I really enjoyed Lain for a variety of reasons. At it's core, I think Lain is the best cyberpunk anime to come down the pike, period. Sure, we're not exactly talking chrome and mirrorshades here, but that's what makes Lain so refreshing. It manages to get away from many of the horribly overdone cyberpunk cliches and still maintain many of the concepts and sheer style that defined cyberpunk as an early literary movement. Ghost in the Shell bored me; Lain kept me enthralled. If nothing else, Lain wins bonus points for it's background concepts. When Ted Nelson got name dropped in one of the later episodes, I almost fell out of my chair. Finally, I love the subdued, melancholy atmosophere that surrounds Lain. For whatever reason, Lain pushed a lot of my buttons.

Eva, on the other hand, was very disappointing. I felt the television series was absolutely fantastic for the first 13 or so episodes. Then, for whatever reason, things went straight to hell. First off, Eva manages to completely derail in terms of animation. Oh, look - recycled footage. Oh, look - it's a static shot of an elevator. Oh, look - it's a static shot of Eva-01 waiting for Beethoven's Ninth to peak before squishing someone. Oh, look - kanji and peole sitting in chairs. Part of the reason I like anime is because I like animation in general, and by the end of Eva that just ain't happening. Then, Eva proceeds to fail as science fiction. If anyone ever offered a clear explanation of why Angels - whatever they were - are attacking Earth, I never picked up on it. (Of course, I was watching god awful fansubs, which didn't help). This isn't to say that a show needs to have it's concepts clearly explained to be enjoyable. However, I was disappointed that large portions of the plot got thrown out the window by the end of the series. As far as the end goes, I'll agree that Eva succeeds as a character study. Not a terribly exciting character study, mind you, but it works well enough. I'd have been a lot more impressed if Gainax (and particularly Anno) had managed to provide a satisfying plot resolution and solid animation to go along with the character study, but oh well. So, overall, by the end of it the Eva TV series just didn't do much for me. Which is rather sad, because looking at the first half Eva had the potential to be the Greatest Giant Robot Anime Series EVAR. Oh well.

On the other hand, I positively loathe the End of Evangelion movie, but that's a topic for another discussion entirely.

FnordChan

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"I do have a cause, though. It's obscenity. I'm for it."
- Tom Lehrer