Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of the tentpoles of modern anime.It’s a staggering work of philosophical, ecclesiastical, and Freudian complexity all housed in a story of tweens forced to pilot. In late 2018, Netflix made one of the biggest moves in anime history by acquiring the streaming rights to the mightily influential series Neon Genesis Evangelion.The legendary 1990s series began.
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This originally appeared inPopular in.If you have a pulse and a Netflix login, you’ve probably at least heard of Neon Genesis Evangelion, the Japanese anime that the streaming service recently licensed for American audiences. Evangelion debuted in Japan in 1995 and has since earned a reputation as a controversial, psychologically complex, difficult piece of art. The franchise is also an anime classic — equivalent in acclaim, auteurship, and cultural footprint to America’s Twin Peaks or 2001: A Space Odyssey.A significant subset of its vocal fans, however, have spoken out against the Netflix release, taking issue with Netflix’s new English translation, which replaced the one that first came to the United States more than 15 years ago, as well as the omission of the series’ iconic ending theme song, a version of “Fly Me to the Moon.”.
Why is Neon Genesis Evangelion such a big deal?Evangelion has been one of the most popular anime series ever created pretty much from the start. Series creator and director Hideaki Anno conceived of the show as a kind of postmodern giant robot series — a send-up of other shōnen anime properties (which target a young male demographic) like the Mobile Suit Gundam and Space Runaway Ideon series.
Protagonist Shinji Ikari fights monsters in what is more or less a giant robot, though it looks suspiciously humanoid, and is tasked with saving humanity, only to learn that saving humanity takes a massive toll on his mental health. Along the way, Evangelion stages epic, city-demolishing fight sequences and manages to make a nuanced argument for the human condition.
Death threats aside, Evangelion was a major success, one that saw fans clamoring for a “real” ending. To Anno’s credit, he refused to compromise in the two follow-up films, which should be watched in conjunction with the series and are also newly available on Netflix. The first 67 minutes of the film Death & Rebirth are a clip-show retelling of the TV series, while its final act functions a sort of replacement 25th episode. That replacement 25th episode, “Rebirth” is also the first section of The End of Evangelion, which serves as a replacement and complementary ending. End is much more explicit than its TV series counterpart, packed with brutal onscreen violence, a sexual assault, and the literal melting of humanity. Why is it such a big deal that Neon Genesis Evangelion is on Netflix?For the better part of the last decade, Evangelion had previously been out of print after its English-language licensee, ADV Films, went out of business in the late 2000s.
The only way you could watch it for years was through shady pirating methods or buying after-market or bootleg DVDs. “There isn’t anything in anime like Evangelion,” writer Max Genecov recently wrote in a long analysis of the series’ bootleg history for, “nothing that has been so popular but has made itself so scarce.”.
While Netflix’s re-release of was highly anticipated by longtime fans of the acclaimed that first aired in 1995, many have found themselves disappointed with the final product. It turns out that what Netflix is streaming isn't the series as it originally debuted. They made some key changes to the series, some bigger than others, and many have been met with disappointment from fans.Check out our video analysis of this subject by watching the above video!
Here are all of the big changes we’ll be covering:. Evangelion’s covers of “Fly Me to the Moon” are missing. Netflix re-dubbed Evangelion with a new voice cast. Does anyone in Evangelion know how to pronounce NERV?. Evangelion has no more cursing.
A key gay romance has been erased from EvangelionEvangelion’s covers of “Fly Me to the Moon” are missingThe Netflix version of Evangelion doesn’t feature the iconic covers of Frank Sinatra's “Fly Me to the Moon” that played during the end credits of the original show. The song has long been synonymous with the show, but now it has been replaced with a plunky, dramatic piano piece. That’s like running all of those episodes of Friends without the opening theme song, Netflix. It’s just not the same!, so they opted to leave it out of this re-release. It’s worth noting that the song is still featured in the Netflix re-releases in other countries, like Japan. Netflix re-dubbed Evangelion with a new voice castThe entire Netflix re-release of Evangelion features a brand new cast of voice actors. While viewers watching the show for the first time wouldn’t even notice the difference, longtime fans are naturally experiencing a clash between these new voices and the ones they’ve always heard in the original.
