Quote:
Originally Posted by WanderingKnight
...which is exactly my point.
What made Eva good, or at least made it stand out, was the fact that, for once, the archetypal mecha-riding teenager hero wasn't so archetypal anymore--he was entirely different from the classic mecha heroes, which were mostly tools for the world to straighten itself out. This time, it was Shinji against the world--and he wins. The whiny part of Shinji made him unique. Turning him into a positive character with a typical "growing up" development circle would make him cliché.
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Before Shinji was Cosmo of Ideon and Kappei of Zambot 3, Evangelion itself was inspired by Ideon, Anno loves Ideon. Ideon and Zambot 3 were 2 of the most infamous tragic mecha anime, mainly because its Tomino. Main characters see friends around them die, young and old all with gruesome deaths and in the end, a Kill em' all ending. There's also Baldios, which ended with all humans on Earth killed and the main character can only watch in horror.
The only thing that makes EVA so successful is that it got licensed and broadcast in a time where the west started having more interest in mecha anime and quickly its popularity boomed.
Whether its cliched or not, the word 'cliche' itself is cliche. There's almost nothing on Earth now that's not used before and reused.
This set of movies is turning out to go in a different way, it has to change some parts and produce a totally different ending. Only part one has aired so far, we can't judge whether it will really turn out either way. Its Anno, its Gainax, anything can happen, we may get Shinji to develop into a great character, but then they make everything go to hell in the last 30 minutes of the 4th movie.