RahXephon is the Anti-Evangelion
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- Ever since the beginning of this retrsopective, I knew I would have to prove why RahXephon isn't just an Evangelion clone, and I think I have. While the two share many visuals, at there core they are very differnet and here I will elabotate as to why. Also quick disclaimer, while I may be critical of some of RahXephon's creative decisions here, I don't hate it, and still think its worth a watch. And of course...
All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "RahXephon" is a production of Bones and a creation of Yutaka Izubuchi And.....
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing
And...
All properties shown here belong to their respective owners. "Neon Genesis Evangelion" is a production of Khara and its creation is credited to Hideaki Anno. And.....
Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. - Фільми й анімація
The real Anti Eva is Gurren Lagann
which is based on Getter robo, that also inspired gunbuster (made before eva by hideaki anno)
and that also was the very first that hideaki anno drew for the eva designs (no joke, he made a drawing of the Shin Getter, mixed with ultraman for his concept for an eva unit)
Also a valid point!
"Escapist fantasy about people living in the past" sounds much cooler to me.
Its a matter of taste, I didn't care for it much in RahXephon because I felt it was under utilized. Like it could have made for some great character drama, but this opportunity isn't often taken.
RahXephon’s strongest suit is its aesthetics. Worldbuilding, music, character and mechanical designs, they’re great. But the character development falls flat somewhat, and the story progresses in a way that ultimately isn’t sensible nor thematically consistent. Which seems to be a trend with many of Bones’s original stories, notably the most recent Metallic Rouge, but also Eureka Seven AO (ignoring the pachinko OVA).
I think you've summarized in one comment why RahXephon is kind of forgotten and why it makes me feel so conflicted. It's very technically good and I can appreciate the attempt to experiment, but it simply isn't done all that well overall.
Counterpoint: RahXephon is the Anti-Evangelion because it tells a story with a sprinkled of philosophical ideas. Not a lecture on human life or a demonstration of negative psychological behaviors like EVA. Its premise is to tell the viewer a story whilst posing the question, "What would you do, if you find out your entire life is a lie?"
You've got to remember Ayato, discovers that his life with the Mu was an artificial illusion, his entire journey throughout the anime is to find out who he was, before being separated from Haruka and to better understand himself. Additionally, in the start of the series he *wants* to socialize, trust and fit in with others. It's only after he's manipulated, betrayed and forced to act for other's own benefits does he become reclusive. That's the one distinguishing factor between him and Shinji, whom, was always reclusive and anti-social from the start.
Ayato takes a more active role to socialize and understand people than Shinji, seen in his interactions with Megumi, Haruka and Mamoru. Hence, why in the end he refuses to follow his fate to become a god/instrumentalist and resets the world. To experience something, real and uncorrupted, after living most of his life in a lie, with an understanding of who he was AND is. I understand your point about dwelling on the past, but, is it really a negative behavior when the past is what shapes people into who they are? Especially in this case, when Ayato didn't know his own?
Thanks for watching! I think your interpretation is probably what the intended plan for RahXephon was and I think the ending is supposed to be a fresh start and some kind of message about rebirth or restarting. And I see a good deal of this in the conclusion. I think it gets kind of lost in execution though. and the motivations and morals (at least to me) seem to get muddled as a result and it creates a lot of questions in my brain.
If "re-tuning the world" means to reset it like Ayato does why does everyone share this goal? If it isn't than Ayato resetting everything makes sense as he still isn't doing what the Mu or Baben want him to, however if re-tuning is simply resetting, it means Ayato does exactly what the antagonists want him to. I understand that he resets it in a benevolent way beneficial to him, but both Baben and the Mu still seem satisfied with this.
I always found it really weird that for some reason, everyone wants to re-tune the world and I am just genuinely confused about the motivations of everyone here. Baben wants to reset the world for... reasons not really dwelled upon in the series and so do the Mu (even though some of them simply want to dominate the world) and eventually so does Ayato. I understand Ayato has different reasons for doing this (and his desire for a clean start) but if that's the case, why have this also be the goal for the antagonists? What is the fate Ayato defies by resetting everything? Does he do this by resetting himself as a simple human? This would be fine, its just I genuinely don't know because it seems like everyone wants the reset and Ayato doing it makes it feel like he is doing what the antagonists want. The Mu and Baben are criminals who have committed many horrible acts, and I wish they just had a different goal/end point of Ayato so it didn't seem like he was playing into their hands. It just creates a lot of moral confusion in my brain.
