[Der_Einzige]

Lain is 10/10. Akira/Ghost in the Shell are great too. Evangelion is a weak 7/10 in comparison to them in every aspect imaginable. I also realized that Evangelion is Japan's version of assigning weird mysticism to religions they don't understand (much how westerners depict shinto/daoism/buddhism with tons of mysticism).

Evangelion is a disgusting anime to consider part of your national personification. Drop it and pick up Ghibli films more please Japan.

[Moto7451]

Evangelion is not “Japan’s version” of anything in terms of western religions. It’s one guy who was making a TV show. It’s not Japan’s “national personification.”

If you want to go down the rabbit hole you’ll find a lot of quotes from Anno and others on it.

A lot of it boils down to “we did this because it’s cool and we have no idea what Christianity is” down to Anno going “Yeah I could do this because no one in Japan is really going to care and I don’t really care about the Western world anyway.”

https://gwern.net/otaku

https://wiki.evageeks.org/Statements_by_Evangelion_Staff

It’s fine to not like it but it’s quite a step to go “this is how Japan thinks.” It’s akin to saying America is personified by the Simpsons every time they go to Japan.

[jmalicki]

But America is personified by the Simpsons!

[selimthegrim]

I guess Saddam Hussein's propaganda team thought so in 1991 too.

[jjmarr]

It is a show about depression, which is why people love it.

The "weird mysticism" is just the reification (pun intended) of the urge to self-harm. i.e. Literally turning into a puddle of emotion, or allowing oneself to be crucified.

It's visceral in a way I've never seen before or since. Going all in on a surface-level understanding paid off in my mind.

[joquarky]

> shinto/daoism/buddhism

The style of your comment is not making a good case for knowledge of this subject.

[pezezin]

I guess it reinforces his point about the lack of knowledge of Japanese people.

[whaleofatw2022]

> Lain is 10/10.

Caught the BeOS fan ;)

(I kid, mostly but remember Lain fans rabidly trying and espousing it)

[mghackerlady]

I was more impressed with the obscure NeXT and apple references, BeOS only crossed my mind because I recognised the end card

[mghackerlady]

i'll concede lain is better, but evangelion beats akira and maybe ghost in the shell. what problems do you have with it in specific?