Chapter 3-Cruel Angel's Thesis

Life is, well, life, and so I've been busy and this episode of Cinema Robtotica is slightly delayed.  But, to make up for it, we're going to add a LOT more details and how the GAINAX Magnus Opus, Neon Genesis Evangelion is most certainly NOT an example of how to run the average role-playing game.

Okay, let's get one thing straight-I have NOT seen the two Evangelion movies (End of Evangelion and Life and Death), just the series.  I have not heard a single Drama CD, or read the manga.  I have just seen the TV series, and that is the basis for this Cinema Robotica.

Evangelion is set in 2015, when a massive explosion- Second Impact- in Antarctica has destroyed the continent and eliminated the axial tilt of Earth, keeping the weather a permanent summer in Japan (and, most likely, winter in South America).  Combined with the climate changes, flooding, and warfare, half the human population is dead and the planet is kind of a mess.  Add to this the discovery of an egg-shaped Geofront under Tokyo, and similar messes, the formation of Tokyo-3, a "fortress for mankind" has happened.

But, this is all a lie.

What really happened on that black day in September of 2000 was that a secret society called Seele (German for soul), "reduced" a mysterious enigmatic being they called Adam into an embryonic-form.  This embryo is an important part of the Human Completion Project.  However, in the act of reduction, Antarctica was destroyed, the planet was wrecked, and mysterious beings called "Angels" with powerful defenses called AT-Fields start attacking Tokyo-3.

The weapon of defense against the Angels is a bio-mechanical mechanoid called an Evangelion.  Where the technology of the Evangelion came from is unknown, a "black box", even it's creator is uncertain exactly how the unit works.  And, it only can be piloted by children born after Second Impact.  And, as we find out, only particular kinds of children can pilot the Evangelions.

Fast forward a bit to the first two episodes of Evangelion, which have to be watched back to back to truly understand the series.  We start with this kid, Shinji Ikari, who winds up in Tokyo, not quite knowing why he's supposed to be there.  As he's watching....there's a mysterious girl in blue hair watching him back.  Startled by birds, Shinji looks away and the girl is gone.  And, just a second later....there's a massive explosion.

It's the first Angel.  In the great tradition of every Godzila movie, the Army throws everything including a nuke at the Angel, and it only slows the Angel down.  The only weapon that can stop it is EVA-01, the prototype Evangelion that is waiting for it's pilot, Shinji Ikari.  And, we discover something about Shinji that haunts us through the entire series.

Shinji Ikari, with the exception of Camile Vidan, is the most whiny passive-aggressive brat in any mecha anime I have ever seen.  And, unlike Camile, Shinji doesn't even have the excuse that the rest of the universe is really out after him.

Shinji meets his father, Gendo, and when at the point I would have screamed at the man just how large a set of brass balls he has to have to ask me back at this point, Shinji shuts up.  Gendo, deciding that his son is useless, brings out the one item he wanted to hold off on-Rei.

The girl that Shinji saw, but this time wrapped in bandages as if she was severely injured.

Just as this badly injured girl is about to be tossed back into the Evangelion to fight the Angel, an attack causes a massive earthquake and causes lights to fall upon Shinji and Rei-Shinji guarding Rei with his body.....but the Evangelion moves first and by suprise, as the arm blocks the falling lights.  It also knocks one of them right into the catwalk that Gendo is standing on and shatters right on the thick plate glass guarding him, a half-smile on Gendo's face....as if this was all planned from the start.

Keep an eye on Gendo's smile.  When we see it, somebody is going to really get screwed over.  And note that the light seemingly was deflected towards him, as if to get rid of him, by EVA-01-and how EVA-01 makes an effort to try and kill Gendo on several occasions later in the series.

The first episode ends as Shinji gets a crash-course in Evangelion piloting, and is launched to face the Angel.  The second starts as Shinji is getting his ass-kicked by the Angel, since he doesn't know how to properly control the massive Evangelion.  As we see the battle happen, and Shinji gets his ass kicked, Shinji wakes up in a hospital bed, surprised that he's gotten there.

This hospital bed shows up a few times.

As Shinji gets out of the hospital, Misato (the woman that picked him up from the train station in the first episode and the commander of the Evangelions) decides to take the kid into her apartment rather than have the kid living in the barracks at Tokyo-3.  As the episode progresses, we learn how EVA-01 defeated the Angel.

It went berserk.

