According to some people, millennials “ruin everything”. They ruin restaurants, they ruin the economy, they ruin the diamond industry, and most surprising, they even have apparently ruined pants somehow! With the protagonists of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley Soryu, having apparently ruined their world in the end, its not surprising that someone would make the connection that these two would make for great examples of millennials!
News Outlet Otaku USA Magazine noted that an upcoming Japanese periodical has re-imagined the pair of mixed-up youths as millennials for the promotion of an upcoming “Lance of Longinus” tote bag:
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Evangelion’s Asuka, Shinji Reimagined as Hip Millennials https://t.co/AYyE3jvHIy pic.twitter.com/yfBaVzbsAp
— Otaku USA Magazine (@Otaku_USA) June 17, 2019
With Netflix having acquired the license to Evangelion, the series is just a few days away from being re-released to the world, specifically on June 21st of this year. The promotion of the tote bag using modernized re-imagined designs of both Shinji and Asuka is genius though we will say that we believe the pair represent the millennial generation in a positive vein.
Yes, the pair have their own emotional and mental problems that they’ve had to work through, ultimately resulting in the world being inadvertently changed/destroyed but their hearts were always in the right place. They were hard working, intelligent, sympathetic, and worked together against insurmountable odds not just against the terrifying larger than life angels, but against older generations that had their own ideas for what the world “should have been”.
While the upcoming Netflix release of the series will feature a brand new dub, we look forward to revisiting the series and experiencing the characters with a “fresh coat of paint”, millennials or otherwise.
What do you think of the re-imagine versions of Shinji and Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion? Will you be watching the series when it releases on Netflix later this week, either as a new viewer or a repeat “offender”? Let us know in the comments or feel free to hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the millennial generation in comparison to popular anime characters!
Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological drama by way of giant monster versus mech anime. The franchise debuted as a television series in 1995-1996 with two films following in 1997. Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death & Rebirth is an one-part drastically abridged retelling of the first 24 episodes of the television series, and one part new animation. The End of Evangelion, the second film, would incorporate some of Death & Rebirth’s original animation and offer an alternate take on the original series’ controversial final two episodes.
The series follows Shinji Ikari, who is recruited by his father to pilot the giant mech Evangelion in the fight against giant monsters known as Angels in the futuristic city of Tokyo-3. But Shinji is unwilling to bear this huge responsibility and is often conflicted about taking part in a war he was dragged into. This conflict of emotions leads to many introspective episodes that cover the range of religious, philosophical, and existential concepts.