@@obscureanimememories6697 Both Evangelion and Rahxephon have immensely complex backstories that are only alluded in the series. Eva never comes out and tells you much about the progenitors, the fact that Adam and Lilith are diametrically opposed ways of "seeding" a planet, or the reason that the human instrumentality project was possible or even desired. Likewise, Rahxephon only hints at at it's own backstory. The reason that the tuning is the goal of all the characters is that the Rahxephon system, developed by Babam and the Mu in the ancient past had inadvertently separated the earth into two separate dimensions, our earth and the earth of the Mu. However, the dimensional boundry was slowly weakening over time, which was going to result in the destruction of both Earths because two bodies cannot occupy the same point in space at the same time without mutual annihilation. The primary goal of the tuning then was to reintegrate both earths by geting the Rahxephon system to function as intended. A side effect of this was that the individual in control of the system would be able to reshape the world as desired. The question then becomes who's world will get created in end? The Mu want a world that will be favorable to their civilization, while the humans on our side want the same thing. Babam on the other hand just wants to see the world running on the Rahxephon system as he intended; he really does not care who comes out on top. This is why it is sweet poetic justice that he is shot in the moment before the tuning occurs, after waiting for something like 10,000 years he is reminded he is not a god. This set up makes who Ayato becomes of paramount importance. What emotions will guide him in restructuring the entire world? This clarifies everyones actions: the Mu raised him in a false world to try and guide his feelings to their desired future, the humans who freed him want the same thing and hope to either coerce or force him to their side. Haruka was the chink in everyone's plans. The Mu were not able to control him falling in love with her and did everything in their power to erase their relationship, even going so far as to displace them in time and erase Ayato's memories. It failed. The show seems to declare unabashedly that love transcends time and space, or if you prefer, love conquers all. This just scratches the surface; I haven't said anything about ixtoli, the roll of quantum mechanics, or the B's...Also my apologies for any typos, I wrote this on a phone. Happy watching.
@@jamesbell8120 Thanks for the information! Genuine question, where is all this information? I don't doubt your sincerity, I'm just genuinely curious as to where all this info is and how that material is related to the anime. I know RahXepon is supposed to be opaque, but if even half of what you just explained was apparent in the anime, I would have liked the series a lot more.
@@obscureanimememories6697 Yeah, I can see what you mean in that the series has a lot of flaws within its story, but then again I could argue the same about Eva. You made a good video and I honestly don't think comparing Eva to RahXephon does justice to either. And yeah, the comment below mine pretty gives a better explanation on how Ayato defies his fate of creating a world under the influence of the Humans or the Mu.
ideaswithoutend.wordpress.com/2015/07/27/the-end-episode-26-of-rahxephon-conclusions/
This link might give a bit more explanation if needed.
@@obscureanimememories6697Yeah, the comment below mine provides a better description than I could, lol. I think most of the info was there in the anime, it's just that it wasn't executed well in its ending. It's probably why I struggle with Eva as well, since it has similar issues. Trying to figure what's going on by yourself is nearly impossible in both and I went on to the fandom site for RahXephon at times just to follow what's going on. I also did the same with Eva, tbh, lol.
I would say, because EVA had a lasting cultural impact it naturally had more longevity, hence fans were able to figure out more about the anime and its ideas over time, with rewatches. RahXephon on the other hand, was forgotten about, with people using its similarity to Eva as an excuse to "label" it as a clone and not really "unpack" its core ideas to differentiate it from EVA.
And Dai Guard is the reverse Evangelion
The Pilots are Adults.
The Mechs are slow and move like a Machine would
The Company actually cares for their employees.
Rather than outright carnage with tons of property damage they advice the Pilots to do minimal Property Damage as Possible.
And the Giant Monsters are not seen as an Apocalyptic Event but as a Natural Disaster that just happens to be dealt with.
Also the Anime reminds me a lot of Shin Godzilla as they also tackle the Paperwork and Business BS of running a Company that has a Giant Robot made to fight Giant Monsters.
