Yui and not give a damn about the rest of us.

SEELE wanted instrumentality to occur so that they could reach the next step of Evolution (which you refer to later). So, you are incorrect on the intentions of SEELE.

In fact, they sort of win at the end.

Seele realise that they fucked up (oh shit the third impact started - how did that happen?) - accepted the fate that Gendo broght on them and mankind. But they didnt know the fate of mankind was in Shinjis hands [shinji =pissed at the moment]. Shinji wants a nice peaceful hole for himself where he would not be hated by anyone and therefore not get hurt (can u realy blame him? his childhood was terrible as was his fate) That creates the world full of lcl - one of many possibilities. He decides that it was not such a good idea after all and changes everything back to normal. But he has undergone a serious mental trauma - hence trying to kill Asuka at the end. But his love for her overcame all!

You are very incorrect here and even miss the entire meaning of the show. I believe I already retorted the notion that SEELE accepted Gendo's fate and Instrumentality occurs.

You are correct in that Shinji is in charge of Instrumentality and no he didn't CHOOSE for us to become LCL. That is the very nature of Instrumentality.

What he *did* choose is the fate of mankind *after* that (i.e. stay in the LCL, have a choice or even just not exist). You are correct in that LCL is sort of a step-up in evolution (which is what SEELE wanted). Also it's not one of many possibilities. The Sea of LCL IS Instrumentality. What humans choose to form within it is the endless possibilities (where Shinji forms his own perfect world for himself...he's still in the LCL though).

Shinji basically decides that he'd rather live in a world where he was an individiual in reality (as opposed to living in a false reality of his own, shown in episode 26...the ideal (false) world) with an AT field. Even though he can hurt ppl (and they can hurt him), he decides this (i.e. personal growth, self-worth). He also decides that all people can have this decision to stay or go back.

This is explicitely in the movie where Yui (or was it Kaworu) says "Are you sure you want to go back to the AT field? Where you can be hurt?" and he says "yes."

The fact the sea is still red implies that CURRENTLY, only he and Asuka are on Earth. HOWEVER, all human beings have the choice to either stay in the LCL (where they are undergoing that soul-searching that Shinji had in Episodes 25/26...also shown for other characters) or choose to go back to the world with an AT field. It's optimistic to assume eveyrone will come to the same conclusion Shinji made, but it's meant to be open-ended.

Also everyone is going through that soul-searching so you can infer everyone will come to the same positive answer and realize their self-worth, but again it's left open-ended on purpose.

At the end of the movie, Shinji doesn't strangle Asuka b/c he has problems. The very fact he came back to earth shows that he has overcome his problems. For him to do that would destroy the entire meaning of the show.

He strangles Asuka to prove that he exists. That he can "feel" someone else and that he is in reality. This is explicitely shown on a Gainax trading card quote. I'd link it, but I've done it in the past, so you'll have to believe me. I'm sure everyone else has seen it since I've posted about this multiple times.

I wish I could find the previous post I made which explains all of Evangelion. I didn't see much argument based on that and had plenty of links and images to "prove" my points.

Given, don't get me wrong, you get some things wrong, but I think you missed quite a few major things.

Man you made me come out of "Eva retirement." I'm sort of sick of typing the same thing over and over about it. I wish someone would just find my giant post about it and make it a sticky

[Jebadia]

That explaination of Eva doesn't seem to add up.

First of all, Second Impact couldn't be caused by one nuke! Even our most powerful thermonuclear weapons couldn't melt the polar ice caps, and even if they did, the oceans wouldn't rise to wipe out all the coastal cities around the world. You don't believe me? Take an ice cube, put it in a glass of water, note the water level, and melt the ice cube. Note the water level neither raises or lowers! It remains the same, because the same mass of water exists. In the ice cube form, the ice displaces it's weight of water, because it floats. However, in it's liquid state, the water that makes up the cube displaces an equivalent VOLUME. Either way, the water level remains constant.

