An otaku, or obsessive fan, of the anime "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

One of the pastimes of many Eva no otaku is attempting to interpret the philosophical and theological references in the anime without actually looking up their referents. This is annoying!

Other pastimes include blindly accepting things said on webpages, such as certain Eva pilots losing arms or main characters getting shot by their lovers when there is no proof of that at all.

I admit that I am obsessed with Evangelion. I love it. I can't get enough. My Eva nodes include (as of 18/04/01):


I can’t help by feel that you were referring to me there -Brazil-. I am a self-professed otaku, but perhaps I am just being egotistical. Normally I would just quote Anno Hideaki whenever someone trolls Eva, “If you don’t understand Evangelion, then it is your own problem”, Too Bad, but someone has been systematically downvoting my Eva writeups so I felt the need to set some things straight.

I enjoy Eva. I derive pleasure from it. I frequent Evangelion newsgroups such as japan.anime.evangelion, and node about it here. I don’t try to force anyone who doesn’t like Eva into liking it and I certainly don’t feel superior towards anyone on the basis that they may not like Eva or “know” as much about it as I do.

Neon Genesis Evangelion stands out because it does take a reasonable amount of effort to find out everything about it. It contains so much symbolism and so many references that it is impossible to describe aspects of it concisely. It is a bit like Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time in that respect I think.

Evangelion like everything else in this world, is what you make of it. Don’t downvote an Eva node just because you find obsessive Eva fans annoying. Obsessive fans of anything can be annoying when you are not a fan yourself. Evangelion is about perceptions and how you perceive Eva is up to you.

"Evangelion is like a puzzle, you know. Any person can see it and give his/her own answer. In other words, we're offering viewers to think by themselves, so that each person can imagine his/her own world. We will never offer the answers, even in the theatrical version. As for many Evangelion viewers, they may expect us to provide the 'all-about Eva' manuals, but there is no such thing. Don't expect to get answers by someone. Don't expect to be catered to all the time. We all have to find our own answers." Anno Hideaki -PA #43, translated by Miyako Graham from 11/96 Newtype

We all have to find our own answers. If Eva helps some people to discover theirs then let it and quit complaining.

Some obsessed Evangelion fans can be hellishly annoying. I'm talking about those that truly believe that the show was the greatest work of art ever, is without fail, and that the only possible reason why anyone would not like it with the same fervour is because they were too stupid to "understand" it, when in reality they were perhaps intelligent enough to both understand it and realize that, while the show has definitely psychological and philosophical depth, this depth is quite limited once you strip away all the fancy but ultimately meaningless frills.

I think that this brand of fan is probably desparately in need of some reason for which to feel superior to others (aren't we all?), and I curse Hideaki Anno for providing the apparently ideal focus for such people to flock to.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.