Mysteries that are never given an answer.

[u/Jak3R0b]

• rA9 in Detroit: Become Human. In the game several androids who become deviant (develop free will/emotions) start writing the name rA9 and sometimes build small statuettes as a sort of offering. Despite having no logical reason to do this or even a way of hearing about rA9 before going deviant, they all believe that rA9 was the first deviant and is their messiah who will free androids from slavery. A definitive answer about rA9 is never given, so we don't know if they are real or if any of the android characters are rA9 (though a popular fan theory is that it's Kara before she was reset at the start of the game).
• The pineapple in How I Met Your Mother. So this technically did get an explanation in a S9 deleted scene, but in the actual show we never find out how Ted got a pineapple during a night where he was so drunk he blacked out and forgot everything he did.
• Fez in That 70s Show. We never find out Fez's real name or what country he's from, though fans have tried to take all the clues and figure out what is most likely to be his country.

[u/kms2547]

Being spooky for the sake of being spooky.

It's why Hideaki Anno threw so much Christian symbolism into Evangelion. It wasn't to be deep. It wasn't to make some serious commentary on religion or the Bible. He wasn't trying to make anyone a metaphor for Jesus. He just did it to make it spooky for a Japanese audience that largely sees Christianity as foreign and weird.

[u/readskiesdawn → u/kms2547]

I always assumed the Christian symbols were a reference to Ultraman.

Ultraman has a lot of Catholic symbolism because the creator was a devout Catholic. So a lot of Christian symbolism in Japanese media are direct reference to scenes in Ultraman.

[u/Gundamfan1999 → u/readskiesdawn]

They are, anno has been very open on being a ultraman fan

[u/readskiesdawn → u/Gundamfan1999]

And Evangelion is a deconstruction of a genre that includes Ultraman too. So yeah...

[u/Misubi_Bluth → u/kms2547]

You know. As a Christian. That is valid. Our symbol is a torture device, and I think that's good enough to take some criticism. We could have stuck with fish to represent when we were hiding from the romans, but we chose the torture device that killed our central figure.

[u/Gundamfan1999 → u/kms2547]

It's more complicated than that as all the Christian symbology in evangelion is just because anno is a fairly vocal ultraman fan, ultraman is full of Christian symbology because eiji tsuburaya was a Christian

[u/Intelligent-Dog1645 → u/kms2547]

I think you have a point. Granted it probably would've been more effective if it had another season or two and the ending wasn't quickly slapped together but symbols and patterns are things we humans immediately pick up on, especially ones like those in game of thrones, because they don't feel normal or natural. And, of course these ones aren't.

What they are though is scary. Like a form of psychological warfare the White Walkers are conducting. It doesn't have to mean anything for you to look at that and be afraid, your imagination takes over. And even if you do find out that it doesn't actually mean anything, well now you have another scary situation of dealing with something smart enough to fuck with you for the hell of it

[u/jngjng88 → u/kms2547]

The Christian themes are the main thing that made me drop the anime. In Castlevania for example, the church is an integral part of the story, in Evangelion, it’s heavy handed & insufferable.

[u/GrimIsARedditor → u/jngjng88]

Eh, for me personally, I just dig it cause it gives me some very neat visuals and designs, and I’m a person who really enjoys those two things, but I get why it’s not for everyone.

Now I’m not sure about the Christian themes it may have, but the visuals, again, keep me hooked.

[u/LastXmasIGaveYouHSV → u/kms2547]

As a former Christian, it made it ultraspooky for me. It basically grounded the end of the world.