Indeed you are right, water is the funnest thing to ponder about. Like how water cannot compress.

[J-0080]

Hey,

As many have already said, the movie (the End of Evangelion) was made in response to the (literally) thousands of hate-mails (even death threats, they are even flashed throughout the movie) Hideak Anno (the creator and director) received for having such an ambiguous (I don't think it is) ending. He was pretty much forced to make a story that told the viewer HOW things happened, which (IMO) is not important.

Hell, the last line "Kimochi warui" (I feel sick/bad) has been debated that that is Anno speaking to the viewer. It's also why the movie is a bit...what's the word...fucked up. It does answer questions as to how things happened, but at the same time is pretty messed up.

Regardless, with all that said, I think a lot of you are missing the point of Evangelion (as Milo has alluded).

At the surface, Evangelion is just another cool mecha show where Humans are defending themselves from Angels and forcibly trying to evolve (third impact...where we became that goo...lost our AT fields...we are happy).

However, the true meaning and purpose of Evangelion is simply about Shinji. Him finding self-worth and his triumph over his problems...that's it! That is the main reason Episodes 25 and 26 had no real plot points and were just "soul searching."

And no, I'm not forgetting about Asuka, Misato and so on. Basically, as shown in Episode 25, everyone is going through this soul-searching. Basically...all humans hurt each other with our AT fields and are "missing" something...we all have problems yes? Basically the characters in Evangelion (IMO) are just exaggerations of traits we all possess. Each of us can be arrogant and looking for acceptance (like Asuka) or feel we have no self-worth and defined by what others think(like Shinji) and so on. So yeah...the show is ultimately about us.

The ending, I find quite uplifting and powerful...Shinji finally figures out who he is and in the end...it doesn't matter how we got to that point since the story is just a vehicle to tell the story about this boy and his problems and eventual victory. Regardless, they are probably the two most important episodes in the entire series.

So yeah, I agree in that I like Episode 25/26 quite a bit since it is a culmination of what the entire show it about and really brings things to a good conclusion (the important parts). At the same time, I like the movie since it covers the "plot" points like Instrumentality and Shinji deciding mankind's fate.

Since many of you are probably confused about the plot points, let me try and sum things up as quickly as possible (I kind of hate typing this up...I think I already have at least 3 times).

As stated, humans are fending off angels. IMO I think they are true Angels sent from God, but it doesn't matter if they are. Anyway...the angels are trying to re-unite with Adam which will cause 3rd Impact. We are just fending for ourselves (or so we are led to believe) since 3rd Impact will destroy us (basically whoever "wins" is the species that gets to "evolve" to the next level or something along those lines).

That's the majority of the TV episodes and after defeating the 17th Angel...SEELE wants to initiate third impact. As stated, we are first led to bleieve that third impact is bad, but in fact, if we initiate it, we also will evolve to the next level...this basically equates to us losing our AT fields and idealy leads to happiness. This is covered in the "Dead Sea Scrolls." This is why we had to defeat the other Angels...so we could initiate Instrumentality.

Basically the AT field is why we hurt each other and why we can't truly be close and open with each other (The Hedgehog's Dilemna). To destroy the AT field would equate to all of us being happy. That's where we burst into LCL..our base form..and are all happy in our "perfect" little worlds...this is seen in Episode 26 where Shinji rejects his perfect world. I believe everyone is in their own ideal world since there are no AT fields.

Anyway...Gendo refuses and tries to initiate third impact himself. Basically...Gendo is an asshole...make no mistake. He just wants to see his wife and is being selfish. Regardless, Rei rejects him and Shinji becomes the center of Instrumentality instead of Gendo. This is the messed-up parts in Eva where all of us burst and so on.

