Big, Bad Blasphemy.

[Maguamaru]

I've heard it said that many people in Japan got really worked up after EVA was completed. I mean, I've read part of the script to End of EVA... and seen some pictures of what happened to the GAINAX studio and the emails that Anno got ("I'll kill you, Anno!"). Now, amongst those were messages, if I'm not mistaken, claiming that God would get revenge on Anno for making EVA...

Now here's the question. Do you know anybody (or youself) who was offended by the religious content in EVA? I myself don't have a religion, but if I'd have seen EVA back when I was stil a Christian, I can safely say it wouldn't have offended me.

No, I'm not provoking anyone. No, I'm not claiming that we should all go and kill whatever God there is, or any such thing. I just want to know if there ARE actually people who feel like this...

[eva2000]

i am Christian and no, NGE would not offend me in anyway.... i also heard of how worked up everyone was in Japan..... :confused:

[ryezen]

i'm X'tian but Eva didnt offend me otherwise i wouldnt be here :D

[Maguamaru]

Yeah, I thought so. I wonder why those Japanese guys got so worked up? Anyone else?

[Hiyoku]

I wasn't offended by EVA in any way, and I don't define myself as anything more than a Chaosbeing...
But I think that the deal with the END and with the EVA Movies was that in Japan, they were given a LOT of publicity, and they're hardly lengthy--they do more to confuse and completly obliterate whatever hold you may have had on the series than they to do help it. Also, there was much speculation on exactly how they would end the series, and even though I loved every second, it almost seems that more could have been done with the End of EVA incorporated into the movies...

~Tasuki No Miko

"..Kokoro yo Genshi ni Modore.."

[ryezen]

correct me if im wrong but arent the majority of Japanese Shintoists? so why was there violent reaction (hmmm violent reaction) from them?

[Hiyoku]

..yes, I believe that's quite true--it may have just been the principle of the concept that got them so riled up...

~Tasuki No Miko
"Kaoru-dono has a guy
Oro Oro Oro-ro
With a scar under his eye
Oro Oro Oro-ro..."
The Oro Song
*sing it to the tune of Old MacDonald..hehe*

[Paradox]

I wouldn't be too surprised. If you didn't get some of the stuff in Eva, it could be a lil offending to certain people.

[Wolfpac]

Religion is Always a touchy subject.
If you thought of it as real life it probally would offend some people.

I posted this somewhere else and no on seemed to care. So here it is again. If also fits better here

It's pretty clear that Evangelion was based (sort of) on the Bible - Revelations Mostly
They based it on the Bible not the Japanese religon (Shinto I think) So that Evangelion would be known World wide
In Revalations there is something about a Woman in red, riding a Red beast - Sounds Like Auska and Eva-02 (scary, huh) Execpt that the woman in red is a Hooker.
Theres also something about 7 Angels and 7 plauges (the plot thickens)
And this was suppose to be in the Final Days
So it is really based on the Bible
BUT its still a story.

That probally how so many people were upset at GAINAX and Anno

[Maguamaru]

Yeah, all this seems to make sense to me... Although, I think now I see the REAL reason that so many people got offended. Maybe it was because it suggested things about humanity that some find uncomfortable...
Which, again, leads to my belief that we should just slap "This contains suggestive themes, so don't watch it if you don't like it, buddy" labels on the back of it.
Still, I can't see why that got so many people so touchy... I already considered humanity to be far from perfect. I mean, look at the way we screwed up the Earth in a tiny, MINUTE fraction of it's life...
I mean, sure, there's more. Psychology, philosiphy, and a lot more if you can get your brain around it.
Which, again, leads back to my belief that we shouldn't let these things get under our skin... basically, my attitude is 'Wow, what a great story! Mabye I should go and think on those freaky bits'... I can safely say I wouldn't be offended, AT ALL, if I saw End of EVA... confused might be more accurate. :P
But still, there's those death threats referring to religion (which, as was rightly stated, is a touchy subject - I've got a lot of people angry in the past, so I'm watching my words) which are yet to be explained. Does anyone know if Anno got beaten up, or anything? I hope not...

Oh, and about the woman in red - THAT. IS. DISTURBING. I read a part of Revelations about two weeks ago, because the back of the dub video 13 quoted it, and I read this... but it didn't click. But now it's pointed out... it's just disturbing. After I finish EVA (All going well, I should see the last three videos AND the two movies next week!), I'll be sure to read Revelations to find references...

[David Ikari]

Before Neon Genisis Evangelion, I knew nothing about the Christian or Jewish religion. Now I know facts that evensome crhistsians didn't know. I found it in no way offensive, but could be seen as an other interpretation of biblical events. Such as I found info that said that Satan was thrown out of heaven for telling God not to hurt Man just to tell him messages or teach them. God didn;t like this and gave hime the boot. Either that, or Satan lusted after Lillith, I'm not sure.

Yes, religion is a touchy subject. You wouldn't someone coming around and taking charatcers from Neon Genisis and making them laa dee daa charatcers for Pokemon, would you?

[ryezen]

well, my country is generally Catholic and there r a lot of religious fanatics! - so when they aired Eva, they translated it into the native language - u know what happens next. the bad part is, many X'tian concepts were changed, take 4 instance the term "angel" was translated into "kalaban" or enemy! :redhot:

it is 4 this reason that most, if not all of my classmates who have watched the series only on the local channel cannot appreciate Eva - i dont even bother to argue with those guys on the topic! :lol:

although i think that if Eva was presentd in its english dubbed form it could have been banned - so sometimes ignorance can prove useful! :lol:

[Maguamaru]

"Enemy! Enemy! Enemy! That which threatens the state of our sanity is the enemy! That which forces us to watch the same thing over and over again with different monsters is the enemy! That which forced ME to go and get all 150, and find that there was no reward! Enemy! Enemy! ENEMY!"
Sorry, did I get a little carried away? :P My views on Pokemon there, so as anybody can see, I like the EVA characters just the way they are, as I suspect all of us here do!
Hmm... I wonder about that translation, ryezen. Which version did you see?
As a side note, I wonder if they changed anything for the English dub?

[ryezen]

of course i got to watch the subbed Eva before they released the series locally (i think they're still rerunning it! although i cant watch it due to my class sked.)

as for the changes in the english dubbed, i only braved it once for comparison purposes (yiii... im still getting goosebumps :lol: ) and based on the copy i borrowed, there were a lot of changes in the dialogue - as u can always xpect in the dubbed versions. Im not really sure with the scenes though, since i got to watch it last November/December...

[kaji]

people are offended because people are scared.......