In my last article (Anno as Auteur: Researching Anime Research), I positioned Hideaki Anno (director of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Kare Kano, etc.) as an auteur. That is, a director whose creative power exceeds the studio system (ie., multiple creative artists laboring on the same work) to form a unified vision that provides the director with a particular style.
Some of my current academic work revolves around analyzing the Evangelion works as a transmedia franchise, particularly in how fans approach consumption and understand of the entire, vast narrative. I question in particular the reception of the four new Evangelion movies. Since they are not remakes of the Evangelion television series and instead are new visualizations of the Evangelion story, these films appeal to two sorts of fans: the viewers that grew up watching the television series, and a new set of fans that are understanding the Evangelion narrative for the first time. The interrelationship between these two sets of fans — particularly because they are divided by generation on top of consumptive experience — poses loads of new questions and problems about how audiences consume transmedia*.
* For example, one set of related comments voiced by fans after having watched the first film focus on how the film is “a remake of the first six episodes of the television series.” This, however, is untrue, as the film disregards most of Shinji’s emotional trauma. But I’ll break down my thoughts on this topic soon in another article…
If you have yet to see the films, I suggest watching these trailers to start:
Evangelion 1.0: You Are [Not] Alone, trailer
Evangelion 2.0: You Can [Not] Advance, trailer
These four films, two of which of course have already been released in Japan, are also a good chance to analyze the idea of auteurism in particular application to Japanese animation. As I said in my last article, a number of visual elements and styles present in Anno’s Kare Kano resemble those of Evangelion. For example, take a look at the following clip from the 22nd episode of Evangelion, in which an angel “literally” rapes Asuka’s mind.
Neon Genesis Evangelion, episode 22
Watch from 6:09, or click here for a direct link to that time. Watch it until about 7:00.
The quick cuts and flashing words are typical in Evangelion, particularly in times of emotional stress. The style of this scene is even implied in the opening credits sequence to the television series:
Watch it in full, or skip to 1:06.
Similar to the clip of Asuka above, at these points of visual characterization of emotion, comparable visual elements appear in Kare Kano:
Kare Kano, episode 4
Watch from 1:35, or click here for a direct link to that time. Watch it until 2:50.
A similar thematic element is Anno’s placement of locative and geographical frames over dialogue. For example, check out this short clip:
Kare Kano, episode 4
Watch from 3:46, or click here for a direct link to that time. Watch it until 3:58.
From this clip, as well as the previous ones with words, the visual elements are meant to cue metaphoric connections in the viewer’s mind. It’s really that simple: the clip above shows an “under construction sign” when Yukino (the female character) questions her budding relationship with Souichirou, and then it follows with a stop sign (止まれ), signaling that she should slow down and not get ahead of herself).
We could even present a similar comparison to (auteurist director) Akiyuki Shinbou, who frequently utilizes seemingly arbitrary frames that features places and locations in his animations.
However, after watching the first two Evangelion movies, it appears that the production staff has stripped these emotional elements out of the new narrative entirely. But this should come as no surprise, as the Executive Producer, Toshimichi Outsuki has already commented on the changing face of the Evangelion project. In a NEWTYPE magazine interview (translated for Newtype USA and reproduced here), Outsuki states, “I want everyone — from hardcore fans of the original work to people who only know it because of the licensed stuff — to look at it as a standalone film series.” However, these new innovative changes come at the expense of Anno’s auteurism. The article reads, “Otsuki adds that they’re removing much of the deliberate obfuscation that made Eva infamous: “Filling works with difficult workds [sic] and concepts in order to create confusion among viewers was a good technique 12 years ago, but not anymore, and one of our primary goals for this project is to turn everyone’s expectations upside down.”
This comment is actually pretty interesting in and of itself, because I believe it says much about how Japanese viewers, and particularly otaku in the 1990s, consumed television. That techniques of “confusion” were successful might actually inform our understanding of the construction of anime narratives coming into the 2000s. For example, how does this play into the otaku fervor around The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which was the next mega-success in the anime industry after Evangelion, but which premiered in 2006.
Continuing from that point, the article also reflects on Evangelion’s identity as a sign of the anime industry proper:
The new movies also reflect the staff’s feelings about the state of the anime industry. It’s even suggested that this project is a rejection of current anime production philosophy. “It’s true that Eva was a huge hit,” Otsuki says. “But its success spawned a great deal of confusion and misunderstanding in the in the industry, the end result being a bunch of mass-produced junk. That mindset has persisted for ten years, but now we’re in a position to prove it wrong. We’re determined to close the door on the post-Eva era for good.
I find it incessantly interesting that we can define an era of fan activity and industry production by the effects on one Japanese animation.
There is one central point that I think you are confusing:
Otsuki said they want to make Eva less “confusing”…that does not necessarily mean he was referring to the characters themselves and their emotional makeup.
Rather, I think he was referring to how back in the 1990′s, what with X-Files and other similar trends, what was in vogue was to have lots of conspiracy hints and clues you had to “figure out” on your own.
This backfired in spectacular fashion, because fans ultimately started chasing every little thing as a clue, when they were often red herrings.
Thus “removing the confusion” is doing things like toning down the Kabbalah references…which doesn’t affect the core identity of the show at all: they’ve said it was never about the religious references at all.