Thanks for the observation! I had never heard of Dai Guard before, and now am looking forward to watching into it!
A mecha with adult characters? Count me in!
@@obscureanimememories6697 Excited to hear your opinion of this series, it's a real unique treat where a good portion of the series is just hanging out in the officer filling out paper-work and dealing with mundane adult life with small breaks of exciting robot actions. Well, maybe not THAT unique with series like Patlabor around haha.
@@hikkigamer8082 Dai-Guard's pilots were regular office workers that just so happen to be pilots. The fact that the pilots and the other members of their department spend a lot of time not fighting but just doing regular office work and stuff related to their department (promotional work for their company) was a nice touch.
I get what you mean about RahXephon being more of an escapist fantasy but I don't think it necessarily rewards people because of it. It more happens incidentally.
I think that's a valid point and it speaks to the confusion I feel when analyzing certain parts of RahXephon. Some times, like with Haruka, it feels like it is rewarding questionable behavior, but other times, like with Torugai, it just sort of happens. While RahXephon isn't my favorite, I find the amount of questions it provokes fascinating as since it is both experimental and flawed this combination makes me constantly question what is intentional or not.
The garden of everything is still a banger
Yoko Kanno sure knows how to compose a tune! While her work is always excellent, I'm especially glad she worked on some stuff for RahXephon as it got me to re watch the series and appreciate its more experimental nature.
Broke: Gurren Lagaan is the anti Eva
Woke: RahXephon is the anti Eva
I always found it weird that RahXephon is labeled an Eva clone when I consistently asked myself "how is this like Eva?" while watching it.
@@obscureanimememories6697 RahXephon is a clone of Eva as much as Eva takes Abrahamist mythology :P
@@obscureanimememories6697 It's only an eva clone because people who watch eva don't watch other Mecha anime and therefore think eva created everything.
If I have to hear ‘poor mental hygiene’ one more time I’m gonna go mental!
Sounds like some hygiene would help.
Sorry about that, sometimes during the writing process I get a phrase stuck in my head and it ends up in the script more than I think. Thanks for watching though!
@@obscureanimememories6697 no worries, good vid. Besides the repetition of that one phrase lol.
@@Netro1992 I got my mental napkin right here, bud.
Poor mental hygiene. But you didn't hear it from me.
i honestly believe that rahxephon was designated as a 'evangelion knock-off' simply because back in the day, evangelion was the only 'serious' anime that incompetent anime journalists (in places like ANN) were familiar with; this is also the reason the same people believed evangelion to be some kind of groundbreaking work while it was a part of a trend that existed at least from the early 80s.
seriously, though, while i consider rahxephon to be a better _made_ show than nge, i very much do admit that it suffers from many of the same problems (most episodes are essentially filler content, the backstory is more or less impossible to figure out without reading supplementary materials etc.)
although i still find it ironic that rebuild of evangelion ends more or less exactly the way rahxephon did
I liked Evangelion up until the final episodes that are art house style experimental cinema or whatever. It's just boring and disconcerting. I like the Gnostic and Kabbalah-themed stuff though, that's neat.
yeah, most people barely know anything of the mecha genre besides a few things like evangelion or gurren lagann and they just assume that everything else was like power rangers or transformers...
You know, I always assumed the visual similarities between the two were either unintentional or some sort of homage, but if they are intentional simply to promote the product, I gotta say that's some pretty big brain marketing (even if might compromise artistic integrity).
It is a shame that a lot don't realize that while Eva is a ground breaking series, its more of an example of (at the time) contemporary anime trends than the trend setter itself. Everything is at least somewhat inspired by something else after all. And I gotta agree about the Rebuild of Evangelion irony. I don't know if the Rebuilds end so differently because Anno wanted a more optimistic tone, or because he was in a better head state, or he simply didn't feel like have a tone similar to the original, but it is odd to me.
@@obscureanimememories6697 I believe the make of Evangelion rebuild is not Hideoki Anno passion but a fan and studio wanted a happy ending of Shinji. if I not remember correctly when the end of Evangelion lunch, the fan(otaku) pretty much frustrated.
