I never really got the hype about this show, can someone explain to a zoomer why it's so significant?

it really can't be explained in a singular Yas Forums post. if you actually care about the subject there are dozens of videos online detailing the themes and cultural impact of this show.

Although since you're posting here, that probably meas you don't actually give a shit and just want YOUs

>The religious symbolism isn't what matters in Eva
I disagree, it's a spiritual show. It's all about religion. All of it.
I don't get why people say "it's just a mecha harem show" when it focuses so little on both of those aspects and then just turns the world to tang. The mecha was there, the relationships were there, but what drew me was this kid in the middle of it that was crying and tormented and the world which was confusing and terrifying.

I enjoyed it the first time I watched it, but I didn't think that much of it. I thought, the ending sucked but enjoyed the weirdness and the atmosphere.

When I watched it a second time, I realized I related to it. When Shinji jerked off over Asuka, reminded me how much I jerk off as a way to cope with my problems. His desperation for love was pathetic but relatable.

He's just baited Yas Forums shitposting 2bh.
I came to shitpost.

To me its just boring and devoid of any likable (not always necessary) or even interesting (always necessary) characters. I guess the hype is from those who watched when they were young.

It also literally invented and made it financially viable to create original anime on a large scale. No other studio wanted to risk a failure on an original work, but EVA proved to studios and investors that original anime can be a financial success. So you can thank Eva for that.

In regards to the theme of the show it's simple, but it so stupid that even people who "get" Eva still misunderstand the show. In short (and i mean extremely and briefly short as i'll miss a lot of points) Eva is about how loving yourself is the highest priority in the world, because no one has an obligation to love you, it also follows from there that because you can finally love yourself, you need to also accept reality. Anno's main theme was that the avoidance of reality meant the regression and destruction of an individual. Almost everyone misunderstood the theme and ended up becoming otaku's over Eva, so Anno created the rebuild's to explain how dumb the fans are. The first film is what Eva is. 2.0 is fans see Eva, as a shounen epic. 3.0 is how Anno see's eva, an empty shell of the original, and 3.0+1.0 will be how Anno wants Eva to be, and what it'll truly become.

>It's all about religion
What's religious about the creator of humanity being an alien that isn't the only one of its kind? What's religious about humanity being one of many angels instead of something "god" gives a shit about? What's religious about humanity catching a "god" and cloning it to make mechs? What's religious about people trying to make humanity evolve artificially to have it become one being, similar to the other angels?
It's making references to the bible yes but it's still realistic, it doesn't take place in a world where the christian god exists or whatever. It's all scientific.

>devoid of any likable characters
Yeah it's like a Greek play.
Fucking anno, right?

>boring
Boring is a bunch of likable cute girls playing rock music and eating cake to me.
Your taste is shit.

>boring
Found the shonenfag

>What's religious about the creator of humanity being an alien that isn't the only one of its kind?
Everything about that is religious.
God is alien to us in many aspects. Though also not alien in others.

But that can also be a thought experiment to our current religion too. A matrix situation.

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>it doesn't take place in a world where the christian god exists or whatever. It's all scientific.
It's disenchanted I guess, but it also questions that disenchantment.

You probably weren't at the right age when you watched it.

>What's religious about the creator of humanity being an alien that isn't the only one of its kind?
Isn't that just mormonism?

I was born a year and a half after it aired so yeah, it's like Star Wars to me, as in I never got hyped up about it

Even when I was 8 or so and I didn't get the bigger aspects, I still found Shinji in his predicament interesting.

Monotheistic religions have the god be the only one of its kind by definition, and he always give a shit about humanity specifically because it makes believers feel special. Unironically Madoka's ending is more religious than Eva.

It's not just disenchanted, it actually provides answers which go straight up against what's stated in the bible

Star Wars is just a comic book hero v villain thing.
Eva is not even close to that.

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>It's not just disenchanted, it actually provides answers which go straight up against what's stated in the bible
The bible does that itself. Then God tortures his son near the end of it. You need to read between the lines I think.
The bible is esoteric and figurative most of the time.

>Monotheistic religions have the god be the only one of its kind by definition,
>implying it's monotheistic
It's ambiguous and confusing, which is a result of it's figurative language.
Eva details the peripherals of things at most, not the actually belly of the beast they're looking at.
Angels are just terms they use to describe aliens really, because it figuratively represents the relationship with "real angels".

To properly understand Evangelion, you have to understand the field of anime of a whole before, and after, Evangelion. It changed the field incredibly, perhaps more so than any other anime. You said you were born after it aired, meaning that to you, everything you watched was already in a post-eva world. You fail to see the significance because you don't know what it was like before.
So many things that came after took inspiration and/or built upon the path that it paved, and so it doesn't seem special to you because it was already done. But Evangelion was the first in many aspects.

I think christians should just go back to "old testament" god.
God was at least pretty based back then. He didn't give a shit about anyone, especially his followers. OT God would throw you and your family into eternal flames for even doubting his will.

