Content Warning: Capitalism?
While I haven’t had a chance to really discuss this yet, but I REALLY like Neon Genesis Evangelion. As you’ll discover (if I ever get around to actually completing stuff), I’ve picked up some of Eva related stuff over the years. I have soundtracks, some spin-off manga, but only a few art books. When these were easier to find, I wasn’t as into them as I am now, so I kind of missed out. And, I have say, I don’t enjoy art books that are connected to a series or product nearly as much as I like art books of artist’s work (Luis Royo, Boris Vallejo, etc). So, this one was sitting in my Amazon cart for a few years until I picked it up as part of my birthday present to myself this year. Also, the price had dropped to something reasonable.
This art book comes at an interesting time for NGE as a product, and for the fanbase as well. If you’re unfamiliar, the original NGE anime came out in 1995, but has remained wildly popular (for the most part) ever since, and even had a pair of movies that released in 1997, that were kind of a wrap up/retelling of the original ending (we’ll discuss that more when I get to them), but the product was mostly dormant in terms of anime and movies. However, merchandise and doujinshi (fan comics, more or less) and other things related to Eva continued to sell well throughout the years. I think the best way to put it is that Eva never stopped being popular or really faded away. Eva is a classic for a reason, which I will be discussing as I work on my review of the series. But, even though it remained popular, there was nothing new to draw people in
Until the Rebuild of Evanglion films in 2007, which is when this book starts its collection., making this a really good period to chose for this collection. Because, not only was there a new series of films releasing, but there was even a new character! This is important, as Rei Ayanami was once nicknamed “The girl who can sell anything” by marketing companies in Japan. Because she was.
And that’s what brings me to thing I really want to talk about with this collection. While there’s some lovely pieces of just art, most of the illustrations in this collection are marketing material and advertisements. We have a few movie posters, but there’s ads for partnerships they had with clothing companies, stamps for smart phone messaging, images of for a tourism bureau, and so on. And you can see it in the art. The poses are there to show the character, but what they’re wearing. Parts of the collection just feel like I’m looking at one of those old advertising fliers or magazines you used to get in the mail, like the Sears catalog (yes, I’m old). And it makes me a little sad. I usually enjoy these sorts of things to see how the sausage is made, so to speak, the work behind the designs and how the characters develop into what we see on the screen. And this is less than and more “look how cool Shinji looks in this hoodie you can buy!”
All of that said, I do enjoy this collection. If I push the advertisement angle out of my head, I can look at that same picture of Shinji in a hoodie and see what Shinji could have looked like, if he hadn’t have been forced to become a pilot of a giant robot in a post/current apocalypse. And, I also have to admit, that some of the outfits are very nice. There’s a clear eye for what designs and patterns, and maybe even cuts of an outfit, and how they match or compliment the character.
If you’re curious about who’s in this collection, it’s mostly Asuka, Rei, and Shinji, but Mari is also very present. Which does make sense, as she was a new character and needed to be seen, so people would be curious about her. Mind you, she barely gets any screen time in the first Rebuild, and not enough after that one, but it’s nice to see her almost fitting in to the setting almost seamlessly. I hesitate to say much more about her, as I have to save those thoughts for when we get to the Rebuilds, but visually, she fits in without issue. One interesting thing I did notice about her use in the pictures and advertisements, is that she replaces Shinji in some ways. Usually, Eva pictures and ads have what I call “the trinity” (yes, I stole the term from the DC fandom, deal with it), where the pictures have Shinji, Asuka, and Rei featured prominently. But what I noticed in this book was that, even on the cover, it’s Asuka, Rei, AND Mari, with no Shinji in sight. I can guess a few reasons for this, the first being the matter I’ve already discussed, that she’s a new character and needed to be shown off, but I also think that it is something pointed towards the fandom. Let’s be honest, the anime fandom in general, and the Eva fandom is particular, skews heavily in the male direction. I’m not going to get into the weeds of the reasons behind it, as that’s not what I want to discuss at the moment, but let’s just take that as a fact. This explains why Mari is now in the trinity. We don’t need Shinji up there, when we can have three cute girls instead. Now, you don’t have to choose between The Doll (Rei) or The Bitch (Asuka), because you can have The Weirdo (Mari). Or something like that. No matter what you might think of her, Mari became an important of Eva as an advertising tool. And this book will make that clear as you read it.
It’s also cool to see how the advertising and partnerships develop as the Rebuild series goes on, as the book starts right when the first one drops, with the art swiftly moving away from the classic styles of the original anime, to the new versions of the characters and their designs, until we reach the end with the third Rebuild movie and a few ads for the final part (which took FOREVER to be completed).
So, if you’re
thinking about buying this, ask yourself how much you want to see ads
and how important the Rebuild era of the franchise is to you? Because
there’s not a lot of the original in here, it’s all new and
clean. But that could be what you’re looking... Oh, and there's quite a bit of Kaworu, for those fans of his.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Suggestion: If you got into Eva via the Rebuilds, or if really like them, this is a good collection for you.
