Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Trolling of Evangelion: Opening

Disclaimer: Once again, this is all opinion. If have this idea that Evangelion is God's greatest gift to all mankind then not only will you not like what I have to say but you probably shouldn't read it, because this is where the trolling starts.

Opening's are very important things to analyze, because they can tell you a lot about the anime. Take, for instance, FMA Brotherhood's first opening, "Again"


This opening tells you in a minute and a half what the show is about, and it does it in the most awesomest way possible (yes, I said it like that). Granted, FMA is a classic, but so is Evangelion. In fact, it's the classic that made our generation of anime plausible. So it's gonna have a kick butt opening, right?


... no... It's not...

HORNS? Really? Something this upbeat for a show that's about the end of the world? Call me picky, but nice upbeat horns do NOT communicate "end of the world scenario" to me. Unless they're badly played, but even then they only spell the end of the world for the dummy who's playing them, not the whole world itself. I've heard this show is just downright depressing, and it starts with ****ing horns?

It's almost as bad of a musical choice as the music at the end of the second Evangelion Rebuild movie.


(Go to about 9:20 on the video if you don't want to watch the rest, although it makes the disconnect even worse if you do so)

"But it's children singing about hope", you'll say. Um, yeah, the people on the screen are talking about the end of the world. I don't think of children singing when I think end of the world and the possible deaths of millions. I think of properly dark and awesome songs. So it's not like they ever learn their mistakes. The theme song just doesn't fit my vision of what Evangelion's opening would be. "But it was in the 90's", someone's gonna say. "They didn't know any better". Don't insult Evangelion, or people from the 90's for that matter. Good music is timeless, and always has been. The particular meanings of music may fade (Gregorian chant was based off of bar songs, for instance), but the music itself? If it's good it'll reach out to everyone. If this show is supposed to be the messiah of anime, it needs the messiah of openings. And it just doesn't have it, which flies in the face of everything I've ever learned about anime. This is not a good sign for those who wish to tell me that this anime is good.

OK, I need to calm down. I need to listen to something good. Excuse me.


OK, I feel better. Thank goodness there's anime out there that know how to make a proper opening.

EDIT: Someone pointed out my mistake. Evangelion was written in 1995, not in the 80's. I would like to say this is because of misinformation given to me... but it's not. I goofed. Oh well. Hope it made for some laughs while the mistake was there.

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I'm calling shenanagins on your argument, actually.

    Premise: "I've heard that Evangelion is very dark and depressing."
    Premise: "A dark and depressing show has to have equally dark and depressing music."
    Conclusion: "Evangelion's opening has to have dark and depressing music.
    Counterexample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6pybwfU8-c (Yes, I went there. This music screams rock and upbeat punk all over.)

    Heck, for all the surrounding stuff, it's still an action series with mecha. And, come to think, for all of its darkness, FMA: Brotherhood had some pretty upbeat openings and closings, too.

    Oh, and you want horns? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3njQPPt4Lhc And don't try and tell me that this show isn't dark and depressing.

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  3. Your premises are all wrong. These are my actual premises.

    Premise 1: I've seen the Evangelion Rebuilds, which I've heard are actually LESS depressing than the tv episodes.

    Premise 2: The music in the Rebuilds, with the exception of the song posted above, is very dark and depressing.

    Conclusion (not quite a logical argument, but it does make sense): The music is going to be dark.

    Your counterexample is inadequate, but your second one isn't. Claymore's opening is quite moody and emo. And what a coincidence, I really don't like Code Geas's openings for that very reason: they have horns in them!

    Also, since I know you haven't seen any of Evangelion, I know that you don't know how dark we're talking about. I'd say we're talking about the level of Elfen Lied.

    My point? Horns suck in dark anime. It could just be me and my bias against them to begin with, however. But whoever said I was TRYING to be objective?

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  4. Well, it's true...that wasn't a logical argument. Essentially, it boils down to: "Because the -remake- of this series had dark, depressing music, the original will be somehow influenced by that." Maybe they decided that they wanted a different feel.

    I think you're mixing up Claymore's ending and opening. The ending is VERY moody. The opening isn't. Listen to the bass line, if nothing else. And I'm pretty sure the whole song is in a major key. And when you contrast it against themes like Death Note, I really can't see the claim at all.

    Though if it's a dark anime, I'd see more fault to be taken with the bright flashy giant robots.

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  5. Yeah, but when you're told by people point blank that the Rebuild is very similar and they don't mention the music I think it's safe to assume that they will maintain a certain level of similarity. But then again, there is that WTF song I pointed out, so maybe I'm wrong to begin with...

    Claymore's opening still gives off the impression of being dark, even though it is more upbeat than a lot of "dark anime" openings. Evangelion's doesn't, which is why I had the disconnect. Ironically enough whenever I hear Claymore I think of Deathnote, so it really might be nothing more than personal taste at this point...

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  7. As for FMA none of the further openings (and there were quite a few a few) contradicted the first one in mood. The mood of Evangelion's opening is contradictory to the rest of the show that I've seen thus far (all five episodes and the Rebuilds), which is why it gets the lampooning that I give it.

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