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Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

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Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#71

Post by wodenokoto »

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…

> proportions of a character don't matter much―they're just strokes in a grid that you can squish without harm to legibility.

I'd say that's even less true than it is for latin letters.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#72

Post by impalallama »

claudeganon wrote: post #65
oweiler wrote: post #51

For me, NGE was both the best and the worst anime had to offer. On one hand, the music, art style and the fights were amazing. On the other hand, I found most characters downright disgusting (mostly Shinji and Asuka).

I think that’s kind of part of the story? It’s about kids handed a dying world, a world whose death their parents selfishly brought about, and devolving into madness and nihilism as a result. They’re conscripted into work that has no real purpose other than propping up the existing order and justifying its instrumental, destructive logic. I watched it again recently and it struck me as incredibly relevant and a presc…

yeah i hear that a lot about Evangelion its like, just watch some Gundam or something dude.

The characters being so overwhelmingly flawed is a big part of what makes Evangelion what it is. You might as well say a museum is great except for all the exhibits.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#73

Post by lprd »

sleepybrett wrote: post #54
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!

If you are a fan of title card sequences check out cowboy bebop.

Hah, I just started that show last week and I an loving it so far! Any other recommendations?

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#74

Post by ohithereyou »

flyingfences wrote: post #46
bobo_legos wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

What on earth possessed them to commission new subtitles? I can understand replacing "Fly Me to The Moon" in the ending - clearly licensing cost - but the new subtitles radically changed the meaning of some scenes, and not in a way that seems to match the original intent of the writers.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#75

Post by roddux »

jandrese wrote: post #64
ethbro wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked the shots of power lines with cicadas chirping. Best part of the series.

Well, I have some good news for you! You may also be interested in literally every anime that came out after Eva with a city setting. May I recommend Serial Experiments Lain for more power lines and cicadas goodness? As every Anime sound director knows, those obnoxious bugs are the only available auditory shorthand for "it's summer".

I realise you jest slightly, due to the very overdone cicadas... but I had to jump in to add; Serial Experiments Lain is seriously a 10/10 anime. I'd strongly recommend it to anyone.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#76

Post by gwern »

jandrese wrote: post #64
ethbro wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I liked the shots of power lines with cicadas chirping. Best part of the series.

Well, I have some good news for you! You may also be interested in literally every anime that came out after Eva with a city setting. May I recommend Serial Experiments Lain for more power lines and cicadas goodness? As every Anime sound director knows, those obnoxious bugs are the only available auditory shorthand for "it's summer".

Excellent recommendation. SEL always tops the lists of cicada connoisseur lists like https://thehardtimes.net/harddrive/we-ranked-animes-top-10-s...

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#77

Post by MivLives »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #63
basseq wrote: post #35

I love the level of detail in this analysis. Just typographic nerdiness at its finest. And I have never watched NGE or have particular interest in anime. I found the mechanical compression the most interesting part of this. I suspect it started out as limited technical aptitude and/or an "efficiency hack", but has since morphed into an actual stylistic decision that both makes thematic sense[1] and sets NGE apart. To…

> I suspect it started out as limited technical aptitude and/or an "efficiency hack", but has since morphed into an actual stylistic decision that both makes thematic sense[1] and sets NGE apart. I forget which famous modern composer said it, but there's the wonderful observation that "the artifacts of your medium will become its defining and desired characteristic". See how we have systems trying to emulate CRT scan…

It was Brian Eno, here's the quote:

“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.”

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/649039-whatever-you-now-fin...

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#78

Post by zyk »

EamonnMR wrote: post #19

I ('m apparently the last person in the world who) just watched this show for the first time recently. It had its cool moments and was an overall positive experience, but the reliance on outdated (even then) freudian ideas hurts it a bit. Not to mention the slideshows.

I would recommend anyone who have seen all the material to watch The Curse of Evangelion (39min) [1]

It meta analyzes the series and movies in chronological order. It explains the director's message to the fans about escapism from reality and the dangers of it.

The first EVA series had a massive impact on the anime industry in a bad way; It create more obsessed fans who escape from reality with it and make their lives miserable, even though the series talks about the dangers of it.

Rebuild (released 14 years later) criticizes the impact and how fans misinterpreted the earlier series. He sends a message that you (the obsessed fan) can rebuild your life for the better and stop escaping reality.

As a somewhat obsessed anime watcher it hit pretty close to home. I think the director is sad how early EVA and the impact it had, helped create more hikikomoris[2] instead of less.

I might remembered some stuff wrong above, it was a while ago I saw it.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHIvs0Q-uKI [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#79

Post by xsmasher »

cosarara wrote: post #38

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

In this case, changing the width but not the height of the text. Scaling in a way that doesn't maintain the aspect ratio.

Re: Typography of Neon Genesis Evangelion

#80

Post by mjevans »

claudeganon wrote: post #66
throwaway66920 wrote: post #25

One thing I love about anime is that when the authors really want to drive home a thematic concept they throw in these humble observations about the human condition and demonstrate it in the most absurd contexts. Evangelion does this. I would highly recommend Mob Psycho 100 for this as well (by the one punch man guy, and similar but not sarcastic)

The first season of Psycho Pass is really good in this regard as well (second season not so much). Some of the best sci-fi I’ve seen in a long time.

I really enjoyed one of the more subtle points the Psycho Pass movie made as well, reflected in the dynamic between two different shots involving two of the main characters in the film. It drives home the point about the difference between a technical victory and a lasting cultural victory.
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