I believe NGE attracted a fan they didn't expected (escapist lover otaku) than their target audience. for me EOE is the end of eva
Eva was extremely popular, so it started a trend of cerebral, introspective anime, particularly sci-fi and mecha anime. Just like how 15 years prior, Gundam created the real robot subgenre and kickstarted a real robot boom that spanned the whole of the 80s and into the 90s.
Anime tends to follow trends. That's why modern anime is infested with generic isekai series. They are all following Sword Art Online.
And let's be honest, people can be stupid with how they categorize things. Back in the 90s, every first person shooter was designated as a "Doom Clone". That sounds stupid to modern gamers, but because Doom was so popular, people back then just accused every fps of being a ripoff.
No joke one episode made Me cry
Also it's kinda more a remake of reideen the brave
What episode of which series? Also thanks for bringing up Reideen. I hadn't heard about it until now, and just glancing over it I can see how it could have greatly inspired some of RahXephon. It always cool learning about an old anime!
@@obscureanimememories6697 fun fact about reideen: in that show, there is a character named Rei Asuka
and another character named... Mari
which, seriously, just cannot be a coincidence
@obscureanimememories6697 the one where the girl from Tokyo Jupiter leaves with him and figures out she isn't human
@@dhampirdp3489 that is also my favorite episode, it's episode 19 if I remember, and it is indeed a remake,
the whole "alien creatures with blue blood that come to eradicate humanity and a young "messiah" that awakens a mechanical god to fight them indeed is from Raideen, Eva is an homage to like 15+ different shows, including raideen, while Rahxephon is just a remake with some staff members that worked on eva and made by a friend of Hideaki Anno
I haven't seen all of Reideen (watched maybe 20 episodes so far), but I can definitely say that Rahxephon isn't a remake of it. There is imagery and ideas it certainly takes inspiration from, but overall it is very different. Reideen is very much a series of it's time, so it plays very similar to the OG Mazinger Z. Surface level, I suppose you can call Rahxephon a spiritual successor to Reideen, but I don't think you can call it a remake.
The weird thing is the supposed remake of Reideen, made a few years after Rahxephon, also isn't much of a remake either. It strips away all the goofy super robot aspects, the mecha doesn't look at all similar and the main character is nothing like Akira from the OG Reideen.
Never heard of this one. Think I will watch it.
Thanks for watching! I'm glad I could bring some attention to an obscure series!
„Paying hommage“ is one way to put it
Yeah that's just ripping off the entire show. Very fan fic-like.
I mean, would you call the new superman movie a ripoff of Homelander from the boys? or rather both are inspired in something from 80 years ago?
well, there is like 1% original things in evangelion, everything else was just copy pasted, that 1% is the scene when shinji masturbates in front of asuka, the rest of the plot, character arcs, concepts and lore come directly and without any major change from Ultraman, Brave raideen, Mobile suit Gundam, Space runaway Ideon, kamen rider, ZZ Gundam, Victory Gundam, Heavy metal L-gaim, Dunbine, Getter robo, space odyssey,
in this particular case, Rahxephon creator worked with anno on Gundam CCA both as designers, Yutaka Izubuchi also made the very first sketches for the Eva units, one of his drawings ended up becoming the unit 2, he wanted to do a Brave Raideen remake, while anno his "own thing" he also worked on the rebuilds as a character designer and you can see that the Terra uniform from Rahxephon was used for "Wille" in the rebuilds, they even ended up using Rahxephon ending for the movies,
both Rahxephon and Evangelion are sort of remakes for aime from the 70s, it's just that eva used a lot more things as "inspiration" than Rahxephon, but even some of the staff from eva worked on Rahxephon doing the script, some animations, etc. that's where most of the "homages" really come from
@@troloinkto I would call it at least somewhat of a ripoff if they copy both particular scenes AND major aspects of the setting and plot. It's like the difference between writing a new sci-fi book that borrows from previous sci-fi like every sci-fi narrative does, and making fan fiction that uses the same characters and themes and setting and whatnot.
I have no idea whether you can reduce Evangelion to something as simple as the message "love yourself". Because you can't just leave it at something as simple as that and it's more complex. For example, if you ask yourself what self-love is based on, namely success in our society. And when you fail in life, you may lose your self-love again and in the end the question remains as to what is really true, self-love and/or self-hatred, or none of the above.
