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This is not a review of NGE. Well here is a review: It is a masterpiece of post-contemporary art, up with Neuromancer, Ghost in the Shell, Nirvana's 2nd album and Radiohead's fourth, Assayas' Late August, Early September, The Goon Squad, whatever Gerhard Richter qualifies and Cindy Sherman's photos. But like all of those and indeed the idea of post-contemporary art, they may not be your cup of tea, so mileage will vary.

However, I do want to review those reviews and comments here where the stumbling block for an anime fan is how "whiney" or dour or gloomy or just a total trainwreck of a character ... that Anno stuffed all his depression into, so unsympathetic, unlikable or unbelievable as an MC or more properly protagonist. This complaint is so irritating, especially due to the rise of isekai with their OP MCs. 90% of those characters totally loath themselves until they get powers when they magically turn from depressed moaners into Typical Shonen Protagonist. Or the inversion as the bitch of a Shield Hero.

More broadly, animé, manga and comic writing in general often begins with a morose, complaining, probably depressed but not aware of it, male main character or more properly, protagonist. Harvey Pekar as a writer and Robert Crumb are great examples, but Juno Iti made a manga of a novel by a man who deemed himself so "No Longer Human" that the novelist killed himself. (Ito is more positive.) Starting with a depressed or anxious protag is a regular fixture of comic art.

Shinji's glumness is not explained directly but it can inferred. He is virtually an orphan, though a privileged one. His first (non)meeting with his father after three years is to be made to pilot the monstrosity that is the Eva. He only does after picking up the injured Rei after she falls off a stretcher and having her blood on his hands. The only reason he wins the first battle is because he has a total freakout which basically puts it into "Gear 5" mode. And he is 14 years old, which is an age that few people are "happy" at. None of this is a spoiler because basically this is the first episode. Leaving aside that NGE is a post-apocalyptic animé, this set-up is sufficient to explain why he dithers or acts out or runs away about having to be the Third Child. To be positive like Gon or--dog help us--as relentless as Naruto with this burden would be to be delusional. Shinji is as realistic a portrayal of a depressive teen boy in animé which means he is not going to be a "fun hang." Rather he is going to be irritating and infuriiating.

Has Japanese fandom ever thought Shinji was a bust; maybe suffering in silence is understood there as it is in Britain, but not so much US. I am certain that americans do not naturally like the emotive voice acting present in a lot of animé, and the original US Shinji voice actor went harder on irritating like Naruto's VA, though not as "cringe". The hard truth is that at the age kids in the US likely encounter NGE, 12-14, it is frightening to have the MC/protag of this great anime behave a lot like they do when struggling rather than how they wish they did or, worse, how they imagine they do. In that, they are like Anno who said quite sincerely what he hated about NGE were the parts that were him. And Shinji Ikari is as autobiographical as as 14 year turned into humanity's savior(?!?) by getting the torture device that Evangelion.

Tl:Dr: Trashing NGE when the only thing trashed is Shinji Ikari makes me think a reviewer doesn't get psychology. Don't worry, there will always be a Dragon Ball.

I am tempted to contrarily write how Danmachi outshines both Re:Zero and Konosuba as the straight Isekai/MMO with viewer insert MC fantasy series that is pleasurable to watch for those easily bored by both genres (and not 14 yr old boys). But it is really the case that the show just does not settle down into a specific genre. The first season certainly seems most like Konosuba except as stacked as it is designs and some tropes of a very haremy romance, how it bounces off Bell and how 75% of the time the accent seems more on the jealousy and insecurity of Hestia. Then ... there is a good deal of scheming amongst leaders of the other Familia, the reason for which only becomes apparent in the anime in the Hot Springs OVA.

After both how flirtatious but also unexpected aspect of the romance the story of the first season is a gradual revel of how Bell becomes relatively for powerful so fast. But again how it happens both correlates with the suddenness of other OP MCs but his abilities remain surprisingly just adequate to the final level of the the first season. In fact, Bell's skill level includes a shoneny aspect where he can bring outsized power when he is at the very end of his energy. A character calls it the ultimate hero ability, that of the killing blow. But at least in the first season it remains a question whether he is up to the task.

Ultimately, Danmachi remains unsettled about what path the show wants to take in the Isekai/fantasy-harem/MMO road. It is more about RPG conventions than Re:Zero but it is more simple and sincere about romance than Konosuba and there is no denying that the fanservice is unmissable. So, is it ordinary and trashy or at best a guilty pleasure? Without knowing whether the source material like Musho ko Tensei actually is the source of tropes worn very thin by successors, I think Danmachi as a series is playing a longer game than the average wish fulfillment anime. The confusing thing is that the show wants to take advantage of the tropes even as it sends them up. One thing that makes it especially confusing but also interesting is that the PoV is really not Bell's, especially when we glimpse opinions and even scheming amongst other factions. It does seem like the threads will come together at the end, but the series from the beginning does give a sense that there is more going on in the world.

Ultimately this 12 (or 13) episode season is very uneven, but but in a way that the peaks and the troughs, the wit and the trash, are very good. In the presenting and then mocking the harem aspect it is Peak. But those episodes are not quite enough to make the show incredible or, yes, as good as Re: Zero and Konosuba. But its rep is such that it does not create the problems of expectations. I think for the show to reach a peak it will have to lean into the darkness of the world. There seems to be some comparison between the rivalry of the families with how the Archbishops in R:Z are the real antagonists in the story.

This anime is one of the most reactively reviewed on MAL. As far as I cab see this is because of two reasons. The animation seems completely CGI. And because this tory is based very loosely on a previous anime amd/or game. So two reasons for the EdgeOkus of MAL to find fault with it: CGI=BAD and This Anime is DIFFERENT from my first encounter.

Well they are SOL. No, BRS is not profound or pathbreaking, but it is a thrilling and compulsive mash-up of a lot of oughts anime, which looks gorgeous almost at every point, no matter how fabulistic the very idea ... of an Iron Ocean is on its face. The most comical objection of MALLIES is the supposed edginess of BRS: Dawnfall. It is almost symptomatic, because the real reason gor the objection is that the supposed Edgelords are Girls, especially Empress and Lunatic. Except that edginess tumbles almost immediately into comedy. The very worst edge of the 1st episode, the clown faced messiah that Lunatic seems to be supporting is at the the head of a troop of clowns. Somehow the absurdity of it makes the Bad Guy even worse. But this Big Bad goes by the name The Education Institution. Do I laugh or scream?

This is the real sin of BRS. It can expertly set the table of a edgy, nihilistic post-apocalyptic shooter anime and then the execution looks cool and comedic at the same point. And say what one might about the skimpiness of Empress and her colleagues outfits, they are all so skinny and affectless so as to be sexless. In any case, ever since Tank Girl and Tomb Raider, affectless nihilistic graphic and animated heroines basically have to go around in two piece swim suits to even track.

No, BRS: Dawnfall is not profound but it is almost as knowing about its tropes and as fun to watch as Chainsaw Man. Except the protags and antags are moe girls. Which is pretty Edgelord of the studio that made it.