i'm sorry... i really, really... REALLY want to pimpslap you for comparing this to EVA... EVA is a genre deconstruction, NOTHING in mecha should be compared to it primarily for that reason because it means by its very existence its going to cover just about every cliche... THEN DESTROY IT... you want to compare this to a mecha anything? go for Gundam or a previous mecha-genre work, though personally i feel the mecha designs were more Mech Assult/Front Mission/Armored Core-esque then typical Jap-Mecha-Shenanigans... no matter the series, typical Mecha-Anime is actually more about the pilots then just down and out mecha-brawls (Big O, any Gundam series, Xenogears/saga, Macross, etc.) for those you go for the more Americanized versions of the Mecha Genre (Transformers, Robotech, previously mentioned games, etc.) which are just GIANT ROBOTS FIGHT!! even the Rider series and Sentai are more 'character' oriented until they got rehashed for american audiences and effectively became a whole other beast of mash-mash-mash-MECHA-BRAWL!! so basically comparing this to EVA is just a stupid endeavor from a critiquing standpoint flat out as they're two different things from two different sides of existance that happen to have 'GIANT MECHS FIGHTING GIANT MONSTERS' that's literally all they have in common...
as for Rinko Kikuchi/Maiko Mori... dude, have you ever WATCHED anime? seriously? or i dunno, just SEEN an actual japanese movie... or met a japanese woman? cause let me tell you, the way she was acting is actually very culturally normal for a female in japanese culture, I LOVED the fact they kept this straight, actual japanese nuances and none of the stupid american-acting-that-way bs you see in most of these kinds of films... her being shy, quite, nervous, and as you put it "can't bring herself to act on her love interest" is NORMAL, hell not just for a japanese person due to their culture, but specifically for a woman in general *claps* i applaud it, the fact you bash it and compare it to fucking shinji is both upsetting and rather ignorant...
and seriously, you think what she had is 'daddy issues'? you need to watch more anime brutha... her respect for the man that saved her life and raised her is NOTHING compared to shinji/rei/misato/etc. and their holy fuck daddy issues... hell, its not even an 'issue' really, just another piece of the characters...
again, not like japanese mecha-series, this movie ISN'T about the character's issues, yes, they are there, but its more about SAVING THE GODDAMN WORLD BY HAVING GIANT ROBOTS PUNCH GIANT ELDER GOD MONSTERS!!
i'm fine with the other things, though if you're going to compare monsters, as much as i love the Colossi, go for OG Kaijuu movies, Godzilla, Mothra, King Gigadora, Riodan, etc. that's the legit stuff... GLaDOS is there for all of us nerds, and you want a REAL 'easter egg' type reference, look the Gypsy over... doesn't that thing look a helluva lot like Shepard's armor? just saying, that's what i was thinking when watching it...
and again, this is one of those movies that knows its not here to be about 'people' and their issues... its about SAVING THE GODDAMN WORLD BY HAVING GIANT ROBOTS PUNCH GIANT ELDER GOD MONSTERS IN THE FACE!! i rather liked the realism of that, people and their issues come severely second to the whole freakin' world dying, its not the goddamn time to be worrying about love-interests, or issues, or whatever, just shut up and get the job done...
the movie is a great blend of east/west and Kaijuu/Mecha genres, the fact it does it so well, is modern, with none of all the goddamn baggage is freakin' astounding, Del Toro is a master... plus its one of those few, rare as hell movies in either genre, especially with nowadays angst-love, to actually have a good, happy fucking ending in my opinion... feel goods all around...
nothing about this movie should be compared to EVA, as far as i'm concerned they are in two separate galaxies with no connecting gates...