Thanks for watching! I don't think Eva can be reduced to "love yourself" alone, but it seems to me a central topic of exploration for the series. The series explores topics like "what is self-love?" "why you should love yourself (at least to some extent)" "self love needs to be based upon your own perceptions" and other adjacent things. I would say that Eva (or at least the original ending(s)) promote some kind of self love and acceptance, although it is open with the fact that what forms this takes and one's perception of it can be nebulous.
@@obscureanimememories6697 Yes, that is what characterizes a masterpiece. It allows a lot of room for thought.
I'd say it's a pretty apt summary of evangelion put together for just one sentence
It’s a shame because I feel like Evangelion’s biggest flaw is that it’s use of negative reinforcement causes the message to be ineffective on certain people, so an “anti-eva” where it instead teaches good mental hygiene via positive reinforcement and awesome mech battles would be sick.
It is a shame that Eva's methods can make its message unappealing as while the methods are designed to be uncomfortable, the messages are not necessarily. Its rather ironic.
As for a mech series that positively promotes a positive outlook, I'm sure its out there!
@@obscureanimememories6697 German fairytales my friend. Even though the idea of fairytales and folk stories is to keep children out of danger and trouble a lot of them also seem to be threatening the children they're trying to assist. We've always had a bit of a issue relaying warnings about downfalls without being brutish.
Your genes are weak and you would not survive the winter.
My thoughts on the relationship between Eva and RahXephon are similar to my thoughts on A New Hope and The Force Awakens. The real problem isn’t that it copied Eva, it’s that it didn’t copy Eva ENOUGH, or more accurately it didn’t copy the things that were worth copying. For example, a number of the Dollum battles are visually very similar to some of the Angel battles, but they lack the elements that gave those Angel battles a sense of tension. Additionally, I think Eva’s small cast size would have been more worthwhile emulating, in comparison to having their own “Rei character”, just for the sake of imitation.
Sometimes I dream of a world where Hideaki Anno made Eva into a tokusatsu show, and we mecha fans never had to deal with the stigma that it's the only mecha series worth watching.
Thank you for bringing up less recognised series, have you thought about comparing the other supposed Eva clone, Brain Powered, which was made by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino?
That absolutely despise that stigma. Run-ins with pretentious, pseudo-intellectual dbags is the reason why Eva has been tainted in my mind. The people who have only seen Eva, for some reason, assume that every other mecha series is just dumb action about robots fighting. They don't even consider that Eva was inspired by a ton of mecha series that were already mature. Shinji Ikari wouldn't exist without Amuro Ray.
I'm currently watching Brain Powerd and I don't see any similarity to Eva whatsoever. It's not really cerebral or introspective in the way Eva is. To be honest, I see more Turn A Gundam in it, which makes perfect sense considering Tomino made Turn A right after Brain Powerd and the same VA plays major roles in both series (her characters even both look similar) And also I have never seen a TV anime with so much nudity in the opening credits.
I heard of Brain Power when I was researching RahXephon! I am curious as to how "similar" it is to Eva (probably not at all), though not immediately, as after RahXephon as I think I should review something more distant to reset my brain after spending a few months going over it. Thanks for watching, I'm glad this channel is succeeding in its goal of going over more obscure works!
@@obscureanimememories6697 like I said in my reply I'm currently watching Brain Powerd, and I'm not seeing that much of a similarity to Eva. And since it is a Tomino show, I don't think anyone can accuse him of ripping off Eva. Though I do think it is a very interesting show and probably worth watching for potential content.
Even though people say this an Eva copy show. It’s a really good mecha anime I loved it the music, the mecha and monster designs and animation are phenomenal and a must watch as it is a very underrated anime
Now we need video about Gisaragi (Evangelion but with more politic)
I think of all the poll options I've used, Gasaraki is the one which has been up the longest and somehow never quite wins. It looks super interesting though, so it'll remain an option until the day comes.
Neat video. I'm always a fan when people can accept that something is objectively not that great, but can still find things they like about it and explain why. It's like a rare kind of non-toxic positivity these days.