While it’s subjective which voice cast is better overall, the main issue is how in the process of doing this re-dub Netflix introduced some changes along the way, and not all seem to be for the best. Does anyone in Evangelion know how to pronounce NERV?Let's start with a small one. While the government organization NERV was always pronounced “nerve” in the original dub, in the Netflix version it’s sometimes said differently. No one can seem to make up their mind on whether it’s “nerve” or “nayrve.” Characters will say it either way throughout the whole show.
Is anyone else getting flashbacks from whole “Aang” vs “Ahng” debacle from? Evangelion has no more cursingThe original Japanese version of Evangelion didn’t necessarily have cursing because of the stark differences to the English language. Curse words were actually added to the original English version to better get across the intent of the dialogue. But those curse words have been taken out of the Netflix version, resulting in.
A key gay romance has been erased from Evangelion Warning: a few spoilers ahead! While the smaller changes can be overlooked, the biggest change that has fans outraged is the erasure of the gay romance between Shinji and Kaworu, which forms the crux of arguably the most pivotal emotional moment in the entire series that profoundly effects the outcome of the story.
Fans have cited how specific words were changed in the Netflix translation from the original, altering the impact of Kaworu and Shinji’s critical meeting. Twitter user @Mioshuns tweeted out these images for comparison. You can see Kaworu originally tells Shinji at one point that he’s “worthy of love” and that was changed to “worthy of grace.” And instead of Kaworu saying he “loves” Shinji, he now says he “likes” Shinji. Friendly reminder that not only did netflix take away the iconic song 'fly me to the moon' from evangelion, they also censored the show's gay media! Congrats netflix you managed to fuck up one of your biggest titles — alexxxxx (@mioshuns) These changes left some fans feeling slighted. It’s a couple of words, but they believe it diminishes their relationship. While their romance was never explicitly shown, the consensus has long been that is Kaworu a love interest - not just a confidant or friend.
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The original words inferred so much, adding more complexity to an already intricate story. This anime was lauded when it came out, and still is today, because it confronted so many taboo topics - mental health, sexuality - especially when it comes to teens.
Netflix’s changes cast Kaworu and Shinji’s relationship in a new light inconsistent with the original version, which is why fans say it significantly changes the impact of that scene and the narrative overall. Translator Dan Kanemitsu responded to a fan questioning the controversial changes, saying he tried his best to stay faithful to the source material and he made those changes because he wanted the audience to pick up on what was happening between the two. “It is one thing for characters to confess their love. It is quite another for the audience to infer affection and leave them guessing. How committed are the characters? What possible misunderstandings might be taking place?
Leaving room for interpretation make things exciting,” Kanemitsu tweeted. It is one thing for characters to confess their love. It is quite another for the audience to infer affection and leave them guessing. How committed are the characters? What possible misunderstandings might be talking place? Leaving room for interpretation make things exciting.
— 兼光ダニエル真 (@dankanemitsu) Fans of Evangelion took Kanemitsu to task, criticizing the change.Your desire to make something exciting completely erases the nature of this exchange.— Victor Castillo (@fvckingvictor)There should have been no “leaving room for interpretation” when for years people have been trying to erase the queerness of Shinji & Kaworu’s relationship. It is a pivotal moment in Shinji’s development because this is the first time anybody has ever said “I love you” to him— Arielle H. FF7 Remake (@khiethy) Not happy with Netflix’s changes, some fans have simply decided to not watch Evangelion and instead find their old DVDs so they can enjoy the original.Was so excited to revisit one of my favorite series, on.
A few minutes into the English dub felt something was off. New voice cast. OK, I can deal with that.
No Fly Me To The Moon. Critical lines changed.
TT Time to dig up my DVDs:(— David (@deltaflyerzero).
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