Neon Genesis Evangelion is pretty good. Yeah, I don't think that's a significant hot take unless you just hate this show for some reason. Now when I went to watch this show for the first time, I had only kind of, maybe, somewhat heard of it before but couldn't recall where I first heard the name. I felt the same way before I watched Cowboy Bebop for the first time. The only thing I was certain about was that it was a mecha anime, and it was apparently one of the most classic anime of the 90's. The only other mecha anime that I had ... seen at the time was Full Metal Panic! Which I'm honestly convinced I am the only person that has seen that show in the vicinity of where I live. So I went into Evangelion knowing that I was probably going to like it, and I was kind of excited to experience a show that was revolutionary for the time period it came out and I was wanting to see if it had aged well since the decade it was released. And I'm happy to say that I think it is still pretty watchable today albeit I didn't really feel that way at first.
So this show takes place in the year 2015, and it's somehow less accurate than the 2015 from Back to the Future Part II. It's kinda funny knowing that 2015 has come and gone and not one thing from this show has happened yet. But anyway, I remember first watching this show and I was like: "This is good, but it's not amazing." Like the first five episodes weren't bad or anything but there was something about it that didn't get me completely invested in the way I thought this show would get me. Maybe it had to do with this show not really having a real beginning. Because the way this show starts, it kinda feels like this story has been happening off screen for a long period of time and we're just now peering into it. I mean I do like when a story starts like that, but here it just felt a little bit awkward to me. I guess I wasn't really accustomed to or really familiar with the vibe that this show was going for yet. But once I got to the end of episode six where Shinji and Rei had that really adorable moment with one another, that's when this show really began to win me over. And that was one of the first of few moments where the tone of this show was genuinely optimistic.
Because one interesting thing about this show is that everybody's kinda depressed, and for good reason. The world is expected to end soon by these alien-like creatures called Angels, the characters are dealing with their own personal trauma. Everyone has trust issues towards one another. It's also kind of scary how most of these character's feelings and the way they act are so personally accurate to me as a human being. The biggest example is definitely Shinji who I think tries to be someone he isn't, but at the end of the day, he's just a big softie. He also wants to be loved by other people, but at the same time he's afraid of people hurting him. He always seems to be conflicted and that's one of the aspects of this show that I respect: the way they portray teenagers.
Because teenagers are very confused on what they want and they're frustrating people to figure out and I think this show does a great job depicting that in a pretty subtle way. And this couldn't be more evident in the character Asuka, who's definitely the most frustrating character in the entire show. And honestly I didn't even like her at first, she's kind of a bitch, kind of annoying. And also really weird because she wants to do the dirty with Kaji, who's way older but he's not interested in her in a sexual way at all, even when Asuka forces him to sleep with her in a really uncomfortable scene. But I continually gave her a pass because she's a kid and I was assuming that something must have happened for her to be acting like this. Probably some traumatic past memory that makes her the way she is. And a traumatic past she definitely has and once you start to unravel that, her behavior makes so much more sense and I started to sympathize with her way more.
As far as the other characters go, I personally don't have much to say about them even though there is a lot to say about them. And there are a lot of layers to this show that I could never get into in a short amount of time. But I'll still mention some of the other characters that stand out to me. Like Rei who's not exactly human and she doesn't really have true emotions. Or Misato who kind of sees Shinji as a little brother and she's also dealing with a lot of personal turmoil in her life. Or Shinji's father Gendou who, I don't know it's never made clear what he wants from Shinji, he's mostly just a deadbeat dad who just sees Shinji as a tool to control the mechs and save humanity and not as an actual son. Or at least that's how I interpreted it.
And speaking of the mechs or the Evangelions, I haven't even talked about them yet in this review. But the thing is this show is less of a true blue mecha anime and more of a dissection of the genre. You could still enjoy this show as a mecha anime but you're gonna be missing out on some of the finer details that the creators left. Like there are multiple scenes that are just an elongated moment that never cuts to the next scene. At first I thought my screen was frozen during these moments and the website I was on was buffering. But then they kept happening and I was like: "Ok there has to be something to this, it wouldn't be a mistake if they showed scenes like this more than twice." And I think the big eureka moment finally came during the elevator scene. Which yes, is very long winded and awkward, but that's kind of the point. This scene is purposely meant to be awkward and we as an audience are supposed to feel the same awkwardness and isolation the characters are feeling at that moment. Because even though Asuka and Rei are close in this elevator, they couldn't be more mentally distant from one another. Like they can barely have a small conversation without resorting back to silence.