Thanks! I was worried this video was a tad harsh on RahXephon, as while I do think its kind of an objective mess (questionable writing, characterization issues, etc.) I still think its fascinating. I definitely don't think its perfect, but I don't regret watching it and still find it bizarrely interesting.
Raxaphenon is a better than Eva, just the setting alone was way more interesting, and the OP is awesome.
RahXephon dose the "important" story scenes after the ending song, Remember I missed a super important Blink and you'll miss it that set up the next episode. Leading me to being Extremely confused on how the hero got out of his sticky situation... Still remember that even after all these years, nice to find this and getting to vent. Maybe that was the point, but general angry about it when i get reminded of the show. still a solid 6.8/10.
Glad I could help! I'm going to have to rewatch all the post credit scenes to see what I can glean from them. While this won't fix the series in my mind, I'm curios as to what is reveled.
Bought it on DVD, rather good series.
Even with all the modern ways of watching, physical media will always be special!
Very underrated anime barely known...
RahXephon is a flawed series, however I still found it very interesting, at least from a creative standpoint and therefore think its worth a watch. It is a shame it seemingly only gets mentioned as an "eva clone" and then buried again, even though its really not and quite different.
@@obscureanimememories6697
It was wierd and confusing at times...
I also recommend "Bōnen no Xam'd" its also fairly unknown kinda similar and its also wierd ...
But has cool creature designs and fights feels like ghibli.
If you haven't, check out "Reideen The Brave" aka "Brave Raideen" from 1975
Sounds like a plan! I heard it may have been an source of a lot of inspiration for RahXephon
Why do people keep insisting in comparing these? A lot of the late 90's/early 2000's Mecha were clearly inspired by Evangelion so why is it only these two get compared constantly?
Probably because RahXephon did the most to "be like" or resemble evangelion in many ways. Its influences are somewhat the most extensive out of any anime that came after eva.
I bring up Dual, that one is just lighthearted(boob-suit) and is rewarding to watch. Didn't hurt it's connection to Tenchi Muyo.
I felt I had to compare these two because a lot of my initial research into RahXephon kept bringing up the phrase "Eva clone" or "Eva lite" and I wanted to say why I think the two are very different. How that discourse got started though is beyond me, though I would assume it has something to do with both being kind of experimental in their own ways and some visual similarities.
It is annoying and unfair. Eva is one of the most popular and influential anime of all time. Constantly calling Rahxephon an Eva clone just makes ignorant people disregard it. And not to mention that Eva has a legion of rabid, hateful fans who will denigrate everything that isn't Eva (I have first hand experience with this as a fan of the mecha genre)
RaXangelion... One concept, one coin, two sides. Call it. (flip)
Imma call heads (Angelion) simply because its so weird and experimental (even if it is inspired by a mountain of previous works)
"Eva never tried to be anything too big."
Sir. Did we even watch the same show?! 😂😂😂😂
Oops, I should have specified in what way it didn't "try to be too big". Evangelion did try to be Alot, but never tried to "set the new standard". I should have specified I meant in a "genre defining sense". It wasn't made to be "the new standard" but instead a weird art project Anno cooked up because his bosses needed/wanted a new series. It (or at least the original series and End of Eva) were made solely to be their own things. There are many attempts to be many different things present in Eva, but it was made solely to be itself and doesn't come off as something purposely trying to set the "new bar", as RahXephon was. Thanks for watching!
@@obscureanimememories6697 ah I see! not like big and full with the story or lore but more in terms of industry impact or the general landscape of anime and such. Thanks for the clarification because I was like, 'well damn, I _definitely_ didn't understand eva AT ALL then!' 😆👌
The ending of Gurren Lagunn reminds me a lot of Evangelion as well.
I'm not super familiar with Gurren Lagunn (I know crazy considering the nature of this channel), can you please elaborate?
I loved both shows *because* they were so different from each other
That's a good point. I'm glad RahXephon can be appreciated for what it is and attempts to be as opposed to simply (and lazily) cast off as an "Eva ripoff".