The EVA went out of control, and quite literally was taking apart the hostile Angel piece by piece until the Angel blew up-and we can see that EVA-01 was trying to get to something before the Angel exploded.  This is also the only episode that we get to see the EVA's true "face" under the armor.  And, we go from here.

Twenty-six episodes, including the first two, and the movies (which are little more than expanded versions of the last two episodes), and we get a conspiracy that never quite makes too much sense, characters that never quite escape their own limitations, and a giant robot that seems to be as much the enemy as the protector.  From a series viewpoint, Evangelion is...unique to say the least.  It marks GAINAX and Hidekeo Anno's change of viewpoint from the essentially optimistic Gunbuster to a more dark and grim tone in anime that has come after it.  From an artistic standpoint, Evangelion is unique and it has merit in both an artistic and "thematic" approach.

But, as the basis for a role-playing game, it is probably the worst example of "how to do things" that a GM could use.  And, ironically, it's what makes Evangelion a "harsh" and "real" show that makes it useless for GMs.  Such as-

• No Lube Added-To be fair and honest, most gamers-truthfully or not-feel as if the world is already screwing them over.  They game to have a place where they can manage to actually solve something and become something greater than themselves.  They want resolution, which is something that real life has a nasty tendency of not giving in any way.
  
  How would you feel if in this one place that you expected some form of resolution, you get told to bend over and smile more?
  
  The average player wants to finish, to have some kind of end to the story.  Even if it's just Butch and Sundance charging out with revolvers against the entire Bolivian army, they want to take a point and say "this is where it ended."  Evangelion doesn't really end, in the sense of completion, it just goes on.
• Curiosity Resolved-Players want to know how the magician pulled off the trick.  On average, gamers tend to be more intelligent than the average and a deus ex machine smacks to them of muddy thinking and poorly-thought-out plotting.   And, if they can't get the solution in this game, they expect to have enough clues so that, at the end, they can solve the puzzle. 
  
  What they don't like, unless they're the sort that really enjoys a world of total gray without black and white, that the puzzle box can't be opened, that the end of the tunnel is merely more tunnel, is no real solution.  If you give them a map with Here There Be Dragons on it, they want to know more about the dragons.    Telling them about ice cream concoctions is not what they wanted-however interesting it is.
• Putting On Different Shoes From When You Started Walking-A lot of times, the characters become the extensions of the players, a second self they wish they could have or wanted to have become.  And, when the game ends, they want the characters to be just a little bit different than when they started.  A new sword, some new spells, maybe a neat new robot or other toy.  Or, they want the character itself to develop-a new skill, perhaps a new ally or lover.  They want to wear a different set of shoes from when they started.  Not to put on the same shoes, especially if they don't fit.

Does Evangelion have things to offer a GM?  It does, no doubt about that-just that items have to be used carefully, such as-

• The Enigmatic Weapon-....that might be more of a danger to the pilots and their allies than the enemy itself.  You don't quite know when the damn thing is going to run amok.  Or if it will actually work in this battle.  Or exactly how or why it works.  Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if there were not....
• Secrets Everywhere-And the players are the expendable pawns of those in power.  Valuable pawns, to be sure and ones to be preserved whenever possible, but pawns never less.  Discovering the secrets, or even searching for them might mean you'd wind up in a shallow grave-with a gunshot to the back of the head.  Or that the side you thought was the "right" side is actually the Spawn Of The Devil.  And, this causes a severe case of....
• Pilot Mortality-The simple fact is that life is cheap.  So cheap that your players have to survive on their own, and damn the organization.  Or the squad.  Or each other.  To live, they have to fight and die-and kill even those they care about.  There is only darkness and shadows-light is so hard to find.

Evangelion is a series to be used sparingly when designing your own games and worlds, because it's a place where it's way too easy for a GM to run over players.  But, if you have the steel nerve to keep from messing too much with player's heads, there are a few small things you can take from it and add to your own games.  But, beware-power is a dangerous drug.

Another Cinema Robotica up, another set of reviews in two weeks.  I'm torn between either doing Parallel Universe Dual! or Ghost In The Shell, as both have a great deal of merit.  E-mail me and let me know what you think, else I'll choose myself.  See you in two weeks!

Cowboy Bebop | Mobile Suit Gundam | Neon Genesis Evangelion

Parallel Universe Dual

BIO

Jonathan Souza, besides being a fairly snazzy dresser, is a mecha nut and fan of just about anything robotic.  He still seeks employment, and hopes to find a job soon.  He also hopes to find a girlfriend soon, as he is getting rather lonely.

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Created on May 19, 2001.