There were also moments when this show would start playing classical music, specifically Air On A G String by Bach. Which was a little odd at first, but I think it became very effective during certain scenes and it kind of enhanced the moodiness that this show was going for. And it helps that the animation is breathtaking throughout. I think it's because CGI was kind of in its infancy back then even with the first computer animated movie coming out the same year this show aired (That movie was Toy Story if you weren't aware). So I think it's just more impressive to see hand drawn animation like this where the animators had to work with the limited resources they had to craft their vision. I know some people say that they don't make them like they used to and they should go back to this style. I agree but the thing is they could never go back and they won't go back to this style. Things evolve and of course animation has evolved since technology has become more prevalent. And besides, hand drawn animation is such a painstakingly long and tiring process to do. There's just more efficient ways to animate nowadays. It's sad, but I think it's for the best.
Story wise this show is pretty solid. I was a little confused at certain points but I could still somewhat understand what was happening. Until I got to the final two episodes. Which leads me to the infamous ending which got a lot of attention back in the day for being a little too perplexing. And really my biggest complaint with this show is unfortunately the original ending. I obviously won't spoil it for people who haven't seen it, but it's supposed to be thought provoking. Which I don't really mind in fact I'm all for it. Especially for a mecha anime cause it's pretty bold to end a mecha anime like this. But if this show foreshadowed what the ending would be like or if the ending connected more to the previous episodes, I think less people would be scratching their heads. But instead this show throws a curveball out of nowhere without warning and that's probably what left a lot of people bewildered, me included. I remember watching it and being like: "Wait what? That's how it ends?" I wasn't even mad, I was just kind of fascinated with why they would end it this way. It's not a bad ending at all but it definitely leaves a lot to be desired, even though I get what they were going for, I still think it could've been executed a little bit better.
And I think the creators of this show realized that because two years after the original show aired, they released The End of Evangelion movie, which is an alternate ending to the original show, a placeholder for the last two episodes of that show. And I personally prefer this ending way more than the original. It's less confusing and more cinematic and epic, while still having thought provoking moments. Now I'm gonna talk about the movie very quickly for a moment in this review because I have the same rating for both this show and the movie, so I thought it would be more convenient to talk about them in the same review. Now The End of Evangelion movie is great and I do recommend it if you haven't seen it, there is a head scratching scene in this movie that really rubbed me the wrong way when I first saw it. And I'm gonna try to describe it without spoiling it.
So there's this scene where this kid, we'll call Person A, is complaining that they're not good enough. And then an adult, we'll call Person B, slaps Person A on the cheek to bring Person A back to reality. Then Person B begins to give this monologue about perseverance and hope and it's all well and good. But then after this heartfelt speech, Person B decides to kiss Person A on the lips, then right after Person B says they might fuck Person A later. Now let's think about this for a moment. Person B is in their late 20's, while Person A is 14 years old. I think there's a really big problem here. I get that Person B is on the verge of death and maybe wants to give some final words and mementos for Person A before they bite the dust. But I don't know, Person B could've given Person A a hug or maybe a kiss on the forehead and I wouldn't even mind.
But no, Person B had to go all out, and then they have Person B imply that they might want to have sex with Person A later, which is even more questionable. I don't know why the creators thought this little moment was a good idea to put into the movie or they thought it would age well. I'm not sure, maybe it's in the manga, and if it is, I guess I have no choice but to blame the author for this moment. Maybe I'm just overanalyzing this scene, but this is easily the worst scene in the movie. It made me cringe so goddamn hard that while watching it I just wished that Chris Hansen showed up at the last moment to stop Person B from kissing Person A. Again, it's just a really weird scene that made my stomach churn and I hope I don't see it ever again. But besides that bullshit, great movie and if you want to skip the last two episodes of the original show to watch that movie, go right ahead, I do recommend that. But if you are curious to see what people were so confused about, then that's fine too.
So overall, I thought Evangelion was a great experience and I loved it quite a bit. I think emotionally and personally it hit close to home. And it's really interesting to see an anime explore depression the way this show does. And I think anime from this time period wasn't afraid to be more subtle than what you see today. And I probably said this before in another review, but I'm always a sucker for subtlety and I think this show does a solid job at giving you that. Now I have heard that there are movie remakes that were released a few years ago. I've heard that some of them are pretty good. I'll probably check them out someday to see if they'll be worth my time. But yeah as far as the original is concerned, I think it's great and you should give it a try if you haven't already.
ORIGINALLY REVIEWED ON 06/04/2023
 Alternative Titles Synonyms: NGE, Evangelion (1995) Japanese: 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン Information Type: TV Episodes: 26 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Oct 4, 1995 to Mar 27, 1996 Premiered: Fall 1995 Broadcast: Wednesdays at 18:30 (JST) Licensors: GKIDS Source: Original Duration: 24 min. per ep. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older Statistics Score: 8.351 (scored by 1,084,868 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #2172 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #45 Members: 1,814,142 Favorites: 106,005 Available AtResources |
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