>and so it doesn't seem special to you because you had already seen it done by shows that came later, because you watched those first.
fixed that for clarity

But anime almost reverted back to how it was pre eva in many ways. After eva came a whole bunch of post apocalyptic and cyberpunk shit because of the "market" studios discovered.
Then it just died again and I think SnK reopened some doors.

Who cares either way Haruhi is better

>likable cute girls playing rock music and eating cake
I don't like this shit either, don't pretend to understand someone's taste based on not liking one show that you do

Stop projecting

Based Endless Eight

Eva still stands out though, by miles though.
It just ticked all the right boxes and very few shows come close to that.

>Stop projecting
stop seething and dilate faggot

>I'm just going to call a show boring and project that the characters are shit
>hurr why are you projecting back

"Boring" is only ever used as an "argument" by shonenfags because kids need to be simulated by whatever they're experiencing
It's not projecting when you're literally acting like one

I just wanna see cute anime girls do cute anime things, what's wrong with that?

No, you don't understand.
Pre and Post Eva was is not about apocalyptic or not.

Kyon-kun, denwa.

True. Asuka best girl.

Absolutely nothing.

Thanks user, I'll look into that aspect more

Oh yeah, thats right. No one has ever just found a show uninteresting. I wasn't trying to make an argument on why or how its a bad show, but you might have noticed that if you weren't too busy trying to defend your intellectual masterpiece

>What's religious about people trying to make humanity evolve artificially to have it become one being, similar to the other angels?
I think it's not that the show uses religion, but not in going on about god and the content of the gospel and all that. It's more tied to objective of a church in trying to unify humanity, for better or for worse, whether they like it or not.

The writer was depressed when he made it and he is a self-centered moron who thinks the world revolves around him.
The entire story of Evangelion takes a backseat to his mental issues. The writer feels like Shinji, like the weight of the entire world is put on his shoulder and everyone expects things from him without explaining how it needs to be done, he feels awkward and alone.
Everything that happens in the anime is completely irrelevant, all the mech fights are just background noise. This is a writer who was tasked with creating a generic mecha series, and he felt pressure so he made the entire thing into his angsty diary.

The hype comes from braindead weebs who will pick up that Evangelion isn't about giant mechs and they feel smart because they picked up on that. They realize that the author is expressing his depression, and they feel like this makes the show deep.

sadboi
relatable
hedgehog

>Pre and Post Eva was is not about apocalyptic or not.
Are you fucking retarded? It's the quintessential post apocalyptic anime.

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What really makes me like eva is how easily it draws out retards like you into summing up every bit of it into a glorious fart of a conclusion.

Seething retard

>seething
My mistake, here I was thinking I was talking to an user and not a colossal retard plebbiter.

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Yep, based Anno cucking christians, using superficial christian symbolism and science themes.

>most people don't even see in the religious thematic aspects.
The religious 'themes' are a meme. They are utterly meaningless. They exist in Eva solely because to Nips Christianity evokes a sense of otherworldly exoticism. It is meaningless in any sense within the confines of the show's plot and themes. If it used Buddhist imagery it would have made absolutely no difference other than changing some of the technobabble. The show is about human psychology. It has nothing to do with religion.

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>3.0+1.0 will be how Anno wants Eva to be, and what it'll truly become.
Trust the plan.

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>The religious 'themes' are a meme. They are utterly meaningless.
Only if you're a blind goat.

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What do you think is meaningful about the religious 'themes' then?

The entire thing is about life itself.
Especially gif related.

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>tell us what your show meant anno
>no, it's better for you to figure it out for yourself
>aww, come on, tell us
>no
>come oooooon
>fine, you mouth-breathing retard it means absolutely nothing. you wanted the author's definitive take, and i say it's nothing. what do you think of that?!
>omg, i can't believe it meant nothing
Evangelion is like a Rorschach test. It doesn't work if you just ask Hermann Rorschach what he thinks the inkblot looks like.

It's like asking what Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness meant really.

the show isn't about religion and you're right insofar as gnosticism (the show doesn't use christian images or themes, at least not christian in any modern or orthodox sense) isn't intrinsic to the show but the gnostic imagery it isn't used randomly and does line up with the show's themes (though ultimately the show is turning the gnostic message on its head and trying to argue the opposite). the masculine and the feminine in adam and lilith coming together in eoe to complete the great work, the process of humans ascending into some kind of godly state. of course, in the show it's not an ascension, it's a regression, and so the sephirot that appears during third impact is inverted. rather than rejecting the impurity of the demiurge's world and all that, the show says that all the imperfections and suffering of the physical world are intrinsic to the experience of being a self and can't be eliminated without de facto suicide, that the flawed painful existence as an independent self is inherently valuable.

For me, it's the aesthetic and characters and character designs. Also, the depth of story. Depth of story is not necessarily saying that the symbolism or anything is incredibly meaningful, but moreso saying the intricacies and complex nature of the plot kept me interested enough to look it up and discuss it often on the net.

I've spent a ton of time on evageeks just reading the summations of what we know. What soul is inside Rei's unit is especially interesting. I'd recommend reading that article.

Just wanted to add, the music is also a major pull. Even for the rebuilds.

This is one of my favorite songs of all time: youtube.com/watch?v=7SeiwBKuFNA