So, EVA Fandom, Here’s What We’re NOT Gonna Do This Spring
–Don’t give asinine viewing-order instructions (’first watch episode 14, then read manga chapters 1-through-12, then watch the first six episodes and the movie, then familiarize yourself with the works of Carl Jung before you even THINK of touching Rebuild…’). I see this shit all the time and it pisses me off. This is transparent gatekeeping, meant to make the series look impenetrable to outsiders, and yourself oh-so-very-intelligent for being able to parse it. Stop it.
To any newcomers: it’s exactly like any other show. You watch the episodes in order (1-26), and then End of Evangelion is the ending. It’s very straightforward, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you.
There’s only one genuine point of confusion, and that’s Death and Rebirth.
–Don’t tell people they have to watch Death and Rebirth (which will be titled Evangelion: Death(True)2 on Netflix for reasons). Death and Rebirth is entirely optional, because it was nothing more than a marketing tool made in the 90′s to introduce non-fans to the story before the movie came out. That’s it. That’s all it is.
Admittedly, you can watch it and get some interesting insights about what Anno wants you to pay attention to (check out that cover *eyes emoji*). But I PROMISE YOU, it is NOT required viewing, and you are NOT a bad or fake fan if you skip it.
–Don’t complain that now that ‘the masses’ have access to it, Evangelion is going to be misunderstood, therefore ruined forever.
I can’t stress this enough, but it’s just an anime. A stunningly great anime, yes; but where did you get the idea that ‘great’ things are somehow beyond the understanding of the average Netflix user?
Stop acting like you need a PhD to be able to authentically love this cartoon show, please.
–Don’t be mean to shippers. Is shipping the point of Evangelion? Absolutely not. Are some people going to come away from this psychological, introspective thriller with nothing more than the conviction that kawoshin is fucking adorable? Yes. That is definitely going to happen.
It doesn’t hurt you when other people have fun.
–Conversely, don’t tell people to watch it for kawoshin.
Seriously, from an unrepentant piece of shipper trash: don’t do this terrible thing.
Someone watching just for kawoshin is going to miss out on all the other wonderful things this show has to offer (like, say, the fact that the cast is mostly comprised of incredibly complex, flawed, interesting female characters), only to be deeply disappointed. It’s unfair, to the series and to the person, and people spamming ‘WHERE THE FUCK IS KAWORU???’ in the tag isn’t as cute as you think it is.
From personal experience: it is much more satisfying to let people discover kawoshin on their own, with no foreknowledge. I will literally never forget the terrible, despairing sound my partner made when Shinji dropped the ‘I loved him too’ line. Or how my brother-in-law needed to IMMEDIATELY get drunk about it (which we did, and then babbled at each other about how sad we were). That shit doesn’t land if people are sitting around waiting for their Cute Canon Gays™ the whole series.
–Don’t propagate the whole ‘Asuka/Rei is best girl’ thing. For the love of god, let that meme die.
Related: Shinji Ikari is not a smol sadboi in a flower crown, don’t portray him as one at the expense of the female characters (I don’t want to put spoilers here, but I’ve seen some pretty wild victim blaming in this fandom before, and this perception of Shinji as a teary-eyed pastel woobie tends to be at the center of it).
tl;dr: be nice, be welcoming, don’t maintain the toxic bullshit of the past, and let people fall in love with this genuine work of art, the way you did, however long ago.
Reblog to save a fandom that’s about to get a lot busier.
