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Neon Genesis Evangelion Rewatch: Why Fans Blame the Adults, Not the Kids

旧エヴァを久々に見返した日本のファンの反応—「悪いのは子供じゃなくて大人」

Neon Genesis Evangelion
Neon Genesis Evangelion Rewatch: Why Fans Blame the Adults, Not the Kids
“Evangelion's real problem isn't the teenagers — it's the adults who have zero interest in listening to anyone.”

エヴァの問題は少年少女じゃなくて、人の話を聞く気が全くないオトナたちだからな

— @kami-shinsqn

Japanese fans rewatched the original 1995 Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series and landed on a striking reframe: the show's real problem isn't the broken teenagers, it's the adults who refuse to listen or explain anything. From there the thread maps the slow tonal slide — episodes 7–14 are the "bright" Eva, the shadows creep in around 15–17, and from 18 on "it becomes hell" — pausing on the warm middle: hot-pot nights, the comedy trio, and Asuka quietly going from saying Rei's name to never saying it at all. Nostalgic, a little raw, and it closes on the line that quietly defends Shinji after all these years.

This titleJapanese reactions to Neon Genesis EvangelionRead all 2 roundups on the title page
A Japanese commentary video on rewatching the original Neon Genesis Evangelion — the comment section turned into a thoughtful, slightly raw love letter to the 1995 show. （YouTube · ニュータイプ研究ラボ）

Japanese fan reactions (excerpted from 242)

  • Also, they never properly explain anything to the Children.

    あとチルドレン達にちゃんと説明しない

    — @kusanagimadara0558124 likes

  • Evangelion is a world where the adults are to blame for everything. The kids didn't do a single thing wrong.

    エヴァは全部大人が悪い世界なんだよ 子供は何一つ悪くない

    — @kuro835870 likes

  • It's just that the adults are a mess.

    大人がやべぇだけだからな

    — @ヘルメスたそ26 likes

  • Grown-up staff who won't listen and won't tell you anything. The fate of the world gets handed to a bunch of teenagers, and the ones getting hurt are also the kids. Of course things turn tense and bitter…

    人の話を聞かない&内容を話さない大人職員 世界の運命を託されているのは思春期の子供達で痛い思いをしているのも子供達 ギスギスするのは仕方がないじゃんね…

    — @二代目なんj民161 likes

  • The thing is, basically every NERV staffer isn't even told why they're fighting. The operations commander herself doesn't learn the purpose behind the Angel attacks until late in the show. If they don't understand it themselves, they're in no position to worry about the kids.

    大多数というかほぼ全てのNERV職員がなんで戦ってるかすら知らされていない状況だからね。 作戦司令官が使徒侵攻目的を知るのすら終盤だし。 自分たちも訳がわからないのに子供の心配できる余裕なんかあるわけないだろって感じかと。

    — @バンバンプレスト17 likes

  • When you put it that way, it's a wonder NERV functioned as an organization at all…

    ​@バンバンプレストそう説明されると、よく組織として成立してたよな⋯

    — @hirou965712 likes

  • The real problem children in the original Eva aren't Shinji, Asuka, or Rei — it's Misato and Gendo.

    旧エヴァの問題児はシンジ・アスカ・レイじゃなくてミサト・ゲンドウだからな

    — @ろむ-o5o25 likes

  • Episodes 7 through 14 are the bright Eva. Shadows start creeping in around 15 to 17, and from episode 18 it becomes hell.

    七話〜拾四話くらいは明るいエヴァ 拾伍話〜拾七話あたりから陰りが見え始めて拾八話から地獄になる

    — @ケント-y4u300 likes

  • The Unit-03 battle is where it suddenly goes pitch dark…

    参号機戦から一気に暗くなるんだよね…

    — @sinnkai100132 likes

  • Which is exactly why the back half — and where The End of Evangelion takes it — hits the way it does……

    だからこそ終盤から旧劇の展開がね……

    — @ka_ko_ka_ko172 likes

  • The middle stretch after Asuka arrives in Japan is loaded with comedy and it's the most fun part of the show. (The ending, however.)

    アスカ来日以降の中盤あたりがコメディ要素盛り盛りで一番面白い なお終盤

    — @シュー-h7p66 likes

  • I love the pilots in the middle when they've got that goofy three-stooges trio energy.

    中盤の3バカトリオ感あるパイロット達すこ

    — @田中太郎-z7l6j62 likes

  • The TV version was actually loved for this bright, school-drama-flavored stretch.

    TV版はこの、学園モノ風パートの明るい感じが人気だったんだよ。

    — @まるまる-y7k17 likes

  • Everyone eating sukiyaki together, having sleepovers — I thought, man, this is pure youth 😮

    みんなですき焼き 食べたり お泊まり したりしてて 青春だなって思った😮

    — @だるま-r3p24 likes

  • An announcer who started watching on a comedian's recommendation said: the early episodes are so fun — that sweet, awkward shared-living life, packed with the dreams of teenage boys and girls. So how does it end up like THAT…?

    芸人に勧められて見始めたアナウンサーが 初めの頃はとっても楽しい 嬉し恥ずかし共同生活　 年頃の少年少女の夢が詰まってる なんでああなってしまうのか… って言ってた

    — @加齢の王子さま-l7f25 likes

  • No question about it, Asuka is adorable.

    アスカが可愛いのは間違いない

    — @buck-tickht7627112 likes

  • In the TV version Asuka genuinely thinks Shinji and Rei are dating, lol.

