This week on the Silver Emulsion Podcast, Stephen and I talk about the landmark 1995/1996 anime series by Gainax: Neon Genesis Evangelion! And we’re also taking on the two 1997 companion films, Death(True)2 and The End of Evangelion! Insert the entry plug and enjoy! 🙂
Watch Neon Genesis Evangelion along with us on the out-of-print DVD or Netflix!
Also: the show is on iTunes! So if you feel like subscribing there, or rating/reviewing the show, feel free to share your thoughts!
Music NotesIntro:
- Yoko Takahashi – A Cruel Angel’s Thesis
- Theme Song to Neon Genesis Evangelion (iTunes)
- Theme Song to Neon Genesis Evangelion (iTunes)
Outro:
- Megumi Hayashibara – Fly Me to the Moon
- Ending Theme to Neon Genesis Evangelion (Amazon)
If you’ve got feedback, throw it into the comments below or email it to me via the contact page! We’ll include it in a future show!
The podcast is embedded directly below this, or you can go directly to Podbean (or use their app) to listen. If you want to subscribe, paste http://silveremulsion.podbean.com/feed/ into whatever reader you’re using.
Hey Silverados! I’ve missed contributing to the weekly mailbag and derailing your podcast. Haha! Been busy as fuck. I gotta say when you took a week off it really threw a monkey in the works! I look forward to the sexy seductive sounds of Silver Emulsion every Sunday night/Monday morning and it’s become a ritual. So skipping a week was like missing Christmas. Glad you’re back! Anyway, I’m so fucking stoked that you finally got to Neon Genesis! It’s one of the most intriguing and fascinating anime series… no fuck that, it’s one of the most intriguing and fascinating works of ART that I’ve seen! And I personally think this is your guy’s best podcast episode yet! I think it’s possibly your longest as well! That’s usually a good indicator that you’re really into some nitty-gritty dissecting of a work of art with many layers and meanings (or it’s a rambling snoozer like Gourmet Gamer. Haha!) But Neon Genesis is something I’m still fascinated by and think of often even though it’s been almost 10 years since I saw it and there’s just TONS to analyze. It’s one of those things that really lingers and has more to it than you can really grasp when you first go into it blindly. I love that it operates on multiple levels and even a casual viewer can enjoy watching robots fuck shit up, but also a professor can teach a master’s program on shit like Shinji and The Ancient Folklore of Spirit 101. I think these multiple levels of interpretation and enjoyment is what made the podcast such a treat too. It consisted of Stephen nerding out this gem: “That’s what 400% sync-rate is! That is the complete elimination of his AT field! The LCL is just this liquified human soul.” And also Will’s brilliant take: “This is some ancient shit.” Haha! It’s such a fun series to ponder over, whether you understand it or not. On the surface it’s a great action sci-fi with brilliantly created characters, but there’s also depths to it that get simply fucking mind-blowing when you dwell on it. I remember first watching the series and what started off as a neat rock ’em, sock ’em slowly turned into a deeply depressing existential brainfuck. And when it was finally over, I didn’t really grasp what I just saw. They really do spell it out in a lot of philosophical ramblings, but all logic was tossed out the window! And it was just…weird! It didn’t help that it looked like the last two episodes were animated like doodles on restaurant napkins compared to the rest of the series. But I knew I saw something great even though it seemed a bit unfinished. I thought of it for weeks though and then started looking up analysis by other nerds and it hit me, “Oh fuck, I didn’t watch End of Evangelion!” So I watched it that night, after completely forgetting I “rented” it. And holy shit, that fucking thing is BRUTAL! It really ramped up the violence, but more importantly, it ramped up the mindfuckery. After End of Evangelion was over, I remember I sat in the dark for hours. I didn’t know if I was sad or happy. I was just a pile of pudding. Again, I didn’t grasp what I saw (and still don’t), but I knew it was a work of art and some ancient shit. I think after listening to the podcast, it’s even more clear that this is the best animated thing I’ve seen. I put it up there with great classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey and fucking Lawrence of Arabia. It’s that good! It’s one of those rare gems that can take shit like fighting robots, a pervert jacking off, and a dancing penguin, but make a deep human story that stretches through biblical ancient history all the way to a dystopian future.
Anyway, brilliant series, brilliant podcast, I learned even more shit listening to it that I didn’t think of over the last 10 years. Keep up the fantastic work gentlemen. I’m going to give this a third listen.
Peace!
PS – Rei is the hottest, but Misato is my wife. Asuka-gang BTFO! 😀