Tuesday I watched End of Evangelion which is like a short movie that is an alternative ending to the Neon Genesis tv series.

And for that, I selected a special beer, Genesis Ale, and a dry California Sake Ozeki.

The Genesis ale was good, well carbonated, good alcohol presence. A bit of bitter in the middle. Not very sweet, more of a carbonated/carmel flavor. And best of all, it’s kosher!

I like sake hot. It says on the bottle to serve chilled, and I think it’s kind of an insult to serve sake hot (that’s how cheap sake is served) but this one tastes much better warmed up a bit. I’m not much of a sake expert, not a beer expert either I’ve just tried a lot of different kinds, so I can’t tell you much more than this one was a bit perfumey but not fruity like white wines. Definitely dry.

Alright, on to the movie. It was sick, sad and intense. Everything that TV series could have become, mature, violent, heartbreaking. Read the review above for a description of the plot but here’s my take, hopefully I won’t screw this up too much. Shinji (the main character) fears rejection more than anything. He wishes the world could be safe for him, that he could feel love and have intimate relationships. He doesn’t trust others, he thinks they hate him and reject him, or maybe they appear to like him but it will turn out to be false. He wallows in self pity and shame. The other characters are flawed too; they’ve faced rejection, abandonment, self-loathing. In the movie they are all fighting against a government plot to basically alter and change/destroy mankind. Most of the others discover that it’s best to keep fighting even if you’ve made mistakes, that at least you should try because then you will have a choice.

But in the end, Shinji’s choice is between everything he’s ever wanted: to be just like everyone else and to be accepted. Or he can chose to be unique, to have his own identity, and for it to be utterly rejected. Of course he chooses rejection and pain.

The action in this one is much tighter than in the series. I’m not much of a fighting robots guy, but the fight scenes in this one were short enough and intense enough that even I loved them. It’s too bad you’ve really got to wade through the TV series to get the most impact – and most of you wouldn’t watch it unless you have a high tolerance for some cheesy anime. The film is so gut wrenching, basically all of the characters die except for Shinji. And they die when they are at their lowest point emotionally, after they’ve betrayed, been betrayed, fail.

The last line of the movie, after Shinji has made his choice and feels alone, he’s crying over this girl he has feelings for, that died and he brought to life with his choice. - It’s very artsy-fartsy something you’d see in a spoof of some depressing French film or something but it just fucks me up in this movie - . It zooms out to a silhouette of him crying over her and she just whispers

“How disgusting”