Anyone completely new to Evangelion, anime, or Japanese media in general should maybe start here. Actually, every listener should start here. This episode sets up a lot of the point of view we’ll be bringing to this series as more interested in thematic, cultural, and symbolic analysts and less “keepers of the lore.”

Josh sets up the importance of understanding broad strokes of Japanese cultural history going back to World War 2 as a supplement for watching Eva and understanding the Otaku factor that influences Anna and anime in this era. And for the less nerdy among you, an explanation of what the hell “Otaku” is.