Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion • Hacker News Board

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#41

Post by fsloth » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:39 PM UTC

Paul_S wrote: post #12

Or maybe, just like all the symbolism, it was chosen at random because it looked cool. More work went into this analyses than the original font selection process.

Most difficult things work like this. The top performers in many complex tasks operate from pure intuition, and backtracking what their choices actually mean is a much more time intensive process.

Doing things quickly and just because the author feels like it's a good move does not necessarily mean the decision is not based on decades of experience and preliminary work.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#42

Post by ltnublet » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:48 PM UTC

cosarara wrote: post #38

What does "mechanical compression" mean, exactly? Googling "mechanical compression typography" turns up this article as the first result.

Based on this part of the article: The decision to use mechanical compression instead of commissioning a compressed-width variant...

it appears that "mechanical compression" refers to rendering the text in the standard font, and then reducing the horizontal width of the rendered text after-the-fact.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#43

Post by kipchak » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 5:57 PM UTC

Inu wrote: post #13

rllyboredonline wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anno isn't an idiot. This comment, while oft repeated, is simply not true. There is plenty of symbolism going on in the show. There is a lot of PoMo "mask on top of a mask" stuff going on with the biblical references, but some stuff is more on the nose. There are plenty of articles on this, including this one: https://reelrundown.com/animation/Symbolism-in-Neon-Genesis-...

I'm 99% sure that I read an interview in which Anno said that he included the Christian symbolism simply because he thought it looked cool. Of course, that doesn't exclude the possibilty of it still making sense somehow.

I can't quite get a read on Anno. Sometimes he'll answer a question like who's his favorite character almost flippantly with "Asuka, because she's cute" and sometimes he'll describe Eva as being almost autobiographical and diagnosing himself as stuck at the Fruedian oral stage and fundamentally disliking living things.

He's also described Eva as like a puzzle, and not wanting to give answers and instead let people come up with their own interpretations.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I both wouldn't be surprised if he did pull much of the visual symbolism out of a hat, or if he did come across it while exploring western philosophy and decided to incorporate it.

There's some great bits in Extra Curricular Lesson with Hideaki Anno, like him talking about disliking the parts of what he makes he sees himself in or sleeping through a fire in his apartment.

https://youtu.be/rGJ_Kq8qifQ?t=429

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#44

Post by aasasd » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

Regarding mechanical compression: it's probably not 100% so, but afaik in kanji/hanzi and likely many other SEA scripts, proportions of a character don't matter much―they're just strokes in a grid that you can squish without harm to legibility. That's why labels on cheap Chinese goods often had deformed quasi-monospace Latin type: the author just had no idea anything is wrong.

It's likely less true of sorta-calligraphic lettering of Matisse EB―but I still wonder if compression just wasn't seen as much of a deal.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#45

Post by emsy » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:06 PM UTC

lprd wrote: post #10

I just finished Neon Genesis: Evangelion last month and was completely blown away by it! The intro alone is by far one of the most iconic in the genre. Really neat to see this!

I watched it at least 6 times and still notice new things. The characters are just really well written and the soundtrack is awesome.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#46

Post by flyingfences » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:11 PM UTC

bobo_legos wrote: post #37

40acres wrote: post #15

Just rewatched the series now that it's out on Netflix, I really loved the aesthetic of NERV HQ digital screens. A nice mix of digital and older style fonts.

Had no idea this landed on Netflix. I've been in search of somewhere to rewatch for years now. This might be enough to get me to resubscribe for a month.

It's on Netflix with poor-quality subs and missing soundtrack pieces, though - you'd get a better experience from "other" sources.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#47

Post by watt » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:34 PM UTC

aasasd wrote: post #44

Regarding mechanical compression: it's probably not 100% so, but afaik in kanji/hanzi and likely many other SEA scripts, proportions of a character don't matter much―they're just strokes in a grid that you can squish without harm to legibility. That's why labels on cheap Chinese goods often had deformed quasi-monospace Latin type: the author just had no idea anything is wrong. It's likely less true of sorta-calligrap…

Here's a great article why so many Chinese goods are printed with those ugly latin characters: https://www.artlebedev.com/mandership/183/

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#48

Post by dmix » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:43 PM UTC

> After starting out as a typical mechanical-robot (“mecha”) anime, Evangelion gradually evolved into an existentialist deconstruction of its own genre, immediately winning critical acclaim.

What does that mean?

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#49

Post by castratikron » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:48 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #48

> After starting out as a typical mechanical-robot (“mecha”) anime, Evangelion gradually evolved into an existentialist deconstruction of its own genre, immediately winning critical acclaim. What does that mean?

It's a parody of Gundam and other mecha anime.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#50

Post by knaik94 » Tue, Oct 22, 2019, 6:50 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #48

> After starting out as a typical mechanical-robot (“mecha”) anime, Evangelion gradually evolved into an existentialist deconstruction of its own genre, immediately winning critical acclaim. What does that mean?

It's describing the progression of the plot of the original anime. The anime becomes more of a psychological thriller towards the end in a very fantastic way. I recommend watching it if you haven't.