@obscureanimememories6697 it definitely helped to watch Eva then Rahxephon, like immediately after. Was one of my main introductions to anime in general. And I definitely miss the style that these shows had. I want more anime with eldritch horrors being vaguely explained in the final episodes lol
Came to this video hoping that RahZephon actually provided counter arguements for certain themes that Evangelion promotes that I disagree with. Even though I agree over all with the main themes of Evangelion over all. I just don’t agree with things such as depicting religion as a form of escapism (then again could just be a flawed interpretation of it), and the failure to highlight and provide much reconciliation with the issues that create much of the problems that Shinji has. That and I still sense that through the show Hideaki Anno still very much despises Shinji to an unrealistic and unjustified degree. And personally I don’t think Anno cares that everyone around shinji are either extremely toxic or downright wicked people, but that he only cares that Shinji does terrible things, and that he gets punished for it, in spite of how much Shinji throughout the entire series very much tries to be a good person. Which stands in stark contrast to most of the characters, especially Asuka, who strangely gets a lot more love from people than I feel her to be worthy of.
With that said, I was disappointed to find that this series is more content with being everything Evangelion was criticizing and showed to be toxic. Rather than fixing certain problems that I have with Evangelion, it seems RahXephon promoted the very things that I learned from Evangelion to be harmful.
Watching RahXephon for the first time, I was hoping it wouldn't simply be the Eva clone a lot of people label it, and I'm glad its not, but yeah, a lot of questionable writing makes it seem like RahXephon encourages questionable behaviors Eva stands against. I don't think its intentional, the ending is probably supposed to be some generic comment on new beginnings, but all the issues with character and motivation writing greatly weaken the series, and kind of bury its message.
RahXephon movie hits different than the series. It changed the entire feeling of RahXephon the series for me.
I debated on whether to watch the film or not, but decided not to since I knew RahXephon has a ton of spin off stuff, and I wanted to go in completely blind to evaluate the series in something of a vacuum. I'll have to check it out.
I love the series, but I hate the movie. It mostly reuses footage from the series, as if it was a compilation film, but it changed major plot points.
If they wanted to tell a different story, it should have been like Macross DYRL where it had 100% brand new animation.
ok
Good video; that aside, I didn't like the Rebuild of Evangelion because according to it (SPOILERS)...
the ultimate breakthrough is to become a wage slave!!! 🤣
Thanks for the watch!
The Rebuilds have always confused me and to be honest don't even feel like Eva to me by their conclusion, but maybe I'm just too old!
both are r vgood
While very different, I think that both are indeed worth a watch!
The real anti- eva is Big O
I Love Big O
Me too ❤
Rahxephon is a great anime (one of my favourites) but it is a shame it is constantly labelled as an Eva clone. The series has plenty of things of it's own (like the focus on time dilation and its love story) to stand out.
Eva just spawned a ton of introspective mecha series, just like how Gundam before it spawned the real robot boom of the 80s. But just because an anime follows a popular trend, doesn't make it a clone of the thing that started the trend.
To this day I don't really know how RahXpehon got this label, because even watching the series blind, after having re-watched part of Eva 2 weeks before, I never thought "this is a rip-off". Asides from some shots inspired by Eva (a very surface level similarity) and some very specific character beats, they really are quite different, and they didn't even really invoke similar emotions in me. I don't know if this label is the result of poor journalism, internet bias, or what, but it is a shame.
@@obscureanimememories6697 Even though I think Eva is kinda overrated, I can't deny how much of an influence it had on anime. It was one of those watershed series that set a trend many followed. But just because something is following a trend doesn't make it a ripoff of what set that trend.
Not to be dismissive, but there are a lot of rabid Eva fans who have a very condescending attitude when it comes to the rest of anime. I think Rahxephon suffered from following in Eva's wake and having some similar superficial traits. During that time the Eva fanboys were out in full force.
The general idea of escapism does a great disservice to an infinitely deeper theme. It gives an easy, cheap way out of to the fundamental conflict that all life is faced with - "adapt or perish"
It's funny that many stories argue towards free will being valid, because that aforementioned principle automatically cancels all free will.
As: Yes, you may indeed go against the greater flow, but you will live unfulfilled and die quick. While also: you can go with the flow and live for a little bit longer... then die anyway. Leaving a physical or ideological offspring doesn't help in either case, as they will eventually mutate into something complitely unlike you to adapt (evolution), or in case with an artifical creation/idea, be contorted into the meaning it didn't originally have to suit the changing biases of the greater society (we see that A LOT with various art and media nowadays).
