I know Eva has moments of commentary where the idea of child soldiers is criticized, but at least in the OG series, it seemed to work out for humanity in the end. Eva always came across to me as "children are easily manipulable and their feelings don't matter so long as the ends justify the means".
Isn't it the one where the kid gathers all the power he needs to stop the invaders from destroying the world, and uses it to destroy the world by himself?
Not sure if you're referencing some other media, or any of the Eva movies that aren't canonically linked to the show, but in the show
spoiler
NERV triggers Instrumentality, which, without much explanation, merges all human consciousnesses into 1 hive mind consciousness which may or may not have something to do with Rei being Shinji's mom, and may or may not have to do with Evas being living creatures borne of Lilith, and somehow eliminates the Angel threat. Shinji's abandonment complex is neatly resolved by him realizing that the military people forcing him to fight were right all along and that being in the military is awesome if you aren't afraid to be outgoing.
!Gendo's only goal in instrumentality was to reunite with his wife, and NERV/SEELE were just after power. Shinji actively rejected both of these goals by restoring the bodies of those who did not wish to be part of the hivemind. The ending was him realizing that the challenges of being human were mutually inclusive with the emotions of love and trust; the human body is effectively an AT field borne of the fear of being truly known by others, and love is the result of trusting others to view part of that "true self." Instrumentality would've made Shinji's life a lot easier, but he would've also lost the relationships he'd built with the people he'd actually come to care for. Also, instrumentality didn't end the angel threat, rather the angels all had to be killed before instrumentality was initiated to ensure they didn't just wipe out the human race.!<
Which ending? The OG show, the movie, or the rebuilds?
OG show had humanity almost lose multiple times because someone at NERV was being a dick. The ending was about Shinji figuring out how to connect to people, not about the war.
Movie had SEELE backstab humanity, and humans only survive because Shinji's mother (the only sane character in the show, also coincidentally a civilian) saw the writing on the wall and came up with an absolutely insane plan that worked, at the cost of her life and Shinji's sanity.
Rebuild is weird even by Evangelion standards, and I think at this point Anno is trolling the 'fans' who want a conventional happy ending with Shinji and Asuka getting married or what not.
Dude was literally going through some shit in his life during the original show, and "retold" the same story with a different outcome for the rebuilds. Mari is an analogue for his wife.
Let's be honest - who hasn't had an unhealthy obsession with a slightly crazy firecrotch at one point? Hotter than the midday sun does not necessarily equal wife material.
I don't think that's a valid criticism, I don't see death saying that, it'd be more like "Your time has come" - to contrast it further, wouldn't somebody say "It's your time to shine"?
Military intelligence is basically just about knowing where the enemy is. The actual espionage and counter espionage stuff done by non military experts. It has to be this way because the military doesn't exactly recruit for brains.
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, one of the creative minds behind the original Gundam series felt the need to create the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga because too many kids thought the War is Hell story to be War is Cool and felt the need to make it more clear.
Also, stack copyright infringement on top of the other crimes by the US military. Pretty sure Anno and the rest of Gainax wouldn't be happy about this.
You just need to embrace the glorifying war aspect like how Starship Troopers does it, and just be so ridiculously over the top that it's blatantly obvious how over the top it is.
It's a great example of media literacy, and specifically - thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.
The first reading is, holy shit, is Doogie Horrible wearing an SS uniform? This is fascist propaganda.
The second reading is, ah, everything goes terribly and nobody learns anything. This is an anti-fascist satire.
The third reading is... how are you different from these characters? What do you know, that they don't, that would stop you from wanting to know more? This is a movie about how fascism happens.
I don't know how to break it to you, but Paul Verhoven's satire pieces (e.g. Starship Troopers, Robocop) are a little too good. Far too many people miss the point, even today, with the entire film spoiled and then some.
It's actually quite easy. Just focus on the victims rather than the killers. Come and see, Grave of the Fireflies, Catch-22, All quiet on the Western Front, …
Band of Brothers is also a good one. War movies are so often the "moment of heroism" or tragedy, but in reality, it's not a moment. It's months, years on end of always being on full alert, where one false step one time is enough to die.
Bump for Come and See. I believe it's a government sponsored Belarusian anti-war film and it's pure horror. Watch that if you believe all war films glorify war.
I've seen the LAN parties they have full of fembois. NonCredibleDefense has running jokes about armies of fembois, but it's more real than I ever imagined.
I guess the enemy will be too confused to react once they see an army of fembois dressed as maids advancing. It works with the goddamn Maidman, after all
I went to an airshow a few years ago and the F22 raptor demo team was doing their show, which was amazing and the recruiter was working his pitch into the show the whole time. Between the talking points they would play music and the one that stood out the most was BYOB by System of a Down, which is a complete and total 180 to what they were pitching. It was incredible the cognitive disconnect.
As a member of the Air Force, I propose a middle ground. They just liked the music or associated it with badassery. They probably didn't think too hard about it.
