On Mon, 11 May 1998, Chris Jones wrote:

In contrast to this statement, though, a lot of the plot of Evangelion
depends on this confusion. I'll be the first to admit that I've only seen
one episode of Evangelion in original Japanese, but in a few places it's
important that the skyscraper sized attacking nasty things are confused
with 'messengers of God' as Shinji puts it. (In the dub at least).

"Confused with?" Further comment below ...

There's a lot of confusion about the issue in the Anime, and I assume in
the manga as well, even though I've only got my hands on one issue. The
angels, as the Seele committee puts it, are named and described in the Dead
Sea Scrolls. This, IMHO, lends a little bit of legitimacy to the semantic
confusion that David mentioned. There's not a lot of differences between
'Disciples of God' and 'Messengers of God'. 

Hmmmm ... I'm curious if there's anyone on the list who's actually *read*
a translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls - I don't expect that anyone has,
but it could be interesting to see whether the Scrolls actually had
something like the seventeen trials or the "messengers" which you're
referring to.

I think also, that director Anno's intent (I can't comment about Sadamoto's
intent since I've only read one issue of the manga) that the Angels *were*
in a  way messengers from the heaven, in much the same way as some of the
darker angels described in the Old Testament. (I'm not a biblical scholar
either, so don't string me up)

I'm getting to that ... ^^

Some proof for this comes from the title, as well. As Andrew put it, in
'Evanjellydoughnut', "Did anyone notice that there's an 'Angel' in
'Ev*Angel*ion'." ^_^ Whether it's intentional or not is another matter...

Actually, the series is loaded with Biblical references and allusions.
Cross-shaped explosions, Lilith crucified in Terminal Dogma (complete with
the Spear of Longinus), the Tree of Life diagram in Gendou's office ...

I think that, while David makes a good point, that there is room for
semantic discussion of this difference in fanfics. Let us also not forget
that, and I beleive this is in 'Revelations', that Lucifer took one third
of the creator's angels when he defied God. 'Shito' in Evangelion might not
be referring to disciples of the Almighty.

That's a new one to me. But then again, I haven't sat down and read
Revelations yet either.

I rather like the idea of a fic in which an Evangelion unit and it's pilot
*count* as a dark, Old Testament style angel, and the enemy 'Angels'
represent  the forces of Satan.

*Now* I'll comment.

I forget where I read this - probably on a web page, although it may've
been in Animerica somewhere - but the Evangelion designs were supposedly
based on a Japanese demon.
	Considering that Adam supposedly came to warn humanity against
continuing to study cloning and genetic engineering - "playing God" as it
were - what if you turn it around? If the Angels really *are* God's
warriors, and the Evangelions and their human pilots on the side of Satan,
wittingly or unwittingly?

I will also note that I have my own idea about what the Angels are doing
... and what would have come after the Angels if Third Impact *hadn't*
occured ... and after I finish Apocrypha, the "sequel" series will go on
to explain this at some length.

On that note, I'll be posting Apocrypha chapter 2 shortly. n.n

				Tim Miller
					trmiller@bcpl.net