James Cameron directing Eva and Gargoyles on DVD. Info?

[Pierrot Le Fou]

Sorry if I sounded patronizing w/ that comment, I actually really did want
to know what you thought. Thanks for that , it helped me put a
bit more of EoE into perspective, although like you said the ending is
pretty ambiguous. But that might have something to do w/ the fact that
I've only seen up to episode 17 [and both movies].

[UncleMilo]

I came into this conversation late...

so I don't know what has been said, and I apologize for repeating other people...


1) I have heard many rumors about James Cameron directing a live action EVA, a live action Cowboy Bebop and a live action Battle Angel. Seems like a lot of BS to me.

2) Whenever I hear about live action versions of Anime, all I have to say is "FIST OF THE NORTH STAR" with Downtown Julie Brown. Need I say more?

3) I was reading a few comments on if there was anti-religious sentiment in Evangelion.

Again... I humbly apologize for not reading the posts... I was just glancing.

However... I have been informed that Anno has a lot of negative views of Western Religion and the impact it has had on Japan.

You also have to look at the premise of the surface story... EVA units 00 through 02 are all designed after the children of Lillith as described in the Khaballa.

Lillith is the mother of all demons... and the purpose of the EVAs (designed to look like Lillith's children...i.e. demons) is to fight and kill Angels.

However...

I believe that one of the messages you can get out of Evangelion is that mankind must get past the need of "god" figures... that we as a race of people must take responsability for our own actions and seek out our own answers. Shinji's answers could only be found within himself and in his understanding of his relationships with other people. The he DIDN'T need the EVA to be important or of value.

I always welcome e-mail at unclemilo@yahoo.com to talk about EVA.

-Uncle Milo

[kthulhu]

However... I have been informed that Anno has a lot of negative views of Western Religion and the impact it has had on Japan.

I'd say, personally, it has had little impact on Japan. Christianity (and religion in general) does not seem to play a very big role in Japan (unlike in <a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/fac ... tml">South Korea</a>, where half the religious population is Christian). The most obvious impact of Western religion in Japan, to me, is providing "strange foreign" fodder for anime.

I believe that one of the messages you can get out of Evangelion is that mankind must get past the need of "god" figures... that we as a race of people must take responsability for our own actions and seek out our own answers.

It may also be something of a subliminal attack on Japanese society and <a href="http://www12.mainichi.co.jp/news/mdn/se ... prejudiced thinking</a>. Shinji, in a sense, could be an appeal to Japan as a nation, to open up and meld with the world, instead of maintaining a closed, inward focus.

[TekkaRepliroid Zero]

I'm surprised people get confused by calling Eva anti-god when its "angels" attacking humanity.

Biomechanical CG is do-able, Beast Machines, with exception of fire (which they did like crap), was very slick. If James Cameron actually manages to go through with this, he can make it look "good" if he hires Mainframe to do the CG ^^. Yay Canadian bred talent.

[TekkaRepliroid Zero]

Just an ammendment on the "fire looked like crap" issue, they CAN do it if they want to, as shown in Shadow Raiders (War Planets in the US)

[Chaos Angel]

Mainframe Entertainment is just the shit.

But I digress.

[He Thor01]

So far a lot of really good points have been brought up concerning the Metaphysical aspects of EVA, the only point I would bring up is towards the posts saying that Anno may have been only perpetuating some foul thoughts about western religion “being one of those damn tree hugging Unitarian Universalists, I may be able to speak from neutral ground". I have studied Japanese history for many years and have found many instances when Japanese people were very eager to trade with other nations but whenever Christian or Catholic Missionaries were sent into the country Japan closed its doors to most outsiders and became very secluded on the world stage. This happened for hundreds of years. Today most of the country is Buddhist and rather neutral in matters of religion, and that’s what I think is part of what made EVA so great, it brought in aspects of many different religions and offered a cross section of spirituality while mixing in a beautiful story about personal affirmation. The story did have some major issues with the world potentially casting out religion and bringing about new gods, but that was the only real big issue involving "anti- god" the replacement of old "distant" gods for more tangible ones, and that has been a reoccurring theme for world history "just ask Zeus or Ra or all the other gods who now receive very little or no worship". Someday even our concepts of one all-powerful god, or Jesus, or Buddha, or Ala will fail and die and be replaced until the world ends. "There is no Anti-god".

[UncleMilo]

First off - be careful what you say about Unitarians, especially when there's at least one on this board. I can already see that your knowledge of EVA is about on par with your knowledge of Unitarianism.

Second - It doesn't matter what the attitude of the population of Japan is toward Western belief systems because the population of Japan did not write Evangelion.

Third - Official word from sources I trust is that one of the main themse about Evangelion's surface story is about the great danger of "mind control". How easy it is to brainwash people with a system of beliefs, be they religious or political or whatever... and how willing many weak minded people are to allow themselves to be deluded by these belief systems rather than face up to other possibilities.

Fourth - The information in EVA is taken from the Khaballa. I haven't heard of any other religious texts being used for the designs and story elements within the surface story of EVA. Sure... many aspects of Religion can be traced back to older belief systems (like Set/Sutekh becoming Satan and all) however, this was not really brought to light in the TV series (and I wish I had 20% of the knowledge my friend has who has spent over 10 years studying the Khaballa).

Lastly - The central story, of course, is about Shinji finding his sense of self worth and value... and it is a message that applies to all of us... because he finds his answers not in superstitions, but in his relations with the people around him and his own internal values, which makes it a very positive and empowering message. Such an ending turns our eyes away from gods and toward other people.

-Uncle Milo

again, I'd prefer to discuss this on e-mail with those that are interested.

Thanks.

[Jiima]

Man... I leave for the weekend and my post errupts into major philosophical discussions in religion... Woah. Let me clear some stuff up about what I said. First off is to never argue about politics and religion. That's why I haven't disclosed anything about my religious affiliation. As far as you're concerned I'm neutral. Hell, I might be Buddhist, I might be Catholic. My alignment should have no effect on how I see Evangelion as an art... Well, maybe just a smidge, but second: Yet another problem I think we have with Evangelion is that there were two endings made for it. NGE Ep 25 & 26. And the EOE: 25 & 26 rewritten. I've discussed my views of EOE, however now would be a good time to tell my views on NGE...

**Spoilers**

The central story, of course, is about Shinji finding his sense of self worth and value...

Yeah... That's what NGE is about. I didn't see much of that taken into EOE, but that was Anno's religious edition of Evangelion. NGE, I feel is his social edition. From what I've heard, correct me if I'm wrong, Japanese society is all about being unified. A very hard thing for Japanese adolescence is simply growing up. Here in America we're encouraged to be individuals, find our own interest, do our own thing, etc. From what I've heard, Japan encourages contradictory themes, that they should grow-up unified and conform to society, yet at the same time they should develop their own sense of individuality. What's up with that? Anyhow, NGE occurs during Shinji's struggle with this delema. He wants to rebel and be indivual, yet he's being pushed to be a certain person. In Ep 25 & 26 he discovers that he can be both. I think

Open to any suggestions, comments, corrections.

[Pierrot Le Fou]

Well I haven't seen the "original" ending for Evangelion yet, so I didnt
read the previous post, but I think I missed something major based on
what has been said previously in this thread. I never really thought that
Gendo's objectives were ever motivated by any feelings [be they good
or bad] towards God. It was my impression that it was only about being
reunited in some way with Yui. But again, I havent seen the original ending
of the series, so that probably has something to do with it.