My Weeaboo Recommendations: Shin Godzilla and Neon Genesis Evangelion

I know a lot of people don't like anime and think the old Godzilla movies are just a bad joke. And that is OK. But for all of you out there that feel nostalgia for old monster movies and/or can live with comic characters that have slightly over-sized eyes, I have 2 big recommendations! I need to get them off my chest so I don't talk about them all day in other posts:

1st off Shin Gojira

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It is a very different Godzilla than the 2014 American Version. It is focused around the politics of how would the state react if a giant monster attacks the city. The main character of this movie is Godzilla! There is no tear jerking drama injected. That doesn't mean you lack good human characters.
One of my favourite Scenes was the established scientists only stating facts that are obvious because they feared to lose their reputation if they speculated too much. The only thing they could say for sure is that this monster can not walk on land because it is too heavy. Well, it is no spoiler to say they were wrong :D. So because the mainstream science society is incapable a group of “lone wolves, nerds, troublemakers, outcasts, academic heretics and general pains-in-the-bureaucracy(-butt)” is put together to figure out what Godzilla actually is and what he is capable off. These guys instantly start to spin their theories and bounce ideas of each other, that resulted into valuable information and predictions within minutes! So pretty much the same that is happening on Steemit :D.

I won't go into all the detail about why I like the artistic style much more than the American CGI-mess. That is a matter of personal taste in art. It can be discussed, but it is more of a topic on its own.

What I want to mention is that you get a lot more Godzilla in this movie compared to the 2014 installation. There are some that argue that Shins final form has the same screentime as G2014 (10 minutes). Shin Godzilla evolves within his own life cycle that is one of his big strength, why would you only count his final form?? The very same people count G2014 as “on screen” when only his dorsal fins are visible in the water... Yes, my hate for the American version goes deep, but only since I watched Shin and saw what a Godzilla movie can be. If you haven't figured it out by now: Shin Godzilla is my favourite Godzilla movie of all time!
3rd form of Godzilla

Because this movie is criminally underscreened/unavailable in the western world, I will give you hint:
watching Shin Godzilla in good quality is as easy as googling “Shin Godzilla series online”.
I normally don't endorse breaking the copyright in my posts, but I feel like Toho suffers more from Shin being underrepresented, than it gains from sitting on the copyright.

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So what does this all have to do with Neon Genesis Evangelion!?

This man, Hideaki Anno, was the director of Shin Godzilla and the mind behind the cult classic NGE. If you have watched Neon Genesis you will see the glaring similarities. In the scene with the outcast scientists, that I described above, a famous score of NGE is played as soon as they get to work. I didn't realize that at the time, but I remember getting really excited. Damn you Anno for toying with my childhood memories!

Neon Genesis Evangelion takes place in an alternative timeline in the year 2015. In the year 2000 a mysterious catastrophic “impact” has shaken the world and whipped out half of the earths population in its aftermath.

footage of the 2nd impact

The show starts off as a well-made action series about a boy fighting huge creatures called “Angels” using a giant fighting robot, the EVA, but it slowly devolves into a psychological horror a la Lovecraft. The “End of Evangelion” movie, that you have to(!) watch after the series, is one of the most powerful and unique endings that I ever witnessed in motion picture history. Only rivaled by Watchmen, but it has much more emotional impact.

There are no good spoiler free trailers of NGE so I had to went with the opening, which is not that good in representing the mood of the show. Because there is a dissonance between the opening and the actual content of the series the opening is much more enjoyable for a fan.

Evangelion has a lot of religious symbolism, like the tree of life in the video above. There are a lot of metaphors like the names of the organisations NERV, SEELE and GEHIRN (nerve, soul and brain) and mysterious forces at work. If you feel overwhelmed by the development of the story, don't worry everybody does, this is part of the experience.

There are downsides to NGE. Namely some stretched scenes and stories to save money for the big action scenes (that are always stellar). Shinji is a crybaby, is a common meme in the fanbase because his depression is maybe a little to extensively shown. Oh and watching the show will make you a manically depressed person, but it is all worth it ;).

Don't bother with the Rebuilds of Evangelion. Watch the original. Rebuild 3.33 was a huge disappointment for most of the fans.