Anime Reign Magazine | Page 40

www.worldanimeclub.com E veryone has something that haunts them from the past which in turn adds the necessary depth and complexity to their personalities. What this did also is show how fragile people actually are mentally. The way it’s done is in the most psychological manner possible to boot too. The general characterization is well done. The relationships are built around quite well. Each character gradually opens up to one another as the series progresses and show improvements mentally and socially in a very natural manner and thus, it never felt overbearing. Shinji became more open to relationships with people, Asuka became a little less stuck up and Rei actually cracked a smile. This remained so for a bit until later in the series where it became far more dark and psychological with them doing the reverse and becoming more unstable than they initially were, eliminating their progress. This causes the development to feel shaky. However, this purposely happens to constantly remind you that they aren’t ideal and that people are fragile beings mentally. The ending of the series would further eclipse this. To put this all into perspective, the characters are some of the most well made in anime to date - an integral part and the core of Neon Genesis Evangelion. Art: The art and animation first and foremost is some of the best for its time. Right behind Ghost in the Shell for 1995 in fact. The general artwork is quite fresh and unique compared to most anime at that time. The character designs were well made, the body shapes especially were slim and well defined especially the Evas which was and still is so unique to most mecha designs in anime. The Angels’ designs were all interesting and varied from one another. The backgrounds and scenery were atmospheric, giving off a very dark and surreal feeling, matching the tone of the series perfectly. The visuals and choreography were just brilliant. The Eva battles displayed this quite well. With strategy and cooperation among the pilots needed, it topped off the great story and characters with some well-made action scenes. The problem with the animation though is the budget cuts. There would be long drawn out scenes in the most random of moments, messing with the overall pacing of the series a bit. This would all fall apart by the end of the series where the budget was at an all-time low, which resulted in episodes 25 & 26 using very minimal animation and visuals. Overall, the Art is fantastic even by today’s standards. Sound: By far, the most memorable part of Neon Genesis Evangelion is the opening theme song “A Cruel Angel’s Thesis” which was sung by Yoko Takahashi. This song is in fact one of my favorite anime theme songs. It’s not number one for me, but it’s up there as one of my favorites and one of the best anime themes around. Speaking more on the song itself, it was very reflective of Neon Genesis Evangelion in general if you read the lyrics carefully. This further cemented it as one of the best anime theme songs for its relevancy to the overall series. The ending theme “Fly Me to the Moon” was quite catchy too. The overall soundtrack of the anime was pretty good and all the tracks were solid. Page 24 Anime Reign | Issue 2 | 2013