God's in his heaven, all's right with the world

I am not a religious person, by any means. While I think our Universe could very well have been instanced by a supreme being or intelligence, I am not naive or arrogant enough to believe that the human race has any understanding of said supposed deity. Especially not in the form of a book or societal system composed of stories and practices so overwhelmingly irrelevant in contrast to the nature of the Universe. The concept of 'God' is a quixotic ideal that humanity may never fully understand or realise, despite so many attempts.

It is uncanny, then, how significant Neon Genesis: Evangelion has been in my life. The series takes a slight nod towards the Catholic faith, using religious elements as set-pieces in a much grander scheme. While this is mainly focused just on the Genesis story and the Crucifixion, the borrowed elements allow for a much more ... believable story to take place. The irony in this is only further juxtaposed with the (original) ending to the series where the Human Instrumentality Project comes to fruition. Translation: the forced transcendence of humanity without the (direct) help of God.

That is probably a bit much to take in, so let's drop the tone a few notches. Evangelion is undoubtedly my favourite anime of all time, but not for the mentioned reasons. It is probably the first anime I watched religiously (ha!), evaluating its evolving maturity while undergoing my own. It has a great story and some rather unique character relationships. It is warm, funny, action-packed, violent, tragic and sometimes heartbreaking. The End is potentially the most fucked up and depressing but insanely logical conclusions to a franchise, ever. I can honestly say that Evangelion has taught me a thing or two about living and affected me on a personal level. For the better, of course.

So, as you would expect, I randomly made a video about it. Essentially it is a trailer for the franchise, paying tribute to its story and overall brilliant insanity. It was surprisingly difficult to fit so many hours of plot into just a few minutes. It is probably one of the tightest cuts I have ever produced. This process has given me an appreciation for people who edit (good) trailers as well as the companies who make quality anime. How like Evangelion to still be teaching me things even today.

Recommend watching at fullscreen, 1080p.