I may not have stated it, but basically Episodes 25/26 and the movie are really going on in parallel and are...for the important parts...the same thing. EoE just tells us how we got to this point. Anyway...now that everyone has no AT field, basically all of us are going through this self-searching (as seen in Episode 25/26...they even mention that all of us are going through this, but they only have time to show Shinji). So IDEALLY, everyone comes to the same conclusion as Shinji and discovers their self-worth.

Anyway...Shinji eventually rejects this perfect world and realizes who he is and so on...this is where the glass breaks in Episode 26...this is also the part in EoE where Eva01 bursts out of Rei's eye (So again, Episode 25/26 is the same as EoE...one just shows how we get to this point). Shinji basically rejected Instrumentality and thus comes back to earth..where he comes out of the ocean. Shinji basically chose to come back to earth with a physical form and more importantly...WITH an AT field.

Now that he realizes who he is and his self-worth, he chooses to *try* and live life with the knowledge he has gained about himself. In theory, if all of us realized these things, we could be happy together...so in theory perhaps Third Impact and this Evolution was not living in Perfect worlds (while LCL), but rather us discovering ourselves (which could be called "evolution)...hmmm....

At the same time, Shinji also allows all of us the choice to come back or not. As I said, he was in charge of instrumentality and thus, all of us are going through the same decision and *CAN* come back if we want to. He gives us the choice. Again, IDEALY, people will discover themselves AND come back.

As for Asuka, I do in fact believe Asuka died in EoE and the reason she is back is the same reason why Shinji is back. As I said (and was shown in Episode 25), everyone is going through this and it's easy to assume Asuka came to the same conclusion. Regardless of if she died or not...she would still have burst into LCL like every other human on Earth...so no matter what she is going through Instrumentality (as seen in Episode 25)

Another theory is that Shinji chose her to come back...he was in charge after all...since he loves her (I can already see the Black Monarch coming in here with some stupid comment). Regardless...as I mentioned before...these plot points don't really matter...so I guess I shouldn't have mentioned it.

In any case, that's a quick summary of what happens in Evangelion that most people seem to be confused about. I won't lie in that it can be confusing and the only reason I know this is because I've seen the show many times and well...I hate to be mean, but IT IS all in there. They pretty much say these things in the movie and last two episodes.

So, hopefully that clears up the plot points and more importantly clears up that well...Evangelion isn't about that. It's a cool mecha show, but that's not the reason it's one of my favorite shows. Evangelion is an uplifting and deep tale and I find that the reason why I like it so much.

Interesting tidbits:
-Keel, the head of SEELE is rumored to be the man who spit on Christ before the crucifixion. Right after Keel turns into LCL (right after he says "all is good"), we see that his spine is metallic. This implies that he has lived a very long time. Basically, in mythology (NOT fact and NOT Biblical), the man who spat on Christ is cursed to live until the end of the world. This would easily explain why Keel would want to end the world and return to LCL since he well..has lived for over 2,000 years. Pretty cool that Anno added little things like this in.

-The Sephiroth: This is the symbol shown many times throughout the series (also at the end). This is basically the characteristics of God...things that human beings can never fully understand like Compassion, Wisdom, etc. It's been argued the Evangelion is just about Shinji's path toward becoming a God. Basically throughout the show, he shows these characteristics of God and at the end, he literally becomes one since he decides the fate of man. Again...just interesting little things and no real fact behind it. Everything I stated before these tidbits is what happens and has some evidence (from the show....b/c they are said). And again...this isn't really what's important...I just find it interesting.

Hmm...I think that's it...I hope this clears things up.

/me can already see the retort coming from the Black Monarch :groan:

One quick disclaimer: If you hate Evangelion and so on and have some stupid comment to say, I do ask politely that you don't. This is obviously an Evangelion thread for Evangelion fans to discuss things. I was kind enough not to post in the "Dubs" thread at the request of Omnistrata and thus ask the same courtesy be shown.

Ya I think that sums it up pretty well dwchang, oh and for further reference theres the Red Cross Book.

J-0080.