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Welcome to Evangellion: Art and interpretations, a site dedicated to presenting a more in depth image of one of the most intelligent Anime series in existance. Those of you that know something of Eva know that it is controversial both in its content and interpretation. While I am not able to cover every idea about the true intent of this Anime, I believe that the ideas presented here are both fresh and well reasoned. As many times as I've heard that Eva covers some very heavy theological and psychological themes, I've read very little about either of them. This, I think, needs to be changed. So, first, the basics (and, as an aside, this contains a few spoilers. I recomend that you stop reading if you haven't finished the series and the movie)
I think that it is rediculous to assume that there are no theological implications of this story. The main characters have pitted themselves against mysterious invaders known only as angels. The last one to arrive in the series (Kawaru) is clearly the most benevolent and spiritual character in the story. Everything hit by any of the angels firepower also seems to explode into flaming crosses. The name itself, Neon Genesis Evangellion, is a very religious phrasing of "New Creation Proclamation". To say that every element in the story is inherantly Christian is naieve, but no more than saying that these themes aren't clearly part of the series.
The same can be said for the psychological themes. They are one more part of a concept that Eva always seems to be seeking to express. There is no denying that Ikari Shinji has some very deep issues, but perhaps no more than any of the others. I believe that this is because, symbolically, they are all simply parts of the same person. The characters appear to have been based on the parts of the mind. Specifically, they are based on the parts of the mind according to the theories of Carl Jung. This is a pretty complicated thought, but the idea does seem to fit the series if you think the matter through. Carl G. Jung, for any of you who are unfamiliar with that name, is one of history's most notable psychologists. He was once one of Sigmund Freud's students, and later broke away from his teachings and worked on his own perspective of the human mind. Most psychologists today believe that Jung was a much greater psychoanalyst than Freud himself. One of his most notable ideas is the concept of the unconcious archtypes. These are the facets of the unconscious mind which (according to Jung) appear in our dreams, and (as far as I understand them) are the basis for the Eva characters.
The specifics on each of these ideas are in the character, angel, and storyline pages.