    TV版アスカは普通にシンジとレイが付き合ってると思ってるんだよな

    — @ファルセット63 likes

  • At first Asuka would sometimes call Rei by her name, but before long she stops saying it entirely — and you realize, oh, she's already starting to put distance between them…

    アスカは最初は綾波を名前で呼ぶ事があったけど、程なくして名前呼びは一切しなくなるのがもう距離取り始めてるんだな…ってなる

    — @ひでま424 likes

  • A bit overbearing, sure, but early on Asuka was the one reaching out to her first…

    やや高圧的とはいえ最初はアスカから声掛けしてましたもんね…

    — @kayosh40018 likes

  • Later Asuka comes to loathe Rei because she keeps poking at Asuka's trauma — but at their first meeting, even when Rei gives her the cold shoulder, she doesn't really get annoyed and just shrugs it off with "what a strange girl~"

    ​@kayosh4001後々はトラウマを刺激されてしまうせいでアスカがレイを嫌悪するけど、初対面では素っ気ない反応のレイに対して特に苛立つ事もなく「変わった子ねぇ〜」で済ますからね

    — @あむりた-d1n17 likes

  • Meanwhile Rei doesn't even try to use anyone's name and just calls people "that person," so I guess it can't be helped either…

    一方レイは名前を呼ぼうとすらせずあの人呼ばわりやからしょうがないっちゃしょうがない…

    — @miyatotoro992478 likes

  • Say what you want, but Rei is just cute.

    なんだかんだ綾波がかわいい

    — @しょー-s7z106 likes

  • I love the scene where Shinji watches Rei wringing out a cloth and says "that's kind of mom-like" ❤

    綾波が雑巾絞ってるのを見てシンジが「お母さんぽい」って言うシーン好き❤

    — @あるばあと魚21 likes

  • Rei's "garlic ramen, hold the char siu" line was actually an ad-lib.

    綾波の「ニンニクラーメンチャーシュー抜き」はアドリブである

    — @コンパチ23 likes

  • Apparently the script said "nori ramen." Yeah, as written that line would've been kind of a nothing.

    台本には「海苔ラーメン」とあったらしい。確かにそのままだと面白みがないセリフかも

    — @あむりた-d1n1 likes

  • I love how the three of them sit in "In the Still Darkness." Rei: "Humans feared the dark, used fire, and have lived by carving the darkness away." Asuka: "oooh, deeep~" Something about that little exchange just gets me, no idea why.

    「静止した闇の中で」の3人の距離感好き 綾波「人は闇をおそれ火を使い闇を削って生きてきたわ」 アスカ「てっつがくぅ〜」 特にこのやり取りがなんか無性に好き

    — @lOvOllOuOl57 likes

  • I always loved "Angel Attack" and "In the Still Darkness" — the episodes that center the adults instead of the Eva pilots.

    使徒、侵入と静止した闇の中でが好きだったな。 エヴァパイロットじゃなくて大人組がメインの回。

    — @lastquarter4055 likes

  • On a rewatch you really notice the animation holds up and it's just fun. Also you start hearing Asuka's and Rei's voice actors all over the background-crowd housewives, lol.

    見直すとやっぱり作画がええし面白いなってなる 後はガヤの主婦とかの声に滅茶苦茶アスカと綾波の声聞こえるってなる

    — @碧空際5 likes

  • It's precisely because Asuka is a good kid at heart that her later breakdown is so painful to watch. How did it come to this.

    アスカが根はいい子だからこそ、その後の崩壊っぷりが辛過ぎる どうしてこうなった

    — @uma584310 likes

  • It's one of my favorite anime, but the image of that slide from the middle into the finale just looms so large…

    好きなアニメなんだけど中盤から終盤に向けてのイメージが強くて…

    — @たいかま-u5p7 likes

  • For better or worse the ending leaves such a strong impression that the ordinary story up to the midpoint feels like a tale from the distant past…

    良くも悪くも終盤以降の印象が強すぎるから中盤までの普通の物語が遠い昔の話のように感じてしまうんだよ…

    — @junas05junas15 likes

  • I'd love to see a version of Eva that keeps the early vibe all the way and just barrels straight to the end like that.

    初期の雰囲気のまま最後まで突っ走って終わるエヴァも見てみたい

    — @yousay319710 likes

  • I mean, what Anno actually wanted to make was a proper Ultraman. How on earth did it turn into THIS……

    だって庵野さんがやりたかったのって、真っ当なウルトラマンだもん それがどうしてこうなったのか……

    — @batorasu276516 likes

  • "Everyone tried harder than I remembered" — what a great line lol. The Rebuild films only work because of everything the original series built up first.

    「みんな記憶以上に頑張り屋さんだった」っていいねw 新劇って旧シリーズで積み重ねたモノありきなんだよね。

    — @ああああ-z9o4f10 likes

  • This is so true. The whole "Shinji is just a whiny wimp" take — I'm convinced it's written by writers who never watched the actual show and are just parroting hearsay.

    これほんとそう。シンジがウジウジしてるとか、本編見たことないライターが聞きかじりで書いてるんじゃないかって気がする。

    — @kiichi719617 likes

  • People slap the "whiny" label on Shinji from the back half of the TV show, The End of Evangelion, and Q — but that's the result of having his spirit broken over and over again.

    シンジTV後半とか旧劇とかQとかでウジウジしてるイメージ付きがちだけど散々心折られた結果だもんな

    — @YeahYeahYeah8224 likes
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