When did Evangelion first "change" :: 11th July 2001

Watching Evangelion one day I suddenly realized that it had changed. When I first started watching Evangelion, it was relatively light (well, as light as Eva can be!) and happy. There were humorous scenes which lifted the mood whenever it got kinda dark. The first half or so of the series focused mainly on building up the characters, which was done exceptionally well. However, as soon as I saw episode 15, the atmosphere was somewhat different. At the beginning of this episode, it seemed like it would be one dealing solely with Misato and Kaji, no Angels involved. But as the episode developed, I saw that it was indeed about Misato and Kaji, but there was something else there. It still didn't seem the same as before. When I saw the ending segment, I knew. When Kaji revealed the First Angel, Adam, to Misato the transition was complete. NERV wasn't what everybody had thought it was. It wasn't concerned fully on destroying all Angels. The motives of NERV went far deeper than that -- Commander Ikari's motives went far deeper than that. This is when I felt Evangelion gave its audience its first dose of the seriousness that would spread over the remaining half of the series. The humor that it once possessed only showed up in flittering instances, but still then it was not enough to lift the mood anymore.

At the beginning of episode 16, when Asuka was screaming at Shinji and Misato, it seemed like nothing had changed, the happy music played and the humorous expressions were all there. But as the episode progressed, the depression that Evangelion had given its audiences the the last part of the episode before, settled in again. When Shinji was absorbed into Angel #12, and was taught a new level of anguish and despair, I felt that I was experiencing his pain as well. I could actually feel the foreboding of the episodes to come and Shinji's haunting hallucinations laid the pathway for what was still to come. Compared to what he would go through later, what happened in Angel #12 was nothing. Episode 17 was last part needed in convincing me that Evangelion had changed to become much more serious and depressing. The whole episode was shrouded in a sort of indescribable sadness, that I can't explain. Misato, now sure that she knew nothing about the true nature of NERV, was constantly suspicious of her colleagues (and she had every right to be!). Kaji also turned more aware, and even refused to humor Asuka anymore. Toji looked so sad once he found out he was the Fourth Child, and Shinji was still recuperating from his previous traumatizing incident.

I'm not at all saying that Evangelion turning more serious is a bad thing, I'm just recognizing the fact that it has changed. In fact, I think this transition was needed to create the proper feeling and evoke the suitable emotions as Evangelion drew towards its end. Evangelion has the unique power to change the way you look at things. That's at least what it did for me. Because of that, Eva will never really die for me and will always remain the first single most powerful show I have ever experienced.