I think where a lot of stories fail first & foremost is in explaing what makes nature inherently abusive and how we, as a product of our environment, automatically inherit all its flaws. As long as we are shaped by nature, we will always be self-distructive, as the nature itself is entropic. The life is only able to flurish because it increases entropy, consuming higher quality/concentration of energy and producing much lower quality energy.
They also fail in showcasing more effective ways of going against all those natural principles because they want characters to still feel human and relatable, hence don't let them change into something transcendent & more difficult to comprehend.
The issue here, as is in many others, is how the authors lack creativity to go all the way with deconstructing humanity and nature as a whole, in fear of being too unrelatable.
Not trying to envision how a different world could function.
The main difference between escapism and defiance is in intent, as former just tries to ignore the reality's truths, while later searches for a way to deconstruct them, which reguires fully understanding them first.
Very deep! Does this mean adapting is defiance? And the pursuit of escapism limits the ability to adapt? Do you think RahXpehon should have gone more experimental, like have an episode with Ayato as a transcendent being? I mean I know he is for a bit, but we don't really see a lot of that. Maybe go full Lovecraft? I genuinely would have liked more time spent on the weird transcendent Ayato and see how he reconciles the reset and his past actions, etc instead of about 10 minutes of dialogue and a phone call explaining everything.
@@obscureanimememories6697 To a small extent, because there is no other option. Species usually adapt to their environment as a community, so its a requirement to find a role/niche in a community to adapt with them. But no natural life can truly defy the fundamental laws of physics, chemestry, quantum mechanics etc. it requires a transcendence via unnatural means, I think by focusing too much on human aspects they always miss a huge opportunity to adress the bigger issue with nature itself.
I think it'd have been interesting to have character, who no longer needs physical body & brain to exist, realize how most of their feelings were left behind with their nervious system and are now non-existent & neither do they have any practical use for them.
The only reason I know of this show is because of YandereDev....
I heard he was a big fan of both...
I tried to watch RahXephon years ago, but I couldn't watch much more than 2 or 3 episodes it was just too boring, to be honest.
It was a lot more fun to watch than eva, because it doesn't has 10 minutes of a frozen frame with dialogue on the background,
but It's worth watching, give it a try, you won't be needing to watch ultraman and other 15 series in order to understand all of the references, by the end of rahxephon everything is perfectly explained
@@troloinkto I mean to be fair is true that evangelion is kinda static, however evangelion have this atmosphere that keeps you tense and interested even in the most "boring" chapter while RahXephon never clicked to me however I will try it again then.
I've watched a lot of series in my day, many better than RahXephon and a not small amount worse, and yet for some reason RahXephon sticks out to me more than most. Its in such an odd spot for me where its highly experimental and yet kind of derivative. Its technicals are very good but its writing, structure, etc are very flawed. Its definitely not the worst thing I've ever watched, yet its also not the best and I question the competence of the creative team at points. I have a lot of issues figuring whats intentional or not and why what was done was done. Its not a disaster, but its definitely flawed. I've seen it like 7 times by this point and while I feel... something, I don't know quite what it is.
I don't know if I would recommend it if you want to watch a series to enjoy a series, or for pure entertainment purposes, but I think it is worth a watch simply for how weird it is. Not even from like a story or visual standpoint, but from a production and writing one. If you like behind the scene stuff or the creative/writing process of stuff like this, this series is fascinating because of all the questions it raises.
@@obscureanimememories6697 well, I guess I will have to stop watching my guilty pleasure, Isekai trash this season and instead watch RahXephon, in fact it sounds much more productive in comparison. XD
In the end, it's a ripoff that changed just enough to get past lawyers.
It's the anti-eva because it's actually good
Hot take
Well that's one helluva take, but I'ma let ya cook.
You see the vision.
Fighting words
Bold
Calling Evangelion for having good character or complex characters is like calling a piece of shit a work of art.
It's never been true. Evangelion is, and always is, shit. That's all I can say. Never seen RahXephon so I cannot speak for that one, but I forced myself to watch Evangelion and it ended up as the most hated show I've ever seen. I'm sorry but no. Evangelion's ending teaches us absolutely jack shit.