I have seen all of the series, and End of Evangelion. Yet I am really confused as to what it all means, and I know most people are. Also, I have bought every manga of the series so far rleased in the US. The last one (number seven) tells me something really wierd. It said in the original Japanese version of both manga and anime, they angels weren't angels, but Apostles. The book continued to go on and say that it was a deliberate change, not a stupid mistranslation. It also said that many other names and things were changed in translation, but didn't list them all.
I'm so confused....
Joined: 27 Nov 2002
Posts: 80
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Tue Jul 01, 2003 12:53 pm
The problem is an endless series of layers surrounding a concept which is very personal in nature and could very well be indescribable within the medium by which it is being communicated. The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu has been translated more times (differently) than any other text I know, with the old testament of the bible being a possible exception. Each translation is said to bring to the surface a different interpretation based on the mentality of the person or people who worked through the study and process. There is a big difference in the way seperate cultures view things as personal as religion and divinity, and this causes even more of a problem when combined with the fact that no human being can ever really articulate that endless sea of thought flowing within their skull. This is the inevitable conundrum of artistic expression. Woolf and Joyce delved into this, the idea that if art is an attempt to describe the indescribable, then everything becomes void. Delving into the details of Eva in an attempt to clarify its vision is an example of a similar dilemma. For all the explanations that compare 2nd impact to Hiroshima, link the character development to the sephiroth tree, and detail Anno's troubles with women, little is really made clear.
What I am getting at I guess is coincidentally stated in the Tao Te Ching. "The spoken Tao is not the true Tao". Any number of people can attempt to explain the validity of the translation and any number of people can help you to understand what they themselves have come to understand about what End of Eva means to themselves personally, but in the end your own confusion may still be an issue... And perhaps, confusion was something of the point to begin with. Read a thousand koans and tell me enlightenment is not an issue of confusion!
Joined: 20 Mar 2003
Posts: 1051
Location: I hit things, with my fist.
Posted: Wed Jul 02, 2003 12:18 pm
Regarding the name change, angel just mean messenger, while apostle means someone who is sent (to deliver a message). So liguistically they are basically the same thing.
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