paravostok

I believe that the Japanese animated television series “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, is not primarily an action show as sources like google would claim, but rather a psychological thriller series. Having much more depth than the claim may lead you to believe. My argument centres around the fact that the creator “Hideaki Anno” was depressed during the creation of the show, but due to him not being diagnosed until around halfway into writing the series, we end up with this amazing second layer of depth to the show unique because we get to see into his psyche, and how he managed to transfer this into his work. This leads to an excellent representation of mental health, part of why I believe Evangelion’s genre to really be a psychological thriller. Loneliness is a big part of the show, and is ultimately everyone in the shows biggest fear, although represented in a rather abstract way. In the world of Evangelion there are “Angels” who wish to annihilate humanity. These creatures cannot be defeated by conventional methods, but rather the abstract concept of not being afraid to bond and love one another, this is explained in the show as the “hedgehog's dilemma”. Although hedgehogs want to stay together to keep warm, the closer they get the more they hurt themselves and others. This feeling resonates with many within the show, resenting love as nothing more than a tool for short term validation. I believe that this is one good argument as to why the show is not primarily action, but rather psychological thriller, because this theme is explored over many episodes and is very philosophically rooted. Asuka’s encounter with the 15th angel reveals that the character is there for more than aesthetic reasons. After being struck by the angel, Asuka has a complete mental breakdown. Earlier in the show it is implied Asuka has mental issues, shown through her tough and cold personality. However this metaphorical nut is cracked when Asuka begins to have traumatic flashbacks, primarily of her mother, revealing a more in-depth explanation to her bleak and unsympathetic outlook on life. Asuka’s mother killed herself, with her having flashbacks of the moments leading up to it happening. Her mother's coma, her father's affair with what would become her stepmother, and her unending stress. This is another example of why the show is not action, with the psychological aspect once again taking the lead. The namesake of the show, the “Eva” units are a kind of mechanical soldier, with the Eva’s themself having a sense of life, albeit without a soul, requiring the soul of an orphaned child to be controlled. Eva’s in the show are all built from the second human “Lilith”, more commonly known in English as Eve, from the biblical story of Adam and Eve, representing their status as a mother· Eva’s. Their, quasi-sentience is what allows the Eva’s to go “berserk”, with their pilot losing all control and they start acting of their own volition, due to them retaining some sense of consciousness and recognising the pilot as their child, they protect it, by any means necessary. This ties into psychological aspects of maternity, specifically Freudian concepts, which have no place taking this much precedence in an “action” show. One argument used against this could be that while the show features signs of other genres it remains an action at heart. Shinji is a character in the show who is shown to be constantly dreadful, yet he gets on with his life. Shinji ultimately continues to pilot the Eva and save the world, which is much more typical of an action than anything else. The exploration of mental health and psychology is just a symptom of the characters being well developed, not a primary theme. It is impossible to develop a character well without them having any flaws, so of course the creator's personal life came reflected unto his creation. Which can be a counterargument against the show being a psychological thriller. However, Shinji’s depression and self-hate, combined with low self-esteem is one of the more forthcoming aspects of the show. Shinji is a flawed character, which makes sense, he is a 14 year old, who was tasked with defending the remnants of humanity. However, I don't mean in the good vs evil sense of “flawed”, I mean personally flawed, like a real person, he doesn’t always make the right decision, he runs away from danger, he wishes none of this would happen to him. Shinji is a normal person in an impossible scenario. Shinji takes centre role most of the show, but never seems comfortable with it, he’s not charismatic, funny, or cheerful, he spends vast amounts of times sitting in public transport wishing he wasn’t there. This is where evangelion is at its best, representing a realistic human navigating an absurd and foreign environment. Whilst staying grounded enough to also allow people who relate to have someone to show they’re not alone. Although never explicitly stated in the shown Shinji’s depression is severely implied, giving another reason as to why I believe the primary genre to be psychological thriller. Widespread trauma is another common theme in the show. Due to the attacks from the angels, everyone in the show is constantly scared. With faith in the UN and Government to defend them slowly depreciating. They have given up, with no fight left in them. All of this being caused by the “second impact” causing the first human, “Adam”, to reawaken, melting both polar caps, tilting the earth's axis, killing billions of people in the process. Due to the event taking place only 14 years before the show is set, everyone is affected by it, even if indirectly. People like the Eva pilots are affected as the incident is what caused the angels to appear, condemning them to a hellish task, that of defending humanity. Everyone left alive from the incident was left with a permanent scar that will never go away. Trauma. This is the final reason I believe evangelion to primarily be a psychological thriller, rather than an action. In conclusion I think that Neon Genesis Evangelion’s exploration of psychological and horror themes lead to its primary genre being psychological thriller rather than action. Throughout this essay I have laid out a plethora of reasons as to why this is the case, and as such I think I have proven my point conclusively and effectively.