I know it's a deconstruction of the super robot. I know that shinji has a plausibly realistic reaction to his situation, especially as an unwilling Eva pilot. That doesn't make me wanna watch the psychological unravelling of a child until he becomes completely insufferable and wanks it over his comatose friend. Why does anyone wanna watch that, no matter how powerful?

[–] Fontasia@feddit.nl 4 points 4 hours ago

It's got deep-ish themes about identity, 6 frames of boobs and a memorable theme, everything the Otaku needs while saving up for that Fedora they have their eye on

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 8 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Why do people engage with anything that makes them uncomfortable? Horror? Tragedy? It's just morbid curiosity. It's not a bad thing, really. Any exploration of the human condition is incomplete without a look at the darker side. Some need more light in their entertainment to help the medicine go down, and that's OK too.

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I know art is subjective, but like... 26 episodes devoted to watching an annoying little shit face become even more annoying and shittier?

I want to like the show so bad, but shinji is just so unpleasant to watch.

Generally I think there is value in engaging with media that makes you experience negative and uncomfortable emotions, but I think the exception to that is anger. If the predominant emotions is anger, then probably not a tremendous amount of value. Most other emotions evoked by media are either enjoyable themselves or produce enjoyable after effects (like the thrill of horror, or the catharsis of tragedy); but not anger.

[–] loaExMachina@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

As you say it's subjective, but I don't find Shinji that annoying for most of the series. And it's not just a downwards spiral, he and the other characters have ups and downs.

Even the conclusion of the End Of Evangelion is that something is better than nothing. A big part of Shinji's character is hesitation of what is or isn't worth doing, and the big final choice he's offered when he's at his lowest possible point is basically end the existence of humans as individuals and all the pain that goes with it or let humanity be reborn. It's a metaphor for being on the fence about suicide, and he choses life. Which is pretty strong knowing how Hideaki Anno was himself struggles with depression when he wrote this.

I know it's a bit stupid, but this series kinda feels like a depression toggle switch for me: It makes me feel depressed if I watch it while not depressed, but had the opposite effect if I'm already feeling depressed.