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I would say that it is anti Christian in the same ways D&D was...

...but I did have a discussion like this with another friend of mine...

Some Christians will say that anything that has elements that resemble Christian symbolism is by default mocking Christianity... I think that is what is going on here. Those people do not realize that every symbol Christians have was claimed by other religions before them. Most of them will refuse to be 'enlightened' to the error of their ways anyway, feeling that they are somehow pleasing God by creating a holy war out of their misguided adulation of 2 dimensional shapes.

The cross even, was not originally a Christian symbol, it belonged initially to Ancient Sumeria. The fish as it is understood in Christian terms is unique in the way it is presented, but the early Christians took their idea for the acrostic from other religions of the day.. Any symbol we have can be linked to a counterpart in anther religion. Maybe the Muslims and the Jews have it right when they refuse to use visual symbols to represent God.

So anyway, most anime take symbolism and snatches of storyline from religions as a template for the story they are going to tell through animation. It is a proven method in my opinion, because obviously, the stories told between different myths and religions are epic, as they haven't been forgotten throughout this whole time. It isn't anything personal, or any kind of attack, it is more like an artist sitting done to paint a picture of something that already exists. It won't be the same, and in the end, it might not even look like the original subject, but they used the original subject as their inspiration none-the-less. Depending on the artist, you will still see varying degrees of parallels between where they got their inspiration from and what is translated through their medium.

So, no, I don't believe Evangelion is anti Christian in the slightest.

I think the main thing is the villains used. I watched all the Neon Genesis Evangelion shows, at least the first ones (I was told there's more, but I haven't found them). I loved it, personally. The ending was horribly thought out, I swear some of it wasn't even anime drawing. It was a rapid slideshow of random and irrelevant things with a voiceover explaining the plot line. It was almost like someone removed the anime that was supposed to be there and replaced the images with other things while keeping the sound the same. Anyways....

Angels are the main villains in this anime, bent on destroying everything. The cross is used multiple times, though it was over a year ago that I watched it and allot happened since then so I'm afraid I can't give an example. Adam and Eve are also mentioned at several points in the Anime.

I am not easily offended, so I don't mind all that nor the ridiculous amount of blood and gore (I'm a typical guy, I play games like that), but Christians who try to avoid anything non-Christian or anti-Christian would not appreciate the plot, moral, or point of Neon Genesis.

Considering how strict and how easily offended some Christians are, I can easily see why they would call that anime either simply offensive or anti-Christian. While much of what's in there could be excused as not necessarily Christian based, there is enough of it that saying Christianity had no influence over that anime whatsoever is really hard to believe.

Personally, if my wife had a stronger stomach and didn't mind, I'd watch it again. Mostly the blood and gore would get her, I think. As I said, I loved that anime with the exception of the last episode which was extremely disappointing... and I'll stop there before I rant again.

You just opened a can of worms! Like pure epic fandom kind of worms! Mwahaha! Well, I do love that show. heart

I think the overtones are quite fascinating, like how Gendo has the tree of Sephiroth as a mural in his office.

On an interesting note, in 2005 my church was working as diligently as they always had to convert people, including me. They had heard of Evangelion before, but when it came up in discussion with me, they said they wanted to better understand what atheists were drawn to in regards to religion. So it became a church project to watch the entire series with comments and discussion to follow thereafter. It was pure epicness! They were intrigued by it, and dissected the contents how they saw them, and made their own determination in regards to how the science and big robots were the intruments that drew people's attention away from the Christian meanings behind the symbols in the series. They thought it was the world's way of insinuating that these symbols had something to do with things other than God, as if to somehow invalidate God's actual involvement. But it was still really cool that they watched it all. I mean, at least they bothered to watch the whole series before contributing their feedback.

Yeah, I do think it's funny that so many Christians have the happy, fun, fluffy idea of angels in their heads. I don't think that there is one account where an angel appearing in their true guise is happy, fun, fluffy. They are always terrible, and awesome, and fear-inspiring. They have heads of beasts (sometimes multiple heads), and bodies of men and beasts. They are sometimes described to be more like birds, or elementals. When there is an account of a man actually physically meeting one in their true guise, that man is normally said to be struck with fear so profound that they fall as if dead....

Many angels are charged with being God's harbingers of destruction, or are fearsome soldiers, or keep the winds of the Earth, or keep charge of the stars, or invisibly keep silent watch over the proceedings of mankind (this last class are said to be the ones who fell for the desire to cohabit with women).

Doesn't sound happy, fun, fluffy to me. stare

Evangelion is probably closer to the truth.

That's Renascence artists for you. Artistic liberties all the way. So much that the liberties have become the standard. Here's a seraphim close to descriptions

And remember those buggers had flaming swords and trumpets that brought plagues. Yep those things are so cute XD

On the topic of an angel's appearance, I don't believe they have a "true form" that we can comprehend. I've always imagined their form when they are not taking a form for us to be simply light, probably in a spherical shape like a bubble. On a non-physical realm of existence, what purpose does a form serve? I also think it is because they have no form that they can take any form.

Perhaps I think to much, but essentially yes. I never said they do not serve God, however the service to God gives another reason for the ability to take various shapes. If God desires that one inflicts fear in a human a frightening form may be necessary, whereas when giving comfort a more gentle form would be better. Much like how we change expressions to fit a situation, appearing calm and gentle when someone needs comforting and perhaps scowling and glaring when we need/want to act tough.