Look, some people will always watch Lord of the Rings and think the “tone” is that they’re smoking marijuana, that it was about Vietnam, and that Legolas is gay. You can’t measure that. What we can measure is when the author says “you do realize this was a social commentary I made on the experiences of my generation?”
So some people will always think that the “Evangelion experience” was about needlessly confusing religious references and a lot of fanart and theorization. A lot of fanart. But I do not, nor do many others. Anymore than “watching it with bad, bootleg fansubs” was an essential part of the process.
but basically, “stopping the confusion” mean “you know, we should introduce Lilith early and clearly explain its plot significance in the story”
I do not think that “removing the confusion” extends to the characters – first off, some minor points aside, Rebuild 1 didn’t change Shinji and Misato TOO much
as for the pseudo-heroics of Rebuild of Eva 2 — simply setting us up to knock us down, my friend: setting us up to knock us down. They frame the whole thing as a stereotypical heroic story…only to in Rebuild 3 reveal that Rei is a clone.
An if you think about it…that’s actually what the TV series did: put your mind into that of someone who is watching the first time and ONLY seems up to the cliffhanger of episode 19. Shinji actually heroically beats Zeruel in episode 19. Rebuild just cranked this up to an exaggerated degree, but was thematically similar.
I guess what I’m trying to say can be summarized in two points:
1 – “confusion” might have exclusively been referring to how they used to leave major plot points half-explained or implied, because fans often misinterpreted them (they were TOO vague). However, I do not think that this means they are “simplifying” or dumbing down the characters
2 – contingent on that….I do not think we can judge Rebuild until it is over. Anymore than someone watching the original series up to episode 13 could “summarize” the overall series….or even someone watching up to the Zeruel fight from episode 19….we have NO IDEA what Anno is pulling here, all we can expect is to expect the unexpected — as they say — and I think we should hold off from making truly conclusive judgments until its over…albeit that’s maybe 5 years from now.
As for “Eva as transmedia”…it’s not exactly like “The Matrix and transmedia” – with the Matrix, the creators made a conscious choice that “we’re going to make parts of this as animated shorts, and a spinoff prequel videogame, and an MMORPG, and comic books, and you have to get all to have the full experience”
While I would say Eva is “transmedia”, it sort of happened by accident: Gainax staff later said things in interviews which clarified things from the show.
Or even on a more basic level, if we are purely to say its “transmedia” because it started as a TV series but had a finale theatrical movie (obviously I’m simplifying)….they didn’t *plan* on the budget running and out needing to make a movie, though it IS what happened.
As for the manga by Sadamoto…that came out first, but was mostly to drum up support for the TV show…it’s a separate continuity so you don’t get too much insight into one from the other. Interesting to see what they think on it.
but a lot of these spinoffs are truly of the “Jar Jar Binks neck-tie” variety; purely to make quick cash.
The dating sim video games, meanwhile, were simple pandering: it disturbs me on many levels that Mana from GoS has her own cult following.
While “Eva’s popularity” stayed alive….have we gone astray? Are we at a Hello Kitty level where it lost all narrative meaning, you just buy things with “Evangelion” written on them? We’ve reached the point where you can defecate into a box, label it “authentic Rei Ayanami poop”…and people on the streets of Akihabara will *buy* it. Have we fallen so low?
Still, “transmedia” applies because a big part was that you had to buy guidebooks to get the whole information (Evangelion Chronicle, etc.) or the theatrical movie booklets.
I seriously wonder how Eva pachinko became a small religion in Japan.
But Mr. Leavitt the thing I increasingly wonder is this: a big reason “no one understands Eva” or “you need to watch many different forms of media (transmedia: books, TV, movies, games) to fully understand it by tracking down all the info”…..in North America, is because these are hard to get imports, right?
In Japan, I should think these things are as ubiquitous as Star Wars guidebooks in common bookstores.
So the real question I have is….I know that *you* are trying to “figure out Eva”, and that I am, and that the Mechademia crowd is aware of it but…
…are there Japanese fansites that put as much effort into explaining the show as say, theonering.net for LOTR, and the leaky cauldron for Harry Potter?
Is there a “theforce.net” for Evangelion?
it’s just that I have trouble finding much less translating copies of Evangelion Chronicle, and fans in japan can just pick one up; or buy a book, or see a movie; “Transmedia” is much easier over there.
Is it just that it’s hard for me to read internet chatter….or do the fanboys in Japan honestly not care? Is it that hikkikomori minset? I mean every 2nd block in Tokyo has an Evangelion-themed pachinko game: in America even the name “Rei Ayanami” is something only a small niche know, while in Japan its as common as “princess leia”…do the people playing those pachinko games even seriously try to figure out the show?
Or is it a bunch of moving flashing lights to them?
(sigh)
there’s times when I feel like they’re starving in a land of plenty, what with all of the information they have over there, while over here we’re desperate for any Eva info we can get.
Still this all raises an interesting point: Matrix was *trying* to be transmedia…what about things that BECOME transmedia, unintentionally? and where do we go from there?
(my dream, of course, is to basically just make one utterly definitive super-compendium…much like Lord of the Rings *successfully* managed to do…to the point that this becomes less confusing; when “finding the info spread across varying media” becomes secondary to “pondering its thematic message as a whole”)
– V